Chapter 29
Reasons below your understanding
Chamber of Secrets
"Hesha... Hassah."
At the sizzling sound of Harry's Parsletongue the impressive portal leading to the Chamber of Secrets began a complicated opening mechanism, of course incorporating snake designs. One serpent made from stone, moving with eerily realistic movements, tapping each head of seven, all of them retracting one after the other, before finally the one crawling had disappeared and the remaining serpents were pulled back, as if fearing whatever it was that lurked behind that door.
A door which finally opened.
An awkward ladder later and the Boy who lived found himself standing in the middle of a long platform surrounded by dirty sewer water on both sides, a series of even taller, more bombastic snake heads surely meant to distract from their current location. At the end of this runway (basically) stood a massive head carved from stone, depicting an old man long dead, whose elaborate beard stretched out made him look like an ancient Greek philosopher. Most importantly, at the foot of Salazar Slytherin's compensative bust, lied a girl, unconscious, a pool of still water behind her.
"Ginny!", Harry called out, identifying her right away as he fell to his knees, "No, Ginny. Please don't be dead! Wake up, Ginny!"
"She won't wake."
Despite never having met the boy from fifty years ago, Harry still fairly easily recognized him, Marley's short description proving to be pinpoint accurate.
"Young Elvis with sharper cheekbones."
"Tom... Tom Riddle?", he asked out loud, a young mind clearly occupied with a million other things first, "She won't wake? Is she..."
"She's still alive.", Riddle responded, a voice which felt a hundred times more venomous than even Snape, "Only just."
"Are you a ghost?", Harry finally asked, coming off as more rational and focused, despite his panic surrounding Ginny's safety, Tom Riddle taking note of this immediately.
"A memory. Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
Finding that answer odd an unpleasant, the Boy who lived returned to check on Ginny, briefly touching her hand before pulling back right away.
"She's... cold...", he mumbled abstinently, finally figuring out what had bothered him the whole time – he had dropped his wand earlier. And, lo and behold, just a second before Riddle was able to snatch it for himself, Harry launched towards the wooden tool, grabbing it first as he got back up on two feet, aiming it directly at the opposing Slytherin, who seemed rather delighted.
"Fast thinker. Call me impressed."
"What do you want?", the Gryffindor barked out, far more serious than ever before. Too many lives were at stake here. To his surprise, Riddle seemed little impressed despite having a wand aimed at him, folding his arms behind his back as he began prancing around the boy like a panther.
"I wanted to show you something, but I suppose I'll just have to tell you instead..."
"Tell me later. I've got to get Ginny out of here."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Harry. You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger.", the older boy spoke with way more confidence than the Gryffindor liked.
"Locomotor Mortis!", he shouted, aiming at Riddles feet. To his displeasure, the spell went right through the figure as the Slytherin spitefully shrugged.
"Memory preserved in a diary is... in essence like a ghost. So, may I continue? I'm sure you'd like to know more about what little Miss Weasley has been up to all year."
This did finally get Harry to quiet down and listen, though he refused to lower his wand for even a second.
"Yes, Harry. It was Ginny who opened the Chamber of Secrets."
A moment of silence to allow the other boy to react with fear.
"No... she couldn't. She wouldn't."
"It was Ginny who sent the Basilisk to attack those mudbloods and that cat. Ginny who wrote the bloody messages on the walls."
Still not entirely convinced, Harry briefly looked over to the dying girl on the floor.
"But why?"
"Because I told her to. I'm known to be rather persuasive, so to speak. Though, surprisingly, it didn't take me very long to get to her. You see, poor Ginny had her heart broken by the great Harry Potter, and it almost drove her mad to see him with another girl."
That's when it clicked, sending waves upon waves of guilt down the boy's spine, finally forcing him to lower his arm in utter shock.
"M... Marley? Ginny was... jealous of Marley and me?"
Not even remotely in a position to think about the implications of this, Tom Riddle thankfully continued, finally coming to a standstill right next to the diary on the ground.
"More importantly though, I put her under a sort of... trance. She wasn't exactly fully aware of what she was doing. Nevertheless, the power of the diary began to frighten her. She disposed of it in the girl's bathroom, where, of course, none other than you would find it. The person who I was most anxious to meet."
"You were most anxious to meet me?", Harry asked, sounding scared more than anything. Who in the world was this Tom Riddle person?
"I knew I had to talk to you, meet you if possible.", the memory of a snarky slimeball groaned with frustration, "And of course, when an opportunity arose, it wasn't you who I could transport into the diary, it was that half-blood cow, masquerading as a Slytherin-"
The millisecond Harry realized who Riddle was referring to his face turned red with burning rage and his wand was back to being aimed at the strange ghost.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!"
Having no idea where that much anger even came from (and having NO time to think about it), Harry instead calmed down somewhat while Riddle chuckled like a true villain.
"I see now why Ginny was so envious. You're truly in love with Marley Verpe."
Oh, there it is, a weird lapse in his heartbeat, skin crawling with a tingling feeling of warmth while his stomach was swarmed with butterflies. No time for this now!
"Enough of this, Riddle! I see right through you, just like Dumbledore did!"
"Oh yes, Dumbledore. He did keep an annoyingly close watch after I killed that mudblood in the lavatory and framed Hagrid. I knew I couldn't open the Chamber again, or risk exposure. I instead left this diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages. I knew that one day I'd be able to influence another, someone who'd help me finish Salazar Slytherin's work."
"Well, you didn't finish this time.", Harry retorted with some level of apparent joy and schadenfreude, "In a few hours the Mandrake potion will bring everybody back to normal. All of those petrified will be safe from you again!"
Marley will be safe, a soft voice inside of him cried out.
"Haven't you been listening?", Riddle further mocked the younger boy, "Killing mudbloods is no longer my top priority. For many months now my new target has been you.", he allowed for a theatrical moment of silence, reading Harry's slightly surprised reaction, though after having insulted Marley before, it seemed the boy has been able to channel all of his bravery at once, "How is it, that a baby with no exceptional magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a hideous scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care? Voldemort was after your time.", Harry answered, sounding rather annoyed, actually. To his displeasure, Riddle proceeded to turn his back towards the boy, taking an ominous breath (despite not really having a body?) before continuing.
"Lord Voldemort is my past... present... and future.", the Slytherin mumbled in a deep growl, before turning towards Harry once again with the sharpest of grimaces, "I am Lord Voldemort."
It seemed as though the Boy who lived wasn't too shaken by this, though didn't seem very happy either.
"You're Voldemort?", he simply repeated.
"Surely, I wasn't going to keep the name given to me by my filthy muggle father. No, I fashioned myself a title worthy of the greatest wizard of all time. A name that would one day strike fear into the heart of anyone who'd hear it."
"You're a half-blood too?", Harry interrupted his opponent, Riddle looking rather displeased at the boy's correct assertion, "You have no right to attack anyone for their purity then! You're not a pure blood yourself!"
"Silence! You have lost already, Harry Potter! Ginny will soon be gone, I will have returned, and this time there is no Dumbledore to save you! He was scared away by my memory alone!"
"He'll never be gone! Not when those who remain believe in him!", Harry shouted back, wanting to say "loyal to him" at first, though he chose against it as it did sound rather corny.
In that moment, something eerily similar to the cry of a hawk echoed through the Chamber, the outline of a fire red bird soaring close to the ceiling.
"Fawkes?", the Gryffindor boy asked curiously. And indeed, it was in fact Dumbledore's pet phoenix, who proceeded to drop an object made from leather right next to Harry's feet, the boy staring at it curiously before correctly identifying it as the Sorting Hat. After this delivery was checked off, Fawkes proceeded to fly away and leave the Chamber of Secrets once again.
"That's it?", Riddle mocked with a nervous chuckle, "Apparently all that Dumbledore can afford to send is a songbird and an old hat."
Just as Harry began to question what any of this meant, he froze on the spot as he heard a young Lord Voldemort speak in the same, serpentine language the boy spoke as well, cowering in fear as he deciphered it.
"Samnathas Sélithaeine...", Riddle hissed with his hand extended. In accordance, the mouth of the giant head opened slowly, a rumbling echoing towards them as Harry averted his gaze immediately
His Parsletongue roughly translated to "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."
"Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter!"
The Boy who lived only heard the creature emerging, creating a loud splash as it dropped right into the pool of water separating him from the mighty beast.
"Sethae... he-this!", he nervously ordered the serpent, a killing order directed at Tom Riddle, though he was unsure if it would have any effect on it regardless.
"Parsletongue won't save you now, Potter. It only obeys me."
Like a mad hare he sprinted back towards the exit, hoping he could somehow get a proper angle on the Basilisk before it could strike him, which would of course proof to be rather difficult, with or without a wand. He had considered Lumos Maxima as an option before, hoping the spell could blind the beast momentarily in order for him to... do what exactly?
Just as the brainstorming session kept rattling on, the Boy who lived heroically slipped on a section of stone floor covered partially in gross, smelly, sewage water. Aaand Harry dropped his glasses in the process. And his wand. Great.
While he collected his spectacles, a vibration and snarl behind Harry informed the boy of the presence of a certain serpent monster about to devour him, the Gryffindor simply covering his head, hoping he could roll away last second or something-
It's then where a red-feathered deus ex machina soared back into the Chamber, attacking the creature with horrific slashing and scratching noises, Harry able to make out that its head was being targeted, thanks to the reflection on the wall. Huh. Maybe that's how he could beat it?
"NO!", Riddle cried out back at the Slytherin bust, Harry finally getting his wand back as he watched in awe – Fawkes had done him the favour of forcefully removing the Basilisk's eyes, the phoenix once again flying off somewhere else, though the boy could tell that it wouldn't be the last he'd see of the helpful avian dinosaur.
"Your bird may have blinded it, but the Basilisk can still hear you!"
Duh, Harry thought to himself. God, was Voldemort dreadful as a teenager.
Caught in his own wit, the boy quickly silenced his thoughts, waiting for the right moment the beast would attack. A straightforward, powerful spell might not work here, forcing Harry to think outside the box, much like he did in his practice duels with Marley, who he was perhaps missing more than ever now.
Then, with his shoe stepping into dirty water once again, the previously thrashing beast stopped its struggle, making out Harry's position by sound alone.
Which was exactly what the boy had been waiting for.
"Alarte ascendare!", he roared off the top of his lungs, the colourful cloud of light striking the massive snake as it is subsequently launched far enough upwards for Harry to dash right beneath it, smacking the Basilisk against the high ceiling before it crashed into the ground again, destroying at least one snake statue while partially damaging another. As Harry allowed himself a brief smirk, the monster appeared to slither away into the waters below, disappearing below the surface as Tom Riddle's face took on an even more pale shade than it already had.
"How did you-", he began to stutter, utterly beaten by the Boy who bloody lived.
"This ends now, Tom! Free Ginny or I'll...", is where he effectively ran out of steam.
"Or what? You can only attack me once the process is completed. Only when Ginny Weasley is dead, and I cease to be a memory, can you actually try to stop me. Isn't it FUNNY?!"
"NO!", Harry now erupted with frustration himself, just in time for the Basilisk to reemerge from the pool of water next to them, attempting to devour the Gryffindor right away, Harry jumping out of the way as he dropped his wand a third time, this time it proceeded to fly too far away to retrieve, additionally blocked by a serpent attempting to kill him. He moved out of the way two more times, yet another snake statue falling apart as the boy began to run out of options.
In his desperation, a shimmer of light, a literal one, grabbed his attention, Harry looking to the Sorting Hat as it seemed to produce some sort of weapon from thin air – a sword, to be precise. Before the scaly danger was able to strike again, he quickly grabbed the blade, swiping at the Basilisk head before its teeth were able to reach him, the creature crying in pain as part of its face now carried a nasty gash, giving Harry some much-needed optimism for this whole David vs. Goliath type situation.
An unfortunate antimony to his luck so far, while Harry finally felt in range to deal the killing blow, the sword got knocked from his hand as he was forced to dodge another mean strike smashing the ground instead. Additionally forced to run off to the side in order to retrieve his medieval weapon, Harry's lethal, final strike proved to be far less precise than he had anticipated, still piercing the creature's head from its gums upwards, though in the process one of its teeth got stuck in Harry's right arm, forcing him to drop the blade, I hate to say it, once again.
It filled him with little joy as the Basilisk let out a few final roars of pain, swirling around the room like a shrinking balloon before smashing into the ground, leaving enough space for a fuming Riddle, a dying girl, and a poisoned Harry falling to his knees, crawling over towards Ginny and the diary.
"Its death matters little now.", Riddle spitefully played down his loss, switching to a smirk as he watched a groaning Harry itching closer to the red-haired victim on the floor.
"Even in death, the Basilisk's venom is remarkable, penetrating the body immediately. You have about a minute left if I'm correct. You'll be with your dear mudblood mother again very soon."
Not a very good thing to hear for the boy, who looked around the floor for his wand, unable to locate it. Could he even make use of it? What exactly was he to do now, with poison streaming through his system already?
Would he be able to see Marley again?
In a last, desperate effort, he picked up the diary, glaring at it, as it represented Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort more accurately than the monologuing, teenaged illusion across from him.
"Strange... the amount of damage such a silly little book can do. Especially in the hands of a silly little girl."
And that's when the solution appeared so laughably obvious that Harry almost let out a scoff, the Basilisk tooth, still held in his left hand, combined with the diary, which he placed on the floor...
Why didn't he think of it sooner?
"What are you doing?", Riddle asked with a tiny voice. The Gryffindor didn't even bother looking back at his opponent, ramming the sharp fang into the opened book, hitting a random page as blood black as ink began to stream from it.
"STOP!", the Slytherin screamed, though his efforts were in vain as he stumbled and began to disintegrate into bizarre, yellow light, as if made from spores. Harry proceeded to stab the other page as well, causing Riddle to howl even louder, which did fill him with some catharsis. For good measure, Harry closed the book and gave it a final stab on the cover, more ooze released as Riddle crumbled further and further, finally exploding as a mere few spots of light floated around for a second, finally disappearing while Harry let go of the tooth and Ginny took the most relieving of breaths.
"Ginny...", he addressed her in an exhausted voice, his own breath now getting weaker by the second.
"Harry...", the little girl began, her own tone the highest and sweetest he had heard it all year, "It was me... but I swear... I didn't mean to. Riddle made me, and..."
Her rambles died down as she spotted the bite wound on his arm, a decent amount of blood surrounding it.
"Harry... you're hurt..."
"Don't worry about it.", he answered through the pain with a smirk, not really thinking about whether or not he would get out of here alive. That was a thought too harrowing to let it simmer, "You need to get out of here, Ginny. Follow the Chamber, you'll find Ron. He and Draco will..."
Oh, to hell with it – he did end up thinking about it!
Was this it? Was he to die here? In a dirty sewage cave with a dead snake? He wouldn't see his friends ever again.
He wouldn't... he wouldn't see Marley again. He wouldn't be able to tell her something nice or hear her giggle about some confusing nonsense or enjoy a complex story she'd endlessly relay...
...he... he couldn't...
Fawkes returned a final time, screeching at an adequate volume before landing next to the boy, possessing quite an impressive size itself.
"You were brilliant...", he thanked the bird... now in tears at the thought of dying, "I just... wasn't quick enough..."
No Marley. He wouldn't see he smile, cheer her up, hear her rant about some new hyper obsession, hug her... smell her... think about her every night...
No... no Marley...
Thinking it was sympathy at first, both Harry and Ginny were shocked to see the bird shed a few tears itself, droplets that landed on the Basilisk's bite wound before beginning to sizzle and create smoke, though thankfully causing no pain.
"Is it... healing you?", the younger Weasley asked out loud, Harry remembering his encounter with Dumbledore, wherein a phoenix's abilities had been explained to him... him and Marley.
Feeling like the biggest moron, the boy wiped his face and chuckled while his lethal wound slowly healed back to normal, not even a scar remaining.
"I forgot he could do that.", he bluntly explained, Ginny reacting momentarily baffled at this, Harry turning his head to the regal creature now purring.
"Thanks.", the boy addressed it, Fawkes briefly imitating the motion of a bow.
"Are you okay?", Ginny reasonably inquired as she stared in confusion at her saviour looking like had gone mad for a minute.
"Yes. It's over now. Just a memory."
