𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬

Part Four

━━ 𓆙 𓆙 𓆙 ━━

Slowly, Harry helped Cassidy up, and they stepped out of the nook they were trapped in mere moments ago.

"That was close." Cassidy mouthed, still shaking. Harry nodded, watching the Basilisk slither away. Quickly, they ran out of the sewage system and back into the Chamber, where Harry fell to his knees next to Ginny again. Cassidy followed, checking her temperature. She was still unconscious, still cold.

"Ginny..." Cassidy whispered, stroking her hair. Tom stood over them, triumphant.

"Yes, Potter and Sweet. The process is nearly complete. In a few minutes, Ginny Weasley will be dead." Cassidy glared at Tom while Harry touched Ginny's pale hand.

"You foul vermin." She seethed. Tom tilted his head slightly, smirking. "You know, we could make a splendid team, Cassandra. Give me that necklace, and I can show you what we could be capable of. Its abilities are growing, I can tell."

"I'd rather die than be your ally." Cassidy snapped. Tom Riddle shrugged.

"So be it. You will soon, anyway. I will soon cease to be a memory." Harry whirled to face Tom.

"Lord Voldemort will return." Tom completed smugly. "Very. Much. Alive."

Harry turned back to Ginny. "Ginny...."

Before they could say anything, the Basilisk burst from the waters surrounding the Chamber, shrieking. Harry and Cassidy turned to the Sorting Hat, which had a sort of glimmer around it. Then the hilt of a sword appeared, and Cassidy gasped.

"Is that...? Harry, go and get the Hat, I'll distract the snake." She said, new determination filling her. She rose to her feet as Harry scrambled towards it, and Tom scoffed.

"What, you think your silly spells will have any effect? You're stupider than I thought-"

"SERPENSPELLUM!" Cassidy declared, and a great orange light sprung from her wand, with far too much power for a little witch. Tom looked on in a mixture of horror, fear, anger and awe, the spell's light reflecting in his eyes.

The snake writhed in pain, and a great big gash appeared at its side. Cassidy felt weakened, fatigued, but she still fought to stand. The snake hadn't been completely defeated, its head still looked around for the source of the pain angrily. Harry had taken the sword from the Sorting Hat then, brandishing it before the snake.

"Cassidy, come on!" He called, and Cassidy ran behind him as they started to climb up the statue of Salazar. Cassidy considered casting a spell for a moment, but thought better of it. She was tired as it was. Harry climbed higher and higher, but Cassidy couldn't keep up. Silently, he reached out for her, but she shook her head. She couldn't go on.

Just then, the basilisk turned its head to where Cassidy hung, hissing. Slowly, it slithered towards her, opening its mouth.....

Harry swung his sword wildly, trying and failing to slash at it. Enraged, the Basilisk plunged its head just centimeters away from where Harry was, breaking the rock.

"Harry!" Cassidy shrieked, trying to distract the Basilisk, but it was no use. It was in hot pursuit of Harry, who kept climbing and climbing until he reached the top of Salazar Slytherin's head. There, he started to try and duel the snake. Cassidy, seeing her chance, climbed down from the statue and ran towards Tom.

Without thinking, she tackled him, screaming and scratching. He was more human now, so her attacks had somewhat of an effect. He started yelling, but she didn't give him much chance to react or reach for his wand, punching and clawing and screaming. Her necklace pulsed weakly, and Cassidy saw that Tom seemed to be fading in and out....like a faulty Muggle television set. Her necklace let out a loud ringing sound, and Riddle screamed, like his hold over the diary, the very Chamber itself, was struggling.

Finally, he pushed Cassidy off, ripping her necklace from her neck and stuffing it in his pocket. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassidy saw Harry scramble to pick up the sword.

"This is the end, Sweet," Tom said, smiling and licking his lips. "You fought valiantly, but no one can defeat me-"

A sudden great scream filled the Chamber, and Cassidy grinned before getting up and punching Tom in the face, hard. He groaned for a moment, holding his nose, and Cassidy saw that Harry had stabbed the Basilisk in the head. It shrieked, groaned, and fell to the wet floor with a big splash.

"Harry, you did it-!" Cassidy's words were cut short as she noticed him holding his arm, looking like he was in a great deal of pain.

"Harry...?"

"Crucio!" Cassidy heard Riddle shout the spell behind her, but before she could run, she fell to the floor, screaming in pain.

Cassidy had never known pain like this.

It was as if fire had ignited inside her bones, searing through her limbs with white-hot agony. She hit the Chamber's damp stone floor with a force that sent shockwaves up her spine, but even that was nothing compared to the pain tearing through her body. Her nerves screamed, her muscles spasmed violently, and she couldn't breathe—every inhale felt like knives shredding her lungs.

She tried to keep silent. She tried. But the pain was relentless, drowning out all thought until a ragged, strangled scream ripped from her throat. Her nails scraped uselessly against the ground as she convulsed, her body betraying her completely.

Through the haze of agony, she barely heard Riddle laughing.

"Fascinating," he mused, tilting his head as he watched her writhe. "You fight it well, for someone so weak."

Cassidy could barely see him past the blinding white of her pain. Her vision swam, her head pounded, and her limbs flailed beyond her control. It felt like the curse would never end, like she would break apart under it. And maybe she would. Maybe this was how she died, screaming on the cold Chamber floor while Tom Riddle smiled.

No.

Through the searing agony, through the overwhelming urge to give in, she latched onto that single thought. No. She would not let him win. She would not let her last memory be of his smug face staring down at her.

She turned to him... and with great difficulty, mustered a smile. Tom's own smile faltered.

"How...?" He started, losing concentration on the spell and putting Cassidy's suffering to an end.

But she couldn't stand. She only had the energy to watch as Harry staggered towards her and Ginny. It seemed the Basilisk had bitten him, and he stumbled to the floor, the sword clattering beside him.

"Harry..." Cassidy whispered, her hand slowly reaching out towards his. She couldn't muster any more strength to do more than that. Harry touched her outstretched hand, panting slowly.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Riddle said smugly, before stepping on Cassidy's hand. She screamed in agony, her body sensitive from the Cruciatus Curse. "How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body. I guess you have no more than a minute to live. You'll be with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry." Tom sneered, pressing his foot into Cassidy's hand deeper. She shrieked again, tears streaming down her face.

Harry made to save her, but Tom aimed his wand into Harry's face.

"Don't." He said simply, stepping back to watch all the children suffer. Cassidy lay there, helpless, next to Ginny. Ginny, the girl she'd assured on the train would have a good first year. Ginny, who had been possessed by Voldemort himself at the age of eleven.

Ginny, who'd she'd failed to save.

Cassidy sobbed as Harry took Ginny's hand, and closed her eyes. She thought of Hermione, and of Ron, and Neville, and Seamus and Dean and Parvati and Lavender and all the friends she'd made here, all the friends she'd lose.

Then, all of a sudden, an idea sprang into Cassidy's mind.

"Funny. The damage a silly little book can do." Tom spoke again. "Especially in the hands of a silly little girl."

"Don't call her that." Cassidy whispered, with great strain.

"What?" Tom said, looking to Cassidy. Cassidy looked at Harry, who was watching her with great curiosity, and used her eyes to look to the diary and then the Basilisk fang in his hand. Harry's eyes brightened in realization.

"What did you say, you blood traitor?" Tom repeated, stepping closer to Cassidy. Harry discreetly slipped Tom's diary out of Ginny's hand while Tom was distracted.

"I said," Cassidy struggled to sit up, "Don't call her that!" She then whirled to Harry, who had opened the book. Tom had finally noticed.

"What're you doing?" Tom said nervously, and Harry lowered the Basilisk fang to the book.

"Stop! No!" Tom made for Harry, eyes wide in fear.

"Harry, now!" Cassidy screamed.

And with that, Harry stabbed Tom's diary with the fang, blood spurting out. A light sprang from Riddle's chest, and he started to scream. Harry only dug the fang in deeper, tearing the paper, and thus tearing Tom. He screamed in agony, his screams mixing with deeper ones, and Cassidy never broke eye contact with him as he perished.

Finally, Harry closed the diary, and gave one last stab, tearing through all its pages. Cassidy saw the fear in Tom's eyes as he finally exploded, burning to a crisp.

The necklace, which had been snatched from Cassidy, clattered to the ground just as Ginny woke up.

Slowly, Ginny got up, seeing Cassidy lie on the ground helplessly and Harry clutching his arm not too far away from her. Her blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, Ginny, you're alright." Cassidy breathed, letting a laugh escape her.

"Cassidy." She breathed, scrambling over to where she lay, before looking up at Harry. "Harry." It took Cassidy great effort, but she sat up, and Ginny hugged her tightly, throwing her freckled arms around her neck. She drew back, looking into her face with worry.

"Harry, Cassidy, it was me. But I swear, I didn't mean to. Riddle made me. And then..." Ginny trailed off, looking at Harry's arm. "Harry, you're hurt." Harry quickly covered his arm.

"Don't worry." He said, painting. "Ginny, you need to get yourself out. Help Cassidy up, follow the Chamber, and you'll find Ron."

"We're not leaving without you-" Cassidy started, before the grand call of Fawkes was heard yet again. He flew down to where they all were, settling next to Harry and looking him in the eye.

"You were brilliant, Fawkes." Harry said, smiling. "I just wasn't quick enough."

"Don't say that." Cassidy protested weakly. "You were just as brilliant. Wielding that sword and all."

Harry let out a weak laugh, but winced. Slowly, Fawkes lowered his head, and started to cry on Harry's wound. Miraculously, it faded, and Ginny and Cassidy's eyes widened.

"Of course!" Harry said. "Phoenix tears have healing powers. Thanks." Harry looked at Ginny, smiling. Ginny's face turned the same funny red that Ron's did when he was greatly pleased, and Cassidy smirked.

"It's alright, Ginny. It's over. It's just a memory."

"Whooo!" Cassidy cheered as Fawkes flew everybody up. It was remarkable how many people a phoenix could carry at a time. He held Gilderoy up by the cloak with his talons, Ron was holding on to Gilderoy's leg, Cassidy was holding on to Ron, who had his arm around her tightly, Harry was holding on to Ron's leg and Ginny was clinging to Harry.

"Amazing!" Gilderoy yelled with glee. "This is just like magic!"

"Yeah..." Cassidy mumbled, not looking Ron in the eye as they soared higher. Her necklace was safely clasped around her neck once more, and it glowed softly.

"You alright, Cass?" Ron whispered to her softly, wind whooshing through their ears. Cassidy looked back at his blue eyes, full of concern, and felt the sudden, very foreign urge to kiss him.

"Er...I..." she stuttered, before giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

Ron resembled a tomato.

"W-what was that for?!" He said, eyes wide.

"I dunno, alright?!" She retorted sharply, and they did not speak the rest of the flight back to Hogwarts.