Chapter 16
Chapter 16
We entered the staffroom and found all the professors scattered around the room. Professor McGonagall looked at our group of Willow, Xander, Harry, Ron, and I but did a double take at Ron.
Addressing the room, she said, "It has happened. The monster has taken a student right into the Chamber itself."
There were various sounds of exclamations around the room. Professor Snape had his hands clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "How can you be sure," he asked.
"The Heir of Slytherin," Professor McGonagall choked out, "Has left another message. Right underneath the original message. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'"
Professor Flitwick started crying, and Madam Hooch lowered herself to a chair and asked, "Who is it? Which student?"
Professor McGonagall looks over to Ron. "I'm sorry, Mr.Weasley. It is your sister Ginny." Ron's face loses all color, and he sits down. "I want you to come with me to collect your brother, and we will call your parents." She turns to the other teachers, "We must send all the students home tomorrow. This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said —"
The door to the room slammed open, and in walked Lockhart, looking like a strutting peacock. "I'm so sorry. I dozed off. What have I missed?"
He didn't even notice he was being glared at by everyone. Professor Snape stepped forward and said, "Just the man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last." Professor Snape smirked when Lockhart turned white.
"That's right, Gilderoy." Professor Sprout piped in. Weren't you just saying last night that you knew of the entrance all along?"
"I — well, I —" Lockhart stuttered.
"Didn't you say you knew what it was inside?" Professor Flitwick asked with a grin.
"Did I? I don't recall?"
"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you did not get the chance to handle it, that you should have been given full reign to handle the matter?" Professor Snape drawls.
Xander leaned in, his voice filled with playful mischief as he whispered, "Hyenas!"
"We'll leave it to you, Gilderoy," Professor McGonagall joined the fray. "Tonight will be perfect. We'll keep the students out of your way. You will have your free reign at last."
Lockhart looked terrified; his lip shook, and his eyes widened. "Very well. I'll — I'll be in my office, getting — getting ready." Then he left like the hounds of hell were on his tail.
Willow, Xander and I couldn't help but burst into laughter as our eyes met. "If you three are done?" Professor McGonagall snapped out, and we all straightened up with muttered apologies.
"Sorry, Professor," I start. "Don't worry, we will get Ginny. We know the monster and have a lead on the entrance."
Willow said, "We also have a good plan to deal with it."
"We'll go get into some battle gear and head out right away," Xander continues. "Ron can go with you, and Harry here can go with us."
"Certainly not!" Professor McGonagall objects.
Xander shrugs his shoulders. "Every special girl needs her scoobies, and Ron is going with you. We," he gestures to Willow and me, " have him covered. I'll explain everything when we get back." Xander turns to Harry and me. "Time to suit up."
After getting appropriately attired — Harry is in jeans and a t-shirt combo with a sword and myself just about the same with the scythe — and arriving at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Harry approached Myrtle.
"Myrtle? Can I ask how you died?"
"Oh, it was just dreadful," she whined. "It happened in here, you know. I was upset over Olive Hornby teasing me about my glasses when I heard someone come in. They said something funny as they spoke in a different language. I thought it was a boy, so I opened the door to tell him to go away and... I died."
"How?" I asked.
"I have no idea, I'm afraid," she said quietly. I remember a pair of great big yellow eyes by that sink," she finished, gesturing to one of the sinks.
I walked over to inspect the sink and inspect it, and then I saw an image of a snake on the spout. "Harry? How do you say open in parseltounge? Come look at this," pointing out the snake.
He came over, looked at the snake, and made a few hissing sounds. The sinks all pulled apart, revealing a big hole that we all leaned over to look in.
"Couldn't you ask for stairs," Xander asks sarcastically.
"Or a light," Willow adds.
Harry's hisses filled the air again, followed by the eerie sounds of scraping stones. Then, a set of stairs materialized, and the walls came to life as sconces lit up along the passage.
Willow nods to herself, "Good. Less scary. Everybody get close so I can cast the spell." We all move together, and Willow intones,
Visum meum ab alienis oculis pallio
A luminous aura envelops us, causing our eyes to gleam brightly. Once the light dissipates, only dark voids remain, much like after a camera flash, where everyone's eyes should be.
Xander looks at me and jumps, "Jesus! That's just downright terrifying." Harry looks over, his eyes go wide, and he nods.
Walking down the stairs, we come to a cavern littered with animal skeletons and horrible smells. "We must be miles under the school," Harry said, looking around.
"No time to look around," Xander orders. "Stay sharp. Mayor 2.0 is out there. Willow's spell only lasts so long."
We encountered another door filled with slithering stone snakes as we continued our trek forward. Harry skillfully used his ability to speak parseltongue to open the door, allowing us to proceed on our journey.
As we entered the new room, I was struck by its incredibly high ceilings and the imposing sight of a path flanked by statues of snakes. The path led to a colossal bust at the far end, which I recognized as a depiction of Salazar Slytherin. At the base of the bust lay Ginny, appearing completely unconscious and still.
Harry ran to Ginny, tossing the sword and his wand aside, begging Ginny to wake up. He did not notice the figure leaning against a nearby pillar.
"She won't wake," the teenage boy in Slytherin robes said softly. He had black hair with a slight wave and no eyes. He walked forward with a smooth and graceful air. He wasn't solid per se, but he wasn't see-through like a ghost, somewhere in between.
Harry looked at the figure and gasped, "Tom — Tom Riddle? What — What do you mean she won't wake?"
I motioned to Xander and Willow to hold back and see how this plays out. He hasn't seemed to notice us yet. If this is who Harry thinks it is, he should be over fifty years old, not looking barely sixteen.
"She's still alive, but only just."
"What are you," Harry asks.
"A memory," Tom starts as he bends down to pick up Harry's wand, then points to a little black book on the floor next to Ginny. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
"We've got to go, Tom. There's a basilisk... I don't know where it is, but it could —"
"It won't come until it's called," Tom replies.
"Give me my wand. I might need —" Harry trails off as Tom smiles a vicious grin.
"You won't be needing it. I've waited a long time to meet you, Harry Potter. The chance to see and speak with you."
Harry finally seemed to be catching on, "What happened to Ginny?"
"Ah, yes. A girl pouring out her heart into her diary. A diary that writes back. The more she wrote, the stronger I became with every little detail." Tom drolls on as if it's inconsequential. "I shared my secrets with her. I can be charming when I want to. Little Ginny was the one to unleash the basilisk and write the messages on the walls, not that she really knew what she was doing."
Tom gave a derisive chuckle. "Her last few entries were amusing. Oh, Tom. I don't know what is going on. I keep having spaces in my memory! I woke up with paint all over me... There was another attack, and I had no idea where I was. Am I the one attacking people? So pathetic. She eventually grew scared and tried to get rid of my diary, but who should get their hands on it? You."
Harry stood and faced Tom. "Why me?"
"How is it that a mere boy — no extraordinary talent — managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with naught but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Voldemort was after your time. What does it matter?"
Tom smirked and said menacingly, "Voldemort is my past, present, and future." He pulls Harry's wand and writes Tom Marvolo Riddle in the air in fiery letters. With another swish of the wand, the letters rearrange to read I am Lord Voldemort. He started to go into a speech about how he was the Heir of Slytherin, but I had heard enough.
I step forward and say, "Poor you! You had a bad childhood, and that gives you the right to turn into a murdering psychopath?"
Tom startles at Willow, Xander, and I. "And just who are you? Nothing but a simple mud blood."
I smile and twirl the scythe in my hand, "As the head of the pureblood movement, you must have undoubtedly encountered rumors of certain things. Particularly tales of entities that lurk in the darkness, striking fear into the hearts of young wizards and witches and compelling them to behave. A girl, perhaps."
Tom honestly laughs, then says, "You mean those little bedtime stories about the scary slayer coming to come and rid the world of evil?"
My face loses all sense of humor and turns serious, "Not such a bedtime story. Hi, I'm Hermione Granger, Vampire Slayer."