Chamber
They stepped through the door into a very old, but very grand hall. At the far end was a massive bust carved out of the wall of Salazar Slytherin himself. Holly recognized him from the shrine in their common room. But aside from it’s massive size, this one was strange because it was carved so it’s mouth hung wide open, as if that too was a door of some kind.
Between them was not a normal floor, but a very wide mossy marble walkway lined on either side with lake water and large busts of hissing snakes. In the center of that walkway lay Ginny, watched over by a tall boy Holly had never seen before, but whom she felt was familiar somehow.
“Ginny!” Holly cried, running to her friend. She was pale and her pulse was faint. “She’s dying!” Holly looked up at the older boy. He wore slytherin green, and looked to be about sixteen but she didn’t know him. She did, however, know that diary. The one clutched in Ginny’s hands. “You’re the thing that’s done this, aren’t you? You’re the book!” she accused.
“Get back!” Harry shouted, pointing his wand at the creepy book boy.
Draco appeared to be frozen in place.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger!” the book boy explained, chillingly.
Holly bent over her friend and racked her brain for anything that could help. Had Madam Pomfry given her any spells that could help here? Not truely. Only one for pain, but Ginny didn’t look to be in pain. It was more like she was slowly fading out of existence. Holly had nothing for this. When she realized this, she resorted to just holding Ginny. At least she wouldn’t have to spend her final moments on the cold floor.
“What are you?” Holly demanded of the book-boy who was still looming of her and Ginny.
Book-boy smiled blandly. “I’m Tom. Tom Riddle, or I used to be.” he looked between Holly and Harry, and Draco. “You must be the potter twins! Ginny’s told me so much about you! I was so hoping we would have the chance to meet…”
Holly spat at him.
“Why you filthy little half-blood-” Tom Riddle lunged for Holly, snarling.
“I know that name!” Draco realized. “You’re the dark lord! Get away from them! Everte Stadium!” Draco shouted, and Tom Riddle was blown back.Holly looked at Draco, shocked. He looked just as surprised with himself.
“Thanks.” Holly said.
“That’s right,” Tom Riddle agreed. “You see, back when I was in school here, I opened the chamber. I killed that stupid little mudblood girl-”
“You framed Haggrid, didn’t you?” Harry shouted, “you’re the reason he’s in Azkaban right now!”
Tom Riddle scoffed. “It was my word against Hagrid's. Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent.” he explained, smiling.
Harry smiled back. “I bet he saw right through you,” he said.
“He certainly kept an annoyingly close eye on me after that,” Tom Riddle confirmed. “I knew it wouldn’t be safe for me to open the chamber again while I was still at school, so I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages so that one day I would be able to lead another to finish Salazar Slytherin’s noble work!”
“Well you’ve failed!” Holly told him. “They're making the mandrake draught as we speak!”
Tom Riddle sneered over at her. “Killing mudbloods doesn’t matter to me anymore… you two,” he pointed between Harry and Holly “are my new targets!”
“Us?” Holly wondered, clutching Ginny slightly tighter.
“Them?” Draco echoed, caught between a sneer of his own and an earnest look of terror.
“How could two innocent babies stop the greatest sorcerer of all time?!” Tom Riddle snarled.
“Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard of all time!” Harry shouted back.
Just then, they heard a scree. Holly looked up to see the familiar bright red and orange feathers of Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore’s Phoenix. The bird soared over their heads and dropped something into Harry’s hands. For a moment it was unclear what it was, but as he unfolded it, Holly saw it was the sorting hat.
“So this is what Dumbledore sends his greatest defender? A song bird, and an old hat!” Tom Riddle spat at Harry. He turned and faced the open mouth of Salazar Slytherin’s bust and began to hiss commands. “Come, kill the potter twins, and the other boy as well…”
“Holly get away!” Harry shouted.
Holly pushed Ginny off of her and ran towards her brother and Draco just as the Basilisk burst from the mouth of the statue. They all knew better than to look, or to stick around. But, just as the three of them were about to reach the pipe system where they had a better chance of hiding, Holly heard another scree and then the deep wail of a gigantic beast in pain. They watched the shadows on the ceiling, tell the story of Fawkes ripping the Basilisk's eyes from it’s sockets, baking it so the three of them wouldn’t have to fight blind.
“Your bird may have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you!” Tom Riddle called after them.
Holly, Harry, and Draco helped each other into the pipes and then all ducked down different offshoots. Holly scrambled to tuck herself into a dent in the pipe where olde stone and metal had collide and created a hole big enough for a person to fit inside of. Then she held her breath and waited.
It took the boys longer to find somewhere safe. She could hear them shuffling around, but then, so could the snake because it slithered right passed her and down towards them. Holly bit her arm so that she wouldn’t call out to them, and so that she made no sound when she cried. She did not want to die down here, but, realistically, she was probably not going to make it out…
The shuffling noises stopped and the slithering slowed and Holly hoped that that didn’t mean the others were dead. And then the slithering continued, growing further away. Holly heard one pair of quiet feet slip passed her, and then a second. Only then, did she draw herself up from her dent and follow the boys back the way they had come. As she neared the chamber once again, she heard the sounds of the snake, running, shouting, and splashing. But, nothing could prepare her for the sight of her brother slashing a sword around on top of the statue of Salazar Slytherin’s head wildly, while Draco rummaged through the hat as though it were a bag, occasionally pulling out vaguely useless things.
Harry fell back and Holly stifled a scream, deciding her best option would be to check on Ginny instead. The diary was no longer with her, but she looked ten times worse - almost translucent. This was really bad! At this point all Holly could do was attempt CPR though she didn’t really know how to do that.
“Huh-neh!” Harry grunted loudly above them. There was scraping of metal on stone, a beat of silence, and then both Harry and the Basilisk cried out as if in pain. Holly couldn’t help but look up, seeing the basalisk fall, dead, and Harry, bleeding, pull a gigantic fang from his arm. He lifted it, squinted, then shouted, “Malfoy! Catch!” And tossed it down.
Draco caught the fang and lunged for the book, driving it through the leather and parchment. Holly watched in shock as blood bubbled up from the book and Tom Riddle, whom she’d almost forgotten to notice, exploded into light.
Ginny began to look better almost instantly, fluttering her eyes open and taking a deep breath of stale air. “Holly?” She croaked. “The… the diary-“
“Taken care of.” Draco said, carrying the bloody pages over.
Harry slid down the side of the statue and made his way over. “Are you guys all alright?” He asked, and Holly noticed he was starting to go pale himself.
“H-harry, your arm!” Ginny pointed at the place the Basilisk fang had implanted in his arm. It was turning black.
Another scree sounded overhead and Fawkes landed on Harry’s shoulder. The bird tilted it’s head at the wound and a few tears fell from his eye onto the afflicted area, healing it instantly. Harry looked up at the rest of them and smiled. “It’s alright! We’re all gonna be okay!”