The Chamber of Secrets
Morrigan slid down the wall. She gripped the fang that was spreading poison through her body and wrenched it out of her arm. But she knew it was too late.
White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as she dropped the fang and watched her own blood soaking his robes, her vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of dull colour.
A patch of scarlet swam past, and Morrigan heard a soft clatter of claws beside her.
"Fawkes," said Morrigan thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes. . . ." She felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced her.
She could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of her.
"You're dead, Morrigan Potter," said Riddle's voice above her. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."
Morrigan blinked. Fawkes's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.
"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Morrigan Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."
Morrigan felt drowsy. Everything around her seemed to be spinning.
"So ends the famous Morrigan Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by her friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord she so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Morrigan. . . . She bought you twelve years of borrowed time . . . but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must. . . ."
Her vision was swimming out of focus and she couldn't hear anything and...
and Morrigan's vision went black, her whole body feeling numb.
Her heart stopped beating.
~~~~
Morrigan's vision slowly returned, and she found herself lying on a road? It looked like crossroads honestly, so why...?
Of course.
It was crossroads.
Duh.
Why was she so unoriginal as to come up with CROSSROADS as a metaphor for crossroads?
"I personally blame your mother, a marauder would've never been so unoriginal" a voice rang out.
As soon as what she'd heard registered, Morrigan spun on his heel towards the source and ran to what looked like a male older version of her (around 16-17) with hazel eyes and a slightly different nose, and a beautiful woman with thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and almond-shaped, bright green eyes that he recognized as her own. The two people she remembered staring at for hours in the Mirror Of Erised back in his first year.
Before she could comprehend what was happened, she was drawn into a tight hug by both of them.
She felt two hands on his cheek, tenderly brushing tears that she didn't even realise were there away.
"Mum. Dad."
And she was once again gathered in a hug.
"We're here, Morgs. Right here"
After all three of them got a hold of themselves, Morrigan started asking questions.
"Am-am I dead?"
"Not yet, darling" Lily said, smiling. When she only gave her a questioning look, she elaborated,
"You can, of course, choose to die and stay with us for eternity"
"What happens if I do?"
"Wizarding Britain as a whole, gets taken over by Voldemort, your friends and foe alike are slaughtered, and Dumbledore's side in the upcoming war loses"
Blinking at the overload of information, and filing some away for later use, Morrigan moved on to his next question.
"Well, since you know I'm not going to stay in that case, will I ever see you two again?"
"Of course, but only once you die, I'm afraid"
"Now, before you go back, I need you to listen to me carefully"
And with that, she told Morrigan about Voldemort's Horcruxes, although warning her to not start looking for them for a while. She told her about the Wizengamot, explaining all the politics to her.
And more things. Many more.
"And one last thing. When things settle down after getting out of the Chamber, go to Gringotts, get a Magical Ability test and a Magical Inheritance Test"
"Yes, Mum" she nodded.
"Good. Morrigan Reyna, I want you to know something. You have made your father and me so proud! I want to hear you're applying yourself. If you try hard enough, you can surpass them all, Morrigan, and I want you to always remember that both of us love you no matter what and are so proud of you"
Morrigan nodded firmly, smiling ear to ear.
"I promise, mum. I'll make you both proud"
"Didn't she just say that we were already so proud of you..." James said, kissing Morrigan's forehead.
"I know"
And a little while later, they bid each other goodbye and Morrigan found herself fainting again.
~~~~
She found herself coming to back in the chamber, and she found that hardly any time had passed since she fainted/died.
"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly.
"Get away from her— I said, get away —"
Morrigan raised her head. Riddle was pointing Morrigan's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.
"Phoenix tears . . ." said Riddle quietly, staring at Morrigan's arm. "Of course . . . healing powers . . . I forgot . . ."
He looked into Morrigan's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Morrigan Potter . . . you and me. . . ."
Riddle went to raise his wand, but Morgan {Morrigan} was faster and stabbed him right in the chest with the basilisk fang.
He began to get less corporeal, but the patches in his body were healing already, and he looked furious yet smug.
"You see Potter, I, the great Lord Voldemort, can't be killed. But you, you, can"
And he raised his wand, pointing it at her, her eyes grew wide. She moved backwards as he did forward, desperately trying to think of a way to save herself. Then she realized it.
The diary must be a Horcrux! Of course!
But she couldn't reach it from here. Before she could make a move, Riddle was speaking,
"Avada-"
But he paused midway and let out an unearthly scream, Riddle was
writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then —
He was gone.
Morrigan looked behind his body, to see a faint and extremely weak-looking Ginny holding the sword.
She had stabbed the diary!
"Ginny! You ok?"
"Morgan — oh, Morg — I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Morg— but I — I s-swear I d-didn't mean to —"
"Ginny- Ginny, he's gone. You killed him! Him and the basilisk. C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here —"
"I-I'm not going to be expelled, am I? What will mum and dad say? I-"
"Ginny. Weasley. You will NOT be expelled. You were as much a victim here as anyone else, even more. In fact, I'd be surprised if you're not awarded an award of Special Services to the school, for killing Riddle. Now, let's get out of here."
They exited the chamber, with the sword and the hat, and Fawkes perched on Morgan's shoulder.
"Ron! Ron, Ginny's okay"
Ron immediately rushed towards Ginny and started fussing over her when Morgan interrupted to say.
"Ron, she's okay. We can do this later. Besides, she saved the day"
"Wha-"
"Later. Right now, let's get out"
"How?" Ron asked, all of them ignoring Lockhart who was babbling about something.
"Well, I don't think Salazar Slytherin would jump down a hole" Saying this, Morrigan hissed
~Stairs~
and a staircase appeared. Fawkes trilled and grabbed Lockhart by the shoulder, flying him to the entrance as Ginny, Ron, and Morgan climbed up.
"Thanks, Fawkes" Morgan said, smiling. She didn't fancy dragging the buffoon up all those stairs.
After dealing with Myrtle being disappointed about Morgan not dying, they found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office, knocking lightly and pushing the door open.
~~~~
There was silence from both sides for a moment, before a shrill screech sounded out,
"GINNY!"
Morrigan, however, was looking past them. Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past Morgan's ear and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder, just as Morgan found herself and Ron being swept into Mrs Weasley's tight {too tight} embrace.
"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"
"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly.
Morgan hesitated for a split second then gestured to Ginny who stepped forward and laid down the sorting hat and ruby-encrusted sword as she herself put Riddle's diary forward.
"GINNY! WHAT WERE YOU DOING WITH SUCH A DANGEROUS OBJECT? HAVE I NOT TOLD YOU ENOUGH TIMES TO STOP AWAY FROM THINGS THAT MAY HARM A LADY, OR RUIN YOUR REPUTATION?"
At first, Morgan wondered how Mrs Weasley knew the Diary was dangerous, then realized she wasn't talking about the diary.
She was talking about the sword.
"Mrs Weasley," She said, wrapping an arm around Ginny, seeing Dumbledore lose that beaming smile of his, "Ginny has been through a traumatising ordeal, and she might just have to relive those events. I think it best that she could do it without fear of judgement from her parents. The ordeal could be told to you via a third person"
Arthur and Molly agreed reluctantly and went outside. Dumbledore cast privacy wards before simply looking at Morgan in a gesture for her to explain the situation.
Then she started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour, she spoke into the rapt silence: She told them about hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that she was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how she and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how she had found that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom...
"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted her as she paused, "so you found out where the entrance was — breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add — but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"
"And how was Ms Weasley involved in all this?"
"Somebody had been possessing her to open the chamber" McGonagall gasped and Morrigan gestured towards the diary as an answer.
Dumbledore opened the first page carefully {with magic} and his face darkened at what Morgan knew was the name of the owner of the diary.
"I-I've been writing to Tom all year," Ginny said "And he's been writing back"
"Brilliant," Dumbledore said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."
"Well, yes, I knew how to work the diary because I accidentally found it once, and Riddle showed me the memory of him catching Hagrid," Morgan said.
Dumbledore nodded, carefully concealing his expression.
"I'll leave you to deal with them, shall I?" McGonagall said crisply, and with a nod from Dumbledore, she left.
"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," said Dumbledore.
Ron opened his mouth in horror.
"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. "All three of you will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and — let me see — yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."
Morgan could swear Dumbledore had enjoyed scaring the shit out of her and Ron.
"Now, Mr, Ms Weasley, this has been a terrible ordeal for all of you, I do think you should head to the hospital wing. Miss Potter will join you in a few minutes. Do take Professor Lockhart with you, will you?"
~~~~
"Sit down, Morrigan," Dumbledore said, cheerful as usual and Morgan sat, rolling her eyes at the Headmaster fondly.
"First of all, Morrigan, I want to thank you. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the chamber. That and only that could've called Fawkes to you"
Morrigan bowed her head in acknowledgement and respect but then she added with a sly smile, "Call me Morgan, sir. All my friends do"
Dumbledore beamed in delight "I'm honoured, Morgan"
"Well, other than that, you've met Tom Riddle, I imagine he was most interested in you"
"Oh, he was, he said, and I quote 'how is it that you — a skinny girl with no extraordinary magical talent — managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?' I-I'm not that skinny am I?"
Dumbledore looked amused at the last part but said nothing about it
"Then he was under the illusion that he is the greatest wizard of all time- somebody tell me if Merlin was a myth or something- then I reminded him that I'm a witch, not a wizard, then Fawkes arrived a few seconds after I mentioned you not being completely gone from the castle"
"Ah, Morgan, I can sense there is something else"
The mood grew serious and Morgan sighed, "Riddle mentioned something about Him and I being alike and I-" She broke off, staring off into space as Fawkes flew from Dumbledore's side and landed on Morgan's shoulder, trilling comfortingly and rubbing his head on Morgan's cheek.
"Why exactly did you stop him, Morgan?" Dumbledore asked.
"Because if he came back thousands will be slaughtered and he did kill my parents, and well, the obvious reasons. he can't be allowed to rule the Magical World, can he?"
"Exactly," Dumbledore said, smiling slightly "Which is what makes you so different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Morgan, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. If you want proof of your bravery, look at this sword" He said, pushing forward the sword on his desk.
For the first time, Morgan turned over the sword, rubies glinting in the sunlight, and saw the name engraved below the hilt,
Godric Gryffindor
"Only a true Gryffindor could've pulled this out of the hat, Morgan"
"Well, that's Ginny," Morgan said, feeling better, but still stubborn "I may accept now that Tom and I are very different but I still think that I'm more Slytherin"
Once again, amusement glinted in Dumbledore's eyes, "Oh? Then pray tell why you could pull the sword out of the hat?"
"Because I was extremely brave and courageous but not Gryffindor reckless, duh"
He smiled in a mischievous way.
"What you need, Morgan is some food and sleep. I suggest you go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban — we need our gamekeeper back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too," he said thoughtfully. "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. . . . Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"
Morgan nodded her goodbye but as she reached for the door handle, it opened and in walked Lucius Malfoy.