The beginning of the redemption
Then in a rush of wings Fawkes soars back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap - the diary. For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Harry seized the Basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.
There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then…
"No! Please!" cried Riddle his voice thick with emotion.
For a split second time seemed to come to a halt.
"Fawkes," cried Harry desperately. There was a bright flash of light as Fawkes flew down and started to cry pearly tears onto the ripped diary. The next moment Tom Riddle was on his back, in the middle of a pool of ink and blood. His breathing was ragged, but starting to even out. His eyes, which had closed, fluttered back open and immediately found their way to Harry's eyes.
"Why?" Was the only word he managed to pant.
"Because you're just a teenager. You haven't done anything wrong yet." replied Harry.
"A - apart from kill Myrtle," Tom admitted sheepishly. There was an awkward pause then Harry asked, "What about Ginny?"
"What about me?" came a small voice from near the base of the statue., "YOU!" she cried upon seeing Tom, "You!"
"Miss Weasley, I,"
"Harry - oh Harry - I tried to tell you at b-breakfast," Ginny cried upon catching sight of Harry, "But I couldn't say it in front of Percy. It was me…".
"Well actually it was me." Cut in Tom sheepishly.
" Shut up you," interrupted Ginny, " It was ME Harry - but I - I s-swear I d-didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he took me over - and - HOW did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary-"
"Um - I'm here and have no intention of hurting you again."
"Prove it!" Ginny demanded.
"I, Tom Marvolo Riddle, swear on my magic that I have no intention to harm others based on their parentage," Riddle intoned.
"How do I know you weren't lying" interrogated Ginny, not bothering to keep the suspicion out of her voice.
Tom hesitated, "Expecto Patronum." he whispered. A silver bear burst out of the end of his wand (yew, 13.5 inches, Phoenix feather) and growled at Harry and Ginny ready to protect its master. "C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here —" Harry said in an effort to comfort the distraught girl. "I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Harry helped her awkwardly to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and — w-what'll Mum and Dad say?" Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Harry urged Ginny forward; they stepped over the motionless coils of the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. Harry heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Harry's ears. "Ron!", Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"He heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall. "Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How — what — where did that bird come from?" Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny. "He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through himself. "How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand. "I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was
crying harder than ever.
"But — "
"Later," Harry said shortly. He didn't think it was a good idea to tell Ron yet who'd been opening the Chamber, not in front of Ginny, anyway.
"I was only going to ask who he is!" Ron muttered, jerking his head at Tom.
"Where's Lockhart?"
"Back there," said Ron, still looking puzzled but jerking his head up the tunnel toward the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see." Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself. "His memory's gone," said Ron. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here.
He's a danger to himself." Lockhart peered good naturedly up at them all. "Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"
"No," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry.
Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe. "Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" he said to Ron. Ron shook his head, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked uncertainly at him. "He looks like he wants you to grab hold…" said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there — "
"Fawkes," said Harry, "isn't an ordinary bird." He turned quickly to the others. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Professor Lockhart — "
"He means you," said Ron sharply to Lockhart. "You hold Ginny's other hand — " Harry tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt, Ron took hold of the back of Harry's robes, and Harry reached out and took hold of Fawkes's strangely hot tail feathers. An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through his whole body and the next second, in a rush of wings, they were flying upward through the pipe. Harry could hear Lockhart dangling below him, saying, "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic! "The chill air was whipping through Harry's hair, and before he'd stopped enjoying the ride, it was over — all four of them were hitting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place. Myrtle goggled at them. "You're alive," she said blankly to Harry. "There's no need to sound so disappointed," he said grimly, wiping flecks of blood and slime off his glasses. "Oh, well… I'd just been thinking… if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," said Myrtle, blushing silver.
"Urgh!" said Ron as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!" But tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face. "Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed. Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office. Harry knocked and pushed the door open.