The Chamber of Secrets
Finally, as the Easter holidays approach, Harry and the rest of the second-years get distracted by their choice of additional subjects for third year. Harry scans the list of subjects offered, feeling completely lost as to which ones to choose… He doesn’t really fancy any of them. He only likes Quidditch. And in theory Defense Against the Dark Arts, but not the way Lockhart teaches it. If Harry could choose to drop the subject next year, he probably would.
In the end, he ends up ticking all the same subjects as Draco, figuring if he doesn’t care about the subjects anyway, he might as well pick ones in which he knows he’ll have the blonde for company.
”Will you write?” Draco asks as the Hogwarts Express rolls into platform nine and three quarters.
”It’s only a week!” Harry says with a grin.
”That doesn’t answer my question”, Draco grumbles and narrows his eyes at him.
Harry laughs.
”Still not getting my answer…”
”Yes”, Harry exclaims and rolls his eyes fondly. ”I promise, I’ll write…”
Draco’s lips twitch and his eyes drop down to Harry’s mouth — that suddenly feels very dry, Harry notices and he swallows thickly — The train finally lurches to a stop.
Draco steps right into Harry’s space and brushes his lips against his in a feathery kiss that is over before Harry gets a chance to shake himself out of his trance and kiss back.
Draco gives him a small smirk and shoves past him, winking cheekily at him over his shoulder before disappearing throught the nearest door.
Harry blinks and sucks in a breath, feeling a bit dizzy but he can’t stop smiling. A passing hufflepuff gives him a weird look, but he still can’t seem to wipe the smile from his face.
”You chose Divination?” Sirius says incredulously at the dinner table later that night.
”Yeah?” Harry says.
”Over Ancient Runes and Arithmancy?”
”Yeah”, Harry says and shrugs.
Remus gives him a fond look and smiles a little secretively, but doesn’t say anything. Sirius turns to his husband and gives him a look, but Remus merely shrugs as well.
”What am I missing?” Sirius demands, looking between the two of them.
”Divination might be fun”, Remus says cryptically, instead of answering his question.
”Don’t make me laugh”, Sirius grumbles. ”No wizard with half a brain takes any stock in that mumbo-jumbo… I still can’t believe Dumbledore introduced the subject in the first place. He obviously doesn’t believe in it myself —”
”That’s enough, Sirius”, Remus says. ”Your son will be taking Divination next year. He doesn’t need to be influenced by your opinions before he even steps foot in the classroom.”
”I don’t really care”, Harry says.
”Then why’d you pick it?” Sirius says, raising his hands in exasperation.
Harry only shrugs again and puts his knife and fork down, ”May I be excused? I promised Draco I would write him and I want to send Hedwig with the letter before he goes to bed.”
”Sure…” Remus says and smiles at him.
”You just saw him two hours ago”, Sirius says.
”I know, but…” Harry trails off with an embarrassed smile.
”And that’s what you’re missing…” he hears his daddy tell Sirius as soon as he’s left the kitchen.
Harry makes a point of writing Draco a letter every night. Even when he doesn’t get a reply on the fourth morning, Harry still writes a new letter later in the evening. The reply comes only an hour later, when Harry is getting ready for bed. He looks up and immediately recognises the eagle owl outside his window.
Beaming, he walks over and opens it. The owl lands on top of his shoulder and holds its leg out dutifully, allowing Harry to untie the small scroll before taking off again.
”Harry? What are you doing?” Remus says on the other side of his bedroom door. ”I thought I heard something—”
”You can come in, daddy!” Harry calls out and closes the window again.
The bedroom door slides open and Remus sticks his head through, looking around curiously.
”What are you doing?”
”Just received a letter from Draco!” Harry says and beams, unfolding the small piece of parchment and scanning the short message.
”At this hour?”
”Yeah, but I just sent him one like an hour ago…” Harry mumbles, his heart hammering in his chest as he keeps staring at the words scrawled on the parchment in Draco’s familiar, swirly handwriting…
You’re an idiot.
I love you.
D
”Okay, well, no more letters tonight”, Remus mutters. ”Give the boy a chance to miss you…”
Harry just keeps beaming and climbs into bed, putting the note from Draco in his nightstand drawer. Remus steps inside the room and starts to tuck him in, but Harry bats his hands away, ”Daddy… I’m not a baby…”
”Of course you are”, Remus says and sits down on the edge of the bed. ”You’ll always be my baby.”
”Daddy…” Harry mutters, blushing.
”Good night, Harry”, Remus says gently and leans down to kiss the top of his head.
”Good night…” Harry mutters back and burrows deeper down under the covers.
”Leave the door open?” Remus asks from the doorway.
Harry’s cheeks flush deeper and he shakes his head, even though the thought of the nightmares he’d be inviting with the total darkness is less than pleasant…
”Just a little bit, for my peace of mind?” Remus says, offering him an out.
”Okay, fine. If you have to…”
”Okay… Good night, cub.”
”Night daddy…”
When they get back from the Easter holiday, Flint has revised the Quidditch practise schedule for the third time this year. Harry quickly scans it and groans.
”Tonight? We’re not even playing tomorrow!” he says.
”I know”, Flint says with a malicious grin. ”But Gryffindor is…”
”Yeah, so —?”
”So it would really hurt their chances against Hufflepuff tomorrow if someone else happened to book the field tonight, preventing them from practising”, Adrian says and gives Flint an exasperated look. ”Are you at all familiar with the term ’good sportsmanship’?”
”Shove off”, Flint says and gives the other boy’s shoulder a rough shove.
”Don’t push me!” Adrian growls and shoves him back.
Harry and Draco exchange a look and quickly make their way out of the Common Room before the fight escalates further.
”What’s the deal with those two…” Harry mutters.
”I think they like each other”, Draco says and shrugs uncomfortably.
Harry gives him a weird look, ”That doesn’t make any sense! They’re always fighting!”
Draco shrugs again, blushing.
”I love you too, by the way”, Harry says with a wry smile, Draco’s eyes widen and he quickly looks around to make sure no-one’s around. ”Relax… No-one’s here.”
Draco gives him a sheepish look. Swallowing hard, Harry inches closer to the other boy gingerly, giving him plenty of time to recoil should he want to…
”Draco…” Harry murmurs. ”Can I… I really want to…”
”What?”
”Kiss you…”
Draco lets out a shaky breath and smiles shyly, then tilts his head and gently captures Harry’s lips with his own. Harry’s stomach does a somersault and his fingertips prickles, but he steps even closer to the other boy and puts his hands on his hips… Draco raises his arms and puts them loosely around Harry’s neck, pressing closer…
That’s his heart, Harry thinks when he feels the subtle throbbing against his own chest — for some reason, the thought of Draco’s heart beating, and beating that hard just because Harry’s kissing him, makes the kiss feel all the more intense — Harry hums low in his throat and Draco starts licking his way into his mouth, as if he wants to taste the sound…
Finally, they come apart again, both of them breathing heavily and smiling like idiots… But Harry doesn’t care what he looks like, because he feels brilliant!
They can hear Flint and Pucey’s voices on the other side of the concealed door and step back from each other just before the wall rearranges itself and reveals the two older boys, still bickering relentlessly.
”Potter, Malfoy, let’s go!” Flint snaps and storms off down the corridor.
”My book bag…” Harry says.
”Just bring it”, Adrian says. ”Marcus will have a fit if we’re late for practise.”
Harry shrugs, and hoists the bag onto his shoulder and the three of them make their ways out of the dungeon and towards the quidditch pitch.
Of course, by the time the team has changed into their quidditch uniforms, the Gryffindor team has shown up and most of their allotted practise is spent watching Flint and Wood flex their muscles and scream in each other’s faces.
Finally, the gryffindors give up and leave the pitch again and Flint smirks as he watches them go. He turns towards the rest of the team and tells them to do some laps around the pitch and then hit the showers.
”You know you’ve wasted everyone’s time, right”, Adrian bitches.
”Yep, especially the gryffindors!” Flint says with a smug grin.
However, as it turns out, Flint needn’t have bothered because the next day the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams have only just started to warm up before the match when Professor McGonagall comes marching out onto the field carrying a large, purple megaphone through which she declares the match cancelled.
Oliver Wood almost crash lands in his hurry to get to her and protest, but the old witch ignores him and continues addressing the crowd, telling all the students to head to their Common Rooms where their respective Heads of Houses will give them further information.
Harry and Draco exchange a worried look, then start making their way down from the slytherin stands.
Once all the slytherins are gathered in the Common Room and the Head Boy and Girl have both finished a head count, Professor Snape holds out his hands to call for quiet and then proceeds to tell them that there has been another double attack — two more students have been petrified, although he won’t tell them who — Harry feels his stomach drop, this is it, he’s going to have to tell Snape about Riddle’s diary and Hagrid…
”All students will return to their house common rooms by six o’clock in the evening”, Snape states seriously. ”No student is to leave the dormitories after that time — no exceptions — and you will all be escorted to each of your classes by a teacher… No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher… All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed—”
”What —!” Flint gasps and is immediately hushed by Adrian who is, as always, squeezed into his side on one of the sofas.
”— And there will be no more evening activities”, Snape finishes in a loud voice, sending a glare Flint’s way. ”Unless the culprit behind these attacks is apprehended soon, I regret to inform you that it is likely Hogwarts will be closed.”
”Closed? For how long?” someone pipes up.
”Indefinitely”, Snape says curtly. ”So I urge anyone who thinks they might know anything, anything at all, to please come forward. Thank you.”
”We have to tell him”, Harry whispers to Draco.
”Now?” Draco hisses.
”We agreed—!”
”I know, but… Yeah, alright. Get the diary.”
”It’s in my bag”, Harry mumbles.
He starts digging through his book bag, but he can’t seem to find the diary so finally he turns the bag upside down and pours its entire contents out on the floor between his feet… It’s gone…
”Where is it?”
”It was here — I don’t understand —”
”When did you last see it —?”
”I always keep it in my bag!”
”You sleep with under your pillow”, Draco counters and Harry immediately feels his cheeks flush. ”Maybe you left it there this morning?”
”Maybe…” Harry mutters.
They run up to their dormitory and Harry quickly lifts his pillow and covers, but the diary isn’t in his bed. He crouches down and checks underneath the bed as well, just in case it could have fallen to the floor during the night, but it’s not there either… Last time I remember seeing it was when I put it in my bag, Harry thinks… But not this morning, it was yesterday —
”Quidditch practise!” he exclaims and stands up again. ”Last night. I left the bag in the changing rooms!”
”You don’t think —?”
”Someone must have stolen it from my bag, when we were out on the pitch!”
”But… Why?” Draco says with a frown. ”Why would anyone want to take it?”
”Whoever had it in the first place, whoever tried to get rid of it, they must have found out I had it and decided to steal it back from me —!”
”Okay…” Draco says slowly. ”So what do we do now? We can’t go to Snape. Not without proof. There’s no way he’ll believe us without the diary. If anything he’ll give us detention for disregarding the new rules five seconds after he told us about them…”
Harry nods. Draco’s right. They can’t go to Snape or any of the teachers, not without the diary… If only there was some way of pointing them in the right direction, without them knowing about it… Maybe plant a clue — No, that’s stupid —
”Hang on”, Draco says. ”We could talk to Hagrid.”
”What? Are you mad —?”
”No, listen! If we convince the oaf to turn himself in, we don’t need any proof. No-one will even know we had anything to do with it. We were in the dorms the whole time, Hagrid just developed a conscience!”
”Okay, and how exactly are we going to convince Hagrid to turn himself in?”
”Blackmail”, Draco says simply and shrugs.
”We don’t have any proof!” Harry exclaims in exasperation.
”He doesn’t know that”, Draco says with a smirk. ”Come on, it’s worth a try… If he doesn’t believe us, we’ll just have to make him feel bad about all the people that have been attacked so far and express our worry that the next one will be killed, just like that girl fifty years ago…”
Harry finally agrees to Draco’s plan and digs out James’ old invisibility cloak from the bottom of his trunk and drapes it over the both of them. They slowly and carefully make their way through the castle, mindful of all the teachers, prefects and ghosts now patrolling all the corridors. Finally they make it to the Entrance Hall without knocking into anyone and slip out the doors.
They keep the cloak on until they reach Hagrid’s hut. Harry rolls it up and stuffs it into his pocket while Draco raps on the door. Immediately Hagrid’s bloodhound starts barking and howling on the other side of the door and Draco shrinks back and hides behind Harry’s shoulder.
The door flies open and Harry finds himself staring at the end of a loaded crossbow and swallows… Yeah, this was a great plan… Let’s blackmail the giant with the crossbow…
”H-Hi Hagrid…”
”Harry? What’re yeh — is that Draco Malfoy?”
”Y-Yeah, Draco and I just wanted to — eh — to talk to you?”
”Oh. Right. Well, I dunno — not the best time —”
”It will only take a minute”, Draco pipes up, still half-hidden behind Harry’s shoulder.
”Oh, all righ’ then… C’mon in with yeh…”
Harry and Draco squeeze past the half-giant and enter the hut. Harry hoists himself up on one of the stools at the large table in the middle of the big room and gives Draco a glare when the blonde starts wiping the seat of one of the other stools with his sleeve before clambering onto it, but Harry shouldn’t have worried about it; Hagrid hardly seems to notice their presence, in fact he barely seems to be aware of his own actions as he goes about making them all tea and nearly extinguishing the fire in the process… Harry notices he keeps glancing out the window as well…
”So, did you hear about the attacks?” Harry asks him and winces as the half-giant fumbles with the massive kettle and half of the content splashes onto the floor.
Hagrid grunts an affirmative and pours the boys a mug of hot water each, having completely forgotten the tea bags, but Draco thanks him politely anyway and makes a show of sipping the steaming water. Harry just shakes his head at him, then turns back to Hagrid.
”We wanted to talk to you about —”
Hagrid turns away to cut a slice out of a huge fruitcake, but a sudden knock on the door startles him and he drops the whole thing on the floor. Harry and Draco whip their heads around and stare at each other in panic. Harry hops down from the stool and quickly pulls the invisibility cloak out of his pocket again. He tosses the flimsy fabric over himself and Draco, making sure it covers both of their feet before backing them into the furthest corner of the hut.
Hagrid grabs his crossbow again and flings the door open again.
”Good evening, Hagrid…”
Hagrid immediately lowers the crossbow again and steps aside. Albus Dumbledore walks in followed by a short, stocky wizard that Harry has only ever seen in the Prophet but recognises immediately; it’s the Minster of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, wearing a purple travel cloak with a matching bowler hat.
The parts of Hagrid’s face that are visible amidst the hair and beard have gone ashen and clammy and he watches the other two wizards anxiously as he puts the crossbow down next to the door again.
”Bad business, Hagrid”, Fudge says shortly. ”Very bad business — had to come — four attacks on Muggle-borns, I mean to say, things have gone far enough — Ministry’s got to act!”
”I never”, Hagrid croaks and looks to Dumbledore with imploring eyes. ”You know I’d never, Professor Dumbledore, Sir!”
”I want it understood, Cornelius… that Hagrid has my full confidence”, Dumbledore says calmly.
”Look, Albus”, Fudge says and fidgets with his hat. ”Hagrid’s record is against him, it’s as simple as that. The school governors have been in touch, I have got to take him —”
”Take me?” Hagrid repeats, his voice trembling. ”Take me where? Not — not Azkaban p-prison?”
”For a short stretch only”, Fudge says hurriedly, avoiding the half-giant’s glossy eyes. ”Not a punishment, you understand, just — just as a precaution!”
Suddenly there’s another loud rap on the door. This time Dumbledore walks over and opens it. Draco lets out a startled gasp and Harry quickly elbows him in the ribs. On the other side of the threshold is none other than Draco’s father himself, Lucius Malfoy.
”Already here, Fudge”, the blonde wizard says with a satisfied smirk. ”Good, good…”
Completely ignorng Dumbledore and Fang’s low growls, he strides into the hut.
”What’re yeh doin’ here?” Hagrid says uncomfortably, throwing a worried glance toward the corner where Harry and Draco is hiding. ”Get outta my house!”
”Oh, my dear man”, Lucius says with a breathy chuckle. ”Please believe me, I take absolutely no pleasure being inside your — er — you call this a house?”
Draco shifts his feet uncomfortably and Harry elbows him again.
”No, I simply called at the school and was told the Headmaster was here”, Lucius continues.
”And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?” Dumbledore asks calmly, but his light-blue eyes seem to be flashing behind his half-moon glasses.
”Dreadful thing, Dumbledore”, Lucius says and retrieves a roll of parchment from his sleeve and holds it out. ”But the governors feel it’s time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension. You’ll find all twelve signatures on it…”
”Oh, now, see here, Lucius”, Fudge stammers, looking alarmed. ”Dumbledore suspended… I don’t know… Last thing we want now… I mean to say, in this time of crisis…”
”The suspension of the Headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge”, Lucius says smoothly. ”And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks… Well, you can imagine we’re concerned… We all have chidlren or grandchildren attending this school, after all…”
”Yes, I know, but… Look… Lucius, if Dumbledore can’t stop the attacks, then… I mean to say, who can?”
”That remains to be seen”, Lucius says and Harry thinks he couldn’t look less concerned about it, in fact he was more or less smiling. ”But all twelve of us have voted and it was unanimous, so…”
”An’ how many did yeh have ter threaten an’ blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?” Hagrid bellows furiously.
”Dear, dear…” Lucius tuts. ”That temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid… I woud advice you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won’t like it at all.”
”Yeh can’ take Dumbledore, without him the muggle-borns won’ stand a chance —!” Hagrid roars.
”Calm down, Hagrid…” Dumbledore says quietly, without tearing his cold gaze away from Lucius. ”If the governors do indeed wish for me to step aside, I will… However—”
Harry bites his lip to stop himself from gasping, because for one horrifying second he’d been sure that those light-blue eyes had flickered from Lucius face and landed straight on him and Draco, as if Dumbledore could see them, despite the invisibility cloak.
”You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me… You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it…”
There is a moment of tense silence. Lucius purses his lips and gives Dumbledore grave nod.
”Admirable sentiments, indeed… I daresay we shall all miss your — er — highly individual way of running things, Albus…”
Striding over to the door, Lucius holds it open for Dumbledore and gives him another mocking bow as the older wizard brushes past him and exits the hut. Smirking at Fudge, Lucius disappears out the door as well.
”Well, Hagrid…” Fudge mumbles, fidgeting with his hat. ”Let’s go, chap… No point delaying the inevitable, what…”
Hagrid stands up with a deep sigh, but before leaving he straightens up and speaks to the room at large, ”If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they’d have ter do is follow the spiders… That’s all I’m sayin’… Oh, and someone’ll need to feed Fang while I’m away… All righ’ I’m coming!”
Fudge merely blinks owlishly at him.
Harry and Draco waits until they’re certain Hagrid and Fudge have gone far enough away from the hut so they won’t hear them, before they remove the invisibility cloak.
”Now what…” Harry says.
”What do you mean?” Draco says. ”We don’t have to do anything, it all worked out anyway!”
”But… With Dumbledore gone…”
”But they arrested Hagrid”, Draco counters. ”So it doesn’t matter!”
”I guess…”
”Come on, let’s get back to the dorm before Snape finds out we’re missing and gives us detentions every night until fifth year!”
The next morning they find out that the two girls who’d been attacked and taken to the hospital wing was Hermione Granger and a Ravenclaw prefect by the name of Penelope Clearwater. Harry looks over at the gryffindor table and feels a stab of sympathy at the morose looks on the Weasleys’ faces.
Draco on the other hand couldn’t be more pleased, Harry thinks wryly, watching the blonde eagerly jot down a quick message on a piece of parchment.
”I’m writing my mother”, he says excitedly. ”I need to tell her I’m the top of all my classes now, you know, while it’s still true!”
”You better not let the gryffindors see you gloat about this”, Harry says. ”Ron will kill you…”
It’s during their last lesson if the day, Herbology, while pruning a Abyssinian Shrivelfig, that Harry notices several very large spiders scuttling across the lawn outside, heading in a line towards the Forbidden Forest. He pokes Draco in the arm and points them out, but the blonde just frowns and shrugs.
”Remember what Hagrid said?” Harry hisses. ”He said to follow the spiders…”
”So?” Draco says and goes back to his own Shrivelfig and gives it a jab with his shears. ”I’m not going into the Forest. Especially because of that oaf. For all we know he just said that to lure us into danger…”
Harry somehow doubts Hagrid would do such a thing, but then again if he really is the one who’s been opening the Chamber and letting a monstrous spider loose on innocent students all this time then he obviously isn’t who Harry thought he was…
”You’re not going either”, Draco says curtly, without tearing his eyes away from the plant in front of him.
”What do you mean?”
”You’re not going into the Forest.”
”You can’t tell me what to do!” Harry says indignantly.
”I’m not telling you, I’m asking you”, Draco says smoothly, then turns his silvery eyes on Harry and gives him the cutest pout he’s ever seen. ”Please?”
”What if it isn’t Hagrid?” Harry says stubbornly.
”Only yesterday you were convinced it was Hagrid”, Draco says. ”Isn’t that why we risked detention, or expulsion, or our lives, by leaving the castle after hours?”
”Our lives were not at risk”, Harry mutters. ”Stop being so melodramatic… I’m just saying…”
”Well, don’t. It’s none of our business. Just leave it to the grown-ups.”
”I just have a bad feeling…” Harry mumbles.
He tries to forget about the whole thing, as Draco asked. But the very next day, while suffering through another Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, the anxious feeling returns to his gut.
He keeps replaying the scene in his mind, trying to work out what it all means… Dumbledore looking right at him and saying he wouldn’t be truly gone as long as there were people at Hogwarts who believed in him, and that help would always be given to those who asked for it…
And then Hagrid telling them to follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest… Harry isn’t any more keen on revisiting the Forest than Draco is, but his curiosity is eating away at him…
The monster he’d seen in Riddle’s memory was definitely a spider of some sort, and Hagrid had kept it as a pet… But it escaped… Harry saw it escape… So if that spider is now in the Forest, and not in the Chamber of Secret at all, then…
Then the spider isn’t Slytherin’s monster…
Which means Hagrid was innocent and the culprit is still at large, still in control of the real monster and the students are still in danger…
”Come now, why the long faces?” Lockhart exclaims, beaming at them all from the front of the class. ”Don’t you people realise the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away!”
If anything could convince Harry that his suspiscion was right, then Lockhart stating the opposite was at the top of the list. The more the man tries to persuade them all that the danger has passed, the more determined Harry gets. He will sneak out of the castle tonight and head into the Forest. He will take his invisibility cloak and he will find that spider — he will find out the truth of what happened fifty years ago!
As soon as the other boys have gone to sleep, Harry slides out of bed and gets dressed as quietly as possible. He slips the invisibility cloak on in the Common Room and sneaks out, dodging patrolling prefects and teachers all the way to the Entrance Hall where he waits until the coast is clear before carefully sliding the lock back on the large oak doors and edging outside through the tiny crack.
He runs across the moonlit grounds, the cloak fluttering around his ankles. When he reaches the edge of the Forest, he lights his wand with a Lumos spell and then, taking a deep breath to steel himself he ventures into the darkness of the Forest.
As soon as his eyes get used to the darkness, he starts seeing movement on the ground in front of him and his heart starts hammering with excitement… Hundreds of spiders scuttle away from his wand light and hurry deeper into the Forest… He follows them, listening intensely for any noises…
Deeper and deeper into the Forest, the trees grow so close together the starry sky is completely hidden from view overhead and Harry’s cloak keep snagging on the branches. Deciding it’s more trouble than it’s worth, Harry removes the cloak and stuffs it into his pocket before continuing the trek.
After another twenty minutes, Harry stops to catch his breath and stoop down to look for spiders when he suddenly hears a clicking noise behind him. Heart twisting in his chest, he quickly wheels around, brandishing his glowing wand — but before he can even think of a curse, something long, thick and hairy has grabbed him around the middle and lifted him right off the ground!
With a startled yell, he starts swinging his arms around wildly, but only hits empty space… Whatever is holding him up is out of his reach and keeps dangling him the air… If only he knew in which direction to point his wand, he might be able to hit it with a Disarming Charm or a —
The thing starts shaking him — no, it’s moving, it’s running — the wind is whipping him in the face — It’s taking me, it’s running away with me, this is it, they’ll never find me —
Suddenly they reach a clearing of some sort and the creature drops Harry on the ground. The wind is knocked out of him and he gasps. Flipping over onto his back, he has one moment to notice the stars overhead before his surroundings register and his stomach drops…
Spiders… Nothing like tiny ones he’d followed into the Forest — Tiny compared to these, that is… When he was following them, they’d been the largest spiders he’s ever seen… Until now —
These spiders are gigantic, larger than the monstrous spider he saw in Riddle’s memory even… Harry has seen smaller cars… They have massive pincers that click threateningly, or excitedly maybe… hungrily maybe… Huge, black eyes staring at him… Eight to each spider… That’s a lot of eyes… I’m so dead…
”Aragog!” the creature above him calls out into the darkness, pincers clicking with each syllable. ”ARAGOG!”
From the middle of a dome-shaped web, yet another spider appears, twice as big as the biggest ones in the group and Harry gapes in horror.
”What is it?” the spider Aragog says.
”A human!”
”Is it Hagrid?”
”No. Stranger.”
”Kill it then. I was sleeping—”
”I’m a friend of Hagrid’s!” Harry shouts quickly, thinking on his feet. ”I — I was sent here by him — He — He needs help!”
”Hagrid has never sent humans into our hollow before”, Aragog says slowly, all eight eyes fixed on Harry and flashing darkly.
”He’s in trouble — up at the school, there have been attacks and — and — they think Hagrid did it, like — like last time!”
”But Hagrid didn’t do anything”, Aragog says. ”They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets and that Hagrid opened the Chamber and set me free. That is why they made him leave the school.”
”Yeah”, Harry chokes out, his chest tight and heart hammering hard. ”And you… You didn’t come from the Chamber of Secrets?”
”I—!” Aragog says. ”I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid when I was just an egg. Hagrid cared for me. He hid me in a cupboard in the castle and fed me scraps from the table. When I was discovered and blamed for the death of that human girl, Hagrid protected me. He took me into the Forest and I have lived here ever since. Hagrid even found me a wife, and as you can see, our family has grown… all thanks to Hagrid’s goodness… He is a good friend…”
”Yes”, Harry says, voice strangled with fear. ”He is… And now — now he needs your help —”
”My help? But how?”
”Well, if you didn’t kill that girl all those years ago —?”
”I never attacked anyone! That girl was found in a bathroom on the second floor, but I never saw any part of the castle except the cupboard in the dungeons where Hagrid kept me! Our kind prefers the dark and the quiet…”
”Right… Right, of course… And do you know what did kill that girl—?”
”Yes. The creature that lives in the castle is an ancient one that we spiders fear above all others. As soon as I sensed its presence, I begged Hagrid to let me leave.”
”Wh-what was it…?”
A chorus of clicking and rustling erupts around them and Harry flinches, half expecting to be suddenly ripped apart from all sides, but nothing happens.
”We do not speak of it”, Aragog says fiercely. ”We do not name it.”
”O-Okay, but —” he glances around at the spiders around him, sure they’re a lot closer than they were only minutes ago. ”But then — What do I t-tell the authorities th-then?”
”The authorities?” Aragog repeats, his eight eyes blinking slowly.
”Well…” Harry says, trying to sound confident despite his heart’s valiant efforts to jump right out of his chest. ”If I’m going to help Hagrid, I’m going to have to convince everyone that there is another — er — that it wasn’t you in the Chamber of Secrets — that the monster is still at the castle and Hagrid is innocent.”
”And how are you going to do that?”
”Well, I… I’ll just explain… it…” Harry trails off awkwardly, shivering as cold sweat breaks out over his skin and chills him.
”And who will listen to a little boy like yourself? No, I think this is just ploy to escape out of the Forest, but I cannot deny my children fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst…”
”I’m not just some boy!” Harry blurts out. ”I’m — I’m Harry Potter!”
”Harry Potter…” Aragog repeats slowly. ”The Boy Who Lived…”
”That’s — That’s right! That’s me!” Harry says hurriedly.
His mind is reeling, trying to come up with something — anything — that will convince these creatures that he’s worth keeping alive, but the only thing that comes to mind is His eyes are green as a fresh pickled toad…
”I’m — I’m famous — I’m —”
His hair is as dark as a blackboard,
I wish he was mine, he’s really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord
”— I’ve defeated the Dark Lord — twice!”
The only thing that can be heard is the clicking of pincers and Harry holds his breath, tensing every muscle in preparation, getting ready to bolt or struggle, to fight for his life… I still have my wand… I can still make it out of here alive…
”And you really think you will be able to help Hagrid?” Aragog says finally.
”Yes”, Harry exclaims. ”Definitely. I’m the only one who can. I’m the only one who believes him, you see. So, I’m his only chance. They’ve already taken him to Azkaban, and… And they will most likely give him the kiss, unless I… I go back to the castle right now and tell them the truth! I’m the only one who can save his life! Truly!”
The seconds of tense silence that follow are the longest of Harry’s life. But finally, the massive creature blinks its eight eyes and starts to slide backwards, back into its domed web and before it disappears from view it calls out to the others, ”Let the human go!”
Relief rushes into Harry and he collapses back onto the forest floor, his arms and legs shaking terribly… Get it together, he tells himself. Get up… Get out of here before they change their minds…
He struggles to his feet and focusing on putting one foot in front of the other he starts making his way back out of the forest. It’s not until he slips back inside his dorm and collapses face down on top of his four-poster bed that he relaxes.
”Where the Hell have you been?” a voice hisses in the darkness and he startles. ”Tell me you didn’t go into the Forbidden Forest by yourself in the middle of the night!”
Harry scrambles up to sitting, lighting his wand again and holding it over his head he can just make out Draco’s anxious face from the other bed.
”I… I…”
”You’re unbelievable! You could have been killed!”
”I nearly was”, Harry says faintly.
Draco joins Harry on his bed and Harry tells him about everything that happened in the forest. By the end of the story, he’s almost stopped shaking.
”So you were right”, Draco says. ”Slytherin’s heir is free and the monster’s still on the loose.”
”Hey…” Harry says as a thought strikes him. ”Aragog said the girl was found in a bathroom. The girl that got killed fifty years ago, she was killed in a bathroom on the second floor.”
”So?”
”So… What if she never left?”
Draco frowns in confusion.
”Come on…” Harry says eagerly and scrambles off the bed and shaking out his invisibility cloak again. ”I have to check something out — are you coming with me?”
”Now? You were almost just killed, and you’re already off again!”
”It’s okay, it won’t be dangerous, I promise!”
The look Draco gives him would suggest he’s not inclined to believe that, but he joins Harry under the cloak anyway and wordlessly grabs his hand. Harry smiles at him and gives his hand a gentle squeeze.
They make their way out of the dungeons and up to the second floor.
”Where are we going?” Draco whispers.
”Over here… Girls’ bathroom…”
”What, why?”
”You’ll see… C’mon…”
Harry carefully slides the door open, mindful of the ’Out of Order’ sign that swings precariously on its peg. Once inside the bathroom, he removes the invisibility cloak from himself and Draco. The ghost girl is perched on top of the cistern of one of the toilets and looks up in surprise when Harry pushes the door closed again with a click.
”Oh, it’s you again…” she says. ”What do you want this time?”
”Hi, Myrtle”, Harry says and smiles kindly. ”I actually came to see you.”
”Really?” she says, a silver blush making her cheeks seem less transparent.
”Yes, I wanted to ask you something… If you don’t mind…”
”What?” she murmurs.
”I wanted to ask you how you died.”
Myrtle straightens up proudly with such force she floats several feet into the air and she shakes he pigtails with a giggle, ”Oooohh it was dreaful! I happened right in here, you know… I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well… I’d hidden in here because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses — I was crying actually — and then I heard somebody come come in, they said something that sounded really funny, I think it must have been a different language — anyway, I could tell it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go use the boys’ toilet instead, and then —” she swells a little more and her face shines like she’s describing falling in love or receiving an honour mention or something equally pleasant, except… ”Then I died…”
”How?” Harry presses.
”I’m not sure”, she says, gazing over at the sinks behind Harry and Draco. ”All I remember is seeing a pair of big, yellow eyes… And then my whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away… And then I came back — I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see — Oh, was she ever sorry for having laughed at my glasses—!”
”Yes, that’s great”, Harry says quickly. ”But where did you see the eyes? And could you see anything else? A face? Body?”
”Oh, it was over there somewhere”, she says and points towards the sinks vaguely.
”Harry, we need to get back”, Draco says.
”Hang on…” Harry hurries over to the sinks and starts examining them, but they look just like ordinary sinks.
”We need to go”, Draco insists. ”Now…”
”I think this is it — here somewhere — this is the entrance to the Chamber — I’m sure —”
”All the more reason to leave!” Draco snaps. ”Or haven’t you seen enough monsters for one night? What’s wrong with you! We’re going back to the dorm now! You can tell Snape everything tomorrow!”
”Tomorrow it might be too late!” Harry snaps.
”Fine, let’s go tell him right now! But let’s go!”
”Okay, fine…” Harry mumbles and with a final, furtive glance at the nearest sink he gets to his feet again and drapes the invisibility cloak over the both of them. ”See you later, Myrtle!”
They make their way to the staff room at the other end of the castle and Harry removes the cloak and hides it behind his back while Draco raises his hand to knock on the door.
”All teachers return to the staff room”, McGonagall’s amplified voice suddenly rings out in the silence and echoes around them; Draco jerks his hand back as if burned and whips his head around to stare at Harry in panic. ”Immediately, please.”
Thinking fast, Harry drapes the cloak over the two of them again and quickly guides Draco to the side of the door. They wait in tense silence.
Professors Flitwick and Sinistra are the first to arrive, and as soon as they’re through the door to the staff room, Harry pushes Draco in front of him and follows them. They back into a corner, still hidden under the cloak, and watch as the room fills up with more teachers.
”Why are we hiding?” Draco whispers.
”I want to find out what’s going on…” Harry whispers back.
Some of the teachers exchange worried looks, others look confused or irritated. Finally, McGonagall arrives and a hush immediately spreads through the room.
”It has happened”, she says in her most authorative voice. ”A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself.”
A chorus of gasps and terrified whispers ripples through the small crowd. Professor Flitwick lets out a squeal. Professor Sprout claps both hands over her mouth and shakes her head in horror. Snape is the only one, except McGonagall herself, who remains stoic, but Harry can tell he’s gripping the chair in front of him particularly hard, his knuckles whitening.
”How can you be sure?” he asks McGonagall quietly.
”The heir of Slytherin left another message”, she replies curtly, but her face is whiter than Harry has ever seen it and her lips are trembling slightly. ”Right underneath the first one.”
”And what does it say?” Snape asks, even quieter than before, as if he doesn’t really want to ask at all.
”It says… Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever”, McGongall’s voice finally breaks.
Flitwick burts into tears and Madam Hooch sinks limply onto the nearest seat, as if Lockhart had removed all the bones in her body… Speaking of which, Harry thinks, scanning the crowd, where is Lockhart?
”Who is it?” Hooch says hoarsely. ”Which student?”
”Ginerva Weasley”, McGonagall says. ”I did the head-count myself. She’s the only student missing from gryffindor.”
”Is everyone else accounted for?” Hooch says and looks between the other Heads of Houses and they all nod. ”That’s something, at least…”
”Yes”, McGonagall says. ”We’ll have to send them all home in the morning… I’m afraid this is the end of Hogwarts —”
The door to the staff room bangs open suddenly and several people jump, including Harry and Draco. For a second, Harry almost expected to see Dumbledore waltzing in, but it’s not Dumbledore… It’s Lockart, and he’s beaming.
”So sorry — dozed off — what have I missed?”
The other teachers look at him with glares ranging from irritation to pure hatred. Harry would think it funny if the circumstances were different. Lockhart, as always, is completely oblivious to the less than positive reactions he’s getting.
”Just the man”, Snape’s silky voice slithers through the silence and he slowly steps out from behind the chair and approaches the clueless Lockhart with a small, cold smile. ”The very man… A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last.”
Lockhart blinks owlishly at the other man, his own grin fading rapidly as Snape’s smile grows.
”M-My m-moment? I’m sure I don’t unders—”
”That’s right, Gilderoy”, Professor Sprout says. ”Weren’t you saying just last night that you’ve known all along where the entrance to the Chamber is?”
”I — well, I —”
”Yes, didn’t you tell me you were sure you knew what was in it?” Flitwick pipes up.
”D-Did I? I don’t recall —”
”I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn’t had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested”, Snape says smoothly, sliding another step closer to Lockhart who cringes back. ”Didn’t you say that the whole affair had been bungled and that you should have been given free reign from the first?”
”Well, that’s settled then”, McGonagall says briskly. ”We’ll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We’ll make sure everyone’s out of the way and you’ll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free reign at last.”
Lockhart stares around at his stony-faced colleagues helplessly, but no-one comes to his rescue.
”V-Very w-well then…” he says in a small voice, lower lip trembling slightly. ”I’ll — I’ll be in my office, getting — getting ready!”
As soon as the door clicks shut behind him, McGonagall sniffs haughtily and turns back to the others.
”Well, that’s got him out of the way, at least… The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students of what’s happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow and instruct them to pack their belongings immediately. Will someone please contact Miss Weasley’s parents, as well?”
”I’ll do it”, Sinistra says solemly.
”Thank you, Aurora.”
As the teachers start moving, Draco starts prodding Harry’s arm insistently and gestures towards the door. Harry nods and they quickly make their way around the room, keeping as close to the wall as possible. They manage to slip through the door before Snape and start running towards the dungeons.
”Sa- Salazar!” Harry gasps as they thunder to a stop outside the Slytherin Common Room and the wall starts to rearrange itself.
”Go, go, go—!” Draco hisses and pushes Harry in front of him through the doorway.
”He’ll know — The door won’t seal itself fast enough —” Harry gasps, looking over his shoulder, sure he can hear footsteps approaching behind them.
”Doesn’t matter”, Draco says, pulling on his arm. ”He won’t know who — if we just — get into the dorm — come on!”
They thunder inside the dorm and collapse on their beds, quickly getting under their covers.
”Wha’s goin’ on?” Seamus croaks from his bed.
”Nothing!” Harry and Draco say in unison.
”Harry? Draco?”
”Go back to sleep!” Harry hisses.
”Wha’re y—? You’re not having sex are you—?”
”Shut the Hell up, Finnigan!” Draco snaps furiously.
”What’s going on?” Blaise grumbles from somewhere in the darkness. ”Will you keep it down, I’m trying to sleep!”
”Tell it to Malfoy and Potter!” Seamus grouses. ”They’re the ones shagging and waking everyone up!”
”SHUT UP!” Draco yells.
”What… Is going on… Here…?” an all-too-familiar voice murmurs.
Everyone falls silent immediately. Harry’s stomach sinks. They’re going to get caught. He’ll be serving detention until his sixth year.
The lanterns roar to life, bathing the dormitory in a warm, green glow. Professor Snape is standing just inside the door, his dark eyes narrowed and lips pressed together.
”Malfoy and Finnigan are fighting”, Blaise mutters churlishly.
”I didn’t do anything, it’s Malfoy and Potter!” Seamus protests.
”You’re the one yelling!”
”Only ’cause them love birds over there woke me up!”
”Enough!” Snape snaps. ”Everybody in the Common Room now!”
”I swear to Merlin, Finnigan”, Draco whispers furiously as soon as the professor has left the room and jabs his finger into the Irish boy’s chest. ”If you breathe a word about Harry and me outside this dorm, I will have you expel—”
”—Don’t you threaten me! I can snap you like a twing!” Seamus hollers.
”Will both of you stop fighting!” Harry snaps. ”Snape will kill all of us — let’s go!”
Snape stands like a grim-looking statue in front of the fireplace until every single slytherin has taken a seat somewhere in the Common Room and only when he has everyone’s undivided attention does he relay the information about a student having been captured and the remaining students being evacuated in the morning.
There is a series of muted gasps and whimpers amongst the students and they exchange worried looks. Even Pansy, who usually waves away any talk of monsters with a nonchalant hand wave, sure of her own safety because of her pureblood status, looks anxious.
”There is no need to be afraid”, Snape says. ”All attacks have taken place in corridors, so as long as you stay in your dorms or the Common Room, you will be safe… Now, go pack your belongings and try to get some rest. I will come and collect you in the morning and escort you off the school grounds and the Hogwarts Express will be waiting to take you home… Prefects, please help the younger students…”
Harry and Draco look at each other.
”And make sure no-one leaves the Common Room.”
Harry whips his head around and finds Snape’s narrowed eyes fixed on him. He swallows thickly and barely suppresses the impulse to duck his head in submission. Snape holds the eye contact for another tense second, then finally turns away and strides across the room towards the door.
”Professor —!” Harry blurts out.
Wrenching his arm free when Draco grabs his sleeve, Harry jumps up from the sofa. Snape stops abruptly and swirls around to face him and Harry only hesitates for a split second before jogging up to him.
”I… I need to talk to you. I need to tell you something. It’s important.”
Snape narrows his eyes and they bore into Harry’s like the man can see right through him, right to his inner most thoughts. It takes all of Harry’s self-control not to flinch and turn his face away.
”Very well, if it’s so important…” the Potions Master murmurs. ”Come with me.”
Snape leads the way to his office at the end of the corridor and taps the lock with his wand before holding the door open for Harry who steps inside. The walls are lined with shelves, some of them filled with peeling old textbooks but most are stacked with jars and boxes of ingredients. Snape’s personal potions supplies, Harry guesses.
”Have a seat”, the man mutters and strides over to the desk, standing behind it and waiting for Harry to sit down first before dropping down in his own high back chair.
Harry is reminded of the chairs in Dumbledore’s office that were fluffy and comfortable. Snape’s choice of furniture is fittingly the opposite of Dumbledore’s. It makes Harry smile, but he quickly schools his face into a serious frown when he catches Snape’s eye.
”What did you need to tell me?” Snape says. ”And this had better not be about the childish bickering I witnessed in your dormitory earlier.”
”No, Sir”, Harry says. ”I think I’ve found the entrance to the Chamber.”
Snape blinks. Whatever he had expected, it clearly hadn’t been that…
”Where?”
Harry releases a shaky breath. The fact that Snape hasn’t questioned him as to why he thinks he’s found the entrance, but seems to take him seriously, makes the whole situation seem… Bigger, somehow. More real.
”In a bathroom on the second floor. It’s always out of order because there’s this ghost —”
”Moaning Myrtle.”
”Yeah. She’s the girl who got killed the last time the Chamber was opened.”
Snape’s eyes snap back to Harry’s.
”I talked to her. She told me”, Harry adds.
”She told you…”
”Yes, Sir.”
”That’s funny. When I talked to her she didn’t seem to remember much about how she was killed at all, except seeing a pair of big, yellow eyes.”
”Well… Yeah, but… No — No, wait — she also — she heard a boy’s voice! Someone was in that bathroom, I think opening the chamber, and they were speaking a different language, Myrtle said — she said it sounded funny, and I think — I think it was parseltongue! Just think about it!” Harry leans forward in his chair excitedly, the pieces all falling into place even as he’s speaking. ”If Slytherin built a secret chamber that only he himself or his heir could open, doesn’t it make sense that the way to open it would be to — to speak in parseltongue? Sir?”
Snape says nothing for a long moment and Harry’s excitement starts to simmer down again. Draco was right. Snape would want proof. If only Harry still had the diary…
”That does make sense”, Snape murmurs finally. ”And it also explains a few other things…”
”What… What things? Sir?”
”Well, that voice you’ve been hearing for one thing…”
”What?” Harry says, falling back against the backrest of his chair again, feeling at a loss.
”I took the liberty to check with Madam Pince what books Miss Granger had been reading before her attack. One of them had a page ripped out. Madam Pince was quite livid when she found out. But fortunately she was able to tell me what had been on that particular page — her memory is quite extraordinary — It was the section of the book describing an ancient creature known as a Basilisk… Have you heard of it?”
Ancient creature, Harry thinks with a jolt. That’s what Aragog said, as well.
”No, Sir. What is it?”
”It’s a type of serpent… A snake…”
”Snake…” Harry says breathlessly. ”So… That voice I heard… It was in fact—”
”A giant snake. Slytherin’s monster of choice. We should have guessed, really…”
”That’s why only I can hear it speak”, Harry says numbly. ”But… How has a giant snake been getting around the castle without anyone noticing?”
”If the entrance to the Chamber is indeed in a bathroom, I would think that would be obvious. Now… Unless you have any more information for me, I will escort you back to your dorm—”
”What? But—”
”I will make sure the information is passed on to—”
”Lockhart?” Harry exclaims incredulously. ”You’ve got to be kidding me! He’s completely useless!”
Snape’s chest swells slightly. Harry recognises it from all the other times he’s infuriated the man and knows he just swallowed a sigh or the impulse to snap something at him. But Harry doesn’t care! They don’t have time to sit around and wait for Lockhart to screw up first, before someone who’s actually qualified has a go. Ginny will be long dead by then!
”Not… Lockhart…” Snape says slowly. ”Dumbledore.”
”Oh…”
”As soon as the students have been safely evacuated—”
”What — No! — That’s in the morning! It might be too late then!”
”Harry—”
”What about Ginny! She might die during the night! She might be dying right now as we’re sitting here doing nothing! We have to go right now!”
Snape stands up with such speed, Harry flinches. The man’s eyes are flashing furiously.
”I am not going to ask you how you know the identity of the abducted student… I am not even going to ask you how you knew to talk to Moaning Myrtle… I don’t want to know… I am going to escort you back to your dormitory, and you are going to stay there… All night… And if I discover that you have left the safety of your dormitory — for any reason — you will recieve a year’s worth of detentions… And I will schedule every single one of those detentions for when the Slytherin team has practise, forcing Marcus to replace you… Have I made myself clear?”
”But —”
”NO BUTS!” Snape roars. ”Don’t make me floo your fathers, Pot- Harry!”
Snape’s chest is heaving and his eyes are blazing. Harry just stares at him, hardly daring to blink. He’s never seen the man so angry. The closest he’s ever come was when Lockhart bungled up the spell to mend Harry’s broken arm, and even then he hadn’t raised his voice like this. Harry hangs his head and mumbles a Sorry, Sir.
”Now. I don’t want to hear another word”, Snape says once he’s got his temper back under control, his voice dangerously low but eyes still black with fury, Harry notices when he glances up quickly. ”You will go to your dormitory… You will pack your things… You. Will. Go. To. Bed.”
Harry nods.
”Good”, Snape says shortly and strides over to the door.
Harry follows him silently, feeling like a kicked puppy and probably looking like one too.
Snape mutters the password to the Slytherin Common Room and gestures for Harry to enter first, then follows him inside. Several older students are sitting in the Common Room, talking in hushed voices or playing games to distract themselves from everything that’s going on. They all look up curiously when Harry and Snape enter and Harry feels his face flush when Snape continues to walk towards the second year boys’ dormitory instead of just dropping him off in the Common Room… I bet he’s going stand over my bed and make sure I change into my pyjamas as well, he thinks bitterly.
He doesn’t, but he does remain in the doorway until Harry has walked over to his bed and sat down. With one last sweeping glance over the other beds in the dorm, Snape gives Harry a curt nod and leaves, sliding the door closed as quietly as possible.
As soon as the door has clicked shut, the other boys stop pretending to sleep and sit up eagerly. Harry looks between them and feels slightly amused despite everything.
”Well?” Seamus demands. ”What happened?”
”What did you tell them?” Harry asks Draco.
”Most of it”, he says with a shrug. ”What did Severus say?”
”He believed me. But I think he’d already figured most of it out himself. Also, he’d figured out what the monster is…”
The other boys gasp in excitement and crawl a little closer to the edges of their beds.
”It’s a — er — Basilisk”, Harry says. ”You guys know what that is?”
”Yeah”, Draco says breathlessly. ”It’s a serpent, but huge…”
”Yeah”, Harry says. ”That’s why I could hear it talk. It’s essentially a snake, isn’t it, so it speaks parseltongue.”
”A Basilisk?” Blaise says. ”I thought they were mythological creatures? I didn’t think they actually existed?”
”Well, apparantly they do…”
”They can live for hundreds and hundreds of years”, Draco says. ”So it fits… And it will literally kill you just by looking at you! And that ghost girl, she said the last thing she saw before she died was a pair of big eyes!”
”But how come no-one’s been killed this time then?” Blaise says. ”They’ve all been petrified, no-one’s actually died… Did they not look in its eyes for long enough, or something?”
”That wouldn’t matter”, Draco says. ”All it would take is a split second… But maybe…”
”What?” Harry says.
”Maybe they didn’t look it in the eyes at all, maybe they — I don’t know — just looked at it or —”
”Creevey had his camera up”, Harry says, remembering suddenly. ”Maybe he saw the basilisk through the camera lens!”
”And Finch-Fletchly must have seen it through Nearly Headless Nick!” Draco says eagerly. ”What about the others? Mrs Norris?”
”There was lots of water on the floor that night — remember? — maybe she just saw the basilisk’s reflection!”
”I heard they found a mirror next to Clearwater and Granger!” Seamus chips in.
”Yeah, yeah, yeah”, Blaise says. ”But what else did Snape say, Harry? What’s he going to do about it?”
Harry immediately feels his excitement deflate again and sits back heavily against the headboard of his bed.
”Nothing. He’s going to make sure all the students are safely evacuated from the castle in the morning, just like he said in the Common Room, and then he’s going to contact Dumbledore and tell him everything… But by then it might be too late for the Weasley girl, won’t it? All night in the Chamber with a basilisk? I don’t know what Snape’s thinking…”
”Why do you care about the Weaslette?” Draco says with a suspiscious frown.
”What do you mean?” Harry snaps. ”Why do I care if a girl dies? Oh, I dunno, maybe ’cause I have heart?”
”Nevermind”, Draco mumbles and looks down sheepishly. ”You’re right…”
Yeah, I’m right, Harry thinks passionately. I can’t just sit here and let Ron’s sister die down there! I don’t care if I never get to play Quidditch again — I have to do something!
Mind made up, Harry jumps off the bed and shakes out the invisibility cloak with determination. Draco watches him with huge, terrified eyes and before Harry has even opened his mouth the blonde is shaking his head furiously.
”I have t—”
”I’ll tell on you!” Draco exclaims. ”I’ll — I’ll scream — right now!”
”Draco!”
”No!” the blonde yells panic-stricken. ”You’ll get yourself killed, I won’t let you!”
”I have to do something!”
Draco scrambles off the bed and grabs Harry by the arms and stares into his face with huge, imploring eyes.
”You have done! You’ve told Snape, now let the grown-ups deal with it — please, Harry!”
”Harry, mate”, Seamus says hesitantly. ”There’s nothing you can do.”
”I can save her”, Harry says stubbornly. ”I know where the entrance to the Chamber is and I think I know how to open it. If I’m right, not even Dumbledore will be able to open it. It has to be me. So I have to at least try and save her.”
”Why does it have to be you?” Draco demands. ”You’re just a kid—!”
”I’m the only one in this castle, besides the Heir of Slytherin, who can speak parseltongue! And I think that’s how you open the Chamber!”
”If the basilisk doesn’t kill you, Snape will…” Blaise mutters.
Harry looks over at the other boy. His eyes are calculating and Harry knows he’s on his side.
”So cover for me”, he says.
Blaise says nothing, just keeps looking at Harry appraisingly. Draco looks between the two of them anxiously and shakes his head at Blaise.
”We can keep a lookout”, Crabbe grunts suddenly from the corner, surprising everyone. ”The Heir might show up, right?”
”Yeah, right”, Harry says, stunned that Crabbe had thought of something he’d missed himself.
”Stop encouraging him!” Draco shouts. ”I’ll tell on all of you — you’ll all get expelled — and my father will have your parents fired—!”
”Oh, give it a rest”, Seamus snaps. ”What’cho want us to do, hold him down so he can’t leave?”
”I am leaving”, Harry says and shoulders past Draco. ”But everyone else stay here. There’s no point in all of us getting — er — detention—”
”No”, Draco chokes and runs up to him.
For a moment Harry thinks he’s going to try and block the door, or maybe try to physically restrain him. But the blonde just bats a stray tear from his cheek and takes a deep breath.
”What are you doing?” Harry says with a frown.
”I’m coming with you—”
”The Hell you are, I said stay here—!”
”You are not going alone!”
We’re wasting time, Harry thinks in frustration.
”I’m coming with you”, Draco repeats. ”Or you’re not going at all.”
”Fine!”
Harry puts the cloak over the both of them and turns the door handle.
”Think this is the first time the Sorting Hat has made a mistake?” they hears Blaise say conversationally, before the door swings shut behind them.
Harry half expects to find Snape lurking in the corridor outside the Common Room, or stationed outside Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. But he’s nowhere to be seen. None of the teachers are. They must be really scared, Harry thinks and feels his stomach churn. Am I insane or what?
No, it’s the right thing to do, he tells himself. I’m the only one who can open it. I have to go.
Moaning Myrtle is floating around over the stalls when they enter the bathroom. She visibly perks up when they remove the invisibility cloak.
”Oh, hello Harry!”
”Hi Myrtle”, Harry mumbles. ”Have you seen anyone else come in here tonight?”
”Not since sun down”, she says brightly. ”I don’t know about before then. I was in the Prefects’ bathroom on the fifth floor—”
”Okay, thanks”, Harry says and walks over to the sinks.
Crouching down, he starts to examine the pipes underneath the one Myrtle had pointed to the last time they were in here. And that’s when he finds it — a tiny snake scratched into the copper of one of the pipes — stomach lurching but mind reeling with excitement, Harry quickly stands up and turns the tap. Nothing happens.
”That tap’s never worked”, Myrtle says pleasantly.
”I think this is it… Somehow…” Harry mumbles.
”Then say something”, Draco suggest, although he looks terrified at the prospect. ”Something in parseltongue.”
”Ehm, right, yeah… Parseltongue…”
Harry realises with a pang that he doesn’t exactly know how to speak parseltongue, or how to start anyway. In Duelling Club he’d thought he’d been speaking English the whole time… He needed a snake… Maybe if he asks Draco to conjure one again?
Or, wait… Harry crouches down next to the sink again and brushes his fingertips against the scratches in the pipe… Maybe that’s why this is here…
Focusing on the image of the snake, Harry tells it to Open up… Nothing happens. He looks over at Draco who simply shakes his head.
Okay, try again… Really focus… Pretend it’s a real snake…
”Open up”, he says again, but this time he feels a rasping sensation in his throat.
The tap above him starts glowing bright white and then begins to spin quickly. Harry backs away, staring at it… It worked… It really worked… The whole sink begins to move and suddenly sinks and disappears down a huge hole in the ground.
Harry steps up to the edge and looks down. It looks like a huge pipe… So that’s how the Basilisk has been moving around inside the castle…
He sits down and lets his legs dangle over the edge, then looks over his shoulder at Draco who is standing as though petrified just inside the door.
”You should go get Snape”, Harry says. ”Or anyone. Go get help.”
”I… I t-told you, I’m n-not letting you go alone!”
”We’re going to need help. You were right, we’re just kids.”
”Then come with me!”
”I’m just going to go ahead and check it out, see if I can find Ginny…”
”No—”
”I promise I won’t do anything reckless, I’ll wait for you to return with the teachers!”
Draco hesitates. Harry gives him an encouraging smile, then scooches forward and pushes off the edge before the other boy can protest.
He rushes downwards, further and further through the pipe until he’s sure he must be deeper underneath the school than even the dungeons. Then the pipe evens out and he shoots out and lands heavily on a the damp stone floor of what looks like a dark tunnel.
”Lumos”, he whispers and starts to follow the tunnel to the dim light from his wand.
A sudden thump behind him makes his heart jump into his throat and he quickly wheels around, holding his wand aloft with a trembling hand. Something is moving on the floor… It’s not the Basilisk, though… It can’t be, it’s not big enough… No, it’s definitely a person, getting to their feet gingerly… Maybe it’s the Heir—
The shadowed person gets closer and closer to him and Harry tenses his muscles, readying himself for a fight or —
The person finally reaches the faint glow from his wand tip and Harry releases a breath in a whoosh, relaxing again… There’s no mistaken that white blonde hair… Or stubborn pout…
”Draco”, he groans. ”I told you to go get help!”
”And I told you no.”
Harry just shakes his head, then sweeps his gaze down the other boy’s body, noticing a slight limp.
”Are you hurt?”
”I’m fine”, Draco mutters. ”I just twisted my ankle when I landed… Let’s go.”
Harry rolls his eyes in exasperation and snakes his arm around the other boy’s middle, allowing him to put some of his weight on him. Draco shoots him a glare, but puts his arm around his shoulders. They continue walking along the tunnel in tense silence.
Suddenly, the outline of something huge and curved lying across the tunnel comes into view and Harry’s heart leaps into his throat. Draco’s hand clamps down on his shoulder painfully and he stops dead in his tracks.
”It’s not moving”, Harry whispers. ”Maybe it’s sleeping…”
”Then shut up”, Draco hisses.
”Stay here”, Harry whispers, letting go of his waist.
Holding his breath, he keeps inching forward… The thing is massive, but it’s definitely not moving, not even breathing… Creeping closer and closer, Harry finally realises what he’s actually seeing… Not the Basilisk, but its shed skin…
”It’s — It’s okay”, he tells Draco. ”It’s just… Skin…”
Gulping, Harry carefully squeezes around it and tries not to pay too much attention to its size. Draco manouvres himself around it as well, a lot more gracefully even with his sprained ankle. Harry holds his hand out, just in case he needs to grab it for support… Draco manages to keep his footing, but grabs his hand anyway and interlaces their fingers wordlessly.
”Okay?” Harry whispers.
Draco nods. They start walking again, following the tunnel deeper and deeper. It turns, then turns again and then finally they reach what at first appears to be a dead end, except there is a carving on the wall depicting two entwined snakes with emerald eyes… Harry swallows convulsively, trying to dislodge his heart from where it’s hiding just behind his Adam’s apple… He knows what he has to do, and this time he doesn’t have any trouble pretending the snakes are real — looking at one of the emeralds, Harry has the unpleasant feeling that he’s actually staring into a real, live eye —
”Open”, he hisses.
The snakes spring to life and slither away from each other. The wall cracks down the middle and the two halves slide aside revealing a large chamber with several rows of pillars. Draco’s hand is squeezing his so hard it’s almost cutting off his blood circulation, his fingertips tingling in protest.
Taking a deep breath, Harry gently tugs on the other boy’s arm and they enter the dimly lit chamber.
”Close your eyes”, Harry murmurs and keeps his own eyes narrowed into slits, ready to squeeze them shut at the slightest noise or hint of movement.
Halfway down the chamber, a massive statue comes into view at the far end of the Chamber. Harry stops walking and cranes his neck back to stare up into its face, then trail the long, stone beard down its body —
”Harry?” Draco whispers uncertainly.
Harry’s heart stutters; there on the floor in front of the statue’s feet, a small body lies crumpled. Harry would recognise the bright red hair anywhere. Ginny.
Harry let’s go of Draco’s hand and pushes him to the side, manouvering him into the shadows behind one of the pillars.
”Stay”, he chokes out. ”Keep your eyes closed!”
Not caring about making any noise anymore, he starts running. Collapsing on the floor next to the girl’s body and lifts her head and shaking it desperately, ”Ginny? Ginny! Wake up!”
Please, please, please don’t be dead —
Her head lolls from side to side, her skin is cold and deathly pale… But her eyes are closed… Maybe she’s just petrified or — or —
”She won’t wake”, a soft voice says.
Harry startles and spins around. A tall, dark-haired boy is leaning against the nearest pillar watching them calmly. He’s oddly blurry around the edges, almost like a ghost, but Harry immediately recognises his face —
”T-Tom? Tom Riddle?”
Riddle nods silently, his bright eyes glittering in the dim light and never wavering from Harry’s face, making him feel oddly exposed — like when Snape’s eyes had bored into him and he’d felt sure the man could read his thoughts…
”What… What do you mean she won’t wake? She’s not dead, is she?” Harry says.
”No, she is still alive… But only just…”
”Are… Are you a ghost?” Harry asks awkwardly.
”A memory”, Riddle corrects softly. ”Preserved in a diary for fifty years.”
The sixteen-year-old points lazily to something on the floor next to the giant statue’s left foot. Harry immediately recognises the diary… How did it get down here?
Never mind, that’s not important right now —
”You’ve got to help me, Tom”, he says and grabs Ginny under her arms and struggles to lift her. ”We’ve got to get Ginny out of here before — there’s a Basilisk — I don’t know where it is right now, but it could show up at any minute and… Please, help me?”
Riddle just continues to stare at Harry silently, making no move to help him lift Ginny’s lifeless body. Harry finally manages to hoist her halfway up and looks around for his wand… It’s gone.
”Did you see my —?”
Harry looks over at Riddle again. The boy is twirling Harry’s wand between his fingers idly.
”Thanks”, Harry says and holds out his hand for it, but Riddle continues to twirl the wand and a tiny smile stretches his lips. ”Listen! We’ve really got to get out of here! If the Basilisk comes—”
”It won’t come until it’s called”, Riddle says calmly.
Harry feels like someone just dumped a bucket of ice-cold water over his head. His heart starts pounding, harder and harder… Riddle’s smile stretches wider, but it doesn’t reach his eyes at all… His cold, calculating eyes… How could I ever think he was handsome?
Harry gently lowers Ginny to the floor again and takes a step closer to the older boy.
”Give me my wand back”, he says, grateful to hear his voice comes out steady.
”You won’t be needing it.”
”How did Ginny get like this, Tom?”
”Well, that’s an interesting question, Harry… And I’ll be happy to tell you… But first, you’re going to answer some of my questions. You see I’ve been waiting a long time for the chance to see you, to speak to you… Harry Potter… The Boy Who Lived…”
”H-How do you know about that? About me?”
”Well, thanks to Ginny actually… Little Ginny has been writing in my diary for months and months, telling me all of her pitiful worries and woes, how her brothers would tease her, how embarassing it was to come to school in second-hand robes, how she didn’t think the famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…” Riddle’s eyes glint and he raises an eyebrow. ”Well, she wasn’t wrong, was she…” he drawls and his gaze flickers back to where Draco is hiding for a split second.
”It’s very boring having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl”, he continues. ”But I was patient… I wrote back, I was sympathetic, kind… Ginny simply loved me… No-one’s ever understood me like you, Tom… I’m so glad I’ve got this diary to confide in… It’s like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket…”
Riddle lets out a high, cold laugh that sends a shiver down Harry’s spine.
”You’ll find I can be very charming, Harry Potter… So little Ginny poured her soul out to me, and it so happens that her soul was exactly what I needed…”
”Wh- What do you m-mean?”
”I’ve been growing stronger and stronger, feeding off her deepest fears and darkest secrets… In fact, I eventually grew stronger and more powerful than little Miss Weasley and could start pouring some of my soul into her…”
”What…” Harry breathes, his ears ringing and chest tightening. ”What do you mean…”
”Haven’t you guessed it yet, Harry Potter? It was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets… Ginny who strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the wall in their blood—” he lets out another laugh. ”She didn’t know what she was doing at first, of course. The diary entries certainly got more entertaining after that, though… Dear Tom, I think I’m losing my memory. There are feathers all over my robes and I don’t know how they got there… Dear Tom, I can’t remember what I did on the night of Hallowe’en but a cat has been attacked and I’ve got blood all over my front… Dear Tom—”
”Okay, enough!” Harry snaps in a strangled voice, the ringing in his ears worsened by Riddle’s high-pitched voice.
”She got suspiscious eventually”, Riddle says with a smirk. ”She tried to dispose of the diary. And then who should find it but you… The one person I was most anxious to meet!”
”And why did you want to meet me?”
”Tell me, Harry Potter… How is it possible that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time?”
Harry’s heart stutters in his chest; for a split second he’d been sure that he’d seen a red gleam in Riddle’s eyes… But no, I must have imagined it… All this talk of Voldemort must have brought back the memory or… Reminded me of my nightmares… That’s all…
”How did you escape with nothing more than a scar, while Lord Voldemort’s powers were destroyed?”
”What do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time—”
”Voldemort is my past, present and future… Harry Potter…” Riddle says softly and raising Harry’s wand, he begins to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words: TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE — and then giving the wand a wave, he rearranges the letters until instead they spell out: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
Harry feels himself go numb… He’s beyond fear and anger now, beyond cold… He feels nothing.
”You see?” Riddle whispers gleefully. ”It was a name I was already using while at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only… I was hardly going to keep my filthy muggle father’s name forever… I, in whose veins run the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle who abandoned me before I was even born, just because he found out my mother was a witch? No… I fashioned myself a new name… One I knew would one day be known and feared by all wizards and witches, when I would become the greatest sorcerer in the world…”
”Well, you’re not”, Harry says quietly. ”I’ve seen you. You’re a wreck. You’re weak and pathetic and ugly…”
Riddle’s lips twitch, ”Ugly… As opposed to my sixteen-year-old self, you mean?”
Harry swallows thickly, feeling bile rise in his throat. ”And Albus Dumbledore is still considered the most powerful wizard in the world… You’ve always been afraid of him, haven’t you? Well, you still were, even at your peak…”
Riddle’s face falls and contorts hideously into a scowl.
”Albus Dumbledore has been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!” he snarls.
Thinking fast, Harry realises this is his only chance to get out of here… Distract him… Keep him talking… What was it Dumbledore said in Hagrid’s hut?
”He’s not really gone”, Harry says, willing Riddle to believe him, willing Riddle to doubt, to fear. ”He’ll never truly be gone, not as long as there are people at the school who believe in him…”
Riddle opens his mouth to speak again, but freezes — listening intently —
Then Harry hears it too… It sounds like music, like flute music except clearer and more beautiful than any flute Harry has ever heard before… It grows and grows and seems to fill Harry’s heart with warmth that spreads to his arms and legs and he feels hopeful —
Suddenly, flames erupt on the top of the pillar Riddle is standing next to and the sixteen-year-old flinches, eyes flickering in panic —
A large crimson and golden bird appears in the fire, its long tail feathers gleaming like gold and a brown bundle clasped in its talons… Flapping its swan-like wings, it soars down towards them… Riddle ducks, but the bird soars past him and lands on top of Harry’s shoulder instead, the bundle falling to the floor in front of them.
”That’s a phoenix”, Riddle mumbles, frowning at the bird.
”Fawkes?” Harry says and the bord blinks calmly at him.
”And that… that’s the old school Sorting Hat”, Riddle says with an amused huff and nods towards the bundle on the floor. ”How lovely… So this is what the great Albus Dumbledore sends his defender — a songbird and an old hat! Do you feel protected now, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe?” He sneers. ”To business… Twice — in your past, my future — we have met, and I have failed to kill you. Why? And remember, the longer you talk, the longer both of you get to stay alive…”
Harry frowns. Why is Riddle trying to buy time? He glances down at Ginny’s lifeless body and something clicks into place in his mind… Remembering what Riddle said about growing stronger as Ginny grew weaker… He’s draining the life out of her!
”Well?” Riddle prompts. ”How did you manage to survive?”
”No-one knows”, Harry says shortly.
Riddle’s eyes narrow thoughtfully, ”No…” he says slowly. ”That’s not quite true, is it, Harry Potter… You’re lying to me…”
”I’m not”, Harry says, shrugging the shoulder Fawkes isn’t sitting on.
”You’re hiding something, though…”
”Lily sacrificed herself to save me, that’s all I know”, he says and a gleam in Riddle’s eyes tells him that makes more sense to him than it ever did to Harry. ”You know what, I don’t really feel like talking anymore.”
”So your mother died to save you. Yes, that is a powerful counter-charm. So, there is nothing special about you after all… I had wondered, you see… There are some stranger likenesses between us, after all — surely you must have noticed?”
”No”, Harry says in a strangled voice, willing himself to believe it.
”Oh, come now… Both halfbloods, both orphans—”
”I am not an orphan!” Harry yells, his fury finally getting the better of him.
Riddle pauses with a cold smile, then continues as if Harry never spoke at all, ”Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Salazar himself… But—”
”Why don’t you call the Basilisk, so we can get this over with?”
”Are you feeling brave, Harry Potter…”
”Or I can call it, if you prefer?”
Riddle snorts humorlessly, ”Parseltongue won’t save you. It only obeys me… The true Heir of Salazar Slytherin…”
”Fine, so call it.”
Riddle’s right eye twitches, and there’s definitely a red gleam in them now… But Harry isn’t so scared anymore. Maybe it’s the comforting weight of the phoenix on his shoulder, or maybe he’s gone so far beyond scared that he doesn’t even feel it anymore, but he just feels light… Numb and empty… But warm at the same time. Hopeful. Strong.
Riddle steps forward and raises his hand towards the huge statue behind Harry and starts to wheeze out a series of hisses, but Harry understands them as words — Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four
Harry turns around and stares up at the ancient statue of Salazar Slytherin. The massive stone mouth opens, wider and wider, revealing a huge dark hole… As soon as Harry senses movement in the darkness, he squeezes his eyes shut —
”DRACO, RUN!” he bellows.
He feels Fawkes push off his shoulder and take flight. He resists the urge to reach out and try and grab a hold of its tail feathers.
The floor trembles as something heavy hits it.
”Kill him”, Riddle hisses.
Keeping his eyes shut, Harry begins to run blindly with his arms out-stretched and feeling for any obstacles. He can hear Riddle’s high-pitched laugh echo behind him — Tripping over his own feet suddenly, Harry falls headlong and gets the wind knocked out of him when he hits the hard stone floor… He scrambles to his feet, but falls again… He can hear the Basilisk getting closer and closer, slithering over the floor behind him…
Getting up on shaky arms and knees, Harry tries to get his feet under him again —
Something heavy whacks against his side and he is immediately thrust into something solid, either a wall or a pillar, and again he gasps for breath, waiting for fangs to sink into his flesh, this is it, it’s going to kill me —
But nothing happens. He can sense frantic movement next to him and hears angry hisses, amidst which he can make out fragmented words like Kill and Tear and surprisingly Get away —
Frowning in confusion, Harry squints his eyes open just a sliver, just enough to see what’s going on… The Basilisk is right there in front of him, it’s body massive and bright green, but it’s raised itself high into the air, head thrashing around frantically, jaws open wide and swatting at —
Fawkes! Harry realises with a jolt. The phoenix is flying around the Basilisk head, scratching its’ skin with its’ sharp talons — and then suddenly it dives and Harry can see it’s long, golden beak sink out of sight and before he knows what’s happened, the Basilisk lets out a loud hiss that sounds almost like a wail and it turns its head, looking right at Harry —
Heart stuttering in his chest, Harry has time to think, I’m dead — before he realises that, No… No I’m not… What —?
But then he sees why; Fawkes has managed to peck out both of the Basilisk’s eyes, so instead of the yellow orbs that Moaning Myrtle described, Harry finds himself staring into two bleeding holes… Then the Basilisk turns its head away again, snapping blindly for the bird…
”Leave the bird!” Riddle hisses loudly. ”The boy is behind you! You can still smell him! Kill him! KILL HIM!”
The blinded serpent recoils and sways, hissing in pain and fury… It opens its massive jaws and Harry looks between the bared fangs and flaring nostrils and gulps… He quickly scrambles to his feet, getting ready to run… The serpent draws itself up, its massive tail whipping across the chamber and Harry ducks to avoid getting hit over the head.
Something soft hits him in the chest and he catches it instinctively — it’s the Sorting Hat —Clutching the ragged old hat in one hand, Harry starts running. The Basilisk makes a lunge for him, but Fawkes dives again, distracting it.
The Basilisk’s tail comes tearing throught the air again and Harry throws himself down on the ground, narrowingly avoiding a blow to the back of his head… Acting on panicked instinct, he puts the Sorting Hat on his head and thinks, ”Help! I need help! Please, please help me!”
No voice answers him, but something happens to the hat itself; it seems to tighten rapidly as if someone’s squeezing it and then something heavy drops down and hits Harry in the head…
”I said leave the bird!” Riddle hisses. ”The boy is to your left! Sniff — smell him!”
Wrenching the hat off again, Harry looks inside: a ruby encrusted, gold-hilted sword has materialised inside it… Without thinking, Harry grabs it with both hands and brandishes it in front of him with determination —
The Basilisk lunges blindly for him, but Harry throws himself aside and it crashes into the pillar instead… Barely affected by the blow, the head swerves around and lunges again — Harry feels the giant forked tongue lash the side of his head and he swings the sword blinding after it —
The Basilisk lunges for a third time and this time Harry stands his ground, putting his whole weight against the sword, he drives it into the roof of the Basilisk’s mouth —
With a horrible hiss, the Basilisk’s jaws snap shut and Harry just has time to let go of the sword and throw himself backwards before they close over him — but not fast enough… One of the fangs pierces the flesh of his arm and he lets out a shout as waves of indescribable pain courses through his arm and rapidly spreads throughout his body… It’s the poison, he thinks in a panic… I can feel the poison spreading…
Crumpling to the floor, he clutches the splintered fang that’s still sticking out of the puncture wound in his arm… Body convulsing slightly as the poison spreads throughout his system, Harry gathers his last strength to crawl backwards away from the Basilisk… Falling back against the wall, panting, Harry looks over at the beast and realises with a rush of relief that it’s dead.
”Harry! No, no, no—” Draco collapses next to him.
Harry tries to focus his eyes on him, but his vision has already started to swim.
”No, no, no…” the blonde keeps muttering frantically.
He grabs the fang with both hands and pulls it out of the wound. Harry winces in pain, his eyelids fluttering closed. He can feel Draco’s trembling hands press against the wound on his arm, pointlessly trying to stop the bleeding… But it’s too late, Harry thinks faintly.
”You’re going to be fine”, Draco says hysterically. ”Just — Don’t die — Stay with me — Hey! Listen to me! Look at me! I am not letting you die right now, okay!”
Harry reaches out with a weak arm and his numb fingers brush against the other boy’s shoulder briefly, before the arm falls heavily to Harry’s side again, too weak… I’m dying… Draco will never forgive me, he thinks.
Maybe I’ll come back as a ghost like Myrtle did… Wonder if Snape will still make me do detention…
They can hear echoing footsteps approaching. Harry’s eyelids flutter, but the whole chamber is swimming before his eyes, everything dissolving in a whirl of muted colours… You’re dead, Harry Potter, a voice murmurs cruelly in the back of his head — No, not in his head — Above him — Riddle — Images of his dad and daddy flash through his mind and he chokes on a sob…
”No, no, hey…” Draco says with forced calm. ”Don’t listen to him. You’re going to be fine. Really. I- I p-promise, okay… Just—”
”Isn’t that sweet…” Riddle drawls with a cold chuckle.
”You’re not going to die!” Draco whispers furiously, then lets out a startled yell, ”Hey! What—!”
One of Draco’s hands leave Harry’s arm and he starts cursing angrily. Harry focuses all of his remaining strength on opening his eyes and manages to squint up at the other boy and sees him flap his arm around, trying to swat away —
”Fawkes…” Harry mumbles.
The phoenix is seemingly trying to attack Draco and finally manages to give his other hand a peck. Draco lets go of Harry’s arm completely, swearing in pain. Much to Riddle’s amusement, who stands back and laughs as Draco cradles his injured hand to his chest, swearing at Fawkes as the bird sits down on Harry’s shoulder and bows its head somberly.
”Stupid bird!” Draco says angrily. ”Get away from him!”
”It’s okay…” Harry mumbles.
”Look, even Dumbledore’s bird knows you’re dead, Harry Potter…” Riddle says pleasantly. ”See what it’s doing? It’s crying.”
Harry blinks his heavy eyelids, managing to focus on the bird’s bright, yellow eye… Big, pearly tears are indeed swelling and rolling down its long beak…
”I’m just going to have a seat over here and watch you die, Harry”, Riddle says and lowers himself to the ground and leaning back aganist his arms, as if he was talking about sun bathing or something. ”Take your time. I’m in no hurry.”
Well, if this is how dying feels, it’s not that bad… I can’t even feel the pain anymore…
But what’s going to happen to Draco? Harry looks over at the other boy; He looks paler than Harry has ever seen him. His jaw bones jutting out as he grits his teeth and his pale grey eyes focused on Fawkes as well, but there’s a light in them… He looks thoughtful, excited even… Harry frowns; He would think his boyfriend would be a bit more upset by now…
”So ends the famous Harry Potter”, Riddle muses and lets out another cold laugh. ”Defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged…”
Harry’s eyelids and arms don’t feel quite so heavy anymore. He pushes himself up a little. Draco’s eyes snap up to his and widen. Harry blinks… Oh… Hang on… Looking down at the wound on his arm — No, no wound — Just a damp patch of pearly phoenix tears where the wound used to be! Of course, Harry thinks excitedly. Phoenix tears have healing powers!
”What are you doing?” Riddle snaps suddenly, jumping to his feet. ”What —? No! Get away from him! Both of you!”
The sixteen-year-old raises Harry’s wand and hisses a curse. A loud bang echoes throughout the Chamber. Fawkes takes flight and disappears into the darkness of the ceiling. Draco bolts and Harry jumps to his feet, eyes searching frantically for the sword… But it’s still embedded in the Basilisk’s skull… And anyway, what good would it have been against magic?
”You know, I think I prefer it this way…” Riddle says quietly as he strides up to Harry, eyes shining manically, pupils gleaming scarlet. ”Just you and me, Harry Potter… You and me… Go on, admit you’ve fantasised about it”, he chuckles wryly. ”I know I have… Not the same fantasy, maybe—”
His eyes widen suddenly and before Harry knows what’s happened, he lets out a piercing scream. Recoiling, Harry’s back hits the wall behind him and he breathes heavily, mind whirling frantically trying to comprehend what’s happening —
Riddle falls to his knees, still screaming in agony… Collapsing in a heap on the floor, he starts twisting and writhing, his body arching and contorting…
Then he’s gone.
Harry stares. His wand clatters to the floor, the only sign Riddle was ever there at all. Looking around in wonder, Harry sees Draco hunched over something on the floor… The blonde is gripping something in his hand and his chest is heaving… It’s not until he lets go and sits back on the floor that Harry sees what it is — it’s the basilisk fang that Draco pulled out of his arm, now embedded in Riddle’s diary… Riddle’s bleeding diary…
Draco holds his shaking hands up to his face, his face twisting in disgust… Inky black blood is dripping from them and also glistening on his pyjama shirt front… Harry struggles to his feet and runs over to him.
”You did it”, he gasps. ”You killed him!”
Draco only stares back at him, a whirl of emotions clouding his eyes.
”Let’s… Let’s get Ginny out of here and… And yeah…” Harry mumbles.
”Harry…” Draco says, voice trembling dangerously.
”I know, I’m sorry”, Harry says quickly. ”Can we just — Let’s get out of here, please? Let’s— Hey, where is Ginny?”
”In the tunnel”, Draco mutters with a disgruntled look at his hands and tries to flick the ink off them.
”You already got her out of here? When?”
”Earlier when you and Tom where having your little heart to heart”, Draco spits the words out.
”I didn’t even see… You’re just… Amazing!”
”Yeah. And I just saved your life, which means you owe me now. Which means the next time I tell you not to do something, you have to listen to me!”