(Y/N)'s POV
Before I stepped forward, Myrtle said something, "(Y/N), Harry, if you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet", she looked between us, as if to see if we were jealous of the other. "Cheers Myrtle, but I'm not planning on it." I said cheerfully.
We followed quickly. I lowered myself slowly into the pipe, then let go. It was like rushing down a slimy, dark slide, I would say it was fun if it wasn't so gross. I was beginning to wonder if it was charmed to be endless when the pipe bent and levelled out.
I shot out of the end with a wet thud, I hit the bottom with a crunch, I quickly stood aside as Harry and Ron came whizzing out of the pipe, too. "Where the bloody hell is this place?" "Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.
All three of us turned to stare into the darkness ahead. "Lumos!" I said, then I saw Lockhart, he was holding his nose and crying "U BROK MI NOWSE!" he whimpered, "Stop being a baby" I pointed my wand at his nose, "Episkey"
His nose cracked into place again as he let out a yelp "There, your precious modelling career is still intact. Not that you deserve it." Off we went, our footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.
"Remember," Harry said quietly as we walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..." "I have something for that actually" I said, holding up Hermione's scarf, "But, there is four of us" said Ron, looking at me confused.
"Oh my god, I'm an idiot" I thought, "Oops, my bad, didn't think it through" I said, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment. "Be quiet, listen out for it" said Harry
But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.
"(Y/N) there's something up there" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder. They froze, watching. I moved up to it, I could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.
"Maybe it's asleep," Ron said hopefully Harry edged forward to follow, his wand held high. The light slid over a gigantic snakeskin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.
"Blimey," said Ron weakly. There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way. "Get up," said Harry sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart. Lockhart got to his feet, then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground.
I jumped forward, but too late, Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face. "The adventure ends here, boys!" he said.
"I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body, say good-bye to your memories!" He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, "Obliviate!"
The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Out of instinct I pushed Ron and Lockhart, who were closest to the impact, away from the falling debris and sprinted In the opposite direction.
We ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor. Next moment, I was standing with Harry, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.
"Ron!" I shouted. "Are you okay? Ron!" Asked Harry. "I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "I'm okay" "this git's not, though, he got blasted by the wand" There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!" It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.
"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through, it'll take ages..." said Harry. They were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours... Me and Harry both knew there was only one thing to do.
"We will find Ginny, you two stay there and be safe, move some rock if you can. So we can get back through when we get her." Harry spoke next "If we're not back in an hour..." There was a very pregnant pause.
"Then, um, remember to tell people how handsome I was." I laughed shallowly. "And, Ron-" I paused, wanting to say something about seeing him later but that wasn't what came out of my mouth "Told you a spare would help."
He laughed, but it sounded closer to a whimper. "See you in a bit," said Harry, trying to inject some confidence into his shaking voice. "Yeah, see you later mate" I said, finally finding a voice of comfort.
We were walking down the long tunnel until we came to a door, it was engraved with snakes, each of them had emerald eyes "All you mate" I patted Harry on the shoulder. He did his parceltongue trick and the serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, "So, far so good" we were both shaking from head to foot, but still we strode on in.
The walls were stone, there was a large statue in the back of the room and had a face on it, I assume it was Salazar Slytherin, it had a pool of black water on either side of it, "So this is the chamber" I said in awe, I was about to make a joke about Slytherin being full of himself when I saw something, no someone, lying on the floor in front of us, someone with very red hair, I turned to Harry, he saw it too, we both sprinted over to it as fast as we could.
We fell beside Ginny, she was lying deathly silent and limp, "Don't be dead, please don't be dead" Harry muttered, he threw his wand to the side and shook her, at first I feared the worst, but then I saw her chest, barely rising, barely falling. From behind us a voice I didn't recognise confirmed my theory.
"She's still alive, but she won't wake" We both spun around, a tall skinny boy was holding Harry's wand, "Who the hell are you?" I asked, Harry seemed to recognise him, "Tom? Tom Riddle?" "Are you a ghost?" I was stunned into silence.
"A memory preserved in a diary for 50 years" he corrected, pointing toward the floor, lying open next to Ginny there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "You've got to help us Tom, there's a basilisk" he pleaded.
"It won't come until it's called" he said in a creepily calm voice. "What?" I enquired. "Quiet filth, this doesn't concern you" he said sharply, flourishing the wand, suddenly I couldn't move, I found it a struggle to even breathe.
I was stuck on the spot, unable to do anything, the full body bind had hit me, but somehow Riddle was keeping me suspended upright. "I knew I wouldn't like this guy" I thought. Tom then told us about what had happened, how he had taken control of Ginny and made her write the messages.
How he was the one attacking people, how he had been the one to frame Hagrid all those years ago, I was sat here seemingly suspended in time listening to him ramble on about how he was the cause of all of this.
"-I think Dumbledore might have guessed... Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did..." he frowned, "I bet Dumbledore saw right through you" smirked Harry,
"Well, he did keep an annoyingly close eye on me after that, so I preserved my memory in a diary, so one day someone after me could carry on Salazar Slytherin's noble work" he spat.
"Well it didn't work, in a few hours the mandrake draught will be finished, and everyone you have petrified will be ok again, even the cat!" Harry shouted at him, Riddle became agitated, and for a brief second, I could move again my mouth again. So I took my shot.
"Hahaha, Harry, your imaginary friend is a loser" I tried to goad him, Riddle turned to me, "SILENCE!" he threw me with the wand, still suspended, across the room into the air, until I came crashing back down onto the stone floor a few feet away, but the curse broke on impact. Perfect.
As I regained my bearings and stood up, he continued. "-My new target, was you, I have so many questions to ask you Harry Potter" "Like what?" Harry asked "How is it, that a baby, with no extraordinary magical ability was able to beat the most powerful wizard of all time? How did you escape, with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time" said Harry. "Lord Voldemort is my past, present, and future!" Riddle spat. He used Harry's wand to write out his name "Tom Marvolo Riddle", with a wave of his wand it changed to, "I am Lord Voldemort."
My heart was beating in my ears, it can't be, he's dead. He's been dead for years, Quirrell said he couldn't return to full power. "Idiot, either he's lying, or he's still weak, otherwise you would be dead already" said my cynical voice, it had a point, I tried to calm myself and I got ready to do something to help, I just had to figure out what.
Riddle continued, "You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? No, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" said Harry defiantly. "Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed. "He'll never be gone, as long as there are still people who remain loyal to him!" Harry shouted.
Riddle was about to retort but I had found my moment, he was mad again, he was off guard. "Speaking of which" slipped out of my mouth, so I had to move fast "Protego" I cast on both Harry and Ginny, Riddle span around and let out something like a hiss.
I gathered all my courage and pointed my wand at Riddle, "You're going to pay for hurting my friends and scaring my cat!" I said, he raised his wand, but mine was already pointed at him. "Reducto!" I shouted, sure if it had hit him, he probably would have turned into a fine mist and died, but it was Voldemort so I could forgive myself.
He dodged out of the way and the spell destroyed part of the wall behind him, so I tried again before he could get his footing,"Reducto" he dodged again, I knew if he got a spell off I would probably die, so I just cast any spell that came to mind, not giving him a chance to counter.
"Depulso", "Stupefy" he was hit by it but it didn't seem to faze him, so I tried a last ditch effort, with all the power I could muster, I yelled "Incendio" a wide torrent of red hot flame shot from my wand and he was engulfed in it.
"You are powerful for your age boy, but still nothing in the eyes of Lord Voldemort" he said, calm as ever, in the middle of the torrent. I opened my mouth to cast another spell but I didn't get it out, Riddle let out a shrill laugh and he motioned his wand towards me.
I was thrown again, halfway across the chamber, while I was hurtling through the air, I tried to cover my face and brace for impact. I skidded across the floor and landed by the entrance. I heard a "CRACK!" on impact.
I feared it was my wand, and that I was now defenceless but pain shot up my arm like lightning, I looked down and two of my fingers were bent out at odd angles, the index and ring fingers, my wrist was also clearly broken, blood was pouring out of my hand. I started to feel woozy and disoriented. "(Y/N)!" I heard Harry shout as I passed out.
Harry's POV
I glared at Riddle, who was letting out a dry eerie chuckle, he opened his mouth to speak but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder.
It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on my scalp and made my heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that I felt it vibrating inside my ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.
And out soared Fawkes the phoenix, carrying something in his talons, he landed on my shoulder and I noticed what he was carrying, it was the sorting hat. "That's a Phoenix, interesting" said Riddle curiously.
I heard a loud grunt behind me and turned to see (Y/N) getting to his feet, clutching his hand, he limped his way over to us. "Fawkes's song must have woken him up" I thought, I turned back to Riddle, smirking.
"No matter. Now, Harry I'm going to teach you both a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him... a songbird and an old hat"
He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. "Don't forget about the resident delinquent" (Y/N) let out a weak chuckle, Riddle just ignored him.
Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed, but I understood what he was saying... "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horror struck, I saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.
I backed away until I hit the dark chamber wall, I heard (Y/N) call out to me "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" I did as he said and held them tightly shut, but I felt Fawkes's wing sweep my cheek as he took flight.
I wanted to shout, "Don't leave me!" but what chance did a Phoenix have against the king of serpents? Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Then I heard Riddle address the serpent, "Kill them"
(Y/N)'s POV
A second after I called out to Harry I pulled out Hermione's scarf and with great effort using my off hand and wrapped it around my eyes, so I couldn't see the monster even if I wanted to, luckily I could still keep my eyes open behind the scarf.
So by looking at the ground beneath me I could make my way through the chamber. I felt the ground shake I knew what was happening, I could sense it, I could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Riddle laughed gleefully, "Don't bother trying to use Parceltongue, it only answers to me!"
Once I reached Harry, or at least what I hoped was Harry, it was hard to tell by just looking at his shoes, I said "Run!" we both turned and sprinted toward the tunnels. I heard a large "Smack" behind me, and Harry let out a pained cry, he must have tripped, I turned back when I heard the cry of Fawkes.
I was amazed, I could see it, in the crack above my makeshift blindfold I saw the snake was trying to attack Fawkes, he was soaring around its head, I couldn't see the snake, but it didn't seem very happy. After pulling Harry to his feet I simply turned back to the exit and sprinted for the tunnel we came from.
Riddle was shouting something in Parceltongue at it, then added, "It can still smell you" I heard Harry get up and dash to my side, from what I remembered there was a fork in the tunnel we were running to, so he went one way I went the other, the snake followed after him.
"Its blind (Y/N), its blind!" Harry called out to me, it echoed through the chamber as he sprinted into the tunnels. With that new knowledge, still running, I ripped off the scarf, my eyes quickly adjusted to the increase in light, and I turned back once more, doubling back and went sprinting after them.
On my way I tried to use my wand with my off hand "Episkey", my fingers cracked back into place, my wrist started to feel oddly hot, then ice cold, and suddenly I could move it again, but in my hurry I had missed full contact with my hand so my fingers still looked crooked but the pain stopped.
"Good enough" I thought, now switching my wand to my dominant hand again. I slowed down as I started reaching some noises up ahead, I tried to slow my breath so it couldn't hear me. Can snakes hear? Whatever, it makes me feel better.
I turned a corner in the pipework, following the noise of the snake when I found the basilisk and Harry, it had cornered him in a dead end of the pipes, I slid down the pipe I was hiding behind and tried to silence myself.
I peeked around the edge of the pipe and saw Harry, he was clutching the sorting hat , he looked terrified, my heart was beating in my ears again, I needed to draw its attention, I took a breath did something incredibly stupid, stepping out from my hiding place I shouted.
"LOOK AT ME I'M A HALF-BLOOD" The snakes head whipped round to look in my direction, I sprinted back the way I had come, I heard it slithering over the floor behind me. I sprinted out into the main chamber; the snake hot on my trail.
I just did the first thing I could think of, I ran to Salazar Slytherin's statue and started climbing, sprinting past a laughing Riddle, punching him in the head as I ran past for good measure, it didn't do anything, he didn't even flinch.
After a second of climbing it caught up to me, the blind Basilisk smashed its head into it in an attempt to kill me, I couldn't stay here it would find me eventually, so I did something even more idiotic then my last stunt, I jumped onto the basilisk's back.
I figured I could do some damage from here, it writhed and swayed trying to get me off but I clamoured my way onto its head, I put my wand to its already bloody eye and yelled "Incendio" the whole area around my wand was immediately engulfed in flame, but new problem.
I was now sitting on a giant flaming snake, I had to grip on as the snake retreated into a pool of water around the statue, attempting to put out the fire, but as it did I had to leap off its back, I landed and the air was pushed out of my lungs.
When I regained my breath, I let out a pained laugh "Guess I do have a strong grip", I looked around to see where I landed, I was about a foot away from Ginny, and I turned just in time to see Riddle slowly advancing towards me, wand drawn.
I fumbled for my wand but it was on the ground out of my reach, I was about to close my eyes and wait for whatever came next when I saw Harry come charging into my view holding a freaking sword.
Harry's POV
When I made my way to the main chamber, all I saw was (Y/N) lying flat on his back, wheezing and Riddle walking over to him, I knew I had to act fast, draw his attention to me somehow, in a panic I charged at Riddle hoping to hit him with the sword, he noticed me before I could.
Both he and (Y/N) looked at me, Riddle with a smirk, (Y/N) with wide eyes, I was now their focus, but that wasn't a good thing. "Come" said Riddle in Parceltongue.
The Basilisk emerged from the water hissing loudly, so loudly I felt like my eardrums would burst, I took a look at it and saw half its face was charred to the bone, but this didn't deter it, it still went in to attack me, in an attempt to save Riddle.
It lunged blindly, I dodged, and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged again; its forked tongue lashed my side. I raised the sword in both my hands, The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true I threw my whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth.
Warm blood drenched my arms, there was a searing pain just above my elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into my arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor. I collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, pulling out and dropping the sword, making it clatter to the floor a few feet away.
I crawled over to Ginny and (Y/N), pulling out the fang in my arm as I collapsed next to Ginny, (Y/N) was crawling to something, Riddle towered over me to gloat at his victory "Amazing really, how quickly Basilisk venom can spread around the body, I would say you have a minute left, don't worry Harry, you will be with your dear mudblood mother soon."
"He's a memory Harry, just a memory in a book" croaked (Y/N) who was struggling to reach for the sword. Riddle looked at him and smiled, "Yes, but its funny how much damage a silly little book can do, especially in the hands of a Silly. Little. Girl" he smiled.
"Fine then" I thought, grabbing the diary from Ginny, and the fang at my side, I looked up at riddle with a smirk, "What are you doing? Stop" he protested, I threw open the book to a random page and plunged the fang into it, as I did, ink seeped out of it like blood. The pages fluttered, and the image of Riddle was pierced by a blinding white light.
I turned the pages and stabbed again, another gaping hole appeared in Riddle, he lurched in pain, I closed the book and stabbed the closed cover, Riddle groaned and let out a scream of pain but continued to advance, then (Y/N) reached the sword with one hand and with a grunt of effort, he swung it down, it split some of the pages, Riddle split in two then exploded into brilliant light. Disappearing into nothing.
As soon as Riddle disappeared Ginny awoke with a start, breathing erratically, (Y/N) let out a long sigh of relief, the sword clattered out of his grip. He got to his knees and moved over to me, "Harry are you ok?" he looked at my arm and paled.
Ginny rushed to our side, she let out a gasp at the sight of us, and burst into tears, "Harry, (Y/N) it was me, I was the one wh-" (Y/N) pulled her into a one armed hug, "We know Gin, its fine, he's gone now" she started to cry on his shoulder.
(Y/N) was looking at me over Ginny's shoulder, he had a look of terror on his face, he knew there was nothing he could do for me, but I could tell he was trying to keep a smile on his face, for Ginny and for me.
"You know, if this is what dying feels like, its not that bad" I thought as darkness started to overtake me. I felt drowsy, everything around me was spinning, I could still make out a shape, it was bright red, so I recognised it, "You were brilliant Fawkes, I just wasn't fast enough" I said scratching his beak.
I heard what sounded like a whimper, at first, I thought it was (Y/N), but it was Fawkes, he was leaning over me and one by one, teardrops fell onto my arm, my eyes focused for a second, I watched as the teardrops rolled down my arm and onto the wound left behind by the basilisk.
It started to fade, the pain disappearing, then I remembered what Dumbledore told me in the office after Justin was attacked, "Phoenix tears have healing properties." My eyes focused again, I saw (Y/N) grinning at me, tears streaming down his face.
"The one thing that can save you just comes swooping in to save the day" he let out a slow chuckle and wiped his eyes on Ginny's shoulder "Just how lucky are you, Potter?" After a minute of sitting there and realising how lucky we had been to make it through this.
We decided to head back the way we had come. I collected the things Fawkes had brought us and Riddle's diary, pieces and all, (Y/N) went sprinting off somewhere and returned with his wand and the scarf he had come in with, although now it was caked in dried blood and dust.
He chuckled oddly "I never actually got to fight Snape, or Quirrell, so I'd say Voldemort is a pretty good start to my career of hunting dark wizards. Even if it was just a cheap knockoff." He smirked.
At first I was shocked he used the name so nonchalantly but thinking on it, it didn't surprise me, (Y/N) didn't really seem afraid of anything. Even Voldemort. Ginny started giggling but her emotions seemed to catch up to her once the gravity of the situation set in.
"I'm g-going to b-be expelled" said Ginny crying hysterically once we met up with Ron and Lockhart and the siblings had a teary reunion. "Not if I have anything to say about it" I assured her and Ron nodded in agreement. "You? are you kidding, once McGonagall finds out about this, I'm done for" chuckled (Y/N).