The fastest to act among the children wasn't Harry, Ron, Draco, or Daphne, but Hermione.
In the light, there were things she couldn't do, ending up restricting herself to her wandwork.
In the light, she dared not use her Spell… not because she feared getting imprisoned, but because she knew it would be her friends who would end up in trouble.
In the light, Hermione could not let the beast within her howl.
In the dark, against these dark wizards, however, by the moment she sensed Daphne's panic, Hermione had already washed the surroundings in the moonlight.
Spell — Moonlight Sonata!
Tearing through her uniform, Hermione instantly became a Werewolf, towering over the others.
In one great lunge, she crossed the distance between them and Voldemort's memory.
Gilderoy Lockhart must have already let Voldemort know of their unique powers because they all had participated in the Triwizard Tournament.
However, Hermione had never used her Spell.
From the way Tom Riddle's eyes had widened, her transformation seemed to have truly caught him by surprise.
A beastly growl escaped Hermione's throat as she raised her claws and swept at the boy in front of her.
The fight felt like it would be over before it even began.
But then something happened that sent everything rolling downhill into chaos.
Tom Riddle held up his hand, and it wasn't empty anymore. From somewhere, he had pulled out a Wand… Ginny's Wand!
Just as Hermione's claws were about to rip him apart, a burst of light escaped the wand and hit the Werewolf square on the chest.
It sent the beast flying through the air, over the children, and then beyond Lockhart.
Before the Werewolf even landed on the ground, it transformed back into Hermione's true body.
Homorphus Charm and Knockback Jinx!
In a split second, Tom Riddle had cast not one, but two spells.
With a loud thud, Hermione struck the ground, her breath leaving her lungs, and then she skidded back over the wet floor, disappearing into the darkness beyond.
"Hermione!" The children screamed.
Tom Riddle smiled. "Kill them! Leave Potter to me!"
The blurry silhouette over Lockhart's silly face condensed even more, becoming something hideous — a contorted shadow of Tom Riddle himself!
Draco activated his Spell — Acute Sense — instantaneously.
Ron's Mecha Eye was already activated, a pain searing through his left eye now.
Harry's Brave Heart had come out the moment he had seen Ginny's Wand in Tom Riddle's hand.
Strangely, despite having three different Spells, the three boys instantly picked up on the spell Lockhart was about to cast.
Draco sensed it — the coming of death!
Ron's eye let him see the trajectory the Wand was about to follow!
Harry could already see a bolt of green lightning leaving the Wand!
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!!!"
Three red bolts met a green bolt of magical lightning, and the world lit up with blinding colors.
Booooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm!!!
The three boys struggled to keep their arms up, their eyes squinting against the whiteness.
Where the magic was melting into each other, white lava was getting spewed out, shadows dancing in the entire Chamber of Secrets.
Slowly, Lockhart took a step forward, a maniacal grin appearing on his face.
On the other side, Tom Riddle, with the ego of a giant, saw this scene with plain mockery.
No matter what the children did now, he would come back as the Heir of Slytherin, finishing the age-old job of wiping the filthy Mudbloods off the magical community.
Twirling Ginny's Wand between his fingers, he smirked.
It was then he saw a large book appearing over the blond girl sitting next to Ginny's body, black flames rippling off it.
Yes. Tom Riddle's eyes held a shimmer. He had heard of it. This magic was powerful… way more powerful than anything he had ever heard about when he was alive.
A pity it was in the hands of this silly girl.
"If you hand over that Book to me," Tom Riddle told her, "I will let you live."
Daphne's eyes shook. She turned her face toward him. Her eyes were blazing red. Slowly, she stood up, her wand shaking.
"Humph!" Tom Riddle scoffed. "I think I need to teach you all a lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against these strange powers…"
Tom Riddle looked up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. Then he opened his mouth wide and hissed —
-Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.-
Even through the roaring whiteness, Harry heard those words. "He… HE IS CALLING THE BASILISK!" he roared. "CLOSE YOUR EYES!!"
Closing their eyes was the last thing they could afford, but as they heard the rumbling of stones, their eyes snapped shut involuntarily.
Yellow, bulbous eyes shone out of the darkness as the Basilisk slithered out.
The moment it landed on the watered ground, it bared its fangs, eying Tom Riddle.
Riddle hissed again. -Kill them.-
This time, Harry didn't need to translate the words.
They knew what was coming for them.
Daphne's mind had gone numb. "Please… Please… Please…" she muttered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Please… if someone's listening…"
The Spell — Magical Conjuration — let Daphne summon a magical creature.
She didn't need the Grimoire for that. At first, she had called it out to distract Tom Riddle. Maybe he would get scared, sensing the Book's enormous powers. He did say he was just a memory.
Of course, she had been wrong.
Now, she must call out a magical creature to help them against the beast.
However, she couldn't control the nature of this summon. What if it turned out to be too weak?
Not to mention, regardless of the summoned creature's strength, there were chances that it would die the moment it looked into Basilisk's eyes.
The decision to let a creature die just so they could live tore through Daphne's heart. Sobbing, she called one out anyway.
Shadows rippled.
Voldemort was laughing.
The Basilisk was hissing, towering over its prey.
Then, something came soaring out of the shadows, a fiery cry deafening the ears.
Red-orange plumage tapering off into a flame pattern… Orange spots speckling its underside…
Black-and-yellow mask-like markings around its eyes…
Long black tail feathers…
As it soared higher, toward the ceiling of the Chamber of Secrets, embers showered from the gaps in its features, lighting everything up like fireworks.
Basilisk's head snapped up.
Tom Riddle gawked at it with a rare awe.
On the ground, as the Pokemon's information seeped into Daphne's mind, a small smile surfaced on her tearful lips.
"Talonflame!" she cried. "UseBrave Bird! Attack its eyes!!"
A flaming, blue aura covered Talonflame as it dived, letting out a furious cry.
Tom Riddle, sensing the absurdness of it all, fired a spell. But the creature was so fast, its flight path so unpredictable, that no matter how many spells he used, none could hit it.
Then, as the Basilisk hissed at the blue blur, Talonflame slammed right into it.
BOOOMMM!!!
There was such power behind Talonflame's move that the giant serpent bent where the Pokemon had struck it.
Without even shaking the recoil, Talonflame lunged at the Basilisk's bent head and… in one swift move —
— Its massive talons punctured the serpent's eyes.
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