Dear Mister Malfoy, I would like borrow the goblin forged sword that is hanging on
your office wall. Please let me know as soon as possible what you would require in exchange for it. -H.P.
Mister Potter; I would be delighted to loan you my sword in exchange for us
finalizing the formal alliance between the House of Malfoy and the House of Potter-Black. All the best,
Lucius Malfoy
Mister Malfoy, How about you loan me the sword and I continue to consider
the alliance? Like I said in our previous letters, you do have a bad history with allies and I don't want to be tied to someone who might try and kill me in the future. -H.P.
Mister Potter; As I have previously written; I have purged all items that may
have tied me to unsavory previous allegiances and hope to prove myself as a worthwhile ally to the House of Potter-Black as my son has. I will gift you the priceless, ancient, Goblin wrought sword that you are requesting as a show of good faith and to demonstrate my sincere intentions. I will direct my next owl to a more discreet location than the
Great Hall. Your hopeful ally,
Lucius Malfoy
Mister Malfoy, Let's talk this summer about being allies. Thank you for the
sword. It will be put to good use. -H.P.
***
While Harry's classmates were frantically studying for the end of year exams, that apparently nobody was prepared for, Harry was making plans.
Snape told him that he should just apologize to his friends, and he did to Theo, but he knew he needed to do more to make up for his refusal to act before. Theo said he forgave him, and had even apologized himself for what he said, and they agreed that killing the basilisk was the top priority. Apparently Theo even ranked it above exams, which meant it was really important to him.
It had taken him a few weeks to get the first step of his plan to kill the basilisk achieved, but finally it was done. One morning Harry woke up in his dorm to find two eagles holding a long, heavy, and thin package between the two of them.
"What's that?" Goyle grunted.
"Sword," Harry answered shortly. "And if you tell anyone I've got it then I'll use it to cut your hand off."
Goyle just blinked stupidly at him before lumbering off.
"My father is an idiot," Draco groaned.
"He's wicked," Ron said, his eyes wide as Harry unwrapped the sword. "I can't believe he loaned it to you mate."
Harry pulled the sword out and saw that it was the same one he'd admired in Malfoy's office before.
"Not a loan," he said, running his finger down the shiny edge of it. "Said I could have it, didn't he?"
"He gave it to you?" Theo asked from his bed. "That thing must cost thousands of Galleons!"
"Nah, he said it's priceless."
Blaise and Draco started snickering.
"Harry you know that means that it's literally so expensive that a price can't be determined, right?" Blaise said.
Harry felt his face heat up at the boys' laughter.
"Fuck off," he snarled. He held the sword up and pointed it in their direction, "Unless you wanna test out how sharp the blade is."
Thankfully, that shut both boys up.
The next part of finding the basilisk and the Heir was proving to be much harder to pull off. Harry needed to sneak off to find Slytherin's Chamber but everywhere they went they were being escorted by teachers.
"We're never going to find it at this rate," Harry hissed to Susan after another botched attempt at sneaking out of the library.
"Good," Susan whispered back. "Because you'll just go without me again anyway."
"Not if you're with me when I find it," Harry assured her. "I can't help it if we haven't been able to look together. You should have been in Slytherin."
Harry kept trying to sneak out in the evenings after curfew but each time it seemed like Snape was patrolling the dungeons. He didn't think the man had taken a single hour off since Hermione had been petrified.
"We need a distraction so we can go talk to Myrtle," Susan whispered.
"You really think she'll know where the chamber is?" Draco asked.
"Luna says she will," Susan shrugged. "And Luna's almost never wrong."
Theo didn't look convinced but it was as good of a lead as any for Harry.
"Would one of you let me push you down the stairs as a distraction?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Nope," Ron said.
"As an absolute last resort only," Susan said. "And you can't push me, but I'll push Blaise so you can go talk to Myrtle."
"Hey!" Blaise whispered sharply.
Harry ignored him and shook Susan's hand.
"Deal."
Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.
"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted.
"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people at the Gryffindor table yelled joyfully, despite Harry's glare in their direction.
"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table with a nervous look towards Harry, who hissed at her.
"The Quidditch final is back on!" roared Flint excitedly.
When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Professor Snape will brew our potion and tomorrow we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."
Harry stood up on his seat and whistled loudly;
"Best Headmaster ever!" he cheered, giving his friends a pointed look until they stood up and cheered too.
McGonagall gave him a small smile.
"Thank you all. I hope that this news will ease many of your fears and you will be able to give your upcoming exams your complete attention," she said, sitting back down gracefully.
"Exams?" Ron moaned.
"I haven't been able to study without Hermione," Neville admitted in a whisper. "I'm going to fail for sure."
"No you won't," Luna assured him with a pat on his arm. "None of us will fail the exams."
Ron, who Harry thought was finally seeing sense, gave Luna a broad smile and waved a roll in her direction.
"Well if Luna says so then that's that," he winked at her.
"Hey, there's Snape, go ask him about the potion!" Susan said as the Professor walked through the Great Hall.
Harry jumped up to catch up to Snape, with Theo and Blaise following behind.
"Sir! You're really going to make the potion tonight? And Mione will be awake tomorrow?" he asked.
"I will be in my lab for the rest of the day brewing, and the moment the potion is prepared Miss Granger will be revived," Snape confirmed with a small smile.
"YES!" Theo cheered, beaming at Snape and Harry both. "Thank you Professor!"
Snape gave them all a nod before heading down to his lab.
"This is great news!" Susan cheered when Harry told the rest of them at the table what Snape said.
"She's going to have kittens when she finds out exams are only two days away tomorrow," Draco predicted with a smirk.
Theo shoved Draco lightly. "She'll still pass with the best marks, just wait," he said.
"I have to kill the basilisk before Mione wakes up tomorrow," Harry whispered to Susan. "If I don't do it today then she might still be mad at me."
Susan grabbed his hand as they stood up at the bell.
"We'll find an excuse to talk to Myrtle today," she said. "If nothing else then I'll make Lockhart walk me to the loo and I'll insist on using Myrtle's."
It wasn't the best plan, but since it was the only one they had Harry agreed to it.
After Defense Susan gave Harry a questioning look in the hall, he sighed and nodded slightly. This would be the best time for it.
"Professor!" Susan cried. "I- I have to go to the bathroom!"
Lockhart looked flushed and glanced around at the other students he was leading to their next class.
"Er, well, Miss Bones... perhaps-"
"I could walk her," Harry offered.
"You guys shouldn't be alone," Draco piped up. "I'll go too Professor. Then you don't have to waste so much of your very important time."
Lockhart puffed up importantly at this.
"Yes, well, I do have quite a bit to do and walking students to the restroom really isn't part of my job, is it?" He looked at Harry, Draco, and Susan for a moment before nodding. "You guys walk Miss Bones to the restroom then go straight to your next class, okay gentlemen?"
They quickly agreed and took off from the group before he could change his mind.
"Merlin, he's an idiot," Draco said.
"All the better for us," Susan whispered as they ran up the back staircase for Myrtle's bathroom.
They entered the girls bathroom, after Susan checked to make sure only Myrtle was in there, and went straight to the ghost.
"Oh, hello," Myrtle sniffed. "Have you come to make fun of me?"
"Course not," Harry said in as sweet of a voice as he could. "We wanted to ask you about where you were when you died. Your friend Luna said it was really horrible!" He widened his eyes for effect.
Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.
"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then —" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."
"How?" Draco asked.
"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. . . ." She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.
"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sinks.
Harry and Susan went over to the sink and began looking it over when their search was interrupted.
"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please."
"Ugh," Susan groaned. "We have to go."
"We'll be back!" Harry called to Myrtle as Draco ushered them out the door.
Harry and Draco were walking Susan to her common room first when Harry had an idea.
First though, he had to get rid of Susan.
"Ugh, I've got to go to the loo," he said, elbowing Draco sharply. Draco looked over at him confused for a split second before clearing his face expertly.
"Want me to walk you?" he offered.
Wrong idea there Draco.
"I don't need a babysitter," Harry scowled. "Will you take Susan to her room? I'll meet you in ours in a minute."
Susan gave him a suspicious look but Harry just looked back blandly at her.
"You better not be up to something," she hissed.
"Course not," he lied easily. "I'll meet up with you guys later."
As soon as Draco tugged Susan down the corridor Harry whipped his cloak on and made his way quickly to the empty staff room. He slipped inside an old wardrobe, he was already invisible but he was still solid and if someone bumped in to him he'd have no excuse for being there.
Harry listened carefully to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staffroom door banging open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.
"It has happened," she told the silent staffroom. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."
Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'"
Professor Flitwick burst into tears.
"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. "Which student?"
Harry held his breath and tried to reassure himself that he just saw Draco and Susan, and Blaise, Theo and Ron had been in Defense with him. That only left Luna and Neville...
"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.
Thank God, he thought.
Ron would probably be upset about it but it was loads better than Ron himself being taken.
Harry listened as McGonagall talked about sending everyone home and made his plans. He needed to get to his dorm quickly.
As soon as the last staff member, Snape who looked absolutely miserable, left the room Harry ran as quickly as he could to the dungeons.
"Where have you been?" Blaise shouted as soon as he ran in the common room.
"No time," Harry panted, shoving past him to the dorms. "I gotta go- someone's been taken and I think I know where the chamber is."
"Taken? Not attacked?" Theo asked, the boys following closely behind him.
"'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever'," Harry quoted. "They're sending everyone home. I have to go kill the basilisk now or I won't get a chance and Mione will hate me forever."
"But- who was it?" Draco asked.
Harry opened his now heavily warded trunk and pulled his sword out.
"Ron's sister, Ginny."
"Ginny?"
Harry looked up and grimaced at the look on Ron's face. His friend was horribly pale and his eyes were starting to look watery.
"Yeaaah," Harry said slowly. "But-" he held up his sword, "I'm going to go kill the basilisk and if I find the Heir then I'll kill them too, okay?"
"And save Ginny?" Ron asked quietly.
"Uh, sure, yeah," Harry shrugged. "If she's still alive then I'll save her."
Harry didn't like Ginny, she'd been weird around him all year-
'You're a monster. I hate you.'
-but Ron was his friend. And if he wanted him to save her then he'd do his best.
"I'm going with you," Ron said suddenly with a stubborn look in his eyes. "You're just trying to kill the basilisk, I need to save my sister."
"If Ron goes then I'm going too," Draco said quickly.
"Me too!" added Theo.
Harry looked at Blaise, almost expecting him to chime in as well. Blaise just held his hands up,
"I'll just wait here and tell everyone about your stupid plan after you're dead," he drawled.
Harry smirked at his friend.
"Theo- stay with Blaise," he decided quickly. "Do not tell anyone anything- I don't want Snape or Susan finding out and trying to stop me."
Distantly he remembered his promise to Snape and swore. He'd have to find a Professor on his way or Snape was really going to be pissed.
"Ron you can come if you want," Harry offered. He figured if Ginny was dead already then Ron might feel better getting to help kill the basilisk. "Draco-"
"No, absolutely not," Draco interrupted. "Either I go with you or I go straight to Snape."
Harry raised his brows and pointed the sword right in Draco's face.
"I don't remember being a snitch being a part of the gang," he said quietly. He sent a pointed look at Draco's knees before looking back up in his grey eyes. "Maybe I should make it where you can't run off to anyone."
Draco gulped and took a few uneasy steps away from the sword in his face.
"No- Harry, c'mon, please, just take me with you. I can help," he begged.
Harry looked up and saw he'd already lost nearly thirty minutes at this point. He had to hurry or Snape was going to show up any minute.
"Fine, but you're basilisk bait," he said. "Under the cloak, let's go."
"Good luck," Blaise called as they left the common room. "If you die I'm selling your broomsticks."
Harry laughed quietly as they stepped out in the corridor. He saw the looks on Draco and Ron's faces and laughed even harder.
"Oh come on," he said with a smile. "We aren't going to die."
Neither of them looked very reassured but Ron shook his head and gave Harry a determined look.
"Where to?" he whispered.
"We have to find a Professor," Harry whispered back, moving as quickly as he could under the cloak with two extra people and a giant sword.
"Oh thank Merlin," Draco sighed. "We're telling a Professor?"
"Yep, promised Snape I would, didn't I?"
"Are we getting Professor Snape?" Ron asked quietly as they ran up the stairs.
"Nope." Harry steered them towards the Defense corridor. "He'd just stop us. So would most of the other Professors, wouldn't they?"
Draco gave him an incredulous look, "And Lockhart won't?" he asked, recognizing the direction Harry was leading them.
"Not with the right motivation," Harry grinned.
They took the cloak off and Harry stuck it in his pocket before they entered Lockharts office. He told the Professor's in the meeting that he knew where the Chamber was but Harry was sure he was lying. Snape certainly thought so or he wouldn't have egged him on. Harry was just helping Lockhart out really, this had nothing to do with how much he hated the man.
Harry stepped in the office and Lockhart looked up quickly. The man's hair was a mess and he had stuff thrown all across his office.
"Going somewhere?" Harry drawled, spotting the open trunk on the floor.
"Oh, Mister Potter... and Weasley and Malfoy," he said. "I- er- well urgent business, you see. I have to get going."
"What happened to the brave hero who slays monsters?" Draco asked. "I thought you'd want a chance to kill Slytherin's monster?"
"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.
"You wrote them!" Ron shouted.
"My dear boy," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at the three of them. "Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on —"
"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have done?" said Harry incredulously. "What a fraud."
"Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog."
He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.
"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left."
He pulled out his wand and turned to them.
"Awfully sorry, boys, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book —"
Harry grinned sharply at Lockhart and pulled on his core.
Give me his wand. Make him go with us. Make him listen to me.
Harry easily caught the wand as it flew towards him and smiled at the glazed look in the man's eyes.
"Good news Draco," Harry said. "Lockhart just volunteered to be basilisk bait instead of you, right Lockhart?"
"Yes," the man murmured.
"Harry, you didn't-"
"MAVIS!" Harry shouted, ignoring whatever Ron was about to complain about.
"Master is calling for Mavis?" his elf squealed happily. "How can Mavis be helping Master?"
"I need you to tell Snoop that I'm going to the Chamber but not to be worried because I've got a Professor," Harry jerked his thumb over at Lockhart. "Can you tell him I kept my promise? And tell Susan where I went too?"
Mavis gave him a nervous look and pulled on on his ears.
"Mister Snoop and Miss Susan is going to be very mad at Mavis if Master Potter gets hurt," he said. "Very mad at Mavis."
Harry glanced at the time again and groaned. He didn't have time for this.
"Mavis listen carefully, if Snoop or Susan try to hurt you then you are ordered to defend yourself and tell them I'm going to kill them, okay? I won't let anyone hurt you, I swear."
Mavis gave him a twitchy little bow and disappeared.
"You're bloody mad," Draco muttered as they led Lockhart towards Myrtles bathroom. "You use an Unforgiveable on a teacher no problem, but Merlin forbid anyone's mean to Mavis."
"You're being awfully rude to the guy with the giant sword," Harry said airily. "Maybe you should have been in Gryffindor with 'daring nerve' like that."
Draco quit complaining after that.
They got to the bathroom without running in to anyone else luckily. Harry sent Lockhart in first and was impressed to see he was shaking. Maybe his spell wasn't as powerful as he thought. Or Lockhart was able to shake it off easier than most people, like Snape.
Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.
"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this time?"
"Sorry Myrtle, no time to chat," he said pleasantly, going straight to the sinks to continue his search for the entrance. "We're going to kill the basilisk that killed you. And the Heir too if they're there."
"You're avenging my death?" Myrtle asked. "That's the nicest thing anyones ever done for me."
Harry rolled his eyes at her dreamy tone of voice.
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.
"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.
Harry, Draco, and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror on his face. Harry thought about Lockhart walking closer and was pleased to see him obey. He shrugged off the odd facial expressions, if Lockhart was at least partially aware of what was going on then so the better. Harry hoped he was aware enough to be terrified.
It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.
"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.
"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."
Harry grinned a little, he'd gotten good at using Parsletongue to curse on command.
"Fuckin open," he hissed.
Draco gasped as at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.
"We did it!" Harry cheered. "Let's go!"
"Er- can Lockhart go first?" Draco said hesitantly. "I mean- the snake could be waiting at the bottom."
"Good thinking. Lockhart you're up," Harry said happily. "Time to prove yourself, yeah?"
He flicked Lockharts wand in the man's direction and immediately he began walking towards the pipe opening and sat down. Ron gave him a hard push, and he slid out of sight. Harry followed quickly. He lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go.
It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. He could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind him he could hear Ron, thudding slightly at the curves.
And then, just as he had begun to worry about what would happen when he hit the ground, the pipe leveled out, and he shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Harry stood aside as Ron and then Draco came whizzing out of the pipe, too.
"We must be miles under the school," said Draco, his voice echoing in the black tunnel. "Ugh, my robes are covered in slime."
"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls. "And everything's covered in slime you prat."
All three of them turned to stare into down the dark corridor in front of them.
"Lights on and eyes squinted," Harry said cheerily. "Basilisk Bait in the front."
"You don't have to sound so upbeat," Draco muttered. "There is a murderous basilisk down here."
"Yeah, this is a rescue mission mate," Ron added shortly.
Harry just shrugged and swung the sword in one hand and clenched Lockhart's wand in the other. He wasn't sure how what Draco or Ron said somehow meant he wasn't supposed to be having fun.
"Harry — there's something up there —" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Draco's shoulder.
They froze, watching. Harry could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.
"Maybe it's asleep," he sighed, glancing back at the other three. Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes. Harry turned back to look at the thing, his heart beating so fast it almost hurt.
This is brilliant.
He's never felt so alive. Fighting a basilisk trumps three headed dogs and flying any day.
Very slowly, his eyes as narrow as he could make them and still see, Harry edged forward, Lockhart's lit wand held high.
The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, 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.
"Merlin," said Draco weakly.
There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.
"Stand up," Harry ordered with a sharp tug on his magic.
His hold on the man had broken. Lockhart suddenly lunged forward and knocked Harry down to the stone floor where he cracked his head, and wrestled the sword from his hand.
He pointed it right at Harry's neck with a manic look in his eyes.
"This is the end of your story Mister Potter," he said nastily. "Tragic really-" He turned his head suddenly as Ron and Draco pointed their wand at his back. "Ah, ah," he tutted. "One move and Harry here loses his head, literally."
Harry subtly shook his head at his friends, the blade of his sword was pressing in to his throat.
"It'll be a tragedy that Potter here got mixed up with the likes of Mister Malfoy," Lockhart said. "Seems as if dark magic runs in families and Malfoy lured Potter and Weasley-"
Harry ignored Lockhart and very, very, slowly moved his right hand to his pocket. He gripped his knife and waited for the right moment. Lockhart was still rambling about how apparently Draco was the Heir of Slytherin and killed Harry and Ginny and something about Ron losing his mind after Lockhart had to kill Draco.
Idiot.
Harry caught Ron's eyes and jerked his head, hoping it would get Ron to do anything that would take Lockharts attention off him.
Ron nodded and jabbed his wand in to Lockhart's back sharply, causing him to turn his head and then Harry struck.
He stuck his knife in the ankle nearest him as hard as he could and caught his sword as Lockhart dropped it and bent over in surprise and pain.
"You were going to kill me with my own sword?" Harry hissed, aiming the sword in the man's direction. "Blame it all on Draco? Huh?"
Lockhart was now the one on the ground, one ankle bleeding freely as Harry's knife was lodged deeply in it.
"Wait- wait-" he begged. "We can work together Harry! Think of the fame! The riches!"
Harry poked the tip of the sword in Lockhart's neck hard enough to sink it a little and draw a steady trickle of blood.
"But sir, you're about to be so famous," Harry said softly. "I'll be sure to tell everyone how bravely you fought before you were unfortunately bitten and bled to death in the Chamber of Secrets, your body never to be recovered. Maybe I'll even write a book about it," he added thoughtfully.
"You won't kill me," Lockhart whispered, his blue eyes frantically looking behind Harry to Draco and Ron, both of who had their wands trained on him. "You're not a killer."
"You're wrong."
Harry shoved the sword through Lockhart's neck with as much force as he could. It went through much easier than he thought it would, it must be really sharp. He watched impassively as Lockhart took his last breath, his neck bubbling blood freely around the sword.
"Fucking hell," Ron gasped. "Harry- mate- you, you killed him."
"Good," Draco snarled. "He was going to kill Harry and me both before wiping your mind and leaving your sister for dead."
"It was him or us," Harry said simply. He pulled the sword free and spat once on Lockhart's unmoving body. He turned around and saw that both his friends were horribly pale; though Draco looked angry and Ron rather shaken.
"Unbreakable vows on your magic and life now or you stay here with him," he said. "Lockhart was bitten by the snake and we couldn't save him, what a brave man."
Draco immediately raised his wand and looked Harry straight in the eyes as he repeated the vow. After a few moments hesitation, Ron did the same.
"It- it was him or us, right?" Ron asked.
"He literally was about to cut my throat open," Harry said drily. "We weren't all going to leave here alive apparently."
Ron nodded and looked marginally less shaken after that.
"Theo owes me 10 sickles," he said apropos of nothing. "Bet him you'd get rid of Lockhart by the end of the year, didn't I?"
Harry grinned at him, "That's the spirit."
"What do we do with his body?" Draco said. "If anyone comes down here it's, uh, well it's pretty obvious that," he gestured towards Lockhart's neck, "wasn't from a snake bite."
"We bury him," Harry said simply, bending down to pull his pocket knife free of Lockhart's ankle.
Ron nudged one of the huge boulders with his trainer. "How?" he asked.
"Magic." Harry rolled his eyes. "Back up."
Harry eyed the stone walls, still feeling his anger coursing through him, as he thought of what he wanted.
Just fucking bury him.
The walls exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung his arms over his head and ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor and burying Lockhart's body. Next moment, he was standing alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.
"Ron! Draco!" he shouted. "Are you okay? Answer me!"
"We're fine!" Draco coughed. "Not hurt!"
"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through — it'll take ages..."
Harry looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it. He had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks by magic, and now didn't seem a good moment to try, especially not since his magic had caused the collapse to start with— what if the whole tunnel caved in and they were all buried alive?
"You guys stay here, shift some rocks while I'm gone. I'm gonna go kill the basilisk."
"Harry- wait- I can try and squeeze through!" Ron called desperately. "I need to save Ginny!"
"I won't forget to save her," Harry said, rolling his eyes even though he knew Ron couldn't see him.
"Mate, listen, I, er, well I know sometimes family stuff is weird to you, yeah?" Ron called. "But Ginny is my sister. And she's more important than killing the basilisk or the Heir, okay? So- so if she's in there and you have to decide between killing the basilisk and the Heir or saving her life, would you please save her?"
Harry crinkled his brows in thought.
"D'you think I wouldn't? Ginny's a twit, but you're a part of my gang and she's your sister, course I'll save her if I can."
Ron sighed in what was obviously relief, which hurt Harry's feelings a little. Did Ron think Harry was going to use the sword on a little girl? It's not like she had tried to kill him, unlike Lockhart.
"Plus you'll both owe me another no questions asked favor when I do," he added, walking backwards towards the next entrance. "And Snape says that 'friends care about each other's feelings' so I gotta tell you that you hurt my feelings by acting like I wasn't going to save your sister if she's not already dead and so you should find a way to make it up to me." Even halfway across the chamber, with that rock wall between them, Harry could hear Ron gulping nervously.
"See ya in a bit, I'm gonna go kill a basilisk and the Heir of Slytherin!"
"Don't die you moron!" Draco yelled.
"Save Ginny!" Ron added.
"I'll do my best," Harry called back. "Make a hole so we can get back out, yeah?"
And he set off alone past the giant snake skin.
Soon the distant noise of Ron and Draco straining to shift the rocks was gone. The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in Harry's body was tingling with excitement. He wanted the tunnel to end, wanted to face the basilisk that attacked his friend face-to-face. And finally, at last, as he crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.
Harry approached, his throat very dry. He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.
"Open up," Harry hissed.
The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.
Harry was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.
His heart beating very fast, like it did before a good duel, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was the Heir?
He held the sword and Lockhart's wand tightly in either of his hands and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once he thought he saw one stir.
Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.
Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.
"Ginny," Harry muttered, inching toward her and dropping to his knees. "Don't be dead- Ron will be so pissed-" He flung Lockhart's wand aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. But then she must be —
"Wake up," Harry muttered, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.
"She won't wake," said a soft voice.
Harry jumped and spun around on his knees, pointing the sword toward the voice.
A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window.
"Who are you?" Harry demanded.
The black-haired boy smiled softly as he looked Harry over.
"I already know who you are," he said. "Little Ginny here told me all about the 'famous and horrible' Harry Potter." He glanced at Harry's face and curled his upper lip at the sight of his scars. "How'd you get so many scars?" he asked conversationally.
"Answer my question and I might answer yours," Harry said.
"I am a memory, preserved in that diary, for over fifty years," the boy said, pointing at the little black book by Ginny's body.
Tom Riddle.
Harry smiled sharply at him when he turned back, he saw the teenage Voldemort was now twirling Lockhart's wand idly, the same way Harry liked to when he was proving how little he cared about someone.
"Tim Riddle, pleasure to meet you in person. Can't tell you how much I've looked forward to this."
The edges of Riddle's mouth curled downward.
"Tom Riddle," he said. "Though the world knows me better as Lord Voldemort."
Harry smirked and propped the sword up on his own shoulder.
"No one calls you that," he taunted. "They call you 'He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named', which isn't nearly as cool as 'The Boy-Who-Lived'. You have no name and I'm a national hero."
"How did a mere baby defeat the greatest Wizard to ever live?" Riddle asked with a hungry look in his ghost-like eyes.
"I didn't," Harry said with a casual shrug. "I defeated you, you're hardly the greatest wizard to ever live."
"Oh don't tell me," Riddle chuckled. "You mean the great defender of the 'light' Albus Dumbledore? He has been driven from the castle at the mere memory of me, channeled through a weak girl."
"Course I don't mean Dumbledore," Harry scoffed. "I meant me." Harry flicked his wrist and grinned as the diary and the wand both flew to him.
"Who are you?" Riddle asked quietly, his voice steady but his eyes looked surprised at being disarmed silently while Harry held no wand.
"I told you I was going to kill you," Harry said, stepping closer to Riddle with the sword and wand both pointed at his chest. "Wrote it in your pathetic little diary, didn't I? I killed adult you when I was just a baby, and then killed you again last year when you were hanging out on the back of a blokes head."
Harry paused and gave Riddle a curious look.
"We could work together you know, if you wanted to be partners. Kill Dumbledore, reshape the Wixen world. You'd have to give up on the blood purity nonsense and we'll still need to kill adult you, but if you want to leave here alive it's your only choice."
Riddle looked appraisingly at Harry. Harry felt a slight tremor of unease at the way Riddle tilted his head to the side, it looked uncannily like how Harry himself studied people sometimes.
"You'd sacrifice her life to become partners with me?"
Harry turned slightly to glance at Ginny at Riddles gesture.
"What do you mean, sacrifice her life? She's dead isn't she?"
"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."
"Explain," Harry said. "Explain or I'll kill you now."
Riddle laughed softly, "You cannot kill me, I'm a mere memory being fed by her soul. You see, little Ginny has been pouring her soul in to this diary. It's been very boring, listening to the complaints of a little girl who stupidly followed her idol to a house she wasn't suited for. But there isn't much life left in her... She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last... And soon, little Ginny Weasley, the Heir of Slytherin, will be no more and Lord Voldemort will rise again."
"That's a real riddle to me," Harry said calmly. "Because I don't think Ginny's related to Slytherin at all, is she?"
Riddle grimaced at Harry's casual use of his surname.
"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."
"No," Harry whispered. He knew Ginny hated him, but she'd called him a monster when she was the one who attacked Hermione and got him suspended?
"Yes," said Riddle calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries . . . far more interesting, they became... Dear Tom," he recited, watching Harry's angry face, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster 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 Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Ron keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"
Harry's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his palms.
"I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But I hoped you would come, and if not, then I'd find you myself so we could talk."
"You talk too much," Harry said carelessly. "But riddle me this, Tim, where's the basilisk? I came to kill it and I'd hate to disappoint my friends."
"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle with a snarl. "You think the name of my filthy muggle father is funny, do you? I didn't like it much myself either. I took a new name as soon as I could."
"Voldemort isn't much better, Timmy," Harry laughed.
Riddle suddenly smiled, his previous irritation gone.
"But what about Marvolo Slytherin and Harry Potter, partners in reshaping the magical world? I think we could work together Harry. I am separate from Voldemort, killing him won't kill me. We could kill Dumbledore first, then my main part, and you and I could become the most feared wizards to ever live."
"As partners?" Harry checked.
"Partners," Riddle confirmed.
Harry hesitated and looked behind him at Ginny's body.
'You're a monster. I hate you.'
'Ginny is my sister. And she's more important than killing the basilisk or the Heir, okay?'
"For you to live, she has to die?" Harry asked.
"She's nearly there already," Riddle said. "She's treated you horribly, will her death even bother you?"
"No," Harry sighed. "But her brother's a part of my gang, he's my friend. And I promised to save her."
He regretfully pointed the sword at Riddle again, "Sorry Timmy, but I can't let her die."
Riddle smiled serenely again, "We are alike, Harry Potter. There are strange likenesses between us, even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. Both feared by our Slytherin housemates who feel our power. We even look something alike... But after all our similarities, you're weak. You allow 'friendships' to cloud your ambition."
"You talk too much," Harry said, sending a stunning spell a Riddle and seeing it pass through his incorporeal body.
"Now, Harry, I told you I can't be killed," Riddle smiled. "I'm going to teach you a little lesson in not attacking your betters. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the power of 'friendship'."
Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed — Harry understood what he was saying...
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Fascinated, Harry 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.
Harry clenched his eyes shut and felt his way to the wall as he realized the basilisk was coming.
The basilisk hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it shudder — he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:
"Kill him."
In his fantasies about killing the giant snake that attacked Hermione he had forgotten a key factor...
He was going to have to fight it blind.