Chapter 22: Chapter 22
It was now two weeks after the last attack, and things were much different at Hogwarts than before. Teaches were escorting the students everywhere and there was a glum mood throughout the castle. Purebloods, halfbloods and muggleborns alike were going in groups so that they might be safer that way. But the biggest change was one Hadrian Potter, second year Ravenclaw.
Harry hadn't spoken to a single soul after the incident. Rumour had it that Dumbledore had summoned him to his office, but Harry had just sat there quietly for an hour not speaking a word until Dumbledore finally dismissed him. People had tried apologising to him, but he just walked away. Another rumour that was running rampant around the school was that Harry was now sleeping in the Hospital Wing every night. Madam Pomfrey had first told him to leave but had finally given up when she realised that he wasn't going to listen to her. What was even worse was the Albus Dumbledore was suspended while Hagrid was arrested. If he wasn't present to look after them, then who would protect the students?
HP*LIGHTNING LORD*HP
Harry waved his wand as he conjured a bunch of flowers for everyone in the Hospital Wing, including Granger. While she was annoying, he would never wish anything bad to her; she was just an immature little girl. He sat next to Daphne and rubbed her hand and said "I miss you so much, Daphne. Your parents and sister had been here to see you several days back. They were inconsolable. I expected them to blame me, but they didn't. You really have an amazing family."
"I love you Daphne" he whispered, fresh tears running down his face. "I thought I didn't know what love was, seeing as I wasn't exposed to it, but I know in my heart that I love you very much. I need you. I've known you for less than two years, but I already know that I can't live my life without you. What is the point of having so much wealth and power if I don't have you to share my happiness? I'd give it all away just so that I can spend every moment of my life with you. I love you so much" he said, and gently kissed her on the lips. He frowned when he felt something crumbled in Daphne's hand. It felt like paper, so he slowly extracted the piece of paper out. Looking around and finding no one, he spread it out and read.
Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.
Harry wondered why Daphne had this piece of paper. He had thought about the Basilisk and had ruled it out. How could it move –
But his thought was cut off when he recognised Daphne's handwriting written on the paper Pipes. Chamber last opened in 1942-43, heard teachers mention it. Look at the windows; spiders acting strange. Hagrid's roosters were killed in October. Voice heard was in parseltongue, not English; ergo the basilisk.
Pipes? There was plumbing at Hogwarts? Unlike muggles, witches and wizards did not need to use plumbing as there were inbuilt runes and charms to take care of waste. But that answered his question of how the creature had been moving around the school! The voice he had been hearing was from inside the walls! That's why he could hear the voice in the first place; it wasn't English, it was parseltongue. The monster was actually a Basilisk, and he could understand it because he was a parselmouth! And finally, she had also found information about the last time the Chamber was opened. They had searched high and low, but they had just now found even a hint of when the attacks had last taken place.
But if the Basilisk's stare kills, then back to his original question. Why didn't anyone die? Harry stared out of the window as he realised that no one had died because no one had actually seen it directly. Mrs Norris had seen the reflection; Colin Creevey had seen it though his camera; Justin Finch-Fletchley had seen it through Nearly Headless Nick; Penelope Clearwater and Hermione Granger were found facing the windows, so they too had seen the reflection and Daphne had figured it out and had a mirror just to be on the safe side.
Harry went over to the window and saw it. Small spiders were crawling through the small gaps in the windows and walls, trying to flee as fast as they could. Spiders flee before it! It all made sense!
He immediately took off to the other side of the castle. He went over to the Room of Requirement. "Toby" he called.
"Yes Master Hadrian?" said the elf, popping next to him.
"Toby we have a whole bunch of old newspapers at the castle, don't we?" he asked the elf hurriedly.
"Of course Master. It was kept in case we need to reference it later on" replied the elf.
"Bless whoever came up with the idea. Toby, I want you to bring me all the newspapers from September 1942 to June 1943. It's urgent" he said.
Toby nodded and immediately popped away. The elf came back a few minutes later with a huge pile of newspapers. "Thanks a lot, buddy" said Harry as he started flipping through them.
Four hours later, he finally found an article. It mentioned something about attacks at Hogwarts and how a student was killed. He looked for a name but wasn't mentioned. He searched more, and a few more papers later, he struck gold. Tom Riddle was given an award for special services to the school for catching the one behind the attacks. The girl killed was Myrtle Warren. He was suddenly assaulted by a memory –
He was standing in front of a corpse in front of a bathroom as the sink, which had a large hole, slowly slid back into place. Well, finally a mudblood was killed. But his work was not done; he would have to kill all the muggleborns to complete Salazar Slytherin's noble work.
He came out of the bathroom and looked at it. He could hear footsteps. He panicked slightly, but immediately disillusioned himself. Okay, he was on the first floor, if he hurried, he could reach the dungeons soon. Then he would have an alibi.
Harry gasped as he came out of the memory. The Chamber entrance was located in the girl's bathroom on the first floor! He had finally found it! But who was Tom Riddle? That name was so ridiculously familiar. Was he Voldemort's friend?
Harry returned to the Great Hall in a daze. What should he do now? Should he tell the staff about the Basilisk? But then again, they may choose not to believe him. After all, he had considered the beast himself many months back and had dismissed it; why would they believe him now?
He was having dinner when McGonagall spoke up "I have good news."
"Dumbledore's coming back!"
"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!"
"Quidditch matches are back on!"
Harry rolled his eyes. As if Quidditch was important at a time like this! Really, these people had no sense of what was actually important.
"Professor Sprout has informed me that the mandrakes are ready for cutting at last" said McGonagall. So we can finally revive those who have been petrified."
Harry suddenly looked up at her. Daphne was going to be cured? This was the best news he had heard in a long time. He then turned to observe the others in the hall. Draco Malfoy was understandably angry at this revelation (how the boy was sorted into Slytherin, he didn't know; the boy had no sense of subtlety what so ever). The others were cheering. His eyes narrowed when he looked at the pale form of Ginny Weasley. He hadn't run into the girl the entire year, having avoided her like the plague. But there was something odd about her; he couldn't put his finger on it, but Harry could sense foreign magic around her that screamed evil. What was it?
He was on his way to the Room and still debating on whether telling the staff was a good idea or not when he heard McGonagall's voice echoing through the corridors.
"All students return to your their house common rooms at once! Teachers report to the staffroom immediately."
Harry frowned. Something must have happened. He cast a disillusionment charm over himself, silenced his feet and went over to the staffroom. He stood outside and cast an eavesdropping charm and listened.
"It's happened. A student has been taken right into the chamber itself. The heir has left another message: Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever. This is going to be the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said . . ." said McGonagall.
"Who is it?" asked Madam Hooch.
"Ginny Weasley" replied McGonagall.
Harry sucked in a breath. He was right. Somehow Ginny Weasley was involved in the opening of the chamber. He had to do something, now! He immediately walked rapidly to the first-floor bathroom. He opened the door and went inside. There was a ghost singing by itself.
"What do you want? This is a girl's bathroom" she said.
"Are you the ghost of Myrtle Warren?" asked Harry, going by a hunch.
"Yes. What do you want?" she asked again.
"I was wondering if you could tell me how you died" he asked slowly.
"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?" said Harry.
"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes by that sink. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. . . ."
Harry nodded and looked at the sink she had indicated. He touched it and found an engraving of a snake on it. He took a deep breath to stop his body from shaking. That's when it started raining again, along with the usual lightning and thunder. He smiled slightly when he realised that it was Aquila warning him about danger. He sent the thunderbird a message telepathically telling him to be ready when he called. He then stood back and hissed "Open"
Harry watched in fascination as the sinks disjoined to form a large pipe that could easily fit five people. "Myrtle, could you do me a favour? If the staff starts searching for me, tell them I've gone inside the Chamber of Secrets to put an end to this once and for all. If I don't come back within the next five to six hours, then tell them I'm probably dead. And in case you didn't know, my name is Hadrian Potter" he told the ghost.
"Okay" replied the girl, giggling. "If you die, I don't mind you sharing my toilet. After all, you're a very cute boy."
Harry smiled sadly. "Thanks for the compliment. But there is only one girl for me, and that always will be Daphne."
Harry took a deep breath, lit his wand with a Lumos charm and jumped into the pipe. It was like rushing down a dark, slimy slide. Just as he was about to near the end, he pointed his wand at himself and said mentally "Aristo momentum" He slowed down and landed on the ground on both feet. He again pointed his wand at himself and said "Scourgify" to remove the slime and dirt that had collected on his body and robes.
He pointed his wand in front of him to illuminate the path. He was in some sort of stone tunnel. After walking for a few meters, he stopped. He spotted something huge and carved lying on the floor. He closed his eyes, and prayed to anyone who would listen for strength as he went forward. His eyes went wide when he realised that it was snake skin. It was vivid poisonous green and must be at least twenty feet long or more. Harry swallowed as he thought back to what he had read about those giant snakes. The largest recorded was thirty-one feet in length. He was sincerely hoping this one wasn't too big.
He walked for a few more minutes, idly looking around. Finally, he ended up in front of a giant stone wall which had two snakes intertwined, with emeralds for eyes. Swallowing his nervousness and reinforcing his mental shields, he uttered "Open" in parseltongue.
The serpents parted and the door opened with a hiss. Harry, still shaking from head to toe despite his Occlumency, stepped in.
He was standing at the end of a very long and dimly lit chamber. Giant statues of snakes were on both sides, just like he had seen in that memory. The ceiling was lost in the darkness and there was an odd greenish glow to the entire place. Ancient lighting charms and torches illuminated a large statue two hundred meters from his position and he could see from so far away that Ginny Weasley was lying down in front of it. He slowly walked towards her, idly looking around for the Basilisk. He reached the girl, bent down as shook her "Wealsey, wake up" he said.
"She won't wake" said a soft voice.
Harry immediately stood up and took his duelling stance in record time. His eyes narrowed when he saw a tall black haired boy leaning against a stone pillar. The edges of his body seemed to be blurred, but he was quite clear. And he was also holding a wand.
"Who are you?" asked Harry quietly, still not having moved from his stance.
"I'm Tom Riddle" said the boy. Harry narrowed his eyes. "Tom Riddle? The same Tom Riddle who went to Hogwarts fifty years ago? The one that got Hagrid expelled?" he asked.
"The very same" answered Tom.
"What are you?" asked Harry, relaxing, but still keeping his wand tight in his hand.
"A memory" said Riddle quietly, "preserved in a diary for fifty years."
Harry turned and saw a small back diary near the foot of the statue. Just as he had suspected, memories started coming to his mind, but he used Occlumency to lock them away for now. He could view them later. Now was not the time to get distracted.
"You're lying. Memories are not interactive" said Harry in the same, low voice.
"Quite" said Riddle amused. "This diary is something much more."
Both of them stared at each other for several seconds, waiting for the other to speak. Harry knew this Riddle was no ordinary individual. Who was he?
"I've waited a long time to meet you, Hadrian Potter" said Riddle. "So long."
"Good to know" replied Harry, still not taking his eyes away from Riddle. He could sense there was something fishy here; something very familiar, yet very evil.
"How did Weasley get this diary?" Harry asked.
"Well, that's an interesting question" said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"Elaborate" said Harry quietly.
"My diary Harry; little Ginny has been writing in it for months, telling me about all her problems - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books, how - " Riddle's eyes gleamed as he continued "how she didn't think the famous, handsome Hadrian Potter would ever like her."
All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them. "It was quite boring to listen to the problems of an eleven-year-old girl. But I was patient" said Riddle. "I wrote back and sympathised with her. Ginny simply loved me! It's so easy to manipulate people when they think you're the good one isn't it?" he said and laughed. It was a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. Harry just raised one eyebrow at this.
"She poured all of her secrets into me" said Riddle. "She poured out her soul to me, and that was exactly what I needed. I slowly grew stronger, far stronger than young Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding some of my secrets back into her."
"She doesn't even know that she was the one that opened the chamber, does she?" asked Harry.
"Of course not, but she suspected of course. You should have read some of her recent diary entries. They were far more entertaining. "Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my mind! I have rooster feathers and blood all over my uniform! I don't know what's happening to me. I think I'm going mad Tom! Maybe I'm the one behind these attacks!" said Riddle in a mocking girlish tone.
Harry didn't react. He simply stood still and stared at the boy in front of him. He needed an opening to attack. His mind was working overtime trying to analyse the chamber, and what could be used to defeat Riddle in a duel.
"Of course, Ginny tried getting rid of the diary, but I couldn't have that. I wanted you to find it, but you were specifically avoiding her like the plague, weren't you?" said Riddle, sounding amused. "She wrote to me about that too. How you were betrothed to Miss Daphne Greengrass and how she thought she could never ever get married to you."
Harry's eye twitched slightly. "It was you who opened the chamber fifty years ago, wasn't it? How did Hagrid take the blame?" asked Harry, changing the topic.
Riddle smirked. His face, while handsome, had an evil look in place. "That was quite easy, Harry. I knew Hagrid was caring for an Acromantula and I used it to pin the blame on him. It worked so well, that even I was surprised how foolishly everyone believed Hagrid to the Heir of Slytherin. Besides, who would they believe? On one hand, you have Tom Riddle, poor and orphaned, brilliant, prefect, model student; on the other hand, you have Hagrid who used to get into trouble every other week over some creature or the other. Was it any surprise that he was expelled?"
Harry snorted. He couldn't argue with that. While Hagrid may be huge, he was mentally a child with no common sense what so ever. He would have gotten expelled for keeping an Acromantula in school anyway. Wait, Acromantula? He would have to look into that later.
"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed. . . . Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did. . . ." said Riddle.
Harry made a sound of annoyance. "I don't particularly care about your relationship with Dumbledore. I don't give a flying fuck. What I would like to know is how you have been attacking the students."
"After Hagrid was expelled" continued Riddle as though he was uninterrupted "Dumbledore kept an annoyingly close watch on me. So I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, I could finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work" boasted Riddle.
"Well, your job isn't finished. In fact, I was starting to wonder if you'd lost your focus. After all, one of the victims you attacked was a pureblood. That would not exactly make Salazar happy would it?" asked Harry smirking.
"Oh, my dear Harry you misunderstand me" purred Riddle. "Daphne Greengrass was attacked solely because of her connection to you. I wanted to meet you very badly, and what better way to get you here if not by attacking the one most precious to you?"
Harry's eyes flashed bright green. "And why did you want to meet me?" he asked quietly.
Riddle smiled pleasantly and said "Well, how is it that you – a boy with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing more than a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
There was an old red gleam in his eyes now. But in Harry's mind, the pieces of the puzzle were slowly started to fit together. He had figured out who Tom Riddle was. He had searched the papers which had been printed during the war for any clues that could reveal the man's identity, and he had finally solved it. But he wanted Riddle to confirm it himself.
"Why do you care how I escaped?" asked Harry. "Voldemort was after your time."
"Voldemort" replied Riddle softly "is my past, present, and future."
Riddle used Ginny Weasley's wand and used it to trace words through the air.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
He then waved his wand, and the letters began rearranging themselves.
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
"You see?" he whispered. "Did you think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, the descendent of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's family keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry — 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!"
Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. His laughter echoed through the large chamber. After getting his laughter under control he said "You're a halfblood? A son of a muggle? Wow! Talk about irony of life. You were supposed to be the champion of the pureblood cause; your followers despise anyone with muggle blood and their master himself is the son of a muggle! And from what you've told me I'm pretty sure your mother was from the Gaunt family; a family so unstable that they tended to marry their own siblings to keep their bloodline 'pure'. So that makes you the son of a muggle and a squib! How ironic!"
Riddle's face went red with anger. Before he could say anything more Harry interrupted again. "And just what makes you think you're the Heir of Slytherin in the first place? I must admit, it was a good idea to use Salazar's name to further your own goals. But really? You, the heir? I don't think so" said Harry smiling slightly.
"I did my research Potter!" said Riddle, his eyes blazing with fury. "I traced my ancestry to Salazar Slytherin through the Gaunt family -"
" – who only claimed to be descendants of the Founder. You're forgetting who you're talking to Riddle. I'm the Lord of the Potter family. My family can trace its roots all the way back to the Roman Republic, almost 2500 years ago. Do you think I would say something without thoroughly researching about it first? As I said, the Gaunts only claimed they were descendants of Slytherin. It has never been backed up by evidence or fact. Were your maternal grandfather or his ancestors ever able to claim the Slytherin Lordship if that were the case?" asked Harry softly, but his words were firm, and his voice echoed around the chamber.
"I'm a parselmouth, Potter! That shows I'm descendant from Slytherin!" shouted Riddle, who now looked beyond angry. Perfect, thought Harry. Riddle was exactly where he wanted him. Volatile emotions distract people, and he wanted Riddle's thoughts far away from the Basilisk. Hopefully, he could kill him without having to deal with the deadly snake.
"So what? I'm a parselmouth too! For all your claims of being brilliant, you really are downright stupid. Did you think you're the only parselmouth in the world? Or that parseltongue was a talent that only runs in the Slytherin bloodline?" asked Harry.
Looking at Riddle's expression, Harry guessed that the other boy really did think that was the case, and so did almost every witch and wizard in Britain. "Look, you moron, let me give you a history lesson. Parseltongue is an ancient magical language that is actually indigenous to Magical India. You can find more parselmouths there than anywhere else in the world. In fact, it is considered so sacred there and in the rest of Asia that they created a school only for parselmouths almost 4000 years ago. The ancient mages who live there taught a bit about parselmagic to other witches and wizards from around the world, so others too found out that they were born with the talent. That is how you now find parselmouths everywhere in the world, even though they are minuscule in number compared to the general wizarding population."
"The reason parseltongue is feared by most magicals in Europe is because of the Ancient Greek Dark Wizard Herpo the Foul. That bastard twisted the sacred language and created very dark and foul spells and rituals with it, including the discovery of how a Basilisk is born. So tell me, are so many witches and wizards related to Salazar as well? Then I must say that man must have had a lot of kids!" said Harry smirking.
Riddle was seething but managed to calm down. "To business, Harry" said Riddle. "In your past and in my future, we have met. And I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk, the longer you stay alive."
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