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HP Chapter 39: The Chamber of Secrets (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2025-08-15 12:01:24 +0000 UTC"Maybe it's asleep," Harry said breathlessly. Anne's heart was racing, but she didn’t believe they'd encounter the basilisk so soon. She glanced back. Lockhart was covering his eyes tightly, and Ron's hand holding his wand was trembling.
"You three stay here, I’ll go take a look," Harry said as he began to move forward.
Anne hesitated, then grabbed Harry’s arm. "Wait." She pulled a cloth pouch from her pocket and took out a glowing plant orb.
With a quick motion, she activated the orb. It began to emit a soft yellow light, growing steadily brighter. She used a Levitation Charm to guide it toward the massive creature up ahead.
"It’s bioluminescent. No heat, so the snake won’t notice it," she explained in a low voice.
Harry and Ron looked at her with admiration, immensely glad Anne had joined their quest.
"Unfortunately, I only have one," Anne added, guiding the orb forward. Then, as if remembering something, she leaned toward Harry and whispered, "Harry, do you have the Christmas gift I gave you?"
"I do! Oh, Anne, you have no idea how amazing it is! Last time in the Forbidden Forest, it really, "
"Okay, okay," Anne cut him off. "Good. If we see the basilisk, pull the white thread and throw it at it."
The glowing orb reached the massive creature. Under the yellow light, they saw a shed snakeskin, gleaming green and vibrant, unmistakably from a venomous snake. It lay coiled on the tunnel floor, empty. The creature that had shed it was clearly over twenty feet long.
Anne and Harry exchanged relieved glances and walked toward it. Behind them, Ron gave a helpless sigh. "Blimey."
Another noise, a groan from Lockhart. His knees gave out, and he collapsed.
Harry turned to look at him, disgust evident in his expression. "Ron, get him up."
Ron nodded. He pointed his wand at Lockhart and said firmly, "Get up."
Lockhart stood, and lunged at Ron, knocking him to the ground.
Harry froze, stunned, then started to move, but it was too late. Lockhart rose, panting, holding Ron’s wand in one hand, flashing his signature smile and dazzling teeth.
"Well, children, this adventure ends now!" he announced breathlessly. "I’ll take this skin back to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girls, and that you two lost your minds upon seeing their mangled bodies. Say goodbye to your memories!"
Anne had raised her wand by his second sentence, but she was too slow. Useless though he might be, Lockhart was still faster than a student when casting spells.
He raised Ron’s malfunctioning wand high. "Obliviate!"
BOOM!
The wand exploded like a small bomb. Anne and Harry covered their heads and staggered back, narrowly avoiding falling debris from the tunnel ceiling.
When they uncovered their heads, a thick wall of rubble stood before them.
"Ron! Are you alright? Ron!" Harry shouted.
"I’m here!" Ron’s muffled voice came through. "I’m fine. But this idiot isn’t, he got hit by the wand."
There was a dull thud and a loud yell. "Ow!" It sounded like Ron had kicked Lockhart’s shin.
"What now?" Ron said despairingly. "We can’t get through. It’ll take ages to clear this."
Anne glanced at the wall of rubble, then at her watch, then turned to Harry. She silently prayed that his main character’'s aura was strong enough to take down the basilisk on his own.
"We’ve already wasted too much time. We have to go," she said.
Harry nodded. "Ron, we’re going ahead. See you soon."
They walked around the snakeskin, Ron’s sounds of shifting stones fading behind them. The tunnel twisted again and again. Anne clutched her wand tightly in her right hand, and in her left, she held a small glass vial she had taken from her box.
Harry had his wand in one hand and in the other, a broken twig-like item with a white thread, Anne’s Christmas gift.
Finally, they reached a solid stone wall carved with two intertwined serpents. Their emerald eyes gleamed.
Anne looked at Harry. He nodded and hissed in Parseltongue.
The serpents parted. The wall split open and slid aside.
"Lumos," Anne whispered, lighting a short stretch of the stone path ahead. They stepped into the chamber.
They found themselves on one side of a long, dimly lit room. Towering stone columns, carved with coiling serpents, rose to a ceiling lost in darkness. Eerie green mist swirled through the air, casting long, sinister shadows.
They walked quietly past the pillars. At the far end of the chamber stood a colossal statue, pressed against the dark wall.
It was a massive face, ancient and monkey-like, with a long, sparse beard trailing down to the hem of a stone wizard’s robe. Two large, dusty feet rested on the floor.
Between them lay two small, motionless figures in black robes, Fanny and Ginny.
"Ginny! Fanny!" Harry ran forward and knelt, shaking Ginny. "Wake up!"
His wand and twig rolled away.
Anne, eyes scanning cautiously, moved toward them. When she saw Harry’s wand on the ground, she swore. "FUCK."
At that moment, a shadowy figure appeared near the fAaron wand. "She won’t wake."
Anne immediately raised her wand. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted. A white flash shot out, right through the figure.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
She now saw him clearly: a tall boy with black hair, no older than sixteen, leaning against a stone pillar, watching her. His form was hazy, almost transparent. He bent to pick up Harry’s wand.
Anne froze. A ghost? Her spell had no effect. She’d only prepared for a basilisk, not a ghost with a wand and two hostages.
Then Harry opened his mouth and made everything worse.
"Tom? Tom Riddle? Are you a ghost?"
"A memory," Riddle said calmly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years." He pointed to a tattered book lying near the statue’s foot.
Anne’s eyes locked onto it. A Horcrux. She had to destroy it, but not yet. He still had the upper hand.
Riddle and Harry began to talk. Anne’s eyes drifted toward the fAaron twig. Maybe she could retrieve it, it was powerful. She took a step. They kept talking. Another step. Still talking. A bigger step, she was nearly there.
"Don’t move!" Riddle pointed Harry’s wand at her. Anne froze, matching his stance with her own wand.
"Really now," Riddle chuckled. "You’re just a second-year student. What could you possibly do?"
"Oh?" Anne smiled back, steady despite her racing heart. "And you? You’re just a memory. I doubt you can actually use that wand, Voldemort."
Riddle flinched at the name. Anne used the moment to take one last step. She could grab the twig with a single bend.
Harry was still reeling from learning Ginny had opened the Chamber. Now this?
"You know who I am?" Riddle twirled the wand. "Fascinating."
"Why did you take Fanny?" Anne asked, stalling. She didn’t want the basilisk summoned just yet.
"That unfortunate girl happened to see Ginny open the Chamber. I couldn’t let her go. But you’re not the stars today, he is."
Riddle turned to Harry again.
"I have many questions, Harry Potter."
"What questions?" Harry demanded, fists clenched.
"Like how a baby, with no powerful magic, defeated the greatest wizard of all time. How did you survive?"
"You’re not," Harry interrupted coldly.
"Not what?"
"Not the greatest wizard. Sorry to disappoint, but that title belongs to Albus Dumbledore. Even at your peak, you didn’t dare take Hogwarts. He saw through you then, and you still fear him."
Anne winced. Great. Taunt Voldemort when you have nothing in hand. Classic Harry.
Riddle's smile vanished, replaced by a hideous scowl. "I used only my memory and got Dumbledore kicked out!"
"He’s not gone," Harry shot back.
Just then, music echoed through the chamber. A crimson bird swooped down from above, its golden tail streaming behind it, claws clutching a battered bundle.
Dumbledore’s help had arrived.
Anne exhaled in relief.
The bird flew straight to Harry, dropped the bundle at his feet, and landed on his shoulder.
"Fawkes?" Harry cried, delighted. "It’s Dumbledore’s phoenix!"
But Anne was staring at the item Fawkes had dropped.
Riddle laughed. "So that’s Dumbledore’s idea of help, a singing bird and a tattered hat? Feeling brave now, Harry? Safe?"
"Back to the point," Riddle said, still smug. "We’ve faced each other twice. I failed to kill you both times. Why? Tell me everything. Your life depends on it."
"Nobody knows why you lost power," Harry replied stiffly. "Not even me. But I know why you couldn’t kill me, my mother died to save me. A Muggle-born. Her sacrifice protected me."
He was trembling with rage. "I saw what you’ve become, last year, too. A wreck. You used to be powerful. Now? Pathetic. Hiding. You’re a freak. Revolting."
Riddle’s face twisted, then he forced a grim smile.
"Ah, so that’s it. Her sacrifice. Yes, that’s powerful magic. So there’s nothing special about you. Funny, I always suspected we were alike. Half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles, Parselmouths, maybe even similar in looks. But in the end, you’re just lucky. That’s what I wanted to know."
Riddle stopped smiling. He looked at both Anne and Harry, then hissed long and low.
While they talked, Anne had pocketed the broken twig. Now, hearing Parseltongue, she shouted, "Harry! Hold onto the Sorting Hat, your weapon is inside. The basilisk is coming!"
She dashed toward the statue’s foot to grab the diary. She didn’t yet know how to destroy it, but better to have it in hand.
Just as she snatched the diary, a massive basilisk slithered from the statue’s mouth. Its green-scaled body gleamed with venomous beauty, thicker than an adult tree trunk. Its flat head and red tongue flicked menacingly.
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