The Truth Behind the Diary
The dust took a few seconds to begin settling.
Harry kept his wand raised, pointing directly toward the silhouette that slowly began to reappear through the smoke and dust.
Percy didn't lower his sword either.
"I told you. Handsome guys can't be trusted," Percy said disdainfully as he prepared to fight.
Harry shifted his eyes slightly toward him, but decided not to say anything.
Tom's silhouette finally appeared completely.
Part of the column behind him had disappeared from the explosion, but Tom didn't have a single injury. Even his clothes didn't seem damaged.
Actually...
Harry narrowed his eyes.
There was something even stranger.
For a few seconds, he could see the shattered stones of the column directly through Tom's body.
Riddle looked down at his chest and then back at Harry.
The surprise he'd shown earlier had already disappeared, turning into an amused and, at the same time, mocking smile.
"Interesting," he said calmly. "You didn't even hesitate."
"It's safer to hit first and ask questions later," Harry replied calmly, while Percy nodded in complete agreement.
Tom let out a small laugh.
"You're definitely just as I expected."
Harry didn't answer. Instead, he moved his wand with precision again.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, sending out a flash.
The spell passed directly through Tom's chest, but there was no impact.
The magic simply continued on its way until it struck another column.
Harry frowned.
Percy looked toward the hole the spell had passed through in Tom.
It disappeared almost immediately, as if it had never existed.
"Tsk," Harry complained.
Percy, meanwhile, was wondering whether his sword could do anything to someone who had no physical form if his brother's magic hadn't done anything.
Tom ignored all of that and began walking toward them, until his gaze settled on Ginny.
"At first, she simply wrote to me."
"She told me everything. Her problems. Her fears. Her insecurities."
"How difficult it was to come to Hogwarts after spending years listening to her brothers' stories."
"How worried she was that she wouldn't be good enough. Pretending I cared about her nonsense was the hardest part. She said it was like having a friend in her pocket. Foolish girl," he mocked disdainfully. "Ah, of course..."
Tom looked back at Harry.
"...she also told me quite a lot about you."
Percy turned toward Harry.
Harry's expression didn't change.
"It was really adorable. She would write for hours. And the more she wrote, the more of herself she left inside the diary."
Harry froze, and his gaze focused on the diary for a moment.
So did Percy's.
"I'm sure you've already figured it out, Harry Potter. Ginny Weasley was the one who broke those roosters' necks, the one who wrote those words, and the one responsible for everything that happened this past year. Because she was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets," Tom said with an amused smile.
Harry and Percy's eyes widened for a moment.
"Impossible," Harry said, not believing him at all.
"Well, obviously it's not like she wanted to. I forced her to do it. It was amusing watching her get scared when she wondered why pieces of her memory were missing or when she woke up with rooster feathers on her robes. But eventually she figured it out and started distrusting the diary, so she threw it away. That's when you got it," Tom explained.
"I thought that by giving you a few false clues, like making that fool Hagrid look guilty, I could get you to trust me, and having you would be much better than that little brat. But she went into your room and took it back, not wanting you to end up like her."
"Even so, at first I only wanted to meet you, Harry Potter, but then I discovered something new. Something that didn't exist in my time. Or maybe it did, but I wasn't capable of seeing it." Tom's gaze settled on Tyson. "I didn't believe what I'd learned in these times until I saw him. Then I had no choice but to accept that the myths don't seem to be as false as I thought."
"Especially finding something like you made all of this much more interesting. Demigods."
Silence.
Harry and Percy exchanged a look.
Tom smiled.
"Children of divine and powerful beings, letting their blood flow through you. Those so-called heroes, with power that could surpass that of any wizard or witch."
Percy and Harry narrowed their eyes.
"There's something you may not know. By the time the Dark Lord reached the height of his power, he had already stopped being completely human. In his search for more power, he'd created rituals using the blood of the most powerful beast under his control as a catalyst. So the question is: could the blood of demigods be used for the same thing? And if it can't, there's still the Cyclops," Tom said with complete ease.
Harry finally seemed to connect several things in his mind, staring directly at Tom. But he seemed to need confirmation.
"How do you know about the Dark Lord? He came after your time," he said in a serious tone as he tightened his grip around his wand, as if he already knew what Tom's next answer would be.
And Tom seemed to understand that, so his smile grew much wider.
"You're intelligent, Harry Potter, for someone so young. A boy who survived something no one should've been able to survive." Tom's smile slowly disappeared. "A boy connected to the fall of one of the most powerful dark wizards in history. Voldemort."
"Quite an impressive name, don't you think?"
Then he raised one hand.
His finger began moving through the air.
Glowing letters appeared in front of him.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Harry stared at them.
Percy did too.
"What are you doing?" Percy asked.
Tom continued moving his hand.
The letters began changing positions.
One after another.
Until they formed something new.
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
"I don't know how powerful the heroes from the myths really are, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave just yet," Tom said with mockery and greed as he looked at both of them.
Harry quickly raised his wand.
But Tom didn't attack them. Instead, he turned around to look directly toward the statue of Slytherin.
And he spoke, but not in English or any other known language. Instead, a long, strange hiss echoed throughout the entire Chamber.
Although Percy didn't seem to understand what he was saying, Harry could understand every word perfectly, because it was Parseltongue.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four," Tom recited.
Then the sound of moving stone made the entire chamber tremble.
Harry raised his gaze just enough to see the enormous mouth of the statue beginning to open.
Something heavy began dragging itself out from inside.
That made Harry close his eyes immediately.
Percy did the same.
SSSSSSSSSSSS.
Percy gripped his sword with both hands, only listening as something enormous dragged itself out of the mouth and down to the floor.
"Harry."
"Yeah?"
"I think the snake finally showed up."
Harry tightened his grip around his wand.
"Don't open your eyes."
"Wasn't planning to."
Tom watched them both from in front of the statue as an enormous shadow began slithering behind him.
His smile returned.
"Let's see how long two supposed heroes last..."
Two enormous fangs slowly emerged from the darkness.
"...against Salazar Slytherin's monster."