(Tom Riddle)
I had the perfect seat.
Myrtle's bathroom, warm with steam, thick with the scent of rot and stone, gave me a clear view of the events. Ginny's body stood still in the shadows, breathing shallowly, while I watched through her eyes.
I had wanted to see him die.
Gilderoy Lockhart, that ridiculous, preening peacock, finally facing something he couldn't smile or pose his way out of.
The basilisk moved beautifully, as it always does.
A creature of pure, ancient magic. A king that slithers instead of walking. Its coil filled the corridor like a living wall. Its gaze alone should have ended him.
And then…
He ruined it.
Two metallic birds, not illusions, not tricks. Real conjuration. Solid, and perfectly formed.
They moved with precision and fury, tearing into the basilisk's face.
He blinded it, he actually blinded it.
I felt something cold twist in my chest then.
Admiration.
How… Revolting.
When he raised those two massive walls of magic, one behind, one in front, I very nearly lost control of Ginny's body. That much raw power, that kind of control… it should not belong to someone like him.
Then the basilisk ate him.
And I smiled, actually smiled.
Inside Ginny's borrowed body, I laughed.
It was over. Finally over. The idiot hero swallowed whole by something he couldn't hope to match.
And then…
The head came off without any warning.
Just the sudden, violent burst of steel through flesh as the giant snake's body collapsed.
The pet I had been so proud of, the creature bound to my blood and will, fell headless at the feet of a man who should never have been able to touch it.
He walked out alive, covered in blood.
Unbroken.
Victorious.
Something very old and very ugly crept into my thoughts.
Panic.
I left immediately.
I didn't look back. I didn't even blink. I fled through the pipes and tunnels, slipping back into the arteries of the castle, racing toward the Chamber.
Now…
I am cornered.
The basilisk is gone.
My greatest weapon, destroyed.
And Lockhart knows I exist.
Not entirely, perhaps. Not my name. Not my face.
But he knows there is something thinking behind this, watching, planning.
I have been careful until now.
So very careful.
Dripping Ginny's life away drop by careful drop. Letting her sleep. Letting her laugh. Letting her stay visible.
Subtlety is for predators who are not desperate.
But unfortunately, that's exactly what I am now… desperate.
There is no more time for patience, no more delicate tricks.
I am going to take everything from her.
Every breath, every thought, every last piece of her fading little soul.
If the basilisk is gone… Then I will rise in its place.
…
(Gilderoy Lockhart)
Applause is a funny thing.
It washes over you warm and bright, like sunlight after a storm. Students were cheering, teachers stood in stunned silence, and for once, not a single person looked at me like I was exaggerating.
Dumbledore arrived in that exact moment of glory, of course.
He stepped through the lingering steam of basilisk blood like he'd planned the whole thing from the start. Calm as ever. Serene. The kind of infuriating calm that suggests he'd known all along and was merely letting the rest of us catch up.
His blue eyes flickered, just for a second, when he saw the Sword of Gryffindor in my hand.
But the surprise vanished as quickly as it came.
"Well done, my boy," he said gently, stepping closer. "You have done Hogwarts a great favour. Its halls are safe once more, thanks to you."
I inclined my head in what I felt was a humble but dignified angle. "Just doing my job, Headmaster."
Then, naturally, I gestured at the still-steaming, headless corpse of a thousand-year-old murder serpent. "I'll be claiming the carcass, of course. As is my right. If you don't mind."
A twinkle sparkled faintly in his eyes. "Of course," he said.
His gaze flicked again, this time very deliberately, to the sword in my hand. His lips parted slightly, as though he meant to say something.
Then he… didn't.
Interesting…
And then it hit me, the timing was perfect.
"Headmaster," I said, stepping closer and lowering my voice just slightly, "this is the perfect moment to catch the true culprit."
That got his attention properly.
"If the basilisk was released," I continued, "its master should still be near the Chamber of Secrets. He wouldn't abandon control in the middle of an attack."
Dumbledore's eyes shifted, not to me, but to the nearby door.
Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Ah, so he had already suspected.
"So you've deduced it as well," I said lightly, following his gaze. "Yes, precisely what I was thinking. The entrance must be inside Myrtle's lavatory."
I gestured toward the door. "After all… wasn't she killed by the basilisk's gaze in there all those years ago?"
His expression didn't change, but the air did.
And I knew, in that quiet, tightening silence, that we were seconds away from opening the real door behind this nightmare.
…
Deep beneath Hogwarts, in the ancient stone heart of the castle, something went wrong.
Tom Riddle paused mid-breath and felt a flicker of fury.
The Chamber… had been opened, by someone else.
The realization hit him like ice water. The magic in the air shifted, subtle but unmistakable. The door had been breached from the outside.
He looked down.
Ginny Weasley lay sprawled weakly on the cold stone floor, her face ashen, her breathing shallow, freckles standing out sharply against skin gone pale. Her red hair fanned around her head like blood in water.
He looked at his own hands.
They were no longer transparent. Not fully real yet… but solid enough.
"…Almost."
The ritual was incomplete. He could feel it in the instability of his form, the way the magic around him pulled and stretched. But he didn't have time.
Not anymore.
"No matter. This is enough."
He knelt, prying the diary from Ginny's limp fingers, then gently, almost thoughtfully, removed her wand from her robe pocket. For a brief moment, he studied her face.
"Such a shame."
She had been a useful little thing.
But Dumbledore's fortress was no place for half-measures.
And now… Lockhart.
That infuriating peacock.
Tom rose to his feet, his robes whispering as they solidified fully enough. He turned and moved through one of the many hidden tunnels branching from the Chamber. This particular one led straight to the Forbidden Forest.
He vanished into darkness.
…
Far above, stone groaned as the hidden entrance snapped open.
Harry Potter stood stiffly before the sink, his tongue still half-formed around the final hiss of Parseltongue.
The sinks groaned as they shifted just enough to reveal a wide hole in the middle.
Lockhart, Dumbledore, and Harry descended quickly.
Stepping over the bones of countless small creatures, mostly rats, and even basilisk shed skin, they came across another door.
After Harry said the password, they finally reached the Chamber itself, but only silence greeted them.
Ginny Weasley lay alone on the stone floor.
Seeing his friend's little sister, Harry was the first to move.
He ran to her side and dropped to his knees, his hands hovering helplessly over her shoulders.
"Professor!" he shouted, looking back wildly at Dumbledore. "She's cold! She's not waking up!"
Dumbledore moved faster than anyone would have expected a man his age to move.
Lockhart approached as well, his robes spotless once again, the basilisk blood having vanished with a single precise flick of his wand before entering the chamber. Gryffindor's sword still rested firmly in his grip, faintly gleaming.
Dumbledore knelt at Ginny's side and removed his wand.
Soft, rapid scanning spells rolled from his lips as light shimmered all over her body.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Before finally, he released a quiet breath.
"She lives," he said. "Only just."
Harry sagged in visible relief.
"We must take her to Madam Pomfrey at once. Fawkes." he called.
And a burst of brilliant gold and red fire engulfed the chamber as his phoenix appeared in a storm of light, wings flaring wide, eyes burning with gentle intelligence.
Dumbledore stood, turning to Lockhart. "Gilderoy… please accompany Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley. Fawkes will take you."
Lockhart hesitated, tightening his grip on the sword. "And you?" he asked.
Dumbledore's gaze slid around the ancient, empty chamber. "I will stay. I wish to see… what traces remain of the true culprit."
Fawkes lowered himself, wings stretching to accommodate their passengers.
Lockhart lifted Ginny gently.
In a flare of fire and song, the phoenix vanished with them.
Leaving only the old headmaster and the echo of what had almost been reborn.
…
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