Chapter 103: Behind the Stone

Snape reached the tunnel first, followed by McGonagall and two suits of armour carrying timber braces. His anger at finding Edward and Ron below the school lasted only until he saw the collapse.

"Potter is beyond it?"

"With Ginny," Ron said. "He answered once."

McGonagall examined the ceiling and transfigured three broken bones into additional supports. Snape tested the rock for lingering magic. Lockhart's failed charm had fractured a natural seam, leaving the central slab balanced against smaller stones.

"Blasting through will bring down the tunnel," Snape said. "We remove it by hand."

The suits of armour began lifting rubble from the outer edge. Ron worked beside them. Edward showed Snape the air channel near the floor and the slab he had marked.

A faint voice travelled through the gap.

"Ginny?"

Harry sounded farther away than before. Another voice answered, young and composed. Edward could not distinguish the words.

Snape enlarged the air channel by an inch, then stopped when grit fell from the ceiling. The opening remained too small for an adult. Edward could fit if he removed his outer robe.

"No," Snape said before he asked.

"You can keep a line on me. I only need to tell Harry help is here and learn what he is facing."

"You need to remain on this side of a lethal collapse."

A hiss rolled through the stone.

Every face changed.

McGonagall tied a climbing rope around Edward's waist and placed a tracking charm on his collar. "You go as far as the other side of this fall and no farther until we speak through the line. If the creature appears, you close your eyes and retreat."

Snape objected for another three seconds. Ginny did not have those seconds to spare.

Edward removed his robe, covered his eyes with the darkened Flame Mask, and crawled into the channel. Stone scraped his shoulders. Snape kept the rope taut while McGonagall held the opening stable.

He emerged beyond the collapse with dust in his mouth and Harry's voice ahead.

"I know your name," Harry said. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Edward stopped at the mouth of the passage. The Chamber stretched beyond it, lined by stone serpents and shallow water. Ginny lay beneath the statue of Salazar Slytherin. Harry stood between her and the pale figure of a sixteen-year-old boy.

The boy held no wand. A black diary rested near Ginny's hand.

Riddle traced his fingers through the air. Burning letters formed his school name, then moved into a second arrangement: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. The display lasted only long enough to make the claim before fading above Ginny.

This text was taken from NovelPhoenix. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"That is what the diary has been trying to become," Harry said.

"What I became long ago. This memory was preserved before lesser people damaged the face attached to it."

"You mean before you started hiding that your father was a Muggle."

Riddle's calm thinned. Edward recognised the weakness Harry had found. The self-proclaimed heir had built his authority on ancestry he did not possess and despised in himself.

"My mother carried Slytherin's blood," Riddle said. "My father contributed a name I discarded."

"Regulus carried an old name too," Edward called from the passage. "He used it to steal from you. A choice matters longer than a pedigree."

Riddle looked toward the sound, not yet able to see him clearly. "Regulus died begging his servant to finish what he could not."

Edward pressed the signal charm once. That statement connected the diary's memory to Voldemort's knowledge of the cave, another fact for Dumbledore and Snape to preserve.

"You know the name I abandoned," Riddle replied. "Voldemort is what remained after I removed the weakness from it."

His outline had grown almost solid while Ginny's face lost colour. He explained that she had written her fears into the diary, and the fragment inside had answered with patience. Each secret gave it access. Each possession took more of her strength.

"You used her to open the Chamber," Harry said.

"Lucius Malfoy supplied the opportunity. The girl supplied herself."

Edward touched the signal charm at his collar twice. Snape and McGonagall now knew the diary was controlling Ginny and that Lucius had placed it among her books.

Riddle turned toward the passage. "You brought another witness."

Concealment had never been possible against a presence bound to the Chamber. Edward stepped into view but kept the Flame Mask opaque.

"The adults are clearing the tunnel," he said to Harry. "Do not look at the statue when it opens."

Riddle smiled. "Regulus Black's son, hiding behind his mother's fire. Your father discovered too late what service to me required."

"He discovered in time to defy you."

The smile vanished.

Riddle spoke in Parseltongue. Stone shifted inside Slytherin's mouth.

Edward closed his eyes completely. The chamber filled with the scrape of scales and the wet impact of an enormous body striking the floor. The Basilisk's breath came harsh and close.

"Keep your eyes shut!" Edward shouted.

Harry moved. His shoes splashed through the shallow water while the blindfolded Edward followed the sound with his wand. He cast no fire at the creature. A missed attack might illuminate its eyes or drive it toward Ginny.

A phoenix cry descended from the high darkness.

Fawkes struck the Basilisk's head. The serpent reared, smashing its jaw against stone. Riddle shouted another command, but the phoenix attacked again. Claws tore across one eye, then the other.

"It is blind!" Harry called.

Edward opened his eyes behind the filtered mask. Fawkes climbed beyond the serpent's reach while dark blood ran down its face. The Basilisk thrashed through the chamber, guided by sound and smell rather than sight.

The Sorting Hat dropped beside Harry.

Riddle laughed. "Dumbledore sends you a hat."

Harry reached inside it and drew the Sword of Gryffindor.

The Basilisk lunged toward his movement. Edward struck the water behind its head with a sharp burst of flame. Steam exploded against the stone and pulled the serpent half a turn away. Harry escaped the first bite.

"Once more!" Harry shouted.

Edward moved left, keeping distance from Ginny, and hit a broken pillar. The crack echoed through the Chamber. The Basilisk followed it, its head sweeping low. Harry climbed the fallen stone and waited with the sword held in both hands.

The rope at Edward's waist tightened. Snape had reached the far side of the collapse and was demanding his return through the signal charm.

There was no clear route back. The Basilisk's body lay between Edward and the passage.

Fawkes dived at its ruined eyes. The serpent snapped upward, exposing the pale scales beneath its jaw. Harry jumped from the pillar and drove the sword into the roof of its mouth.

The Basilisk's momentum carried both of them to the floor.

Its tail struck Edward's shield and threw him against the statue. The Flame Mask went out. He kept his gaze on the stones until the last convulsion stopped.

Harry pushed himself from beneath the head. The Sword of Gryffindor remained buried to the hilt. A broken fang protruded from his arm.

He pulled it free before Edward could stop him.

Venom spread from the wound in dark lines. Harry dropped beside Ginny, still clutching the fang.

Riddle's shape became clearer.

"Your rescue arrived too late," he said.