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Chapter Twenty- The Heir of Slytherin

The twins found themselves standing at the very end of a long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the Basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar?

Haiden pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns, prompting Harry to move forward as well. Every careful footsteps echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. The twins kept their eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following them. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, Harry swore he saw one stir.

Then, as they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Ginny!" Haiden cried, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. Harry followed after him at a slower pace. "Ginny - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" Haiden flung his wand aside, causing Harry to sigh as he magically summoned Haiden's wand to him as Haiden turned Ginny over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. Harry noticed her chest rising and falling shallowly as he stopped right next to them, she was still alive, but only just. "Ginny, please wake up." Haiden muttered desperately as Harry slid Haiden's wand into the hidden pocket inside of his cloak as Haiden shook her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake." A soft voice said. The twins jumped and spun around as Harry instinctively created a barrier around the three of them. A tall, black-haired teenager was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching Harry with what seemed to be intrigue. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window. Something about him wasn't right, he obviously wasn't a ghost, Harry called his magic to his eyes and noticed a string of magic connected to the teen's chest, Harry followed the string to a little black journal opened near the statue's giant toes, and the journal had a string of magic connected to Ginny.

"You're sucking the life out of her." Harry said interrupting the conversation Haiden and the teen were having. The teen's eyes snapped to him as he snarled at him turning his handsome face into that of a monster before he stalked over to them, he reached out to try and touch Harry, but the barrier zapped him causing him to curse under his breath.

"Aren't you a perceptive little thing, and powerful too. It's a wonder Dumbledore hasn't made you into his puppet." The teen hissed as the hand that got zapped began to look more ghost like, Harry took a glance at Ginny and noticed she had slightly more color than before.

"As you said, I'm very perceptive." Harry hissed as he glared back the teen.

"Listen," Haiden said standing up with Ginny in his arms, his knees sagging with Ginny's dead weight. "I don't know what you two are talking about, but we've got to go! If the Basilisk comes-"

"It won't come until it is called." The teen told them and it clicked in Harry's head who this boy was.

"What d'you mean?" Haiden asked as Harry slowly reached his hand over to grip Haiden's wrist without catching the teen's attention.

"We'll, it was nice to finally meet you, but we have to go. I'm sure we'll see each other again, and we can talk and catch up then." Harry said with a forced smile.

"I don't think so, I've waited along time for this, Haiden and Harry Potter. So, we're going to talk now."

"How did Ginny get like this?" Haiden asked slowly.

"Well, that's an interesting question." The teen started pleasantly but Harry continued for him.

"Ginny wrote in a cursed journal that held a piece of someone's soul. By doing that she opened her heart to the soul thinking that it was a friend allowing the soul to attach to hers and began sucking the life out of her. And the more she wrote in the journal, the more the soul became." Harry quickly explained.

"Well, seems someone's done his homework." The teen hissed out.

"It's what I'm best at." Harry said tightening his grip on Haiden.

"What?" Haiden asked very confused at what was going on.

"Little Ginny's been writing in my journal for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" - the teen's eyes glinted - "how she wanted the famous, good, great, Haiden Potter to like her instead of Hermione. How she wished Hermione were out of the picture so she could be with Haiden." The teen suddenly sighed with a loud, annoyed groan. "It's very boring having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl." He went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom… I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in… It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket…" Tom laughed, a high, cold laugh. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck. "If I say it myself, Haiden, Harry, I've alway been able to charm the people I needed." Tom winked at Harry suggestively.

"Sorry, you're not my type." Harry said causing Tom to laugh.

"I guess I need to dye my hair blond." Tom said with a smirk.

"I'm into Silver hair and someone with an actual heart, not a black hole." Harry said.

"Such wit, where did you get it?" Tom asked.

"I was born with it." Harry said.

"I love my toys to have good wit." Tom said with another wink.

"If I'm a toy, then I'm one you can't afford." Harry said causing Tom to laugh.

"We will see, Harry, we will see." Tom said racking his eyes over Harry before looking at a creeped out and slightly disgusted Haiden. "So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted… I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasely a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…"

"What d'you mean?" Haiden asked weakly.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Haiden Potter? I'm sure you're brother has already figured it out." Tom taunted softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No." Haiden whispered.

"It wasn't really her. She had no idea what she was doing." Harry reassured his brother.

"Well, not at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries… far more interesting, they became… Dear Tom," He recited watching Haiden's horrified face, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me i'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me… There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad… I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!" Harry could feel Haiden shaking, Tom was getting to him and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it "It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary." Tom said. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you come in, Haiden. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet…"

"And why did you want to meet me?" Haiden growled out in obvious anger.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Haiden." Tom said. "You're whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over Haiden's lightning scar. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of the great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust-"

"Hagrid is my friend! And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you had made a mistake, but-" Haiden snapped out and Harry squeezed his wrist, he was getting too riled up, he was going to become an easy target, just like Tom wanted. Tom laughed his high laugh again.

"It was my word against Hagrid's, Haiden. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student… on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls… but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance… As though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!" Tom hissed.

"Wow, five years, huh? It only took me two week of actively looking." Harry said with a smirk causing Tom to hiss at him to shut up in Parseltongue. "Come over here and make me." Harry hissed causing Tom to raise an eyebrow.

"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…" Tom said and Harry tried to fight the thought that he was scarily a lot like Tom and that Dumbledore's caution with him seemed to make more sense. He was afraid of a repeat in history.

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you." Haiden said, his teeth clenched.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled." Tom said carelessly and Harry had to fight off memories of Dumbledore also watching him closely, he would not let him mind travel down that road. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a journal, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it." Haiden said triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat."

"That doesn't matter to him, weren't you paying attention. He doesn't care about killing the muggleborns. He wants us, well, you. He wants you dead. Ginny's just the bait to get you here." Harry hissed out.

"Your brother's right, Haiden. And now that I have you trapped here, you're going to answer my question." Tom said.

"What question?" Haiden asked.

"How is it that you - a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed? I can get how Harry was able to do so, but not you." Tom said.

"Why do you care how I escaped?" Haiden said slowly. "Voldemort was after your time…"

"He is Voldemort." Harry said shocking Haiden.

"What?" Haiden asked, Harry snapped and Tom's full name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, rose from the journal and floated in between Harry, Haiden, and Tom. Harry snapped again and the letters of his name rearranged themselves: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

"Very interesting, how did you know my full name? I never told you it." Tom asked.

"I saw it in a nightmare." Harry told him and Tom hummed.

"Yes, it was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle's father's name forever? I, in whose veins run the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, 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, Haiden, 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!"

"You're not." Haiden said, his quiet voice full of hatred.

"Not what?" Tom snapped.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world." Haiden said and Harry had to fight back a flinch as Tom's eyes flashed to him before going back to glaring at Haiden. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone say so!" Harry didn't know why he felt hurt by that. "Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you, now, wherever you're hiding these days-" The smile had gone from Tom's face to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" Tom hissed.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Haiden retorted!

"Even though he is physically gone from the castle, his spirit is still here with the people who trust and believe in him." Harry said. Tom opened his mouth, but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Tom whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spirit-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made him feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. And Harry instantly knew what it was. Fawkes was coming to give Haiden the Sorting Hat with Gryffindor's sword. His nightmare was coming true, though some small things had changed, it was still very similar.

Fawkes swooped in and dropped the hat heavily on Harry's head, shocking him. This was supposed to land on Haiden, not him. Harry shakily took the hat off his head and looked at it. This was not right, he was not supposed to get the hat, he neither trusted in Dumbledore nor believed in him. How could he have called Fawkes to him?

….No that was a lie, there was one thing he trusted and believed in about Dumbledore….

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defenders! A songbird and an old hat? Do you both feel brave? Do you feel safe now?" Tom taunted while laughing.

"In fact, I do." Harry said glaring up at Tom through his eyelashes as a plan formed in his mind. "Because I may not be Dumbledore's biggest fan, in fact I bloody hate him. And he may not trust me, and he may constantly keep an eye on me. I may not understand why he sent me this and not Haiden who worships the ground he walks on, but I trust and believe that he has his reasons for his madness. Especially when it comes to Haiden." Harry said and felt the hat grow heavy. Harry's pulled Haiden's had way from holding Ginny, causing him to fight to keep her from falling to the ground, and shoved it into the hat and forced it around the hilt of the sword knowing that even though the hat was given to him, he would not be able to pull the sword out.

"What th-" Haiden cried but shut up when Harry glared at me.

"You said you trusted me, right?" Harry asked his brother who nodded. "Then trust me that I also have a reason for my madness. When I tell you, I want you to pull your hand out of the hat and set everything you're holding on the ground, face the exit and close your eyes. And then, when I tell you, I want you to quickly run towards the exit."

"But-" Haiden started.

"Trust me." Harry hissed out. "You. Will. Be. Safe. I will make sure of it. Okay?" Haiden slowly nodded and Harry then looked at Tom. "To answer your question, Tom, he escaped every time he faced you, because we were together. And this time will be no different." Harry looked back at Haiden. "Pull your hand out." Haiden did so, pulling Gryffindor's sword from the hat, then sat both Ginny and the sword on the ground, quickly faced the exit and closed his eyes.

"What are you doing?!" Tom asked as Harry quickly faced the statue with his eyes close and spoke the words he remembered from his nightmare.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Harry heard Slytherin's Gigantic mouth opening. And waiting no time, Harry whistled the song Fawkes had sung on his way to them. Fawkes responded as Tom took control of the Basilisk as he knew he would, ordering it to not listen to him before ordering it to kill him and Haiden. "Run." Harry hissed at Haiden as he heard Fawkes attacking the Basilisk, blinding it. Harry threw himself on top of Ginny, with his eyes still closed.

"NO! LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS GETTING AWAY! YOU CAN STILL HEAR AND SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!" Tom roared. Harry felt and heard the now blind serpent chase his brother and focused all his magic and willpower to wrap around Haiden, protecting him and guiding him. Fifteen whole minutes went by before Haiden ran back into the room, and over to him and Ginny.

"Stay with her, and don't make a sound." Harry ordered picking up the sword, and focused his magic to the tip before drawing a circle around Haiden and Ginny. "Do not leave the circle until Tom's soul is dead." He ordered kicking the journal into the circle. "Use anything sharp I slide to you." He hissed as the Serpent slid back into the room. Harry ran to across the room, catching its attention, Harry put his back to a wall and waited for it to come to him.

The Basilisk lunged at him, and Harry jumped out of the way, swinging the magic coated sword, slicing it's hard scales. It wasn't a deep cut, nothing to slow it down, only piss it off. The Basilisk lunged again at the exact angle he needed it too. Harry steeled himself, making sure not to move even an inch, and at the last possible second, stabbed the sword through the top of the Basilisk's mouth with both hands. The magic coated sword slid right through the soft skin, and skull, piercing it in the brain. Killing it. Painting in exhaustion and pain, Harry pulled his arms from the now dead Basilisk's mouth, a fang lodged in his left arm just above his elbow.

Harry slid down the wall, quickly weakening from the poison. He gripped the fang and, with his quickly draining strength, pulled it from his arm. Using the last bit of his magic, Harry slid the fang to Haiden who quickly grabbed it.

"You're are both foolish and dead, Harry Potter. Such a great waste off all that power and potential." Tom said above him almost sounding mournful as Fawkes quickly flew over to him.

"What do I do with the fang?" Haiden asked desperately.

"Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Harry? He's crying." Tom said still sounding mournful as he knelt down to look at him with sad eyes as Fawkes cried onto his wound. But Harry knew it was pointless, the poison was killing him, and there was no cure.

"...Stab… the… journal…" Harry forced out through pants as Tom began to gently pat his now sweat coated hair. Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning. Harry felt Tom lean down to whisper in his ear.

"We could have been great together. With our powers combined, we would have been unstoppable." Tom whispered, gently taking Harry's chin in between his long fingers and gently turned Harry's face so that he was looking at him. "We are so alike, you and me. It is almost as if you were made for me." Harry wandered what was taking Haiden so long as Tom kissed him. Suddenly Tom pulled away harshly with a pain filled scream as holes of light appeared on his body. Harry smirked weakly as Tom vanished with a loud, anguished scream, and Harry wished to hear it over and over and over again.

"HARRY!" Haiden cried rushing over to him, gently laying Harry's head in his lap. "No! Don't die! You can't die! Don't leave me alone! I just got you back!" Haiden cried hugging him.

"I'll…. Always….be….with….you." Harry breathed out. And the last thing Harry saw before the cold hands of death took him away was a winged person. The right side of him pure and white, the left side tainted and black.

The person opened his mouth and the voice he had been hearing for the past two years floated into his ears as he felt himself start to float upwards.

Beware the Dog. Befriend the Wolf.

Thank you for reading the Second Book of my series. The Third Book 'Lock Me In Your Heart' will be posted after Halloween so keep an eye of for it and I hope to see you at the third book. Also, please, please, please do not kill me. Trust that I have a reason for my madness.