X - Chamber

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Over the next couple weeks, Harry's every waking hour was spent researching the strengths and weaknesses of the basilisk and trying to plan his strategy for defeating Balthazar. This obsession only increased after Hermione and Neville were both petrified mid-January, an event that terrified the entire student population as Neville was the first pureblood to be attacked. Nobody was allowed to walk around the grounds alone, and they were escorted by professors to their classes.

The only weakness the basilisk seemed to have was the rooster's crow, which was the last thing Harry was waiting for. Unfortunately, plans were delayed after Hagrid's roosters had all been killed, so Sirius had to acquire some and send them to Harry. Harry had also taken to practicing with the sword of Gryffindor, which he had called to himself as was his right as Lord Gryffindor. The sword, when used by Lord Gryffindor, had many useful enchantments that would allow him to damage the creature like its almost indestructible hide.

His sword-fighting had increased tremendously after hours of practice in the room of requirement against the training dummies. This led to a few awkward encounters with the blonde Slytherin who had walked in several times to a very sweaty and topless Harry, which ended in her being bright red after being caught watching him train. His relationship with the girl had improved enormously since the Prophet article. She was one of the select few girls that didn't throw themselves at the young wizard, although she did seem to walk in on him too much to be considered a coincidence.

Hannah and Susan had also been acting differently since the article, being very protective when other girls came near. The two of them had become by far his closest friends. The only problem was that the two buxom witches had been competing to see who could get the biggest rise out of him, which led to a lot of amazing dreams and uncomfortable 'situations' in his boxers.

It was during one of these competitions, at breakfast on a Saturday, that Hedwig flew into the great hall and dropped a pouch full of silver coins on the table. The two girls looked at him confused as his face lit up, snatching the pouch and wolfing down the last of his breakfast.

"Harry, what's with the silver?" Susan asked, placing a hand on his thigh and keeping him from leaping up.

"The key to ending the attacks," he stated calmly picking her hand off his thigh and brushing his lips across her knuckles as he stood.

"Harry… you're not doing something stupid, are you?" Hannah's voice piped up from behind him.

"Probably," he replied, kissing her cheek before leaving the hall.

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The raven-haired wizard left his private room ready to end this finally. He'd changed into his best duelling robes, sheathed the sword of Gryffindor, wore his new reflective glasses and most importantly the pouch of silver coins was ready in his pocket. He made his way towards the infirmary, immediately to Neville and Hermione and spent several minutes talking to the two victims thanking them for everything and saying goodbye, just in case. The mandrake draught should be being administered later today after a donation of fully grown mandrakes from an irate Augusta Longbottom. Harry left the infirmary after forcing a promise out of Madam Pomfrey to ensure his friends were well looked after and freed from their petrification as soon as possible.

He strode with a purpose towards the second-floor girl's bathroom, getting funny looks from the students who saw him dressed as if he were ready for war. He stepped into the flooded bathroom and immediately a voice called out to him.

"What are you doing in here? This is a GIRLS toilet" The ghost yelled.

"I... Oh, hello Myrtle I'm here to stop the attacks" Harry answered the female ghost, who had appeared before him.

"Oooh, really? My Hero!" she whispered to him, enjoying the look of discomfort on his face.

Harry looked to the sinks and stood before the small serpent engraved on one of the basins. "~Open~" he hissed in Parseltongue at the basin, which immediately slid backwards to show a tunnel leading directly down. "~Stairs~" He commanded after the sink stopped moving, and stone steps appeared leading into the darkness.

"Oh Harry - if you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet!" she whispered in his ear, sending a shiver down his spine at the thought. He turned and gave the ghost a wink before beginning the descent into the chamber.

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Harry unsheathed the sword of Gryffindor as he stepped off the last stair and into the Chamber of Secrets. The floor was covered in the skeletons of many little creatures, bones snapping under his feet with every step he took, and the smell. He continued, ignoring the smell and the sound of bones breaking underfoot as he made his way further and further into the chamber.

As he got further on, he was faced with the realisation of what exactly he had got himself into - a snake skin, obviously shed many, many years ago, but still well over 30 feet long standing taller than the young wizard. An involuntary shiver ran up his spine at the thought of facing a beast that massive, but still, he continued. He reached the true entrance to the chamber, hissed the command to the vault door and it swung open. The room itself was eerily silent, the only noise were his footsteps gently splashing in the puddles. The main lack of anything big and serpentine was beginning to freak Harry out as well, who was continuously looking behind himself expecting the sudden appearance of something long, dark and scaly. His ring began to vibrate and within his mind he saw memories of heirs of the past, opening the passage that released the king of serpents from its dwelling underneath the bust.

"~ Balthazar! Come out and play, ~" he shouted towards the bust in Parseltongue, in a voice that was surprisingly steady considering how terrified he actually was.

Instantly, the mouth of Salazar Slytherin opened and out slithered Balthazar. Harry averted his eyes from the beast, not really trusting the glasses he'd bought.

"~ Master?... Not Master! Rip… Kill… Blood… ~"

"~ Balthazar, I am Lord Slytherin…. OBEY ME! ~" Harry hissed back at it.

"~ Rip… Tear… KILL… ~" It hissed again before a tremendous scraping sound rang throughout the chamber, signifying it being on the move.

'Fuck' Harry thought to himself before bringing his hand to his pocket and to the pouch Sirius sent him earlier. His fingers clasped around one of the silver coins which he took out and flung behind him, the second the coin hit the floor it transfigured back into a rooster and let out an echoing crow.

The second the crowing rang through the chamber the Basilisk began thrashing about wildly sending shockwaves every time its weight hit the floor. For the first-time, Harry looked towards the serpent and what he saw left him in awe.

A huge creature, easily over 60 feet long and 10 feet high, covered in acid green scales which rippled in the small amount of light available in the chamber. In every sense of the word, it was incredible but a terrifying beauty.

The Basilisk was throwing itself around the chamber smashing into the stone walls and throwing itself at the floor with such force that it cracked the stone beneath itself. Harry threw more silver coins around the chamber causing Balthazar to thrash around even more violently with the increased number of echoing crows in the chamber.

After a minute, Harry vanished each of the Roosters and the Basilisk stopped thrashing clearly exhausted from its torture. It slunk to the floor and laid there coiling most of its body into a tight spiral in what must have been the snakes equivalent of the foetal position.

"~ Balthazar, King of Serpents, familiar of Salazar Slytherin himself. ~" Harry began, slowly walking towards the creature, sword brandished in front of himself and looking at the beast in pity. "~You have failed your familiar's task and have become a threat to this great institution. As Lord Slytherin, I must stop you for the betterment of this school. ~"

"~ Kill… Stop… Kill… ~"

Harry continued towards the beast closing the distance between the two, the basilisk looked away from the wizard and opened its ghastly maw. "~ Balthazar… forgive me. ~" Harry said as he stepped to within 10 foot of the monster. He threw his sword into the mouth of the beast, using magic to increase its speed and accuracy as it sailed through the roof of Balthazar's mouth puncturing its brain and killing it instantly.

He wandlessly summoned the sword back to his hand before walking towards the bust of Slytherin again. "~ Reveal your secrets to the true Lord Slytherin, ~" he hissed at the huge statue. The eye of Slytherin sunk back into the stone showing Harry a doorway. Harry climbed the statue and stepped into the eye socket, into Salazar's study.

It was a small circular room, with bookshelves curving around with the wall from floor to ceiling. Harry glanced towards some of the titles and was suitably impressed by the ancient tomes within the room. From floor to ceiling was first edition copies of thousand-year-old texts, some of which were undoubtedly thought to be lost to the wizarding world. The subject matter was as diverse as anything he could think of too, with books written by the founders themselves such as The Subtle and Delicate Art of Transfiguration Volumes I – IX by Godric Gryffindor or The Complete Compendium of Battle Casting and Parselmagic explained by Salazar Slytherin.

Harry continued his perusal of the room and moved towards the ornate desk that stood proudly in the centre of the room. He began opening one of the drawers but before he could look inside he was interrupted by a shout from within the chamber.

"No! Who?!" the voice cried, causing Harry to make his way out of Salazar's study. He looked towards the figure who was shimmering slightly and was almost translucent but what worried Harry was the collapsed figure that laid behind him.

A bundle of long red-hair made Harry's mind jump immediately to his friend, "Susan?" he whispered to himself, and he began climbing down the statue hoping to Merlin that the red-head was still alive.

"You!" The figure shouted, finally seeing the raven-haired wizard. "The great and powerful Harry Potter, oh how I've heard so much about you," he said with a sneer.

"What have you done to her?" Harry shouted as he began running to the collapsed girl.

"Ginny is suffering from magical exhaustion; you see all her magic is being used to reform my body once more." The person smirked.

"Ginny?" Harry said, mentally sighing in relief, "what do you mean reforming your body?"

"I am but a memory but I'm absorbing the girl's magic and becoming so much more than that." The memory said.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, stopping before the wizard, who smirked directly at Harry before flicking Ginny's wand and began writing in flames in the air above them.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, the greatest Sorcerer the world has ever seen." The Memory-Tom said.

"Never heard of you." Harry said.

Riddle looked at Harry with disgust before waving the wand once more and causing the letters to fly into a new order, spelling out a new sentence, I AM LORD VOLDEMORT in the air. Riddle looked at Harry with pride evident on his face as if this was the most impressive display of magic and power Harry should have ever seen.

"Wow an anagram, how creative!" Harry said in a sarcastic drawl, reminiscent of every potion lesson he'd ever had and the sarcastic bat he had to put up with.

"Don't speak to me like that! I am the most powerful wizard in existence!" Riddle spat.

"Unfortunately, Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard in the world that I'm afraid of Tom," Harry replied sounding bored of the conversation, making the shade of Voldemort contort in rage.

"I have conquered death itself! Preserved myself in a 50-year-old diary whilst your esteemed Headmaster has grown old and tired. I will return as strong as I was in my teenage years! No one can stop me." Tom angrily said.

That was intriguing Harry thought, scanning the surrounding area for a diary of any kind and seeing one open several feet from the unconscious girl. He began throwing curses at the book, "Incendio" he said, sending flames at the book which did nothing to the little black diary.

"We still have a few minutes to wait, but I'd be happy to kill you in the meantime." Riddle chided before sending an onslaught of spells at the younger wizard. Harry dodged and shielded against all of the curses but couldn't retaliate, as every spell he cast passed through the ghostly figure.

"Expelliarmus" Harry shouted, successfully disarming Riddle who laughed and wandlessly summoned the wand back to himself. 'Shit' Harry thought to himself, attempting to think whilst under the constant barrage of dark hexes from Riddle who was openly laughing at Harry's inability to combat the memory. Harry, desperate and beginning to tire from the continual dodging he was being forced to endure as he came up with a plan. His hand went to his waist and his face broke out into a huge grin, hoping to God and Merlin that his hunch was correct. He shot out his strongest shield, encasing himself in a bubble of bright light which solved the problem of Riddle's spells for the second. He thrust his arm out towards the diary, wandlessly summoning the black book towards him.

As the book flew towards him, he dropped his wand and quicker than he thought possible, unsheathed the sword of Gryffindor once more, swinging the gleaming blade towards the airborne book and slicing the thing directly down the middle.

A scream loosed from Memory-Riddle who dropped his wand as his form began to split down the middle just like the diary itself. Harry took the sword again and stabbed it into the bigger half of the diary and instantly ink flooded out of its pages and Riddle let loose another scream. The ink continued to run from the diary but began rising into the air, coalescing into a shadowed figure. The air around Harry seemed to get deathly cold and all sound stopped as if time itself stood still in that moment. The ink ran out and the figure let loose a blood-curdling scream before rushing towards Harry enveloping him in a cocoon of darkness.

Harry, stuck inside the dark cocoon, tried to escape its clutches but the darkness latched onto his body sending tendrils of ice shooting through his body. The shadow began to disperse and Harry took a deep breath. The second Harry opened his mouth the darkness shot into his mouth. Harry's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell directly backward onto the cold stone floor of the chamber.

Thanks as allways to my Beta Haphne24