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Chapter Fourteen: The Battle of the Chamber Part Two

As Riddle made his demands, Harry threw himself on the ground, pulling the headband around his eyes, thus shielding his eyes for the deadly gaze. For a normal wizard this would handicap, because they could not hit what they can't see as they were used to having a visual target for their attacks. As a ninja, Harry did not have that problem, and he had an exceptional sense of hearing, which added to his skills.

Harry could hear the Basilisk hissing, so Harry decided to dive behind a pillar in the chamber, pulling out his wand and muttering a spell underneath his breath, to manipulate the shadows within the chamber into spectral duplicates that resembled him. It was only a temporary fix, as Harry could not hold the spell for more than a few minutes due to the complexity of it and plus the snake could still sniff him out. The only reason Harry used such a tactic, was to confuse the snake so he could formulate a plan to destroy the diary.

"Get him, do not let him beat you," hissed Riddle. "I am the Heir of Slytherin, the greatest wizard who has ever lived, I will not be beaten by a mere twelve year old upstart. Sink your fangs into him my precious pet."

Harry rolled out from behind a pillar as he could hear the snake going in the direction of his illusions.

"There he is, don't be tricked by his illusions!" ordered Riddle. "Sniff him out, do anything you need. His destruction will be at hand."

Harry pulled out a shuriken and tossed it at the statue of Slytherin. The sound drew the Basilisk's direction in another direction. Harry's diversions were all over the Chamber now and the Basilisk was rapidly becoming confused.

Harry could hear Riddle become slowly more agitated at the battle wore on. Harry needed to draw the snake's attention away so he can get to the diary.

"Sniff him, you stupid slimy serpent," hissed Riddle. "Do not let him live, he must be destroyed."

Harry pulled out a grappling hook and tossed it, latching around the statue of Salazar Slytherin. Harry adjusted his footing, before he climbed up.

"I'm up here Riddle!" called Harry. "Come and get me if you got the guts."

Harry pulled out his Fukiya, loading the poison darts in, reading to stick the diary in an attempt to destroy it. He could hear the snake slithering up the stairs behind the statue so Harry decided to leap down, rolling to his feet. Harry made sure his back was turned to the Basilisk before taking aim for the diary.

"Keep him away from the diary," hissed Riddle. "Come down my pet, destroy him, do not let him get to me."

Harry blew three darts into the diary, before pulling the headband back over his eyes and doing a forward roll. He could hear Riddle groaning in angry. Harry damaged the diary but he did not destroy it completely!

"Close you wretched fiend, but it is the poison in your little darts is not strong enough," said Riddle. "You will have to find something more potent than that Harry Potter but in five minutes, no matter what is done with the diary, it will not effect me. I will be free and the girl will be dead."

Harry could sense Riddle chasing the Basilisk towards him. He needed to stall for a bit more time to figure out another course of action.

"Reducto!" yelled Harry, blasting a section of the wall out as a diversion tactic. Harry picked up the piece of the wall, tossing it towards the open mouth of the snake.

The Basilisk leaped up, melting the piece of concrete in its mouth.

Harry flipped back, drawing his double-edged sword from underneath his robe and he leapt up into the air but the Basilisk sprung right at the Boy-Who-Lived, biting Harry's preferred weapon in half. Harry threw down one half and attempted to stab the Basilisk in the mouth but it latched onto the sword, melting it with his venom. Harry could smell the sickening smell of melted metal. He rolled back, managing to get his feet underneath the Basilisk and kick it back towards the wall. In the confusion, Harry's headband was knocked off. The basilisk flew backwards and smacked right into the wall.

"On your feet, he must not live!" demanded Riddle. "Potter is to die at my feet."

Harry fell back near the diary, dripping the Basilisk venom on it. Riddle appeared to be in agony from the venom dripping onto the diary and Harry wondered if a stronger dose of venom could take the diary out. Harry pulled himself to his feet and clamped his eyes shut, pulling out a dagger, as the basilisk sprang at him. Harry was knocked on his back and Harry attempted to keep the Basilisk back, dagger underneath its throat. He had run out of hardware, he was not going to make it. He had failed Hogwarts, he had failed the entire Wizarding World, and most of all he had failed Ginny. At least he would go down fighting.

Fawkes the Phoenix flew into the chamber, the old Sorting Hat clutched in his talons. The bird hoped he was not too late, as he sensed a titanic struggle in his old master's Chamber of Secrets. The one known as Harry Potter and the Horcrux spirit of the sixteen-year-old Lord Voldemort had engaged into battle. Voldemort had apparently been using the Basilisk for ill gained purposes so the Phoenix was going to deliver the sorting hat to Harry Potter in hopes he could pull another Slytherin possession out of it to use to counteract Voldemort and his ill gained Basilisk.

Harry was desperately holding back the Basilisk, eyes shut. He could feel the snake take the dagger out of his hand with its mouth and a clatter indicated the Basilisk had disposed of Harry's last line of defense, other than his wand and with the Basilisk closing in, there is no way he could reach it in time. The snake was close to Harry; the blasted thing was going to rip out Harry's throat. Harry braced himself for the worst but nothing came. Instead a song filled the chamber, and the Basilisk was drawn away.

"A Phoenix, this cannot be, I cannot lose," said Riddle in desperation. "Destroy it my pet, do your worst, your most wicked. Tear it into pieces. Do anything you need, I only need a couple more minutes and I will come out on top, the girl will be dead and the reign of Lord Voldemort will be at hand."

Harry glanced upwards, the phoenix seemed to be luring the basilisk away from the diary and the sorting hat for some reason was lying in front of Harry. Harry jammed the hat onto his head.

"I need something to help me win, anything at all," thought Harry in desperation to the hat.

The hat flew off of Harry's hand and shot a sword of some sort out of it. A powerful looking sword clattered on the ground. On the hilt there were miniature snakes carved. Harry had to admit; it was a pretty wicked looking sword. Riddle looked in awe, at what he saw.

"Slytherin's blade," hissed Riddle greedily. "That relic should be mine."

Harry picked up the blade and the metal appeared to be glowing. Harry leaped into the air, blasting Riddle's spirit back with a gust of wind.

"No this cannot be happening, no, curse you Harry Potter," hissed Riddle. "My faithful Basilisk, leave that wretched bird along and bring the blade to me. It is an artifact of Slytherin's and should be mine by divine right. Bring it to me now, snake. Take out the boy and give me Slytherin's Blade."

The basilisk hissed and the Boy-Who-Lived promptly shut his eyes. Harry held the blade steady. Harry wanted a way to drive the snake back, so he could get to the diary. He saw Ginny slowly being enveloped in a black light and realized he did not have much time. The blade responded to his call, setting a jet of water out which washed the Basilisk out of Harry's path.

The Phoenix flew into the air, attempting to grab the diary but a jet of green light blasted from the diary, which was also issuing red smoke with a hissing sound. The phoenix got struck with the light and burst into flames.

Riddle seemed to be getting excited. He was nearly free and Harry attempted to get to the diary.

"It's too late, Harry Potter, you will never stop me," said Riddle with glee, starting to get color to his form. "In less than thirty seconds, I will escape from my realm and the girl will be dead at that time. As a final parting gift, I am ordering my basilisk to kill you now. Destroy him my pet, sink your poison into his veins and make his end extremely painful."

The ground beneath Harry was starting to shake and the diary was hissing more madly yet. Harry closed his eyes once more. The basilisk sprang at Harry but he back flipped over before landing on his back, kicking the diary upwards towards the Basilisk. Harry chanced a look and the diary flew into the Basilisk's open jaws.

"No!" screamed Riddle in agony as the Basilisk's venom had began to burn through the diary. Riddle was fading but the basilisk appeared to be emitting a sinister black glow, looking about ready to explode.

"Sayonara, Voldemort," said Harry wickedly before seeing the state of the Basilisk. That little fact forced Harry into action.

Harry threw himself to the ground, shielding Ginny's body from the explosion of the basilisk, even if it meant sacrificing himself to the blast. The basilisk exploded into tiny pieces. Harry looked up, the remains of the basilisk were all over the Chamber of Secrets walls but Riddle had vanished. All that remained of the item that caused this whole mess, the diary, was the border, with a hole burned through the center.

Ginny appeared to be stirring and Harry felt a great sense of relief wash over him, all the horror of the past couple of hours gone, just by seeing his friend alive and safe.

"Harry," muttered Ginny weakly. "It was me, it was me all along, but I did not mean to do it."

"I know you didn't Ginny, I figured it out," said Harry in a quiet tone of voice.

Ginny pulled herself up to a sitting position, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You should be mad at me Harry, I ruined your r-r-reputation, by letting myself believe Tom could be trusted," said Ginny tears rolling down her cheeks. "Everyone thought it was you and you were hated by nearly everyone in the school. I am so sorry I have to make you s-s-suffer."

Ginny continued to cry but Harry helped her to her feet, pulling her into a hug, consoling the poor girl.

"I'm not mad, Ginny, really I'm not," said Harry, continuing to hug his friend, consoling her. "I know who was behind this. Lord Voldemort is a formidable foe, cunning and with extreme amounts of power. He has manipulated people who have much more knowledge in magic and experience than yourself."

"I can't believe I trusted him, him of all people," sobbed Ginny. "I’m such an idiot. You could have died and it would be my fault!”

"Don't say that Ginny," said Harry sternly but in a gentle matter, as he allowed Ginny to bury her head into his shoulder, sobbing. "I’ve done some things that I regret but I try not to dwell on the matter for too long. You are one of the bravest, strongest people I have ever met. I am pleased you could put up with someone like me and be my friend. Try not and be too upset Ginny, there is an old saying that goes like this. One who never fails never learns."

Harry felt that little piece of advice fit well, as he heard it on a trip to Japan he took with Splinter when he was only eight years old. On this little trip, Harry met the sensei of Splinter's own sensei, Hamato Yoshi, an elderly, wise, if slightly eccentric old man known simply as the Ancient One. Splinter had taken Harry on this little trip due to the fact Splinter felt a bit uneasy letting his then eleven and a half year old Turtle sons baby sit at eight year old, especially one such as Harry, who seemed to be a bit headstrong at the time and would have been a bit hard to control by anyone but Splinter.

Ginny looked into Harry’s eyes weakly, his mere reassuring glance caused her to feel better but now that she knew Harry was safe, another thought appeared in her mind.

"Harry, what if I'm expelled," whispered Ginny in a horrified voice.

"They won’t expel you Ginny, for a couple of reasons," said Harry. "The Heir left a lovely calling card on the wall, no doubt he thought I could not reach you in time. The second reason is extremely simple. I simply won’t let them do it, them expelling you will be over my dead body. If Dumbledore doesn’t want me transfer to a different school, he will go along with me."

"Harry, I don't want you to go to all the trouble," sobbed Ginny, as Harry held her close to him in his arms, hugging her, attempting to calm her down. "What do you mean a different school, I don't know what I would do if you weren't here?"

"It will not come to that, I know how Dumbledore's demented mind works," said Harry darkly. "After he bungled this little Chamber incident, he will do anything to keep me under his sight. I think he was counting on something bad happening down here. I can't prove it but Dumbledore played this game last year with me."

Ginny looked up from Harry's shoulder, looking a bit angered by Dumbledore.

"So Dumbledore knew all along and he didn’t do anything," said Ginny, attempting to keep herself from doing a good impression of her mother and exploding, ranting about Dumbledore for several hours.

"Yes, but he still needs to be kept at this school," said Harry. "I still don’t know exactly what his game is, and I need to keep him close. Also, I don't want anyone who had Death Eater ties inserted by Lucius Malfoy and his little cronies down at the Board of Governors behind my back, thus having different headache all together."

"I understand, Harry," said Ginny quietly. "I trust your judgment, I will not say anything if you don't want me to."

A moment of silence existed, as Harry had his arms wrapped around Ginny for some time. Somehow it felt right but Harry reluctantly figured he had to get Ginny and himself out of that Chamber as no doubt her family had to be worried sick if they learned of that message that was written on the wall. Reluctantly letting go of his friend, Harry prepared to get them out and to safety. Harry concealed Slytherin's blade in his robes and picked up the remains of the diary along with the Sorting Hat. He came down here, Ginny and himself nearly getting both killed and Voldemort's sixteen-year-old self nearly getting resurrected, but it had all worked out in the end. Ginny was safe and Harry received a shiny new sword out of the deal. What could Harry say? He had always been a sucker for a pretty sword. Harry decided he would conceal this little fact from Dumbledore, as that sword would be his for the keeping.

Placing the Portus-Amulet back in its proper spot, around his neck, Harry turned to Ginny. The school was no doubt in mass chaos and they needed to leave right now.

"C'mon Ginny, we're checking out of this dump," muttered Harry in a low voice as he began to walk but he stopped at a pile of ashes on the floor and a little head appeared to be popping out.

"Harry, what is it?" asked Ginny curiously, her eyes still red and soaked from crying.

"It's the phoenix who saved me, but I thought he blew up when a bolt of energy shot out of the diary," said Harry in awe.

The baby phoenix looked up at Harry as if it was about to speak to Harry.

"Young one, my type can live for many years, thousands and thousands of years, and can be reborn from the ashes of sudden death," said the phoenix. "I must say I have been wanting to meet you for some time, Harry Potter. Being in the Headmaster's office tends to be a bit dull at times.

Harry looked at the phoenix, with a bit of a puzzled look.

"You mean, you are Dumbledore's," said Harry darkly

"The old man wishes, he tends to use me to prove he is the leader of the light," said the phoenix. "My bond is with the school and not with Albus Dumbledore. My name is Fawkes and I have around longer than Hogwarts itself.

Ginny looked at Harry, puzzled. Harry appeared to hear something from the phoenix but she could not hear a thing.

"Harry, what is going on here," said Ginny.

Tell your friend that you can only hear me within your own head," said Fawkes.

"Fawkes told me to tell you that I can apparently only hear him and it’s within my head," said Harry.

Ginny nodded in understanding, looking slightly awed.

So, you brought me the hat, so I can pull Slytherin's blade out from it, to help me with my victory?" asked Harry

"Indeed I did, Harry," said Fawkes within Harry's head. "I feared I was too late but as it turns out I was just in time.

"I would say that, any idea on how you knew I would pull the blade out of the hat?" asked Harry.

"I am afraid you need to learn this out on your own, Harry," said Fawkes reluctantly. "You are not fated to know on this day, Harry Potter and fate has been tampered with once in recent memory, the balance of the universe has been compromised ever so slightly, throwing the cosmic balance of time and space off kilter, and I can sense the Tribunal of Magic is not too pleased by this occurrence. I fear once what has been destined to you has been taken out, there will be ramifications to set things back into the proper order."

Harry suddenly felt like he was experiencing a case of Deja Vu. He had heard a similar proclamation about fate being tampered with by the Centaurs of the Forbidden Forest the previous year. He wondered who exactly done decided to do this and why. While Harry personally did not believe in destiny or fate, it appeared to be a very serious issue for many.

"Harry Potter, I really do not want to ask you of much, as you have just saved Hogwarts for certain disaster, but I must ask you of one last favor," said Fawkes. "Take me and place me into the Slytherin Library so I can grow back into my full form. I would not put it past Dumbledore do attempt to try something once I am in this weakened form.

"I will Fawkes," said Harry before realizing something. "Wait, how do you know about Slytherin's library?"

"Once again young one, that is something I cannot say," said Fawkes. "Once again, I am sorry. Just leave me in that area and I will find my way back to my perch in the Headmaster's office.

Harry picked up Fawkes, placing the baby phoenix into his pocket.

"Come on Ginny, for real this time," said Harry turning to his friend and beckoning her to come with him out of the Chamber of Secrets.

Ginny followed Harry, looking curious at what he had just conversed with Fawkes about.

"What did Fawkes tell you, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"I'll tell you later," said Harry before turning to Ginny, remembering a theory he wanted to prove. "One more thing, I hate to bring this back up, but where exactly did you find that diary."

"I found it in the old Transfiguration Book that I got when we were shopping that day," said Ginny frowning.

Harry had a dark look on his face as he remembered; it was the same book Lucius Malfoy had his slimy hands on when he fought with Mr. Weasley. Harry knew what needed to be done now. He was going to get Ginny out of the Chamber safely and then he was going to track down the elder Malfoy to have a nice chat with Lucius about giving out Lord Voldemort's old possessions to innocent eleven year old girls, especially if they happen to be his friends. Harry was going to make sure Lucius knew why it was not healthy to make him angry by putting his friends in danger.

Harry's rope was still on the chamber wall. He grabbed Ginny's hand to help guide her and the two slowly climbed up the Chamber walls, back into Moaning Myrtles bathroom. It took about twenty minutes to get back up but as they pulled themselves from behind the sink, Harry felt relieved. Ginny was safe from Voldemort and the danger had passed for the day.

"Congratulations, Harry, I must say, slaying a basilisk, would make a nice story for a book," said a voice.

Harry spun around, as he saw Gilderoy Lockhart standing in the bathroom, with a smirk on his face.

"Brawling with the Basilisk, no doubt another best seller written by Gilderoy Lockhart. My fame and glory will be enhanced by another level," said Lockhart. "Much like all my other works, I just let someone else do all the dirty work and I take the credit, writing the story."

"So you are nothing but a fraud," said Harry in a bored tone of voice. "Sorry, Lockhart, but I knew you were a big fake all the time, so it is not a news flash."

"I may be a fraud but this fraud is going to wipe both of your memories and take credit for your achievement to write another book to enhance his fame," said Lockhart raising his wand in the air towards Harry and Ginny.