Stuck AIAOY 2

Chapter 11

Harry knew the exact moment the life left the basilisk, despite the fact that there were no eyes for him to watch the life leave out of.  

The basilisk landed on the ground below with a solid thump and Harry slid down the stone carving, stumbling to his feet weakly.  The strength was seeping out of him with the warmth dripping down his arm that he couldn't quite explain.

Harry looked down to his arm as he managed past the still basilisk corpse, finding the heat growing beneath his elbow uncomfortably.  He couldn't comprehend the image there, the fang sticking near through his arm.

But it was beginning to hurt. 

Harry's hand was shaking as he grabbed the fang, struggling to get a grip on it with the Sword of Godric Gryffindor still in his hand.  The blade was soaked with basilisk's blood, the same blood seeping out of the mouth of the basilisk itself.

Pulling the fang out of his flesh did relieve the pain momentarily, though it returned with a vengeance seconds after.

He was crying, tears dripping down his horribly dirty cheeks and making cleaner tracks until they dropped onto his robes and disappeared.  Harry needed to get to Ginny, that was all he could think.  

If he was going to die, he was going to save her.

In his hazy, confused, and hurting mind, Harry thought that at least this way there would be one more person to take care of Rebecca for him.

"Crying, Potter?"  Tom goaded, standing feet away and behind Ginny.  "It's remarkable, isn't it?  Just how quickly the venom of the basilisk penetrates the body?  I'd guess the boy-who-lived has little more than a minute left."

Harry tried to push Tom's words out of his ears, Voldemort's words, but he couldn't.

"You'll be with your Mudblood mother soon, Harry.  And worry not, your sister will be behind shortly."

Harry hit the stone floor hard, his legs no longer able to support him.  It was no matter, he crawled the last bit to Ginny and reached for her hand.  Tom knew nothing.  Rebecca wouldn't let him kill her, not if Harry had already gone.  Revenge would be Rebecca's, Harry knew this entirely.

"It's funny."  Tom sounded almost pensive as Harry grabbed Ginny's wrist, finding a pulse still beating faintly.  "The damage a silly little book can do, in the hands of a silly little girl."

Insulting her, while Ginny was on her deathbed?  The rage pulsed through Harry and cleared the fog from his mind for a moment, paving the way for an idea.  Harry released Ginny's wrist and took the book from under her arm, opening it to a random page and holding the fang still wet with his blood tightly.

"What are you doing?"  Tom asked, a sliver of something new in his tone.  Fear, maybe.  

Harry raised his arm and plunged the tip of the fang into the page, blood as black as ink pooling out from the page.

"Stop, no!"  Tom shouted, stepping forward to stop Harry and keeling over as his chest was ignited in agony.  A hole opened in the image of Tom, an image like Harry had seen as he was taken into the memory of how he had framed Hagrid.

Harry pushed the fang harder into the book, Tom's screams causing Ron to stir from where he had been thrown.  Raising his arm, Harry stabbed the book again on the other side.  Tom was more light than person now, his screams only increasing in intensity as Harry raised the fang for the last time. 

Closing the book, Harry stabbed the cover and eliminated the memory of Tom Riddle.

Ron fell forward, pulling himself to his knees and scrambling to Ginny's side.  "Harry, Harry you did it!"