Emilia's Plan

The Chamber

    Emilia ran to Myrtle's bathroom. She wanted to get to the chamber before anyone else could. Myrtle appeared to see what Emilia was doing. "What are you looking for? Oh, is Harry here?" Myrtle asked. "No, Harry's not here, and I need to ask you a few questions too." Emilia replied. Myrtle sighed, but agreed to answer questions. "So, did you see anything when you died?" Emilia asked. Well, I was in that stall right there," Myrtle pointed at her favorite stall. "And I heard someone speak some weird gibberish-like language. It sounded like a boy, so I got out to tell him to go away, but then.." Myrtle sniffled. "I saw a pair of terrible yellow eyes.. and then I died." Myrtle finished explaining. "Where did you see the eyes?" Emilia asked. "Right by that sink." Myrtle pointed at a sink. Myrtle vanished, probably bored of all the questions. Emilia began inspecting the sink. As she was looking, she paused. On the sink, something was carved on it. Upon further inspection, it was a snake. None of the other sinks had that on them. "This must be where the entrance is." Emilia realized. She stood by the sink. "Uh.... Open." She tried to get the entrance to reveal itself. It didn't work. She sighed. "open." She said again, but in parseltongue. The sinks moved and revealed a huge hole in the middle of the bathroom. "Oh, lovely. Just gonna jump in a completely dark hole, with no idea how far down it goes." Emilia muttered. She swallowed her doubt, and jumped in the hole.

      She was surprised to actually slide down to the bottom instead of fall. She began walking through the first corridor, but felt something crunch underneath her boots. "Ugh.. bones." Emilia sighed. She continued walking and took a few turns through the halls, finding a huge snake skin. "Wow, that snake must be giant." Emilia said to herself. She walked some more and found herself at a locked circular door. There were snakes carved all over it. "Maybe the password is just "open" again..?" Emilia thought. "Open." She said in parseltongue. The door opened. "I can't believe that worked a second time." Emilia whispered to herself. Emilia quietly went through the now open door.

    The room she was in was absolutely huge. She glanced around the room, taking everything in. There was only a single pathway across the room. Everything else was submerged in water. Giant statues of snakes lined the pathway to an even bigger statue. Emilia took a few steps across the path and looked at the statue. It was of a man with a long beard. She recognized him immediately. "Woah.. Salazar Slytherin." Emilia said in awe. "Breathtaking, isn't it?" A voice said and chuckled.
A figure emerged from the other side of the platform.
"You- You're-" Emilia stammered. She was face to face with her father. It was his younger self, but still. "Tom Riddle." Tom finished her sentence for her. "Well, you know who I am, but who are you? I'm sure you haven't come here just to admire the decor." Tom said. "I'm Emilia Riddle." she answered. She figured there was no point in lying. He would see right through her. "Ah, you must be the girl who wrote to me in the journal first.", Tom remembered. Emilia nodded. "And by the way, what's your real last name?" Tom asked. "My real last name is Riddle. I already told you." Emilia sighed. "But that's not possible. I'm the last Riddle alive, My parents and grandparents are all dead." Tom said. "I know, but you're from the past. Things are different now." Emilia said. "You and a pureblood Slytherin girl got married. You guys had.. well, me." Emilia said. "So you're my daughter from the future? This makes absolutely no sense. I don't love anyone. I can't love anyone." Tom said, slightly irritated. "I didn't say you loved her, Tom.. But she really loved you." Emilia said sadly. "You can't blame me for what I do in the future." Tom scoffed. "You're right, I can't blame you when you're like this, but I just thought you'd be.. different." Emilia sighed. Tom raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to continue. "I thought you'd be able to feel something.. maybe to even love." Emilia said. She felt as if she was about to cry, but no tears followed. "Look, if what you said is true, that you're my daughter, I would love you if I could. I just don't.. feel things like you" Tom said, deciding to look at the ground instead of at Emilia. "You think you're the only one? When my friends get hurt, sometimes I don't feel bad or even guilty.. You made me like this." Emilia said, her voice wavering slightly. "Trust me, I know you feel different from everyone else. You feel lonely, but friends only bring you down. You don't need anyone. You're strong and powerful, and you'll achieve things others couldn't even imagine." Tom tried to reassure Emilia, even if it's for his own gain in the long run. "How do I know I can trust you.?" Emilia said. "Because you're just like me. If you learn to give in, and stop trying to please people below you, you will succeed." Tom said, and smiled deceivingly pleasantly. "I know a fake smile when I see one. It takes a liar to know a liar, I guess.." Emilia thought. Maybe Emilia didn't realize just how similar the two really are, or maybe she was in denial. The latter seemed much more plausible. "No, I'm not like you, and I'll never stop trying to show kindness. Emotions are not a weakness." Emilia said rather sternly, trying to at least convince herself. "What a shame.. but I know you'll come around. Eventually.." Tom replied. Emilia rolled her eyes. "Well, I'd hate to cut our father-daughter time short, but I do have to tell you that your little friend will be here soon." Tom warned. "Why would anyone else come down here, and which friend are you talking about?.." Emilia questioned. "I'm talking about Potter. He'll be here to save Ginny." Tom said. "Wait, what did you do to Ginny?" Emilia asked. "Ah, good question! So glad you asked!" Tom said, grinning sinisterly. "She's currently writing a nice message on the wall in rooster blood in one of the halls, so excuse her if she's late. Once Ginny gets here, I'll become stronger, she'll become weaker, she'll die, I'll kill Potter, you get the idea." Tom explained. "Ok, that's great and all, but I'll tell Harry your plan and stop you-" Emilia said. "except you won't, because it would be a shame if Harry, one of your only friends, turned his back on you." Tom said. "are you saying you'll tell Harry i'm your daughter.?" Emilia asked nervously. "exactly, but i'm not really blackmailing you here. You will get something in return if you refrain from telling Harry. In the floorboards of the abandoned Gaunt house, there's a gold box. Inside is something only you and I can touch. I hope you make the decision to go find it."
Tom explained. "I'll...think about it." Emilia said. She knew this had to be part of his plan, and that it had some way to benefit him, but maybe whatever is in that abandoned house, could give her some answers. "Potter should be here soon, and to save you from all of his questions, I'll help you out." "I- What are you planning to do?" Emilia asked. "Relax, Can't I just help my daughter out?" Tom said, and lightly chuckled. Emilia hesitated at first but agreed. "okay, fine.." she said. "lovely" Tom replied. With that, he faced his hand towards Emilia, and put a sleeping spell on her. Before she could even react, her unconscious body began to fall to the ground. Not wanting Emilia to hit her head too hard, Tom used a levitating spell, and lowered her to the ground gently. Tom had already used a lot of energy just doing that. Ginny wasn't in the chamber yet, so he wasn't very strong. "Sweet dreams." Tom said towards Emilia's sleeping form.

When Emilia woke only about 10 minutes later, Harry and Tom were talking. Ginny was on the floor next to her. "Don't worry Ginny, we'll get you out of this." Emilia whispered. Emilia sat up and started looking for her wand. Tom stopped talking to Harry for a second and noticed Emilia. "Looking for this?" Tom said, and pulled Emilia's wand out of his pocket. "Ugh, fine, keep it. I'll manage fine without it." Emilia muttered. "Yeah, good luck with that."Tom replied. "Anyways," Tom continued talking to Harry.
     Emilia thought of a way she could cast a spell without her wand. There were always verbal spells and non verbal spells. The kind you cast with only your hands. She's only ever cast a few easy spells without her wand. She doubted she could cast a spell she made without her wand. She had only finished the spell the previous night, but casting it was worth a shot. She waited for when Tom was going to release the snake. After a few minutes, the mouth of the Salazar Slytherin statue opened. Out slithered the Basilisk from the statue's mouth. Tom gave the snake the command to kill, and it started to chase Harry. Tom crossed his arms and watched as Harry ran around, trying to avoid the snake. Emilia waited for the perfect moment to attempt the spell. Tom walked a few steps towards where Emilia was standing. "This is rather boring, isn't it? Potter sure is putting up a fight. Do you think he'll give up?" Tom asked. "Don't distract me, I'm trying to wait for the perfect moment."Emilia sighed. "Perfect moment for what, exactly?" Tom questioned. "To cast a spell to stop you from killing Harry and Ginny." Emilia said.
"I didn't know you cared about the Weasley too." Tom muttered. "She's.. okay, I guess. I just don't want anyone to die." Emilia said. "Oh, well, it looks like you're not doing a very good job of protecting Potter at the moment." Tom smiled, amused that he made Emilia lose focus. "Ugh, stay right here. You've already caused enough trouble." Emilia muttered and stormed off to go find Harry and the snake.