𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝟐 & 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝙍𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙉𝙤 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚

HE WAS STANDING AT THE END of a very 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, Beomgyu stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar?

And where was Arlo?

He pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. He kept his 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 him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir. Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Beomgyu had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkey-ish, with a long, thin beard that fell to the bottom like of a wizard's sweeping stone robes on the smooth Chamber floor. And in the middle, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with short raven hair.

"Arlo," Beomgyu muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. "Arlo-don't be dead-please don't be dead—" He flung his wand aside, grabbed her shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble and cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't petrified. But then she must be. . .

"Arlo, please wake up," Beomgyu said desperately, shaking her. Her head rolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Beomgyu jumped and spun around on his knees.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Beomgyu were looking at him through a misted window. But there was no mistaking him.

"Tom - Tom Riddle?"

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Beomgyu's face.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Beomgyu said desperately. "She's not - she's not—?"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Beomgyu stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a—ghost?" Beomgyu said uncertainly.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Beomgyu had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. For a second, Beomgyu wondered how it had got there - but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"You've got to help me, Tom," Beomgyu said, raising Arlo's head again. "We've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk. I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment! Please, help me."

Riddle didn't move. Beomgyu, sweating, managed to hoist Arlo half off the floor, and bent to pick up his wand again.

But his wand had gone.

"Did you see—?"

Beomgyu looked up. Riddle was still watching him, but twirling Beomgyu's wand between his long fingers.

"Thanks," said Beomgyu, stretching out his hand for it.

A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at Beomgyu, twirling the wand idly.