Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 25

There were gasps and screams as they realised that it was Voldemort himself who was attacking them. There was complete silence as all of them were in disbelief when Riddle announced that he was a half blood, and a son of a muggle. They watched the scene when Harry started laughing at Riddle for being a half blood. There were many wide eyes in the room when they heard that the Potter family was almost 2500 years old; Draco Malfoy was unable to speak. The school watched Harry say that Riddle could not be the Heir of Slytherin; him explaining about Riddle's psychology about taking revenge on both purebloods and muggles for the way they had treated him; him explaining about the true nature of parseltongue, which was most illuminating to everyone; him telling Riddle about his past home life. There were many gasps and stunned faces as Harry again described his life at the Dursleys; they couldn't imagine ever being treated like that.

Dumbledore and the rest were shocked to stillness when Harry revealed that Lily Potter had been a parselmouth and her creation of a ritual that saved Harry's life and defeated Voldemort. Dumbledore couldn't believe that Lily Potter had hidden such a talent from him, and worse had figured out a way to deflect the killing curse, however obscure it may be.

They all watched with fascination the duel that took place between Harry and Riddle. McGonagall and Dumbledore, both Transfiguration teachers could not help but admire the duel once it shifted to Battle Transfiguration. The fact that a second-year student was able to perform Transfiguration that NEWT students struggled with was staggering. When Harry finally hit Riddle with the daggers, there were cheers, but it was short lived as Riddle boasted that he could not be defeated.

When Riddle mocked Harry for being alone, the entire crowd gasped at once when they saw the majestic thunderbird appear with a flash of lighting and land next to Harry. No one in Britain had seen a thunderbird as they were native to North America, so no one knew much about them. They saw Fawkes, the phoenix arrive with the Sorting Hat. Some of them paled when Harry mentioned the word 'Basilisk'.

When the school population saw the size of the basilisk, many screamed in terror. They watched anxiously as Harry duelled with Riddle as the thunderbird and the phoenix fought the basilisk. They were in awe of Aquila, who flung bolt after bolt of lightning at the massive snake. McGonagall gasped when she saw Harry conjure a rooster since it was high-level transfiguration. Many faces paled as Harry got hit by the blasting curse, and hit the stone statue behind him, leaving a trail of blood on the wall as he crumpled to the ground. Then suddenly, they saw Harry lift the Sorting Hat, and from its depths came a long, ruby encrusted sword. Dumbledore's eyes went wide when he realised what it was; he had read about it and knew that Harry had just pulled the legendary sword of Godric Gryffindor out of the hat. This was not good at all!

When Harry was flung across the chamber when the basilisk's tail hit him, many students screamed. They heard him shout out to his familiar when the thunderbird looked fatigued and watched as he climbed up to the statue. When the basilisk opened its large mouth and struck while at the same time Harry pierced the long sword through the snake's brain, almost the entire hall screamed with fright, while a few of them fainted. Madam Pomfrey slapped her hand to her mouth when she realised that Harry had been poisoned with basilisk venom! The staff and students watched Harry get slowly poisoned; at this point, many of them were openly crying. When Harry stabbed the diary with the fang and Riddle disappeared, people stood up and started applauding and cheering loudly.

Dumbledore's face turned red with anger as many of them started laughing when Harry offered a vacation to Fawkes. There was much awe when Harry interacted with Aquila. Finally, the entire school was stunned into silence when Harry revealed the sword to be that of Godric Gryffindor. When the Sorting Hat explained about Godric's plan in regards to his family fortune and titles, many were staring at Harry with their mouths open in shock when they realised that they were accusing the true, blood Heir of Godric Gryffindor to be the Heir of Slytherin.