𝑨𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒕 - ʜᴊᴘ x ᴏᴄ [𝐌𝐀𝐉𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆&𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆]

𝟒𝟒

   ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

ᴜɴᴄʟᴇ ᴅᴇᴀʀᴇꜱᴛ

   ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Please don't be dead," Harry said, his voice tight with panic as he looked down at Ginny.

"Wake up, Ginny," Cassie muttered, her gaze unwavering as she looked at the unconscious girl, her fingers twitching with the urge to do something more, anything.

"Help me, Tom. There's a basilisk," Harry said, turning to the older boy, his voice tinged with desperation.

"It won't come until it's called," Tom replied, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth as he casually picked up Harry's wand from the floor.

Cassie's eyes narrowed. Rule number one: Never leave your wand idle anywhere.

"Give me my wand, Tom," Harry demanded, standing up with as much authority as he could muster in the situation.

"You won't be needing it," Tom said coldly, his voice oozing with malice.

Cassie's mind whirred with confusion. Who was this "Tom"? She'd never seen him before, and he definitely wasn't one of the more noticeable Slytherins. What was he doing here in the Chamber of Secrets, and how did he know about the basilisk? The pieces didn't add up, and it only unsettled her more.

"Listen. We've got to go. We've got to save her," Harry said, his voice breaking as he looked at Ginny, but Tom only laughed darkly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Harry," Tom said. "You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger."

The situation felt increasingly twisted. Something was wrong. Cassie clenched her fists, her instincts screaming that everything she thought she knew about this moment was a lie.

"You opened the Chamber of Secrets," she said, her voice cutting through the tension. Tom chuckled.

"No. You're wrong. It was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"No," Cassie whispered, her heart sinking as she glanced at Ginny.

"She couldn't—she wouldn't," Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief, refusing to believe it.

"It was Ginny who set the basilisk on Mudbloods and Filch's cat," Tom continued, his voice dripping with malice. "Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the walls."

Cassie felt her stomach churn. The girl she had just seen as a victim was somehow complicit in all this? It didn't make sense. "Why?" she asked, her voice cold.

"Because I told her to," Tom replied smoothly. "You'll find I can be very persuasive. Not that she knew what she was doing. She was, shall we say, in a kind of trance. But still, the power of the diary began to scare her. She tried to dispose of it in the girl's bathroom. Then, who should find it but you? The very person I was most anxious to meet."

Harry blinked. "Why did you want to meet me?" he asked, feeling like he was walking through a fog, trying to make sense of his words.

"I knew I had to talk to you," Tom answered, the smirk never leaving his face. "Meet you if I can. So I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf, Hagrid."

"Hagrid is my friend! You framed him, didn't you?" Harry shouted, his voice full of anger.

"It was my word against Hagrid's. Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent."

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," Harry spat, glaring at Tom.

Tom's eyes flashed with a hint of annoyance, but he didn't comment on it. "He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that. I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. So I left a diary preserving my 16-year-old self in its pages. So that one day, I would be able to lead another, to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it this time," Harry said, glaring at him. "In a few hours, the Mandrake draught will be ready. And everyone who was petrified will be alright again."

Tom scoffed. "Haven't I told you? Killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore. For many months now, my new target has been you. How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

Cassie tilted her head, eyes narrowing. "Why do you care how he escaped?" she asked, her tone laced with incredulity. "Voldemort was after your time."

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future," Tom declared, a strange light in his eyes.

It clicked in an instant. Tom Riddle. Riddle. The name hit her like a ton of bricks. She could hardly believe it. The "filthy Muggle" whom her Great Aunt had fallen in love with. She had known he was dangerous, but to think he was here now...

Tom used Harry's wand to scrawl something on the ground, and Cassie's heart dropped. The name that appeared in swirling, elegant script was a name she'd never forget.

𝓣𝓞𝓜 𝓜𝓐𝓡𝓥𝓞𝓛𝓞 𝓡𝓘𝓓𝓓𝓛𝓔

𝐼 𝒜𝑀 𝐿𝒪𝑅𝒟 𝒱𝒪𝐿𝒟𝐸𝑀𝒪𝑅𝒯

Her mind raced. Her uncle was in front of her.

"You," Harry gasped, his voice full of realization. "You're the heir of Slytherin."

Cassie kept her mouth shut, her eyes calculating. He didn't know. Not yet, anyway. Good. If there was anything she'd learned from the Black family, it was that the most dangerous people were the ones who appeared the weakest.

"You are Voldemort," she said flatly, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father's name," Tom sneered. "No, I fashioned myself a new name. A name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer."

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world," Harry retorted, his eyes flashing with sharp fire.

"Dumbledore has been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me," Tom said dismissively.

"He'll never be gone, not as long as those who remain are loyal to him," Harry spat, his voice full of venom.

Suddenly, the sound of wings filled the air, and a Phoenix appeared, dropping the Sorting Hat in front of them.

"So, this is what Dumbledore sends his greatest defender?" Tom mocked, glancing at the bird and the old hat. "A songbird and an old hat."

"Come forth, Basilisk," Tom ordered in Parseltongue, his voice echoing through the chamber. The stone sculpture of Salazar Slytherin shifted, and from it emerged the massive serpent.

Cassie felt a surge of anger rise within her as Tom made a crude remark. "Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter and his Slytherin girlfriend."

Cassie's eyes burned with contempt. How dare he.

She didn't bother responding to his vile assumption. Instead, she stepped forward, her gaze unwavering as she prepared for the battle that was about to unfold. She had no intention of letting Riddle get away with anything. Not today.