meant to be (2)

54

"Ron!" I shouted. "Are you OK? Ron!"

"I'm here!" came Ron's muffed voice from behind the rockfall "I'm OK. This gits not, though — he got blasted by the wand."

There was a dull thud and a loud ow'. It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.

"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through. It'll take ages..."

I looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it. I had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks by magic, and now didn't seem a good moment to try - what if the whole tunnel caved in?

There was another thud and another 'ow!' from behind the rocks. We were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours. I didn't know what to do and started getting anxious.

"Wait there." Harry called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on. If I'm not back in an hour..."

"What do you mean with 'I'll go on.'? I'm coming with you!" I said angrily.

"Jules, look. It's way too dangerous in here. I don't want you to risk your life for this. I'm just looking out for you." Harry urged, turning his attention to me.

"I don't need you to look after me!" I snapped, glaring at him. "I'm not a baby, I can decide for myself if I want to risk my life or not."

Harry looked at me. I could see that he still didn't want me to go but he muttered a quick and quiet "Fine"

"I'll try and shift some of this rocks." said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can - can get back through. And, Harry, Julie-"

"See you in a bit." said Harry, clearly trying to inject some confidence into his shaking voice.

And we set off together past the giant snake skin.
Soon the distant noise of Ron straining to shift the rocks was gone. The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in my body was tingling unpleasantly.

I wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what I'd find when it did. And then, at last, as we crept around yet another bend, we saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

"I think you have to speak Parseltongue again." I thought out aloud.

Harry's mouth opend and a low, faint hiss emerged from it.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry and I, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.

Harry noticed how anxious I was and gently grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"It's going to be fine" he said, comforting me. "Ginny's going to be fine. We're going to be fine. I promise."

We were 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.

My heart beating very fast, I stood listening to the chill silence. Could the Basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny?

I pulled out my wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. I kept my 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 us. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, I thought I saw one stir.

Then, as we drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. I had to crane my neck to look up into the giant face above: it was ancient and monkey-like, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stood on the smooth chamber floor. And between the feet, face down, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming red hair.

"Ginny!" I yelled, sprinting to her and dropping to my knees. "Ginny! Don't be dead! Please don't be dead!"

Harry and I flung our wands aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. But then she must be...

"Ginny, please wake up" Harry muttered next to me desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake." said a soft voice. I jumped and spun around on my knees.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry was looking at him through a misted window.

"Tom - Tom Riddle?" Harry whispered. Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.

"What do you mean, she won't wake?" I asked desperately. "She's not - she's not -?"

"Julie Clarke." Riddle said, his lips curvinh upwards. "She's still alive. But only just!"

I 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?" Harry asked uncertainly.

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

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

"You've got to help us, Tom." Harry said, raising Ginny'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 us..."

Riddle didn't move. We, sweating, managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor, and bent to pick up our wands again. But our wands had gone.

"Did you see-?"

I looked up. Riddle was still watching us - twirling our wands between his long fingers.

"Thanks." said Harry, stretching out his hand for it. A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at us, twirling the wands idly. I had a very bad feeling about him.

"Listen." said Harry urgently when my knees sagged with Ginny's dead weight. "we've got to go! If the Basilisk comes-"

"It won't come until it is called." said Riddle calmly.

"What d'you mean?" he said. "Look, give us our wands, we might need them"

Riddle's smile broadened as he said: "You won't be needing it."

"I don't think he's going to help us, Harry..." I whispered to him while we were lowering Ginny back onto the floor.