The woman in the mirror (Harry Potter fanfic)

Chapter 2.19 (The end of Tom Riddle)

How do you spell love? ~Piglet
You don't spell it
You feel it ~ Pooh

Shaking all over, Harry pushed himself up. His head was spinning as though he'd just traveled miles by Floo powder. He moved over to Ara, who was breathing heavily, shaking as she was kneeling down, looking at her hands. Her hair had stopped glowing and she was sobbing. Harry kneeled down next to her, carefully he placed a finger on her chin and used it to look into her eyes. They were back to the enchanting silver he loved so much.

She flew him around the neck. "Oh, Harry..." she sobbed. "I thought you had died. I couldn't move, couldn't speak..." She clung to him as though he would disappear when she let go. He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Shhh, it's okay. We're fine. He's gone now." Harry was dying to ask what had happened to her. He wanted to know everything. But he knew she needed a few minutes to calm down before she could explain everything. "We should see if Ginny is okay." He whispered, not really wanting to let go of her. He liked having her in his arms. Always had. He liked her. He had liked her since that moment they met on the side of the road. Her siblings had been arguing, leaving her alone on the street. He remembered looking up to see the most beautiful girl standing there, shyly looking at him.

And then, the boat trip. Harry hadn't expected to ever see her face again but he had looked up on his way to his destiny and there she was. As stunning as he'd remembered, maybe even prettier. How she had looked like an angel that night. How her hair shone bright in the moonlight beaming down on them. How her cheeks went red with the cold. He hadn't noticed the tiny freckles on them. They were almost unnoticable but after spending so much time staring at her....he would recognise them anywhere.

He got to know her. How she was nothing short of a thunderstrom. Everything she said, everything she did, you soaked it in. Her happiness but also her pain. Her never-ending sarcasm and pure look on the world.

How her gorgeous eyes would shift between a stormy grey when she was angry or felt desperate. A pale steel-colour when she was sad or disappointed. And, of course, the shining silver eyes when she was happy.

She nodded and loosened her grip on him. The warmth immediately left him again as she hurried to Ginny, who was still lying motionless on the floor. Harry gathered his wand, the Sorting Hat, and, with a huge tug, he retrieved the glittering sword from the roof of the Basilisk's mouth.

A faint moan came from the other end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Harry hurried towards them, she sat up. Her bemused eyes travelling from the huge form of the dead Basilisk, then to Ara, over Harry, in his blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

"Ara, oh Harry...I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy. It was me, Harry. But I...I s-swear I d-didn't mean to. R-Riddle made me, he took me over...and...how did you kill that...that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary..."

"It's all right." Said Harry, holding up the diary. He showed Ginny the fang hole. "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the Basilisk. C'mon, girls, let's get out of here..."

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Harry and Ara awkwardly helped her to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and .....w-what'll mum and dad say?"

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Harry and Artemis urged Ginny forwards. They stepped over the motionless coils of the dead Basilisk, through the echoing gloom and back into the tunnel. Harry heard the stone doors close softly behind them with a soft hiss.