survivor | HARRY POTTER

-Chapter 15-

Harry found himself standing at the door of a very long, dimly lit chamber, towering stone pillars entwined with thousands of cranes serpents rising to support a ceiling lost in the darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. With his heart beating extremely fast and his stomach twisting and turning, Harry stood listening intently to the chilled silence, thousands of thoughts rushing through his head. Neither the Basilisk nor Alyssa were anywhere to be seen. Slowly pulling out his wand, he moved forward between the serpentine columns, every careful footstep echoing loudly off the shadowy, slime covered walls. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following his every move, and more than once, with a jolt of the stomach, his paranoia had him convinced that one of them had moved.

Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue as high as the seemingly never ending Chamber itself loomed into view, standing proudly against the back wall. Harry's eyes widened as he craned his 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 wizards sweeping stone robes, where two enormous and cracked stone feet stood on the smooth chamber floor. The entire statue was covered in slime and had some parts missing, as if time had tried to strip away the statues power and strength, and failed. Lying in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the statue lay the rough outline of a petite figure clad in dark robes, a smooth mane of brown hair flooding around her and her skin so remarkably pale that he could see it from where he was stood.

"Alyssa!" Harry yelled, his heart constricting as he sprinted over to her and dropped to his knees, pulling the limp figure into his arms. "Alyssa! Don't be dead, please don't be dead!" He flung his wand aside in a moment of desperation and grabbed Alyssa's shoulders, shaking her slightly. Her face was as white as marble, and as cold, and her chapped, pink lips were parted just enough to allow air to pass between them, yet her eyes were closed, showing that she wasn't petrified. But if she wasn't petrified, then that must have meant that she was...

"Alyssa, please wake up." Harry cried desperately, stopping his shaking when Alyssa's head lolled hopelessly from side to side. Tears built up in his eyes as he reached down and pressed two trembling fingers to her throat, holding his breath as he searched for a pulse. "She won't wake." There was a soft voice from his right, making Harry jump and spin around on his knees, automatically pulling Alyssa's limp form behind him. A tall, black haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching patiently. He was slightly blurred around the edges, almost as if Harry was looking at him through a misted window, but handsome. Extremely handsome, with dark hair that fell to the side in a charming way and eyes so dark they were almost black.

"What do you mean she won't wake? She's not - she's not -" Harry asked desperately, his blood boiling as a smirk found its way onto Riddle's face. "Oh she's still alive. But only just." Harry stared at him in bewilderment. Tom Riddle, as he knew from the memory the diary had showed him, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, and yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked uncertainly, making riddle's smirk only grow. "A memory. Preserved in a diary for fifty years." Riddle said quietly, pointing towards the floor near the statues giant toes. Lying open there was a familiar black diary, it's pages as sleek and as empty as ever. Pushing the thoughts aside, he turned back down to Alyssa, who had seemed to get paler in the last five minuets. "You've got to help me, Tom." Harry pleaded as he carefully raised Alyssa's head and placed it against his shoulder, snaking his arms under her legs as he pulled her completely off the floor, trying not to think about how she resembled a rag doll in his arms. "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 second. Please, help me..."