In Between Two Worlds (HP/PJO Crossover)

Chapter 57: The Heir Of Slytherin.

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, we stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny?

We pulled out our wands and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. We kept our 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 me. 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 gray 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-"

I flung my wand 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 desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake up."

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 I was looking at him through a misted window.

"Tom-Tom Riddle?"

"Who's Tom Riddle?" I asked. They ignored me.

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not-she's not-?"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Harry stared at him. I still had no clue who he was.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly.

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

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was Ginny's diary. For a second, I wondered how it had got there-but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"You've got to help me, 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 me."

Riddle didn't move. Harry went to pick Ginny up but I pushed him out of the way. I picked her up and looked around for my wand. But it was gone.

"Did you see-?"

I looked up. Riddle was watching us-twirling my wand between his long fingers.

"Thanks," I said, stretching out my hand for it.

A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at us, twirling my wand idly.

"Listen," said Harry urgently, "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes-"