Second Chance at Saving Them {Harry Potter}

The Chamber

HOLY COW! I'm actually updating! I KNOW it's been forever! It's just been a rough year, and I was very busy all break with family and such, but I'm thinking of implementing 2 hours every Saturday to writing. I don't know how successful I'll be with that but work with me, please. Anyway, onto the Chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been several weeks since the group had stopped being so involved in altering the timeline, and in doing so, Dumbledore had returned to being on the sidelines, allowing everything to play itself out. Snape seemed as sullen and dark as ever, although he no longer seemed to be investigating Harry and his friends. This wasn't much of a relief since Snape had always been very good at hiding what he was up to. 

Ever since they decided to go back to simply going through their school days, Sirius and Remus had stopped coming around. This was much less of a hindrance than anyone thought it would be since their visits were seeming less and less understandable. Following advice from Hermione, Remus had already started talking to the local packs. Many of them still feared Fenrir, even if he was still in Azkaban. Sirius, meanwhile, had given all the goblin-made heirlooms in Grimmauld Place to the goblins at Gringotts, and they seemed nicer for it. This was only the beginning of their plans, and they had made only a few steps forward, but they were determined to have as many allies as possible if the time came.

Those who remained at Hogwarts were able to continue on as normal, although all of them were uneasy about the recent development, though Harry fared the worst of everyone. The relative silence made it too easy for him to stew, resulting in several restless nights.

He had woken up in a cold sweat for the third time that week by the dream that had been tormenting him. He would walk downstairs and find his family replaced by cloaked figures. The dream would always end before he could see their faces, and he would wake up.

This time, he could tell he wasn't getting back to sleep so he got up and looked through his curtains and saw Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all sleeping soundly, but Ron was nowhere to be seen. He got up to look around for him.

"Harry!" Harry jumped as Ron whisper-shouted his name behind him.

"Ron! You nearly gave me a heart attack, what's wrong?"

Ron was panting, and clearly distressed, "Ginny's gone missing! We were on our way back from Astronomy when Hermione and I heard McGonagall and Dumbledore saying someone was taken into the Chamber and that Ginny was missing. We ran here as quickly as we could for the Invisibility Cloak. Hermione's waiting downstairs. We have to go now!" Harry didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the Cloak from his trunk and ran down the stairs with Ron. He didn't see Hermione, but he did see McGonagall, who didn't see surprised to see them.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, I'm going to need you to wait here." Ron nodded, but as soon as McGonagall walked up the stairs, presumably to find the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione ran out from behind the staircase and the three of them bolted out the common room door. Harry threw the invisibility cloak over the three of them and they made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It had been a very long time since Harry had spoken Parseltounge. After Voldemort killed the Horcrux in him, he lost the ability. He took a deep breath and leaned forward to focus on the serpent shaped faucet.

"Open" He hissed, and the sink slowly slid open, revealing the greasy slide down to the Chamber of Secrets. He jumped down the slide without a second thought, if the stakes had been high before, they were even higher now. Harry was determined to get Ginny out as quickly as possible. He heard Ron and Hermione follow him down the shoot, and he soon hit the bottom. By the time Ron and Hermione's feet hit the bottom, the three of them heard another person coming down the slide. It turned out to be two people.

"Luna? Lockhart?" The trio asked at the same time, all equally suprised.

Lockhart had has wand out, while Luna seemed to be faking fear, though Harry could see more worry in her eyes.

"Well Harry, I have been wanting to talk to you for a while now. Perferably in my office, but I suppose this will do." Lockhart said, as he aimed his wand at Harry.

"I assume this is about the test answers? I mean, I don't know how you didn't get caught before, you may have a good memory charm, you failed to realize that more than the people you interviewed witnessed those feats of other wizards. A short trip to a little village in Armenia with Sirius and Remus showed as much. You should probably know they're aware of your scheme." Harry said, getting at why Luna had brought Lockhart with her. Sure enough, Lockhart went on his little speal,

"You're very right Harry, I did steal the achievements of several wizards, and thanks to your little tip, I won't make that mistake again. Unfortunately, I can't have you five blabbing my secret, I'll take care of your guardians later, but for now I'm afraid I'll have to-"

The sounds of one Memory Charm and five Shield Charms echoed throughout the Chamber. After the light of the charms faded and the dust settled, Lockhart was laying on the ground unconscious. Apparently the five shields made his spell rebound and hit him, causing something to the effect of trying to use a broken wand. Harry walked over and nudged him,

"Huh. Irony is persistent." The blast had caved in the tunnel to the main Chamber, but Hermione made quick work of the blockage and the group made their way to the Chamber. Ginny was still conscious, but just barely.

"Harry!" Ginny mumbled from the middle of the floor, "He's here!"

Then the ghost-like Riddle stepped out from the shadows, "Harry Potter." He then seemed to notice everyone else that followed Harry and sighed, "I do find it quite exhausting having spares, especially so many."

Harry clenched his wand tighter, the words hitting too close to the last words Cedric Diggory had ever heard. He didn't know what Riddle knew, considering he didn't even know how he was here in the first place. It was entirely possible that he knew everything Ginny did, which would make it much worse if Harry couldn't figure out how to stop him. Unfortunately, he didn't know what was tying him here.

Riddle made his way over to the group, ignoring the weakening Ginny, who was trying to stand and reach her wand, which was no longer in her possession. As Riddle talked, Harry noticed he was slowly becoming more and more corporeal. Harry glanced back at Ginny, and was about to run to help her when the sound of hissing caught his attention. Riddle had summoned the Basilisk.

"Look away!" He ducked his head, but heard several different spells go off, in an attempt to blind the Basilisk. Luna and Ron tried distracting it while Harry was trying to focus on why Fawkes had come in the first time he was in this situation. Then he remembered that it had been his loyalty to Dumbledore. He silently started asking for help, calling out for the phoenix, his calls were answered as he heard the calls of the phoenix.

"Hold your fire!" Harry shouted, and the spells ceased for a moment and the sound of the Basilisk screeching filled the air. The phoenix had successfully scratched out the eyes of the snake, leaving the snake's petrifying glare useless. The hat dropped next to Harry in the next moment, and after reaching into the hat, he pulled out the goblin made sword and turned to face the Basilisk.

--

So... I transferred my entire story onto my google drive and it is 65 pages long. how fun.

EDIT: SO I finally got this edited sorry it took so long.