Pariah: The Other Malfoy

Chapter 15: Into the Chamber

My face dropped in shock. They told me that Lockhart was going to go find her and we agreed that we would help him by telling him what we know. It was time for him to prove his worth. Once again I waited outside while Ron and Harry went in. Soon, Harry and Ron came out, dragging Lockhart to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Seemingly, he was a fraud who had every intention of booking it before he was forced to go into the Chamber.

"Why're we going here?" I asked.

"We have worked out where the entrance is!" said Harry and started to speak Parseltongue to one of the sinks.

Suddenly, the sink opened up to reveal a slide. Lockhart was pushed down and the rest of us followed. We almost crushed each other at the bottom and when we got up, Lockhart was holding Ron's broken wand in his hand.

He went on a long winded story about how he was a fraud and then decided that we would tell everyone so he attempted to use a curse which would wipe all our memories. He flew backwards as the curse rebounded and, if it wasn't serious, I would have laughed. Then the floor began to shake and we all stepped back just before the roof collapsed on us. Me and Harry were on one side and Lockhart and Ron were at the other.

I swore, and me and Harry decided to go onwards, deeper into the Chamber of Secrets...

Harry and I started to slowly walk through twisting tunnels. We reached dead ends several times and after about ten minutes we reached a huge chamber. A large statue of a man was at the other end and snake heads lined the corridor up to the end of the chamber. I stared at them in concern, what if one was the Basilisk in disguise?

There was an eerie silence in the chamber, our footsteps echoed as we cautiously walked in. I fought the urge to turn back, to just try and dig my way out through the rubble. Ginny needed us, it wasn't fair. I had to be brave. I was a Gryffindor, I couldn't just back down, even if it seemed the sensible thing to do given the circumstances.

Ginny Weasley was lying unconscious in the middle of it and standing next to her was a tall, dark haired boy. I stared at the boy in suspicion. Why was he down here? He didn't look familiar, and it was strange that he wasn't helping Ginny.

My eyes landed on the diary Ginny was grasping and my stomach dropped. I was such an idiot.

"Tom Riddle!" said Harry and my eyes widened. Tom Riddle, the boy from the diary. But he had been at school with Hagrid, why did he only look a few years older than us? Things didn't add up and I was getting a seriously bad feeling about the whole thing. If we weren't careful, the likelihood was we wouldn't be getting out alive.

"Hello, Harry Potter," he said grinning.

Harry ran towards Ginny and knelt down beside her. He put his wand down and started shaking her. She didn't respond and I cautiously walked towards them, my eyes on Tom Riddle the whole time. There was something sinister about him, something I couldn't place. He locked eyes with me and they were full of malice, he had an ulterior motive. He had something to do with all of this, I knew he did! I needed to get Harry and Ginny out of here or we'd all become snake bait.

"Tom! You have to help us! There is a Basilisk here and it could come at any time!" said Harry, trying to wake Ginny up.

"Harry, we need to leave," I whispered, "Pick her up and run."

Harry ignored me while I looked around nervously. If we didn't leave now, we were trapped. Riddle picked up Harry's wand and started twirling it in his fingers. Harry's stupidity was about to get us all killed, I was the only one who was armed now! Things were definitely not in our favour and I regretted not getting a more trustworthy teacher than Lockhart to assist. McGonagall or Snape would have been more help, they could have shed more light on the situation.

"It won't come until it is called!" Riddle said, his voice betraying no emotion. It won't come until it is called? But who would be calling it?

"Give me my wand! We need to get out of here!" said Harry but Riddle shook his head.

"Silly boy! I am the Heir of Slytherin! And now, you are going to die!" he said simply and flicked his wand so I flew across the room and hit a statue, my wand flying from my hand.

I groaned in pain and looked to Harry and Riddle. Oh no, oh no, oh no. How were we gonna get out of this now? Riddle was telling Harry how Ginny had been chatting to him via the diary too and that she had opened the Chamber of Secrets. The diary I had known about, the diary I had meant to mention before it slipped my mind! This was all my fault!

I picked up my wand and sent a Disarming spell towards Riddle. It had no effect whatsoever. He didn't even realise I had used it. I swore under my breath and glared across at him. I couldn't do anything to help Harry, it was down to him now. He had to figure out a way to get all three of us out of the chamber and away from Riddle! Then we could get a teacher and they could fix things, if we told them what we knew they'd have an answer! They always had an answer.

"I am Lord Voldemort!" said Riddle and then started speaking in Parseltongue. My eyes widened as I realised how stupid we had been. I had no idea what was happening anymore, but I could wager a guess. If he was speaking in Parseltongue, he was most likely calling the Basilisk and, if I wasn't careful, I was about to be petrified, or worse.

I heard something slithering behind me and I shut my eyes tightly. I could feel it coming up close to my face and then there was a searing pain in my leg. I yelled out in pain and could not help but open my eyes. There was a fang sticking out of my leg and the Basilisk had already moved towards Harry. I thought about the page Hermione had found. A Basilisk's venom was lethal, I couldn't think of a cure on that page. Was there a cure? Or was my life over at twelve? I looked to where noises were coming from. A phoenix was pecking at the Basilisk's eyes and then it flew out of sight. Harry had run into the tunnels again and the Basilisk, listening for him, had followed him.

Everything was going black but I was trying to fight the venom from the Basilisk fang. Riddle was laughing like a madman and then he turned his attention to me.

"Soon, you and your friend Harry will be dead. The venom moves quickly, doesn't it! It will overpower you soon and you will die!" he said, grinning, "Shame. I'm sure I could have seen great things from you. Your family's reputation precedes you, you would have made for a powerful ally, Miss Malfoy. Your father must be disappointed."

"You... monster," I said through gritted teeth. It hurt to speak.

I gasped in pain as Harry ran back into the room. He picked up the Sorting Hat that the phoenix had taken and pulled a sword out of it. He thrust the sword into the snake's mouth and killed it. He pulled the sword back out and he had a fang sticking out of his arm too.

He pulled the fang out and stabbed Riddle's diary with it. Ink poured out of it and Tom Riddle screamed then disappeared in a burst of light. He had done it! He had killed the Dark Lord, or Tom Riddle, or whatever that was. No more muggleborns would be petrified and Tobias might finally wake up. I smiled then everything went black...