56 Chapter 56: Ivan and Harry vs. Tom Riddle

"What are your questions?" asked Harry sternly, his fists still clenched.

There was a wry smile on Riddle's face as he said, "There are many, for example? How could a baby, with no powerful magic, defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How could you escape unscathed, with only a scar and kill Voldemort?"

His eyes were like a hungry wolf, with a strange red glow in them.

"Funny that I defeated you Harry, but you don't know how you failed. Voldemort, is that your so called powerful magic?" said Ivan with a mocking tone.

Ivan looked around carefully, searching for the diary.

Now Riddle was just a memory with no physical form, he was absorbing Ron's vitality and forming a body, attacking him would get him nowhere.

Only by finding the Horcrux could they solve everything.

Riddle said softly, "I underestimated you again, you dirty blood! It seems you already know who I am, I am Voldemort, who is my past, present and future."

He took Ron's broken wand and wrote in the air: Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Then he waved his wand and the letters automatically changed places and became: I am Voldemort!

Tom whispered: "Voldemort is my new name, do you think I'm going to use my filthy Muggle father's name all my life? In my veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin, I'm not going to keep that repulsive Muggle name, he abandoned me before I was even born just because he found out his wife was a witch!"

Riddle's face flushed with an unsettling grimace, "Which means, newbie, I'm going to get a new name! I know that one day, when I become the best wizard in the world, wizards all over the world will be afraid to say my name!"

Even though he already knew Tom Riddle was Voldemort, Harry still froze when he saw the name written in the air.

He looked at Riddle, the man who had killed his parents and so many others.

"No, you won't." Harry forced himself to speak, his calm voice was filled with hatred.

"No what?" asked Tom firmly.

"You're not the best wizard in the world! Sorry to disappoint you, but the greatest wizard is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says that even when you were strong, you didn't dare set foot in Hogwarts. You feared Dumbledore then and you still fear him now," Harry said, albeit with a bit of breathlessness.

The smile on Riddle's face disappeared and was replaced by a very ugly expression.

Riddle said sternly, "From the first time we met until the end, Dumbledore never trusted me, when I first saw him at the orphanage, I knew it. But no matter, I know spells he never imagined, I am the most powerful. Now tell me, Harry Potter, how long do you think your words can keep you and that dirty blood alive by your side?"

Harry said stiffly, "Why you failed once you got your hands on me? I don't know myself, but I know why you didn't kill me, as Ivan said, because my mother died trying to save me, she stopped you with her love for me!"

Harry was shaking with rage as he said, "She stopped you from killing me, I saw you yourself, I saw you last year. All that's left of you is a shell, you're at the end of the line, you're evil, you're ugly, and you're disgusting!"

Riddle's face twisted, then he forced another grim smile as he said, "I see, your mother died trying to save you. Not some ridiculous motherly love, but a powerful spell. Yes, that was a very effective spell to undo the spell, I see now! In the end, there was nothing special about you, you were just saved from me by luck."

Riddle turned and looked at the Slytherin statue, and the smile on his face was getting bigger and bigger as he said, "Now let's see if you and that dirtyblood escape the greatest dark wizard of all time!"

Tom spoke in Parseltongue, the huge stone statue opened its mouth and formed a giant dark hole.

Ivan looked at the face of the Slytherin statue which was barely visible. Then he saw the journal he was looking for on top of the statue.

The basilisk slowly slid off the statue, its body was scarred, due to Snape's attacks and the crowing of the rooster, it seemed to look unusually tired and weak.

But for two young wizards, the basilisk is still deadly even in its weakened state.

"Kill them!" shouted Tom frantically.

The basilisk slithered towards them, Ivan's wand produced a pinkish light, it was the "Conjunctivitis" Curse, but it was neutralized by a spell from Riddle.

"That was stupid, do you think I would let you do the same thing twice?" Riddle shouted, "Now, dirty blood, smell the sweet embrace of death...."

Before he could finish his words, a sudden burst of music came from inside the empty chamber.

The sound was unreal and ethereal, mysterious and exhilarating to listen to.

Ivan suddenly saw a crimson bird, the size of a crane, suddenly descend, playing its eccentric music. It had a shiny tail that was as big as a peacock's, a pair of shiny talons, and a bundle in its talon.

Harry saw the bird and shouted, "It's Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix!"

It flew up and threw a tattered hat at the feet of the two young men, Ivan saw that it was the school's Sorting Hat.

Suddenly, Riddle burst out laughing, smiled and shivered, as if ten of them were laughing at the same time, "That's hilarious! That's what Dumbledore sends his defender, a songbird and a tattered hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter, do you feel safe now?"

As Tom's voice dropped, he saw Fawkes fly towards the basilisk and circle its head.

The basilisk tried to attack the Phoenix with its fangs.

But to no avail, Fawkes swooped down and drove his long, golden beak into the basilisk's head. Fawkes sang a strange song, every now and then he pecked at the basilisk, soon black blood gushed out, the Phoenix had pecked out the basilisk's eyes, blinding it.

"No, kill the boys! Leave the bird alone, the boys are after you," Riddle shouted loudly.

Ivan shoved the hat into Harry's hands, then turned to the Slytherin statue and shouted, "Harry, believe in yourself, I'm going to get the diary, you have to destroy it!"

Harry looked blankly at the patched house hat in his hand, wondering what Ivan's words meant and what the thing could possibly be for.

Immediately afterwards, his hand seemed to feel something long and hard inside the hat, and he looked down to see a gleaming silver sword appearing inside the hat, the hilt set with glittering egg-sized rubies.

Harry pulled it out, the rubies glittered slightly on the hilt.

The test of courage, the sword of Gryffindor!