Chapter 52

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We stood on the threshold of a spacious, dimly lit room. The rising columns were entwined with stone snakes. They rose to the ceiling lost in the darkness and cast long black shadows through the strange greenish dusk. There was complete silence. Even the knowledge that the basilisk was not yet here could not stop the parted heart, and a lump of sticky fear rose up to my throat.

"Muffling," I whispered as quietly as possible, and after making a couple of gestures, I pointed my wand at myself. I wanted to do the same on Harry, but he was too impressed, and I was unable to properly cast the enchantment on him because he left the place, taking the first step. A step, the sound of which echoed with a booming echo between the walls.

Step by step, we are slowly and surely approaching the giant statue. Her stony face with a long, liquid beard, which hangs down almost to the hem of the stone mantle, belonged to an ancient old man. From under the mantle, two huge stone feet were visible, standing on the smooth floor. It was there, between these feet, that I noticed a small figure of a red-haired girl in a black robe.

Harry ran headlong towards her and fell to his knees.

"Ginny!" the boy's voice faltered, echoing around. "Don't die! Please, don't die."

"She won't wake up," came an almost inaudible male voice, and Harry turned to one of the pillars behind him. Only now did I notice that the wand was not in his hands.

A figure of a man, slightly floating in contours, separated from the column nearest to the guy. A boy of about sixteen, in school robes and black hair. He walked up to Harry, talking about something, but all that came to me was a hum.

Slowly, even under invisibility, trying to hide in the shadows, I began to come a little closer, just enough to hear everything. And Tom told and told everything. How smart he is, how he played everyone off, how he framed Hagrid and searched for the secrets of the "Chamber of Secrets." How angry he is at Potter, which Ginny had told him about. Fantastic chatterbox! In general, everything came to:

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future!" The unformed phantom of Riddle uttered pompously, and with these words, he waved his wand to Harry, creating in the air burning letters of his name that changed their place. Tom Marvolo Riddle became I am Lord Voldemort.

A moment of truth, a moment of horror, realization, disgust - it was all read on Harry's face. And I was in a somewhat ambivalent state. On the one hand, I was present at a rather significant event- an event from a fairy tale. On the other hand, a basilisk will appear here soon. What am I doing here? I'm making sure Harry will not die. You never know how Hermione's absence from the Golden Trio could have affected his abilities.

Suddenly, a beautiful melody, strange, incomprehensible, began to be heard from all sides. It turned into an increasingly growing hum, but along the way, you could hear in it an iridescent bird trill. The volume rose quickly, and there were vibrations across the floor, even in the body. Explosion! Sharply turning around, I saw how the top of one of the columns under the very ceiling literally burst into a fountain of fiery spray, and a phoenix appeared a meter away from this place. This is exactly how it was described in the books - hefty, bright fiery tones, with a large tail that rivals a peacock's size. In his paws, he carried ... a hat! Well, I think there will be no problems.

Phoenix threw his hat at Harry's feet and landed on his shoulder. And how does he hold it in general?

Harry talked to Riddle a little longer, and then he walked over to the statue, spread his arms out to the sides, and loudly gave out a whole hissing serenade. With a crash and hum, the statue's mouth opened. Harry backed away towards the entrance, and after a couple of seconds, a head emerged from the statue's mouth. Huge basilisk head. An incredible mixture of dragon, snake, beak, all this in almost black color with a greenish tint. The head slowly and inevitably reached for the floor, pulling the rest of the body with it. The basilisk has already touched the floor, and the torso has just begun to taper towards the tail.

I didn't look him in the eye, but out of the corner of my eye, I kept at least his tail in sight.

Riddle laughed. Harry closed his eyes and dashed away. Tom whispered something to the basilisk, and he crawled after the guy. I waited, hiding, and only now realized that I was not even breathing. I may consider myself a Gryffindor, but not genuine, no. My recklessness and courage come only after at least some calculations and plans, which means that the sword from the hat will not help me.

How to beat a phantom? I don't know not only that but also what Riddle is like now. In theory, this is a projection, but can it be harmed? Judging by the fact that he is holding a wand, he will be able to conjure with it, which means he is a kind of container of magic, at least. This means that it makes no sense to use everything that carries a physical component of an attack or an attack on this component.

Raising my wand, I went through a possible arsenal in my head and came to the disappointing conclusion - there are few spells. Only if from a grimoire ... But then Hermione ... Oh, to hell!

"Leave the bird!" Riddle yelled. "Leave it now!!! The boy behind you! You can smell it! Kill him!"

Then I looked at the sound and realized what had happened. Fawkes quietly, without any sounds, managed to knock out both eyes of the basilisk and only now began to chirp and fly around, taking on himself the lion's share of the ancient snake's attention. Here the basilisk once again jerked sharply with his whole body, picking up the hat with his tail and sending it literally in Potter's face. It's just ... It's just ... No, well, this is some kind of fantastic luck!

Potter put on the hat and, you might say, shriveled on the floor. It seemed that the hat would cover him completely, and he would say something like: "I'm in the house!". Thirty years from now, I will laugh heartily at this memory.

The basilisk was distracted by the phoenix a couple more times. Tom yelled at the basilisk, the Gryffindor sword fell out of the hat, Harry picked it up, got up himself and ...