Chapter 130

"Don't you dare mock me! Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" Riddle hissed at Thomas, as the boy got back on his feet, gritting his teeth.

"That's what you think, don't you?"

For the first time since he walked into this damned room, Thomas saw Riddle's expression becoming somewhat worried. "Gone he might be, but haven't you forgotten something, Riddle? The old man is far smarter than either one of us and I reckon he already knows that you are back and most likely after Harry."

Riddle opened his mouth to retort, no doubt, but froze…

Out of nowhere, music was coming from somewhere making Thomas smile wackily at the young Dark Lord. Meanwhile, Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. With each passing second, the music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Riddle's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size, something that made Thomas wonder just how could that be possible, considering what this Riddle was. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Thomas felt it vibrating inside his ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Thomas, before it dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Thomas looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.

If his memory served him right, then this was the headmaster phoenix, Fawks, but why did he bring the sorting hat down here?

[Grab the hat. I can feel the aura of a beast slayer weapon inside of it.]

Just as Thomas was about to grab the hat, he heard Riddle's shocked voice.

"That's a phoenix…" Riddle exclaimed, staring shrewdly back at it. "And that …" Riddle muttered to himself, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat."

Not paying attention to the young Dark Lord rambling, Thomas grabbed the hat just in time to hear Riddle laughing. He laughed so hard that the dark Chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once, once again a side-effect of the soul magic used to project Riddle, no doubt.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Thomas Grayson? Do you feel safe now? Do you think you can fight me with those?"

Then almost as if he had a change of heart, Riddle stopped laughing and turned to face Thomas. "To business, Thomas," Riddle said, still smiling broadly. "Twice, in your past, in my future, we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

"It's quite simple, Tom Riddle. "

As soon as Riddle heard his name being spoken by the blonde, his expression changed once again. "Compared to you, I trained to fight, and that's one of the few reasons I'm alive today."

The smile on Riddle's face didn't disappear, making Thomas grip his wand, preparing himself for whatever the memory might throw at him.

"Now, Thomas, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against a mere second-year student, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him."

At the same time, he cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. Rather than being scared, Thomas just watched Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness before Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed, well better said spoke in the Parseltongue.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

Then, Slytherin's gigantic stone face came to life, and at an astonishing speed, its mouth opened, becoming wider and wider, until it turned into a black hole. But that wasn't all as something seemed to be stirring inside the statue's mouth. No, taking a closer look, Thomas saw something slithering up from the depths of the void.

Fawkes sensed the danger before Thomas did and because of that, he flew away from the boy's shoulder and soared up to the ceiling of the Chamber, where he circled and watched with his bright eyes. Looking at the phoenix abandoning him, Thomas could only curse his luck before turning his gaze back to the statue.

A moment later, he saw why Fawkes flew away. Something huge and scaly emerged from the black hole of Slytherin's mouth. The Basilisk that Aragog warned him about fell. Its body was thicker than a man's full length, and its length stretched across the entire Chamber. Its scales were dark green, and its eyes were yellow and slit-pupiled.

"Kill him."

As soon as he heard his master's command, the basilisk charged at Thomas, who barely had time to react.

"Stupefy!"

A jet of red light flew from his wand and hit the basilisk in the head, but it had no effect—bloody ani-magical beast.

With little time to waste, he decided to try another spell that might distract the oversized snake for long enough so that he could escape.

"Expelliarmus!"

But the spell bounced off the snake's scales and did not even make it flinch.

Twice he tried to fight and twice he failed, while the basilisk was getting closer. Thomas could see its fangs, dripping with venom. He knew that one bite from the snake would kill him instantly.

Growing desperate, he fired one last spell, "Reducto!" Aiming it at the basilisk's eye, hoping to blind it. But the snake was too fast. It dodged the spell, and swung its tail at Thomas, sending him across the room before he crashed into a wall. When he fell to the floor, he gasped for air as blood built up in his mouth. Gritting his teeth, Thomas looked up, only to see the basilisk looming over him with its mouth wide open, ready to strike.

Just as the Basilisk was about to end his life, something flew before the snake's eyes, distracting it long enough for Thomas to crawl away behind the pillar. Once he was safe, or as safe as one could be in his situation, Thomas saw Fawkes soaring around the Basilisk's head, while the creature was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers.

Then to his surprise, Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Thomas by less than a few centimeters, and when the Basilisk turned around, Thomas saw its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix, and now, blood was streaming to the floor, as the snake was spitting in agony.

"NO!" The anguished scream coming from Riddle made Thomas flinch. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from the Basilisk's ruined eyes.

Even though it was blind, Riddle was right and in the next moment, the creature swept his tail at Thomas only for the boy to dodge just in time, before grabbing his dagger. With the snake distracted, Thomas knew he had to act fast. Clutching his dagger in his hand, he ran towards the basilisk. Almost as if it smelled the threat, the basilisk swept its tail toward Thomas, and luckily for the boy, he managed to dodge just in time. As soon as he reached one of the pillars, he used it as a springboard to jump on the basilisk's head, before stabbing his dagger into its nose.

The basilisk let out a deafening roar of pain before it started thrashing its head, trying the pesky boy off of his head. But Thomas held on and drove the dagger deeper into the snake's flesh as more and more of the basilisk's blood spurt out of the wound.

"NO! NO! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!"

Sadly, Thomas did not have time to think more as the basilisk gave a sudden jerk and threw Thomas off its head sending the boy right onto the dusty floor. Gasping for air and with blood dripping down his robe, Thomas slowly raised himself before looking at the Basilisk. While wounded greatly, the creature was far from being weakened to death, something that made Thomas grim at the thought of having to attack the snake once more.

Steeling himself for another attack, Thomas felt something on his head. In the middle of the fight, he had forgotten about Sorting Hat, still on his head. Now that he thought about it, it was a miracle that the hat had not fallen off when he was thrown. Yet for some reason, Thomas felt an urge to reach out for the hat and so he did only to feel something hard and heavy inside it. As soon as he pulled the hat off, he saw a gleaming silver sword in his hand. The sword had a ruby-encrusted handle and a sharp blade that shone in the dim light of the Chamber. As someone who loved to read, Thomas quickly recognized the sword as the one that belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts, making him wonder why was the sword inside the Sorting hat, then again, it didn't matter anymore right?

"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! SNIFF — SMELL HIM!"

Wiping some of the blood that he had on his face, Thomas took a deep breath, wincing slightly in pain before preparing himself. The basilisk's head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the vast, bloody eye sockets, the bloodied nose, and its mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his new sword, thin, glittering, venomous, and ready to end him.

Yet, unable to see and smell, the Basilisk was only lunging and thrashing blindly, making it easy for Thomas to dodge, but just as he thought he had escaped another attack, Thomas turned only to see the Basilisk's mouth above his head. The years of training with a blade made his body react before his mind could, and just as the snake closed his mouth, Thomas thrust his sword to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth.

"NO! NO! NO!"

But Thomas's victory was short-lived. The basilisk, with its last strength, pushed down hard on Thomas's sword, driving it deeper into its skull yet not even that could stop one of the basilisk's fangs from piercing Thomas's right shoulder, sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and before it broke as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.

Unable to stay on his feet, Thomas let himself rest on the pillar as he gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it was too late. The pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound and soon it would take over his entire body. Trying to keep his eyes on Riddle, Thomas could barely see the shape of the boy's body making its way towards him.

Surprisingly enough, the phoenix that had flown a few minutes ago, landed on Thomas's shoulder.

"Fawkes, it's good to see you… too boy…" He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced him.

"You're dead, Thomas Grayson." Riddle laughed as he watched the boy dying. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Grayson? He's crying."

Struggling to move his head, Thomas saw that Riddle was right. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Grayson. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

Ignoring the memory, Thomas forced himself to breathe as he tried his luck with his mentor and partner.

'Bahamut! Can… can you help…'

For a few seconds, nothing happened and just as Thomas was about to despair, something unexpected happened. A powerful aura shot out of his body, hitting Riddle with all of its might, sending the memory to his knees as he looked scared for his life.

"What… what is this?" Riddle gasped. "What are you doing, Grayson? How are you doing this?"

Not minding the pain and his lack of strength, Thomas glanced hard at the memory.

"I am Thomas Grayson, host of the strongest being alive and the Emperor of Destruction!"

"YOU!"

Before Riddle could even continue, a bright flash of light engulfed the chamber, and when it faded, there was no trace of Riddle or his diary. The only thing that remained was a pile of ashes where the diary once was.

Still in pain and with little to no time left, Thomas mustered all of his strength to thank his partner.

"T…thank you…"

[You have done well, Thomas. Don't despair. Fawkes' tears are healing your body and strengthening it using the poison.]

True to his words, as the second passed by, Thomas could feel his strength coming back and not long afterward, he managed to get back on his feet.

Dragging himself over to Ginny, he was shocked when a faint moan came from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. Using everything he could, Thomas hurried toward her, just in time to see her sit up. Her bemused eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Thomas, in his battered and blood-soaked robes, then to the place where the diary was supposed to be only to see the ashes of it. She drew a great, shuddering gasp before tears began to pour down her face.

"Thomas — oh, Thomas — I wanted to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Tom — but I — I s-swear I d-didn't mean to — R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over — and — how did you kill that — that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary —"

"It's all right," Thomas gave her a pained smile as he sat beside her taking the girl in his embrace. "Riddle's finished. Look! He and the basilisk. Now, Ginny, let's get you out of here. I reckon your older brother is looking for you."

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept in Thomas's arms "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and … w-what'll Mum and Dad say? Will they even love me anymore?"

Not knowing what to do to calm her down, Thomas gently led her back to the entrance of the chamber, stepping over the motionless coils of the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel until they heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.

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