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Chapter 101- Gilderoy Lockhart and the Chamber of Secrets.
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Fawkes was soaring around the Basilisk's head, and the Basilisk was snapping furiously at the Phoenix with fangs as long and thin as sabres. 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, breaking concrete and sending jagged rocks in every direction. "Stupefy!" Hearing that, I jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the red jet of light. I had forgotten about Gemma, and that had nearly cost me.
I quickly scrambled back up to my feet and looked around to find my opponent, but instead, I found myself looking directly into the eyes of the Basilisk... My first instinct was to close my eyes, and I went to do so before I noticed something that kept my eyes open. I looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the Phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony. I guess Fawkes could only do so much, and the best he could do was get rid of its eyes so we could see. Dumbledore must have told the bird what to do because that was pure tactics.
"Oh shit!" I was so focused on its damaged eyes that I failed to see that the Basilisk, in its pain, was flailing about, and there was a long ass tail heading my way. The sound of its heavy body slithering heavily across the dusty floor as it writhed was overwhelming. I leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding it, my hand stretched behind me, landing on the stone floor, one outstretched and comforting the landing, but the other was wrapped around my wand, and my knuckles rapped hard against the solid ground. I end up biting something inside my own mouth, and I can taste blood, but all I feel is relief.
"Protego", I quickly whip my hand forth and conjure a shield with my wand, stopping the red jet of light that was clearly a stunning charm sent by Gemma, who was not letting up. "Master, I shall take care of Lockhart; do not worry," Gemma says before spouting off more spells at me. Instead of maintaining my shield, I start to roll to my left and smoothly transition back up to my feet and continue running to outrun the spells. She clearly hasn't had a lot of combat before, but somehow she is suped up because she is firing spell after spell without tiring.
"Professor!" I hear Harry scream and notice that a bunch of the spells I dodged are heading in his direction, so I whip my wand up and put up a shield in front of him, which unfortunately takes up a bit of my focus as a spell impacts the ground near me and explodes, sending me through the air. I can't see clearly as everything rushes by me, and then suddenly, I am dunked into an icy, cool feeling. After a moment of failing to breathe, I realise that I have been thrown into the water beside the walkway.
I immediately close my mouth to stop from sucking in the water and try to think of a charm to help me, but nothing comes to mind. The Bubblehead charm needs to be applied before going into the water, and it is only now that I realise I have a pretty big gap in my defence, that gap being water and drowning. Still, I ignore that for now and hold my breath while examining my surroundings. Realising that this could serve as an opportunity, I apply the Disillusionment charm to myself and then begin to swim.
The walkway is only on the surface, so on the sides and underneath is water, which I use to my advantage to swim underneath and to the other side before surfacing and quickly taking gulps of breath. I don't know how this charm actually acts around water, but I am willing to risk it. Now safe, I think, I look around once more and see what is going on. Gemma is to the side, looking out into the water for me, but she can't find anything. Harry... Harry had tripped, I presume, when he saw all the spells heading for him. Now he is sitting on his ass, and instead of doing anything, he is just watching the Basilisk.
There was a loud, explosive spitting sound where he was looking, and I turned to see what was happening. A lot of mad hissing sounded out as the Basilisk thrashed wildly off the pillars. The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air, and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. Blood was streaming to the floor from its eyes, and the snake was spitting in agony. It was trying to avoid Fawkes, who had still not left it alone. The Phoenix was soaring around its head, constantly badgering it, and the Basilisk was snapping furiously at him with its dangerous long fangs. It was doing the best it could without eyes, mainly relying on its hearing.
"NO!" I hear Riddle shout, clearly finding it hard to concentrate on his task. "Leave the bird! Forget Lockhart! The boy is behind you. You can smell him. Get him!" Riddle shouts, now not being so playful and relaxed with Dumbledore on his case, and he wants things to have a more final ending. I climb out of the water and make my way to Harry, knowing he would be in trouble soon. I assume Riddle heard Gemma and is obviously trusting me to her or thinks I am dead and is focusing on the boy. Most likely, it was because of the support of Fawkes and the hat he was given, and Riddle wasn't dumb enough to think Dumbledore would send useless things.
The blinded serpent swayed, confused, but still deadly, and tried to follow orders. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his cheerful song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.
"Help me, Professor," Harry muttered wildly, "Where are you?" He looked really panicked, knowing that the snake's full attention would be on him, but I was here to help. "Shh, I'm right here, now be quiet," I whisper, but it seems that the advice is a little late. The snake's tail whips across the floor as it changes direction and starts to head in our direction, though thankfully, Fawkes is stalling it with his continuing annoying pecks and bites. Taking the short time I had, I acted in the way I thought best and did what I could.
"Here, hold onto this," I say, swiping the Sorting Hat from the floor, which Harry had still not picked up, and shoving it into his hands. "I don't know why Dumbledore sent this, but he wouldn't do it without a reason. It will help you somehow, and Myrtle will be there to help you with no one the wiser, okay?" I say to him, and he nods his head in understanding, clutching onto the Sorting Hat like it is his lifeline and will grant him untold power.
"Good, now-" Before I can continue, I am suddenly sent flying backwards, and I am as shocked at the suddenness as I am to see Harry flying backwards in the opposite direction of me, looking just as shocked as I felt. I am just as surprised to see a few blasts of light go soaring between us, right through the area we had both been in just a second ago and suddenly, it makes sense to me. Myrtle had sent us both flying as Gemma had fired spells at us, and she had saved us both from them. Good, she was doing her job, unlike me.
I should be more focused and aware, and from now on I will be. I whip my wand at the ground, and with a quick Spongify, it turns bouncy, allowing me to bound off of it and then land back on my feet. Spinning to meet my attacker, I quickly do something I had perfected for my duelling and swish my wand to deflect the next to the side, seemingly stalling my opponent for a moment. "Gemma, it's quite rude to attack so suddenly. Especially when I was hidden, how did you spot me?" I ask, quite curious as to how she ascertained my position or if she was just attacking Harry because she was angry at not finding me.
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"Well, Professor, it wasn't hard. I have to say, it's usually me that wet, but this time, it's you." With that, I quickly realised what she meant, and a quick glance at myself and to the side revealed the truth. I am still dripping water, and back where I was before, there are trails of water all over the ground, so it isn't too hard to see how she spotted me. This sudden blast from Myrtle had undone my hiding spell, so now I was exposed. And that meant it was time for battle, which Gemma thought too as she quickly began flinging spells at me, to which I eagerly responded.
From the corner of my eye, I kept a watch on what was happening in the room. Riddle was trying to focus on his draining spell with his eyes closed, ignoring everything which worked for me. Meanwhile, Harry had taken the Sorting Hat and rammed it onto his head before running off down a tunnel, and I assume Myrtle was following him. It became clear a moment later why he was running when the Basilisk quickly slithered off down the tunnel after him, hunting him down. It seemed the snake had managed to knock Fawkes away and had used the opportunity to go after his prey.
Thankfully, it seemed Fawkes was just dazed as he righted himself and then followed the Basilisk, leaving just myself, Riddle, and Gemma here in this hall. I can't recall correctly, but I am pretty sure that the Basilisk kills Fawkes in the original timeline (which he would just be reborn again from since he is a Phoenix), but this time, Fawkes is still with us, providing support. That means Harry not only has Myrtle on his side but Fawkes as well now, improving his survivability immensely. Let's hope those three somehow deal with the Basilisk, while I can stay here and focus on Gemma and Riddle. Let's deal with Gemma first.
I don't know if Riddle has her on super magical steroids or something or if she was always this good, but she is giving me a run for my money; perhaps I have become rusty after a full year of teaching and not participating in any duels and keeping my skills up. Case in point, the fact that I haven't taken the girl down yet and that I just narrowly dodged underneath a bludgeoning curse that was dangerously close to hitting me in the head. I responded with a transfiguration, making the ground underneath her disappear and revealing the water underneath, but she was spry enough to jump away before falling in, evading my attack.
It's at this point that she decides to forgo all the niceties and get deadlier, clearly no longer wanting me alive for her pleasure. "Avada Kedavra!" She roars, spewing a green beam at me. Of course, this isn't my first time facing this, I was in quite a few underground deadly duelling contests, so I responded with ease. Waving my wand, a wall conjures up in front of me; well, I say a wall, but what I mean is a block as wide as it is long. It's made up of the same stone as the ground; I had learned it was easier to add to what was already there than to expend energy and conjure something entirely new.
I hear the spell impact on the other side and the sound of stone being blasted apart, but it is thick enough that I feel nothing on this side. With that, there is a lull as we both take a breather. I can hear her panting for breath, very much having used a lot of her energy. Sweet summer child, she really didn't have much experience fighting, and she made the same mistake I did when I first started duelling. She had just thrown everything she had, and now she was waning, and I was still good to go because I was conserving my energy and using simple spells.
"Professor... Surrender y-yourself. Y-You can see how f-far I am willing to g-go." I hear the girl wheeze out, and even though she is on the opposite side of me and is my enemy, I find it a bit sweet that she is still trying to keep me alive, even if it is just to serve as her pleasure aid. Still, I'd like to think it is more than that. Wow, I am actually a bit stupid in the head, aren't I? Still, as her professor and one-time paramour, I feel I should extend the same courtesy to her and give her a chance.
"Gemma, on account of our previous relationship, I am going to give you a chance. Your only chance." I say, and I pause for a moment, letting her digest that, and when she doesn't say anything, I continue. "Throw your wand over towards the entrance, and let me restrain you. You are young and impressionable, and all you've done so far can be forgiven and forgotten. Make the right choice." I finish, and I wait for a response, but I don't hear anything. It's quiet; I can't hear her breathing anymore. It's too quiet.
Shit, I shouldn't have taught her that sound-dampening charm (which I did for obvious reasons). I realise what she was doing instead of listening to me a second later when she comes jetting out of the water behind me, and I spin around to see her. "Clever girl." She must have used some sort of propulsion charm because she burst out of the water and landed just as I turned. Then she was flinging several spells at me, all of them intended to introduce me to my death.
I move forward, towards her, which surprises her and affects her aim. I twist my neck to the left, feeling the searing heat of fire glimpse my right cheek, and then I duck slightly underneath a beam of sickly yellow, jumping to the right to avoid another sickly spell. I dodge, swerve and sway around her spells, getting into the zone and continuing to move forth until eventually, I am right in front of her, looking right into her shocked face. She goes to do another spell, her wand nearly pressed right against my chest, but I am quicker.
I swing my arm out and shove her outstretched arm to the side, and then I bring my own wand up and point it right at her face, which is her very scared face. "Stupid girl." A flash of red is the last thing she sees, and then she drops like lead. I sigh as my instinct is to grab her and let her down gently, but I refrain from that and watch as she crumples to the ground, hearing a crack as she lands weirdly on her arm, probably breaking it. I wince a bit but then shirk it off. This girl tricked me and then tried to kill me, screw the bitch.
With that out of the way and with me conserving as much of my energy as I could, it was time to face Riddle. I have kept enough in the tank that I should have a good chance against him, but as I look over, I realise that things might prove to be easier than I thought. Riddle was kneeling on the ground, his arms stretched to the sides, hands open, and his eyes closed, looking up at the ceiling. He was concentrating very hard, and he was biting his lips so much that if he wasn't some sort of transparent ghostly entity at the moment, I am sure he would be bleeding. Dumbledore must really be unravelling the spell, and Riddle is so focused on stopping him that he isn't paying attention to what is going on here.
Using a charm to erase the sounds I am making, I make my way over gingerly, and when he doesn't react, I get started with my first course of business. I grab Ginny's body and lift her up before quickly walking over towards the entrance and laying her down there. I didn't know if using magic would alert him, so I did it manually. Then I walk back over and realise he hasn't noticed anything, and he actually doesn't have any defences set up. He must have thought the Basilisk and the students he had following him would be enough, but they are all out of the way, and he is defenceless.
Is it really going to be this easy? It feels sort of anticlimactic. Standing just in front of her, literally close enough to touch, I try to remember where I saw the diary inside of him. I think it is around here, around his heart area. Steadying myself, I move my wand and make my move, pressing it against his chest. Riddle's eyes snap open, but it is too late now. "Burn bitch." And with that, I let loose a quick flare of Fiendfire, which shoots into his chest. It's practically minuscule compared to what I produced earlier, but it is enough, he wasn't expecting it, and he can't defend, and it is too close to stop it.
I quickly retreat backwards as Riddle begins to scream in anguish, fire consuming his entire form as he kneels there on the ground, unable to move an iota. The Fiendfire, the little spark of it I put inside of him, is all it takes for him to begin to light up like a Christmas tree. And it is over before I can even begin to appreciate it, his entire being burning into nothingness, and only little ashes of a brunt book remaining on the ground. It's over.
And then I hear screaming once more to the side, and I look over to see Harry Potter come running out of a tunnel, the Sorting Hat still on his head, but now he holds the sword of Godric Gryffindor. However, it hasn't done him much good as the Basilisk darts out of the tunnel after him, Fawkes nowhere to be seen. Harry, seeing me, has hope spark up on his face, but it also distracts him as he falls to the ground, the sword clattering onto the floor.
The boy quickly twists around to see the Basilisk snap forth, its mouth open as it goes to devour him whole. "Leviosa." And then I take control of the sword and send it straight into the Basilisk's mouth, through the roof of its mouth and into its brain, seeing the sword come out on the top of its head. It's dead. However, its momentum remains, its corpse heading towards Harry, going to crush him beneath its towering mass.
And then Myrtle appears, grabbing ahold of the boy and flinging him sliding along the floor. The Basilisk's head hits the floor, just missing Harry's feet, and the boy slides to a stop just before me, lying on his back and looking up at me. "All good? Yeah?" I ask, to which he just gulps and slowly nods his head.
"Right, let's get out of here then, shall we."