Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old
hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"
Harry didn't answer. He might not see what use Fawkes or the
Sorting Hat were, but he was no longer alone, and he waited for
Riddle to stop laughing with his courage mounting.
"To business, Harry," said Riddle, 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."
Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances. Riddle had the wand.
He, Harry, had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would
be much good in a duel. It looked bad, all right ... but the longer Riddle
stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny ... and in the
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meantime, Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming
clearer, more solid .... If it had to be a fight between him and Riddle,
better sooner than later.
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me,"
said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself But I know why you
couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common
Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She
stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last
year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your
power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -"
*%16*
Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So.
Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I
can see now ... there is nothing special about you, after all. I
wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all.
Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by
Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts
since the great Slytherin himself We even look something alike ... but
after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's
all I wanted to know."
Harry stood, tense, waiting for Riddle to raise his wand. But Riddle's
twisted smile was widening again.
"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the
powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous
Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him . . . ."
He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked
away. Harry, fear spreading up his numb legs, watched Ridthe stop
between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin,
high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and
hissed - but Harry understood what he was saying ....
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. "
Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his
shoulder.
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Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw
his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.
And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something
was slithering up from its depths. 3 1
Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut
his eyes tight he felt Fawkes' wing sweep his cheek as he took flight.
Harry wanted to shout, "Don't leave me!" but what chance did a
phoenix have against the king of serpents?
Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it
shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could
almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth.
Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:
"Kill him. "
The basilisk was moving toward Harry; he could hear its heavy body
slithering heavily across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Harry
began to run blindly sideways, his hands outstretched, feeling his way -
Voldemort was laughing
Harry tripped. He fell hard onto the stone and tasted blood the serpent
was barely feet from him, he could hear it coming
There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then
something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall.
Waiting for fangs to sink through his body he heard more mad hissing,
something thrashing wildly off the pillars
He couldn't help it - he opened his eyes wide enough to squint at what
was going on.
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. As Harry trembled, ready to close his
eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake.
Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping
furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers
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Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a
*318*
sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail
thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his
eyes, it turned - Harry 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.
"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE
THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL
HIM. KILL HIMI"
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 its ruined eyes.
"Help me, help me," Harry muttered wildly, "someone - anyone
The snake's tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked.
Something soft hit his face.
The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Harry
seized it. It was all he had left, his only chance - he rammed it onto his
head and threw himself flat onto the floor as the basilisk's tail swung
over him again.
Help me - help me - Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight under the hat.
Please help me
There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though
an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly.
Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry's head,
almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed
the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard
beneath it.
3 19
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A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its handle
glittering with rubies the size of eggs.
"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU.
SNIFF -- SMELL HIM."
Harry was on his feet, ready. 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, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough
to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin,
glittering, venomous -
It lunged blindly -- Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged
again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry's side. He raised the sword
in both his hands -
The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true -- Harry threw
his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof
of the serpent's mouth -
But as warm blood drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just
above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and
deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over
sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.
Harry slid down the wall. 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. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from
the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood
soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving
in a whirl of dull color.
A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws
beside him.
"Fawkes," said Harry thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes . . . ."
1,520
He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's
fang had pierced him.
275
He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in
front of him.
"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead.
Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter?
He's crying."
Harry blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears
were trickling down the glossy feathers.
"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time.
I'm in no hurry."
Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.
"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone
in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by
the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear
Mudblood mother soon, Harry... She bought you twelve years of
borrowed time ... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew
he must . . . ."
If this is dying, thought Harry, it's not so bad.
Even the pain was leaving him ....
But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be
coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was
Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was
shining all around the wound -- except that there was no wound
"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him -
I said, get away --"
Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at
Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a
whirl of gold and scarlet.
"Phoenix tears. - ." said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. "Of
course ... healing powers ... I forgot. . ."
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He looked into Harry's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I
prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter ... you and me....
He raised the wand
Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and
something fell into Harry's lap -- the diary.
For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it.
Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant 