Through All the Pain // N. Longbottom

Second Year // Chapter 16

My heart stopped. The awful boy standing in front of me was the Dark Lord ... Harry was frozen looking at the new arrangement. I checked my boot and felt my wand safely tucked into my boot. I told myself that if needed, I would fight to the death to make sure Harry and Ginny got out alive. I looked at Ginny, completely ignoring Harry and Riddle. That was until Harry shouted.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" I turned to see Harry standing inches away from Riddle. 

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me." I stood up and rushed over to Harry's side. 

"He'll never be gone! Not as long as those who remain are loyal to him!" I shouted. As I did, we heard a cry echo throughout the chamber. Harry and I looked up and saw a phoenix swoop down from above and drop the sorting hat at Harry's feet.

"Fawkes," Harry whispered as Tom approached and picked up the hat. He started giggling while examining the hat. 

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender?! A songbird and an old hat?" He threw the hat and smiled wickedly at the two of us. I grabbed Harry's hand and prepared for something to happen. He just kept smiling before he spoke in Parseltongue. As he did there was a rumbling and an opening appeared a bit away from us. 

"Quickly! Turn away!" Harry spoke urgently. I turned around and covered my eyes. Tom walked around to face us in the face. 

"Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter and one of the biggest blood-traitors in existence, shall we?" He speaks Parseltongue once more and the next thing I know Harry is pulling me away. 

We run as fast as we could away from the Basilisk. We kept running until Harry goes and trips causing his glasses to fly off his head. Great of all the things that could happen, Harry had to lose his glasses to make him blind as Ray Charles. We both dropped to the ground and searched for his glasses. I heard him sigh and saw he had already put them back on his face. 

We continued to run into a tunnel off of the Chamber. I noticed how it managed to follow us and took the chance to toss a rock in the opposite direction. Once it was away we ran back to Ginny, she was almost as white as snow. I stroked her face and it was almost unbearable to touch she was so cold. 

"Yes, Lorrinda." I heard Tom speak from behind me. I turned to see him grinning manically. "The process is nearly complete. In a few minutes, Ginny Weasley will be dead. And I will cease to be a memory. Lord Voldemort will return. Very much ... alive." 

I couldn't control my anger anymore and pulled my wand from my boot and began attacking Tom. 

"You're a bloody nutter if you think I will let my little sister DIE just so you can come back and send this world into yet ANOTHER Wizarding War!" I shouted throwing jinxes and hexes at him. He using Harry's wand fought back. We were locked in a battle until we heard the sound of the Basilisk dying.

"HARRY!" I threw one last hex at Riddle and ran over to him. He somehow got the sword of Godric Gryffindor and pierced the Basilisk through the head. However, in doing so, he got pierced with a fang. He managed to crawl next to Ginny, which is when I fell beside him. 

"Harry!" I watched as he pulled out the fang from his arm. Almost immediately his arm started to turn grey and he started to grow clammy and cold. "No ... No!" I said pulling my tie off of my collar and tieing it around his arm as a tourniquet. It wasn't working.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Riddle said. I gave him the worst of glares. "How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body? If you have any final words, Potter, you'd best speak them now. I'd guess you have little more than a minute to live." Harry started to blink more and he started to sway a little bit.