Slither of Danger [2]

Chapter Nineteen

"So, this is what Dumbledore sends his great defender. A songbird, and an old hat." Tom drew his lip up and walked towards a great, big statue of a man with a big beard and mustache. The looked quite old and important. He must be Salazar Slytherin.

"Ssslliyagg angathass selethehin." Tom spoke in Parseltongue as he held out one hand towards the statue.

To my horror, the mouth began to open, wider and wider, creating a black hole opening.

"Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter." He spoke with hatred at Harry and turned to the creature who I have been avoiding for two weeks, as he emerged from the mouth of the statue.

Harry made the right choice to turn on his heel and to run the other way, away from Tom and the creature.

"Saa-iii hethess!" Riddle spoke to the snake and stared at Harry. "Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter! It only obeys me!"

The snake charged at Harry and Harry, running as fast as he could, tripped on an uneven piece of cement tile and fell hard on the ground, hitting his chin and losing his glasses in the process. I winced and bit my lip of the impact.

Harry quickly grabbed his glasses and put them on, and held his hands against his ears to block out the horrible sounds of the snake. Suddenly, Fawkes took off beside me and went to attack the monster snake. I watched in horror as the Phoenix clawed out the snake's eyes.

I looked at Harry to see him staring at the shadows of the snake and the bird. I frown. "What are you waiting for, Harry? Run!" I yell, making him snap his head in my direction. He frowned back at me and I waved, still frowning. I gave him a 'what the hell are you doing?' look and motioned him to stand up.

"No!" Tom barked in anger. "Your bird may have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you!"

Harry quickly got to his feet and turned around to face the creature. He quietly shuffled backwards. It all went well until he stepped into a puddle. The snake stopped squirming and stared blindly into Harry's direction. He stood frozen in place.

"Run!" I howled, snapping him back to life and he ran into the tunnel across from him on the right. The snake followed shortly after, leaving the chamber in an uncomfortable silence.

I decided to climb down the ladder. I jumped the last step, making my appearance known when Tom Riddle looked sharply at me, breaking his gaze from the tunnel Harry and the serpent disappeared to.

Feeling unsure about the basilisk's whereabouts, I cautiously peered into the tunnel.

"You don't have to worry about the basilisk, for now."

I turned my head to Tom. "Meaning?"

"It will only attack you when I tell him to." He simply said.

I did not reply. I just gave a side-glance into the tunnel again and then stared at Riddle as he stared right back at me. I begin to walk up to him and stopped four meters away from him. We had a small stare-down when I suddenly took out my wand and went in to cast a spell but he beat me to it by zapping my hand, making me drop my wand. I went to pick it up but he kicked it away with his foot. I stared at him in disbelief. "Really?"

"We don't want any casualties." He replied calmly.

Why is this guy so boring right now?

I raised an eyebrow. "You don't care if someone dies, Riddle."

"Why do you think that?" He asks dumbly, smirking.

I roll my eyes and glare at him. "Because you just sent a bloody Basilisk after Harry!" I hissed through my teeth.