Good Enough | hp

29| Phoenix Tears

They stood at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

Estella's heart was beating frantically in her chest, but she tried her best to maintain a calm disposition. She didn't want Harry to think she couldn't handle it after she had assured him of her confidence.

She clutched her wand tighter, the ashwood feeling slippery in her sweating hands. 

With every careful footstep forward, she kept expecting to be attacked at any moment. 

Is the Basilisk hiding behind one of those pillars? And where is Ginny?

She kept her eyes squinted, ready to clamp them shut at the slightest hint of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to follow her, shallow trenches of deep, dark emptiness.

As they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue as high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Estella craned her neck to look up into the giant face above and she recognised it almost instantly, recalling that same face in one of the books Hermione had reread a dozen times(though of course, this did not narrow it down).

This was Salazar Slytherin, and just below him lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming red hair.

"My goodness," Estella gasped, starting forward at once.

She heard Harry mutter something from beside her, and they sprinted towards the girl.

"Ginny?" Estella asked softly, kneeling down and reaching for her.

Harry turned her over. Her face was as white as marble and when Estella gently lay a hand on her cheek she found it to be just as cold.

Her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified but then...

"Ginny!" Estella whispered more urgently now, "Don't be dead! Please please don't be dead!"

She pictured Ron's face if that unspeakable thing were to happen.

She turned to look at Harry, whose eyes were fixed on Ginny. Are we too late? Is she... is she gone?

"Ginny please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her. 

Estella lifted her head gently off the ground and placed it on her lap. The floor was cold under her and Ginny was already freezing. 

She felt her throat constrict and her vision blurred.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Estella let out a hoarse scream though she did not let Ginny's head fall to the ground. Harry jumped and spun around on his knees.

Estella turned. A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though he were only partly there.

"Tom- Tom Riddle?"

Estella whirled around to stare at Harry. "This- this is Tom?"

Riddle nodded and Estella felt a chill creep up her spine. She suddenly remembered the diary and its eerie blankness; how ink could spill across its weathered pages and yet remain dry. She remembered the memory it had shown, and the person he had framed.

She gritted her teeth and sat up a little straighter, though Riddle's full attention was on Hary.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not- she's not-?"