Lilliana Snape (Harry Potter Book 2)

Part 30

We continued on through the maze of pipes, hand in hand for comfort and reassurance.

“Are you ready?” Harry muttered to me as we reached a large cast iron circular door with snakes, like the one on the tap only bigger, etched into the metal.

“No; let’s go”

He gripped my hand and then hissed. The snakes began to move and a large clunking noise told us that the door was unlocking. It popped open and we clambered through into a very long cavernous room.

“Ginny!” I whispered and then sprinted toward a sodden body which was lying on the floor a few hundred yards from us.

“Oh no” Harry groaned as he collapsed at her side beside me “please don’t be dead” he whispered as he touched her.

“Ginny Weasley isn’t dead” a smooth voice behind us said. I started and jumped up and was face to face with someone who looked vaguely familiar. “Not yet anyway. As I grow stronger; she grows weaker” he smiled. “Harry Potter; I have been waiting for you.”

“Tom” Harry said quickly “we have to go! There’s a monster; it’s a Basilisk. We need to go before it finds us!”

“It won’t come until it’s called”

I stepped forward and the boy, Harry called Tom, turned to look at me “I know who you are of course” he smirked “a thief...”

“I’m no such thing” I growled “who are you anyway. Why are you here?”

“A smart question, Lilliana Snape; daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, sister to Draco Malfoy...surrogate child to Severus Snape. I am your master.”

I growled again, not understanding what he meant “I answer to no-one and you’re wrong about the Malfoy’s. They relinquished their hold on me the moment that they let me go. They are nothing to me.”

“Anger is good” he breathed “a very powerful tool. You could be useful to Lord Voldemort.”

“Who are you?” Harry repeated now looking wary “what has Voldemort got to do with you? You are 50 years before his time.”

“I, Harry Potter, am his past, his present and his future. I am lord Voldemort”

I gasped but found that I wasn’t scared; I was angry. “You opened the chamber” Harry stated.

“No” Tom Riddle said slowly “Ginny Weasley opened the chamber but, of course, she didn’t know what she was doing. She started to figure it out though...clever but stupid” he hissed the last word. “You’re the only one that understands me, Tom.” He mimicked Ginny’s voice “Tom, something weird is happening. I don’t know what to do! Help me, Tom.” He laughed harshly “what a pathetic excuse for a witch; confiding all of her secrets into the pages of an innocent diary. I grew wary of her...”