Emily Potter - Book 2 - The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 7

Edited as of February 18, 2021

This damn chapter is 17.7k words long. That's longer than the communist manifesto which is a solid 11k, idk why but that's funny to learn (shout out to A03 for publishing it lmao, it's on public domain so feel free to write fanfic about it). 

Anyway, this drained the life outta me! So many things happened. And once I start/finish editing book 3,,,, i am cursed with the task of editing the rest which are like 40+ chapters long. Why did I do this to myself?

I should let you know that I did some revisions to this chapter. I was a lazy lil child when I wrote this, so it was full of time skips. Everything is as detailed as I can make it, and this chapter is like a Frankenstein's monster of 11/12-year old me and 22-year-old me. 

I hope you like it!

~

"I was so sure that it was Malfoy! I mean, you'd naturally figure it was him all along with how he is – right?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione while on their walk back to Gryffindor House. He was met with a pensive look from the girl. If there was something that Hermione truly didn't like, it was being proven wrong. She believed in facts, but once Emily had discredited everything, what is there to believe?

Suddenly, a loud boom clanged from the floor above them followed by a shout of seething rage. The trio wasn't sure what it was, but by the sound of what seemed to be a metal bucket slamming against the floor, they assumed it was no other than Argus Filch.

Harry stepped forward towards the banisters, briefly catching a glimpse of Filch mopping the floor, and hearing him irritably complain, "More work for me! Moppin' all day – gah! As if I haven't gotten enough to do tonight." He turned back to his friends and led them to another path that would get them to the floor above, carefully circling around Filch undetected. "Wonder what's got his wand in a knot." He muttered, advancing up the steps, his adrenaline coming to a peak when they had arrived at the floor, their feet being met with a wave of cold water.

Hermione and Ron staggered backward in surprise, while Harry ran towards the source, unphased and determined. He hadn't seen his sister all that much since the Polyjuice potion incident, and whenever Harry did manage to catch up with her, it was only for a moment before Emily would eventually slip away with an excuse. She had become paler in comparison to Harry, her eyes lackluster and tired, making her brother believe that she wasn't getting enough sleep, or if she was sleeping at all.

During classes, despite her presence, the manner in which she had conducted herself made it seem like Emily was never there in the first place. She almost never answered questions, leaving Hermione to wonder why Emily didn't raise her hand as much. She almost obsessively wrote notes, her eyes barely leaving the notebook where she wrote in, making all of her friends to worry since Emily loathed taking notes and would always borrow theirs instead so that she could copy from them later that day.

Somber moans cracked Harry out of his concern for his sister, effectively pulling him back into the curious situation they were now in as they crept inside the haunter bathroom. Moaning Myrtle perched herself along the bend of the stained glass window, the moonlight pouring in over her, making her glow almost transparently while she audibly displayed her grief and distress. "Who's there?" Moaning Myrtle asked in between cries, her eyes widening at the three students who came out of the shadows, "Come to throw another book at me?"

Ron frowned, briefly glancing at Harry and Hermione, "What reason would we have to throw books at you?"

"I don't know!" Myrtle screeched, floating down from the window to be on level with them. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone comes in and thinks to get a laugh from hurling books at my head."

"But, Myrtle," Harry tried as best as he could to softly reason with her, "It can't hurt you."

"Yeah, that's right – if anything, it'll only just go through you – " Ron added, but was cut off as the ghost advanced towards him with a fiery look. "LET'S JUST GO THROW BOOKS AT MYRTLE! IT'S NOT LIKE SHE HAS HER OWN FEELINGS NOW THAT SHE'S DEAD! YOU GET TEN POINTS IF YOU GET THROUGH HER STOMACH – AND FIFTY FOR HER HEAD!" Moaning Myrtle shrieked, his fist wavering in an out of Ron's head, showering him with an icy blast of air every time she passed her limb through.

Hermione then pulled Ron aside, now facing the ghost. "Did you see who threw it at you? And what exactly was the thing they hurt you with, Myrtle?"

Her sullen face relaxed under the girl's concerned eyes, Myrtle turned away from them and began to return to where she rested earlier. "I haven't seen anyone. I was minding my own business when it fell on top of my head – it's somewhere on the floor there, washed up and filthy."

The three Gryffindors scurried around the bathroom floor in search for the mysterious book, eventually finding it wedged in between the stall doors, assuming that the strong gust of water must have been the culprit. But then what caused the water? Hermione thought, watched Harry pick up the black leather notebook.

"It's a diary." He said in disbelief as he slapped the soggy book against the wall of the cubicle to get rid of the water, and as he strained the water, his fingers brushed against something embossed on the back of the cover. Harry turned it over and saw, in gold lettering, the name Tom Marvolo Riddle deep in the leather. "I haven't a clue who this is, does he sound familiar to either of you?"

Ron and Hermione craned their necks closer, and while Hermione shook her head, Ron jumped on his feet and exclaimed in shock. "I know him! I polished his award enough times to know that name by memory – he won an award for Special Services about fifty years ago."

"Whoever he was, he never wrote in this thing." Harry told them as he briskly flipped through the pages, "Tom must have been Muggleborn to have bought this from Vauxhall Road." Hermione frowned, clearly nitpicking what Ron had told them just then. "You said he won that award fifty years ago? That's the same time when the chamber was last opened – remember? Emily told us about it."

"Yeah?" Ron said, unconcerned.

She slapped his arm with the back of her hand, "Wake up, Ronald! We know the person who opened the chamber was expelled fifty years ago! And Tom Riddle got a Special Award fifty years ago! What if he got the award for the capture of the Heir of Slytherin?"

"Great theory, Hermione, one problem: There's nothing written in it!" Harry stressed, flipping the pages in front of her face. "I don't even understand how a fifty-year-old diary has lasted this long – Oh, alright then." Hermione snatched the diary off his hands and into her own, and with the smooth movement of her procuring her wand and tapping it upon a page, she cast a spell, "Aparecium!"

And to no avail, the page had stayed blank. But not wanting to halt their progress right there, she rummaged in her bag and took out a scarlet eraser, and she began rubbing it against the diary, desperate for more answers. "Oh, for the love of – Alright. I know there's more to this than meets the eye. We just have to try –"

"We should tell Emily about this," Harry suggested, taking the diary back in his clutches. "Right?" And although Hermione wasn't thrilled about it, she was thinking the same thing. "Yes. Go and ask her, she'll react better with just you there."

"I'm telling you! Riddle got this on Christmas and didn't even bother to fill it." Ron told them, unimpressed with their new find. After trudging out of the flooded bathroom and bewitching their shoes with a quick dry charm, Harry departed from his friends in search for his sister. It was not a difficult task to fulfil, especially since of late when Emily was rarely seen with any company.

Harry kept track of her comings and goings, and so far, he could tell that her tracks were a roundtrip from classroom to classroom until she had to return to her dormitory for the night. Despite his overall dislike for Draco Malfoy, Harry did not like seeing Emily so alone. Though this was a good turn of events since Harry did need to see her alone, and lucky for him, he knew exactly where she would be at this time of night.

After several twists and turns around the castle, Harry followed the sudden gust of the cold Scottish breeze that carried the sweet scent of the highlands into the halls of Hogwarts. Within seconds, he spotted Emily peering through the Viaduct, her pale face illuminated by the millions of stars glowing above her. She didn't attempt to move or even acknowledge that someone had found her, Harry thought she was enjoying her solitary peace, but as he got closer and closer, he felt as if she was just too tired, too worn to move any further.

"Hi, Harry." She said lightly, her eyes fixated on the moon, "What brings you here?"

He stood close by her side, their shoulders pressed together, "We need your help." Harry alerted her, finally grasping enough of her attention to make her look at him, "We found this diary that Myrtle said somebody threw at her earlier – there might be something that could help us figure out who's behind all of the petrifications."

What little light was left in her sister's eyes had diminished as soon as they met the black leather covering of the diary. Emily's hands, even under thick mittens, trembled with unwavering anxiety. "Where did you find it?"

"In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was flooded there, too. Is there anything you might know that could help us figure out how to break any concealment spells on this thing? Hermione's tried – and Ron thinks it's just rubbish – "

"What do you think?"

"I think... I think there's something more here. I can feel that there's something more to this," Harry stressed, pressing the palm of his hand against the bare pages of the diary. "It's on the tip of my tongue, I know it's ridiculous. I might be mad, but there has to be something to look for, right?"

From her blank, expressionless face, he saw the corners of her mouth sink into sadness. Emily shook her head and looked away from her brother. "I don't know anything about it." Her answer crushed any hope Harry had to finally putting a rest to the diary, but he managed his expectations to avoid making his sister feel worse about his disappointment, "That's alright. I'll see you at breakfast, Em. Do you want me to walk you back to your house?"

"No." She said, her tone coming in short-tempered as opposed to her soft, worn aura from just moments ago. Emily turned back at him, her eyes stony, "Come to think of it, you haven't done the most obvious thing to do."

"And what's that?"

"It's a diary after all." Emily retorted with a flash of excitement in her smile. "What do people do with diaries?"

Harry ran his thumb against the deckled edges of the paper, his spine tingling with energy, "You write in it."

"It doesn't sound like such a bad thing to try out," She pondered, "Better to exhaust all possibilities, don't you think?"

He nodded, excusing himself from the Viaduct in order to hastily return to Gryffindor House. Harry felt his face hurt on the way back, he couldn't tell if he was smiling because of the diary or because he was able to lift Emily's spirits, even if he managed to do it for just a sliver of a minute. He dashed into the common room and occupied the study table farthest from sight, quickly uncapping the communal ink well after picking up a stray quill on the desk.

Here goes nothing.

~

The Slytherin Common Room

"Oi, Draco – we need to talk," Pansy hollered right on time as the junior prefect filed in through the porthole. "Is Emily with you?"

"Oh, no – Now that you've mentioned it, she's been avoiding me lately." Draco told her. Tired as he was, the conversation kept him energized with what little power he still had in him. "Sorry, what was the question?"

Pansy glanced at him oddly, "Exactly that, actually. Blaise and I were talking about how Emily hasn't been herself; we barely see her – and that's weird, especially for me since we share a dormitory. Have you two been hanging out recently?"

Draco sorted out his memories and grimaced, remembering their last encounter at the Astronomy Tower when Emily was most notably numb beyond compare. "The thing to know about her is that she does this sort of thing, Pans. She comes and goes as she pleases, and as much as I want her to just stay afloat, Em's going to stray every now and then. It's just like last year when she avoided me for a while."

"Last year? You mean around the same time with the incident with that nutter professor?"

"Well, now that you say it that way – " Draco sighed and headed towards the sofa where he left himself crash into, "What do you expect me to do, anyway? It's Emily."

Pansy Parkinson, as clear as she was with her intentions, could never be anymore unfiltered with her words than she already was. She grabbed the nearest seat cushion and hurled it at Draco. "WHAT DO I EXPECT YOU TO DO? You're her bloody best friend! Talk to her! I don't know, be there for her because she is sure as hell not going to come forward and just pour out her feelings, Malfoy. Emily said you were smart, but I'm just not seeing it right now."

After a thorough run down of how their friend had basically become an outcast of her own accord, Pansy left for her dormitory, leaving Draco to stew in the massive information dump that she brought him. He knew what it was like to be a close part of Emily's life, and based on last year, Draco expected some moments wherein she would just distance herself.

It hadn't occurred to him that it wasn't just a matter of secluding herself in her own comfort zone, perhaps his friend was in actual peril. And I just left her alone?

~

The following morning,

"Oi, Potter." Blaise called out, catching Emily's attention while she was fastening her shoelaces. Visibly annoyed, she side-glanced at him and sighed, "Yeah?" Emily's temper was easily triggered that morning, the darkened circles under her eyes were a sign enough to leave her alone in peace. Blaise motioned to the half-open porthole, his hand nonchalantly waving at it, "You've got a visitor." He told her, raising an eyebrow at the Beater all the while he snaked his way back into the common room.

Visitor?

It was shortly before the start of the second Quidditch match of the season, and the castle was buzzing with life after having been plunged into an eerie air due to the petrified students. It was nice to be sidetracked from reality, even for a few hours. Emily walked towards what was waiting for her on the other side, her brain already weeding out those who were less likely to want to meet her at this time.

It can't be Harry, it's Gryffindor's match with Hufflepuff – Oliver wouldn't let him stray out of sight – Oh. "Hermione?"

Her vivid brown eyes glowed in surprise when she saw Emily as if Hermione hadn't called upon her in the first place. "Hi. I wanted to speak with you before I go to the library."

She stared at her, dazed and bewildered by her words, "O-Okay? We can walk together if you want – "

"Sure, let's get going."

With a hesitant pull of the porthole, Emily joined Hermione's side and together the girls walked through the corridor and up the stairs. "What's this about, then? Because I don't think this is some casual chat, so out with it."

The Gryffindor stopped on her tracks and carried the conversation over to the hallway that was lined with window seats and open views of the mountains. They were not even close to the library yet, but that didn't seem at all important to Hermione. "Harry told us how you gave him advice about the diary. He found... He found some information that could be useful in figuring out who the Heir is."

"Brilliant."

"Yeah, I suppose it is." She said, unsure. "But how did you come to that idea that writing in the diary would help?"

"It's a diary, isn't it? Writing in it is what people do – I'm sorry, but what's this got to do with me? You've gotten what you needed, and I assume you're headed to the library for research about whatever it is you found, so why is it that you're wasting precious time with this unnecessary interrogation?"

"BECAUSE NO RATIONAL MIND WOULD SUGGEST WHAT YOU HAVE," Hermione blurted in an outburst, attracting a few questionable glances from several students that walked by them. Emily, embarrassed, felt herself grow small in front of her. Hermione noticed the caving of the Slytherin's shoulders and immediately wished that she could take back what she had screamed, "I'm sorry. I just meant that...Harry searched the pages for a clue. I tried to reveal whatever it was it could have hidden – but you, you wanted to see if you could trigger a response from it. You're right, it's a diary – it's entire purpose is to be written on, but it's also fifty years old and it belonged to someone – there should have been something there to find without doing what you told Harry to do."

Emily felt her palms grow cold with sweat, the chills crawling from her spine slowly made their way into her ribcage, freezing her from the inside out. I shouldn't have done what I did, I shouldn't have – "What happened when Harry tried writing?"

And then, Hermione shared with her the anecdote of how Emily's brother was submerged into a memory of the past, a rundown of the attacks fifty years ago, the expulsion of Rubeus Hagrid, and the dubious awarding of Tom Riddle. She shared that it was their prime theory that Hagrid may very well have been framed for the attacks, and that Tom had done it, otherwise he wouldn't have been awarded for his service.

I need to fix this; I have to make this right. "Do you know where he is now? Is the team already at the pitch?" Emily asked Hermione.

"No, not yet anyways. Wood pulled them out for a quick warm up around the grounds, but they still have some time before the game starts. We promised to meet in the common room –"

"That's good to know, Hermione, I'll be on the lookout for them." Emily interrupted, already advancing for the stairs, "I'll see you later!" She shouted just as she ran up the steps, baffling the Gryffindor even more.

She continued to walk in the direction of the library, her mind unable to let go of her encounter with Emily Potter. It wasn't that because they had just spent what seemed to be the longest meeting they've ever had with each other that bothered her, she was actually quite pleasant – Emily didn't even raise her voice, I did. Hermione scratched the back of her head and turned around, suspicious that someone was looking at her, but was only met with an empty hallway.

I fully expected her to bite my head off – especially when it looks like she hasn't been getting enough sleep. Hermione entered the library, glad to see it devoid of any student. She quickly looked over to the desk and was surprised to see it empty as well, where's Madam Pince? She wondered, her gaze only falling on the golden nameplate that bore the librarian's name, Madam Irma Pince –

"Irma Pince..." Hermione echoed; her lips parted in wonder. Her brain rewound the moment that unknowingly made her wary, the exact moment when Emily came out of the porthole and saw her waiting for her. She called me by my first name.

She jumped in surprise of the obnoxious loud thump that the book made when she pulled it out of the shelf. Hermione quietly scolded herself and her poor nerves, Emily's probably just trying to be friendly, right? It's the kind of thing she would do for Harry. Hermione tried to smile at the thought of it, but the overall sinister undertone was difficult to shake off, I can trust her, right?

~

The Quidditch Pitch.

"We've got this match in the palm of our hands, lads." Oliver Wood confidently told his teammates, turning away the chalkboard, "We're stronger, quicker, and smarter. Whatever the Hufflepuff team can throw at us, we are more than capable of throwing back at them – "

"I reckon we won't need to work half as hard for this match," George chimed in, the handle of his broomstick colliding into his captain's. "They're all dead scared to even go near Harry! We've got this in the bag."

Oliver shrugged, glancing at the youngest member of his team before raising his eyebrow that basically denoted, he's not wrong, Potter. "There's also that, I suppose – it's no excuse for slacking! I expect everyone to do their best!"

Everyone reaffirmed him, their promises bellowing like a cloud over the Gryffindor team in mighty pride, but that all that cheer and joy gradually diminished when their head of house approached them, her face grim and grey with nausea. "Return to your houses, this match is canceled." Professor McGonagall announced to them, her voice strong enough to be carried through the stadium, luring Ron Weasley to come by his best friend's side to hear more of the drastic change in schedule.

Harry looked up at his captain who was already stunned beyond belief, can she really do that? "You can't cancel Quidditch!" Oliver devastatingly pleaded, "It's... It's Quidditch!"

With one look from McGonagall, he was silenced. "Hush, Wood. I expect you and your team to return to your dormitories at once. This order applies to all students, no exceptions!" McGonagall shouted throughout the crowd of people that pooled behind the team, intrigued by the peculiar announcement. Harry stayed back despite Ron already tugging on his sleeve for them to leave, he felt as though the professor was waiting until they were relatively alone for her to tell them more. And he was right. Minerva McGonagall looked at the boys in great pain, "Potter, Weasley – I think it's best for you two to come along with me."

Without a word or any hesitation, Ron and Harry followed their head of house back into the castle and through the halls, quickly picking up the path as the route towards the Hospital Wing. Harry glanced at Ron, who appeared to have already been thinking the same thing as he was, who are we meeting there?

"This will be a bit of a shock," McGonagall warned them before entering the wing, leading them towards the second bed that had been shielded with a white curtain. And while they passed through, they caught a peek and found another victim, a fifth-year Ravenclaw known as Penelope Clearwater, petrified along with the other in the bed next to her, a small figure with soft, bushy brown hair and startled brown eyes.

"Hermione!" Ron painstakingly called, instantly faltering by the nightstand. "She's – She's been – "

"Emily found them in the library," Minerva McGonagall notified them, and it was only then that the boys finally noticed that the Slytherin had been standing over the other side of Hermione's bed, pale and tear-stained, visibly distraught with her findings. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this one, it was on the floor next to them." She asked the three while she held out a miniature version of a mirror. Harry, Ron, and Emily shook their heads, their eyes unable to turn away from Hermione Granger.

Disappointed by having no clues to investigate, the deputy headmistress left the mirror on the nightstand. "Very well, I'll escort you three back to your houses."

"Aunt Minerva, might I stay with Harry just for a bit?" Emily kindly asked, "I won't stay for long in Gryffindor Tower. It'll just be a while." Unable to say no to her, Professor McGonagall gave in and escorted the three back to the house where she then told Emily to stay put until Professor Snape comes to bring her back to Slytherin.

Throughout every floor, they could hear announcements made by Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape, their voices amplified loud enough for their words to be engraved in everyone's brain. "All students will return to their house common rooms by six o'clock. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. Your safety is our main priority, do not do anything that may jeopardize it."

McGonagall opened the porthole and left just after she saw the three students enter. Emily held onto her brother's arm as they walked through the small hallway into the common room, their ears picking up the sound of rowdy accusations. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed that all that the Slytherins are all safe? The Heir of Slytherin, why don't they chuck them all out!" Said one Gryffindor who Emily knew to be from Fred and George's year.

A string of voices that seemed to agree was quick to jab at the Slytherins, but just like their spineless accusations, they faltered when Emily Potter set foot on the common room carpet, a blanket of silence hovering over them, smothering whatever wild theory anyone else dared to bring up.

Harry felt his sister's hand loosen from his sleeve, he looked at her and was confused to see her already approaching Percy and Ginny Weasley who huddled over the fireplace, their faces gaunt and pale with fear. "Percy – Percy, I'm sorry about Penelope, truly. But I need to speak with Ginny." Emily asked him.

The Gryffindor Prefect looked up and sombrely nodded, "' Course, it's alright. Thank you again for finding her... I'm glad you were there." Percy solemnly said, turning away to give himself a bit of privacy.

Harry watched Emily guide Ginny into the small hallway just before the porthole, they were enveloped in the darkness, away from prying eyes, but their shifting figures were visible enough for him to tell just how nervous they were at that moment.

Once she was out of sight, the whispers and accusations returned. "Isn't it a bit obvious that Emily's the Heir? I mean, she never liked Hermione, and she was the last one to be seen with her earlier today." A third-year questioned, eliciting a few nods from the room, "If that doesn't spell suspicion, then I don't know what does – "

"Oh, put a sock in it, Marty." George retorted with a sour look on his face. "If that's the case, then why attack Mrs. Norris? The bleedin' cat never did anything to her, and neither has Filch. What about that Justin bloke from Hufflepuff? They were on good terms, and she wouldn't do anyone harm!" Fred patted his brother's back and stared down Marty, "Same goes for Clearwater. Quit pointing fingers in places where they don't belong, mate. Ever heard of innocent till proven guilty?"

She was the last one to be seen with Hermione. Harry turned to look at Ron who had already been thinking the same thing, the boys charged towards the little hallway where Emily and Ginny were, confronting the two of them on the spot. Startled by the sudden addition to their company, Emily looked at them from head to toe before acknowledging either of them, "Can we help you?"

"Why were you with Hermione earlier?" Ron asked. "You two don't really speak without us there."

Emily looked at Ginny before answering him. "She came by Slytherin House and asked for me. She wanted to talk about what Harry discovered last night," She nodded to her brother, not wanting to divulge any more information while Ginny was present with them. "We walked for a bit since she said she was headed for the library, but I had to leave so that I could find you. But you were busy with warm-ups, so I just hung out with Ginny for a while."

Harry's gaze fell on the youngest Weasley, and when Ginny had noticed his eyes on her, she shyly looked away and excused herself to return to her elder brother's company, leaving Emily between Harry and Ron. "If what Hermione told me is right, then the next reasonable plan of action is talking to Hagrid about what happened fifty years ago," She whispered to the Gryffindors, "I don't want to believe that it was him, but we have nothing else to go on."

"You heard what the professors have been saying for an hour now, we can't leave the tower without supervision," Ron told her, but that didn't stop him from slowly realizing that the moral compass of their group was now out of commission. He slowly craned his neck towards Harry and sure enough, it was like they read each other's minds.

"I think it's time to get dad's old cloak out again."

Emily sighed, preparing for her leave, "Alright. Let me know how it goes – "

"You're coming with us." Harry shortly said. Ron nodded in support, "We can't do this with just us two."

These poor idiots. Hermione really had her plate full. "Okay, I guess? If that's what you want, then we'll have to plan this out. Let's go up to your dorm, it's more private up there – "

"HARRY! RON!" Screamed Neville, colliding into Ron's backside. "You need to see this! I dunno what happened, Seamus and I just found the dorms like that, come on!" He quickly explained, running back into the common room and up the stairs with the group just behind him. Emily avoided the heated looks on her, walking as fast as she could into the boys' dormitory to be devoid of the people around her.

A trail of feathers and torn cotton pooled around the doorway like a trail of breadcrumbs. Emily, Ron, and Harry entered the disheveled room and felt a massive wave of fear wash over them. Mattresses were overturned, blankets and pillows tossed over and torn open, bedframes and dressers askew and out of place, but out of all the rows of similarities, it was only one trunk that had been opened.

Emily stood by her brother's side, "Has anything been taken, Harry?"

"Yeah," He answered, going down on his knees to better confirm the missing item in his trunk, unwilling to come to terms that it was truly gone from his possession. Harry sighed deeply and glanced at his best friend and his sister, "The diary is gone."

Just then, footsteps echoed up from the stairwell, everyone turned around and saw Percy peering through the door, too numb to even comment on the disarrayed room he was looking into. "Emily, Professor Snape is here for you. He says it's time to go."

"Right... I'll be right there – "

"He says to leave now," Percy added, his voice becoming lighter than what she was used to hearing. "He knew you would say that somehow."

She turned to her brother and Ron, not knowing what else to do, "You know where to find me." Emily told them, her heart becoming far too heavy to carry on her own. Leaving Harry and Ron in that moment seemed wrong, if she had her way, Emily would stay by their side through it all.

Once Percy had ushered Emily outside to meet Professor Snape, they exchanged their farewells and went on their separate ways. The walk was as expected with Severus, quiet and stale which she thought to be perfect for the time being, I'm not really in the mood to be questioned again –

"A curfew has been strictly implemented," Severus told her, interrupting her train of thought. "I expect from my house's junior prefect to be compliant to this rule. Have I made myself clear, Emily?" She churlishly grinned at him, trying to be as cheery as she could to balance off his bitter expression. "Are rules synonymous to guidelines – "

"Let me reiterate for you," The professor said, sharply turning around, his dark cloak dramatically swirling behind him, "Should the bottom of your shoes be anywhere outside Slytherin House after ten o'clock in the evening, severe consequences will be made. I'll ask again, have I made myself clear, Emily?"

"You used to be fun, Sev." But then again, burning potion recipes into my memory wasn't so enjoyable.

He scoffed at her and continued their walk down to the dungeons, "I beg of you to review and understand that word, Potter, because it seems you've lost your senses over the English language – now get in and stay inside." Severus waved his hand over the porthole and summoned it open. Emily waved him off before entering, briefly catching some glint of amusement from his eyes before the porthole had been sealed shut.

A soft, deep green glow was cast into the common room, thanks to the waters of the Black Lake, it made her house all the more welcoming and comforting to the soul. Emily scanned the room and noticed how sparse it was of students, there were only a few in the window seats and a handful by the study desks at the back.

And in front of the fireplace, lounging in the sofa that they had taken over, was Draco Malfoy. Emily was glad to see him, she felt like she hadn't for ages. "Shame about the match, right? It would have been fun to watch." Emily said, swiping his legs off the sofa for her to sit down, "Been here long?"

"Not really."

That's a lie.

"Just been waiting for you."

That's... the truth.

Draco studied her face, his brows knitted together in concern. He felt his heart swell when she looked at him with so much light in her eyes, it had made him feel special to see that side of her. But Emily's smile said otherwise, her mannerisms told him a different story. "We can talk tomorrow; you need to rest – "

"Not just yet," She told him, hesitant to retreat to her own dorm. "Pansy has been antsy to ask me questions. I'd really rather have some peace to myself whenever I can. If you don't mind staying here with me."

And without another word, Draco offered her his shoulder to sleep on.

~

Later that night at Slytherin House,

Draco woke up to a frightening start when he heard disruptive banging on the other side of the walls. Careful to move since Emily had fallen asleep on his shoulder, but now that he has awoken, he noticed that he was cradling a pillow in his arms where Emily rested.

Ever so slowly, he lifted the pillow up and moved away from the sofa before gently laying Emily's head down. Draco looked down upon her before addressing the noise from outside, she looks so withdrawn. What have you been up to?

The badgering knocks grew louder with each step he took towards the porthole to the point that he almost wanted to deck the person behind the disruption, "The bloody hell is going on there – oh, it's you two." Draco sneered, his eyes switching from Harry and Ron who looked just as surprised as he was to see them. "What?"

"Where's Emily?" Harry asked.

"Asleep."

"She told us to get her," Ron stressed, glaring at Malfoy. "Wake her up, then."

Draco scoffed, laughing at the idea of waking up Emily from a deep sleep, he pushed the porthole open and waved for the boys to enter, "Do it yourselves if you're so brave." Harry awkwardly took his invitation and strolled right into the common room, sitting on the edge of the sofa when he began to shake Emily awake, "Em, it's time to go – wake up."

"...Mhm – bugger off." Her hand rose up and mindlessly pushed her brother's face away, the deadweight from her hand accentuating enough force to make an indent on his face via his glasses. Ron let out a laugh, his ribs aching, "That was funny, try it again."

"Shove off, Ron." Harry muttered, picking up one of the cushions from one armchair. He hurled it at his sister's stomach, shocking her to wake up. Her body was first to wake before her mind, and her nerves electrocuted her to sit up straight so quickly that everyone thought she was going to hurt herself. Behind them, the fireplace roared beyond its containment, its crackling flames engulfing the bare mantel before succumbing back around the partially ashy logs of wood.

Emily stretched her arms above her head, her mouth opening to yawn. Harry and Ron gaped at the weird occurrence, leaving them no choice but to stare back at Draco Malfoy for answers. He merely shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, "Don't say I didn't warn you. It doesn't happen all that often – "

Ron looked at the fireplace and gasped, "This... This fireplace used to be white!" He exclaimed, rubbing a finger against the stonework, exposing white marble under a thick layer of black ash and scorch marks. "Bloody hell."

"What's with all the yelling?" She called out, reaching for her glasses on the table before her, slipping them on only to gawk at the odd assortment of people standing in front of her. "Oh. Well, good evening."

"We need to go now," Harry told her, nudging her to her senses, his head tilted in a way that signaled Emily to be aware of Draco's presence. She looked around, her body becoming a heavyweight that grounded her on the spot, "Right – let me just get something from my dorm." Emily told them, rushing up the stairs and vanishing from sight.

Harry, Ron, and Draco stood idly in the common room, awkwardly spaced out as if there were physical dividers between them. Draco's eyes landed on a piece of shimmering fabric haphazardly folded and tightly clutched in Harry's fist, "Do I even want to know where you lot are going?" He asked snidely.

Harry followed his gaze and cautiously held onto the cloak even more protectively. "No. Why, are you going to tattle to Snape?" He challenged. Harry had expected the trademark smirk from Malfoy, hell, he expected a string of derogatory phrases from him, but all he got was a passive look that swept the room until his eyes locked on the stairs headed towards the girls dormitories. "What's there to tell? I don't know anything."

"Did I hear him right?" Ron muttered in disbelief.

Emily ran down the steps, her feet squeaking and her hands holding a pair of black school shoes. "I'm ready! Let's get going." She walked around the sofa and placed the shoes by the ottoman. The boys looked at her oddly and that was enough for Emily to explain her sudden change in footwear.

"Snape said that if my shoes were to leave the common room after curfew, I would face major consequences." She repeated to them in the lowest vocal register she could muster. "Whatever that means. Trainers are more versatile anyway, especially if we need to run."

"What makes you think we'll need to run tonight?" Ron nervously asked, gulping. She looked at both of them as if it were plain and simple. Before Emily could explain, Draco, surprisingly, took the opportunity. "You two tracked in mud when you got here, thanks for that by the way." He said, looking down at their stained shoes. "That tells us that you were on grounds, but where? Both of you also smelled like a campfire, and something else – food, maybe. Some type of sweet – "

"Fruitcake," Emily answered, astonished. "You were down at Hagrid's hut. And I figure you tried earlier to wake me up, but no one was answering – so, you and Ron went ahead. Something clearly happened because you're in my common room, banging on doors, throwing cushions at sleeping people." She hotly said, glaring at Harry. "Did we get that right?"

"Freakily enough, yeah."

"Ron!"

"What?" Ron asked, baffled, "They were!"

Emily laughed and began to usher the boys through the porthole, and then came back in to reassure Draco. He stood there in a dignified manner while his mouth partially upturned in amusement, "I'll see you by the time breakfast starts. Promise me that, Em."

"I'll be fine,"

"I know you will be, just promise me this."

She nodded in all sincerity, promising for her safe return. Emily left Slytherin House and joined Harry and Ron in another rule-breaking conquest, "Where are we headed exactly?" She whispered, watching her brother unravel the invisibility cloak.

"Into the forest, Hagrid told us to follow the spiders," Harry said.

"Oh. And was this before or after you bumped fists with a unicorn?" Emily sardonically retorted. Harry stared at her, gobsmacked, "That doesn't even make sense – "

"Following spiders don't make sense! What are you going on about?"

Ron chuckled, "I'm actually with her on this one."

Harry begrudgingly shrouded the three of them under the cloak, leading the way out of the castle. He retold the happenings of earlier from Hagrid's Hut, expressing in grand detail of how their meeting was cut incredibly short due to an ambush by the headmaster, the Minister for Magic, and Lucius Malfoy. It was a meeting that inevitably ended with Hagrid's suspension that would incarcerate him to Azkaban prison.

That's not fair – they don't even know who's behind all of this, it's not reasonable to put a suspect in an Azkaban cell. Not when they haven't proven anything. "What else happened? I don't get why Draco's dad was there in the first place."

"He's the governor for the school board, apparently," Ron said to her mournfully. "And he called for Dumbledore's suspension, said he was ineffective. All a load of tosh! They can't do this, without Dumbledore, all of the Muggleborns..." He stopped himself before ending the sentence, feeling as though he may just jinx Hermione's chances of coming through.

Harry pressed on his best friend's shoulder as they walked. "They'll be fine. And we'll see to it that they all will be – but before Hagrid was taken, he kind of left us a clue. He told us to follow the spiders. So, here we are, doing just that – I know it seems mental – Oi!"

Emily had snuck out from the group and began to sprint towards a certain entry point into the forbidden forest. Ron and Harry shrugged off the cloak and watched the girl run to the woods, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Ron screamed at her, earning an elbow to the stomach from Harry, reminding him to be quiet.

"I'm going to find...something!" Emily shakingly answered, her voice growing faint as the night breeze carried it away. "Go on and follow the spiders, okay? I'll be with you soon!" Not wanting to part with her just yet, Harry ran towards Emily and handed her the cloak, entrusting it in her care. "At least take this with you."

She grinned and nodded in thanks, shrouding herself under the protection of the cloak before submerging into the woods. Ron slowly trudged through the field, walking up to his friend's side, "Hey, Harry."

"Yeah, Ron?"

"I guess we can follow the spiders now," He told him, his voice quivering, "I really don't like spiders." Harry looked down at their feet and saw a trail of golf ball-sized arachnids making their way into the depths of the forbidden forest.

The boys entered the dark woods, their wands out and their eyes fastened on the oddity of spiders forming a queue, their hairy bodies glistening from the dew accumulated from the blades of grass. Harry and Ron walked together in relative silence with the frequent be quiet, Ron and stop crying, they won't crawl on you inserted in between unintelligible sobs.

They were, perhaps, in the very heart of the forbidden forest. Neither could tell, but where they were led now was truly a place none of them had ever been to before. The trail diminished upon a cave, there was no light but the glow of the moon above them that gave its faint, pearlescent shine. Ron and Harry entered the cave, and though it was dark enough to mistake the cave itself as small, they both had a feeling that something far more dangerous was afoot.

Harry peered through at just the right angle to see hordes of spiders in various sizes crawling up and down the cave walls. He instantly turned to Ron who was luckily just staring into the abyss, yeah – he doesn't need to see what I saw. He'll be fine without that image.

"Who's there?" A deep voice asked, the sound of it echoing through the walls, unmistakably giving both of them an inkling on just how large of a cave it really was, "Who dares enter my home?"

"We – We're friends of Hagrid," Harry told the voice, "Are you Aragog?"

Things weren't going well for Ronald Weasley. He was thankful for it being too dark to see anything in front of him, but there was nothing that prevented him from hearing the clicking and clacking of pincers from the arachnids that no doubt surrounded them, nothing saved him from imagining just how gargantuan of a spider was behind the clicking of its joints as it repositioned itself while it spoke to Harry.

"Hagrid has never sent men here," Aragog hoarsely said. "Where is Hagrid, my old friend..."

Slowly but surely, the moon began to shift in the sky, its ethereal glow animating the very horrors from Ron's mind as it illuminated the cave's floor, exposing hundreds of muffin-sized spiders crawling across his shoes. Harry grabbed his arm and held him steady, silently begging Ron not to scream. At least not yet.

"Hagrid's in trouble!" He finally told the creature. "They sent him to Azkaban – they think he opened the Chamber of Secrets, but we know he wouldn't do that – "

The ominous clicking sounds elevated around them, but the harsher tones seemed to come from Aragog, expressing his distaste in the matter of the chamber. "That was years ago! They made him leave Hogwarts, and they believed that I was the monster that dwelled in that so-called chamber." Aragog clamored, "I was not born in that castle, no – but rather in the pocket of a traveller. Hagrid is a good man and a better friend; he would never pose any harm. Those people...When they had discovered me, they pinned the death of that girl on the only monstrous thing they could find, and that was me." The grand spider crawled forward into the moonlight, casting enough focus for his shining, bulbous cloudy-grey eyes to shine through the darkness, "Hagrid released me in the forest, he even visits every now and then... My family has grown through the goodness of Hagrid's heart."

With whatever shreds of courage Harry still had, he pushed through with his final questions, "You're innocent. You weren't the one who killed that girl – "

"Never!" Aragog fussily yelled. "I never harmed a human, that girl was discovered in a bathroom – I, for one, never saw the outside of the cupboard from where I grew."

Ron began to slowly whine, the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to trigger is fight or flight response, and it heavily encouraged him to run into the Black Lake until his skin was numb with cold. Harry shushed him once more and prodded Aragog, "Whatever killed her, it's -it's back. So, please, if you know what it is – "

Aragog snapped its pincers so heavily that the boys figure it could disembowel them as easy as breaking an eggshell. "It is a creature that we spiders fear from all! Hence, we do not speak its name!"

"Harry!" Ron whined again, tugging on his arm, begging to be acknowledged.

"What?" Harry frowned at how weakly Ron lifted his chin, he figured to look upwards, the sirens in his head going off when he saw the terrifying visual of Quaffle-sized arachnids propelling down to their heads. They stepped back and slowly began to exit the cave. "Thanks-s for answering all my questions, sir." Harry clumsily said, almost tripping over a twig. "We'll get going now, goodnight – "

With a sharp step forward, Harry and Ron were now in full view of the arachnid that stood terrifyingly tall on a massive boulder. Rough, prickly hairs covered its immense body, eight milky-white eyes staring down at them as though they very may well be a hot Christmas dinner, and creepy clicking pincers that made the boys feel like one snap could break their necks.

"I think not. My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid under my command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst." Aragog said without a hint of remorse, encouraging the smaller spiders to come closer, "Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."

The dirt underneath their feet swelled and burst open, a geyser of smaller spiders sprouting and spreading like pollen. Harry and Ron scrambled as far away from the cave as they could, slapping off the spiders that attached to their clothes. "WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS EMILY – " Ron screamed, angrily crying while he slapped off a spider from Harry's back.

A low growl crept up behind them, too scared to even think of turning around to face the creature, they exchanged glances, peering into the other's frightful expression, "Do spiders growl, Harry?" Ron faintly whispered, "Harry???" His voice thinned to a high-pitched whisper.

Flashing lights blinded them, and soon, the growling that stalked them from behind was overpowered by the steady motorized hum of an automobile. The tires spun rapidly and raced around Harry and Ron, effectively and morbidly crushing the spider that nearly devoured them. "GET THE HELL IN – WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?" Emily screamed, popping open the passenger door, dragging in her brother and Ron inside.

What had gotten them into trouble at the start of the year was now surprisingly saving their lives. Neither one of the boys thought that the Ford Anglia would still be on school grounds, they also didn't think Emily could find it in the treacherous depths of the forest. "FOLLOW THE SPIDERS? WHEN HAGRID COMES BACK FROM AZKABAN, I'M GOING TO KILL HIM." Ron cursed, now in a panicked rage while he cranked up the windows to close, his adrenaline piercing the roof when he realized that more spiders were coming.

"Harry! Ron! Get them off, I can't start the car again just yet!" Emily shouted at them, "They're trying to flatten the tires!" Her fingers turned the key in the ignition repeatedly, muttering a string of curse words each time the engine failed to come back alive. Harry opened the car door and aimed his wand at the clump of arachnids overtaking the hood of the car, "Arania Exumai!" Several bright, blinding sparks shot at the creatures, sending them back into the darkness.

Ron picked up the spell quite quickly and repeated the process on his side of the car, sobbing in between casts. It was a futile attempt seeing that the spiders either crawled back or were replaced by bigger ones. Emily slammed her fist at the steering wheel, "Where's Granger when you need her?" She huffed, trying to start the engine again.

"What did you say?" Harry teased, continuing to ward off the eight-legged monstrosities away from them. Ron managed to laugh even at the most stressful period of his life, "Ha! I can't wait to tell Hermione – "

"Shut up, Ron – OH, FINALLY." The car roared back to life and sped off at an incredible rate thanks to Emily forgetting that she still had her foot flooring the gas pedal. The three drove back to the castle in stony silence, visions of gargantuan spiders flashing before their eyes every now and then. The car stopped on its own as it parked in front of the castle entrance, the doors popping open just as the seats overturned, launching the children out on the grass before it closed and rolled off back into the forbidden forest.

Dawn had begun to break when they entered the halls of the school, their eyes glazing over the soft golden periwinkle light that poured in from the windows of the Great Hall. Emily, Harry, and Ron looked down at themselves and found a few grass stains, dirt, and morning dew blotched on their clothes, their shoes molten with earth. At this rate, they didn't feel the need to bother with their appearance and wanted to get breakfast, but then knew the repercussions it would make if the professors realized they had gotten there before the others did.

And so, they promised to meet later after eating in order to visit Hermione in the hospital wing. Emily dragged her body to Slytherin House, her calves sore from flooring the pedals as much as she could to escape the spider-infested hell they were trapped in earlier. To her fortune, nothing much had changed from when she left. Her school shoes were still on the ottoman, untouched and polished, unlike her trainers that were scruffy with mud and grass, maybe even spider guts.

On the sofa, still, was a sleeping Draco Malfoy, his legs occupying the rest of the sofa while he slept sitting up with two blankets neatly folded on his lap. He's been waiting for me. Emily crept up to her dorm, put on a fresh change of clothes, and washed her face before returning to the common room. She softly lifted up his legs and snuck herself on the sofa, laying back his legs on her lap. Emily had taken the blankets and tucked Draco in warmly as well as herself, desperate to catch even at least one hour of sleep.

~

Later that afternoon,

Ron leaned over to Emily while she replaced the water in the vase of tulips that they (with Neville's help) picked for Hermione's table. "I thought you two didn't get on very well." He muttered. She sighed lightly, not knowing what else to make of their situation, "Oh, we don't. I just like arguing with her, it's not the same when it's just you and Harry."

Harry stayed by the other side of Hermione's bed, his hand enveloping around hers, wanting to give her as much comfort as he could. She was cold and felt like marble under his touch, every sign that could indicate her still being alive was not apparent unless you were to look for a heartbeat. We'll figure this out soon, Hermione. I'll promise you that –

His thoughts stopped into an abrupt halt when he folded his fingers around Hermione's palm, surprised to feel something crinkling underneath. Harry realized that she had been holding onto something all this time, and it was a ripped page out of an old textbook. Emily and Ron cautiously surveyed Harry's pensive expression, quickly making their way to stand by him to read the inscription.

Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of serpents. This snake, which may reach a gigantic size and live for hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before it for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.

"Blimey..." Ron said, "You're telling me that if we had just found this earlier, we wouldn't have needed to go in the forest in the first place?" He cried. Emily grinned, chuckling at him, "For your sanity, I'm not going to answer that, but judging by what you two found out from Aragog – it wasn't a complete waste of time. Let's focus on the new information that we have here – The monster's a Basilisk!" She cried out in joy, "It's a serpent, that explains why only Harry and I could hear the thing."

"It also says that it can kill people by having them look into its eyes, how is that possible when no one's died yet?" Ron asked the twins. Harry and Emily looked at each other at the exact moment that they had figured it out, "That's because nobody looked at it, not directly at least. Colin saw it through his camera, Justin... he saw it through nearly headless Nick but he's a ghost he can't die again. Hermione and that Ravenclaw girl were found with a mirror near them, Hermione must've found out that the monster is a Basilisk." Harry ran down the list of petrified students in his head, noting down the oddities over and over, confirming their theory.

Emily and Ron looked thoroughly impressed, but this was soon disproved by a new question. "What about Mrs. Norris?" Ron queried, "Unless she had a little handheld mirror in her paw or a camera on her that we hadn't noticed."

That was the night of Sir Nick's Death Day party. Emily remembered, faintly hearing the sound of splashing water. "The bathroom had flooded during the night we found the cat," She answered. "Mrs. Norris must have seen the Basilisk's reflection – "

" – The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it!" Ron interjected, his finger tapping against the torn piece of paper. "All of Hagrid's roosters were killed, the heir must have been behind that one – oh! And spiders flee before it, it all makes perfect sense, innit?"

There was one last piece of the puzzle left for all of it to tie together perfectly. "A great big dirty snake like that... Someone must've noticed it wandering about, don't you think?" Harry brought up, his eyes falling on his sister who instantly felt under investigation.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"If the Chamber of Secrets was built by Salazar Slytherin, then he also built Slytherin House – he built it directly underneath the lake which kind of makes us think that the chamber is also located somewhere deep in the ground, probably because it's the best environment for a Basilisk."

Emily sharply turned back to the piece of paper he had in hand and spotted a scribble of writing just where her brother's thumb was placed, "Looks like Hermione answered that one for you, too." She told them, pointing to the edge of the page.

Ron let out a short laugh, "What did you call her?"

"It's her name, isn't it?"

"It is – you're going soft on her."

"Shut up – "

Harry smacked the two with the page, both Ron and Emily muttering an apology for brief Segway from the topic at hand. Pipes, Harry wondered, looking at Hermione's handwriting. "Aragog said that a girl was found dead in the bathroom. What if she's still there?"

Oh, you've got to be joking, Emily hung her head back and sighed. "Moaning Myrtle – Merlin's beard. We have to tell someone about this, we need to find a professor – "

And just like that, like a sign from the heavens, a voice began to speak through the halls, magically amplified to be heard wherever students may be, "All students are to return to their house dormitories at once! All teachers, please stand by the second-floor corridor immediately." Professor McGonagall announced.

Without missing a beat, Emily, Harry, and Ron raced out of the hospital wing and charged through the stairs and halls. Emily was nearly caught when she hadn't stopped running, nearly colliding into Professor Lockhart if it weren't for Ron who pulled her back by her arm. They hid behind the wall, spying at the row of professors that lined up in front of a wall.

"As you can see," Minerva McGonagall said, addressing her colleagues, "The Heir of Slytherin has done it again." Her voice trembled weakly, so very clearly distraught by whatever fresh strike of terror that had risen. Professor Snape loathingly glanced at Lockhart, "So nice of you to attend, Professor. A girl has been snatched by the monster, I daresay that your time has finally come. Hogwarts is in need of your...heroics."

Professor Sprout nodded along, obviously doubtful for the young man, but was still petty enough to egg him on, "That's right, Gilderoy. Weren't you just mentioning the night before about knowing the location of this chamber?"

Lost for any intelligible words, Lockhart merely stared back at the professors who were expecting his answer. A load of gibberish was heard from his mouth that ultimately sounded like that's – that's right, yes, and very well. McGonagall stared him down until he looked like he was ready to run for the hills, "In that case, we will leave it to you, Gilderoy. That little girl's fate lies in your much capable hands."

He stiffly nodded, eyeing everyone in the vicinity, "Very well, I'll be in my office... Need to get ready for this rescue mission." Lockhart said, his voice stale and lacking the usual sickening charm. The rest of the faculty watched the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher walk away and disappear into the connecting hallway.

"Who is it that the monster snatched, Minerva?" Madam Pomfrey asked. The deputy headmistress' pained expression was strong enough to evoke a sense of dread among the three students, "Ginny Weasley."

Emily felt her blood grow cold, her eyes panned to Ron who had grown pale and weak at the mention of his sister's name. Harry held his shoulder in support. "We'll march up to Lockhart's office, maybe we can do something to help."

"You know he's probably full of poppycock about knowing where the chamber is," Ron stressed. "I'd rather knock some sense into that brainless oaf – "

"You two go ahead and talk to him, I have to do something first," Emily said to both of them, not bothering to wait for their reply before leaving the floor entirely and speeding down the stairs.

Oh god, what have I done?

She sprinted to the farthest dungeon and locked herself in, proceeding to walk over to the wooden podium where the teacher's table was positioned. After peeling off the carpet and dismounting a floorboard, Emily reached into the empty cavity from the floor and retrieved Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary. She reached for the quill from the desk and began to scratch the pages as she wrote:

What did you do to Ginny?

Her writing slowly sank deeper and deeper into the page's fibers until it eventually disappeared from sight, only to be replaced by his reply.

I didn't do anything. She came to me on her own accord – in the same way as you had abandoned me.

You used me. I was right to leave.

One of you has to stay with me. Which one will it be, Emily?

"I can't let Ginny die." Emily exasperatingly said, unable to think of any more ideas. "What else is there to do?" She looked back down at the empty page, the blankness of it all taunting her.

Take me instead but promise not to harm Ginny once you do.

I promise. This is the best choice, Emily – I'll make you stronger, smarter – the most powerful witch Hogwarts has ever seen.

Emily threw the quill away and closed her eyes, her cheeks running warm with her tears. Of all the times she woke up in a mess of herself with lost time and misplaced memories, there was only one moment in which she had a bit of clarity. And that was when she snuck a mirror into Hermione's pocket before leaving her.

The pages of the diary started to flip violently until it eventually closed itself, Emily watched a wave of black smoke slither out and pass through her eyes, blinding her for a moment, ultimately making her lose her clutch on her own being as it was now taken over by another, creating her as a mere spectator of her own body.

We'll do great things together, Emily.

~

"My dear boy! Do you even use your common sense?" Lockhart screamed, his perfectly styled hair trembling as he spoke, a solitary wave falling over his reddened face. "My books wouldn't have sold half as well if I wrote my own stories." He said like a petulant child.

Ron glared at him, disgusted by his overall demeanor, "You're a ruddy fraud! We all knew it the moment you opened your mouth – and to think that our friend actually believed in you."

"Is there anything that you can do?" Harry asked rhetorically.

Perhaps there was a window left open, a crevice in the wall left gaping, something to explain the sudden change in the air that left the space frosty and rigid. Gilderoy Lockhart retrieved his wand from his sleeve, quietly pacing around his desk, "Now that you mention it, lads, I'm proud to share with you that I am rather gifted with memory charms."

Harry and Ron spent loads of time cracking jokes about Lockhart's dim-wittedness, so it was stuck in their heads that he could never do anything so cruel, and it let them forget that he was indeed a grown wizard with a wand, with capabilities unknown and most likely lethal. Harry eyed the wand that was now pointed at his head, he had to have done something unspeakable to steal those stories he claimed.

"Oblivia – "

"Expelliarmus!"

His wand slipped from his hand, soaring just above Ron's head before falling into Emily's clutches. She pocketed his wand and motioned for the boys to hold him hostage to which they rejoiced in aiming their wands at his jaw while they walked out of the office, following Emily's steps towards the haunted girls' bathroom where they spotted Moaning Myrtle in her usual cubicle.

The ghost glided out from the corner, ignoring Lockhart altogether and instead focusing on the students, "What do you want?" Myrtle asked, her tone kind and inquisitive. Harry stepped forward, careful to not let his guard down towards the professor, "Hi, Myrtle. We're just here to ask how you died if that's alright with you, we just kept wondering about it."

To everyone's surprise, she seemed to be quite flattered at being asked such a query. She is a ghost, Ron thought, maybe once you've been taken by death, it's all you think about – and maybe that's even why she hasn't moved on from it. "It was dreadful," Myrtle said in a tone that wasn't at all appropriate in regard to the topic. "It actually happened at this very cubicle. I was crying, you see, all because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. Then, I heard someone come inside the bathroom – They were talking funny, it sounded like a made-up language of sorts, and soon, I realized it was a boy speaking. I got angry, of course, boys aren't supposed to be in the girls' bathroom anyway, so I opened the cubicle door and told them to go away," She stressed, her eyes slowly drifting to the stained-glass window. "And then I died."

"But how? Did he... Did he do it himself?" Emily asked, unsure how to proceed with her questions. Myrtle didn't seem to mind, if anything, it boosted her confidence. "Oh, I have no idea. The last thing I remembered was that I saw a great pair of these eyes, they were amber yellow and were nothing at all like what I've seen before." She glanced over the roundabout of sinks, pointing to a specific one, "I remember seeing those eyes over there, I'll always remember that moment – I felt my life slip away just like that." Myrtle mused, looking the saddest they've ever seen her become. She drifted back into her cubicle and sank into the wall, vanishing from sight.

Emily took Lockhart by the collar of his shirt, causing the grown man to cower slightly due to the height difference, "Ron, Harry, go check the sinks if there's any clue on them – there must be if the Basilisk was there." She said, letting her brother and friend scan the faucets and mirrors for any possible secret doors or gateways.

After a minute of looking at each sink, Harry spotted a peculiar carving on one faucet, and upon closer inspection, he and Ron deemed it to be a serpent. "It has to open somehow – maybe if you and Em could say something in Parseltongue!" Ron suggested, beaming at the twins.

"Parsley-what now?" Lockhart asked, confused.

"Shut up." Emily told him, dragging him along while she walked towards the faucet and examined the serpent herself. She looked at her brother who was already nodding in agreement, her hand still tightly fixed on the grown man's collar, "Open." The Potters whispered, their words carrying a certain command to the fixtures as the roundabout of sinks expanded beyond itself, breaking their circular formation to open up and reveal a slide that led deeper into the castle's depths.

Lockhart quivered in fright of the unknown, he began to sweat through his robes, "Well – good job, kids! I see no reason for me to stay here any further. A bright bunch of students we have right here, yes, very capable of anything they're faced with – I ought to be going – "

When he began to resist Emily's hold, she used every bit of strength to drag and trip him into falling down the slide, letting him fall down the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron watched the professor scream as he slid down headfirst, "Was that really necessary?" Her brother asked, his tone slightly amused but all the more concerned.

"For my anger management, it is." Emily answered jovially, smiling at the sound of Lockhart hitting the ground.

"It's rather very filthy down here!" He shouted. Harry took this time to study his sister, he was wary of her ever since she had appeared at Lockhart's office, she was calm and collected in contrast of how she was earlier when they had found out about Ginny being taken. "Are you alright?" He asked, earning him a chilling smile from Emily. "Of course. Now, let's go find Ginny."

Emily was the first to slide down, followed by Ron, and then Harry. They landed in a dusty chamber, the walls grey and drab while the floor was littered up to their ankles by the skeletons and remains of dead creatures. Ron coughed, fanning away the dust that floated by his nose, "Charming place for an heir – wasn't Slytherin well off? Didn't he bother to match this up with the common room he built?"

"I'm guessing he was just preoccupied with raising this bloody basilisk," She countered. "Or maybe he was just not interested in interior design, either way, my non-existent respect for him has lowered even more."

"Remember," Harry told them, "Close your eyes straight away at any sign of movement. We can't risk anything now that we're in its territory."

Lockhart, startled by this, looked at Harry, "Why is that exactly?"

"The basilisk's eyes can instantly kill those who look at it directly," Emily coolly answered, casting Lumos to help guide them around the chamber, "Just to be safe, if you don't do as I say, you won't see daylight after tonight – "

"Emily!" Harry scolded.

"What?"

She turned to her brother who was pointing at the trembling man who stood over the wildly, impossibly sizeable snakeskin that the basilisk had shed, ranging beyond sixteen meters long and as thick as the trunk of an aged oak tree. Lockhart grew pale and collapsed among the animal remains. The children sighed in disappointment, Ron approached the fallen man and with the heel of his shoe, tested to see if he was awake. "Heart of a lion, this one."

"Ron, get away from him!" Emily shouted, her eyes widening in shock to see the professor springing back on his feet, his arm overtaking Ron's wand hand, casing him in a headlock while aiming at the twins, "The adventure ends here, kids. And don't fret, I'll tell them all that I was simply too late to save the girl, and how all of you tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body." Gilderoy maniacally laughed, the spellotaped portion of Ron's wand glinting mischievously. "Say goodbye to your memories. Obliviate!"

A hot flash of white light combusted from the group, ending in everyone colliding against the hard surface of the walls, blasting the weakly supported ceiling, crumbling the orifice upon them. Pockets of unsettled debris and dust thickened the air, making it hard for Harry to breathe. He dug himself out of the clumps of concrete and bones, hastily digging out the areas which he thought where his sister had landed.

Where is she?

"Harry! Where are you?" Ron shouted from a great distance. Harry looked around and saw a trench of massive concrete slabs where his friend and Lockhart ought to have stood from. "I'm over here! Is my sister with you?" He shouted back.

"She's not here either! But Lockhart is, and I think his spell backfired on him. He's completely lost it, Harry!"

After a few more minutes of shuffling through stone and bones, Harry grimaced at something that glimmered a few yards away from him. He approached the foreign object and upon further study, he identified it as his sister's ring. "Hey, Ron! I'm going to look for Emily and Ginny, they must be here somewhere!"

From beyond the concrete trench, Harry could make out Lockhart's gibberish mumbling, that however was silenced with what he could only assume as a rough slam in the head with a rock. "Uh, yeah! Alright, I'll try to get out of here – be safe, Harry!"

He ran down the tunnels that twisted and turned with every step he sprinted through until it slowly showed him a solid dark wall with a great big vault as a door. Harry stood before it and was surprised to already see it opened and gaping as if someone had just entered. It was covered in serpents and rotten vines that hung over it, but on the floor were some of the plants that had fallen from it, leaving Harry to suspect that someone was repeatedly visiting the chamber.

The Gryffindor passed through and felt his heart soar when his eyes locked on the small figure in the far end of the chamber, Harry ran towards it, his spirits only rising higher and higher as he made out the familiar head of bright red hair. "Ginny." He said breathlessly, falling to her side in order to check her pulse. Please be alive, please...

"She'll wake eventually." A voice said from behind him. Harry stood up instantly and shielded Ginny from the strange man in front of them, but the longer he stared at the tall figure, Harry noticed that it was the same dark-haired, handsome face that he saw beyond the life of the diary he wrote in, "Tom? I don't understand, how are you here?"

Tom Riddle grinned, his effortless charm almost breaking down Harry's guard, but Ginny's seemingly lifeless form kept him grounded. "How am I here? Well, I have a dear friend of mine to thank for that, but don't worry about poor Ginny Weasley. She'll come back."

Harry had half a mind to just pick up Ginny and run back to where he had left Ron, but he wasn't strong enough for the two of them, and he had the wretched feeling that Tom wasn't about to let him go that easily. "I don't understand how you're here right now – you can't be! You don't look like the other ghosts in the castle, how can you look so – "

"Alive?" Tom finished for him, the corner of his mouth upturned into a cocky smirk. "I was a mere memory preserved in the diary for the previous fifty years." He confirmed. "But after today, I'd like to think I'd be more than just a thing of the past."

Harry patted down his pockets and robes, his heart beating anxiously. Tom cleared his throat and caught the boy's eye, "Is this what you're looking for, Harry?"

My wand.

"Give it back."

"Why? You certainly won't need it, no – not anymore."

"We have to leave this place!" Harry hissed, "The basilisk could return at any moment – "

"It won't come unless called upon," An eerily familiar voice said from the shadows. The figure stepped forward and assumed its position next to Tom, "Hello, brother." Emily welcomed him, her voice cold as steel. Harry's breathing became harsh and pressured, he looked at her deeply, his own eyes begging to see reason, what's happened to you? His own question met its answer when he found himself staring back at ghostly grey eyes, you're not my sister anymore.

But I have to try and save you, even I have to risk my own well-being. "Emily, Emily please – We have to help Ginny, she's your friend!" Harry begged, attempting to carry the girl in his arms, struggling to take her in any further. Emily merely stood by and watched him, her face turned neutral, her eyes blank without a thought reeling behind them.

Tom Riddle looked at her fondly like a new pet that had just mastered a trick. "You should be proud of your sister, Harry. She's been an awfully great help to me, you don't know it yet, but she's actually saved little Ginny here. Spared her life and all." He shared with him.

"What do you mean spared?"

A low, haunting laugh growled from Tom's throat, and Harry was almost sure that the sound alone shook the chamber walls. "Your little sister and that silly little blood traitor she calls a friend – they opened the chamber together. They are the reason why I'm standing in front of you, and your sister will become the reason for me to evolve beyond being just a memory."

"No! They wouldn't!" Harry shouted, only riling Tom's erratic behavior.

"It was Emily and Ginny that opened the Chamber, it was them who wrote the threatening letters on the wall, it was them who set the Basilisk on those Mudbloods." He confessed, looking at Harry with pure hatred. "In the truth of truths, you should be proud of her, Harry. Brilliant as she was, Emily was the first to figure out my scheme. I muddled her memories as much as I could, but she was still so terrified about her missing memories, the trail of blood that she seemed to leave wherever she went – Dear Tom, I can't remember anything after waking up this morning. Dear Tom, I'm worried about Ginny, she doesn't listen to me anymore. Dear Tom, I just want to disappear from all of this, I don't feel like I belong anywhere – What can I say, Harry?" Tom said with another mocking grin, "They just poured their hearts to me. I was patient with Ginny because I know that one day, she would share me with her new friend, and once she had done so, I made sure that Emily would never leave the diary. I'm actually quite baffled at how she sees herself as less compared to you, in her mind, you'll always be the perfect twin, the hero – while she was the child that was lost in history, the one child that no one bothered to bat an eye towards."

Harry felt his nerves completely overtaken with anxiety, making him tremble and shake. He tried his best to stand guard over Ginny, but without his wand, there was nothing more that he could do for both of them.

"You have no idea on how persuasive I can be," Tom continued, "Emily and Ginny bore their souls to me, and it was exactly what I needed. I have to admit that your sister was a flight risk for a moment, she tried so hard to get rid of me, but that Weasley girl fought for the diary, that is until she stopped trusting it. I worked harder for her to need me, and that eventually worried your sister to the point that she sacrificed herself instead." He laughed again and firmly planted his hand on Emily's shoulder. "And I could not have been more delighted with her choice."

Someone has to come along any moment now, and the best thing for me to do is to keep this freak talking. "Alright – you already have my sister, so why come and meet me?"

Tom nodded, and he began to walk around Emily and Harry, "True as that may be, I'm quite fond of keeping a set all to myself. Once Ginny told me all about you and Emily, I was certain that I would find you. Soon enough, Emily fell into line, so things became less difficult to execute. And now, all I needed was you," He said, pointing at him with Harry's own wand, "And what better way to do it than to show you my famous capture of that miserable oaf Hagrid."

So, you did frame him. "Hagrid's my friend, and you manipulated the school against him, didn't you?"

"Of course, I did! It was my word against his, and that beast he kept in a cupboard proved it all the same. Even I was surprised at how well my plan worked. It took me five years to complete my research on the chamber and the secrets that it held – Only Dumbledore seemed to have guessed it," His voice lowered, Harry detected some tone of admiration for the headmaster, but he wasn't sure. "He never did seem to like me as much as the other professors had."

Harry scoffed, "I bet he saw right through you." In a split second, Harry could have sworn on his life that when Tom's eyes flashed bloody red, Emily's eyes had shifted ever so briefly into a mossy green, I can still save her from him.

"He certainly kept an annoyingly close eye on me," Tom bitterly recalled. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again, so I left behind the diary and preserved my sixteen-year-old self in its pages so that one day I may be able to lead a new heir to follow in my footsteps and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

Emily, if you can hear me – if part of you is still trapped in there, please – fight him, I don't know what else to do without you. Harry felt something in his hand grow warm, almost scalding the skin on his palm until he opened it before his eyes, what on earth? He studied the ring in his palm and saw the green gemstone glow brighter than he had ever seen it, Harry ran his thumb along the grooves of the rock and felt it click against the band,

"Emily? Em, where are you? McGonagall has been looking for you all over the place – what am I supposed to tell her – Oh, professor, wait!" It was unmistakably the voice of Draco Malfoy, that is until another had replaced it, "Emily Catherine Potter! Where are you? I demand that you come back to your common room immediately!"

Harry looked over to his sister, a relieved smile breaking on his face to watch as the murky grey veil disappear from Emily's eyes, her painfully neutral expression reverting to her face completely overwhelmed with emotions, "Mum?" She mumbled slowly, blinkingly rapidly in search of the voice's source. Harry let go of the stone and shoved the ring in his pocket, "Em! Snap out of it!" Harry shouted, his eyes brightening at the sudden realization that they were surrounded by water.

She had thought him a little trick with wandless magic over the summer, it was tricky to start up, but once he had it was fairly moderate to bewitch. He reached for the stream of water that ran along with the chamber, his fingers straining for control. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be strong enough to wake her up. Harry felt the coolness of the water tingle his fingers, the pulse of the current within his palm despite the distance between them. With the flick of his wrist, he conjured a stream of water up from the trench, and with a swift sway of his arm, it had, quite literally, slapped Emily back to her senses.

The girl fell weakly to her knees, gasping for air, "What – " Emily coughed, her hands brushing off the water from her face before looking in front of her, "Harry! Harry, I'm sorry – it's all my fault, I should have told you – I should have talked to somebody about it – I wasn't in the right mind – " She cried, picking herself up to encase herself in her brother's arms, "I got everyone in this mess – "

Harry hugged her with all his might, his hope for their escape returning ten-fold. "I'm just happy that I got you back."

For a moment, they had forgotten all about Tom Riddle but were soon reminded when he started to laugh at them, his overall tone mocking. Emily stood her ground and glared at him, "What're you laughing about, Tom? No one's died and the Mandrake cure will be ready any moment now. You failed to continue Salazar Slytherin's plans. You've lost."

Astonishingly, Tom smiled at this and laughed some more. "Oh, that's right... I haven't told you the full extent of my plans," He said, "Killing Mudbloods is a thing of the past, I just brought it back because I knew I would have control over you and that Weasley girl to do my bidding. For many months now, my target had been you." Tom revealed, "Both of you, Potters."

Emily shrugged, passive of this new information, "Not the first time someone's tried to kill us, in fact, I ought to tell you to get in line."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"No, but I have a feeling you'd tell us anyway."

"Every single thing you've done – the blank spaces in your memories, I've executed plans you weren't even aware of doing!" Tom yelled, turning to Harry, "Did you know that your sister took part in strangling the roosters? That every time she vanished, she was here, planning someone else's demise? Better yet, did you know she planned Hermione's fate? Who do you think led the basilisk to your friend, Harry?"

"Harry, that's a lie!" Emily fought back, "That moment was the most lucid that I had become for the past months – Tom's lying, he made me make her a target, she's alive because of me! I gave her the mirror to protect her, I would never hurt Granger!"

Granger. Harry looked back at Tom, realizing the differences in how they referred to Hermione. She's telling the truth. And he's just stalling us, breaking us apart to tear down Em's will, making her vulnerable enough for him to control. "What do you want, Tom? We're tired of your mind games. Out with it."

"Questions." He simply answered. "I have loads of them about you two, like how is it that a pair of idiot children with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time?" Tom said challengingly, beginning to circle around them again like a vulture waiting for its prey. "Escaping with no more than a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed." This time, his dark eyes shone in a shade of freshly spilled blood, and they stayed like that until it curdled his once handsome face.

"Okay, you're obsessed with Voldemort," Emily carefully phrased, "He was after your time, what's the sense in all of this?"

"You just don't understand, do you, you daft girl – " Tom turned around and began to use Harry's wand, smoothly conjuring a string of letters to form his name before moving them around to bring forth a new one that spelled I Am Lord Voldemort. He sneered at the twins, "Voldemort is my past, present, and future. Surely you didn't think that I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father's name. Oh, no – No, so I fashioned myself a new one, the greatest name that will soon one day be the harbinger of fear, a name that would strike terror to those who even think about it – a name that will one day rise as I become the greatest sorcerer in the world – "

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Harry exclaimed, feeling confident now more than ever. Tom stared down at him in disbelief, "Your headmaster has been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!"

"Dumbledore will never truly be gone so long as those who remain here are loyal to him." Harry continued. Emily felt her chest swell with spite and hatred, "You lost your control over two people, what makes you think you'd turn the school over to your side? No, you'll be doomed to fail time and time again, Tom."

Just then, a sharp screech entered the chamber, its noise bouncing off the walls as the mystical red and gold feathered bird soared across the premises, flying low enough to drop a ragged, terribly worn hat in the midst of the twins. Tom Riddle laughed bitterly at the realization that it was indeed the sorting hat.

Tom let out a bitter chuckle, turning away from the children, "So, this is what the great Dumbledore sends his best defenders, a songbird and an old hat." He faced the likeness of Salazar Slytherin that had been carved on the massive block of stone surrounded by serpent gargoyles. Riddle began to speak in Parseltongue, evoking the mouth of the Slytherin's statue to open, releasing the beast within the Chamber of Secrets.

Emily hurriedly acted as a human shield over the unconscious Ginny Weasley. "I can't leave her!" She shouted at her brother, but Harry was already taking off his robe and folding it to cradle Ginny's head when he settled her back on the floor. "We have to go – she'll be safe! It's us he wants, not her!" He reasoned with his sister.

"Parseltongue won't help you this time, Potters!" The mad wizard yelled from the statue, "The basilisk only listens to me now."

I can't leave her, not when it's my fault that she's here in the first place, Emily begged for her brother to run, but her pleas were outshined by a grand bird that soared overhead, Fawkes flew once more and at top speed, attacked the basilisk. The twins, startled by this, watched the shadows that portrayed the monster's demise as the phoenix sank its talons into the basilisk's eye sockets, a terrible scream rumbling the entire chamber.

"Your bird might have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you, Potters! You have nowhere to go from here!" Tom screamed, absolutely furious.

Now's our chance, her eyes flashed brightly just as Harry's did as if they had thought of the same thing right away. She looked over her shoulder and watched as the basilisk retreat into the water, disappearing like a sunken ship. It'll be back. Harry nodded and started to run as fast as he could to the tunnels from where he walked through earlier, purposefully bringing all of his body weight in each step as to overwhelm the basilisk with noise.

Emily hovered over her friend's body, protecting her from whatever may attack them. Her eyes remained on the horizon from which her brother vanished into, her elbows digging into the concrete floor. She didn't know what else to expect, no clue on what was in store for them once the basilisk would locate them. Emily was virtually alone in the chamber, soaking in her solitude with her weakened friend and the thing that brought her the most ridicule, the sorting hat.

Now, why would Dumbledore have that brought in here? What's the point of that bleeding hat?

Soon enough, Emily felt her chest finally loosen when she heard her brother's footsteps echo from the entrance of the chamber. She sat up in anticipation of him, "Where's the basilisk?"

"I lost him while I was in the tunnels – haven't the foggiest where it is, have you checked this thing out?" He asked, picking up the sorting hat to look into. She shook her head, uninterested, "I didn't see anything in it."

At Harry's touch, he felt the body of the sorting hat grow heavier, he opened the brim of the hat, and right before his eyes, a gleaming ruby-encrusted hilt of a sword materialized, and it grew forth from the hat and popped out, landing safely in the hand of Harry Potter. Emily laughed in disbelief, unsure whether it was from her own unraveling madness or from a new sprout of hope, "Looks like we won't be dying today."

Water began to pool around them, and as much as Emily made conjured for a shield to keep Ginny dry, the water still prevailed and soaked the ends of her hair. She and Harry looked over to the statue and saw the trench bubble and ripple, a warning sign for what's to come. "What do we do now?" He asked sword in hand, not entirely sure how to even use it.

From the corner of the statue stood the tall figure of Tom Riddle, his handsome face grinning in his false victory. Emily turned back to her brother and reassured him, "We can win this, I'm sure of it."

A gush of water burst through the trench, the basilisk spurting out like a boil being burst. Emily remained as a shield for Ginny with her front facing the horrors of the beast of the chamber, it's skin is like dragon-hide. Magic doesn't affect it as much, but I can still try my best if I need to. The basilisk slithered towards them, and just a few meters away, it stood up and prepared to lunge at the twins.

If I have my back faced towards it, it could kill me with one blow to my spine. Emily debated with herself, there's a better chance for my survival if I'm face to face with this monster.

"Now!" Harry screamed, his soul jumping at the quickness of the serpent, he had the sword aimed at it, ready for the basilisk to charge at him. But at a split second, it diverted its path and lunged at the two girls. At the angle it was holding itself, Emily thought it was the smart choice to stand up to protect Ginny, better me than her.

Her brother didn't think it through. All of it seemed to play in his mind at top speed, Harry watched the basilisk turn its head to clamp its jarred fangs into his sister's side, and it fuelled him with undiluted rage. The Gryffindor advanced towards it and in one swift movement, punctured the roof of the basilisk's mouth, unsatisfied with this, Harry dug the sword in deeper until the hilt slammed into bone and the blade bursting through its skull.

A deadly silence came through them. Emily pushed herself out of the beast's mouth and lost feeling in her knees, failing to keep her balance, resulting in her collapse by Ginny's still body. Her hand roamed towards her stomach, gasping at the coldness of her blood that coated her uniform, her fingers soon finding a fang that poked out of her stomach. Emily tried to rise up, but only managed to pour out unhinged screams of pain when her back slammed against the floor again, letting her know that the fang had pierced through her body.

"Harry – H-Harry, are you okay?" Emily asked, forcing down her body's natural instinct to cry. "Did it get you?"

"I'm fine," He lied, pulling out the fang that pierced his arm and tossing it to the side before his sister could see. Emily laughed, she couldn't see Harry from where she laid, but she heard the sound of the fang banging against the wall, "Don't lie to me." Emily weakly joked. Harry sat by her side and cleaned up her wound as much as possible, but he couldn't bring himself to grab the fang from her stomach, it would make her bleed out. It was a race between the venom and the fang, a race of what would kill her first.

Tom approached the children and looked at them like scum from the bottom of his shoe. "Silly what a little venom could do, I predict that you'll be with your filthy Mudblood mother soon, Emily. It's funny what a diary could do even in the hands of a silly little girl."

"It is funny, isn't it?" Emily airily replied, her fingers tracing along her bleeding stomach. "I wonder what else basilisk venom could do – " With the last burst of energy she had in her, she lifted her leg and pulled her trousers' leg up, grabbing the diary that she had shoved into her sock for safekeeping. Emily messily opened the book to its centerfold and plucked the fang from her body like an icicle dangling from a tree branch.

"What are you doing – NO!"

Emily stabbed the diary with the basilisk fang in hand, its dark venom burning through the pages of the object, seeping into its spine until it created a hole through the chunk of it. Harry sat by Ginny's body, shielding her from the harsh explosion of light that burst forth from Tom Riddle's being, eviscerating the teenage boy into the combustion of bloody red fireworks.

"Thank god," She yelped tiringly, slamming back onto the floor, "I thought I'd never get rid of him." Her hand covered the now fang-less stab wound, her blood tainted black from the venom. Harry turned back to her and conjured a stream of bandages around her body, trying his best to keep her steady.

From next to her, Emily could feel Ginny beginning to stir. The girl smiled and brushed her fingers along the crown of Ginny's head. "Hey... Ginn, you okay?"

Ginny Weasley held herself up, her eyes opening in fright of the state of her friend, "Emily!" She screamed in agony, her eyes frantically scanning the chamber, "We have to get help! Come on, where's your ring – Malfoy has to get the message – "

Oh, good lord – Draco. Emily cursed, feeling her face betray her by letting her emotions overtake her rationality. It was a smart move for Ginny to think about the ring, but a selfish part inside Emily's heart was not in on the suggestion. I never want him to see me like this, no one deserves that kind of pain. Her heart raced again, she was not sure if she was about to go into shock, but either way, she was glad her body was fighting. I'll be okay. I will be. For everyone's sake, I will be.

Harry rummaged in his pockets and pulled out Emily's ring, "Here – " Ginny grabbed it and pushed the stone down, "MALFOY! WE NEED HELP, EMILY AND HARRY ARE HURT – " Her voice dropped as soon as her focus fell on the chamber's doors. "Is... Why are there rocks there?"

"The chamber collapsed earlier," Harry told her. "It created a barricade, Ron's stuck on the other side. I don't know how else we can leave here."

She looked down at the ring, realizing that her finger was still holding the rock, "The bathroom – the second-floor girls' bathroom – we're in the chamber, please call for help." Ginny continued her tone grave with dread. She slid the ring back on Emily's finger and held her hand, "I should have listened to you! You were right from the beginning, I – I'm so sorry – "

"It's my fault." Emily told them, "I let Tom get too close to me." Her eyes looked at the chamber door, the last wisps of hope sliding away from her grasp. "Ginny, Ron's outside there somewhere, he can get help. Harry and I can wait here. You have to get somewhere safe."

Ginny took off her robe and tore it into two to clean up the twins' blood, "You're mad if you think I'd leave either of you here." She spat, mopping up the blood that she had instantly noticed to have congealed into clumps from Emily and Harry's wounds. Ginny looked at their now ghostly pale faces and felt herself grow pale, "Just keep breathing. And keep your eyes open."

Emily knew that death was near. She made sure that her face was turned away from her friend and brother, not wanting for them to see the light face from her own eyes. But open looking at the chamber door, a vision of red and gold flew over them, swiftly landing in front of the twins.

"Fawkes." Harry fondly said, his finger brushing along the feathery head of the bird. "You were marvelous, you were." He told the phoenix with a shaky breath. Emily watched her brother interact with the feathery creature, and she felt quite content with the sight of it being the last thing she ever looked at, but then, Dumbledore's voice rang in her mind.

Phoenix tears have extraordinary healing powers.

She fought through nausea and dizziness and lifted half of her body up with the support of her elbows. Fawkes looked down on Harry's arm and from its kind, gentle eyes fell several silvery drops that instantly healed the basilisk venom. The grand old bird skipped to her next, its beak gently tearing apart the blood-soaked bandages that were so saturated that the softest nudge could split the fibers. Fawkes let his tears draw forth and fall upon the gaping wound on her stomach, it took more drops compared to Harry, but just the same, it had saved her from her closest brush with death.

Harry knelt by his sister, his face lighting up as soon as he noticed the color came back on her face. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Emily answered, adoringly looking at the beautiful creature that continued to watch over her body to look for any other wounds. "I have the greatest healer to thank for it." And as soon as she said those words, a haze of drowsiness overcame her, soothing her with every bit of comfort to lull her away from reality. Pretty soon, her eyes and ears gave up on her too. Harry and Ginny's voices became slurred to her senses, dashes of black, red, and grey swam across her vision like a watercolor portrait.

Subconsciously, her hands laid atop on the now healed wound, her fingers poking through the torn fabric, feeling for the raw, patch of skin from where the fang pierced her. It felt tender to her touch, and she was sure that had she poked it any harder, she would rupture the flesh.

Emily looked straight ahead and found Fawkes just sitting by her head, his gold and ruby plumage swirling around, melted, and gooey in her perspective. Will you help us get out of here, Fawkes?

~

On the Scarlet Steam Engine,

Emily spent the remainder of the term in a hospital bed being fawned over her Aunt Minerva and Madam Pomfrey. The school healer plied her with health tonics that cleansed her blood and nervous system, salves that fortified skin growth, and potions that replenished her blood supply. Before being discharged, she was advised to wear a binder around her stomach to hold her skin steady for at least two weeks.

And she didn't want to complain, the binder made her feel safe and not like her innards were about to spill at any given time.

Being stuck in the bed meant missing the last feast before boarding the train, along with the reinstatement of Hagrid back on grounds, and the thrilling tale of Dobby the House-Elf. Then again, Emily liked having missed all of this, it gave her a reason to stay by her brother's side and listen to his stories on the topic.

"We'll never have a quiet year in Hogwarts, will we?" Hermione joked, her eyes fleetingly among Emily's. She scoffed and began to unbox a chocolate frog, "Bloody hell, we won't. At this rate, it'll be weird if we don't have something going on every year – speaking of which, do any of you have plans over the summer?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione muttered their no's and maybe's, though Hermione took it a step further. "Write to me if you do want to do something." She said to Emily, shocking everyone in their compartment. Emily eyed her brother and Ron, flabbergasted at this friendly invite, "I'll write to you if you write to me, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her, failing to hide a smile while she bit into a pumpkin pasty. Harry cleared his throat, unsure of what was going on, "Yeah – write to me too, Em."

"And me." Ron added.

A string of strong, bold knocks rapped on their compartment door, the trio unable to mask their surprise when they saw Draco Malfoy looking back at them. He slid the door open and only had his eyes on Emily, "Pardon my intrusion, but they're calling for us at the Prefects' Cabin." Draco said coolly, briefly scanning the people in the compartment before exiting.

Emily eyed her brother and his friends, "Duty calls – I'll come back when I can." She excused herself and slipped away from them, grabbing Draco's hand while they walked down the aisle of the train. He took her in his arm as they entered an empty compartment far enough from the cabin where Harry was, but close enough to the Prefects' as to not dissuade their lie.

"That wasn't too obvious, right?" Draco asked her, leaning his temple against hers. She indulged in his warmth, not just for the comfort but also to make up for her lack of body heat that was due to her temporary anemic status. Emily had made the ultimate decision to not let her emotions stay hidden, not when the biggest regret she had in her heart when she almost died was ignoring her feelings for Draco Malfoy.

It was a rash decision, but in her heart, it felt like it was the only right choice. Emily breathed deeply and held onto him tightly, "I doubt they noticed anything."