? — ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER’S FAC- ING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT’S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE’LL 14 страница

He couldn’t help it — he opened his eyes wide enough to squint at what was going on.

The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers —

Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a

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sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake’s tail thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his eyes, it turned — Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting

in agony.

“ NO! ” Harry heard Riddle screaming. “ LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN

STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM! ”

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.

“Help me, help me, ” Harry muttered wildly, “someone — any- one —”

The snake’s tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked. Something soft hit his face.

The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry’s arms. Harry seized it. It was all he had left, his only chance — he rammed it onto his head and threw himself flat onto the floor as the basilisk’s tail

swung over him again.

Help me — help me — Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight un-

der the hat. Please help me —

There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly. Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry’s head, almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it.

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A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its handle

glittering with rubies the size of eggs.

“KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND

YOU! SNIFF — SMELL HIM! ”

Harry was on his feet, ready. The basilisk’s head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the vast, bloody eye sockets, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin, glittering, venomous —

It lunged blindly — Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry’s side. He raised the sword in both his hands —

The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true — Harry threw his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent’s mouth —

But as warm blood drenched Harry’s arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.

Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it was too late. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Cham- ber was dissolving in a whirl of dull color.

A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws beside him.

“Fawkes, ” said Harry thickly. “You were fantastic, Fawkes. . . . ”

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He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent’s fang had pierced him.

He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of him.

“You’re dead, Harry Potter, ” said Riddle’s voice above him. “Dead. Even Dumbledore’s bird knows it. Do you see what he’s doing, Pot- ter? He’s crying. ”

Harry blinked. Fawkes’s head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

“I’m going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I’m in no hurry. ”

Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning. “So ends the famous Harry Potter, ” said Riddle’s distant voice. “Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You’ll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry. . . . She bought you twelve years of borrowed time. . . but Lord Voldemort got you in

the end, as you knew he must. . . . ”

If this is dying, thought Harry, it’s not so bad.

Even the pain was leaving him. . . .

But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry’s arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound — except that there

was no wound —

“Get away, bird, ” said Riddle’s voice suddenly. “Get away from

him — I said, get away —”

Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry’s wand at

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Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

“Phoenix tears. . . ” said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry’s arm. “Of course. . . healing powers. . . I forgot. . . ”

He looked into Harry’s face. “But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter. . . you and me. . . . ”

He raised the wand —

Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and

something fell into Harry’s lap — the diary.

For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book. There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry’s hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then —

He had gone. Harry’s wand fell to the floor with a clatter and

there was silence. Silence except for the steady drip drip of ink still

oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Shaking all over, Harry pulled himself up. His head was spinning as though he’d just traveled miles by Floo powder. Slowly, he gath- ered together his wand and the Sorting Hat, and, with a huge tug, retrieved the glittering sword from the roof of the basilisk’s mouth. Then came a faint moan from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Harry hurried toward her, she sat up. Her bemused

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eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Harry, in his blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face. “Harry — oh, Harry — I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I

c. couldn’t say it in front of Percy — it was me, Harry — but I — I

s-swear I d-didn’t mean to — R-Riddle made me, he t-took me

over — and — how did you kill that — that thing? W-where’s

Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary —”

“It’s all right, ” said Harry, holding up the diary, and showing

Ginny the fang hole, “Riddle’s finished. Look! Him and the basilisk.

C’mon, Ginny, let’s get out of here —”

“I’m going to be expelled! ” Ginny wept as Harry helped her awk- wardly to her feet. “I’ve looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever

since B-Bill came and n-now I’ll have to leave and — w-what’ll

Mum and Dad say? ”

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Harry urged Ginny forward; they stepped over the motionless coils of the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. Harry heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.

After a few minutes’ progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Harry’s ears.

“Ron! ” Harry yelled, speeding up. “Ginny’s okay! I’ve got her! ” He heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rockfall.

“ Ginny! ” Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull

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her through first. “You’re alive! I don’t believe it! What happened? How — what — where did that bird come from? ”

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny. “He’s Dumbledore’s, ” said Harry, squeezing through himself.

“How come you’ve got a sword? ” said Ron, gaping at the glitter-

ing weapon in Harry’s hand.

“I’ll explain when we get out of here, ” said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.

“But —”

“Later, ” Harry said shortly. He didn’t think it was a good idea to tell Ron yet who’d been opening the Chamber, not in front of Ginny, anyway. “Where’s Lockhart? ”

“Back there, ” said Ron, still looking puzzled but jerking his head up the tunnel toward the pipe. “He’s in a bad way. Come and see. ” Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.

“His memory’s gone, ” said Ron. “The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn’t got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He’s a danger to him- self. ”

Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all. “Hello, ” he said. “Odd sort of place, this, isn’t it? Do you live here? ” “No, ” said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry.

Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe. “Have you thought how we’re going to get back up this? ” he said to Ron.

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Ron shook his head, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked uncertainly at him.

“He looks like he wants you to grab hold. . . ” said Ron, look- ing perplexed. “But you’re much too heavy for a bird to pull up there —”

“Fawkes, ” said Harry, “isn’t an ordinary bird. ” He turned quickly to the others. “We’ve got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron’s hand. Professor Lockhart —”

“He means you, ” said Ron sharply to Lockhart. “You hold Ginny’s other hand —”

Harry tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt, Ron took hold of the back of Harry’s robes, and Harry reached out and took hold of Fawkes’s strangely hot tail feathers.

An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through his whole body and the next second, in a rush of wings, they were flying upward through the pipe. Harry could hear Lockhart dangling below him, saying, “Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic! ” The chill air was whipping through Harry’s hair, and before he’d stopped enjoying the ride, it was over — all four of them were hit- ting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place.

Myrtle goggled at them.

“You’re alive, ” she said blankly to Harry.

“There’s no need to sound so disappointed, ” he said grimly, wip- ing flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.

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“Oh, well. . . I’d just been thinking. . . if you had died, you’d have been welcome to share my toilet, ” said Myrtle, blushing silver. “Urgh! ” said Ron as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted

corridor outside. “Harry! I think Myrtle’s grown fond of you! You’ve

got competition, Ginny! ”

But tears were still flooding silently down Ginny’s face. “Where now? ” said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed.

Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall’s office.

Harry knocked and pushed the door open.

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DOBBY’S REWARD

or a moment there was silence as Harry, Ron, Ginny, and

Lockhart stood in the doorway, covered in muck and slime

and (in Harry’s case) blood. Then there was a scream.

“ Ginny! ”

It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter.

Harry, however, was looking past them. Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor Mc- Gonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past Harry’s ear and settled on Dumbledore’s shoulder, just as Harry found himself and Ron being swept into Mrs. Weasley’s tight embrace.

“You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it? ”

“I think we’d all like to know that, ” said Professor McGonagall weakly.

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Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the ruby- encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle’s diary.

Then he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour he spoke into the rapt silence: He told them about hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how he had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom. . . .

“Very well, ” Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused, “so you found out where the entrance was — breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add — but how on

earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter? ”

So Harry, his voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told them about Fawkes’s timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. He had so far avoided mentioning Riddle’s diary — or Ginny. She was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder, and tears were still coursing

silently down her cheeks. What if they expelled her? Harry thought

in panic. Riddle’s diary didn’t work anymore. . . . How could they

prove it had been he who’d made her do it all?

Instinctively, Harry looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the firelight glancing off his half-moon spectacles.

“What interests me most, ” said Dumbledore gently, “is how

Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania. ”

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Relief — warm, sweeping, glorious relief — swept over Harry.

“W-what’s that? ” said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. “ You-

Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny’s not. . . Ginny hasn’t

been. . . has she? ”

“It was this diary, ” said Harry quickly, picking it up and show- ing it to Dumbledore. “Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen. . . . ” Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.

“Brilliant, ” he said softly. “Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. ” He turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.

“Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school. . . traveled far and wide. . . sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recog- nizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here. ”

“But, Ginny, ” said Mrs. Weasley. “What’s our Ginny got to do

with — with — him? ”

“His d-diary! ” Ginny sobbed. “I’ve b-been writing in it, and he’s been w-writing back all year —”

“ Ginny! ” said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. “Haven’t I taught you

anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that

can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain. Why didn’t

you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like

that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic —”

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“I d-didn’t know, ” sobbed Ginny. “I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it —”

“Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away, ” Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. “This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wiz- ards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort. ” He strode over to the door and opened it. “Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up, ” he added, twinkling kindly down at her. “You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She’s just giving out Mandrake juice — I daresay the basilisk’s victims will be waking up any moment. ”

“So Hermione’s okay! ” said Ron brightly.

“There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny, ” said Dumble- dore.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.

“You know, Minerva, ” Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully

to Professor McGonagall, “I think all this merits a good feast.

Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens? ”

“Right, ” said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. “I’ll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I? ” “Certainly, ” said Dumbledore.

She left, and Harry and Ron gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore.

What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with them?

Surely — surely — they weren’t about to be punished?

“I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules, ” said Dumbledore.

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Ron opened his mouth in horror.

“Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words, ” Dumbledore went on, smiling. “You will both receive Spe- cial Awards for Services to the School and — let me see — yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor. ”

Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart’s valentine flowers and closed his mouth again.

“But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure, ” Dumbledore added. “Why so mod- est, Gilderoy? ”

Harry gave a start. He had completely forgotten about Lockhart. He turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

“Professor Dumbledore, ” Ron said quickly, “there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart —” “Am I a professor? ” said Lockhart in mild surprise. “Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I? ”

“He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired, ” Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

“Dear me, ” said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering. “Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy! ” “Sword? ” said Lockhart dimly. “Haven’t got a sword. That boy has, though. ” He pointed at Harry. “He’ll lend you one. ” “Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infir- mary, too? ” Dumbledore said to Ron. “I’d like a few more words with Harry. . . . ”

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Lockhart ambled out. Ron cast a curious look back at Dumble- dore and Harry as he closed the door.

Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire. “Sit down, Harry, ” he said, and Harry sat, feeling unaccountably nervous.

“First of all, Harry, I want to thank you, ” said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again. “You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you. ” He stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto his knee. Harry grinned awkwardly as Dumbledore watched him. “And so you met Tom Riddle, ” said Dumbledore thoughtfully.

“I imagine he was most interested in you. . . . ”

Suddenly, something that was nagging at Harry came tumbling out of his mouth.

“Professor Dumbledore. . . Riddle said I’m like him. Strange likenesses, he said. . . . ”

“ Did he, now? ” said Dumbledore, looking thoughtfully at Harry

from under his thick silver eyebrows. “And what do you think, Harry? ”

“I don’t think I’m like him! ” said Harry, more loudly than he’d

intended. “I mean, I’m — I’m in Gryffindor, I’m. . . ”

But he fell silent, a lurking doubt resurfacing in his mind. “Professor, ” he started again after a moment. “The Sorting Hat

told me I’d — I’d have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I

was Slytherin’s heir for a while. . . because I can speak Parsel -

tongue. . . . ”

“You can speak Parseltongue, Harry, ” said Dumbledore calmly,

“because Lord Voldemort — who is the last remaining descendant

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of Salazar Slytherin — can speak Parseltongue. Unless I’m much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I’m sure. . . . ”

“Voldemort put a bit of himself in me? ” Harry said, thunder-

struck.

“It certainly seems so. ”

“So I should be in Slytherin, ” Harry said, looking desperately

into Dumbledore’s face. “The Sorting Hat could see Slytherin’s power in me, and it —”

“Put you in Gryffindor, ” said Dumbledore calmly. “Listen to me, Harry. You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parsel- tongue — resourcefulness — determination — a certain disregard for rules, ” he added, his mustache quivering again. “Yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think. ”

“It only put me in Gryffindor, ” said Harry in a defeated voice, “because I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . . ”

“ Exactly, ” said Dumbledore, beaming once more. “Which makes

you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that

show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. ” Harry sat mo- tionless in his chair, stunned. “If you want proof, Harry, that you

belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at this. ”

Dumbledore reached across to Professor McGonagall’s desk, picked up the blood-stained silver sword, and handed it to Harry. Dully, Harry turned it over, the rubies blazing in the firelight. And

then he saw the name engraved just below the hilt.

Godric Gryffindor.

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“Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat,

Harry, ” said Dumbledore simply.

For a minute, neither of them spoke. Then Dumbledore pulled open one of the drawers in Professor McGonagall’s desk and took out a quill and a bottle of ink.

“What you need, Harry, is some food and sleep. I suggest you go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban — we need our game-

keeper back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily

Prophet, too, ” he added thoughtfully. “We’ll be needing a new De-

fense Against the Dark Arts teacher. . . . Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don’t we? ”

Harry got up and crossed to the door. He had just reached for the handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced back off the wall.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, fury in his face. And cowering be-

hind his legs, heavily wrapped in bandages, was Dobby.

“Good evening, Lucius, ” said Dumbledore pleasantly. Mr. Malfoy almost knocked Harry over as he swept into the room. Dobby went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak, a look of abject terror on his face.

The elf was carrying a stained rag with which he was attempting to finish cleaning Mr. Malfoy’s shoes. Apparently Mr. Malfoy had set out in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half-polished, but his usually sleek hair was disheveled. Ignoring the elf bobbing apologetically around his ankles, he fixed his cold eyes upon Dum- bledore.

“So! ” he said “You’ve come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts. ”

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“Well, you see, Lucius, ” said Dumbledore, smiling serenely, “the other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They’d heard that Arthur Weasley’s daughter had been killed and wanted me back here at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too. . . . Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their fami- lies if they didn’t agree to suspend me in the first place. ”

Mr. Malfoy went even paler than usual, but his eyes were still slits of fury.

“So — have you stopped the attacks yet? ” he sneered. “Have you caught the culprit? ”

“We have, ” said Dumbledore, with a smile.

“ Well? ” said Mr. Malfoy sharply. “Who is it? ”

“The same person as last time, Lucius, ” said Dumbledore. “But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary. ”

He held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching Mr. Malfoy closely. Harry, however, was watching Dobby.

The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on Harry, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.

“I see. . . ” said Mr. Malfoy slowly to Dumbledore.

“A clever plan, ” said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr. Malfoy straight in the eye. “Because if Harry here” — Mr. Malfoy shot Harry a swift, sharp look — “and his friend Ron hadn’t discovered this book, why — Ginny Weasley might have taken all