The place was cold and silent... Only the rhythmic echo of water droplets hitting the floor of that damp structure could be heard. It was a colossal chamber, flanked by rows of towering columns that vanished into the shadows of the vaulted ceiling.
At the back of the room, carved directly into the rock of the wall, rose the monumental statue of Salazar Slytherin. And there, right in front of it... a young male stood, keeping his back to the entrance.
The girls entered the place at a measured pace, their steps slow, cautious, and filled with curiosity. Soon, the echo of their hurried breathing and whispers of awe filled the space. With deliberate slowness and an innate arrogance, the young guy turned around to face the newcomers. One of his eyebrows arched with subtle surprise for a millisecond upon noticing the composition of the group, but he immediately regained his countenance of absolute serenity.
"So... Potter hasn't come?" he commented with a hint of annoyance. "And to think I left a rather explicit message in his dormitory..."
"Percy!?" several of the girls exclaimed in unison.
Time seemed to freeze. Upon reaching a safe distance, most of them could not believe their eyes, stepping forward a bit to try and process that harsh reality. Only one remained motionless, clutching her wand with absolute rigidity. Hermione already knew the truth; she was the one who had been dodging the prefect this entire time, forcing herself to act as if she didn't remember he had been her attacker... a feat she only managed to keep under control thanks to the effects of her mind-calming bracelet.
"How can it be you?" Penelope inquired, bewildered. "No... you must be a victim. The heir caught you and has you under some sort of hex."
"This is simply glorious..." Lavender murmured. She was anxious to materialize her notebook, but conscious of the gravity of the situation, she limited herself to gripping her wand tightly to contain the euphoria of her mental fanfic.
"You are the heir?" Pansy asked, furrowing her brow. The individual before her was her fiancé's brother, something Red surely already knew; however, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to treat him in this circumstance.
The rest of the girls shared the same state of stupefaction. Of all the possible identities for the heir of Slytherin, Percy Weasley had been one of the first dismissed by common sense. It was a shocking twist, almost absurd and hurtful. Not knowing what to think, several of the students shifted their gaze toward Ginny, questioning her silently to know if she was aware of her brother's activities.
"What's the matter, Ginny? Don't you recognize your own brother?" Percy inquired. Although he used a mockingly fraternal tone, the sentence dripped with mockery.
"You are not my brother," Ginny sentenced coldly. Although the initial impact had thrown her off a bit, her mind had reorganized itself with astonishing speed.
"Hmmm... of course, you only have eyes to follow Red, don't you?" Percy replied, regaining a tremendous, condescending confidence.
His body language differed completely from usual. Although he retained Percy's physical appearance—visibly emaciated and pale—his attitude exuded an excessive arrogance and confidence, as if he held the strings of the situation perfectly secure in his hand. There was no hesitation in his words, and his gaze denoted a deep contempt for any living being other than himself. To those present, it was evident that the entity occupying that body was not the Weasley they knew.
"Yes... always so attached to him... ever since you were children," the possessed man commented, looking away while tapping his wand against the palm of his hand, downplaying the group's numerical superiority. "However, I must admit it was a clever move. Of all the siblings, Red is, without a doubt, the most exceptional..." he admitted, weighing the name like someone evaluating a trophy. "Even I was left impressed. Talent, wit, determination... though with a certainly strange and promiscuous nature, but his achievements completely eclipse his apparent flaws."
Almost subconsciously, most of the girls nodded at the description. It was impossible to disagree with that assessment.
"You know, I would have loved to have more time with him... to recruit him as an ally. In fact, my greatest regret is that he wasn't the one to discover my diary. Perhaps I could have harnessed his potential in a much more efficient way... though, come to think of it, it probably wouldn't have worked. He is just as elusive, intelligent, and scheming as I am; he wouldn't have let himself be fooled so easily and surely would have tried to use me for his own ends. Heh... I suppose great minds operate on the same frequency. The fact that he belongs to Slytherin is fervent proof of that," he added, sweeping them again with a calculating gaze, judging the select retinue his brother had built.
"Ginny is right, you can't be Percy. He would never behave that way... That condescending attitude, not to mention the atrocities you've committed," Penelope intervened, refusing to accept that her former boyfriend was the mastermind behind everything. "Percy isn't cruel, or manipulative... or attractive..."
That last adjective caused the entire group to instantly turn and look at her.
"What!? Look... he speaks with tremendous confidence, and it must be admitted that it's a bit sexy," Penelope defended herself, her cheeks turning a bright scarlet as she tried to justify herself. Immediately after, she raised her voice, gripped by panic at the possibility that the true owner of her affections was hidden nearby listening to her. "I'm saying it strictly from an analytical point of view! It's not that I like Percy at all, it's a mere formal description! My tastes are at an infinitely higher standard!" she exclaimed, terrified at the prospect that her words might bring her a punishment that would give her serious trouble walking in the future.
"Heh, ha... yes, it was to be expected. In fact, I have much to thank you for, Penelope Clearwater," Percy manifested, flashing her a frigid smile as his aura became perceptibly more dangerous. He began to twirl his wand, losing any trace of innocence. "If it hadn't been for your timely intervention, I wouldn't have consolidated my control so easily."
That declaration sowed alarm in the group, drawing a new wave of suspicious glares onto Penelope.
"I didn't help you at all," she replied, her voice trembling.
"Oh... of course you did. Did you really think young Percy was so stupid as to let himself be subjugated by me without putting up a fight? No, within his mediocrity, he is quite a sharp boy; and the presence of a dark magic artifact of such caliber would have aroused his suspicions immediately... But I possessed a perfect catalyst to make him surrender voluntarily to me: you," he sentenced, pointing the tip of his wand directly at her. "The poor wretch was so heartbroken, depressed, and mentally destroyed after your breakup that he became extremely susceptible to my influence. He ended up pouring his sorrows into the pages of my diary, which forced me to be extremely meticulous to guide him without setting off his alarms... But it was thanks to your rejection that I gained absolute control of his mind. I listened to him, I advised him... He placed his entire trust in my hands, yearning to become someone stronger, someone worthy of you, someone capable of capturing your attention... Obviously he failed, but each disappointment only served to tighten my chains upon his soul. A truly tragic pawn... However, as a final gesture of courtesy toward his sacrifice, I will take care of exact vengeance on his behalf," he concluded, letting out a laugh devoid of all warmth.
"I..." Penelope managed to articulate, running out of words.
A dense silence took over the rest of the girls. They watched the possessed Percy, who seemed more than willing to thoroughly detail the finer points of his strategy, adopting the classic facet of a villain pleased to offer his own monologue of victory. And, of course, there were those who were determined not to miss a single detail: Lavender had already tucked her wand behind her ear and was writing frantically in her notebook, having been unable to contain her literary impulses before such a display of school drama.
"Who are you!? Why are you doing all this?" one of the girls finally interrogated, and the rest of the group immediately seconded her.
They all yearned to solve once and for all the mystery they had invested so much time of rigorous research into. Although some already harbored well-founded suspicions, certain clues, or even absolute certainty, they needed to hear it from his own mouth to confirm it.
"You may call me Tom Riddle... Though I'm afraid you know me much better by another name," Percy replied, flashing a sly smile as he traced elegant movements with his wand in the air.
Threads of greenish fire sprouted from the tip of the wooden beam, spelling out his name before magically rearranging themselves into a perfect anagram that revealed his true and fearsome identity:
"Voldemort!!" several of those present exclaimed.
A heavy blanket of terror and incredulity buried the room; some students froze completely petrified, while others stared at the floating letters with pale faces.
"But you're supposed to be dead!" Tracey managed to articulate, her voice cracking with a visible tremor.
"It is I... Lord Voldemort. Well, at least a fraction of him. I am the younger version of his being, his memories from his school days jealously preserved within the pages of his diary..." he explained, letting out a sigh tinged with annoyance. "Who would have guessed that a bloody baby would stand in my way and defeat me," he added, and a sudden wave of pent-up fury contorted his features as he tightened his knuckles around his wand. "But that is a matter of the past that I planned to settle this very afternoon. Unfortunately, instead of Potter showing up before me, this... peculiar retinue has appeared." His tone denoted a deep incomprehension and complaint.
"Harry Potter?" Hermione intervened, confused. "Why were you waiting for him?"
"Did he know something about you?" Parvati inquired.
"Is it because he defeated you in the past? Are you destined rivals? Is it written that Harry must appear and confront you every time Voldemort tries to rise again?" Lavender interrogated at top speed. On her mental parchment, the words RIVALS and LOVERS were already joined by a series of highly suspicious arrows.
"He already explained it; he set a trap for him by leaving a note in his dormitory. He expected Potter to show up so he could ambush and murder him," clarified Daphne, who had kept a cool head despite the immense tension of the surroundings.
"Brilliant deduction, Greengrass... That is correct. But the Savior hasn't shown up, and you have. May I know what on earth you are doing down here?" Riddle questioned, driven by the curiosity to resolve his own doubts before proceeding with his plan.
"Ever since the first victim of the Chamber of Secrets was taken, we dedicated ourselves to investigating the case on our own," Pansy declared with evident pride.
"We analyzed the profile of those affected," Hermione seconded, raising her wand threateningly.
"We tracked the historical chronology of the Chamber of Secrets," Daphne added.
"We studied the nature of petrification and what kind of fantastic creature possessed the power to cause it," Susan added, stepping forward after shaking off the shyness and fear that had inhibited her at first.
"And we focused on unveiling the identity of the true heir," Ginny sentenced, adopting a combat stance.
"We were one step away from solving it completely... But it was right after your cowardly attack on Hermione that Red stepped in to give us the final push," Penelope pointed out, standing firmly and ready to duel the fearsome Dark Wizard.
"Yes, he helped us locate the hidden access in the sinks," Luna commented with her usual serenity, as if she didn't want to be left out of the conversation. "Although we must admit we didn't foresee that the culprit would be you."