The New Year had come and gone without much fanfare. There was not much to celebrate in the castle and the death of the young Hufflepuff, Heidi Macavoy, still clung to everyone's hearts as they mourned for their lost friend. Even Slytherin seemed to understand that now was not the best time to keep up with their usual act, the few that had tried had seen swift retribution from the students and the Weasley twins were even more brutal in the months following Heidi's death.
That had not deterred Harry and Vanessa from working. Once the New Year had come, Dumbledore had been swamped in his office by work. With each New Year came a new set of troubles from his job as Chief Warlock. The old Wizard could honestly say that he was looking forward to the permanent end of Voldemort and thus his long awaited retirement from politics.
Nevertheless, all of this had left the two younger magicals in charge of finding the basilisk. It was Vanessa who came up with their latest, and perhaps best, idea. She had poked around the library more than usual and managed to find out that basilisk have a certain fondness for Acrumentula meat. She had not been nearly as ecstatic when she found out they were giant spiders, but she could manage, or at least that is what she told Harry.
The two were currently sitting in the Ravenclaw tower and finishing off their homework for Charms. Well, they were finishing this year's homework. Harry, through his knowledge, and Vanessa, through sheer skill and talent, managed to convince Filius to give them special homework that would see them freed from future Charms homework until the year was over, he had only agreed after Harry had cast a Patronus in his office. Harry had been extremely embarrassed when it wasn't Prongs that had paraded around the room, it had quite clearly been an adult Vanessa, though more ghostly, that had danced around the room before wrapping her arms protectively around Harry and vanished. That was actually part of why Filius allowed their idea, a Human Patronus form was almost unheard of, unless the caster and the person their form took after was extremely close, and he supposed a soul bond would count.
"So we gather some acrumentula, throw them into the chamber, and then we wait for the basilisk's hunger to overtake all its other senses. If it really has as good a smell as the book says, then it will smell the crawlers and come slithering for the free meal." Vanessa explained the brunt of her idea to Dumbledore as they sat in his office one afternoon and watched him work.
Dumbledore had stopped his paperwork halfway through her little explanation and listened intently. The idea certainly had merit, and he told them so, and they could quite easily get their hands on a few acrumentula. No doubt that the Centaurs had a few they would be willing to trade for a few items of worth.
"Sound plan indeed. When are you thinking we should strike?" Dumbledore inquired as he stabled his fingers and rested his chin against his hands.
"As soon as we can, this isn't getting any easier as the months go by. The very fact that the basilisk hasn't killed anyone else yet is amazing." Harry replied with a bit of worry fighting its way into his tone.
"I agree. Perhaps we should count us lucky that the sewer system that runs under the grounds are so massive that it could quite easily have followed the smell of Acrumentula out under the forest and gotten stuck in trying to break free." Dumbledore mused as he once more looked down at his paperwork and frowned. "I'll set up communication with the Centaurs within the day, if everything goes to plan we should have the bodies of the spiders within three days."
"Alright, Albus. We'll prepare as well as we can, hopefully our luck will hold out for the week." Harry said with a nod of acceptance.
They parted ways as Harry and Vanessa went to acquire some sleep, and Dumbledore began making his way towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he had an old friend to contact.
The day had started out so well. The trade with the Centaurs had gone without a hitch two days earlier, the corpses were in the chamber and basic perimeter wards against beast where in place. Now they just needed to wait for them to trigger and the three of them would head down there.
Then everything went to hell in a handbasket.
The wards had triggered and Dumbledore had picked up Harry and Vanessa from class. They had Phoenix flamed into the chamber, only to find the bundle of corpses gone and the stench of fresh human blood filling the place. They had retreated immediately and Dumbledore had demanded a full count of all students from their heads of houses.
Only three of them returned with a full count.
Filius had gone back to the tower to look for the sick students; three fourth years had gotten horrible stomachaches after some potion homework had gone askew in the brewing phase. In addition, young Luna Lovegood had woken up paler than usual and was sweating heavily, Filius had given her a mild calming draught followed by a dreamless sleep potion and then left her to rest.
He had returned wide-eyed and scared. The three fourth years had been in their beds, but Luna was missing. A castle wide search had been initiated, but it did not make it more than ten minutes before Dumbledore was called to a corridor on the first floor, right near the Great Hall.
Harry and Vanessa arrived barely ten seconds behind their Headmaster. The bright crimson words smeared over the wall rang like church bells in Harry's head, sending every alarm he had into high gear. He had seen it all before and remembered this dread all too well.
HER BODY WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER
Dumbledore had ordered all heads of houses to return to their common rooms with their students. He had instructed the staff to split up and help protect each house while he went to deal with the beast. Of course, Harry and Vanessa snuck away and the three had flamed directly to the entrance of the chamber.
That is where they were heading now. Sprinting down through the corridor they saw the bright green torches light as they ran, illuminating the obsidian stone walls and adding to the chill on their spines. They breached the main chamber and Harry and Vanessa felt a clump in their throats.
Luna was lying on ground, blood oozing from a small wound on her stomach, and the diary clutched tightly in her left hand.
"And so you arrive!" A voice exclaimed with mock surprise.
Tom Marvolo Riddle stepped from the shadows, slightly transparent but the wand in his hand as real as they came.
Dumbledore felt a familiar sneer enter his features. "Tom, so this is where you first committed such an atrocity? You were barely seventeen." The old Headmaster sounded regretful, but the underlying tone of disappointment wasn't missed.
"I did what I had to do, old man. From the way you talk I must have succeeded." The young Tom deducted as he gazed over the two young companions to his old Headmaster. "I can feel them even now, you know. The rest of my amazing creations." He revealed with a smug grin. "If you hope to stop me here, then you are delusional. My pet shall ensure my victory."
"You mean your basilisk?" Harry growled darkly at the spirit. "Oh we have a way to deal with that overgrown handbag."
One of Tom's eyebrows rose in interest as he studied the young man. Even as a spirit he could feel the power rolling of the young man, clearly he would be even stronger as he grew older. Not as strong as him, of course, but strong enough to pose a threat. The girl however, she didn't seem much. Her core was larger than average, that he could glean from her magic. Else? She seemed remarkably average.
"Children, Dumbledore? I knew you were a manipulating old goat, but that is low even for you." Tom mocked as he studied the wand in his hand a little closer. "Not as good as my own, but it will do the job once she," he gestured to Luna with the wand, "is gone."
The spirit could only smile wickedly as the dark crimson curse soared through the air and flew right through his ethereal form.
"A rather dark curse for someone so young." He remarked evenly as he gazed at the young caster. "Now who would teach such a young girl the gut explosion curse?"
"None of your bloody business!" She hissed back, clearly preparing to cast another curse before Dumbledore stopped her with a look.
"It will do nothing. Until he is fully corporeal, there is nothing we can do." Dumbledore explained with a strained tone, clearly he was trying to rein in his anger.
Harry was seething, oh how he wished to use some of the Necromantic spells he knew and torture this waste of energy of a soul. But that would only paint a target on his back, one too big for them to work around. The sound of slithering reached their ears and the shade of Tom seemed to grin even wider.
"It would seem my beloved pet has found its way home once again." Tom clapped a little, to the three's surprise. "A good plan with the spiders, it would have worked had I not been able to control the young Luna." The shade walked over and looked down at the still girl. "She's strong, I'll give her that. She's held out this long since releasing my pet for the first time. Thanks to her will, I had to let my favorite toy run rampant in the pipes. At least until Professor Flitwick was so kind as to dose her with some Calming and Dreamless sleep draught. That allowed me to talk control once again." The shade explained just as the huge beast came barreling out of the pipe.
Dumbledore was first to act, throwing a massively overpowered Lumos into the air, blinding the basilisk shortly. But the moment was enough. Fawkes shrilled angrily as it dived off his young wizards' shoulder and dove towards the basilisk, its sharp talons poised to strike. There was nothing but the high shriek of the basilisk as its eyes were torn from its head and thrown as far as the phoenix could handle.
"We safe from its gaze, give it everything you got!" Dumbledore commanded as he threw the Reducto curse towards the massive serpent.
" Solvite! " Harry roared one the oldest dark curses in history. The jet of lilac arced forward and slammed into the side of the beast, forcing a roar from its throat as its massive form was pushed a few paces. He had been so concerned with the basilisk that he had not seen the block of obsidian rock that have hovered into the path of the killing curse and the ensuing explosion threw him off his feet.
"Damnit, Ace watch what the hell you are doing, or that's where you will be going!" Vanessa roared as she lowered her wand after having banished the piece of rubble into the path of the curse. "And you!" she roared as she turned towards the apparition. "Inretio! " she roared and a silvery dome formed around the spirit.
The spirit of Tom laughed loudly. "If you think that will stop me, little witch, you are sadly mistaken!" He roared in defiance, as he raised the wand and threw another killing curse, only for it to fizzle against the silvery dome. "What!?"
Vanessa smirked as her charm had worked. The Inretio Charm was one of the oldest she had found; with a little help from Professor Flitwick, she had been able to perform it. Its very concept was to ensnare someone within a dome from where no magic could exit. Of course, you could simply move out of the dome, but Voldemort apparently had not figured that out yet.
"Flamma Flagellum!" Dumbledore's voice roared over all others as he swung his wand over his head, a trail of deadly blue fire roaring in its wake. With a snap of his wand, the blue flames whirled around the neck of the great beast and slammed its head into the ground.
"Now! I don't know how long I can hold it!" Dumbledore roared as he grabbed his wand with both hands, pushing as much magic through it as it could possibly handle.
"Vanessa!" Harry yelled as he twirled his wand in his hand once, transforming it into its staff form.
"I'm with you!" Vanessa yelled back as she ran across the room and came to a stop next to Harry, grabbing hold of Thymea alongside Harry.
"Solvite!" They roared together, bringing forth as much magic as their cores would allow, they pushed it into the staff and watched as the lilac energy sparked off the top before roaring out, the shape of a lilac dragon slamming into the great beast, blasting a hole in its stomach.
The beast gave a great screech and wretched under the blue flames grip. With one final yell and push of magic, Albus Dumbledore pulled his wand backwards in one mighty motion, severing the head of the basilisk, thus ending its wails of pain.
"No!" The spirit roared as it ran from the dome, a killing curse sailing through the air towards Dumbledore.
The old wizard's eyes widened, and just for the barest of moments, a smile grazed his lips as he thought the next great adventure was upon him. He saw the image of his dear sister, a welcoming smile on her face, as she stood ready to guide him along the path they would share. Then a brilliant crimson flame absorbed the image and Fawkes screeched in pain as his body absorbed the emerald curse, and a pile of ashes dropped to the floor.
Too stunned to act, Dumbledore simply watched the ashes of his oldest friend, so dearly hoping that the familiar small face of the phoenix's youngest form would pop out. He sighed in relief and fell to his knees, both from exhaustion and happiness, when a small chirp echoed through the chamber and the familiar gray head popped out of the ashes.
"Damn bird!" Tom roared and lifted his wand, but before he could do anything, the wand snapped out of his hand and flew into Vanessa's grip, a triumphant smile on her face.
"Seems I just disarmed the supposed greatest wizard of all time." She mocked dryly while spinning Luna's wand in her hand.
"Luna!" Harry yelled in panic as he slid to a stop next to the young Ravenclaw. Ripping the book from her grasp he tossed it to the side and lifted her up, holding her head to his chest he spoke frantically. "Come on, Luna. Come on, my little moonbeam. You can't leave me, I can't lose you, I can't lose one of the only people to follow me out of Britain! Who stood with me since I went back there!" he rambled as he rocked her backwards and forwards, tears gathering at his eyes.
"It is too late." The voice of Tom mocked, "She is too weak and soon I shall be whole again." The spirit continued gloating.
Harry's head snapped up, his emerald eyes burning with fury as he grabbed his staff and looked towards the cursed book. Not even realizing what he was doing, Harry roared in parseltongue.
$FIENDFYRE!$
The orange-black flame spewed from the tip of his wand, burning all in its path as it bathed the Diary in its warm embrace. The spirit of Tom barely had a chance to react before he doubled over and screamed, white lines beginning to appear all over his body.
Harry was still screaming as the flames grew darker and darker, soon they closely resembled living darkness more than a fire. Had it not been for the unnatural orange light bathing the entire chamber in its glow, it could perhaps have been mistaken as such.
When one great screech came from within the flame, they all knew it was done. The Diary destroyed and the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle gone with it. Harry stopped screaming and the spell died with his voice as he dropped Thymea and resumed cradling Luna in his arms, somehow still hoping she would awaken. He felt Vanessa's arms encircle him from behind and he willed the tears to remain where they were. He so badly wanted to scream out, but knew it would be no use. The last time they had only just made it to save Ginny's life, this time it would seem they weren't as lucky.
"Harry…" Dumbledore's voice broke through his ramblings and his head lifted slowly towards the aged wizard. "Look… there…" the old wizard raised a bony finger and pointed into the middle of the blackened patch that was the Diary.
A small wisp of silvery light rose and danced through the air.
They all watched, wide-eyed and hopeful, as the wispy essence flew towards Luna and entered into her chest, right where the Magical core was located.
They all nearly jumped out of their skin when Luna gave a start and sucked in a massive breath, her eyes flying open and looking everywhere around her as if to ensure she was in fact not dead. When her eyes locked with Harry's, they filled with such warmth that Harry almost cried again.
"A hero… even the second time around… just like you, Harry." She whispered weakly before her eyes dropped closed and her breathing evened out, she was asleep.
Harry didn't even have time to properly register what she had said as he whooped and cheered for his friend being alive. Vanessa was hugging him even tighter as she tried to control the scream of joy that threatened to rip through her. She looked expectantly at Dumbledore who was smiling wider than she had seen him do before.
This was a victory. The best they could have hoped for.