The instant Tom Riddle cast the Killing Curse at Harry, Hermione nearly screamed.
For a moment, she thought Lewis—the boy who always seemed to have everything under control—had finally miscalculated.
She thought she was about to lose one of her closest friends.
But then she saw something unbelievable.
When the green Killing Curse struck Harry's forehead, it behaved as though it had hit a mirror.
The curse rebounded along the exact path it had traveled—
And slammed directly back into Riddle.
When Riddle cast the spell, his heart had been filled with murderous intent and hatred.
After all, Harry was the boy responsible for the destruction of his original self.
And now that same murderous curse turned upon him.
In a single instant, Riddle froze in midair as though struck by divine judgment.
Cracks spread across his translucent body like shattered glass.
Then—
His entire form broke apart into countless fragments and vanished into nothingness.
The whole process was so sudden that Riddle didn't even have time to scream.
The absurd spectacle left Hermione utterly stunned.
Ciri stared in disbelief.
Only Lewis laughed so hard he nearly doubled over.
It had been a long time since he had laughed this much.
Voldemort's own ridiculous antics were practically killing him.
Neither girl had ever imagined things could end like this.
"L-Lewis… you knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Hermione stood frozen for several seconds before finally confirming that Riddle's soul had truly been annihilated.
Only then did she turn to Lewis.
Otherwise, his earlier taunts and provocations—his insistence that Riddle kill Harry—would have made no sense.
If she hadn't known Lewis as well as she did, she might have thought he and Harry shared some sort of blood feud.
"Of course I knew."
Lewis grinned.
"To be honest, threatening me with Harry was the most ridiculous decision Riddle ever made."
Seeing the confusion on their faces, he explained the truth.
"This exact scene has already happened once in wizarding history."
"Think about it."
"How did Voldemort's original body die?"
Hermione's eyes widened as she recalled the historical record.
"The books say the Dark Lord was destroyed when he tried to kill Harry…"
"That's why Harry is called the Boy Who Lived."
"Wait…"
Lewis nodded and began explaining the secret of the magic of love.
Everyone knew that Lily Potter had sacrificed herself to protect Harry.
That sacrifice created an ancient magical protection powered by love.
The protection would remain until Harry came of age.
As long as it lasted, Voldemort could not kill him.
When Voldemort attempted to murder Harry as a baby, the Killing Curse rebounded and destroyed him.
Earlier that night, Riddle had exploited the same kind of protective magic.
By manipulating Harry into willingly sacrificing himself for Ron, he caused Harry to shield Ron.
Then, through his connection to Ron, Riddle piggybacked on that protection and survived the destruction of the diary.
Yet Harry had not died.
Most likely because Lily's original protection still prevented harm originating from Voldemort from killing him.
And now—
As another fragment of the same soul—
Tom Riddle had repeated his master's greatest mistake.
The irony was exquisite.
After boasting that he had mastered the power of love and surpassed Dumbledore's understanding of it—
He was destroyed by that very same magic.
Being killed twice by the same spell.
In all of wizarding history, perhaps only Voldemort could achieve something so absurd.
After hearing the explanation, Hermione and Ciri couldn't help but laugh.
To fall into the same trap twice…
What kind of villain was this?
Poor Harry, though.
Lewis discovered that Harry's famous lightning scar now had company.
There were two scars on his forehead.
So the scar could stack?
Lewis briefly wondered whether a third one would combine them into some sort of "two-star scar."
With Voldemort and the basilisk dealt with, only cleanup remained.
Lewis handed his magical bag to Ciri.
She began skillfully butchering the basilisk corpse and storing each valuable part.
Thanks to her witcher training, she handled the task with practiced efficiency.
Lewis and Hermione, meanwhile, administered Invigoration Potions to Harry and Ron.
In truth, once Voldemort was destroyed, the life force he had siphoned immediately returned to Ron.
After drinking the potion, Ron groaned and sat up.
Harry's situation was similar.
He had collapsed only because he temporarily bore the backlash intended for Riddle.
Now that Riddle had been erased, Harry quickly recovered as well.
When the two boys opened their eyes, they first saw Lewis and the girls.
Then they noticed Ciri in the background methodically skinning and dismembering the basilisk.
Both stared in shock.
"You actually killed the basilisk?!"
Harry's jaw dropped.
"How did you kill it?! That's insane!"
"With roosters."
Lewis pointed at the birds now wandering through the Chamber, pecking around in search of insects.
"In fact, before Halloween, I caught Ginny trying to murder Hagrid's roosters."
"I rescued the surviving ones then."
"Ginny?"
Ron snapped his head up the instant he heard his sister's name.
Lewis explained that Ginny had originally been the diary's first host.
"Bloody hell!"
Ron burst out.
"Did we offend You-Know-Who personally or something?!"
"Why is he so determined to ruin our family?!"
Lewis chuckled.
Ron had no idea how deep the blood feud truly ran.
In the past, Molly Weasley had lost two brothers to Death Eaters.
In the future, Fred would die fighting them.
Bill would be savaged and nearly turned into a werewolf.
The Weasley family and Voldemort were destined enemies.
By the time Ciri finished processing the basilisk, Lewis had packed away everything.
Not just the scales and venom.
Not just the hide and organs.
Even the bones were carefully stored.
A basilisk was far too rare to waste.
He also collected the Sorting Hat, the ruined diary, and the Sword of Gryffindor.
Then he gathered several of Fawkes's fallen feathers.
And, of course, there was Lockhart.
Twice knocked unconscious.
Now groggily waking up once more.
With nothing left to do in the Chamber, Fawkes began circling above them again.
The phoenix trilled and gestured for everyone to gather together.
As they linked hands, Fawkes settled onto Lewis's shoulder.
Warm, familiar magic spread through all of them.
The phoenix initiated Apparition.
As the magic enveloped them, Lewis's dissatisfaction with Dumbledore deepened.
Yes, the Chamber of Secrets was difficult to locate.
Yes, it required Parseltongue to open.
But if Fawkes could enter—
Then Dumbledore either already knew where the Chamber was, or discovered it the moment Fawkes followed Harry inside.
And if the phoenix could get in—
Then Dumbledore himself could have been brought in.
Or McGonagall.
Or Flitwick.
Or Snape.
Any of them would have been more than capable of handling the basilisk.
Yet aside from sending Fawkes itself, Dumbledore's only assistance had been…
A hat.
Apparently his grand strategy had been:
Give an untrained twelve-year-old a sword and expect him to duel a basilisk to the death.
Was this meant to prove Harry was a true Gryffindor?
The Sword of Gryffindor wasn't some all-powerful legendary weapon.
The Sorting Hat certainly wasn't a miracle machine.
It was essentially gambling with Harry's life.
In the end, Lewis could only sigh.
The thought processes of great white wizards were simply beyond understanding.
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