Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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 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 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 travelled miles by Floo powder. Slowly, he gathered 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 towards her, she sat up. Her bemused eyes travelled 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 awkwardly 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 OK! 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 sizeable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.
    ‘Ginny!’ Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. ‘You’re alive! I don’t believe it! What happened?’
    He tried to hug her but Ginny held him off, sobbing.
    ‘But you’re okay, Ginny,’ said Ron, beaming at her. ‘It’s over now, it’s – where did that bird come from?’
    Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.
    ‘He’s Dumbledore’s,’ said Harry, squeezing through himself.
    ‘And how come you’ve got a sword ?’ said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry’s hand.
    ‘I’ll explain when we get out of here,’ said Harry, with a sideways glance at Ginny.
    ‘But –’
    ‘Later,’ Harry said quickly. 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, grinning and jerking his