Chapter 75 — Keep Your Eyes Down

I threw before Riddle finished aiming. ‘Incendio!’ The strip released in front of his wand hand, sending fire between us, and he twisted aside with a Water-Making Spell already on his lips.

The stream struck the flame and filled the platform with steam. I called for Harry to move Ginny back, then threw a pulse low across the stone.

‘Impello!’ A narrow lane opened through the steam. Riddle stood beyond it, pointing towards the place where I had been; I stepped sideways as his spell passed my shoulder and struck the pillar behind me. Chips stung my cheek.

Harry dragged Ginny a short distance with her head supported against his arm. He could not carry her quickly enough along the exposed causeway while Riddle had a clear shot. I needed to keep that wand facing me, which meant giving him something more urgent to deal with.

I cast three prepared strips in a shallow spread across the dry platform, keeping the fourth in my hand until their folds settled. Any that landed in the water would be ruined. I checked the nearest angle, then threw the starting piece.

‘Impello!’ The first pulse drove towards Riddle’s knees and met his shield. The second reached the edge of the same barrier from farther left, fire climbed the stone beside him and the final impulse struck through the gap he left while retreating.

It caught his shoulder. He stumbled against the pillar hard enough to need his free hand, and I advanced two steps towards the diary. Whatever held his body together, it could now be made to move.

‘You think bits of paper make you my equal?’ he demanded. I sent another strip towards his wand hand before he could recover the angle.

‘Expelliarmus!’ His grip shifted but held. The wand jerked, drawing a crooked line of light across the floor, then he closed his fingers around it and aimed at my chest.

I dropped behind the broken edging beside the carrier. His curse shattered stone above me, and the birds battered their wings against the wicker. I covered the lid with my arm to stop them overturning it, counting seven preparations spent while he still held the wand.

I could keep trying to win each exchange that way until the pouch emptied. He only needed to keep me occupied while Ginny weakened. Across the platform, Harry had laid her behind a pillar and was watching for an opening of his own.

I raised my head far enough for Riddle to see it. ‘Borrowed wand, borrowed life. Does either belong to you yet?’ His answer struck the stone beside my face, making me duck into a cloud of dust. The remark had not weakened him; it had made him look where I wanted him to look.

Fawkes swept across his line of sight. Riddle turned the wand after the bird, and Harry began to rise, only to stop when Fawkes climbed and the angle closed again.

I came out with a shield strip ready. Riddle saw me, cut his wand through the air and formed a cluster of black points in front of him. Harry and Ginny lay beyond my position; stepping out of the volley’s way would leave them in it.

‘Protego!’ I threw across its path. The barrier formed an instant before the first points struck, and each impact sent a sharp tremor along it. I planted one foot behind the other while the edges frayed; the last missiles broke through as it failed, scoring stone beside my boot.

Riddle drew back his wand. Harry stepped clear of the pillar and called ‘Expelliarmus’, catching him before he began the next spell. Ginny’s wand flew from his hand and spun across the platform towards her.

I sent two impulse strips after him, throwing and calling each in turn to block his route to it. The first struck the pillar when he ducked. He rolled sideways before the second hit, using the space I had left between him and Ginny.

He snatched the yellowed fang from the bones and hauled her against him. Its point came to rest beneath her jaw. Harry stopped where he stood, and I held the next fire strip between my fingers without releasing it.

‘Enough,’ Riddle said. Ginny made a faint sound when he pressed the fang closer, scarcely more than a breath. ‘Put it away.’

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The diary lay behind him and the wand near her foot. Neither was close enough for me to reach before the point moved, so I lowered my hand and slid the unused strip back into its fold. He dragged the wand nearer with his heel and bent to pick it up, keeping the fang beneath her chin.

He let the old fang fall beside the bones and laid her down with an ugly show of care. ‘You wanted to know what was in the Chamber.’ Then his voice changed, carrying a hiss over the water towards the enormous statue.

Harry told me not to look up. I dropped my eyes to the floor as stone ground against stone above us, followed by a movement inside the wall too heavy to belong to any living animal I had ever seen.

Riddle spoke again. Water trembled beside the platform, and I backed towards the carrier with Harry beside me, the hat still caught in his belt.

‘Can you tell it to stop?’ I asked. Harry hissed into the dark, and the answer came as scraping scales and Riddle’s delighted laughter.

‘It knows its master, Potter.’ Harry tried again, but a vast shadow swept over the stone and the platform cracked beneath a new weight. I reached the carrier and pulled him down behind the edging.

I unfastened the lid and lifted the cloth. The first cockerel pushed its head out, blinking in the lantern light; the second battered past it in a rush of feathers. I tipped the basket towards clear floor on the far side of our cover, keeping my eyes below the moving shadow.

One bird stretched its neck and began to crow. Its first rough note made the nearby scraping stop, but Riddle shouted before it could finish. A flash struck beside the birds, cutting off the cry; the second tried to run, and another flash caught it before it made more than a frightened squawk.

The carrier rolled into the water. I stared at the space where it had stood, understanding that we had brought our defence within reach of the person who knew to destroy it.

Harry shouted for me to move. The edging exploded behind us, and I flung myself sideways as something enormous struck the place where we had crouched. Water and stone chips hit my back; Harry landed beside a pillar and crawled clear of a passing coil.

I kept my eyes on dry stone. Even the water could give us the wrong glimpse, and knowing the creature’s weakness was useless if looking for it left us unable to move.

Fawkes cried out above us. A rush of wings passed over my lowered head, followed by an impact against a pillar that shook dust from the roof. The basilisk thrashed, scales grinding over stone, while Riddle shouted at the bird.

‘The shadow,’ Harry gasped. ‘He’s going for its eyes.’ I looked at the wall beside me, where the low lantern light threw a great head from side to side and a smaller shape darted above it.

The shadow showed where the head was. It could not tell us when the eyes became harmless, so I stayed low while Fawkes climbed and dived again. Jaws closed on empty air, and Riddle’s orders broke into a furious hiss.

Fawkes came down past Harry, calling. Harry looked cautiously along the side of the creature’s jaw as it turned, then said both eyes were gone.

I raised my gaze from the lower part of its head. Two ruined sockets faced the pillar, but the tongue kept flicking into the air. The head turned towards the sound of Harry breathing, and I ran along the clear edge of the platform to draw it away from Ginny.

I snatched the lantern as I passed it, setting it down again near the outer edge while I reached into my pouch. The basilisk followed the scrape of my boots. Its wet green body folded between the pillars with an ease which made the shed skin upstairs seem a poor warning.

Four fire strips went along the dry stone ahead of it. I sent a fifth preparation after them, the pulse which would begin the sequence, and called ‘Impello’ as it left my hand.

The fires caught in succession. Heat struck my face, hiding the basilisk behind flame for a moment, then its first coil came through blackened and still moving. I caught the lantern handle and jumped from the platform into the water before its head reached me.

The water was barely above my ankles, but the shock of cold nearly took my legs away. I staggered against the outer wall as the snake smashed through the space I had left, then shouted for Harry to follow.

He slid down beside me. The hat caught on the broken edging and pulled free of his belt, falling back onto the platform. Harry reached for it, but the basilisk struck above us, and I dragged him towards a low drainage opening instead.

We splashed into the pipe with the sound of pursuit behind us. At the first division, I struck a chalk mark on the wall and took the wider branch. Harry followed close enough to hit my shoulder while stone cracked behind us; the basilisk could fit, and it was coming.

At the next fork, Harry skidded. I caught his arm, but his momentum carried him into the right-hand branch while I stumbled left, with a low divider separating us for several yards. I called his name and heard him answer, followed by the rattle of metal.

‘There’s a grate.’ His voice stopped as the basilisk reached the fork. I pressed back against the wall, keeping still while the front of its head passed my opening, close enough to show water running down the scales.

Its tongue flicked. Beyond the divider, Harry’s shoe scraped against stone, and the head turned towards him.

If I shouted, it would come down my branch instead. I could be trapped just as quickly unless I put the next sound farther away than my own body. The lantern warmed my leg, its dented metal frame heavy in my hand.

I looked along the pipe beyond me. It curved into darkness with a dry ridge down one side, enough room for something to travel past the point where I could see it. Then I took out an impulse strip and held it ready.