Learn From the History

Chapter 13: The Prophecy of the Phoenix

Green light shot out from Tom's wand and hit the Chimaera directly.

Tom took in a sharp breath as he felt the power flowed from his body to his wand. He widened his eyes when the curse took effect and Chimaera fell to the ground in front of his eyes. He stared at his wand in disbelief then shook his head and focused on his friend.

Alex was in bad condition. He lay on the ground with his eyes closed. His left arm and shoulder were seriously injured. There were also several busies over his body. Tom rushed to his side and kneeled down beside him.

"Alex?" said Tom in a shaking voice. He started to panic when Alex gave no respond. He leaned closer and slowly he placed a hand on Alex's neck. He sighed in relief when he felt the weak pulse of his friend. Suddenly Alex moaned and coughed; blood spilt out from his mouth. Despite his sudden movement, he still remained unconscious.

Tom gritted his teeth. It was not good. Alex was severely injured and with the excessive blood loss... Tom knew clearly that although his friend was still alive, he couldn't last long.

Tom turned to look at the lifeless form lying beside his friend. The Chimaera was dead, killed by Tom's own hand. Tom didn't feel sorry for that creature, it deserved the death, but it was amazing that he could end a life so easily only by a single incantation.

"Is it... dead?" Tom turned to see Lestrange walked into the room cautiously, eyeing the Chimaera.

Tom nodded then turned his gaze back to Alex.

"Is he alright?" Lestrage asked quietly. The brown haired boy was paled and for the first time since Tom met the boy, Lestrange appeared to be concerned, concerned about his fellow Slytherin's welfare.

Tom turned back to the unconscious form of Alex. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"No... he's not," Tom answered softly. He paused for a while then looked up at Lestrange, who was now standing beside him. "We need bring Alex to the Hospital Wing as soon as we can," he said and stood up shakily.

Lestrange nodded. "We can carry him by a stretcher. I will find something to transfig..." He stopped as a large stone fell down just behind Tom, causing a loud crushing sound.

Tom jumped as the stone landed behind him. He looked up at the ceiling and swore. The Chimaera caused a minor earthquake just now and the ceiling of the whole tunnel was collapsing. Without warning, more rocks and stones fell down.

"We need to get out of here now, before the whole tunnel collapse," said Tom.

He lifted up Alex cautiously. He tried to move his friend as light as possible so as to reduce his pain while desperately trying to shield Alex from the falling stones. He hissed in pain when he got to his feet with Alex in his arm. Though Alex was way too light for his age, the increased pressure was too much for Tom's broken leg.

"Let me do it. You're injured too," said Lestrange. The older Slytherin approached and carefully lifted Alex from Tom's arms before Tom could protest. "Let's go." he nodded to the entrance and started walking towards to hastily.

Tom looked around the room until he spotted what he had been looking for near the dead body of the Chimaera. Covering his head with his hand, he ran back and grab Alex's wand before hastily left the room that led to the Chamber of Secrets.

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After what seemed like ages of running in the dark tunnel, they finally escaped the dreadful tunnel. And for the first time their lives, they were glad to be back in the Forbidden Forest.

The two Slytherins panted heavily from their close escape. Had they run a little slower, they would have been buried alive when the whole structure collapsed.

Lestrange carefully lay Alex down on the ground. Alex was still unconscious. He was paled and his body was cold due to the large amount of blood loss during the escape.

Tom approached his friend's unconscious form slowly and kneeled beside him. There was no way Alex could make it back to the castle and Tom knew it.

"Damn it!" Tom slammed the ground with his fist. "What can I do...?"

Lestrange stood behind Tom. "Riddle..." He reached out a hand, preparing to comfort the boy, but then hesitated and drew back his outstretched arm. His arm fell back to his side and he clenched his fist. "What should we do? What should I do?" he muttered to himself.

He stared back Tom and it was just then he noticed a line of tears rolling down the boy's chin. The boy shut his eyes, sobbing silently.

"It's all my fault," Tom spoke hoarsely. "If... if I hadn't been so eager to find the Chamber..."

"Riddle..." Lestrange kneeled beside him. He looked uneasy, obviously didn't know what to say. "It is not your..."

"It is my fault." Tom shot his head up and stared at Lestrange. "If I had run away in time, Alex wouldn't have run back and fought that monster. I should be the one who is laying here, not him!"

Then Tom felt a warm sensation in his leg. He frowned and turned to find his right pocket glowing. He cautiously drew his and Alex's wand out of his pocket and stared at them with wide eyes. The two wands were glowing with bright white light and Tom could feel heat emerging from the wands. As he separated the two wands, holding on in each hand, a golden strand formed and linked the two glowing wands together.

A gasp from Lestrange made him took his eyes off the wands. He turned to look at the other Slytherin, who was gasping at something on the sky. Tom followed Lestrange's gaze and found himself staring at a burning red flame hovering over the forest.

"The flame is coming towards us!" said Lestrange.

As the "flame" flew nearer, Tom was finally able to make out its outline. It was not a flame; it had the shape of a bird. A red bird burning with flame...

Then Tom knew what it was. "It's a phoenix," he said.

"It is beautiful," Lestrange commented as the bird flew near enough for them to see its feature clearly.

The phoenix flew over them in circle. Then Tom heard a music that he knew he would never forget in his life. The song of the phoenix was soft and peaceful. Upon hearing the song, Tom felt himself slowly calmed down and relaxed. After a while, a drop of water dropped onto his arm. He wrapped it away with his hand then realized it wasn't water at all. Tom looked up and saw the phoenix crying; its tears dripped down from its chin and fell like rain. As the phoenix's tears connected to Tom's injured leg, the broken bone started to mend and not more then a few seconds later the leg was as good as new.

Tom stared in shock as he saw the bruises on his arms slowly closed, leaving only faint scars on his skin. Then he remembered he once read that the phoenix's tears had healing power. And if those tears could heal, maybe it could...

"Alex!" Tom turned sharply as his friend began to stir.

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Alex groaned; his whole body was burning in pain. Well, except his left arm maybe; he couldn't feel anything from that arm at all. Then he felt that the pain slowly faded away, along with the numbness of his arm.

Where was he? In the Slytherin dormitory? No. He didn't go back to the dorm, because... Tom! Tom went to search for the Chamber of Secrets alone. And a Chimaera came... yes, a Chimaera! A Chimaera was attacking Tom! He needed to protect him!

He snapped his eyes open only to shut it again immediately. He waited a few seconds and tried it again. He opened his eyes slowly and saw a blurred image in front of him. Blinking a few times, he finally focused on the image and found himself face to face with a worried Tom.

Tom grinned as he opened his eyes. "Alex!" he shouted.

"Tom..." said Alex. Then he finally remembered what happened and why did he ended up with all those injuries. He stared at Tom worriedly. "Are you alright, Tom? The Chimaera..."

"The Chimaera's gone," Tom interrupted. He looked over Alex's body. "How do you feel?"

"My whole body is in pain," said Alex. "But I'm feeling better now."

"Are you sure?" asked Tom, staring at him worriedly.

"Yes, I am fine." He pushed himself to a sitting position. Rubbing his sore left arm and shoulder, he asked, "What happened? I thought I would surely dead... and what's that in your hand?"

"My hand? Oh..." Tom brought up the two wands he was holding, which was totally forgotten by him. "The wands started glowing when the phoenix appeared."

"Phoenix?" said Alex, puzzled.

Tom raised his eyebrows and nodded to the sky. Alex looked up and stared in awe at the phoenix circling in the sky.

"It's the phoenix's tears that heal you," said Tom.

Alex looked from the phoenix to his arm. His left forearm was now covered with nasty scars that he assumed was identical to the Chimaera's dentations. He looked back at Tom and asked, "What happened after the Chimaera attacked me? Did you find the Chamber of Secrets?"

Tom lowered his head and shifted uneasily. "I'll tell you what happened later. Here," said Tom, handing Alex back his wand, "your wand."

Alex reached out and grabbed back his wand. The glowing wand was warm and a golden strand connected his wand with the one in Tom's hand.

Just as Alex got back his wand, the phoenix flew down just on top of Tom and Alex. The next moment, a golden strand web was formed around them. The sound of the phoenix song was louder than ever when the two were encircled by the golden web. Their wands were glowing brightly and they both felt a warm sensation coming from other side of the link to their whole body.

Alex slowly closed his eyes at the peaceful song and let the warm feeling filled his body. That was a nice feeling. The two of them connected as one; he could almost hear Tom's heartbeat through the link...

The room was dark. There was a large veil in the middle. Before it were two dark figures, each with their wand out, pointed at their opponent. Their wands were glowing brightly and a phoenix was flying on top of them.

One of the dark figures raised his wand. Green light shot out from his wand and hit the other figure directly in his chest. The figure was thrown backwards and collapsed on the ground.

Alex gasped and opened his eyes. His heart was beating furiously despite the effect of the phoenix song. What was that? A vision? Or was it only his mind playing trick with him? Who were the two duelers? Alex remembered one of the figures was hit by the curse... and fell.

Alex shook his head to clear his mind. Then he realized the sound of the phoenix song had ceased. Looking down at his hand, he saw that the bright light of his wand began to fade. Soon, the web surrounding them disappeared followed by the light glowing from their wands. The phoenix shot up to the sky and disappeared with a flash of fire.

"What happened just now? The two of you were surrounded by a golden wall," said Lestrange.

Alex and Tom looked at each other. The two of them were sort of... connected just now.

"That was... amazing," Tom commented.

Alex nodded. Other than that "vision", what happened just now was strange but... as Tom put it, amazing.

"Where did the phoenix go?" he asked.

Tom shrugged. "Maybe you should ask why did the phoenix come." He grinned.

Lestrange looked into the forest. "We'd better go, before the professors find out." He looked at Alex. "Are you sure you are alright?"

Alex nodded. "I'm fine," he said. "Let's go."