The Family Name

The Family Name

By Slytherin Tattoo

Chapter 17

"How can a girl move so fast?" Weasley panted.

"Perhaps she has 11 brothers," Draco suggested.

Ron tensed. "Just shut up, Malfoy."

"Well, when you've got 20 children, it stands to reason they won't all share the same political views. . ."

Weasley grabbed Draco by his robe and dragged him over to stand face- to-face. "I said, shut up, Malfoy."

Draco sneered. "So?"

Weasley let go and drew his wand. Draco's wand moved to point at him at the same moment. "We're wasting time here," Draco spoke evenly. "She's getting away, whoever she is."

Weasley hesitated another long minute.

"Shall I just cast stupefy on you and go on by myself?"

Weasley sighed and lowered his wand. "No." He turned away and continued down the stairs.

Draco debated hexing him anyway, but didn't want to meet up with a basilisk or a deranged murderer alone. He walked on.

______________ ____________

Harry Potter was gazing down at Hermione, lying in a hospital bed. Prof. Sprout was over in a corner talking to Madam Pomfrey, waiting for Dumbledore to arrive.

"It'll be OK, Hermione," he whispered. "The Mandrakes will be ready soon, Sprout told me. We'll have you un-petrified," he swallowed hard, "in no time."

He had to look away from her still face. His eyes fell on her hands. One hand held a mirror. The other was clutching a piece of paper. He drew in a breath and looked at the teachers again. They were paying him no attention. He pulled at the paper. It was clenched so tightly in her fist, he was afraid he would rip it, but he finally managed to get it out.

It was a page torn from a very old library book. Harry read it eagerly. ". . . the basilisk, known as the King of Serpents. . . born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. . . deadly and venomous fangs, murderous stare. . . all who are fixed with the beam of its eye suffer instant death. Spiders flee before it. . . the basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."

Beneath this, Hermione had written, "Pipes."

It all came together in his mind at once. He bolted from the infirmary.

____________ ______________

"She's on the second floor now. Going straight north. Maybe she's heading for the Great Hall."

They sped down the last few steps and practically ran down the corridor. Few people were around this late. They swerved around three Ravenclaws headed to their dorm from the library. Far in the distance, Draco spotted a glimpse of red hair and his heart sped up.

It really was Ginny Weasley. The Heir of Slytherin was a Weasley.

He looked over at Ron, who didn't seem to have noticed yet.

"Oh, she just changed direction. . ." Up ahead, Weasley had gone into some side room. "Isn't this where Filch's cat got it?"

"Um, yeah."

They raced down the hall. Abruptly, Draco skidded to a halt. "She's. . . in that bathroom. . . and going down now. . ."

"That's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. That's where we found Riddle's diary."

They looked at each other, then opened the door.

"Hn. So this is the inside of a girl's bathroom."

"Whatever perverted thoughts are in your head, Malfoy, get rid of them."

"I resent that!"

Before he could protest further, Moaning Myrtle floated in front of their faces. "What are you two doing here?"

"Did a girl just come in here and vanish?"

Myrtle asked Ron, "Who's he? He's cute."

Both of the boys' eyes widened, for entirely different reasons. 'I'm being hit on by a ghost!' Draco thought. 'An ugly bathroom ghost at that!' While Ron was thinking, 'Malfoy? Oh, ugh!'

"He's a Malfoy," Weasley managed to say. "He's a Slytherin git."

Draco shoved him, then repeated his question. "A girl?"

Myrtle pouted. "You didn't come to see me?"

"She stole something of ours," Weasley tried to explain. "We're tracking her."

"Fine. Yes. She went under the sink, just like the boy did earlier."

Ron's forehead creased. "Boy?"

Draco's chin tilted up. "Fowl."

"Yes, he said." She giggled. "He was quite charming. Are you friends of his?"

"Oh, great mates, yes. Which sink?"

She pointed it out. Draco strode over to it and held up the tracker. "She's right. Underneath--how?"

____________ _____________

"I thought for sure it would be on the statue," Artemis complained. "Let's check the pillars."

"Someone's coming." Butler suddenly shoved Artemis behind him.

They heard the sound of running footsteps. Butler raised his gun, and Artemis his wand.

The person came into view. Small, young, female, Gryffindor. . .

"It is you," Artemis murmured. "I was half-hoping it wouldn't be, but I knew it was."

She stopped about 2 meters away from them. She was clutching Riddle's diary. "What are you doing here?"

"Just a bit of light reading. You?"

She looked scared, sad, a little wild. Her hair was tangled and her robes askew. "I don't know! I think I may be insane!"

"You don't. . ." Artemis realized everything at last. He had assumed the Heir of Slytherin was willing, but that had been a faulty assumption all along. He would have cursed if he'd had less control. "It's the diary. Ginny, give me the diary!"

"No!" she cried. "Tom's the only friend I have!"

"He's not a friend. He's possessing you. Ginny, burn it."

"No!" She hugged the diary possessively against her body. A green light started to glow, and she screamed.

Butler instinctively pulled Artemis behind a pillar and held him there as the light intensified, surrounding Ginny with green sparks, and then pulsing inward in one brilliant burst that filled the Chamber. When they could see again, Ginny was lying on the floor, and a strange boy was standing over her, holding the book.

Artemis stepped out from behind the pillar. "Tom Riddle, I presume?"

__________ __________

Potter came crashing into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, only to stumble to an abrupt halt at seeing Malfoy and Weasley hovering by one of the sinks.

"Oh, it's you," said Myrtle.

Harry ignored her and spoke to Ron. "You're here, too?"

"Yeah, mate. The book's down there, somehow."

"It's in the pipes, Ron! That's how it moves around! Hermione had a piece of paper from a book in her hand. She'd figured it all out. It's a basilisk!"

"But--but they're petrified, not dead."

"Nobody's looked it directly in the eyes. Colin saw it through his camera, Hermione the mirror, I think Justin saw it through Nick, and Mrs. Norris. . . the water on the floor. Remember? And that's why I can hear it and nobody else can--because I understand Parseltongue!"

"So the murderer's down there with the beast?" Ron gulped.

"Fowl's down there," Malfoy said slowly.

"He is the Heir of Slytherin?" Potter frowned.

"No. I'm not sure what he's doing there."

"Well, leave him to it, I say," Weasley grumbled. "Let's go get Dumbledore."

"Weasley. . ." Draco hesitated, then took the plunge. "I saw her. From down the hall. It's your sister, Weasley. Honestly, it is."

"Shut up! You're just trying to mess with my mind!"

"Hey, ghost! Myrtle." Draco smiled at her. "The girl who vanished in here. Was it his sister?"

"I don't know," Myrtle answered. "She's never told me her name. I don't think she likes me. She comes in here all the time and never talks to me."

Ron snorted. "There, you see. . ."

"She does have red hair, though."

Silence. Then, "Is she a Gryffindor?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes. She wears Gryffindor robes."

"Still, you're right, we should get a teacher. Come on." Draco half-turned toward the door.

The other two didn't move. "I. . . I can't turn her over without talking to her." Ron's voice shook just a bit.

"You go on down then," Draco suggested. "I'll go get help."

"Hold it, Malfoy. You can't tell a teacher yet, either."

"Fine. Then I'll just go back to my rooms. I found out who the Heir is, that's good enough for me."

"You're pureblooded, Malfoy. What are you so worried about?" Harry sneered at him.

"It's a basilisk. It doesn't care."

"I think. . . I think you'd better come with us, Malfoy," Potter decided. "We might actually need your help."

"Are you kidding?" Ron yelped. "Just stupefy him and leave him in a stall til we're done."

"Fowl's down there," Harry reminded them. "We don't know what he's up to. Ron can watch Ginny, I'll watch the basilisk, and Malfoy can take care of Fowl."

"Fine," Weasley nodded. "Are you coming or do we have to take you at wandpoint, Malfoy?"

They would, too, the nasty, insufferable gits. He wouldn't be subject to that indignity. Better to die from a basilisk then lose his pride. Besides. . . if Fowl was down there. . . as much as he hated to say it, Artemis Fowl wasn't going out to a mere serpent. If Fowl was down there, he knew what the monster was and he had a plan. 'So if I just keep next to Fowl, I should be safe.'

"I'm coming," Draco said out-loud. "I suggest our Golden Hero open up the sink."

Potter blinked. "OK. Um, how?"

"There's a snake on the tap. Talk to it."

Ron frowned while Potter examined the sink. "Ginny's not a Parselmouth. How does she open it?"

A strange hissing sound came from Potter's mouth, and the sink opened. They stared down at a long, dark pipe.

Draco motioned to the opening. "Brave Gryffindors first."

__________ __________

Tom Riddle and Artemis Fowl examined each other. He was about 5 years older, Artemis judged, dark, fairly attractive (he supposed, to a girl), but something about the eyes was wrong, something that hinted at bitterness, and cruelty.

"You're not Potter," Riddle observed. "You must be Fowl. The one who burnt part of my book."

"Shame I didn't burn the whole thing, isn't it? How did you manage to--manifest yourself?"

"Ginny poured out her soul to me. . . the stupid, boring little girl. Her soul was exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets, until I grew more powerful than her, made her do my bidding. She put so much life into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last." He laughed, then grew sober again. "You won't be stopping me, Fowl."

"I'm not particularly heroic, but I confess that I don't want to see any Muggle-borns die."

He laughed again. "That's all right. I have a new goal now. I just want Harry Potter."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." Artemis nodded. "Yes, I expect you do. Like word puzzles, do you?"

Tom's eyes narrowed as Artemis took a few steps forward. "Don't play games with me. Are you here to stop me or not?"

Artemis smiled. "No, actually." He made a careful circle, then stopped back where he'd started. "I have a little diary of my own, you see." He took a book out of his pocket. "I like to write in it, too." He scribbled something down.

Tom frowned more. He moved forward. "What are you doing?"

Artemis put the book back in his pocket and withdrew his wand. "Getting ready to leave."

"I don't think so. You know too much about me." He held up his hand; he was holding Ginny's wand. "I bet I'm better than you."

Artemis was afraid this was quite likely.

Butler fired.

_________ _________

The three boys hurrying though the tunnel stopped dead. Ron clutched at Harry's arm. "What was that?"

"It--it sounded like a gun."

"A gun?"

"Nasty Muggle thing. Metal. Shoots bullets. If a bullet hits you, you could die."

"Oh, good. I'm leaving now."

"You're in this for the ride now, Malfoy." Harry blocked his path.

"So was Ginny being shot at or doing the shooting?" Draco smirked, ignoring Potter.

Ron blanched, then took off at a run.

"Ron! Malfoy, come on!" Potter ran off after him.

Draco was too curious to leave now, but he wasn't stupid. He proceeded forward slowly and stealthily, hugging the walls.

___________ ___________