The Family Name

The Family Name

By Slytherin Tattoo

Chapter 18

"You know too much about me." Riddle 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 bullet went through him. Riddle smiled. "I'm not corporeal yet. Not until she's dead." He raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Artemis cried.

Unfortunately, Riddle did know how to block curses, unlike Lockhart. "You'll have to be faster than that," he smiled.

They heard the sound of running. First Ron, then Potter appeared in the Chamber. Ron yelled his sister's name and tried to go to her, but Riddle pointed his wand at him threateningly and he skidded to a halt.

"Who are you?" Ron demanded.

"Tom Riddle. You must be one of Ginny's idiot brothers."

Ron's mouth fell open. "You're Riddle? Shouldn't you be a lot older?"

"He's a memory that he had spelled into the diary and he's feeding off your sister's soul until he becomes fully alive again," Artemis told him.

"Well summarized," Riddle congratulated.

Tom turned and looked at Harry. "It's you. Harry Potter."

"Yes." Potter had his wand in his hand.

Butler reached over and firmly pulled Artemis behind the pillar again.

Ron interrupted Riddle's stare-down with Harry. "So was Ginny. . . was she the one attacking everyone?"

"He was possessing her," Artemis said from behind his pillar.

"She's been writing in my diary." Riddle walked forward, coming face-to-face with Potter. "All about you, Harry Potter. She has quite a foolish little crush on you. But she told me your whole fascinating history. I knew I had to meet you. I had a plan for that--but you came down on your own, before I'd finished it. Lucky me."

"What do you want with me?" Potter swallowed hard.

"You're my target, Potter. I have many questions for you."

Harry's fists clenched. "Like what?"

Riddle smiled again, eyes gleaming red and hungry. "How is it that you managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time."

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future, Potter. . ."

Artemis leaned over and whispered to Butler. "He's going to call the basilisk soon. If shooting becomes necessary, aim for its eyes. Nobody else is protected by sunglasses like we are."

Tom began to trace words in the air with Ginny's wand. They shimmered there: Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"I still don't get it," Ron cut in.

They all turned to look at him.

"He is Voldemort, Weasley," Artemis said loudly. "At least, he will be."

They all turned to look at the pillar. "Far too clever." Riddle shrugged. "No matter." He swished the wand again, and the letters rearranged themselves: I am Lord Voldemort.

"It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends. You think I would use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side?"

"I, for one, find it very ironic that your Death Eaters are pledged to destroying Muggle-born when you're a half-blood yourself," came Artemis's voice.

"Oh, and you? I've never heard of the Fowls. You're no pureblood!"

"And you don't know everything."

"No. . . no, I don't. This all started with a question, in fact. How did you survive, Potter? Tell me everything."

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My Muggle-born mother." He was shaking with suppressed rage. "I've seen the real you. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding, you're ugly. . ."

Riddle's face contorted, his smile twisted. "So. Your mother died to save you. That is a powerful countercharm. So there's nothing special about you, after all. Mere lucky chance saved you. That's all I wanted to know."

"Never tell the enemy your greatest secrets, Potter," Artemis chided him.

"I'm not going to hide behind some pillar! He's evil--I'm facing him!"

Artemis sighed. "You're such a Gryffindor."

Riddle's laugh was chilling. It silenced them. "Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter. One last time. . ."

"Here it comes," Artemis muttered to Butler.

Riddle hissed, but Potter understood his words. "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

And the statue of Slytherin moved. His mouth opened into a wide black hole, where something was stirring, slithering up from its depths. The giant serpent uncoiled and hit the floor.

Then Riddle's voice, "Kill him. Kill them all."

Ron and Harry's eyes snapped shut and they scrambled frantically backwards. Riddle laughed again.

"I have no intention of dying," Artemis said dryly.

Shocked, Riddle turned to him. The basilisk raised its head. "No, that one first, Potter first," he told it absent-mindedly, pointing toward Potter. It slithered in that direction.

Artemis pressed a button on the device in his hands. To the amazement of both Riddle and Potter, they heard Harry's voice speaking Parseltongue. "Stop. Do not kill."

The basilisk ignored this. "Hah! It only responds to me!" Riddle exalted, but his voice sounded slightly shaken.

In the darkness, they could sense Artemis's smile. "I anticipated this. Why do you think I let you keep talking? I recorded your voice, cross-referenced it, channeled it through the Parseltongue dictionary I'd created from Potter's samples earlier, giving me this."

He pressed a different button. "Stop. Do not kill," came the hissing again, now in the voice of Riddle.

Only three feet from where Ron was crouched beside a pillar of his own, the basilisk stopped.

"What?" Riddle exploded.

"Go back. Go to sleep," said the box.

The basilisk turned. "No!" Riddle breathed deeply, forcing himself calm enough to order the basilisk, "He's tricking you. Kill the boy."

"He's tricking you," the box responded, sounding exactly the same. "Kill the wizard man. Kill Riddle."

The basilisk hovered uncertainly.

"Look! That's just a talking box. Don't take orders from a box!"

"It's not that smart," Artemis told him.

A more desperate note entered his voice. "You know me. I've been your master for years. Obey me alone."

"I am your master. Obey me alone."

The basilisk coiled around itself, seeming pouty and uncertain.

"Just kill the boy!" Riddle screamed, waving his fist.

The snake turned ponderously until it was facing Potter again. He had his back to the wall and was sliding along it away from Riddle. The creature pursued.

"Now," whispered Artemis. "Shoot its eyes."

Butler had already attached a different kind of sniper lens to the gun. Now he raised it and fired twice. He was always deadly accurate.

The scream of a snake is not a pretty sound. Riddle's scream of rage blended into it.

"You can open your eyes now," Artemis called to the Gryffindors. They did.

The basilisk had drawn itself up and was writhing right in front of Harry. He dashed away to stand by Ron. The beast was still screaming. Riddle spun to stare in hatred at Potter, about 9 feet away in the middle of the Chamber.

"Expelliarmus," chanted a voice as a figure stepped out from the shadows of a pillar. Riddle's wand went flying into the boy's outstretched hand. Tom flew back and fell over almost on top of Ginny.

"Hello, Malfoy." Artemis couldn't help but smile. "You've joined us here, too?"

"I couldn't let a Fowl and a Potter get all the credit."

But Riddle was hardly finished yet. Nor was the basilisk. Tom drew himself up onto his knees and shouted at it, "You can still attack him! Just listen for him. He's noisy enough!"

The snake gave a long hiss and headed for Ron. He backpedaled quickly.

"It still has deadly poisonous fangs."

Butler, Artemis, and Draco had all immediately gone completely still and silent. The snake continued after Ron, who was moving, and Harry, who ran over to his friend, unwilling to abandon him.

"You see, Potter!" Riddle called in delight. "I don't even need a wand to defeat you! I am the greatest wizard who ever lived!"

Harry spared a look away from the basilisk at Tom. Potter was seething with rage and shaking with fear, but his voice was loud and decisive. "No you're not. Albus Dumbledore is. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now. . ."

The basilisk lunged at Harry, who was making the most noise. Harry dodged and rolled. It lunged again and its forked tongue lashed his side. "Harry!" Ron cried.

Music was coming from somewhere. The basilisk stopped, its bloody head turning from side to side. The music was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly, and growing louder. Draco felt goose-bumps rise on his flesh. As the music reached a pitch where he could feel it vibrating through his body, flames erupted on the top of the nearest pillar.

It was a bird, bright crimson, with a glittering golden tail and golden talons, which were carrying a ragged bundle. It flew directly at Harry, dropped the bundle at his feet, and landed on Harry's shoulder.

"That's a phoenix," Weasley breathed.

"It's Dumbledore's," Potter practically whispered. "Fawkes."

"And that," Riddle cut in, "is the school's sorting hat. . ." Abruptly he began to laugh. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat!" Switching to Parseltongue, he insisted once more, "Kill him!"

The basilisk lunged for Potter again, but Fawkes flew at the beast and struck at it with his beak and talons. The snake thrashed, its tail narrowly missing Ron.

Potter darted forward, swept up the hat, and rammed it on. 'Help me!' he thought. 'Please help me!'

Fawkes circled the monster's head. "Ignore the bird!" Riddle yelled at it. "You can smell the boy!"

The basilisk was bleeding, in pain, and enraged. It listened, it sniffed, and it lunged once more, blindly--and the Hat contracted over Harry's head, as though a hand squeezed it, and something very hard and very heavy fell on top of his head, almost knocking him out. Stars winked in front of his eyes, and then he felt a searing pain in his arm, just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang sank deeper and deeper into his flesh. White-hot pain was spreading slowly as the poison spread through his body.

"Harry!" Ron screamed, pulling the Hat off his head. Something long and hard fell from beneath it: a gleaming sliver sword, its handle glittering with rubies. Ron picked it up and stood protectively over his friend as the basilisk swayed closer.

"Artemis. . ." Butler said.

"Right," Artemis sighed. "I didn't want to do this, but it looks like I have no choice." So saying, he pressed a smaller, red button on the device in his hand.

Echoing through the Chamber from the box, a rooster crowed.

The basilisk shuddered. "No!" Riddle shrieked, as the basilisk shuddered again, then collapsed with a heavy thud.

Weasley looked at it, stunned.

"The crow of a rooster's fatal to it. . . you had this all worked out from the beginning, didn't you, Fowl?" Malfoy sounded as if he was trying not to show just how impressed he was.

"Naturally. I am a Fowl."

The phoenix flew over and landed on Harry's chest. Draco and Ron both turned towards Riddle.

Riddle, who in their moment's distraction, had pulled a knife from his boot and now held it against the unconscious Ginny's throat. Her body was cradled limply in one arm. His other hand held the knife. His eyes held a manic gleam.

"Put the sword down, and those wands, too. Or else I'll slit her throat here and now."

The sword fell at Ron's feet. Draco hesitated.

"Do it, Malfoy! That's my sister!"

Draco scowled and set down his own and Ginny's wands.

"You two, come out from behind that puller, and throw down your wand and that gun!" Riddle ordered.

"Obey for the moment," Artemis whispered, and he and Butler followed instructions. After all, it was hardly the only gun Butler had on him.

"You--Artemis Fowl--pick up my wand over there and bring it to me."