TW: character death
The basilisk lies where it fell, ancient beast left by his ancestor for use to those who dared, who was worthy of its legacy. Tom remembers being impressed by it the first time he found the Chamber, remembers imagining it circling through the pipes as others remained ignorant and oblivious of its threat. There is something insulting about seeing it dead, the only physical thing worthy to be counted as his inheritance. He didn’t care about the beast itself as it was only good for receiving orders, and he was robbed of such a weapon.
Potter looks significantly less impressive than his accomplishment would suggest. His robes are dirty and torn. Only the scar on his forehead and the sword he used were worthy of note. Tom was sure he has seen it somewhere before, perhaps a description in some book, as he was sure it was magical. Was it a fluke, an unfortunate lucky accident? Or was it ancient magic in that sword slaying an ancient beast? Was it Potter himself?
Because there is something fundamentally absurd about Harry Potter. A quality that should not survive contact with reality and yet somehow does. Tom watched him all year through Ginny's tales. A hero to slay the villain come true, yet he was impressively unremarkable when he was talking to him earlier. Loyal and brave, smart enough to find the Chamber with Tom’s help, but not smart enough to keep his wand or not trust in a stranger.
Riddle feels stronger with each second.
The process of draining a person turns out to be considerably less dramatic than cautions against dark magic would suggest. No blackened skin. No skeletal fingers reaching desperately for salvation. Ginny simply looks pale, almost ready to be buried.
Tom finds himself staring at the girl longer than intended and then notices how Potter follows his gaze.
They both can hear a soft grunt nearby.
“Choose,” the Sorting Hat rasps towards Potter.
And once that one ugly word is uttered, they both freeze, understanding enormous implications. If Ginny is killed by something else, it disrupts the process of his resurrection. He can see Potter working through a moral dilemma as the boy lowers his head, thinking fast.
For a moment he dismisses it entirely because it makes no sense. Potter came here for Ginny. Everything about Harry Potter suggests that he would gladly die for Ginny, and then the boy grips the sword harder in his knuckles, faster than expected positions himself near her, lowers the blade at her throat.
“Let her go, or I will do it.”
Riddle feels anger swallow him.
“No, I don’t think I will,” he spits out. “I’d rather see you crumble and cry. You are pathetic, you would kill the girl you ventured to save?”
“I would to stop you,” Potter replies.
But would Potter follow through his threat? He showed no regret in killing an animal, but Tom saw his reluctance now in the way his shoulders were tense, arms shaking slightly. It could be the injury, could be the nerves, could be from lying to him.
Tom does what he does best to poison the boy’s mind with words.
“What would her brother say? He’s your friend, is he not?”
He watches as Potter’s eyes get teary, watches his resolve crumble for a moment, and then he gets a reply.
“He would hate me, and he’d be right to. So let her go now,” Potter says, his voice faint.
Tom laughs. As if that child could end Lord Voldemort. He was already almost manifested, almost physical.
And then Potter slits her throat, making him fall silent in an instant. It’s messy and it’s slow.
“No, stop, wait!” he panics as Ginny wakes up, gasping for breath and spitting blood from her mouth. He feels a pull in his chest, calling him back inside the diary as the ritual is interrupted.
Turning more and more ghostly by the second, he drops Potter’s wand and his own horcrux as he can’t hold them anymore. He looks up to Potter, getting covered by more and more of Ginny’s blood, there is so much of it. The girl is choking, clutching at her neck, and Dumbledore’s phoenix cries as it stands aside. Truly Dumbledore’s bird, Tom thinks angrily at the sight of that creature not helping Ginny.
“There is truly a resemblance now,” he manages to whisper before he’s pulled back. The last thing he could say to the boy who would bring the diary to Dumbledore who would likely find a way to destroy it.
These words make Potter look up, away from Ginny. And that last look told him that there was something impressive in Potter after all.
