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Harry hadn't believed the bloody message on the wall at first, had thought it to be a prank. Since second year everyone knew he was a parselmouth, so this had to be a prank…right? The increasing amount of people being petrified had changed his mind very quickly; especially when it had been Hermione's turn.
Now, Harry was standing in the vast, damp chamber that once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, with giant snake statues lining the sides and the huge head of the founder at the end.
Then he saw her. "Ginny!" he cried, running to her and dropping his wand in the process. He put his trembling hand against her chest, and there! Harry nearly sobbed in relief that she was still alive, that he wasn't too late. After Sirius, he just couldn't loose another person who meant so much to him.
"Wake up!" he begged, shaking her. To no avail.
"She won't wake, I'm afraid." Harry flinched, not having expected someone else to be here apart from them. When he turned around, it was Tom Riddle, the boy from the diary.
"Tom! What are you doing here, it's too dangerous!" Harry exclaimed, voice shaking in his frantic state. "Help me carry Ginny, we need to get out, there's a basilisk here!"
Tom, however, just stood there. A smirk was fixed on his handsome face, and he was twirling a wand in his pale, long-fingered hands. Wait, was that–
"My wand! Tom, give it back–"
"Or what?" Harry closed his mouth in horror at Tom's smug expression, the triumph in his voice. His brown eyes shown with gleeful mania, and suddenly it dawned upon Harry.
"You!" Harry breathed, shaking his head in denial as he stood up. Despite being the same age, Tom was a head taller than him. "You are the Heir of Slytherin, you tricked me!"
Riddle's smile widened, twisting his handsome features into something truly sinister. He reminded Harry of Voldemort, and a shudder run down his spine.
"Indeed I am," Tom proclaimed, throwing out his arms in a wide arc as he did a dramatic pause. "10 points to Gryffindor, but you are too late. In a few mere minutes your little girlfriend will be dead and I, Lord Voldemort, will be free!"
Harry stared at the melodramatic teenager across from him and the only thing his blank mind could think of was Dobby, declaring to be free just like Riddle just did. He laughed, more out of stress and mounting panic than anything else—Riddle was not amused. His left eye began to twitch in anger, smug smile vanishing as his lip curled and he bared his straight teeth at Harry.
"You dare laugh at me? After I tell you just who I am?" He chuckled humourlessly, "It will be I who will be the last one laughing."
Suddenly, Riddle turned towards the statue of Salazar Slytherin, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"
Harry's heart beat so wildly, he could hear his blood pumping in his ears. He debated lifting Ginny to try to flee with her, but she was too heavy at 15 years old and Riddle still had Harry's wand.
The loud noise of stone gliding over stone made him look back up from the pale girl lying on the floor. Out of the mouth of the statue a gigantic snake emerged. Quickly, Harry looked at the ground, breaths coming out as too fast gasps. He wanted to claw at himself for his rashness, at having been too hasty again. The last time had cost him his godfather, and this time it might hit him and Ginny, because he had absolutely no idea how to fight a bloody basilisk!"
He ran, hoping it would focus on him instead of Ginny and buy him more time to think of a way out. Riddle's giddy voice rand out once more, "Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter!"
Harry didn't dare look behind him, too busy running for his Merlin damned life as he heard the loud noises of scales gliding over stone floor. His mind was blank apart from repeating shit shit shit shit on loop. He was so dead.
After what felt like an eternity of running, dodging, and keeping his eyes averted or closed, Harry's time was up.
"AArgh!!" he screamed in pain as one of the creature's giant fangs pierced his forearm. Luckily, he could roll away at the last second or it would have eaten him. He stood up on shaking knees, tried to take a step, to bloody run—to no avail. His legs stopped working.
Riddle laughed in triumph, stepped closer and told his basilisk to stop its attacks; he wanted to watch the light leave Harry's green eyes. "Look at you, Harry. The venom will kill you in a matter of moments, any last, pathetic words?"
Harry just moaned in pain, falling to his hands and knees. There was no more feeling in his legs, it was as if they had stopped existing altogether. His arms buckled and, before he knew it, he fell face first onto the wet stone, groaning. His glasses fell off, and when Harry tried to reach for them, his arms were numb as well.
"What is this, what are you doing?! STOP!!" Riddle screamed frantically, running towards Harry.
But it was already too late.
With one last groan, Harry's body turned into that of a snake. Tom could only watch in fascinated horror as the boy's skin turned into iridescent scales, elongating. The serpent in front of him was very clearly a basilisk, just smaller, about as long as a broom and as wide as Tom's arm. He was, dare Tom say it, cute? Definitely the perfect size for a pet.
"How could this happen?!" he asked the original basilisk next to him, furious accusation clear in his voice."
The snake just moved her head up and down, tongue flicking out in assessment of the new serpent. "You did not tell me he is a parselmouth, master. Parselmouths turn into basilisks when bitten by one," the snake explained like it was Tom's fault. Stupid thing, Tom thought angrily. He walked up to the confused creature on the ground, its scales shimmering the colours of the rainbow in the sparse light. It's actually black, Tom guessed. He didn't know where the iridescence came from, since the one who bit Harry did not have it, but Tom rather liked it. He would keep Harry as a pet, he decided.
His mood lifted even more when he noticed the lack of connection to his diary; he was free, the girl had finally died. Smiling triumphantly, he bent down—of course, not before applying a protection charm with Harry's wand, Tom did not want to turn into a snake himself.
"Slither in a circle, Harry," he commanded, hoping Harry would listen to him just like Salazar's did.
"Fuck you, Riddle!" was the serpent's furious reply, followed by more, admittedly creative, hissed obscenities. "I'm not a pet!"
Riddle chuckled and picked him up. "Oh, Harry dear, you absolutely will be." Tom put another spell over Harry's fangs so even if he was bit, he would not be injected by any venom.
"Ginny's body will rot in this chamber and everyone will wonder what happened to The Boy Who Lived. Only I will know what really transpired. I will show you and your pretty iridescent scales off to everyone—maybe even your stupid friends—and no one will recognise you." He petted his struggling snake and leisurely walked towards the chamber exit.
It was time to rebuild Lord Voldemort's reputation now that there was no teenager in his way anymore. The original Voldemort had embarrassed them, Tom would fix that. His other version could play Horcrux now, he was done being contained.