Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 153: An unexpected gain
"Basilisks are extremely resistant to magic, so you used transfiguration…" Tom noted.
"Who are you really? I demand to know. Are you Albus Dumbledore?"
"The professor?" Little Harry stared at him with shock.
"I won't have a conversation with you, little fragment." Harry waved his wand at Tom.
The latter immediately got on guard but was too slow.
With one fluid motion, Harry chained three silent spells, starting with a 'silencio', followed by an 'expelliarmus', and ending with an 'incarcerous'.
The holly wand flew in the air and landed in his hand as Tom fell down, covered in white chains.
But as soon as he hit the floor, his body disappeared.
"He's gone?!" Little Harry exclaimed.
"No… the only way to get rid of him and save Ginny is to destroy this diary." Harry gave Little Harry the black book.
"Destroy it? Can we just burn it?" The boy asked.
"With fiendfyre, maybe, but normal fire will not damage a Horcrux." He mentioned that name on purpose, hoping that Dumbledore would later read these memories from little Harry.
'May as well give them a heads-up.'
"Hor…what?" Little Harry had never heard that name before.
"Remember this because it's important. A Horcrux is a container with a piece of someone's soul. It allows you to extend your life, as long as the containers are not destroyed,"
Harry explained while walking towards the basilisk head. Once below it, he used a cutting charm to sever one of its fangs and allow it to fall.
Before it touched the ground, Harry picked it up by the cut side.
"There are a few things that can destroy these containers. Fiendfyre and Basilisk venom are the easiest ones to use." He walked back to little Harry.
"Put the book on the floor."
Harry released the protection on Ginny. She remained there, floating in the air with her eyes closed.
"Is she going to be okay?" Little Harry asked.
"She will be after we destroy that… right now, her soul is being contained in there along with Tom Riddle's. Once we destroy the container, her soul will be set free."
"So… you are going to stab the diary with that?" Little Harry pointed at the giant fang.
"No, you are going to do it."
"What?!" Little Harry was startled. He did not find the idea of holding a fang with the deadliest venom in the world appealing.
"Just don't poke yourself with it and you'll be fine." Harry handed the fang, and the boy took it with utmost care.
"But wait a moment, I'll tell you when to stab it," Harry instructed.
"What are you going to do?" Little Harry asked when he saw his other version waving his wand around.
"Shhh… be quiet for a moment, I need to focus… I'm not very good with this."
Little Harry was now even more curious. After seeing him kill the basilisk like it was nothing, he wondered what kind of magical feat could be considered difficult for him.
Chunks of rock came flying by themselves and started to circle above Harry.
They then clumped together and started to melt into one and deform as if they were made of clay.
The new material became darker in color and shrank in size until it was no bigger than a tennis ball.
"What is that black thing?" Little Harry asked, but received no answer.
Harry then changed the shape of the material until it formed a small flask.
Finally, he manifested a series of runes in the air.
Little Harry was surprised as he found this to be similar to the magic performed by Tom moments ago when he spelled his name.
The runes also started with an orange color but as Harry placed them onto the black container, they changed color and became pure white.
After placing the last rune, Harry examined the still-floating container before taking it with his left hand.
"This should work…" He sighed in relief. As usual, he found it very stressful to work with runes. Just one tiny mistake could change the intended effect into something catastrophic.
"So… you just made a flask?" Little Harry could not hide his disappointment. He was expecting something much more impressive.
"It's a very special flask, trust me. Now, I want you to-"
"Stop!" Tom Riddle appeared again. His calm expression was now gone, replaced by panic. "You can't do that. If you destroy that diary, you will also kill the girl!"
Little Harry gasped in shock and moved his eyes to look at Harry, hoping for an explanation.
"Of course, he is going to tell you that… he doesn't want to die. He will tell you anything to prevent you from destroying that diary," Harry explained.
"Don't listen to him! He's been lying to you the whole time! He's an impostor. He wants to betray you!" Tom shouted.
Seeing little Harry hesitate, he spoke again.
"That's Voldemort… are you really going to trust anything he says?"
"Ah…" Little Harry realized. He gave him a nod and lifted the fang in the air.
"No, stop!" Tom tried to stop him but couldn't do much before the fang made contact with the diary.
"Ahhh!" Tom screamed with agony as grey smoke came out of the place where little Harry had buried the fang.
The smoke quickly divided itself into two, one white and one black.
The white smoke went inside Ginny while the black smoke started to dissipate.
"No, you are not leaving." Harry activated the runes on his flask.
They shone brightly, and an intense wind vortex formed at the mouth of the black vial.
All the black smoke was quickly driven into the container, and once it was all inside, the entrance transformed and sealed itself, preventing any of it from escaping.
"Got most of it." Harry grinned. He did not plan for this, but when he saw the diary again, he realized that he had to try it.
Now he had in his power a fragment of Voldemort's soul.
'A surprising gain!' he thought.
As the white smoke returned to her, Ginny seemed to come back to life and started making noises and moving.
"Ginny!" Little Harry forgot about everything else going on and ran to her side.
"Catch her, I'm going to release the levitation charm I put on her."
"She is waking up!" With the girl in his arms, little Harry felt a wave of relief washing over him.
"Here, this is yours." Harry returned the holly wand to the boy.
"Thanks… uh…" Little Harry stared at him. "Are you really me?"
Harry chuckled. "Why is it so hard to believe? Magic can make the impossible… possible."
"Then… would I also be able to do all those things you did? Like, all that magic!" The boy asked.
"Sure, but you will have to work hard. This means more study and less messing around with Ron."
Little Harry flinched at that moment. "Can you teach me? I want to learn."
Harry felt his vision becoming blurry.
"I don't think I have time for that… but you have great teachers to learn from at Hogwarts, except for Snape… and Lockhart."
"Wait!" Little Harry saw him fading away.
His vision became dark. "That girl you are holding… you better take care of her… and good luck."
He was going to need it.
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