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Harry had never imagined he would encounter Jane Yu under such horrific circumstances.
In the dimly lit corridor, everything within his sight was stained crimson with blood.
Scarlet spatters covered every surface, with red liquid slowly trickling down the walls onto the floor. Even the ceiling hadn't been spared. Dark crimson pools had formed in some places, while others displayed crusted patches of dried blood.
This crimson scene bore witness to what must have been a fierce battle... no, massacre would be a more accurate description.
Professor Lockhart's once-white robes were now completely saturated with red, his body grotesquely folded and stuffed into a barrel. His head lolled to one side, limbs dangling lifelessly over the edges. Whether he was alive or dead remained unclear.
Jane Yu stood nearby, her black and green robes splattered with countless droplets of blood, her face similarly marked. She clutched her wand tightly in one hand while leaning against the wall, the other hand pressed against her chest. She looked deathly pale, as if clinging to her last breath.
A strong, acrid odor permeated the air, reminiscent of Professor Snape's most noxious potions, making Harry's stomach turn.
Death and fear became the only thoughts his mind could process.
Suddenly, Jane's remaining strength seemed to desert her, and she began sliding down the wall.
The legendary Gryffindor courage surged through Harry's chest!
Casting aside his fears, he lunged forward, catching Jane before she could collapse completely. He attempted to hoist her onto his back, saying urgently, "Yu! Hold on! We need to get to the Hospital Wing!"
But he hadn't considered how difficult it would be for a twelve-year-old to carry another. They barely made it two steps before tumbling to the ground.
"No, Harry, take me to the bathroom..." Jane's weak voice whispered near his ear.
Tears streaming down his face, he firmly refused, "We must go to the Hospital Wing, you're bleeding so much!"
He tried to lift her again, but she resisted. Jane leaned against him, her eyes half-closed, seemingly using her last remnants of strength to speak:
"The bathroom, Harry... it's the entrance to the Chamber. Only Parseltongue can open it."
"I've already notified the professors, they'll be here soon... hurry, we can't waste any more time."
"Do you want to watch the culprit who killed us escape and murder more students?"
Harry's body trembled violently as fear, concern, and courage warred within him. Finally, he relented, supporting Jane as they made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Myrtle flew out from her toilet, but froze when she saw Jane covered in blood.
"No! No!" she screamed, rushing toward them, but forgetting her incorporeal state, passed right through them - feeling like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over both Harry and Jane.
"I'm fine, Myrtle, don't worry," Jane tried to reassure her.
But Myrtle looked even more furious, glaring at Harry with hatred.
Jane weakly leaned against a stall door and spoke softly, "Harry, say something in Parseltongue to it."
Harry stared intently at the tiny snake carved on the tap, trying to imagine it as a real serpent.
"Open," he said, producing a strange hissing sound.
The tap began spinning rapidly, then the entire sink moved, disappearing from view to reveal a large pipe - undoubtedly the entrance to the Chamber.
Finally feeling some relief, Harry looked up at Jane.
"What do we do next?"
But his question was answered with a "Stupefy!"
He felt his body go limp as he collapsed, his eyes closing involuntarily as darkness engulfed him.
Myrtle screamed as she flew through his body and out of the bathroom.
...
The moment Harry fell, Jane sprang up with surprising vigor.
She never expected the unfortunate victim she'd caught would be the protagonist himself!
Shaking her head, she silently apologized to Harry in her heart.
Then she quickly went back to the corridor to retrieve her large brush, adding another line beneath the previous messages:
[THE SKELETON OF HARRY POTTER WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER]
She returned to the bathroom, hoisted the unconscious Harry onto her shoulder, and jumped into the pipe.
She failed to notice that a corner of the diary in her robes had pressed against Harry's hand and was now trembling slightly, drawing streams of magical power from his body.
The Chamber looked exactly as it had during her last visit. The tunnel floor was lined with an enormous snake skin, twenty feet long. At the tunnel's end stood what had once been a solid wall carved with serpents, now demolished by the basilisk, leaving only scattered rubble.
Beyond lay the basilisk's lair, with towering pillars carved with great serpents and a statue - presumably of Salazar Slytherin in his later years, with sparse, straggly beard, looking ancient and decrepit.
The basilisk's corpse lay quietly in a corner of the chamber, partially hidden behind the thick stone pillars.
She placed Harry behind one of the pillars and took out the diary, intending to walk to the basilisk's corpse and end things with its venomous fang.
But if something could go wrong, it inevitably would.
A gray, misty form emerged from the diary - a tall, black-haired boy who appeared no older than sixteen, his features slightly blurred.
Without even glancing at Jane, he strode directly to the statue and bowed respectfully:
"Mr. Slytherin, your heir awaits your guidance."
The statue remained unresponsive to his words.
"Mr. Slytherin?" he asked, growing confused as he raised his head to address the statue again. "I received your summons."
The statue remained motionless, its carved, wild-looking beard seeming to mock his foolishness.
The boy's expression changed as he turned around, finally noticing Jane holding the diary.
"You! It was you!" he shrieked in a piercing voice. "You deceived me!"
This was bad.
The unexpected confrontation made Jane's heart sink.
Riddle clenched his fists, his features twisting with rage as if he might cast the Killing Curse at any moment.
But he quickly regained his composure, returning to his polite demeanor and displaying an odd smile:
"Look what we have here."
Jane looked closer and realized it was Lockhart's confiscated wand, now being twirled between Tom Riddle's long fingers. She had kept it in her pocket, but somehow it had fallen and he'd retrieved it.
Riddle's smile grew more pronounced as he slipped the wand into his pocket:
"A wand is half of a wizard's being. Didn't Dumbledore teach you never to carelessly misplace your wand?"
"Though I suppose not... he never did trust students from Slytherin."
He leaned against a pillar and continued:
"The most important lesson for a Slytherin... is never to trust others blindly, not to be like those foolish Gryffindors who bare their souls to invisible strangers and confess all their secrets."
As he spoke, he observed Jane's expression, seemingly anticipating her response.
"Ginny Weasley?" Jane asked.
Riddle nodded pleasantly, speaking in a casual tone:
"Indeed. She wrote her heart out in my diary for months, opening her soul to me, allowing me to feed on it until I grew strong enough to possess her and open the Chamber."
"After a long time, she finally grew suspicious and threw me away... but then you found the diary."
He shook his head, apparently wanting to share his experience of being deceived:
"When you claimed to be Salazar Slytherin, I was furious, believing you had deceived me."
"But your soul was intriguing - I almost believed you were truly my long-surviving ancestor."
"I must admit, the promises of 'immortality,' 'centuries of magical power,' and 'ruling the magical world' were quite tempting. You nearly had me convinced."
Jane now fully understood the embarrassment of having one's lies exposed by the very person they were meant to deceive.
Riddle casually flicked the wand, suddenly making hissing sounds.
"Did you hear that?" he continued with a victor's demeanor. "Salazar Slytherin's blood flows in my veins, passed down through his descendant's daughter! I am his true heir!"
"Only I am worthy of his wealth, his legacy, his Chamber, and his pet!"
Riddle smiled mockingly as he played with the wand:
"Such lies... fortunately, I didn't trust you completely."
"That's why I lured you to the Chamber. If you were truly my ancestor, he would naturally protect his descendant; if not, I have ways to kill you here. Your verbal desecration of my bloodline and your deception deserve a hundred deaths."
Jane had never felt so calm.
She knew she could only try to buy time until the professors found them through her message:
"You gave me your power, yet you've recovered. How?"
Riddle burst into maniacal laughter:
"Yes, I was weak. As I said, I almost believed your story."
"Fortunately, I came to my senses in time - you let me touch that boy called Harry, giving me an opportunity."
"Ginny told me much about him... I was curious, I could sense something in him similar to myself."
He stared in Harry's direction, seemingly puzzled, but then shook his head:
"No matter. I'll deal with him after I kill you."
He fixed his gaze on her, revealing a fierce smile as he declared:
"You cunning, deceitful, blood-tainting mongrel, daring to deceive me-"
"Today shall be your death! I bet you've never experienced an Unforgivable Curse!"
He raised his wand, pointing it directly at Jane, his eyes filled with tangible malice:
"Avada Kedavra!"