professor dumbledore.
yes, professor. i suppose i -- i just had to see for myself, if.
 the rumors were true.
about the school as well? they wouldn't really close hogwarts, would they, professor?
sir? if it all stopped. if the person responsible was caught.
no, sir. nothing. dumbledore studies riddle for a moment.
evening, hagrid. hagrid slams the door shut.
i'm going to have to turn you in, hagrid. i don't think you meant it to kill anyone --
hagrid. the dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. the least hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered.
she won't wake. harry spins. tom riddle stands nearby. he is strangely blurred around the edges, as though harry was looking at him through a misted window.
she's still alive. but only just.
a memory. preserved in a diary for fifty years. harry looks to the diary in ginny's hand, then places his own hand on ginny's arm.
it won't come until it's called. harry looks up, sees riddle twirling a wand in his fingers.
you won't be needing it.
i'm afraid i can't do that, harry. you see, as poor ginny grows weaker.  i grow stronger.
yes. i'm afraid so. but then, she's been in so much pain, poor ginny. she's been writing to me for months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes. ginny poured her soul out to me. i grew stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. i grew powerful enough to start feeding ginny a few secrets, to start pouring a bit of my soul back into her.  riddle, growing less vaporous by the second, grins cruelly.
yes, harry, it was ginny weasley who opened the chamber of secrets.
it was ginny who set the basilisk on the mudbloods and the squib's cat. ginny who wrote threatening messages on the walls.
because i told her to. you'll find that i can be very persuasive. not that she knew what she was doing. she was, shall we say, in a kind of trance. still, the power of the diary began to scare her and she tried to dispose of it in the girls' bathroom. but then, who should find it.  but you. the very person i was most anxious to meet.
ginny told me all about you. i knew i had to talk to you, meet you if i could. so i decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf, hagrid, to gain your trust.
it was my word against hagrid's. only dumbledore seemed to think hagrid was innocent.
i knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again while i was still at school. so i decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day.  i would be able to lead another to finish salazar slytherin's noble work.
haven't i told you, that killing mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? for many months now, my new target has been.  you. imagine my disappointment when i learned ginny had stolen the diary back from you.
she was afraid. afraid you'd learn how to work the diary. afraid i'd tell you just who it was that had been strangling all those roosters. horrified, harry glances at ginny, growing more pale, then back to riddle, who is growing more solid.
come now, harry. don't look so disappointed. had ginny succeeded in destroying the diary, she would have destroyed me. and we couldn't be having this little talk. and i have so many questions for you.
well, how is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent 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?
voldemort is my past, present and future. riddle pulls harry's wand from his pocket and begins to trace it through the air, writing three words: "tom marvolo riddle." then, with a wave, he re-arranges them:
surely you didn't think i would keep my filthy muggle father's name?
no, i fashioned myself a new name, a name i knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when i became the greatest sorcerer in the world.
dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me.
this is what dumbledore sends his defender! a songbird and an old hat! riddle tosses aside the hat. he turns to the statue of salazar slytherin and speaks in parseltongue.
speak to me, slytherin. suddenly, the stone face's mouth opens. there is a rumbling sound, followed by the sound of slithering. harry turns away. the basilisk, a giant serpent, spills out, uncoiling heavily to the floor. harry turns to the wall. the shadow of the serpent is visible on the wall. pan to tom riddle, looking at harry.
let's match the powers of lord voldemort, heir of salazar slytherin, against the famous harry potter, shall we? riddle turns, to serpent, speaking in parseltongue.
kill him! the hissing serpent shoots forward. harry turns, runs away.
parseltongue won't save you now, potter. the basilisk only obeys me.
fool! think you're safe! it can still hear you! as harry flees, the serpent thunders after, striking blindly as its whipping tail shatters a slytherin statue. harry dodges and ducks, then, seeing the snake about to strike again.  leaps clear, stumbling toward a side
yes, potter. the process is nearly complete. in a few minutes, ginny weasley will be dead. and i will cease to be a memory. lord voldemort will return. very much.  alive. harry moves toward ginny, then suddenly.  the basilisk shoots out of the tunnel, hissing directly in front of harry. trapped, harry glances around, then -- impulsively -- leaps upward, begins to scale the statue of salazar slytherin. the serpent strikes madly, but harry continues on, climbing boldly until he reaches the top. he turns. sees the sorting hat. sees what glitters within: the ruby handle of a sword. harry wheels, sword in hand, and fends off the slashing serpent like st. george and the dragon. in a mad rush of courage, he pitches himself onto the serpent, slides down its back and rolls up, sword raised. too tired to flee, harry simply waits. the serpent rises and, fangs
remarkable, isn't it? how quickly the venom of the basilisk penetrates the body? if you have any final words, potter, you'd best speak them now. i'd guess you have little more than a minute to live. harry blinks heavily, watching as the skin of his forearm turns a troubling gray.
so ends the famous harry potter. on his knees in the chamber of secrets. defeated at last by the dark lord he so unwisely challenged. you'll be back with your dear mudblood mother soon, harry.  as riddle talks, harry glances at ginny, nearly white now, a small ghost, the only evidence of life the trembling of a single finger. harry studies the finger and what lies beneath it: tom riddle's diary. harry begins to crawl toward her.
funny, isn't it? the damage a silly little book can do? especially in the hands of a silly little girl. as harry reaches ginny, he places his hand on hers, then.  slips the diary free.
what are you doing? no. stop.  riddle's face creases in fear. he lunges forward. but harry is too quick. raising his hand high.  he plunges the fang into the book. instantly, black ink spurts from the pages.
no! riddle shrieks, writhing in pain. his body begins to wither instantly, growing blurry once more. as the ink runs off harry's fingers to the floor, riddle vanishes altogether. harry sinks back, then.  hears a faint moan. ginny stirs, color blooming in her cheeks. as she sees harry, she sobs.