After a dizzying blur of space and motion, Lewis found himself inside a massive unfamiliar chamber.
The room was enormous and dimly lit. Under the faint glow of several flickering flames along the walls, Lewis could see towering stone pillars carved with giant serpents supporting the darkness overhead.
At the very front stood a colossal statue dozens of meters tall.
The statue possessed the wrinkled, monkey-like face of an ancient old man. Sparse strands of beard reached nearly all the way down to the hem of the stone wizard robes. Two enormous gray feet rested atop the smooth chamber floor.
It was the statue of Slytherin.
And before the statue—
A battle between magical creatures was unfolding.
No.
It had already stopped being a battle.
It was a one-sided hunt.
A gigantic serpent-like creature was relentlessly chasing a crimson bird through the chamber.
Beside the snake stood a translucent, ghost-like figure with folded arms, leisurely watching the spectacle unfold.
Lewis recognized the bird instantly.
Dumbledore's phoenix.
The giant serpent, naturally, was the basilisk.
And the translucent observer—
The Heir of Slytherin.
Tom Riddle.
At first glance, the phoenix appeared to hold a massive advantage. It was agile, capable of flight, and could attack the grounded basilisk while staying out of reach as long as it remained careful.
But reality wasn't that simple.
The basilisk couldn't fly, but its massive body stretched dozens of meters long. A few strikes from the phoenix meant little to it.
The phoenix was nimble, yes—but it was far smaller.
One bite.
That was all it would take.
Dumbledore's phoenix was incredibly brave. Even while fighting alone, it still fearlessly challenged the basilisk.
But by now it was covered in wounds and clearly nearing its limit.
As for the phoenix's teammate?
That unfortunate teammate was currently lying at Lewis's feet.
Looking down, Lewis saw two "corpses" sprawled nearby.
The missing students.
Harry Potter and his best friend, Ron Weasley.
Beside Harry lay a thick diary pierced clean through by a silver sword.
Not far away rested the Sorting Hat, collapsed limply on the ground.
In truth, Lewis could sense they were both still alive.
But their condition was terrible.
Every bodily function remained active, yet they appeared weak and unconscious, almost as though they had gone into shock.
At the sight of them, Hermione nearly screamed aloud.
But she immediately clamped both hands over her mouth.
What had happened here?
Why were the two of them lying there?
Why had the diary been stabbed?
Even as the phoenix struggled desperately against the basilisk, Lewis remained calm.
He crouched down and retrieved the talisman from Harry's body.
He understood better than anyone that information was the most important factor in any battle.
The moment his hand touched the talisman, the hidden magic Lewis had embedded inside activated.
A stream of recorded memories flowed into his mind.
This was another enchantment Lewis had secretly added to the talisman—it could record events occurring nearby.
Within the memory, Lewis saw Harry leaving him and Hermione before returning to Gryffindor Tower to confront Ron.
Under Harry's questioning, Ron suddenly realized the truth himself and confessed that he had seemingly been controlled by a diary. He also revealed that an older student named Tom Riddle had been secretly influencing him all along.
But before he could fully explain everything, a phantom suddenly emerged beside Ron, knocked Harry unconscious, and manipulated Ron into dragging Harry all the way to the abandoned bathroom.
Then the phantom hissed in Parseltongue to open the hidden mechanism and brought both boys into the Chamber.
Much later, Harry finally regained consciousness and discovered Ron lying beside him.
"Ron!"
Harry rushed over and dropped to his knees.
"Ron! What's wrong with you?! Please—please don't die!"
Seeing his friend motionless, Harry cried out desperately.
"Right… CPR!"
Harry suddenly remembered the emergency rescue lessons from his Muggle primary school.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his head and pressed his mouth toward Ron's—
Apparently intending to spit water into him?
Before even one mouthful could go in, a strange voice interrupted.
"I didn't realize you had those kinds of interests, Harry Potter," the voice said with undisguised disgust and contempt. "Your relationship is even more… intimate than I imagined."
Harry jerked upright in shock.
Only then did he realize the person who had knocked him unconscious was still here, casually flipping through a diary.
"Who are you?" Harry demanded.
"My name is Tom Riddle," the boy replied as he closed the diary. "I was once a student at Hogwarts."
"Tom Riddle… you're the owner of Ron's diary!" Harry exclaimed. "What did you do to Ron?"
"Ah, Ron. Ron is a good boy. He gave me far too much life force while leaving too little for himself," Riddle said leisurely.
Hearing those words, Harry slowly understood the implication hidden beneath them.
His face turned pale.
"You mean… Ron is going to… die?!"
"Not entirely," the translucent figure replied calmly.
"Not entirely? What does that even mean?!" Harry shouted.
"It means whether Ron lives or dies… depends on what you choose to do next."
Harry tried desperately to understand.
"What do you want from me?"
"I brought you here because you have a role to fulfill."
"Then why bring us into the Chamber at all?!" Harry took a step backward and tightened his grip on his wand. "If you're trying to hurt Hogwarts students, then forget it! I'm not helping a murderer like you!"
"Ah… the Chamber. The murderer. It seems you know more than I expected," Tom said with genuine surprise.
"You're cleverer than I imagined, Harry. It seems you uncovered quite a few truths."
"But relax, Harry. If I truly wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't have woken up."
"The reason I brought you here is because only you are the person I need."
Harry felt no sense of honor whatsoever.
Toward the person controlling Ron, attacking students, and forcing endless blame onto him, Harry felt only anger.
Coldly, he replied:
"Sorry, but you picked the wrong person. I'm not helping you."
"You still don't understand, my foolish Potter." Riddle shook his head with a bright smile. "The one who chose you wasn't me."
"It was Ron Weasley."
"He was the one who made me choose you."
"I don't believe you. Ron would never betray me," Harry replied firmly.
"The foolish Potter still defending his precious friend."
Tom's smile widened further.
"And yet your dear friend told me nearly everything about you. When he spoke to me, he held nothing back."
Hearing that, Harry felt a sharp pain stab through his chest.
"You… you murderer. If you hurt Ron in any way—"
"Hurt?" Tom Riddle seemed amused. "I certainly took things from him. But as I said before, everything he gave me was voluntary."
Harry's voice trembled slightly.
"So what exactly did you take from Ron?!"
"Oh, now that is an interesting topic," the phantom said cheerfully, as though discussing one of his greatest achievements. "But it's a long story. Let's begin from the beginning."
"In truth, Ron was not the first person to make a deal with me. My first partner was actually his younger sister, Ginny."
"She was a very simple little girl. Within a single month, she completely opened her heart to me and provided me with my first supply of life force."
"But one thing about her infuriated me."
"She was too useless. She actually got caught while carrying out the tasks I assigned."
"Although I still don't know who discovered her, I chose to act cautiously while my strength remained weak and decided to find a different host."
"So I began evaluating the people around her."
"And then I discovered her brother—Ron Weasley."
"A far better target than little Ginny."
"And so…"
"I chose him."
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