Tom sighed and shook his head with disappointment. "Pity…" He then turned to Pansy, and I watched in horror as she suddenly collapsed, as if the strings holding her upright had been cut.
"Pansy!" I yelled, rushing to her side. I checked for movement in her chest and felt her breath tickle my hair as I knelt beside her.
"I would have wanted the mudblood as a sacrifice," Tom said, his eyes descending to meet mine with a look of contempt. "But this one will do all the same…"
"Flipendo!!" I shouted, sending a knockback jinx at him—but it phased right through, striking the cave wall behind him and causing it to crumble.
Tom chuckled darkly. "Still just a memory… The only way to stop me from killing your friend is to give me that mudblood."
I ripped the diary from Pansy's hands and threw it to the ground. "Incendio!!" Flames burst from the tip of my wand, bathing the floor in red-hot fire. When the steam cleared, the black leather-bound diary lay untouched.
"Did you really think I would store my memory in such a fragile container? You can't stop me. You can either join me and keep your friend… or oppose me and lose them both—along with your own life."
I gritted my teeth, hatred boiling within me for the being who now stood behind me, whispering in my ear.
"Your True Heir commands the seal of my forefather's loyal subject to show himself!" Tom shouted, turning to face the statue of Salazar Slytherin. I watched as its mouth began to open with the grinding sound of shifting stone.
"Yes…" the Basilisk answered soullessly. It was clear it was under control—worse than Pansy had been, somehow.
I stowed my wand, opened my robes, and took out the largest and strongest bottle I had prepared for this moment. I also took a swig of my Vitamix, and the world grew sharper beneath my gaze.
"Calling on your cursed blood again for temporary strength?" Tom mocked. "It won't help you. Nothing can pierce those scales."
He smirked, confident, and I glanced at the second bottle. I smashed the cork, shook the bottle, then hurled it into Salazar's stone mouth.
The concoction was the most caustic mixture I had ever developed—designed to eat through organic matter in seconds. Acromantula venom, snake venom and fangs, armadillo bile… It nearly dissolved the vials I stored it in. To stabilize it, I kept the venom in a separate glass ampoule between two corks—crushing it mixed everything in one deadly reaction.
It was my first attempt—and I prayed it would work.
The bottle shattered just above the mouth, releasing a visible, toxic gas as it slowly dripped downward. I turned away, assuming the Basilisk would detect the danger and retreat.
Instead, a piercing screech of agony erupted behind me.
I turned to see the Basilisk thrashing in the water beneath Salazar's face, writhing as its eyes bubbled and dissolved.
"What have you done!?" Tom shouted.
"What have you done!?" I screamed. "Any creature would smell that and flee! Only something with no will to live would stay! This isn't control—it's complete domination!"
I stared at him in disbelief and rage—for what he'd done to the Basilisk… and to Pansy.
"Self-righteous nonsense!" he spat. "Blinding it won't stop death itself! Kill him! Kill him now!"
The Basilisk stopped moving, bloodied eyes steaming, but the water had diluted the worst of the mixture. Despite unimaginable pain, it obeyed its master's command.
"Don't do this!" I shouted, but the Basilisk only honed in on my voice and lunged.
I cast a knockback charm at Pansy, pushing her away as I leapt aside. She skidded across the wet stone near the lake's edge.
"Parseltongue won't save you now, Peterson! I've bound her mind to obey only me!" Tom laughed as I bolted down a narrow tunnel to lure the Basilisk away from both girls.
The creature chased me relentlessly. I could hear its hissing just behind me in the pitch black as I weaved through the tight passageways.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" it shrieked.
I spotted a pipe between two snake statues and dove toward it. "Flipendo!" I shouted, aiming at the cave ceiling. Rocks tumbled down behind me, sealing the tunnel as I escaped into the pipe.
The Basilisk's cries were buried beneath the collapse.
I coughed, lungs filled with dust, before making my way back to the walkway.
Tom stood exactly where I'd left him, his expression darkened by my survival. "I gave you a chance to be part of something great," he said. "A commander in the most powerful dark wizard's army! And you side with that mudblood? You betray your heritage, your friends, your future. Are you even a real Slytherin?"
Each step I took echoed in the water, deliberate and dripping with fury.
"You may be right…" I said, voice low and seething. "It's strange. Maybe I started caring for non-pure-bloods because my parents compared them to beasts—creatures I held in high regard. Beasts they hated out of ignorance…"
I paused, glancing at Pansy, unconscious in the distance, then back at Hermione—eyes wide, terrified, and glistening with tears.
That sight fanned the flames in my chest.
"I didn't choose this path out of morality, or some noble belief in equality like Merlin might have wanted," I snarled, now smiling bitterly. "I just couldn't stand the thought of you getting your way. You're a shadow of the past, Tom—a rotting echo. And for what you've done… I revile you."
The words tore out of me, decades of repressed fury given voice.
But with the rage came something worse.
I groaned, clutching my skull as searing pain burst behind my eyes. A migraine—fast and brutal.
"Vitamix," Tom said with glee. "Harnessing your cursed blood always has side effects… Maybe even a trigger for early transformation? Shall we test it?"
His gaze drifted behind me. I turned—and froze.
The Basilisk was rising from the water beside Hermione, still frozen by Tom's spell.
"Over here!" I shouted to distract it.
But Tom laughed. "Kill the one right in front of you."
"No!!" I sprinted toward Hermione as she struggled to move. The Basilisk towered over her, ready to strike.
Tom's voice echoed behind me, taunting. "Use all of them! Let's see if you die before you even reach the finish line!"
I didn't have time to reply.
I bit down on both remaining vials, crushing them between my teeth and swallowing the burning contents, spitting out the shards.
"Rrrraaahooo!!"
Pain exploded through my body. My scream twisted into a howl. My brown hair blackened, nails sharpened, skin roughened—strength surg
ed into every limb.
And just as the Basilisk began to strike, I was there—between it and Hermione.