Were You Expecting More?
Harry and Percy tightened their grips around the swords in their hands as their bodies trembled with rage. They didn't want to believe what they were seeing, since they'd just watched Ginny stop breathing right in front of them.
Tom simply looked at them and smiled with delight.
"Too late."
"It's already too late, Harry Potter," Tom repeated as he slowly spread his arms, as if enjoying the feeling of the air brushing against his own skin.
The transparency that still remained in some parts of him disappeared completely. Even his feet finally cast a shadow across the floor of the Chamber.
"Finally..." he murmured as he looked at his own hands with a smile. "After all, I can't trust a stupid monster to finish the job that should be mine. To finish off the Boy Who Lived."
Harry and Percy just stared at him.
Tom raised his head toward them.
"Now it doesn't matter what you do. Ginny Weasley can no longer be saved. My return is complete, and you two will be useful to me. No, your bodies and blood will be..."
Before Tom could finish his evil explanation, something suddenly fell in front of Harry and Percy.
Plop.
Harry and Percy looked down.
Meanwhile, Tom's smile froze for a moment.
It was that black diary that had started all of this.
The two stared at it in silence for a moment.
Then they slowly raised their eyes toward Tom.
Tom looked at them.
Harry and Percy looked back at the diary.
And both of them, in perfect sync, without changing their expressions, simply raised the swords they were holding.
Tom's eyes widened, already knowing what they were about to do.
"No!" he shouted nervously.
Harry and Percy didn't need to say anything and brought their swords down at the same time, straight toward the diary on the floor.
"Wait!"
SCHLK.
SCHLK.
Both swords pierced through the diary immediately, as if they'd stabbed into something alive.
Black blood began pouring out, and at the same time, Tom, who was standing only a few meters away, grabbed his chest with both hands, filled with pain, as he let out a scream of agony.
Then he spread his arms, and there they could see two invisible blades piercing completely through his chest.
"AAAAH!"
Harry blinked.
Percy did too.
"..."
Both of them raised their swords again and stabbed through the diary at the same time, with the perfect synchronization only two brothers could have.
Tom's entire body began filling with cracks as he screamed in pain and started feeling his existence being violently erased.
And then his body, which had finally managed to become real thanks to Ginny's life force, couldn't take it anymore and violently exploded.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
An enormous amount of light burst out of his body as Tom Riddle screamed at the top of his lungs.
Harry and Percy watched without looking away even for a moment, until finally the Chamber fell completely silent.
"Was that it?" Percy asked, unable to help feeling slightly confused. "Is it just me, or was I expecting more from this final boss?" he added, looking at the diary.
Then he saw the blade of his sword stained with that black blood and couldn't help making a disgusted face at seeing his precious sword dirty.
Harry ignored his brother's nonsense and ran straight toward Ginny, worried.
Without hesitating, he placed his fingers against her neck, feeling for her pulse.
Harry's eyes widened.
"She has a pulse!" he shouted excitedly and prepared to perform CPR if necessary.
But he didn't even need to touch her before Ginny suddenly took a deep breath, and her skin, pale as death, began regaining its color.
Although she was still unconscious.
Harry let out a sigh.
"Just in time. If we'd been even one second later..." Harry murmured as he touched his chest.
Percy, hearing Harry's words, also relaxed much more as he approached Tyson.
Obviously, he wasn't planning on doing CPR, knowing the big guy was fine, since apparently Tom wanted to use him for something else, although they didn't really know what. And the last words Tom had said when he thought he'd already won also made him think a little.
"So we did it," Percy said, letting out a sigh of relief as he looked around and his gaze settled on Riddle's diary. "I told you handsome guys can't be trusted," Percy said, but then he thought for a moment. "By the way, who threw Tom's diary toward us?"
Harry moved his fingers slightly when he heard Percy's question, since it had happened at exactly the right moment. If it hadn't fallen in front of them, they might never have realized what Tom's weakness was.
"That would be me," a soft and calm voice said right behind them. "But who would've expected our two little ones to get themselves into so much danger during this school year?" she added.
The instant Harry and Percy heard that voice, they sat completely rigid with their eyes wide open, perfectly recognizing that voice and that tone as a chill ran through their bodies.
Like two machines that hadn't been oiled, they slowly turned their necks, far more afraid than they'd been just moments ago in front of the basilisk, Tom, or anything else.
When they finally turned toward that voice, they saw her.
She was standing beside the basilisk's enormous body, staring at it for a moment before raising her beautiful eyes toward both of them.
Her blood-red hair fell from beneath her black witch's hat, matching her robes, while as always, she gave off an aura that was dangerous and at the same time filled with power.
It was none other than their Aunt Mor.
And standing beside her was Lia, the Jackson-Potter family's little elf, looking quite frightened by the basilisk's gigantic body.
Harry swallowed.
Percy did the same.
Mor looked at Ginny first.
Then Tyson.
Then the enormous basilisk lying on the floor.
Finally, she looked at the bloodstained swords her two nephews were still holding.
Her smile grew slightly.
"Well..."
Harry and Percy became even more rigid.
"Which one of you wants to explain to me what happened here?"