Chapter 143 In the Secret Room
As the four of them marveled at the giant snake skin in the dark tunnel, Lockhart, who looked frightened, attacked quickly and eagerly. He rushed forward and snatched Ron's wand, and before Aidan could react, he shouted to his students, "Nothing as far as the eye can see!"
Before Aidan had time to worry about carrying Aryan's memories, he saw the bursting pattern caused by the backfire of the wand on the tip of the wand facing them. His crisis response instinct made him subconsciously run to the other side with Harry at hand.
The next moment, rubble came along with the sound of the explosion, and a stone wall formed by fallen rocks separated the four people into two teams. Ron stayed where he was and moved the stones away, while Harry and Aidan continued to move forward.
Maggie also continued to move forward. He nimbly shrank his body and squeezed through the seemingly airtight stone wall. Then he followed the two of them all the way to the last pair of stone pillars.
As soon as he saw Weasley's iconic red hair, Harry ran over calling Ginny's name. He knelt down, put his wand aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders and turned her over, only to see a cold, bloodless face.
While Harry was shaking Ginny desperately, Aidan, who had been paying attention to his surroundings, moved over. He bent down and was about to reach out to touch Ginny's neck when a tall boy with black hair suddenly appeared in his sight.
"Who are you?" Aidan immediately took a step back and pointed the wand in his hand at the boy in Hogwarts uniform. He looked at the boy's face and felt that he looked familiar.
"Tom Riddle." Tom leaned against the stone pillar, playing with Harry's wand which he had taken into his hand at some point, and replied without even raising his eyelids.
"Riddle? Are you related to Della Riddle?" This case made Aidan finally remember Miss Moonlight's name, and also made him realize why the boy in front of him looked so familiar.
Tom and Della look so alike.
"They just happen to have the same last name," Harry explained using the reason he had been told. He looked at Tom, "Are you a ghost now, Tom? You have to help me. We need to take Ginny back. If you're willing to float up and find the professor here, that would be great."
Do they happen to have the same last name? And do they happen to look so similar?
Aidan didn't believe it. He wanted to signal Harry to step back, but Harry either looked at Ginny or the boy who called himself Tom, waiting for a response. This made Aidan realize the importance of a good teammate for the first time. He could only ask Tom again, "You look like a student, Riddle, but I haven't seen you, and your name is not on the student list. I hope you can give me an explanation."
"This year's male president? It seems that the younger generation is not bad either," Tom glanced at the silver president's badge on Aidan's chest and commented in a mature tone. Then he slowly answered the two people's questions, "I'm not a ghost, nor a student. I'm just a memory from fifty years ago."
"Fifty years ago? Your answer is really worth asking." Aidan remembered that something almost the same happened in Hogwarts fifty years ago. He was about to ask something else when he was interrupted by Harry.
"You can ask those questions anytime! We have to take Ginny upstairs now, she's too cold, we have to hurry," Harry said as he tried to help Ginny up, and then he noticed that his wand was in Tom's hand, "Tom, thank you, please give me your wand."
However, Aidan did not move, and Tom did not move either, and the three of them fell into a strange silence for a moment.
"Listen to me," Harry said anxiously. He managed to lift Ginny up, but his knees were weak under the pressure. "We have to go! If the basilisk comes..."
"He won't come unless he's called," said Tom carelessly.
"What do you mean?" Harry didn't quite understand, but he didn't have time to care about it. He shouted to Tom, "Hurry up, give me the wand, I might need it."
Aidan looked at Tom, then at Ginny who was put back on the ground by Harry. While thinking about the possibility that he and Harry escaped the basilisk, he spoke to try to delay time, "You planned the petrification, and you also used the curse to make those people unconscious?"
"You are very calm, which makes you better than the lion in Gryffindor." Tom looked at Harry, "Even now, the reckless lion is not willing to think more, our little savior?"
"What?" Harry was a little stunned, looking at Tom in amazement, "It's you -"
"Look at you, you're so silly. It makes me more and more curious." Tom stood up and took two steps towards Harry. "How did you do it? A baby, without any special spells, how did you defeat the greatest dark wizard in history?"
He stared into Harry's green eyes, eager to know an answer. Just when Tom focused all his attention on Harry, a silver light rushed towards him.
"Expecto Guardian!" After releasing the silver eagle, Aidan ran over without hesitation and picked up Ginny. He pushed Harry, who was still in shock, and immediately ran outside. He was in good physical condition and ran a long distance in a few seconds.
"Shatter immediately! Forced binding!" Tom, who was forced to take two steps back by the Patronus Charm, first shattered the Patronus angrily, and then used a binding spell to immobilize Harry, who was a beat slower. At this time, Aidan had already taken Ginny almost out of their sight.
"What good would it do to take her away?" Tom snorted. He walked up to Harry, who was still running, and pushed aside the messy black hair on the savior's forehead. He looked down at the lightning-shaped scar and said, "It's okay. I just wanted to talk to you. Now you can answer my question, Harry Potter."
"Why do you care about this?" Looking at Aidan's disappearing back, Harry calmed down instead. He dragged out his tone, trying to buy some time for them and himself. "What happened to Voldemort happened many years after your death."
"Voldemort is my past, present and future." Tom whispered, and took Harry's wand to write three shining names in the air: [Tom Marvolo Riddle]
Then he waved his wand, and the letters automatically changed positions, becoming: [I am Voldemort]
"Then Della is--" Harry thought of Della first. He looked at Tom Riddle and finally realized the similarities in their appearance.
However, things were not going well for Aidan, who was running away with Ginny. As soon as he ran into the dark tunnel, he was entangled by a huge snake. He couldn't even open his eyes to confirm whether it was a small snake monster. Before he could struggle a few more times, he suddenly fell into darkness.
After confirming that Aidan had lost consciousness, Maggie returned to her normal size, swam to the pocket of Aidan's robe, hooked out the necklace inside with her snake tail, swallowed it in one gulp, and then collapsed to the ground.