This young witch wearing the Gryffindor robes was none other than Ginny Weasley. However, Lynn and Irina both understood that the Ginny before them was no longer the innocent and lovely little witch she once was. The eerie smile on her face and the diary in her arms made it clear that she had fallen under the control of Voldemort's soul fragment within that diary.
"Tom Riddle!" Lynn coldly looked at the possessed Ginny, her wand gripped tightly and slightly raised.
Hearing Lynn call out his name, Riddle dropped the act. A black mist emerged from Ginny's body, and her face grew paler as the mist appeared, evidently draining her life force.
In just a few breaths, all the black mist had left Ginny's body. The diary in her arms also began to float, enveloped by that strange black mist under some unseen force.
The mist twisted and contorted, eventually taking the form of a young man with sleek black hair appearing to be around sixteen years old. He wore Slytherin robes, a silver prefect badge shining on his chest. This was the form Riddle's soul fragment had taken when it split from the main soul.
The youthful Riddle looked quite handsome, with chiseled features. It was hard for Lynn to associate him with the snake-like Voldemort of the present. Although Riddle had absorbed Ginny's life force to construct this form from the eerie black mist, his body seemed only a semi-transparent energy construct, not a true physical form. Lynn and Irina could faintly see the diary suspended roughly where Riddle's heart would be.
After forming his body, the now unconscious Ginny, having lost her free will, swayed and collapsed to the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" Riddle hissed, thrusting out his hand to send a red beam of light shooting towards Lynn despite lacking a wand.
Such a rudimentary Disarming Charm was no threat to Lynn. With a wave of his wand, an invisible barrier appeared and deflected the red light to his left rear.
However, Riddle's aim was not to defeat Lynn, but merely to interrupt his efforts against the Basilisk. After casting that Disarming Charm, Riddle began issuing commands to the Basilisk in Parseltongue.
The Basilisk, previously restrained by Lynn's alchemical formations, let out a hiss. It thrashed its tail, shattering the incoming golden light from Lynn's Protego charms.
"Ignore the girl, attack the Slytherin wizard! Disrupt the magic around him!" Riddle commanded.
Heeding Riddle's orders, the Basilisk turned its attention from Irina's attacks towards the more threatening Lynn. It charged recklessly at him, no longer held back.
Seeing this, Lynn felt the situation growing precarious. A wild magical creature was worlds apart in dangerousness from one trained to follow a wizard's commands in battle.
Under Riddle's direction, the previously manageable Basilisk had become a formidable opponent. Its relentless focus on Lynn shattered their previous strategy of alternating attacks to divide its attention. Lynn frowned, continuously backpedaling while controlling his alchemical formations to fend off the Basilisk's advances, all while guarding against potential ambushes from Riddle.
"I'll handle Riddle, you focus on the Basilisk!" Irina called out, shifting her wand to attack Riddle after the Basilisk ignored her spells.
With a flick of her wand, three Freezing Charms blasted towards Riddle in rapid succession. However, Riddle simply stood there, making no attempt to evade.
The three ice-blue beams struck Riddle's abdomen but passed straight through his body to exit from his back.
"Useless. As long as I wish it, I can freely transition between corporeal and incorprealpare forms!" Riddle sneered, retaliating with more Disarming Charms towards Irina.
Irina's expression darkened, realizing the difficulty in harming Riddle's current state. Like a Hogwarts poltergeist, he could become physical to attack but turn insubstantial to avoid harm, an unpredictable ability making him nearly impossible to hit.
Unable to damage Riddle with spells, Irina was forced onto the defensive, shielding herself from his sporadic Disarming Charms while preemptively casting Protego on Lynn whenever Riddle tried to ambush him.
"Confringo!" Lynn roared, pouring tremendous magic into this Blasting Curse against the rampaging Basilisk.
Though overloading his magic risked irreparable damage to his wand and body, such a high-risk tactic was needed against such a formidable foe. An arm-thick beam of grey-white light burst forth, slamming into the Basilisk's scales with incredible force.
Through sheer magical might, the Blasting Curse overcame the Basilisk's powerful magic resistance, shattering its scales over roughly a quarter of its body into a bloody, mangled mess. Black blood continuously oozed from its wounds, splattering in all directions as it thrashed about in agony.
"At all costs, kill the male wizard!" Riddle commanded, unconcerned for the Basilisk's wounds.
The Basilisk let out a pained hiss but, bound to obey the Heir of Slytherin despite its instincts to flee, it pressed its relentless assault on Lynn.
Worn down by the Basilisk's reckless onslaught, Lynn was eventually caught off-guard. With a violent thrash of its body, the Basilisk's tail slammed into him, sending him flying backwards.
Blood spilled from Lynn's mouth from the tremendous impact, his alchemical formations all disrupted as he was sent airborne.
"Damn it...it seems magic alone won't suffice...Irina, catch!" Lynn grunted through the searing pain as he stood back up. Reaching into his canvas bag, he tossed a grimy old hat towards Irina.
"You're a Gryffindor, the Sword of Gryffindor has to be pulled out by you!" Lynn told her urgently.
Catching the Sorting Hat Lynn threw, Irina nodded solemnly and thrust her right hand inside, trying to pull out the legendary Gryffindor Sword.
But in the next moment, her expression froze in shock - the Sorting Hat was completely empty inside, with no sign of the fabled sword.
Why couldn't she retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor?!
Irina frantically groped around the grimy hat, trying every angle, but no matter what she did, she could not find the sword within.
(TO BE CONTINUED)