Ever since Tver had spoken with Salazar Slytherin here, no one had set foot in the Chamber of Secrets again.
But tonight, this place was destined to be anything but peaceful.
"Whoosh."
Tver appeared abruptly in the very center of the Chamber of Secrets. But considering his opponent was Voldemort, he kept his fighting stance even after steadying himself.
"Lumos."
A bright, gentle orb of light flew from the tip of his wand and hovered above the Chamber of Secrets.
With the help of the Lighting Charm, Tver swept a wary gaze around the room.
The Chamber of Secrets was still the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar's statue still stood there, and the stone pillars carved with serpentine patterns supported the chamber in neat, orderly rows.
But he could not shake the feeling that something here had changed.
The question was, where had Harry gone?
Just as Tver was wondering, Voldemort finally emerged from behind the statue with Harry beside him.
Voldemort was dressed in black robes, his entire figure buried in shadows beyond the reach of the light. Harry floated unconsciously beside him like a marionette.
In the dim Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort looked like a black ghost.
"So it's true that you can use Apparition inside Hogwarts, Tver. The more I learn about you, the more I have to admit that making an enemy of someone like you is the one thing I regret."
Voldemort's voice held a hint of mockery, but there was also some seriousness in it.
Tver waved the Elder Wand, and the orb of light above him disappeared.
Voldemort had likely spent more than half a year setting this place up. In a sense, this had already become Voldemort's home ground.
When the situation was not in his favor, preserving as much strength as possible was the only way to keep an advantage in the battle to come.
Even if he still could not tell exactly what had changed here.
"I think..." Tver approached Voldemort's position step by step, calm and unhurried.
"What you should regret most is not taking Harry out of Hogwarts the moment you had the chance."
"After all, all your scheming is for nothing more than the piece of your soul inside Harry's head."
Tver looked at Voldemort with certainty, his sharp gaze seeming to pierce through the shadows and stab straight into him.
"Heh..."
Voldemort gave a soft laugh that sounded oddly distorted.
"I'm not even surprised you realized that, Tver Fawley. You've always been so clever."
"That's right. After that rebellious piece of my soul grew stronger by the day, I realized that if my own soul did not become stronger as well, I would never defeat you and Dumbledore."
Only then did realization dawn on Tver's face.
"So you disguised yourself as Karkaroff, and even taught Harry, all so you could figure out the connection between Harry and yourself, then take the opportunity to absorb his soul?"
"Hahahaha..."
Realizing that he had exposed his own plan, Voldemort instead burst into wild laughter.
"I was wondering. I had been so careful this time. No one but me knew my plan, so how could you possibly have seen through it?"
He abruptly raised his head, revealing a deathly pale chin and a grinning mouth beneath the hood.
"You bastard. If you weren't so cautious, if you weren't so clever, would I have fallen to this state? Would I have had to hide in this lightless place?"
Ever since he first encountered Tver six years ago, not once had he managed to achieve his goal smoothly.
At the thought of this, his voice filled with such deep resentment that it almost seemed to take physical form and surge toward Tver.
Tver curled his lip. After feeling guilty for about a second, he said perfunctorily, "Well, I really am sorry about that."
"..."
Voldemort's fury stalled. He clenched his teeth and, for a moment, had no idea what to say.
"You see," Tver said, spreading his hands, "this is the difference between us, Voldemort."
"I have a conscience. I know some of the things I've done were not exactly honorable, so I repent. Even if it's only for one second. Even if I'll dare to do it again next time."
"But you're different."
His cold eyes fixed on Voldemort, and together with his icy voice, they made Voldemort feel a faint unease.
"You have never once thought that the people you killed, whether directly or indirectly, were beloved children in someone's family, or parents worthy of respect."
"When you stand above them and see them as nothing but ants, Voldemort, that is the reason you are destined to fail."
Feeling that unease deep in his soul, Voldemort actually felt a flash of panic, as though he had been thrown off balance.
"Under my power, how are they any different from ants?" he shouted, forcing the argument.
"Do you know how a political system is maintained? Do you know how a healthy society operates? Do you understand the course of human history?"
Tver sneered.
"You know nothing, Voldemort. You don't even know how to make a piece of candy. What gives you the right to be a leader?"
"Ha, by killing, of course!"
Voldemort laughed loudly. At some point, his wand had appeared in his hand, and he raised it high.
"When you're dead, go to Death and repent alongside the people I killed!"
A green light shot out instantly, but Tver was no longer there.
"Sorry, little Voldy. What did you think I was stalling for?"
Tver appeared abruptly behind Voldemort, or rather, behind the black-robed figure.
"To be honest, even I didn't expect it."
He shouted as his wand rapidly fired a red light toward Harry.
Harry, who should have been like a puppet, strangely raised his head, revealing a stunned expression.
"You were actually willing to give up your pride and use Polyjuice Potion to disguise yourself as Harry!"
The shock on "Harry's" face froze. The instant the red light struck him, the tremendous impact twisted his face and sent him flying backward.
At the same time, Tver placed his free left hand on the figure in front of him.
Because the Polyjuice Potion had worn off, the hood had already fallen away with the body's transformation, revealing Harry's real appearance.
But what puzzled Tver was that Harry still had the vacant, dazed look of someone under the Imperius Curse.
That should not be possible. His strike just now should have been enough to cut off Voldemort's link controlling Harry. Otherwise, he would have simply used stronger magic.
"You guessed one thing right, Tver," a hoarse voice sounded faintly from behind him. "I truly could not bear to turn myself into Harry Potter."
Tver immediately looked toward the figure he had knocked down not far away. The person who should have been Voldemort was gradually turning into Karkaroff.
He had guessed correctly. The two people in front of him had both been disguised with Polyjuice Potion.
But the one fatal mistake was that he had missed Karkaroff's existence.
"Impossible. How could you have been hiding here all this time without me noticing..."
It was precisely because of his years of battle instinct that Tver had overlooked Karkaroff's presence, but at this moment, he did not truly care about that question.
After falling into the trap and exposing his back to his opponent, he had only one thought left. Get Harry out of here.
So even as he spoke, the magic inside him surged rapidly, and the hand resting on Harry dragged him along as they twisted away in an instant.
But how could Voldemort possibly waste this once-in-a-lifetime chance? Otherwise, the entire year he had spent setting this up would have been for nothing.
"Go explain it to Death, you bastard!"
Gritting his teeth, he raised his wand. A green light, charged with six years of accumulated resentment, shot out like a missile and struck Tver with pinpoint accuracy in the middle of his Apparition.
"Avada Kedavra!"