"Who's going to read now?" asked George holding the book up high.

"Let me take a crack at it, brother dear." said Fred with a posh like voice.

The Very Secret Diary.

"We picked another doozy I think." said Fred.

"Is this all about your notebook Harry?" asked Colin.

"Nope." said Harry plainly.

Hermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks.

"Better to stay in the Hospital wing then walking around looking like a giant cat." said Sirius helpfully.

"You have got to get over this cat hating thing." muttered Remus.

There was a flurry of rumor about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays,

"We thought you were attacked." said Seamus.

"But then all of you guys wouldn't have still accused Harry of being the heir…" said Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Did anyone attack you that time?" said Remus to Harry warningly.

"Some people almost did, but Ron came up and said she was just in there because she was sick."

"Who tried?" asked Dumbledore, his voice growling.

"….not saying." said Harry folding his arms. "They freaked, they weren't aware of what they were doing."

"It was the Gryffindor seventh years." said Ron angrily. "They had him slammed against a wall by the collar."

Dumbledore scowled, as well as several other adults.

"This is getting to be a bit much." said Harry rubbing his eyes.

because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked.

"We almost lost our voices, all the times we had to say you weren't." said Ron.

So many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around Hermione's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry face.

"Thanks again, Madam Pomfrey." said Hermione.

"You're welcome, dear." smiled Madam Pomfrey. She could finally relax; she was assured (most sincerely) that Harry was in no further danger.

Harry and Ron went to visit her every evening.

"That really made me feel a lot better." said Hermione.

"We did what we could." said Harry and Ron shrugging.

When the new term started, they brought her each day's homework.

"Oh come on! Take a break for once!" said Sirius looking at Hermione in disbelief.

"I couldn't! It's not my nature." said Hermione.

"Very good Miss. Granger." said McGonagall smiling down at the fifth year.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers, I'd take a break from work," said Ron, tipping a stack of books onto Hermione's bedside table one evening.

"You could get a hangnail and you'd still want to shirk work." said Percy with kind smile.

"Hey, those hurt." said Charlie with a fake pout.

"Don't be silly, Ron, I've got to keep up," said Hermione briskly.

"You were ahead of everyone else, you don't need to keep up." said Neville.

Her spirits were greatly improved by the fact that all the hair had gone from her face and her eyes were turning slowly back to brown.

"POTTER! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!" came a shrieking voice from the door.

Everyone turned and saw Pansy, the sticky, black slime was still clinging to most of her face, but the other part that she had managed to peel off, had turned her skin to a sick sort of green.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" she said, scratching at the green parts of her face.

"I said you'd need to wait fifty-two hours or so, now your skin's all itchy, isn't it?" said Harry with a broad smile, not bothering to turn around and look at Pansy. "Here," He flung a small jar of what looked like ointment back towards her. "that'll clear it all off, but…" said Harry. But before he could finish, the large door slammed shut.

Harry sighed. "I guess she didn't want to hear about the last part."

"What last part?" asked Hermione.

"She's supposed to put that on, and then clean it off…" said Harry.

"Girls normally do that with their cosmetic stuff, Harry." said Angelina.

"When was the last time you cleaned your face off with milk and honey?" asked Harry.

"Oh, never mind." said Angelina with a small smile hidden behind her hands.

Millicent hurried as fast as she could out of the Great Hall after her friend, to tell her the important information. But before she could even reach the door, a scream emerged from what seemed to be the first floor girl's lavatory.

"Too late." said Harry with an evil smile on his face, the tips of his fingers pressed against each other.

"I told you not to look like that, you're scaring me." said Sirius with a laugh.

"Try as I may, I can't really be angry with you." said Remus thoughtfully.

"I don't suppose you've got any new leads?" she added in a whisper, so that Madam Pomfrey couldn't hear her.

"Wow, you guys just don't want to drop it do you?" asked Bill.

"It was actually a very good thing that they didn't." said Dumbledore, McGonagall nodded.

"Nothing," said Harry gloomily.

"I was so sure it was Malfoy," said Ron, for the hundredth time.

"Now you have no suspects that must really suck." said Charlie.

"It did, now we didn't feel even confident that this was going to be solved." said Harry.

"Yeah, especially when Dobby said that it had happened before." said Ron.

"What's that?" asked Harry, pointing to something gold sticking out from under Hermione's pillow.

"Does she have money under there? Did the tooth goblin come and visit you?" asked Sirius with a playful smile.

"Tooth goblin? Don't you mean Tooth fairy?" asked Hermione.

"Fairy's don't have money, where else would you get money from if not a Goblin?" asked Ron. "They come in the middle of the night, yank out your loose teeth and leave a sickle under your pillow."

"In the Muggleworld, they have something called a Tooth Fairy." said Hermione. "She at least waits for the tooth to come out."

"You put a tooth under a pillow and she leaves you money." said Harry. "Dudley used to knock my teeth out and stuff them under his pillow." said Harry. "Strangely enough, my teeth grew back in less than a week."

"Instead of 'Dinky Duddykins' as a nickname, his new one will be 'Gummy' when I get my hands on him." said Sirius growling.

"That's a hereditary thing. Your Great-Great-Great Uncle Broderick had that ability too, he was always getting into scraps." said Remus thoughtfully. "But then once he hit twenty-four, that ability was gone."

"Just a Get Well card," said Hermione hastily, trying to poke it out of sight, but Ron was too quick for her. He pulled it out,

"Ron! That card belonged to Hermione." admonished Mrs. Weasley.

"I gave it right back." said Ron. "She should have pitched it right after she got it though."

flicked it open and read aloud:

"To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming Smile Award."

"Okay, now I'm concerned about you." said Remus. "He didn't catch you alone without the boys, did he?"

"No! No he didn't" said Hermione quickly.

"He's seems to be branching out his affections from Harry to other students." said Moody thoughtfully. "When he can't have him, he'll try someone else."

"I think Hermione and I were happier without that little notion." said Harry sternly.

"Nice to know you play hard to get though." said Ginny with a sly smile.

Harry looked over to her, and smiled brightly.

Ron looked up at Hermione, disgusted.

"You sleep with this under your pillow?"

"Why would you?" asked Remus with similar disgust.

Hermione blushed. "He was nice to look at."

"So is a Golden Firetail, but you don't go right up to one." said Remus.

"A what?" asked Dr. Clark,

"It's the rarest breed of dragon, from the tip of it's snout, to it's tail, it looks like solid gold, with a bejeweled underbelly. We don't know a single thing about it's habits or anything. Some people only get to see a flitting glimpse of one." said Charlie excitedly. He sighed, "Everyone at the Dragon Reserve would just love to have five seconds just to stare at one."

Then he snapped out of his daydream. "Despite how beautiful it is, it's still very dangerous to go up to one, Dragons are a crunch first and ask questions later sort of animal."

But Hermione was spared answering by Madam Pomfrey sweeping over with her evening dose of medicine.

"She was turning beet red." said Harry with a kind smile.

"Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met, or what?" Ron said to Harry as they left the dormitory and started up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Dumbest, and most egotistical is what I would say." said Sirius.

"And that's being kind." said Remus grinding his teeth.

Snape had given them so much homework, Harry thought he was likely to be in the sixth year before he finished it.

"With all the revisions I was going to have to do, I was amazed I got it all done." said Harry dragging his hand down his face.

"It wasn't that much." said Snape smugly.

"Eight feet of essay on the Hair-Raising Potion, and then another two on what happens when you do it wrong, isn't a lot?" asked Ron and Harry together. "And then Harry doing at least three different versions?"

"You're right, that was a lot." said Sirius.

Ron was just saying he wished he had asked Hermione how many rat tails you were supposed to add to a Hair-Raising Potion,

"Twelve." said Hermione.

"Little late for that now." said Ron with a smirk. "Besides, Harry answered it for me."

when an angry outburst from the floor above reached their ears.

"That's Filch," Harry muttered, as they hurried up the stairs and paused, out of sight, listening hard.

Snape massaged the bridge of his nose. "Meddlesome nuisances."

"You don't think someone else's been attacked?" said Ron tensely.

"If there was someone attacked, don't you think keeping Harry away and keeping yourselves safe should be a priority?" asked Sirius.

"You don't want another house beating the magic out of him." said Remus.

The people who were in on the assault blanched, that's what the Dursley's had threatened to do….

They stood still, their heads inclined towards Filch's voice, which sounded quite hysterical.

"-even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore-"

His footsteps receded and they heard a distant door slam.

"What the hell was he complaining about?" said Tonks.

"Something that I do not have the heart to change." said Professor Dumbledore, guilt and regret radiating off his body.

They poked their heads around the corner. Filch had clearly been manning his usual lookout post; they were once again on the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked.

"We offered him a nice vacation, to get his mind off things, he refused." said Professor McGonagall.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen hide nor hair of Filch." said Remus turning around in the bowl. "Not that I want to look at that bastard."

"I told him that if I saw him anytime soon, I would be the last thing he ever saw." said Dumbledore growing angry.

They saw at a glance what Filch had been shouting about. A great flood of water stretched over half the corridor, and it looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Sounds like something we've been trying to work on. A portable swamp." said Fred whispering to Charlie.

"Sounds great, let me know when you perfect it, it would be awesome at the reserve, especially with that new guy. He's still a bit jumpy." said Charlie with a wide smile.

Now Filch had stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing off the bathroom walls.

"He was complaining about Myrtle? And you can't bear to see her go? Why?" said Dr. Clark curiously.

Dumbledore wiped a stray tear that had slid down his crooked nose, but smiled over to the good Doctor.

"You are as inquisitive as Harry is." said Dumbledore brightly.

Dr. Clark beamed brightly, reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. He did not notice that his question went unanswered.

"Now what's up with her?" said Ron.

"Anything would do to upset her enough to flood the bathroom." said Ron.

"Let's go and see," said Harry, and holding their robes over their ankles they stepped through the great wash of water

"Never pictured you to be dainty, Harry maybe, but not you Ron." said Fred.

"Shut up, I didn't want my robes to end up soaking my socks." said Harry defensively.

to the door bearing its 'OUT OF ORDER' sign, ignored it as always, and entered.

"Sometimes you have to listen to those signs you know." said Bill.

"Yeah, but we've been in there so many times that nothing in there could hurt us." said Ron with a smug grin.

Harry sent him a pointed look, "Ah…yeah…forget I said anything." said Ron meekly.

Moaning Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before.

"Thank goodness I wasn't there." whispered a Slytherin fifth year girl.

She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet. It was dark in the bathroom, because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

"Well, I can sort of understand why Filch would be a mite pissed off." said Sirius.

"What's up Myrtle?" said Harry.

"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"

"She flooded the entire bathroom, because someone threw something at her?" asked Remus.

"She was very much the same in life." said Dumbledore.

Harry waded across to her cubicle and said, "Why would I throw something at you?"

"You're so kind." sighed Romilda.

What's her damage? Harry thought to himself.

"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me ..."

"Who could be that cruel?" asked Charlie. Ginny cringed.

It did not go unnoticed by Harry, he held out his arms, beckoning her to come and sit with him. She stood up and walked over, Harry magicked the bowl to stretch itself out and motioned her to sit beside him. She sat beside him and laid her head on his shoulder, He draped his arm behind her and held her close.

"What was up with that?" asked Charlie.

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you," said Harry, reasonably. "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?"

"That was right there that I learned logic doesn't work for a bunch of people under twenty." said Harry.

"I haven't quite figured that one out yet." said Hermione almost silently.

"You try." said Harry and Ron together.

He had said the wrong thing.

"The very wrong thing." said most of the girls in the Great Hall.

Myrtle puffed herself up and shrieked, "Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head! Well, ha ha ha! What a lovely game, I don't think!"

"I think she took it wrong." said Fred.

"Not even we would throw something through a ghost for fun.." said George.

"Someone could have just pitched the book and not realize she was in there." said Fred.

"Or that she flew through it on accident." said George.

"Who threw it at you, anyway?" asked Harry.

"I don't know ... I was just sitting on the U-bend, thinking about death,

"Wow…." said Fred and George together. "…gloomy…"

and it fell right through the top of my head," said Myrtle, glaring at them.

"I was right!" said Fred proudly.

"It's over there, it got washed out..."

Harry and Ron looked under the sink, where Myrtle was pointing. A small, thin book lay there.

"Okay, a dictionary, or an encyclopedia I could understand being upset. Alive or dead. But a small thin book?" said Sirius. "Someone needs to take a chill pill."

It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom. Harry stepped forward to pick it up, but Ron suddenly flung out an arm to hold him back.

"Good thinking, Ron." said Mr. Weasley.

"It's just a book." said Dr. Clark.

"Sometimes, the most innocent thing can be the most harmful of weapons." said Dumbledore wisely.

"Should we keep an eye on you?" asked Sirius, grinning at Harry.

"Stuff it." said Harry. "I'm far from innocent."

"Guess we should keep an eye on you for another reason." said Remus with a smirk.

"What?" said Harry.

"Are you crazy?" said Ron. "It could be dangerous."

"Dangerous?" said Harry, laughing. "Come off it, how could it be dangerous?"

"Ask Dad, he'll tell you about ninety different ways an unknown book can be bad." said Fred.

"You'd be surprised," said Ron, who was looking apprehensively at the book. "Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated –

"Hmph, the Minister wouldn't have confiscated them, without Arthur's pressuring." said Madam Bones. "I wish you would take the diplomatic training, Arthur, I think you would make a fine Minister."

Umbridge struggled against her restraints.

"Don't make me come over there." growled Lionus. She immediately ceased.

Dad's told me - there was one that burned your eyes out.

"Ah, yes, 'Phoenix's Firelight Fancy' I was given that book once, by some unscrupulous person. I had no notion of what it would do, until a house elf was cleaning my office and the book fell opened and he had happened to look at one of the pages." said Dumbledore sadly.

"What happened to the house elf?" asked Hermione worriedly.

"I placed the house elf with a family member who could take better care of him then I could. After a while, his sight healed itself. Wondrous creatures, house elves." said Dumbledore.

And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives.

"Your Great-Great-Great Grandmother read that on accident. According to your dad, she would never shut up." said Sirius to Harry.

"Though you had to admit, she did write some pretty amazing poetry. I wonder if it's hereditary." said Remus looking inquisitively at Harry.

And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed.

"That was my Great-Aunt Matilda." said Neville. "She tells everyone what happens in the book, so no one else will read it."

"Good plan." said Kingsley. "If she reads it to others, they won't want to read it."

And -"

"All right, I've got the point," said Harry.

"I was getting tired of the horror stories." said Harry.

The little book lay on the floor, nondescript and soggy.

"Well, we won't find out unless we look at it," he said, and he ducked round Ron and picked it off the floor.

"You really don't listen to warnings do you?" asked Remus.

"I'm starting to listen now, how's that?" said Harry with innocent eyes.

Remus sighed but smiled. "Better late than never, I guess."

Harry saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old.

"Fifty? Did it say fifty?" asked Sirius.

"That cannot be a coincidence." said Remus thoughtfully.

He opened it eagerly. On the first page he could just make out the name "T. M. Riddle" in smudged ink.

Ginny whimpered slightly, Harry held onto her tighter.

"What's wrong hon?" asked Dr. Clark.

"You'll find out later." said Harry quietly.

"Hang on," said Ron, who had approached cautiously and was looking over Harry's shoulder. "I know that name ... T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

The school went silent.

"How do you know something like that? Even I don't know that right off the bat." said Percy.

"Well, you just have to have a great memory like mine." said Ron proudly.

Fred read on quickly. "Sure Ron, keep telling yourself that." he said with a smirk.

"Hey, I did remember, can't dock me points." said Ron slyly.

"…Well, you got me there." said Fred.

"How on earth d'you know that?" said Harry in amazement.

"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention," said Ron resentfully. "That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it, too."

"Like I said, I've got a great memory." said Ron.

"Continuously polishing and looking at it doesn't hurt either." said George.

Harry peeled the wet pages apart. They were completely blank. There wasn't the faintest trace of writing on any of them, not even "Auntie Mabel's birthday", or " dentist, half past three".

"That would be a really boring diary." said Sirius. "You'd need to spice up your life a bit."

"He never wrote in it," said Harry, disappointed.

"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" said Ron curiously.

"Yeah, why throw away a blank book?" asked Fred.

Harry turned to the back cover of the book and saw the printed name of a news agent's in Vauxhall Road, London.

"He must've been Muggle-born," said Harry thoughtfully, "to have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road... "

The Hall went silent again.

"What is it this time?" asked Harry looking around.

"For someone who had only been to London twice in his life, you sure knew that Vauxhall Road was in the Muggle part of London." said Fred.

"There is only one magical street in London, and it isn't Vauxhall Road. If he was a Pureblood or Halfblood, he would have most likely gotten the book at Diagon Alley." said Harry. "And I had been to London a few times before I got locked up in my room that year."

"Well, it's not much use to you," said Ron. He dropped his voice. "Fifty points if you can get it through Myrtle's nose."

"RONALD!" said Mrs. Weasley.

"I was kidding!" said Ron quickly.

Harry, however, pocketed it.

"I cannot say for certain if that was a good thing or bad thing." said Remus.

"It was a good thing, for the long run." said Harry and Dumbledore together.

Hermione left the hospital wing, de-whiskered, tail-less, and fur-free, at the beginning of February.

"Well, you only missed the time that they review the first term, so you really didn't miss much." said Bill.

On her first evening back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry showed her T. M. Riddle's diary and told her the story of how they found it.

"I couldn't figure out why someone wanted to pitch a blank book either." said Hermione.

"Oooh, it might have hidden powers," said Hermione enthusiastically, taking the diary and looking at it closely.

"Good luck finding them." said Nightstrike. "I'd be impressed if a twelve year old can find out what that book is all about."

"If it has, it's hiding them very well," said Ron. "Maybe it's shy.

"Normally, I wouldn't say a book has feelings, but after all this, I'm not too sure." said Remus touching his chest absently.

"Does it hurt there?" asked Harry looking concerned.

"No, no." said Remus quickly. "It's nothing, it doesn't hurt."

I don't know why you don't chuck it, Harry."

"I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it," said Harry.

Moody and Lionus smiled. He'd make a fine Auror.

"I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts, either."

"Do you know Professor?" asked Colin.

"The books will tell us very soon I believe." said Dumbledore his eyes lacking their normal twinkle.

"Could've been anything," said Ron. "Maybe he got thirty O.W.L's

"Yeah I know, you don't get special services to the school for excelling in class." said Ron.

or saved a teacher from the giant squid.

"But Octavius is friendly." said Fred.

Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would've done everyone a favor ..."

Hermione, Ginny, Dumbledore, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley, McGonagall, Ron and Harry cringed slightly.

"Yeah, I didn't really mean that." said Ron.

"Ever get the feeling they're hiding something." said Sirius to Dr. Clark.

"Every time we read another sentence." said Dr. Clark.

But Harry could tell from the arrested look on Hermione's face that she was thinking what he was thinking.

"It wasn't enough to think you were holding back." said Hermione sadly. "I just thought you had a brainstorm."

"What?" said Ron, looking from one to the other.

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?" he said. "That's what Malfoy said."

"That's what I remembered." said Sirius.

"Yeah..." said Ron slowly.

"And this diary is fifty years old," said Hermione, tapping it excitedly.

"So?"

"Hey, I was tired." said Ron in his own defense.

"Oh, Ron, wake up," snapped Hermione. "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the heir of Slytherin?

Fred looked up from the book. "That would warrant a plaque in the trophy room I guess."

His diary would probably tell us everything - where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it –

"If they really did catch the heir of Slytherin, they would have found out where the Chamber is. So, whoever they put in Azkaban isn't the one." said Luna.

"She's got a point." said Sirius.

the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that thing lying around, would they?"

"That's another point." said Sirius smiling.

"You won't be smiling for long, not when you see what the book has in it." muttered Harry.

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione," said Ron, "with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary."

"From what Harry just said, yes there is." said Tonks.

But Hermione was pulling her wand out of her bag.

"It might be invisible ink!" she whispered.

She tapped the diary three times and said, " Aparecium !"

Nothing happened.

"Well…you get an 'O' for effort." said Remus kindly.

Undaunted, Hermione shoved her hand into her bag and pulled out what appeared to be a bright red eraser.

"It's a Revealer, I got it in Diagon Alley," she said.

"Why would you need a Revealer?" asked Charlie.

"Sometimes, someone changes my notes or removes the words on my homework." said Hermione.

"Who is it?" said McGonagall quickly.

"Harry and Ron already taught them better manners." said Hermione giving a quick look over to Parvati and Lavender.

She rubbed hard on January first. Nothing happened.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing to find in there," said Ron. "Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in."

"I had a cousin who did that, she has hundreds of journals, not a word in any of them." said Dr. Clark.

"How would you know?" asked Remus.

"I looked in each and every one of them." said Dr. Clark with a smirk.

"We are going to be the best of friends, mate!" said Sirius throwing an arm around Dr. Clark.

Harry couldn't explain, even to himself, why he didn't just throw Riddle's diary away.

Harry looked over to Dumbledore and then Lionus, they both nodded.

The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absent-mindedly picking it up and turning the pages, as though it was a story he wanted to finish.

"You looked really different when you flipped through that book." said Ron. "You looked a lot more intent."

And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and half-forgotten.

Not many people noticed the snarl on Harry's face. Ginny held onto his hand tighter.

"Its okay." said Ginny soothingly.

But this was absurd. He'd never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.

"Lousy ass, jerk." said Neville, not to Harry, but an invisible Dudley.

Nevertheless, Harry was determined to find out more about Riddle,

"You've got some determination there kid." said Wildfire with a smile, her eyes were an almost blinding blue.

so, next day at break, he headed for the trophy room to examine Riddle's special award, accompanied by an interested Hermione and a thoroughly unconvinced Ron, who told them he'd seen enough of the trophy room to last him a lifetime.

"If I had to polish everything in it for four hours, I wouldn't exactly go back in there either." said George.

Riddle's burnished gold shield was tucked away in a corner cabinet.

"If he saved the castle from a monster, you'd think that it would right out in front, at least a little further towards the middle than the Prefect and Head Boy/Girl list." said Remus thoughtfully.

"I chose to put it over there, out of the way of casual glances, and perhaps today or tomorrow you will find out why." said Dumbledore, a twinge of bitterness in his voice.

It didn't carry details of why it had been given to him ("Good thing, too, or it'd be even bigger and I'd still be polishing it," said Ron).

"Poor Ron." snickered Ernie.

However, they did find Riddle's name on an old Medal for Magical Merit,

"How did he earn that one?" asked Moody, who knew full well who the boy was.

"Getting high marks in his N.E.W.T's" said Dumbledore. "He actually received one 'Star Exceeds Expectations.'"

"Wow, and Harry got a 'Star Outstanding'." said Sirius whistling.

and on a list of old Head Boys.

"He sounds like Percy," said Ron, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I am SO sorry." said Ron to Percy. Percy was unsure why.

"Prefect, Head Boy...probably top of every class-"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Hermione, in a slightly hurt voice.

"You still say it like it's a bad thing." said Hermione. "And here you are a Prefect."

Ron looked away, his ears turning red.

The sun had now begun to shine weakly on Hogwarts again. Inside the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful.

"Well…that's a really good thing, all the panic was starting to get annoying." said Lionus.

There had been no more attacks since those on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were becoming moody and sensitive, meaning that they were fast leaving childhood.

Remus looked quickly over at the young man who sat beside him.

"Tell me you aren't going to be like that." said Remus.

"I might be going through it now, you never know." said Harry with a broad smile.

"Merlin, give me strength." said Sirius groaning loudly.

"The moment their acne clears up,

"At least you don't need to worry about acne." said Eloise

"What makes you think I didn't have acne?" asked Harry inquisitively.

"Your face is still blemish free." said Ginny, tapping Harry's nose.

"I'm pretty sure I looked like I had the chicken pox sometime last night." said Harry.

they'll be ready for re-potting again," Harry heard her telling Filch kindly one afternoon.

"Well, he was whimpering just a bit outside the Hospital Wing." said Professor Sprout.

"And after that, it won't be long until we're cutting them up and stewing them.

"Those things that were crying, then getting moody, and then having acne…you are going to cut them up and stew them?" said Dr. Clark faintly, he was turning a little green.

"Yes." said Professor Sprout. "That is what you do with them."

"Pardon me." he said and ran out of the room.

"What's up with him?" asked Draco.

"He went to go and get sick." said Harry his head still facing the door.

You'll have Mrs. Norris back in no time."

Perhaps the heir of Slytherin had lost his nerve, thought Harry.

"That was foolish and stupid thinking." said Harry shaking his head.

It must be getting riskier and riskier to open the Chamber of Secrets, with the school so alert and suspicious.

"I don't know, seems like pretty wise thinking." said Kingsley.

"Wait till someone else sort of thinks along the same lines." said Harry bitterly.

Perhaps the monster, whatever it was, was even now settling itself down to hibernate for another fifty years...

"I don't think the monster hibernates." said Ron. He looked at Harry and Hermione quickly. "Does it?" he asked.

"I'm not all that sure." said Hermione.

"They do." said Harry. "They can sleep for forty years at a time."

"Can you put us out of our misery and tell us what it is?" pleaded Sirius.

"And ruin the excitement? Never." said Ginny with a laugh.

"Don't make me sic your mother on you." said Sirius teasingly

"Come on, play fair." pouted Ginny.

Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff didn't take this cheerful view.

"What?" asked Remus.

He was still convinced that Harry was the guilty one,

"Dumbledore, tell me that you told the students that you don't think that Harry wasn't the heir." said Charlie tiredly.

"I told the students that the heir was no student going to school here." said Dumbledore. "Unfortunately, I do not think they believed me at the time." he added sadly.

that he had "given himself away" at the Dueling Club.

"You're still an idiot." said Fred. Ernie shuffled shamefully, his mother's howler from very early this morning burning in his ears.

Peeves wasn't helping matters; he kept popping up in crowded corridors singing "Oh, Potter, you rotter..." now with a dance-routine to match.

"He was really happy that I didn't need the eye patches anymore, he took all I had." said Dr. Clark with a laugh. He still looked a little pale, but was quickly getting his spirits back up.

Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think he himself had made the attacks stop.

"That man needs a reality check." said McGonagall. "No one made the attacks stop."

Harry overheard him telling Professor McGonagall so while the Gryffindors were lining up for Transfiguration.

"Lockhart must have seen you and wished to impress you." said McGonagall. "He talked quite a bit louder when you came to stand behind Miss Granger."

"I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Minerva," he said, tapping his nose knowingly and winking.

"Good Lord." said Remus closing his eyes.

"I think that Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him.

"I think Lockhart was the least of the monster and heir's worries." said Bill with a snicker.

Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him.

Remus snorted and covered his mouth to stop from laughing too loud.

"Don't sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel." said Harry with a smirk.

"You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster.

"Oh, did he finally leave?" asked Tempest hopefully.

Wash away the memories of last term! I won't say any more just now, but I think I know just the thing..."

He tapped his nose again and strode off.

"Great! He really did leave!" said Charlie.

Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February the fourteenth.

"Wait…what?" said Sirius.

"Valentine's Day." said Remus with a loud groan.

"This isn't going to end well." said Sirius.

Harry hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before,

"What was stopping you from you just leaving and going to bed?" asked Tonks.

"Wood would have woken me up early the next day to practice again." said Harry with a slight smile.

and he hurried down to the Great Hall slightly late.

"I couldn't wake you up for the life of me." said Ron. "I even put on of Fred's firecrackers under you, you didn't even make a sound."

He thought, for a moment, that he'd walked through the wrong doors.

The teachers and the fourth years and up laughed loudly. Even Snape smirked.

"Something tells me it was good." said Sirius.

"It was awful." said Ron and Harry shaking their heads.

The walls were covered with large, lurid pink flowers.

Sirius began to gag.

Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling.

"Boys have no sense of cuteness." said Angelina to Katie and Alicia.

"Thank goodness." muttered Fred, George, Ron and Harry.

Harry went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting looking sickened, and Hermione seemed to have come over with giggles.

"It was horrible." said Ron.

"It thought it looked lovely." said Hermione indignantly.

"I have to side with Weasley on this one." said Snape with his face twisted in disgust.

"What's going on?" Harry asked them, sitting down, and wiping confetti off his bacon.

"That's the great part about when the other teachers decorate, the stuff floating down from the ceiling doesn't get on the food." said Harry. "I coughed up a little pink heart about ten minutes after breakfast."

Ron pointed to the teachers' table, apparently too disgusted to speak.

"Don't blame you Ron." said Sirius holding his stomach.

Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations,

This time, Remus and Sirius gagged.

"There is nothing wrong with pink." said Tonks, her hair turning to a bright bubble gum shade of pink.

"Your pink is one thing, his is something completely different." said Remus giving a weak smile to his tentative girlfriend.

She smiled and planted a kiss on his lips, which took him completely off guard.

"Get a room." said Sirius with a laugh.

Without missing a beat, Tonks flipped him off.

"Oooh! I see how it is." said Sirius teasingly.

was waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced. From where he sat, Harry could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro.

Several students smiled weakly and others laughed quickly, but were silenced by the look both McGonagall and Snape gave them.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!

"Only forty-six? I would have thought he'd have more." said Remus with a smirk.

"It was only morning, he received about two hundred more by lunch time." said Hermione.

Remus, Sirius and Dr. Clark groaned.

"Tell me he didn't give you anything." said Remus with a groan, looking at Harry.

"I got something in the afternoon," Harry looked pointedly at Ginny. "and then I got sort of frilly valentine towards dinner time, didn't know who sent it."

"How come?" asked Remus.

"It started singing something, then I burnt it." said Harry shrugging.

Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!"

"Dear lord." said Bill covering his eyes.

"Oh trust me, they get even worse." said Fred with a frown on his face.

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the Entrance Hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs.

"What are the dwarfs for?" asked Dennis.

"You have dwarfs too?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Not like the ones in our story books." said Hermione.

Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

Most of the adults in the room stared.

"That…is demeaning…" said Dr. Nicodemus angrily.

"Hope Mighty doesn't find out about this one." said Nightstrike whistling quietly.

"Mighty?" asked Remus.

"He's a dwarf lieutenant to Old Glory, the American Captain. He's one of the strongest Rangers we have." said Lionus. "And I hope he doesn't find out, either. I'm looking for something definite to arrest this twit on."

"I thought you guys could arrest people just for the hell of it." said George.

"Yeah, but it makes the paperwork go a little easier when you have a reason. That way it's just check the box that fits the scenario." said Lionus. "Otherwise, you need to fill out another piece of paper to explain why you incarcerated them."

"Then it goes to your superior for approval right?" asked Percy, slightly hoping that there was an escape for his two bosses.

"He only reviews cases every twenty years or so, all the while, you're in Devil's Garden. Most people don't last longer than four years in there." said Lionus wickedly.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart.

"Those aren't cupids." said Fred.

"Those are dwarfs." said George.

"And they don't like the pink tutus you made them wear." said both of the twins.

"How did he get them to do it?" asked Tempest. "Like us, they are a proud race."

"He paid them handsomely." said Harry. "I saw him give the leader a large bag of gold."

"Whereas, actual Cherubs don't cost a thing to have them come, they love spreading love and cheer everywhere." said Emmeline.

"I think he wanted something that wasn't as good looking as him." whispered Rivers to Kingsley, who snorted loudly.

"They will be roving around the school today delivering your Valentines!

"Whatever happened to the good old days when boys would almost die from embarrassment from handing a girl a Valentine?" asked Sirius.

"Or vice versa." said McGonagall with a smirk.

And the fun doesn't stop here!

"Crud, I was hoping that it would." sniggered Dr. Clark.

I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion!

"No we don't!" said the staff loudly.

Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion!

"I don't think that Professor Snape would be all that festive and show anybody how to do that." said Sirius.

"Also, they are against school rules." said Snape menacingly.

Cho looked disappointed, but Romilda had a sneaky smile on her face.

And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

"You poor man." said Emmeline and Tonks together.

"I had never been so embarrassed in my entire life." said Flitwick covering his face.

"No one laughed, and I'll bet no one asked you." said Harry.

"No, everyone else respected me enough to not ask." said Flitwick gratefully.

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands. Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.

"Everyone else was just as observant. I received no request to teach how to make Love Potions." said Snape with a sneer.

"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six," said Ron, as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson. Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her timetable and didn't answer.

"She was." said Ron, Harry and Sirius kindly.

"You can do better, honey." said Dr. Clark with a small laugh.

"Why do you call girls honey?" asked Sirius.

"In my line of work, well what was my line of work, I'd get some pretty terrified little kids and when I would talk to the girls and call them 'honey', or something along those lines, they would settle down a little bit." said Dr. Clark. "They don't quite take to being called Miss blankety blank."

All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver Valentines,

"Bet you guys didn't like that." said Remus to the rest of the staff.

"We most certainly did not." said McGonagall.

to the annoyance of the teachers,

"That was an understatement." said the staff in unison.

and late that afternoon, as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for charms, one of them caught up with Harry.

"Aww…little Harrykins got a Valentine!" said Sirius giving Harry a slight shove.

"First one from a girl that was actually near my age." said Harry with a smile, Ginny smiled.

"Who wasn't near your age?" asked Hermione.

"Mrs. McFinn, she got me a big chocolate heart." said Harry. "I had the worst stomachache ever."

"You weren't supposed to eat it in less than three minutes like that." said Dr. Clark shaking his head and laughing. "That thing was bigger than your head!"

"Oy, you! 'Arry Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.

"'Friendly' my ass." muttered Remus.

Hot all over at the thought of being given a Valentine

"Your face was as red as a beet, mate, it was insanely funny." said Ron.

in front of a queue of first-years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley,

"Why did you care if she was in line or not?" asked Cho.

"Well…" said Harry scratching the back of his head absently.

"He knew that Ginny had a crush on him, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings." said Bill.

"Sure, we'll go with that." said Harry blushingly.

Harry tried to escape.

The slowly began to laugh.

"Wait, you'll run up to a troll and all that other stuff, but a dwarf wearing golden wings and a Valentine, you hightail it out of there?" said Sirius trying not to laugh.

"Shut up." said Harry.

The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people's shins, and reached him before he'd gone two paces.

"He never stood a chance." sniffed Fred.

"Poor Harry, it was so tragic." said George, his hand over his heart.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person,"

"A Valentine, and it's MUSICAL!" said Sirius excitedly. "I'm so proud."

he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.

"Oh, he' s going to sing it. I'm glad I wasn't there in the flesh." said Sirius quickly.

"Not here," Harry hissed, trying to escape.

"Don't blame you, dwarves aren't known for their singing voice." said Lionus trying to hide his smirk.

"Stay still!" grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry's bag and pulling him back.

Sirius stopped laughing, as did Remus and Dr. Clark.

"Let me go!" Harry snarled, tugging.

With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottles smashed over everything.

"Madam Pince was royally pissed, there was a library book in there." said Harry. "I paid for a new one, but she still wasn't happy."

Harry scrambled around trying to pick it all up before the dwarf started singing, causing something of a hold-up in the corridor.

"We weren't sure what the horrible noise was." said Parvati.

"What's going on here?" came the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"What's it to you what's going on?" asked Sirius.

Draco looked down. "The corridor was being blocked by something."

"That's plausible, I guess." said Sirius crossing his arms.

Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped bag, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical Valentine.

"How'd that work for you?" asked Remus with a smile.

"Waste of time." said Harry shaking his head.

"What's all this commotion?" said another familiar voice, as Percy Weasley arrived.

"You were no help, whatsoever." said Ron.

Percy looked down at the floor.

Losing his head, Harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.

Sirius, Remus and Dr. Clark looked at him quickly.

"I was fine, no bruise, no nothing." said Harry quickly.

"Right," he said, sitting on Harry's ankles. "Here is your singing Valentine:

"Please." said Harry with a broad smile. "Allow me." He sang aloud the Valentine he had received so many years ago. Strangely, he used the same tempo.

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard.

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord

"I can't believe you remembered it." said Ginny giggling.

"It wasn't hard to forget really." said Harry smiling at her.

"Will you two quit getting all lovey dovey?" asked Fred holding his stomach. Both twins rushed over and picked their sister up and plopped her down next to their parents.

"Oi!" said Harry, he couldn't help but smile.

"Be romantic on your own time." said George.

"Wait till I get my hands on you two." said Ginny, blushing madly and unable to hide her smile..

"Gotta catch us first." said Fred teasingly.

Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts to evaporate on the spot.

"I was twelve." said Harry defensively, when he noticed Ginny putting her hands on her hips. "And you were there."

"Still, I can take it out on you now." said Ginny with a smirk.

"Don't please," he said playing along, "I'm already getting the mickey taken out of me." said Harry gesturing to the room.

Trying valiantly to laugh along with everyone else,

"Didn't work mate, you were still blushing." said Ron.

he got up, his feet numb from the weight of the dwarf, as Percy Weasley did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.

"Like I said, you were no freaking help." said Ron.

"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now," he said, shooing some of the younger students away. "And you, Malfoy-"

"Doesn't sound like he wasn't much help." said Mr. Weasley wonderingly. "He's trying to have Malfoy move along."

"Wait for it dad." said Ginny.

Harry, glancing over, saw Malfoy stoop and snatch up something. Leering, he showed it to Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry realized that he'd got Riddle's diary.

"I thought it was yours." said Draco.

Harry reached behind himself and tossed the black notebook over to Draco.

"Here, knock yourself out." he said, not caring.

Draco opened it slowly. "What the…what the hell language is this?" asked Draco.

"I guess you could say my own. Give up yet?" asked Harry.

Draco tossed the book back.

"Give that back," he said quietly.

"I just did." said Draco with a smile.

"Dear lord, he made a joke." said Fred.

"And it was sort of funny!" said George in shock. Both pretended to swoon on the spot.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy, who obviously hadn't noticed the year on the cover,

"No I didn't." said Draco.

and thought he had Harry's own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

"Why were you freaking about Harry's diary?" asked Charlie.

"I…" said Ginny quietly.

"You'll find out later." said Harry quickly.

"Hand it over, Malfoy," said Percy sternly.

"Yeah, like that worked for your younger brothers." said Bill rolling his eyes.

"When I've had a look," said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at Harry.

Snape looked round at Draco, his face and eyes doing more scolding then his voice ever could.

Percy said, "As a school Prefect -", but Harry had lost his temper.

"And that never goes well for the person on the other end of that." said Fred shivering slightly.

He pulled out his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and just as Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting out of his hand into the air.

"Awesome!" said a few first years.

Snape stared at the young man.

"And you thought I don't learn anything from you." said Harry with a snide smile.

Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.

"That was beyond cool!" said Ron thinking back to that day.

"Harry!" said Percy loudly. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"

"Blow it out your ear." said Fred and George.

But Harry didn't care, he'd got one over Malfoy, and that was worth five points from Gryffindor any day.

"Oh, is it Mr. Potter?" asked McGonagall crossing her arms.

"Well…you see…I…" said Harry trying to explain. "…never mind."

Malfoy was looking furious, and as Ginny passed him to enter her classroom, he yelled spitefully after her, "I don't think Potter liked your Valentine much!"

"That was a low blow!" said Bill angrily.

Draco looked down.

"I did start it though." said Harry cautiously.

"He can go after you then, but not our sister." said Charlie snarling at Draco.

Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into class. Snarling, Ron pulled out his wand, too, but Harry pulled him away. Ron didn't need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs.

"Thanks mate." said Ron.

It wasn't until they had reached Professor Flitwick's class that Harry noticed something rather odd about Riddle's diary.

"What? Did it disappear?" asked Ernie.

"No, something else." said Harry.

All his other books were drenched in scarlet ink. The diary, however, was as clean as it had been before the ink bottle had smashed all over it.

"Okay, that's just plain freaky." said Sirius.

He tried to point this out to Ron, but Ron was having trouble with his wand again; large purple bubbles were blossoming out of the end, and he wasn't much interested in anything else.

"Worst year ever." said Ron.

"You're telling me." said Ginny.

Harry went to bed before anyone else in his dormitory that night.

"Oh, come on! Stay up late!" said Sirius. Remus smacked him behind the head sharply.

"He already doesn't get enough sleep, he doesn't need to lose any more." said Remus.

This was partly because he didn't think he could stand Fred and George singing, "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad", one more time,

"Oh, I see how you are." said Ginny teasingly.

"Hey, they didn't sing it as good as I did." said Harry, mockingly preening his own feathers.

"Yeah, yeah, stuff it." said Fred teasingly.

and partly because he wanted to examine Riddle's diary again, and knew that Ron thought he was wasting his time.

"Harry, you have to get rid of that book, you're becoming infatuated with that thing, just like that blasted mirror." said Remus.

"I'm siding with Moony on this one." said Sirius worriedly.

Harry sat on his four-poster and flicked through the blank pages, not one of which had a trace of scarlet on it.

"Be wary lad." said Moody.

Then he pulled a new bottle out of his bedside cabinet, dipped his quill into it, and dropped a blot onto the first page of the diary.

Hermione stared. "Is that you going all out? What the heck made you do that?"

Harry only smiled. "I'll never tell."

The ink shone brightly on the page for a second and then, as though it was being sucked into the page, vanished.

"That…is not normal." said Kingsley thoughtfully.

Excited, Harry loaded up his quill a second time and wrote, "My name is Harry Potter."

"What made you write your name?" asked Tonks.

"Call it a gut feeling." said Harry.

The words shone momentarily on the page and they too sank without trace. Then, at last, something happened.

Oozing back out of the page, in his very own ink, came words Harry had never written.

"Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my Diary?"

"PITCH THAT BOOK!" shouted Mr. Weasley, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Remus and Sirius.

"Throw that book away, don't write in it anymore." said Mr. Weasley, desperately hoping that shouting at the book would change his daughter's past.

These words too, faded away, but not before Harry had stared to scribble back.

"Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."

"Should have went all the way down." said Mrs. Weasley growling.

"What's up with Molly?" asked Remus.

He waited eagerly for Riddle's reply.

"Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read."

"God, he was a slick one." thought Harry viciously.

"What do you mean?" Harry scrawled, blotting the page in his excitement.

"Harry's the second neatest writer in the dormitory." said Neville.

"But when I'm in a rush, my handwriting looks as bad as Seamus'." said Harry with a sneer.

"Yeah, yeah." said Seamus folding his arms and smiling despite himself.

"I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things which were covered up. Things which happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Formal ain't he?" whispered George, but they took quick notice of their little sister.

"You okay, shortcake?" asked Fred.

"Fine, just fine." said Ginny trying to stop her hands from shaking.

Bill stood up, walked over and put her on his lap. "Feel better?" asked Bill soothingly.

"Little." said Ginny, sending a worried look over to Harry, who smiled warmly over to her.

"That's where I am now," Harry wrote quickly. "I'm at Hogwarts, and horrible stuff's been happening. Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"

His heart was hammering. Riddle's reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew.

"Boy…" said Moody.

"Don't call him that!" said Sirius. "That's what that walrus called him."

Moody spat disgustedly, then continued, "Don't get too involved in that thing, seems like a trap to me."

"I can't even disagree with that. In a sense, it was a trap." said Harry sagely.

"You have a wonderful way of making me feel better, you know that?" asked Remus worriedly.

"Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets.

"How convenient." said Dr. Clark tensely.

Harry looked up quickly out of his ravine, he hadn't thought of it like that before. It was convenient, that a diary of someone fifty years ago would miraculously turn up when the same plight began to affect the school. How could he possibly miss that?

In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled.

"No he didn't." snarled Ron, Harry and Hermione.

But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned."

"Can't argue with him on that." said Hermione. "The person behind it all was never imprisoned."

Harry nearly upset his ink bottle in his hurry to write back.

"It's the damned mirror all over again." groaned Tonks.

"It's happening again now. There have been three attacks and no one seems to know who's behind them. Who was it last time?"

"Well you might get a clue, to whoever it is by the person they accused." said Moody.

"Years ago, I thought this guy was right." said Harry sheepishly. He sent an apologetic look up to Hagrid, who smiled and waved away Harry's unspoken apology.

"I can show you if you like," came Riddle's reply. "You don't have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him."

"Don't do it." said Sirius swiftly.

Harry hesitated, his quill suspended over the diary. What did Riddle mean? How could he be taken into someone else's memory? He glanced nervously at the door to the dormitory,

"Not one word." said Remus warningly.

"I wasn't going to say a single word." said Sirius innocently.

which was growing dark. When he looked back at the diary, he saw fresh words forming.

"Let me show you."

Harry paused for a fraction of a second and then wrote two letters.

"OK."

"Alright, you are really close to getting grounded this weekend." said Sirius.

"Hey, now. This happened years ago!" said Harry. "You channeling Remus or something?" asked Harry.

The pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind, stopping halfway through the month of June.

"What the hell?" asked Dr. Clark.

Mouth hanging open, Harry saw that the little square for June the thirteenth seemed to have turned into a minuscule television screen.

"Wow, kinda reminds you of a Scattered Shot doesn't it?" asked Ron.

His hands trembling slightly, he raised the book to press his eye against the little window, and before he knew what was happening, he was tilting forwards; the window was widening, he felt his body leave his bed and he was pitched headfirst through the opening in the page, into a whirl of color and shadow.

"It does, but then again, it doesn't" said Kingsley.

Speckerton looked interestedly at the book. It's not possible for a diary to be a Memorial Book, but it could be something completely different.

He felt his feet hit solid ground, and stood, shaking, as the blurred shapes around him came suddenly into focus.

"It was like being in a blender." said Harry shaking his head.

He knew immediately where he was. This circular room with the sleeping portraits was Dumbledore's office –

"So you went from the Gryffindor Dormitory to Dumbledore's office? I guess that's not too bad." said Dr. Clark carefully.

but it wasn't Dumbledore who was sitting behind the desk. A wizened, frail-looking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter be candlelight. Harry had never seen this man before.

"I'm amazed that you didn't see his picture in the Headmaster's office." said McGonagall, recognizing who the old man was immediately.

"I think his portrait was out for cleaning." said Dumbledore thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry," he said shakily, "I didn't mean to butt in ..."

But the wizard didn't look up. He continued to read, frowning slightly. Harry drew nearer to his desk and stammered, "Er - I'll just go, shall I?"

"You are way too polite." said Fred.

"We need to teach him to be a bit ruder, don't you think?" said George.

Still the wizard ignored him. He didn't seem to have heard him. Thinking that the wizard might be deaf, Harry raised his voice.

"Sorry I disturbed you, I'll go now," he half-shouted.

"If he doesn't hear you, you didn't disturb him!" shouted Fred.

The wizard folded up the letter with a sigh, stood up, walked past Harry without glancing at him and went to draw the curtains at his window.

"Well aint he rude?" said George.

The sky outside the window was ruby red; it seemed to be sunset. The wizard went back to the desk, sat down and twiddled his thumbs, watching the door.

"What the heck is he waiting for?" asked Sirius.

"At least you always occupy your time with something constructive." said McGonagall.

"Now Minerva, he had arthritis, he didn't have the dexterity I do." said Dumbledore.

Harry looked round the office. No Fawkes the phoenix- no whirring silver contraptions. This was Hogwarts as Riddle had known it, meaning that this unknown wizard was the Headmaster, not Dumbledore, and he, Harry, was little more than a phantom, completely invisible to the people of fifty years ago.

"Woah….you got that all in a quick look round?" asked Colin excitedly.

"Wasn't that hard to figure out, actually." said Harry shrugging his shoulders.

There was a knock on the office door.

"Enter," said the old wizard in a feeble voice.

"Right then and there, I was happy you were Headmaster sir." said Harry looking over to the man.

"Why is that?" asked Dumbledore, a twinkle in his eye.

"One can tell just how strong you are by your voice. You sound more able to protect the people around then he ever gave the impression of." said Harry, sounding more confident with his words than anyone else had heard before.

Dumbledore smiled warmly and looked down, humbled.

A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver prefect's badge was glinting on his chest. He was much taller than Harry, but he, too, had jet-black hair.

Harry made a sound like a cobra preparing to strike.

"Hate being compared to him." said Harry grimly. "Even though I'm the one who did the comparing."

"What's so bad about this Riddle guy?" whispered Dr. Clark.

"Nothing that I know of yet." said Sirius.

"Ah, Riddle," said the Headmaster.

"You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?" said Riddle. He looked nervous.

"That always bugged me. Why did he look nervous I wonder." said Harry thoughtfully.

"One can only guess." said Dumbledore.

"Sit down," said Dippet. "I've just been reading the letter you sent me."

"Why would you send a letter? Just go up and talk to the Headmaster." said Fred.

"Well, years ago, that was the way things were done. You needed to send a letter of request to speak to the Headmaster, and give the reason you wish to speak to him." said McGonagall.

"Well that's depressing." said George.

"Oh," said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together very tightly.

"My dear boy," said Dippet kindly, "I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?"

Harry groaned louder.

"You aren't him, Harry." said Dumbledore comfortingly.

Harry smiled genuinely.

"No," said Riddle at once, "I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that - to that-"

"He didn't have an abusive family did he?" asked Colin uneasily.

"No, I actually envied him. He had a much easier lot in life than I did." said Harry.

"Beef cattle have it better than you did." said Dr. Clark angrily.

"You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?" said Dippet curiously.

"Sounds good to me. At least there would have been a chance to get adopted out." said Harry.

"I wonder why he didn't get adopted." said Ginny quietly.

"Strange occurrences happened around him, and he refused to allow anyone to adopt him. Though there were plenty of families who asked for him." said Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir," said Riddle, reddening slightly.

"He always had an intense dislike for that place." said Dumbledore thoughtfully.

"More of a reason to want to get adopted out." said George.

"This guy makes no sense." said Fred, shaking his head.

"You are Muggle-born?"

"Half-blood, sir," said Riddle. "Muggle father, witch mother."

"So what is he doing in a muggle orphanage?" asked Draco wonderingly.

"And are both your parents -?"

"My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the orphanage she lived just long enough to name me - Tom after my father, Marvolo after my grandfather."

"That's sad. Poor Tom." said a first year Gryffindor.

"'Poor Tom' is not what I would say actually." said Harry bitterly.

Dippet clicked his tongue sympathetically.

"I really hate that sound." said Charlie. "Every time I hear it, I want to just smack the daylights out of the person doing it."

"The thing is, Tom," he sighed, "special arrangements might have been made for you,

"Could that have happened with Harry?" asked Dennis.

"Yes, he would have come and stayed with a member of the staff, most likely myself." said Dumbledore. "Tom would have most likely stayed with the Head of his house."

but in the current circumstances..."

"You mean all these attacks, sir?" said Riddle, and Harry's heart leapt, and he moved closer, scared of missing anything.

"Maybe we'll find out something to show us what the heck is going on!" said Remus excitedly.

"Precisely." said the Headmaster. "My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends.

"But if he was going to stay with a his Head of house..." said Seamus.

"The Head of house would have had the option of staying in the castle, and it was no secret that Slughorn wished to stay all year round." said Dumbledore.

Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... the death of that poor little girl ... You will be safer by far at your orphanage."

"Hate to say it, but he sort of sounds like you, sir." said Harry.

"Indeed." said Dumbledore choking slightly.

"But not completely." said Harry earnestly.

As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school.

"They wouldn't dare!" shouted Mrs. Weasley.

"Times were desperate then, and three years ago, it was again." said Dumbledore.

We are no nearer locating the - er - source of all this unpleasantness ..."

"A child died!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily, "And he calls it unpleasantness?"

Riddle's eyes widened.

"Sir - if the person was caught... If it all stopped..."

"Sounds like he knows exactly who it is. I wonder how long has he known?" asked Moody suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" said Dippet, with a squeak in his voice, sitting up in his chair. "Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?"

"No, sir," said Riddle quickly.

"Liar." said many of the students in the hall.

But Harry was sure it was the same kind of 'no' that he himself had given Dumbledore.

"Not entirely the same, dear boy." said Dumbledore soothingly.

Dippet sank back, looking faintly disappointed.

"You may go, Tom..."

Riddle slid off his chair and slouched out of the room. Harry followed him.

That is one of the many things that you and him differ." whispered Dumbledore, coming to stand behind Harry to whisper in his ear. "He had horrible posture."

Harry snorted.

Down the moving spiral staircase they went, emerging next to the gargoyle in the darkening corridor. Riddle stopped dead, and so did Harry, watching him. Harry could tell that Riddle was doing some serious thinking. He was biting his lip, his forehead furrowed.

"Was he trying to figure out who the heir was?" asked Ernie.

"Not even close." said Harry angrily.

Then, as though he had suddenly reached a decision, he hurried off, Harry gliding noiselessly behind him.

"Gliding?" asked Sirius.

"Turns out, in the memory, that I didn't need to walk, if I willed hard enough, I could float behind him." said Harry.

They didn't see another person until they reached the Entrance Hall, when a tall wizard with long, sweeping auburn hair and beard called to Riddle from the marble staircase.

"Three guesses who that is!" chanted Fred and George.

"What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?"

Harry gaped at the wizard. He was none other than a fifty-year-younger Dumbledore.

"Fifty years ago?" said Dr. Clark weakly.

"He was still plenty old back then too." said Sirius in a whisper.

"I had to see the Headmaster, sir," said Riddle.

"Well, hurry off to bed," said Dumbledore, giving Riddle exactly the kind of penetrating stare Harry knew so well.

"The one you give me is kinder." said Harry with a smile.

"Best not to roam the corridors these days. Not since..."

He sighed heavily,

"At least you showed that poor child respect." said Madam Bones.

bade Riddle goodnight and strode off. Riddle watched him walk out of sight and then, moving quickly, headed straight down the stone steps to the dungeons, with Harry in hot pursuit.

"Harry's a stalker!" shouted George.

"Don't give me any more bad press. She did enough damage." said Harry nodding towards Rita Skeeter who was sitting secludedly in the corner.

"Why hasn't she wrote or said anything?" asked Hermione.

"We stunned her. We prefer to go about without the press knowing anything about us." said Lionus. "She's been knocked out since I and Doc arrived."

But to Harry's disappointment, Riddle led him not into a hidden passageway or a secret tunnel but the very dudgeon in which Harry had Potions with Snape.

"Why is he going to the Potions classroom?" asked Neville.

"That wasn't always a Potions classroom." said Snape, without his normal sneer towards the teen.

"Tha's true." said Hagrid.

The torches hadn't been lit, and when Riddle pushed the door almost closed, Harry could only just see Riddle, standing stock-still by the door, watching the passage outside.

"He's acting a bit odd, isn't' he?" said Colin.

It felt to Harry that they were there for at least an hour. All he could see was the figure of Riddle at the door, staring through the crack, waiting like a statue.

"What the hell is he waiting for?" asked Bill.

"The right moment." said Harry, his face twisted in anger.

And just when Harry had stopped feeling expectant and tense, and started wishing he could return to the present,

"I was amazed that my patience lasted that long." said Harry with a smile.

he heard something move beyond the door.

Someone was creeping along the passage. He heard whoever it was pass the dungeon where he and Riddle were hidden.

"Who is it?" asked a worried fourth year Ravenclaw.

Riddle, quiet as a shadow, edged through the door and followed, Harry tiptoeing behind him, forgetting that he couldn't be heard.

"Felt like a real idiot, didn't you?" said Zacharias snidely.

"You're really pushing your luck, you know that right?" said Fred threateningly.

For perhaps five minutes they followed the footsteps, until Riddle stopped suddenly, his head inclined in the direction of new noises.

Harry heard a door creak open, and then someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.

"C'mon... gotta get yeh outta here... c'mon now... in the box..."

There was something familiar about that voice...

"Hagrid, is that you?" asked Luna.

"Yup." said Hagrid, his face darkened.

Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner. Harry stepped out behind him. He could see the dark outline of a huge boy who was crouching in front of an open door, a very large box next to it.

"What's with the box?" asked Lee.

"Evening, Rubeus," said Riddle sharply.

"This won't end well." said Ernie worriedly.

"It IS Hagrid." said Dennis.

The boy slammed the box shut and stood up.

"What yer doin' down here, Tom?"

"Ever get the feeling he won't tell you?" said Anthony.

Riddle stepped closer.

"It's all over," he said. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."

"What is he talking about?" asked Dr. Clark.

"He's saying that Hagrid was the one that attacked those people!" said Ernie.

"It can't have been him! I may not have known him nearly as long as the rest of you lot, but I know he wouldn't have done it!" said Dr. Clark angrily.

"RIGHT ON!" said Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"What d'yeh-"

"I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and-"

"TWAS'NT HIM!" shouted Hagrid.

"It never killed no one!" said the large boy, backing against the closed door. From behind him, Harry could hear a funny rustling and clicking.

"Huh?" said the people in the Great Hall.

"Come on, Rubeus," said Riddle, moving yet closer. "The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the think that killed their daughter is slaughtered..."

"If he knew where to find it so fast, he could have saved that girl!" said Remus angrily.

"It wasn' him!" roared the boy, his voice echoing in the dark passage. "He wouldn'! He never!"

"Stand aside," said Riddle, drawing out his wand.

His spell lit the corridor with a sudden flaming light.

"Thank goodness you couldn't be hurt." said Sirius.

The door behind the large boy flew open with such a force it knocked him into the wall opposite.

"That must have been one lulu of a spell to knock Hagrid into a wall." said Rivers.

And out of it came something that made Harry let out a long, piercing scream unheard by anyone-

The students and adults turned and stared at him. Even Hagrid looked concerned.

"What could make you scream like that?" asked Sirius.

A vast, low-slung, hairy body and a tangle of black legs; a gleam of many eyes and a pair of razor-sharp pincers -

"That sounds like..." said Dr. Clark.

"ACROMANTULA!" shouted Charlie.

"Not where I was going." said Dr. Clark.

"An acromantula is a giant spider." said Charlie worriedly.

"Jesus! You have those?" said Dr. Clark lifting both legs into the bowl.

"Yeah, but aren't you reading 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'?" said Sirius.

"It's the unabridged version." said Remus. "It's about four times longer than the school version."

Riddle raised his wand again, but he was too late. The thing bowled him over as it scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the huge boy leapt on him, seized his wand and threw him back down, yelling, "NOOOOOOO!"

"I don't know who to really root for." said Michael Corner.

The scene whirled, the darkness became complete, Harry felt himself falling and, with a crash, he landed spread-eagled on his four-poster in the Gryffindor dormitory, Riddle's diary lying open on his stomach.

"Destroy...that...book..." said Sirius slowly.

"I agree." said Dr. Clark anxiously.

Before he had time to regain his breath, the dormitory door opened and Ron came in.

"There you are," he said.

"I couldn't seem to find you anywhere, I did everything but look outside the tower window." said Ron.

Harry sat up. He was sweating and shaking.

"What's up?" said Ron, looking at him with concern.

"You looked really ill. I was about to get Madam Pomfrey, or at the most send a letter to Mum." said Ron.

"It was Hagrid, Ron. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

"I am really sorry Hagrid, I believed him." said Harry.

"Well...yeh believed me in the end, so it was alrigh'." said Hagrid kindly.

Harry's stomach growled loudly. Much to Harry's surprise.

"Lunch time." said Sirius quickly.

"Good idea, best keep your stomach full, boy. You're still undergoing some changes, slight as they may be." said Dr. Nicodemus.