I.

Riddle was in the Restricted Section, lounging in a chair in the far corner, a medieval book in his lap.

Daphne rolled her eyes. Of course he was. Despite being popular among the Slytherin crowd, Daphne wondered if Riddle secretly hated people and avoided them when he could. She casually strolled between a pair of shelves, pretending to peruse while glancing occasionally though a row of books to spot Riddle glaring right at her.

"Did you come to borrow a book, Bones, or are you spying on me?"

Daphne snorted. "To borrow a book, obviously. You see, this is what we call a library."

He snapped his book shut and gave her a mocking smile. "Charming. Many girls find excuses to follow me around. I didn't think you'd stoop to such lows."

"Don't flatter yourself, Riddle," said Daphne, turning her head away so he couldn't see her surprise. Perhaps she hadn't been as inconspicuous as she thought. "Some of us have lives to be getting on with. Or did you think the world revolves around you?"

"But you are spying on me," he said firmly. "Did Dumbledore send you?"

Daphne pulled a book from a shelf, quickly reading its title. The Book of Screams, it proclaimed. She'd no idea what it contained but it seemed about the best prop she could get her hands on as Riddle straightened and walked towards her, his own heavy tome tucked at his side.

She pressed the book against her chest so he couldn't read the title as he towered above her. Merlin, she'd forgotten how tall he was up close. He stood right in front of her, backing her up against the shelf. For all his charm and good looks, he could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be. No wonder first-years seemed to flee whenever he roamed the halls late at night.

"Like, I already told you," she said, her fingers twitching to grab her wand. "I came here to borrow a book. And now that I've found it, I'd very much like to leave."

Riddle barely even blinked. The look he gave her was unnerving and Daphne had the insane urge to hex him and run off.

"The Book of Screams, is it?" he asked, glancing down at the book in her arms. He'd guessed simply from the colour? How long had he been stalking these shelves?

"Yes, it's for a bit of light reading," she lied.

The corners of his lip curled in what was almost a sneer.

"Now I know you're lying, Bones. You can run back to Dumbledore and tell him I've engaged in the most unholy practice of borrowing books. Do you think he'll expel me?"

Daphne glanced down at the book at his side, its title slightly obscured by his hand. Secrets of the-

"Maybe. If you're reading something you shouldn't be," she said in what she hoped was a threatening tone. It didn't seem to have the intended effect. Instead, Riddle stepped back slightly and gave her a smile that was sickenly sweet.

"You're the only other student with unlimited access to the Restricted Section and the last time you were here, you took out Most Potente Potions. Polyjuice, I presume? Tut tut tut, Bones. You could get expelled for that. If I went to Dippet and told him what I saw, he'd send you packing tonight."

Damn Riddle to hell. How did he know? Daphne wondered if Riddle had already mastered Legilimency. Still, if he had read her mind, she would have felt a prickling sensation in her head. It took a masterful Legilimens to pry a mind nonverbally and undetected and as clever as Riddle was, no one mastered it that quickly.

"Now who's the spy? Do you honestly have nothing better to do than look up what books I take out of the library? Did you forget to attend Slytherin's daily brooding session in the dungeons?"

"I'm prefect, it's my job to make sure everyone is on their best behaviour."

"I'm prefect, too."

"Yes, but you're not a very good one."

Daphne was tempted to accuse him of keeping the Acromantula business a secret, but she didn't want to give herself away so early. Besides, she still needed proof that he knew about it. At this point, it was just a guess at best.

"Of course, I forgot. Not all school prefects have trophies with our names on them. That was very brave of you, Riddle. I wonder how you caught the culprit so quickly when our professors failed?"

"Intuition," he said flippantly, his eyes roaming her face for any hint of betrayal. "You'll find I can read people fairly well."

Daphne thought she felt the slightest prick of a finger reaching into her mind and she instinctively looked away and walked past him. She'd certainly have to practice her Occlumency before she ever looked at him straight in the eyes again. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to read this book. Goodbye, Riddle."

"Goodbye, Bones," he said with a smirk. "Oh, and I wouldn't open that book if I were you."

Daphne had no idea what he meant but as soon as she left the library, The Book of Screams in tow, she felt instantly better. Riddle had given her the creeps. Knowing all those things about her, accusing her of spying, cornering her against the shelves? Dumbledore was right. He wasn't like the rest of his dimwit Slytherin gang. Riddle was crafty, he was clever, and he knew how to get under her skin.

He as good as knew she was Dumbledore's spy. Her reputation for consistently hunting down members of his gang for various offenses probably hadn't helped. If she wanted to get information, she'd have to think up more covert ways or Riddle would surely hex her. Or worse, get her expelled.

II.

Dumbledore was less than pleased when she told him what happened. She could tell he was disappointed with her lack of caution. He had urged her to be careful, after all.

"Did you find out what he was reading?"

"No, I couldn't make out the title. But I reckon it was something suspicious. He was paranoid from the moment I spotted him with it. I'll go back to the library tomorrow and see if I can find it again. It was pretty thick tome, hard to miss."

Dumbledore nodded. "It might be best to lay low for now. In the meantime, see what you find out from Hagrid."

Daphne looked up from scrawling in her notebook. "Hagrid, sir?"

"Not many of the students are aware and their parents would not be pleased if they heard. But I do not truly think Hagrid meant any harm with the Acromantula. I believe him to be innocent of the whole affair. Besides, Ogg is becoming old and he needs as much help as he can."

Daphne furrowed her eyebrows. "You gave Hagrid a job? At Hogwarts? As gamekeeper?!"

"Gamekeeper's assistant. And it was Dippet who finally relented, after much pestering on my part, I'm afraid. Hagrid's wages may be low but I do strongly believe in second chances. Don't you, Daphne? After all, a disgraced adolescent half-giant can hardly expect to find employment anywhere reputable."

Daphne figured this was the moment Dumbledore was going to say something both cryptic and sentimental and therefore stood up to take her leave. "I believe in truth, but perhaps that's my flaw as a Ravenclaw. If he's still on the grounds now, I can ask him a few questions before class."

"Very good, Daphne. Try to avoid Riddle for now."

When Daphne reached the old stone hut sitting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, she spotted Hagrid emerging from the back, a bottle of flesh-eating slug repellent in hand. He was enormous for a fourteen year old, towering almost as tall as the hut with mangly black hair and smelling distinctly of sweat and dung. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted her and simply stared. For the sake of civility, Daphne tried not to swat at the air in front of her nose.

"Rubeus," said Daphne pleasantly. "I'm a friend of Dumbledore's. Daphne Bones. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, a friend of Dumbledore's, eh? Why didn't yer say so? I thought yer were coming to scream at me."

"Do people do that often?"

Hagrid turned bright as a tomato and looked at the floor. "After all that happened last year, I'm not what yer call...popular."

"I had a few questions about that, actually. Dumbledore's convinced you're innocent but I think I'll hold my judgement for now. What can you tell me about that Acromantula you were harbouring on school property?"

"Aragog? He never killed no one! I bought him as a baby, thought I could raise him as a pet. But then Riddle got to knowing 'bout it and opened his big mouth! Said I were growin' werewolf pups under me bed or wrestlin' trolls in the forest. I think he always hated me for being….well, for being half-giant."

Daphne considered this, writing it down in her notebook. "When did Riddle find out about the Acro-er, Aragog?"

"He knew I had a pet spider because all the boys in me dormitory kept complainin' about it and a few reported it to him during Christmas, I think. But he didn't say nothin' until poor Myrtle."

"And where is Aragog now?"

To her surprise, Hagrid suddenly started sobbing. "He's all alone in the forest, init? With no one to look after him! I had to let him go, I had to! They were gonna kill him, they were! Sometimes I leave him some scraps in the forest so he won't go hungry."

"And you've seen him in the forest?"

Hagrid sniffed. "Yeah, he making it out okay but what if the other animals be mean to him? He's made a nice web for himself but he got no friends and-"

"Alright, I think that's all I needed to know. Good day, Hagrid."

Daphne left Hagrid standing somewhat perplexed as she climbed up the slopes to the castle. She hadn't needed to hear the whole sob story of Hagrid's pet Acromantula to know Hagrid was innocent. It was clear he was not the brightest student and the idea of him being the Heir of Slytherin, capable of locating the legendary Chamber of Secrets, controlling the monster within and unleashing it upon some poor unfortunate soul was, quite frankly, ludicrous.

Aragog could not have been the rumoured monster within the Chamber. By Hagrid's own admission, he'd bought the Acromantula when it was just a baby. The real monster was said to be ancient, able to live up to centuries. Hagrid had been fiercely protective of the spider, letting it loose into the Forbidden Forest than risk it getting killed by school authorities. How much more protective would be be of a human life?

Her thoughts, naturally, came back to Riddle. Now she had proof that Riddle had known about the Acromantula perhaps as early as December of the previous year. Yet, he'd waited until the school practically faced closure to bring attention to it. Then again, it was possible Riddle had knowledge of many illicit activities but chose to ignore them. After all, his own cronies had a long list of offences in their school records. Had he simply acted in his self-interest to keep the school open or was there more to the story than that?

There was something Dumbledore wasn't telling her. Why did he find Riddle so suspicious, anyway? Did he know something about him, perhaps from a time before he'd come to Hogwarts, that made him dubious of Riddle's character? Or had Dumbledore finally lost it?

III.

She returned to the library the following morning to hunt down the medieval tome Riddle had been reading but discovered it was nowhere to be found. When she asked Madam Paige about it, the librarian had no idea what she was talking about.

"I don't think Tom has taken any books out of the library, my dear. I haven't seen him in weeks."

"What are you on about? He comes here nearly every other day. Almost always to the Restricted Section."

Madam Paige shook her head. "If any student was spending that much time in the Restricted Section, they'd be up to no good and I'd have scared them off faster than they could say 'hippogriff'."

"Are you sure you don't remember? I was in the Restricted Section just yesterday when I spotted him the corner reading that book. Don't you keep records of who goes in and out?"

"Of course, we keep records! We don't just let anybody waltz in there! Here, there's your name when you signed in and yours when you signed out. As you can plainly see, you were the only visitor yesterday. My dear, are you sure you're not coming down with something?"

Daphne narrowed her eyes. Madam Paige had the eyes of a hawk and the memory of an elephant. There was simply no way anyone could have walked into the Restricted Section and taken a book without her noticing. Besides, the Hogwarts Library was fitted with all kinds of anti-thieving jinxes and hexes. Anyone would be mad to try and steal a book, especially one from the Restricted Section.

"Um, no, I'm quite fine thank you. You've been most helpful."

Daphne scanned the shelves one last time before giving up and walking back to Ravenclaw Tower. She knew she wasn't crazy. She had seen Riddle yesterday in the library. They'd had an entire conversation. But his name wasn't in the records and Madam Paige had no memory of ever having seen him in weeks.

With a lurch in her stomach, Daphne realized Riddle had almost certainly Obliviated her.