I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!


LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR TWO:

CHAPTER EIGHT:


Harry came back from Dumbledore's office that night, and I lept up from my place on the floor. "Well?" He grinned weakly. "Actually, it went a lot better than I would have expected." He told us about Hagrid backing him up, and how Dumbledore had finally manage to interrupt Hagrid long enough to say that he believed Harry.

I smiled. "Well, that's good, then, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But that's not going to stop the rest of the school from still believing it's me causing the attacks."

"Forget about them. Once you guys have the potion ready, you'll be able to prove it's Malfoy." Luckily, Renny wasn't there, so I didn't have to worry about him overhearing.


After the double attack on Nearly Headless Nick and Justin, people were signing up to go home for the holidays by the dozens. Ron groaned. "At this rate, it's just going to be us, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle here at Hogwarts. What a lovely Christmas it'll be." I sighed. "Sorry I can't stay to help you guys." Hermione smiled. "It's no problem. Besides, you said your Uncle Renny has some history books on Hogwarts, right? Maybe you'll find something in there about the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry, however, seemed glad that most of the students were going home for the holidays. I figured it was because he had gotten tired of people staring, muttering, and pointing at him; and he was probably sick of people avoiding him in the corridors.

Fred and George seemed to find all of this amusing, though. They made time to march ahead of Harry down the hallways, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through..."

Percy didn't find it one bit amusing, though. "It is not a laughing matter."

"Oh, get out of the way, Percy. Harry's in a hurry."

George laughed. "Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets to have a cup of tea with his fanged servant." Harry didn't look as though he minded, though. He told me that it was refreshing to have someone who thought that the idea of him being Slytherin's heir was ridiculous.

However, Malfoy seemed to be getting increasingly annoyed; his scowl grew deeper and deeper every time Fred and George acted that way. Ron grinned. "It's because he's bursting to say it's really him. You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're getting all the credit for his dirty work." Hermione smirked. "Not for long. The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day now."


Finally, the holidays came around, and I said goodbye to Ron, Harry, and Hermione and wished them good luck with Malfoy. Renny was waiting for me in the Entrance Hall, and we made our way down to the train. "I am sorry about this, but the Master insisted you come home for the...holidays."

"I know. Hey, do you think he'll let me borrow any of his history books on Hogwarts?" Renny gave me a stern look. "I do not believe that would be a wise decision. Besides, the Master does not want you poking around for any clues involving the Chamber of Secrets, or its whereabouts." I crossed my arms, pouting. "Fine."


We entered the castle, and headed for C.V.'s study. He looked up as we walked in. "Ah, Renfield. I see you managed to bring her back."

"Yes, Master."

"Very well. Dismissed, Renfield." Renny nodded, and left to prepare dinner. C.V. stood up. He studied me with his blue eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, and he held up a hand. "Yes, what Renfield told you is true. I did have you brought back here for the holidays because I am concerned about the happenings at the school."

"Really?"

"Indeed. And before you ask, I am not going to allow you access to any of my history books involving Hogwarts."

"Count, I just want to read up on the Chamber of Secrets."

"I do not want you asking any more questions about the Chamber of Secrets, understood?" I nodded. "Good. Now, I believe dinner is ready." I nodded, following him to the smaller of the two dining rooms, the one we used when C.V. wasn't hosting a formal event with other vampires.


The week leading up to Christmas passed uneventfully, and Renny woke me at 7:00 the morning of Christmas. "What's going on?"

"The Master stated that after you were finished eating, you were to join him in his study. Apparently, he has a surprise for you." I looked at him, confused. "What kind of surprise?"

"You will see."


After breakfast, just as Renny had said, he escorted me to C.V.'s study. "Master, I have brought Miss Gabrielle, as you commanded."

"Good. Dismissed, Renfield." Renfield bowed out of the room, leaving me alone with C.V. in his study. I looked at him nervously, waiting for him to speak. "Come with me." I followed him as he swept out of the room, leading me down various corridors. Finally, we stopped in front of a large pair of double doors. C.V. pushed the doors open, and I gasped at what was inside.

A huge indoor garden stood before me, and it had been enchanted to appear as though we were outside. Different plants and trees grew around the room, and a few circular tables with umbrella poles over them stood in various places. But what caught my attention was the huge pool that had the appearance of a medium-sized pond with a waterfall.

C.V. spoke, breaking my reverie. "I asked Dumbledore to assist me in creating this, and he agreed to help."

"I love it."

"Good. Now, the room can change from day to night at your will. The weather is often warm in this room. Also, the pond will change temperatures at your leisure." I grinned, then looked up at him, confused. "But...why are you giving me this? I thought you didn't celebrate holidays."

"That does not change the fact that I can give you gifts. The earrings from last year should be proof of that." I gaped at him. "That was you?!" He nodded. "Granted, Renfield did the actual shopping, but yes, it was me. Also, I had Dumbledore put a spell on Midnight's collar so that she would be the size of a normal house cat while at Hogwarts to keep the students and staff from panicking. She will, however, retain her true form while here." I looked down as Midnight came in, purring. I knelt down, petting her. "Thank you, Count. I really appreciate this."

It was at this moment that I decided not to call him C.V. anymore. He didn't deserve to be treated that way.


For the rest of the holiday, I spent most of my time in my garden room, either swimming, reading, or playing with Midnight. Midnight seemed to love it in my garden room. She'd finally kicked her candy obsession, and spent her time running around the room. The rest of the time I spent with Renny and Dracula, playing wizard's chess, at which I always lost, but I'd never been good at wizard's chess anyway. Sometimes Renny and Dracula would tell me about certain parts of history, but refused to talk about the Chamber of Secrets.


I was sorry when I had to go, but excited about seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione again. I also wanted to know if they had managed to get a confession out of Malfoy. Renny took me to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. I hugged him. "Bye, Renny. I'll see you this summer." Midnight purred, rubbing her face up against Renny's chest, and he laughed. "Looks like you are not the only one who is sorry to leave the Master and myself." He smiled. "I will miss the both of you as well. Take care, young one." I grinned, waving at him as I boarded the train with Midnight in my arms.


When I returned to school, though, I was surprised by two facts that Ron and Harry informed me of: One, Malfoy wasn't the one causing the attacks; and two, Hermione's transformation had gone wrong, seeing as the hair she had got off of Millicent Bulstrode's robe was actually cat hair, giving her the appearance of part girl, part cat. We visited her every evening, bringing her class work with us.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers, I would take a break from homework," grumbled Ron as he put a stack of books on her bedside table. "Don't be silly. I've got to keep up." The hair had started to fade from her face, and her eyes were turning back to brown. She dropped her voice. "I don't suppose you've got any new leads?"

Ron crossed his arms. "I was so sure it was Malfoy." Harry looked over at me. "What about you, Evangeline? Did your uncle let you look at his history books?" I shook my head. "No. He said I should stop trying to investigate the Chamber of Secrets."

I spotted something sticking out from under Hermione's pillow. "What's that?"

"Nothing." She tried to hide it, but Ron quickly snatched it, and began reading it out loud.

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-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award.

He looked up at her, a revolted look on his face. "You sleep with this under your pillow?" Hermione was saved from answering, though, when Madam Pomfrey came over and shooed us out, saying it was time for Hermione to take her medicine.


"Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met, or what?" Ron asked me and Harry as we began to make our way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Snape had given us so much homework, Ron was saying he'd be in his sixth year before he completed it. "I wish I'd asked Hermione how many rat tails you add to a Hair-Raising Potion." We stopped dead, hearing someone yelling from the floor above us. "That's Filch." We ran up the stairs, and hid out of sight. "You don't think someone else has been attacked, do you?"

"-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-" We heard his footsteps stomping down the corridor, and a door slammed. We peeked around the corner. Filch had been at his usual lookout post where Mrs. Norris had been attacked, and we saw instantly what Filch had been shouting about. A flood of water reached over half the corridor, and it looked like water was still coming from under the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch had gone, we could hear her sobs echoing off the bathroom walls.

"Now what's up with her?" said Ron. Harry sighed. "Let's go check." I pushed open the door to her bathroom, and, holding our robes up around our ankles, we stepped inside. Moaning Myrtle was crying louder than ever, and seemed to be hiding in her usual toilet. The bathroom was dark because the candles had been extinguished by all the water. "What's up, Myrtle?"

"Who's that? Come to throw something else at me?" I waded across the stall towards her, and said, "Why would I throw something at you?" Myrtle came out, her face stained with silvery tears. "Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business, and somebody thinks it's funny to throw a book at me." Ron frowned. "But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'd just go right through you." Myrtle sped towards him until she was inches from his face, anger clearly written on her face. "Sure! Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach!" She put her fist through Ron's stomach. "Fifty points if it goes through her head!" Her fist went through his head.

Harry spoke up. "Who threw it at you, anyway?"

"I don't know. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head." She glared at Ron. "It's over there." We looked over at the sink where Myrtle was pointing, and saw a small black book lying there, soaking wet, like everything else in the bathroom. Harry moved to pick it up, but Ron flung out an arm. "What's wrong?"

"Are you crazy? It could be dangerous." I snorted. "Are you kidding? How could it possibly be dangerous?"

"You'd be surprised. Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated-Dad's told me-there was that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book you could never stop reading. You just had to wander around with your nose in a book, trying to do everything one-handed. And-"

"Okay, I get the point," said Harry. He bent down. "Well, we won't know unless we look at it." Harry picked it up, and it seemed to be a diary. The date said it was fifty years old. On the first page, 'T.M. Riddle' was written. Ron approached warily, looking over his shoulder. "Hang on...I know that name. T.M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

"How on Earth do you know that?"

"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention. 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." Harry peeled the damp pages apart, inspecting the book. There was nothing written on a single page. "He never wrote in it."

Ron frowned. "I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" Harry looked at the back cover, and saw it came from some variety store on Vauxhall Road, London. "He must've been Muggle-born, to have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road." Ron sighed. "Well, it's not much use, anyway." He dropped his voice. "Fifty points if you can get it through Myrtle's nose." I glared at him as Harry pocketed it.


Hermione, being back to normal, left the hospital wing at the start of February. Harry showed her the diary and told her how we'd found it. "Maybe it has hidden powers," she said, looking at it with interest.

"If it does, it's hiding them well. I don't know why you didn't chuck it, Harry."

Harry frowned, thinking hard. "I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it. I wouldn't mind knowing how T.M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school, either." Ron shrugged. "Could've been anything. Maybe he got thirty O. or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would've done everyone a favor."

Harry, Hermione and I looked at each other. Ron stared at us, confused. "What?"

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, right? That's what Malfoy said."

"Yeah..."

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

"So?"

"Oh, Ron, wake up! We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. And 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? His diary would probably tell us everything-where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature is in the Chamber-the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they?"

"That's a brilliant idea, Hermione," Ron said, "with one tiny flaw. There's nothing written in his diary." Hermione pulled her wand out of her bag. "It might be invisible ink!" She tapped the diary and said, "Aparecium!" Nothing happened. Hermione pulled what looked like a bright red eraser out of her bag. "It's a Revealer, I got in Diagon Alley." She tried rubbing on January first. Nothing showed up. Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you, there's nothing in there. Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered to fill it in."


Despite this, Harry seemed more keen than ever to find out who Riddle was. The next day on our break, we headed for the trophy room. Riddle's gold shield was in a corner cabinet. It didn't describe why it had been given to him ("Good thing, too, or it'd be bigger, and I'd still be polishing it," Ron said). We did find his name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on a list of old Head Boys. Ron looked disgusted. "He sounds like Percy. Prefect, Head Boy...probably top of every class-" Hermione looked at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."


The mood at Hogwarts had grown more hopeful, since there had been no attacks since the one on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was happy to report that the Mandrakes were getting moody and secretive, which signaled that they were quickly leaving childhood. "The moment their acne clears up, they'll be ready for repotting again," we heard her telling Filch one afternoon. "And after that, it won't be long until we're cutting them up and stewing them. You'll have Mrs. Norris back soon."

Harry told us that he thought the Heir of Slytherin was beginning to lose their nerve, considering it was getting riskier and riskier, what with all of Hogwarts on high alert.

Ernie Macmillan, though, still seemed to think that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, because he had 'given himself away' at the Dueling Club. Peeves didn't help matters much: he kept showing up in the corridors singing, "Oh, Potter, you rotter," with a dance routine.

Lockhart seemed to be under the impression he'd made the attacks stop. We heard him saying so to McGonagall as the Gryffindors lined up for Transfiguration. "I don't think there will be any more trouble, Minerva. I think the Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him. You know what, this school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash away the memories of last term! I won't say any more now, but I think I know just the thing..."


His idea of a morale-booster didn't show itself until breakfast on February fourteenth. As I walked into the Great Hall, I stopped dead, staring around me in disbelief. The walls were covered with large pink flowers. Even worse, heart-shaped confetti fell from the pale blue ceiling. I walked over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron and Hermione sat.

Harry came in a short time later, and wore the same look of shock I had worn when I first entered. As he sat down beside us, he turned to Ron, confused. "What's going on?"

Ron pointed at Lockhart, who was sitting at the staff table, wearing bright pink robes to match the decorations, and was waving for silence. A muscle was going in McGonagall's cheek, and Snape looked as though he'd just been force-fed a large beaker of Skele-Gro.

"Happy Valentine's Day! And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this surprise for you all-and it doesn't end here!" He clapped his hands, and a dozen surly dwarfs came through the doors to the Great Hall. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps. "My friendly, card-carrying cupids! They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

I began choking on my pumpkin juice, and Harry had to pound me on the back for a full minute. Professor Flitwick had his head buried in his hands, and Snape looked like he would force-feed poison to the first person who asked him for a Love Potion.

"Hermione, please tell me you weren't one of the forty-six," Ron said as we left the Great Hall to go to our first lesson. Hermione started rifling through her bag, looking for her schedule, and didn't answer, her cheeks rather pink.


All day long, the dwarfs kept coming into the classrooms to deliver valentines, much to the annoyance of the teachers. As we headed upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs caught up with us. "Oi, you! 'Arry Potter!" Harry turned to get away, but the dwarf cut through the crowd by kicking people in the shins, and reached Harry before he'd gone two feet. "I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person." As he said this, he twanged his harp in a threatening manner.

"Not here." Harry tried to get away, but the dwarf grabbed his bag. "Stay still!" Harry began tugging on his bag, trying to get away. "Let me go!" The bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment and quill fell out, and his ink bottle smashed over everything. Harry scrambled around frantically, trying to pick it up before the dwarf could deliver his message.

"What's going on here?" Draco's voice drawled, causing Harry to try and stuff his things back into his ripped bag even quicker.

"What's all this commotion?" Percy had just showed up.

Harry tried to run for it, but the dwarf tackled him around the ankles, bringing him crashing to the floor, and he sat on Harry's ankles to keep him from getting away.

"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."

Harry looked as though he wanted to vanish on the spot. He got up, stumbling a bit because the dwarf had been sitting on his ankles. Percy did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying tears of laughter. "Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class now. And you, Malfoy-"

We looked over at Malfoy, and saw that he'd picked up Riddle's diary. Harry clenched his fists. "Give that back."

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" He seemed not to have noticed the year on the cover, and thought it was Harry's own diary. I glanced out of the corner of my eye, and saw that Ginny Weasley was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.

Percy spoke. "Hand it over, Malfoy."

"When I've had a look."

"As a school prefect-"

Harry had lost his patience. "Expelliarmus!" The diary flew out of Malfoy's hands, and Ron caught it. "Harry! No magic in the corridors! I'll have to report this, you know!" Malfoy looked furious, and as Ginny passed him, he yelled, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!" Ginny covered her face with her hands, running into her class. Ron pulled out his wand, but Harry and I pulled him away. Ron didn't need to spend all of Charms belching slugs.

Later on, Harry showed us that although all his other books were covered in ink, Riddle's diary was perfectly clean. I shrugged it off, and Ron didn't seemed to care much either: large purple bubbles were blossoming out of the end of his wand.


That night, Harry had gone up to his dormitory earlier than any of the other boys that shared the dormitory with him. Half an hour later, he came running back down the stairs, face pale. "What's wrong?"

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

Ron, Hermione and I stared at him in shocked silence.


WELL, THAT'S IT FOR THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW!