It had been a long day for Hermione. She had spent nearly the entire day with her parents. First they shopped for her school supplies and extra ink and quills so she could do her summer work, and then they had gone to some muggle stores to get house supplies. By the time she had gotten home she was tired, but wanted to try and start some of her work.
When she dumped her satchel onto her desk she noticed a strange, battered looking book. Curious as to what it was and how it got there Hermione began examining it. She noticed the name Tom Marvolo Riddle printed on it. She didn't know anyone by that name in her year at Hogwarts, but maybe it was an older student. When she opened it she noticed the pages were blank. Surely if this belonged to someone there would be writing in it by now she thought. She was debating with herself whether or not to write on it to see if anything would happen, after all there was a name, what if there was a reason someone hadn't written on it. Or what if it was cursed.
Not for the first time Hermione wished she could use magic outside of school. Finally giving into her insatiable curiosity she wrote her name on the top of the first page. For a moment the words shone as the ink seemed to sit on top of the paper, but then they sank in and disappeared. Only to be replaced with more words.
Who is that, and why is she important? (Tom)
Hermione dropped the book in shock and backed away. It had just written back to her. Was that normal in the magical world? Did all diaries write back to the people who wrote in them? Should she respond, there were so many thoughts going through her mind and she couldn't sort it out. She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. Ok, it would be rude to not answer and what harm could there be in telling the diary it was her writing.
I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger. Who are you, and how are you writing to me? (Hermione)
WHAT? HOW DID YOU GET THIS BOOK?! THAT INCOMPETENT BRAT! (Tom)
I'm sorry! I just found this with my other books and I was trying to figure out whose it was. (Hermione)
If anyone could have seen Tom at that moment they would have cringed from the sheer amount of hatred radiating off of him. The boy must have purposely lost the book. There was no way this girl had gotten it from him. Well, he would have to teach the boy why you do not cross Lord Voldemort.
Do not worry; I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm not mad; I had just grown very fond of the person who had been previously writing to me. Please forgive me. (Tom)
For her part, Hermione was still skeptical about all of this. Could it be normal that diaries in the Wizarding World wrote back to their owners? She couldn't tell if this person, or thing, was genuinely sincere, but she was feeling compelled to give him a chance.
Okay, I'll forgive you, but may I ask who you are? (Hermione)
Certainly, my name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, but you may just call me Tom. (Tom)
But, that's the name on the book! How could you be inside of it? (Hermione)
I was a very powerful wizard, and I knew many things. Including ways to make it seem as though I was still alive, this is just one of them. But that is rather boring and dry; I have a question for you. Would you like to help me, I could try and teach you some magic as we go also. (Tom)
Again Hermione was confused, but the offer of learning new things was just too much.
Yes! That would be wonderful, but… (Hermione)
But what? Come now Hermione you can trust me, what is on your mind? (Tom)
What about the person who was previously writing to you, don't you want to go back to them? (Hermione)
The girl seemed sad that she might lose this new source of knowledge so fast. Excellent, she already trusts me; this will be much easier than I thought.
No, if he did not seek me out, I was obviously not very important to him, so now I am yours. (Tom)
Oh Tom! That's terrible, you seem so charming and if you could preserve yourself in a book like this, you must be smart. Why would anyone not want to have you? (Hermione)
You're too kind Hermione. But it is getting late I will tell you more tomorrow, and maybe I can help you with some of your magic. (Tom)
Okay Tom, and thank you, I hope we can become good friends, I don't have very many of those, just Neville and Ronald. (Hermione)
Inside the book, the piece of Tom's soul was laughing. Oh how easy this is. She was already lonely; by the way she jumped at the opportunity to learn she must be a bookworm. And then only having two good friends. She is just lonely and begging for attention. Then when you count in the compulsion charms on the book, she never stood a chance. Yes, Potter, you will pay for trying to escape me.
The summer seemed to be flying by and there were only a few days left until it would be time to get on the Hogwarts Express. Harry couldn't wait to get back. He was becoming quickly bored, and couldn't wait to see Blaise and Daphne again. He hadn't see Blaise all summer and only saw Daphne once. He really hoped things wouldn't be awkward with Daphne now, and wasn't sure if he should mentioned what happened to Blaise. He had kept in contact with both, but had taken to just talking about Blaise's trip and trivial things like that. And when he talked to Daphne he was always careful not to mention the subject. Other than that though, Harry really couldn't wait to go back.
Since he had gotten rid of Tom he had no one to teach him. The best he could do was keep going with what Tom had started teaching him. His wandless abilities were greatly improved now from what they had been. Instead of just the one spell he had been able to perform, he could now successfully cast a levitation charm, unlocking charm, disarming charm, locking charm, a minor cutting hex, and was in the process of mastering the stunning spell. He had thought the disarming charm took a lot of energy, but it was nothing compared to what he was exerting trying to cast the stunning spell. It was becoming easier, but still taxing on him.
He had also finished the book So you want to be a Shadow? The book had contained a lot of useful information not only spells, but also about unordinary applications of it. An example would be using the silencing spell on an object that is falling to keep it from making a sound when it hits the floor. This however required some excellent aim as you would have to hit the falling object. In order to practice this Harry had enlisted the help of his faithful house elf Twink.
Flashback
"Twink, can you levitate objects with your magic?" Harry had asked his elf.
"Yes master Potter sir, what is you needing me to be levitating for you?" Twink was ready to go.
"Could you get some pots and pans and levitate them, and for now just drop them one at a time, I am going to practice aiming my spells. " He had explained. With an excited nod the elf popped away. Within ten seconds he was back and the pots were already in the air.
"Excellent work Twink. Let's begin."
End Flashback
It had been a loud week, but well worth it as his accuracy had greatly increased. He was nowhere near perfect, but when he first started he couldn't hit any and now he was hitting a little more than half.
His mind skills also were improving, albeit at a much slower pace. He wasn't sure how to go about reading memories yet as he hadn't gotten that far with Tom, and was nervous of trying it on his own. So for now it looked like his legilemency skills were at a dead end. His occlumency while not at a complete stop, had started to plateau, as he read on he found that the concepts were starting to get over his head, and grudgingly accepted he would have to wait to do more.
Despite all these setbacks he still firmly believed himself to be leaps and bounds ahead of his other classmates. He highly doubted anyone else in his year, maybe even the school, could perform wandless magic. That was one thing he wanted to keep to himself though. No sense showing people he had an advantage if he didn't have to.
As far as he knew only one person other than himself knew what he was capable of. But that thought worried him more than it comforted him. What if Tom told Granger about my abilities? What if he told her about my mentor, she could use that to get me expelled, or worse? But he would only do that if he knew I got rid of the diary on purpose, right? He was trying to calm his nerves, but nothing was working really well. He couldn't shake the fear that Tom would tell Granger something. Then again, maybe he wouldn't even talk to her. She is a muggleborn after all, and Tom hates mugglesborns. It didn't really matter at this point. He was going to have to wait and find out by Granger's reaction to him when they got on the Express. The most he could hope for was she wouldn't make a giant scene and would at least come to him in private.
"Tempus" he said. A green mist came out of the tip of his wand and floated in circles for a few seconds before numbers appeared in it. It was 1:54 in the afternoon and Harry was still lying in bed. He just did not feel like doing anything. And he might have accomplished that by sleeping the whole day away, if it weren't for a certain demon owl. He had just started to drift back to sleep when the damn creature came tapping at the window. With a sigh Harry rolled over and waved his hand in the direction of the window while thinking Wingardium Leviosa. He raised up the window enough for the bird to fit through and then closed it once she had flown in. Thinking that was all he rolled back over and got comfortable, only to have Hedwig start hooting at him.
"What do you want now?" Harry grumbled at it, and then he saw the empty food bowl, "you just were out for hours, you should have gone hunting now leave me alone."
This turned out to be the wrong answer as the hooting just got louder. Giving up after five minutes of trying to use a pillow to block out the sound Harry crawled to the end of his bed and opened his trunk. Once he got the owl treats out he levitated them towards her dish. This apparently upset the owl because she flew at the bag and collided with it. This resulted in owl treats going everywhere, and Harry letting out a scream of frustration.
"That's it! You can eat them off the floor for all I care!" And before the bird could react Harry left the room and closed the door behind him. As he was half way down the stair case he realized he didn't have his wand. He had taken it out of the holster when he slept afraid it might break if he slept with it on.
"Oh no." Resigned to his fate Harry trudged back up the stairs and stood outside of the door. He started to open the door slowly, but then he heard the flapping of wings and rustling of feathers and threw the door open. He rushed in and ducked as a dive bombing owl aimed for his head. He army crawled as fast as he could to where he had left his wand, as he grabbed it Hedwig dived at him again. Thinking fast he rolled under the bed to avoid being hit in the stomach.
It seemed like this would be a good time to try out one of those spells he had learned from the shadow book. It was the disillusionment charm, and when he cast it he would blend with his surroundings. Not be completely invisible but as long he didn't move too fast he should be able to escape the wrath of his owl. Silently casting it on himself he shuttered when it felt like an egg had just been broken over his head. He tucked his wand back into his holster, and then used his arms to slowly pull himself out from under the bed. Like earlier he began an army crawl across the room. It was roughly 8 feet to the door, and it looked like his planning was working out amazingly. A little over five minutes later he was through the door and to safety. He stood up and slammed the door shut. He cancelled the charm and began taunting the bird through the door. That's when he heard the flapping behind him. He turned around in time to see the blur of white collide with his head an knock him back into the door. And then everything went black.
When Harry woke up he had a massive headache. It must have been pretty late because the house was completely dark. That ruddy bird was going to get it one day. Right now though he just wanted to go back to sleep and didn't even have the energy to get to bed. He just layed himself down in the hallway and closed his eyes for the night.
It was September first and that meant it was finally time to go back to Hogwarts. Harry had already finished packing the night before, but he was excited and hadn't been able to sleep late. After he had finished his breakfast it was about ten o clock which meant he had about one hour before the train left. He wanted to avoid big crowds though and decided to go now, and that way he could reserve a cabin somewhere in the back.
"Twink!" Harry called out.
"Is you ready to be going sir?" The house elf asked respectfully.
"Yes I am, could you take me to King's Cross station please? "
"Certainlys master Potter, just hold on to my arm." The elf told him.
Harry did as he was told, and then with a pop the two were gone. A second later they were standing in an alley right outside of the station.
"Thank you very much Twink. Take good care of the house while I'm away. I'll check in to make sure you are okay every now and then." Harry said goodbye to his servant and began walking inside. He was really earlier and in no rush to get to the platform, so he just strolled along. By the time he got there, it was about quarter after ten. Standing there with an owl in a cage was a boy with brown hair. He looked confused and lost. Muggleborn Harry thought. He didn't really want to talk to the boy so he just pushed past and walked briskly at the barrier with his luggage and then he was met with the site of the giant red train. A few seconds after he had gone through the boy came rushing through the barrier and almost ran into him because he was going so fast.
"Hey! Watch where you're going! "Harry yelled at the boy. The boy didn't say anything but just walked quickly away over towards two people, presumably his parents. Stupid muggleborns, thank God Professor Quirrell rescued me from being like that. Professor Quirrell. Harry hadn't thought about him since the beginning of the summer, his mentor was gone, and someone new would have to teach the class. Hopefully they were competent, Harry would not be able to stand Defense if the teacher was bad and he wasn't getting extra lessons.
Harry walked towards the luggage cart and loaded his stuff up, he had decided against taking Hedwig in a cage when the bird had clawed his arm for even suggesting it. She would just fly there and sty in the owlry. Once he was finished with that he went to the back of the train and picked out a compartment to sit in. He had brought a book with him to read while he waited for his friends to get there. About fifteen minutes had passed and then Harry was pulled from his reading by the sound of the door being opened.
"Harry!" Daphne rushed in and he grabbed her around the waist as she hugged him and then gave him a peck on the lips.
"Excited to see me Daph?" Harry smiled and laughed at his friend's reaction to seeing him. He felt slightly better that she had acted like that though, at least it wasn't awkward now. "I don't think your mother would approve of such behavior from you." He shook his finger at her mockingly.
"But she isn't here now, and I know you enjoyed it!" She shot back at him. Harry couldn't deny it so he let it go. Daphne took a seat next to Harry and the two talked about anything they could think of just so it wouldn't be silent. Just as it looked like they were going to run out of things to talk about Blaise walked in. He looked upset and Harry asked him about it.
"Do you know how long I've been going up and down this train looking for you two?! Why would you pick a compartment somewhere up front where I started, right?" Blaise explained.
"Oh you'll get over it; you needed the exercise anyway after you vacationed all summer!" Daphne told him.
"Hey! It wasn't all summer! Just most of it…" he trailed off.
"Well, how was it Blaise? You were in France to visit your relatives right?" Harry asked him hoping to get a conversation going.
It worked and Blaise began to tell them all about his trip, he launched into the story and they all got so into it that no one noticed the train had left the station. Apparently Blaise's family was originally from France, but his parents had moved to Britain after they got married. His grandparents were still in France though and every summer they went and spent a month sometimes more, at their family manor there. The manor was located near the French Academy of Magic. It was called Beauxbatons, and according to Blaise it was an all witches school.
It wasn't just Blaise and his parents at the manor though; it was all of his relatives on his father's side. So Blaise had some company from his cousins, but he said he wished he could have seen Daphne and Harry. Once Blaise had finished telling about his vacation he asked Harry if he wanted to play a game of wizard's chess. Having nothing else to talk about Harry agreed. Blaise got the board out and set it up between the two of them. As they played Daphne cheered on the pieces when they smashed one another. After a while Harry was getting beat so bad that she took to criticizing him instead of cheering.
"If I'm so bad why don't you try then?" Harry asked her.
"Fine I will, move over." And she pushed him out of the way without waiting for him to move. Harry tried to protest but Blaise and Daphne were already playing and he was ignored.
Having nothing else to do Harry took over Daphne's job and cheered the pieces on. After three games, Blaise won two and Daphne won one, the group grew bored of the game and they put it away. No one seemed to have anything to say so Harry asked a question.
"Do either of you know who the new Defense teacher is going to be?"
"Not a clue, but whoever it is must really love that Lockhart guy; I can't believe we had to buy his entire set of books. My parents say it's all just rubbish and half-truths in there." Blaise told the group.
Daphne agreed with Blaise, and said her parents had told her almost the same thing. The two of the then got into discussion about some of the barmy things they had been told were in there. Harry wasn't particularly interested and had picked up his book and begun reading. It was the book on Dark Lords he had picked up before his first year, and he had never had a chance to finish reading it. The one he was currently reading about had started very young. The book said he was suspected of murder even while he was attending magical school, but it was never proved. He hadn't been terribly successful though as it turned out. He had done enough to be considered a Dark Lord, but compared to some of the others he was nothing. Despite that though, Harry found him to be very intriguing. He was smart enough, and powerful enough to hide a murder while at school under the watch of professors and a headmaster. The work that went into planning it must have been incredible.
As he read, Harry found himself mentally hoping he would someday have that kind of magical ability, as well as intelligence. No one would dare try and harm him or disagree with him. Professor Quirrell had said no Dark Arts until third year, and he intended to obey that, but the draw to attempt them sooner was pretty strong.
For the next half an hour or so things past relatively peacefully in the compartment. Blaise had said he was going to take a nap and was now lying across the seats on the other side. Daphne too had said she was tired, but waited until Blaise fell asleep and then she leaned her head against Harry's shoulder. Harry for his part took it in stride, but he wasn't sure he was comfortable keeping this change from Blaise and he voiced his thought to Daphne.
"I know Harry, but I'm not sure how he would take it, I mean I don't want him to feel like a third wheel. Besides we aren't even dating so it's not a big deal, right? If he notices and asks we'll tell him." She said to him.
Harry was still uneasy about keeping this from his first real friend, and decided he was going to mention something about it once they were back in their dorms. He hoped Blaise wouldn't have a problem with it, and since nothing was really happening he was sure he wouldn't but part of him was still nervous.
A few minutes later a very unwelcome face emerged through their compartment door.
"Granger. What do you want?" Harry asked, but at the same time he was looking for any signs of Tom.
"Potter, I wanted to know if I could talk to you alone for a minute." Hermione said somewhat sadly.
Harry was nervous, but he shared a look with Blaise and Daphne to let them know not to worry, and then walked out shutting the door behind him. He followed Granger further down the narrow hallway to an abandoned compartment. Once inside she flicked her wand casually and a spell hit the door which made a clicking sound as it locked.
"Hello Harry, it's been a while." Hermione said.
"Hello Tom." Harry was tense now and had his hand ready to throw a disarming spell if necessary.
"You must relax Harry; I'm not going to hurt you, because I have a better use for you."
"And why would I do anything for you Tom? I tried to get rid of you remember?" Harry shot back at him.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, you'll either help me or Dumbledore will find out you were taking lessons from the Dark Lord." Hermione taunted.
A shiver rolled through Harry's body, his fear had just become reality. Tom was going to hold that over him until he got what he wanted. "What do I have to do?" He managed to get out through clenched teeth.
"Excellent, I knew you would agree, but I can't tell you now. Tonight after everyone has gone to their dorms meet me in the second floor girl's bathroom. Do not question it." He threw in the last part as Harry opened his mouth to protest. "It's been lovely talking to you Harry, but really I must get back to my friends, they might begin to wonder what's happened to me." With that said Hermione left the compartment.
Harry made his way back to his compartment, anger clearly visible across his face. When he threw the doors open and they slammed so hard that they broke he didn't even think twice before flicking his wand at them and thinking reparo. He sat down and immediately his friends asked what was wrong.
All he said was, "Granger."
Blaise tried to console him, and tell him not to worry about what she thought or said but none of it worked. Daphne took a different approach all together though. She offered to go hunt down the muggleborn and curse her into oblivion. She even went so far as to describe exactly how she would do it to inflict the most pain. Both Harry and Blaise cringed audibly as she was doing this and made a mental note not to cross Daphne, ever. Harry thanked both of them, but told them not to worry about it. He just needed to blow off some steam.
Blaise looked skeptical but accepted it, and Daphne nodded but looked like she still wanted to curse Granger. The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful, Malfoy and his group of Slytherins had come by once, but hadn't said much or done anything, only pausing to give a slight nod of acknowledgment and then continuing along. Longbottom and Weasley had stopped by and been their pompous selves again. They had even gone so far as to threaten Harry and Blaise if they went near Weasley's sister. As if they would go after her to begin with. When it came to intimidation those two were definitely lacking. Harry and Blaise had played along though just to get the two away from their compartment as fast as possible though.
When the train conductor announced there was only 5 minutes to arrival the three of them got their robes out of the luggage, and changed into them. At first Harry was surprised Daphne stayed in the compartment with them, but she had shrugged it off saying it wasn't like she was naked or anything. Finally the train slowed and came to a halt. As students were getting off the train, Blaise spoke to Harry.
"Harry you didn't have anyone to tell you, but only first years take the boats. As second years we take carriages up to the castle."
"Okay thanks for telling me that Blaise." Harry said. Together the three unloaded their trunks from the luggage car and found a cart for themselves. The carriage seated four, but it seemed like everyone else had a place already so the three had the one they were in to themselves. Once everyone was in a carriage they started moving forward. One thing Harry did find strange was that the carriage was apparently being pulled by nothing. Harry asked his friends about it. Blaise had the answer again.
"They are being pulled by a thestral. The only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death." He explained. That was a morbid thought and killed all conversation for the ride up to the castle.
They were in one of the last carriages and had to wait an extra five or ten minutes for all the students ahead of them to unload, so that their carriage could pull up. When they got out they started walking up towards the main doors which were standing wide open to show the brightly illuminated main hall. Professor McGonagall was standing in the entrance blocking the way though
"If you would all please leave your luggage where it is, we will have it brought to your dorms. Thank you, now please go into the Great Hall and get seated while I go to get the incoming first years." Once she had finished the Transfiguration professor hurried away to some small door on the left hand side of the main entrance hall.
Everyone seemed to just be dropping their trunks where they were, so Harry and his friends followed suit. They then proceeded to walk into the castle and head towards the Great Hall on their right. There was a large mob trying to get through the doors all at once and Harry didn't feel like being pushed and shoved around so he just sat back and waited until the throng cleared out. Once it had dispersed him, Blaise, and Daphne all entered and made their way towards the Slytherin table.
Everything in the hall was just as it had been on the first evening last year. At the head of each table was a large banner adorned with the table's house symbol. Every spot was filled at the Head Table except for McGonagall's because she was escorting the first years in. Harry immediately picked out the new teacher. It was hard to miss someone with as white of hair as this man's.
"Blaise look at the new defense teacher, does he wash his hair in bleach?" Harry joked.
Blaise looked and let out a groan, "Harry this is not a joking matter, do you know who that is?" Harry shook his head in the negative. "That is Gilderoy Lockhart."
"Wait you mean the man who wrote all those books, is our teacher? And he assigned us his own books; I can tell this is going to be a bad year already." Harry just let his head fall and hit the table. This was turning out to be one terrible evening. He couldn't even begin to remember why he had been excited to come back. It was another ten minutes before the doors to the great hall opened again. This time in two single file lines the first years were marched up the middle and made to stand before the sorting hat perched up atop its stool.
Harry was watching all the faces of the first years and he saw a lot of the same things he felt when he first saw the Great Hall. Fear, excitement, happiness, a sense of belonging in some of them even. The sorting hat opened its brim and began to sing its song. It wasn't the same as last year though. That was strange; Harry had assumed the Hat used the same song every year. Once it closed its brim McGonagall began reading off names.
It wasn't particularly interesting to watch, except for when one of the first years's tripped running to their new house. One girl did catch Harry's eye though. Her name was Luna Lovegood, and she seemed to be not all there. Even when she was walking it was like her mind was somewhere else completely. Harry assumed she would be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff; therefore he was rightly surprised when the hat called out Ravenclaw. It seemed she was more there than she appeared; perhaps she was trying to make people underestimate her. Harry made up his mind that he would talk to her eventually.
No one else caught his attention in the sorting until one particular redhead. Her name was Ginerva Weasley. Harry was going to make sure he went out of his way to mess with her, just because Longbottom and his sidekick had told him not to. Harry gently elbowed Blaise when she went up and nodded with a slightly sadistic grin. Blaise got the message and nodded back. Daphne saw the exchange between the two and just shook her head while mumbling "boys" under her breath. Finally the sorting was over, and Dumbledore stood up to make his announcements. He introduced Lockhart to the student body, and the reaction was mixed.
It seemed that most of the girls were all for it and cheering quite wildly for him. While the guys were either booing or just scowling at the man. Dumbledore announced that the list of banned items would be posted on Filch's office door, and then clapped his hands. The food instantly appeared on all of the tables and people began to dig in all around. Harry remembered what he had been told about setting a good example though and made sure not to be too barbaric as he grabbed for his food. In the middle of his meal Harry made the mistake of looking up at the Gryffindor table, only to be met with the sight of some kid shoving multiple chicken slices into his mouth while talking loudly. It was quite disgusting and Harry nearly lost his appetite.
After about thirty minutes desserts began to replace the empty food trays. Twenty minutes later and dessert was finished as well, and none of the three could move. But Dumbledore insisted the sing the school song before anyone was dismissed. Once it was over and the two Weasley twins had made fools of themselves again Dumbledore told the first years to follow the prefects to their dorms. Harry already knew where his dorm was, so he decided to slip away and make his way up to the second floor. The only problem was he didn't know how he would get Daphne and Blaise not to follow. Then he had an idea. He pushed his way into the middle of the Slytherin crowd leaving and silently cast the disillusionment charm. He carefully navigated his way out of the crowd and waited up against the wall until almost everyone had filed out.
His hope was that Daphne and Blaise would just keep going thinking they had gotten pushed apart in the crowd. He slowly made his way out of the hall so as not to become noticeable by moving too fast. It took him about eight minutes to get to the second floor since he had to wait for the staircase to move back. When he came to the door of the bathroom he didn't bother knocking. He walked in and was glad to see Tom, well Hermione, was already there. He wanted this over with as fast as possible.
"I'm here, what do you want now?" Harry spoke getting right to the point.
"My my we are impatient aren't we. First Harry I want to know why you tried to get rid of me. We were getting along well weren't we?" Hermione asked in a voice not her own, this one was deeper sounding and rougher.
"No, you were making me into your servant, and I was not going to be someone's minion." Harry responded heatedly.
"Well, that backfired spectacularly didn't Harry, because you're still my servant now. " Tom laughed and it sounded so cruel and cold Harry couldn't help but get shiver a little. "Since you are so impatient, I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to open the Chamber of Secrets for me and control its monster."
"Chamber of Secrets? It's just a legend isn't it? No one has ever found it!" Harry was confused now.
"No you stupid child, it is right here, I found it when I went to school and I used it then. You speak parseltongue at this sink and it opens." Tom explained.
"If you can open it why do you need me?!" Harry was getting angry now because he had a good guess as to what Tom was planning
"Well I don't want the blame if this were to be discovered. So that way if you get caught it falls souly on your shoulders. Besides, this mudblood is not worthy of speaking the noble language. When I tell you to, you will come here and open the chamber climb down inside and find the large statue of Slytherin's head. You will look at it and say "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Slytherin's monster will come out and you are to tell it to go out and attack a student it finds in the hallway." When Tom had finished explaining he paused to let Harry take it all in.
"Now Harry, this has been a lot and I'm sure you wish to enjoy your first night back at Hogwarts, why don't you go back to your dormitory and get some rest. " With that final sentiment Tom laughed as he left the room leaving Harry alone silently trying to figure a way out of this mess.
