Ariel was sitting beside her friend, holding her petrified hand "I warned you, this could be a wee bit of a shock" she heard professor McGonagall's voice but she did not turn her attention away from Hermione

"Hermione!" she heard Harry's voice but it did not register

"She was found near the library…along with this" Ariel did not want to look at anything else but her friend "Does it mean anything to either of you?"

"No" they looked at Ariel who didn't look away

"I'm sorry dearies, Miss Potter hasn't spoken a word since she saw Miss Granger, I suppose I shall leave you four alone then" Ariel didn't know when the professor left and she honestly didn't care

"Ari are you ok?" Harry asked

"I couldn't stop this…I knew these things were happening to muggle-born's but I didn't watch out for her and…" she looked on with no emotion "I hate seeing her like this" she looked away and stood from the bed "please excuse me I need to return to my dorm"

"But we have dinner"

"I am sorry I do not feel so hungry anymore" Ariel muttered before she disappeared from the infirmary, she ignored everyone around her even when someone was calling her name she did not care, her emotions were going haywire. She managed to enter an empty Slytherin common room before getting stopped by a pair of hand

"Ari stop"

"Draco I do not feel like talking right now" she muttered and tried to pull away but he stopped her

"You're not leaving until you tell me what happened" he turned Ariel around so she faced him, he grabbed her chin and lifted it up to so she could look at him "I'm just a stranger that happened to be passing by and if I happened to hear someone talk about there problems then I don't mind sitting here and listening to them" Ariel smiled before dissolving into tears and pressing her face into his chest

"H-Hermione was petrified and I couldn't s-stop this from happening and yet I knew Muggle-born's were being targeted but I did nothing and I feel so terrible and I don't know what to do an-"

"Calm down Ari, breathe for me" she did as was told and breathed in between sobs "Come sit down" she nodded and allowed Draco to guide her to his room, being the Slytherin prince and Professor Snape's favourite comes with benefits, having a room to himself was one thing "Sit on my bed" she did so silently and watched as Draco pulled a chair over so he could sit in front of her "Don't say that this is your fault Ari, I know you have been watching her this whole time but you know you cannot watch her twenty four seven"

"I know I just feel so guilty"

"As much as I hate Granger with a passion I don't like seeing you like this so I'm sorry this has happened" oh how he hated saying that

"Thank you…Draco" she gave him the best smile she could with puffy eyes and a runny nose

"You look ghastly right now, here" he held out a little vial "a friend of mine made this, she said it was a repel potion so I thought this might help you" Ariel giggled softly and took the vial and drank it, the puffy and red eyes disappeared along with the snotty nose and bad feelings "Better?" she nodded good

"Hey Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"This is going to sound really stupid but…c-can I stay here with you tonight" she stuttered, not looking at Draco's widened eyes "I don't particularly want to hear all the girls in my dorm gossiping about Hermione"

"Yeah I guess" he gave her a reassuring smile, he held back the sheets and allowed her to climb in before covering her with them "I need to go have dinner but I will be back later, just get some sleep"

"Yeah…thanks Draco" she muttered into the pillow

"You're welcome" he replied "Your lucky I am being so nice, I don't let anyone have this sort of freedom with me"

"That's just because I'm special" she mumbled back, already falling asleep

"And the lions back" he chuckled as he left the room


It was hours later when Ariel suddenly woke up, she looked to her side and saw Draco sleeping peacefully beside her, she would have blushed had it not been for the fact that she was worrying about Hermione "I should go check on her" she muttered as she snuck out of the room and out of the common room, she walked through the many halls before she caught sight was Harry and Ron sneaking towards the abandoned lavatory where they made the Polyjuice potion. She caught up with them just as they stepped inside "Harry, Ron? What are you doing here?" the two boys jumped in surprise before calming down when they saw it was her

"You've missed out on a lot, Hagrid been sent to Azkaban and Dumbledore's been ordered to step down as headmaster"

"What a load of rubbish!" she shouted, showing her outrage

"We looking for the Chamber of Secrets" Harry replied

"I'm coming with you"

"No Ari its too dangerous"

"Harry James Potter my friend is in the infirmary completely petrified and no one is going to stop me from killing the monster that put her there" she hissed

"Ok…then, follow us" Ron stuttered

"And what is Lockhart doing here?" she said, finally noticing the stupid teacher

"Being held prisoner" said wizard muttered sadly

"Whose there?" came Myrtles voice "Hello, Harry" she giggled "What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died" Was Harry's reply

"Oh, it was dreadful…it happened right there in this very cubicle" she pointed to an empty stall "I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses…I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in"

"Who was it Myrtle?" Harry asked

"I don't know, I was distraught!" she yelled "But they said something funny, a kind of made up language and I realized it was a boy, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and…I died"

"Just like that? How?" Ariel asked

"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes…over there by that sink" she pointed to the sinks before moaning away, Harry looked at the nobs on the sink

"This is it" Harry spoke suddenly "this is it Ron, Ariel, I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets"

"Harry" Ariel spoke from beside her brother "say something in Parseltongue"

"Heshasai " He whispered softly, the words seemed to trigger the activation of the door to the Chamber, the top of the sink began to rise from its perch whilst its base separated to reveal the entrance

"Wish I knew how to do that" Ariel muttered

"You do need to, you speak to animals in English" Harry replied

"True"

"Sorry to intrude but I think its time for me to leave" Lockhart yelled and tried to run away but Ariel grabbed him and threw him into the whole

"No" she hissed "I think you should stay"

"You can be scary sometimes" Ron muttered fearfully towards his friend

"You know its really quite filthy down here" Lockhart mumbled from the whole

"Well it seems that its perfectly fine so tallyho!" Ariel jumped straight down the whole without a second thought

"Guess we should follow her" Ron said to Harry

"Before she does something stupid" Harry replied "Alright, lets go" the two nodded and jumped down

"Stop screaming!" Ariel yelled as she listened to her friend and brother scream like a bunch of girl "Really?" she asked as they landed before her, she quickly did something to Ron before they looked up to see her pointing her wand at Lockhart "Your lucky I kept an eye on him as you were screaming"

"You the one who threw him down here"

"Ronald Weasley that's crazy talk, now why don't we try and figure out what beast lives down here"

"What are you talking about" Ron asked

"Well why don't you look at the bones under your feet and then you might know"

"Whatever it is remember, any sign of movement close your eyes straight away" Harry ordered as he began to leave the room full of carcases

"Move along Lockhart" Ariel ordered as she pointed her wand at the professor, they all waded through the decaying room only to stop at something that lay on the floor before them

"What's this?" Ron asked

"It looks like a snake" Ariel muttered as she stared and the thing before her "actually I think it might be a snake skin"

"Bloody hell, whatever shed this must be 60 feet long, or more" Ron stated in awe, only stopping when Lockhart fainted "Heart of a lion this one" Ariel sighed and poked the man's body

"Ah!" she yelped when her wand was grabbed and her body pressed against Lockhart's back as he pointed her wand at her throat

"The adventure ends here, boys but don't fret" he tightened his hold on the ravenette "The world will know our story, how I was too late to save the girl, how you two tragically lost your mind at the sight of her mangled body and how poor sweet Ariel Potter committed suicide by jumping off the Gryffindor tower" he hissed

"Only to get away from you-ah" Ariel hissed when the wand was pressed to her throat

"So…you first Mr Potter" he threatened "say goodbye to you memories…Obliviate!" he shouted but was flung back by the spell, the force in which he was flung into the walls managed to rattle the structure of the cave they were in

"Harry!" Ariel screamed as she dived towards him, she pushed him down to the floor as the cave collapsed

"Harry! Ariel!" Ron screamed frantically

"Ron! Ron are you ok?" Harry asked as he tried to pulled the rocks away

"I'm fine"

"Hello" Ariel heard from the other side of the rocks "Who are you?"

"Umm Ron Weasley"

"Really? And uhh who am I"

"Lockhart's Memory Charm backfired, he hasn't got a clue who he is"

"I know, I switched our wands Ron when you fell into the cave, I thought he would try something…guess I was right!" Ariel yelled

"What do I do now!" Ron asked after he knocked out the clueless professor

"You wait here and try to shift some of this rock so we can get back through!" Harry ordered "We'll go on and find Ginny"

"Okay, be safe"

"You too Ron" Ariel replied as she ran with her brother towards the snake like door "you don't suppose this opened with the snake language too do you?"

"It's worth a try…Haiyasa" he hissed

"Yes it worked" Ariel replied as they both watched the snakes curl back and another snake slither around the edge of the door until it opened. The twins walked in cautiously, Ariel walked behind Harry who had his wand raised in defence, they entered a large open cavernous like room that was rotten and decaying just like the rest of the place, the room stank of all water and rotten flesh but that wasn't what caught the Potter's eyes, no it was the body lying at the other end of the room that did "Oh no…Ginny" Ariel grabbed her bothers hand and dragged him over to the young Weasley "Ginny! Ginny, please don't be dead Wake up, Wake up!" Ariel cried

"Please wake up" Harry pleaded

"She won't wake" a voice echoed from the shadows, the twins look over to see a young boy in Slytherin uniform walking towards them

"Tom, Tom Riddle" Harry cried earning a gasp from her sister "What do you mean she won't wake?"

"She's not…" Ariel trailed off

"She's still alive but only just" Tom reassured

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked

"A memory, preserved in the diary for 50 years" the boy stated

"Harry she is as cold as ice" Ariel said to bring her brothers attention back to the girl "Ginny please don't be dead, wake up"

"You have to help us Tom there's a basilisk"

"A basilisk? That is what the beast is?" Ariel cried in shock

"It won't come until it's called" as he grabbed Ariel's hand and guided her to stand, she thought nothing of it until she saw her brothers wand in his hand

"Give me my wand Tom" Harry ordered as he feared for his sister whose hand was being grasped firmly by the boy, she tried to yank it free but even with her immense strength he was even stronger

"You won't be needing it" Tom clarified as he pulled Harry's sister to his chest and wrapped his arm around her, Ariel said nothing as her fear took over

"We've got to go we've got to save her" Harry panicked

"I'm afraid I can't do that Harry you see, as poor Ginny grows weaker I grow stronger"

"You did this to her" Ariel whispered into his chest

"Yes indeed I did my dear Ariel, it was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets" he hissed into her ear

"No, she couldn't, she wouldn't" Harry defended

"It was Ginny who set the basilisk on the Mudbloods and Filch's cat, Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the walls" Tom continued

"But why?"

"Because I told her to" Tom answered "You'll find I can be very persuasive, not that she knew what she was doing she was, shall we say, in a kind of trance" Tom joked

"You put a curse on her" Ariel whispered but Tom ignored her

"Still, the power of the diary began to scare her so she tried to dispose of it in the girls bathroom and then who should find it but you?" Tom sneered as he tightened his hold on Ariel "They very people I was most anxious to meet"

"And why did you want to meet us?" Harry hissed when heard his sister whimper slightly

"I knew I had to talk to you, meet you if I could though I was hoping it was dearest Ariel who picked up my book I didn't not mind it being you so I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf Hagrid to gain your trust"

"Hagrid's my friend" Harry snarled "And you framed him, didn't you?"

"It was my word against Hagrid's, only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent"

"I'll bet Dumbledore saw right through you"

"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that" Tom hissed "I knew it wouldn't be stupid to open the Chamber again while I was at school so I decided to leave behind a diary preserving my 16 year old self in its pages so that one day I would be able to lead another to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work"

"Well you haven't finished it this time" Ariel snapped and brought her head up to look into Tom's dark eyes "In a few hours, the Mandrake draught will be ready"

"I do so love that fire in your eyes…I cannot wait until you have grown more" Tom replied with a sickeningly perverted look "But haven't I told your dearest brother? Killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore…for many months now my new target has been both of you" Harry tensed "How is it that two babies with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed!?" Tom hissed as he moved Ariel's head to the side to show her lightening scar

"Why do you care how we escaped? Voldemort was after your time"

"Voldemort is my past, present and future" he pulled his wand forth and wrote his name in the air, he swiped across his name and watched the letters rearrange themselves

Tom Marvolo Riddle

I Am Lord Voldemort

"You, you're the Heir of Slytherin!" Ariel snapped as she managed to yank herself away from the boy

"You're Voldemort"

"Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle fathers name?" Tom said with pure venom dripping from his voice "No I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world"

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Harry roared back in anger

Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!"

"He'll never be gone, not as long as those who remain are loyal to him!" Ariel yelled

"SQWAUK!" the three wizards turned around when a red and around creature came flying through the room

"Fawkes?" Ariel asked In shock, Harry opened his arms and caught what was in the birds talons

"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defender" Tom mocked

"The sorting hat?" Ariel cried

"How disgraceful" Tom hissed as he walked and dragged Ariel towards the statue that was carved to look like a man "Yasubath seethe!" Tom hiss in Parseltongue the mouth began to open slowly "Lets match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin against the famous Harry Potter" the twins looked over to the now fully opened mouth where the great basilisk slithered out

"Harry Run!" Ariel began to follow her brother that raced away but a hand shot out and grabbed her arm "Ah! Let go!" she hissed as her throat was grabbed so she could not move

"Sathibasieth!" Tom hissed to the large snake that now had his attention to Harry "Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter, it only obeys me"

"No HARRY!" she screamed towards her brother "Let me go now you disgusting vile man!"

"That's not anyway to talk to the one that owns you my dear" Tom smirked vilely and turned Ariel around so she was facing him

"You don't own me!" she snarled as kicked him in the shins

"ARG!" he yelled and let go of her, she took this time to move away from Tom and began to run away "Oh no you don't! CRUCIO!"

"AAAAAHHHH!" Ariel screamed as loud as she could when blinding pain took over her body, she felt very bit of her skin being peeled away, her bones were being shattered into a million pieces and her mind was being ripped apart "PLEASE STOP!"

"As you wish" Tom sneered and stopped the curse "You cannot escape me my dear…you are mine and shall always be mine…Crucio"

"AHHHH!" She began screaming once again when the pain suddenly returned, she could hear her brother screaming her name but her mind was completely taken over by the agonizing pain that took over her entire body, she felt nothing but pain…there were no thoughts or feelings just agonizing and brutal pain being inflicted on her before everything disappeared and she finally found peace


Harry stayed next to her sister who lay unconscious, he felt so torn as he looked at his sisters tormented face "She is very lucky have survived that curse Harry"

"What do you mean professor" he asked as he looked at the headmaster

"The cruciatus curse is one of the unforgivable curses, it is commonly referred to as the torture curse…it is said to be unbelievably painful for the one who are inflicted, your sister should have gone completely insane but I saw no damage to her sanity whatsoever"

"You mean she is going to be ok"

"Yes but I would give her some time before bringing this event up, just because it did not damage her sanity doesn't mean it didn't damage her completely" Dumbledore warned "you may stay with her until she wakes but I suggest you get her to eat at the dining hall when she does" he bowed to Harry and left the room

"Hmmm"

"Ariel?"

"My head hurts…why is it always the head"

"Ariel your awake!" Harry cried and hugged his sister

"Ah Harry I said my head hurts why are you making it worse!"

"Sorry Ari! I'm just glad you're ok"

"It was just a stupid spell" Ariel mumbled as she sat up "Its was all in the mind"

"Are you sure you ok?"

"Well I would like to forget it and get food"

"Of course food is the first thing that comes to your mind" Harry chuckled knowing his sister was perfectly fine "Come on let me help you up"

"Thank you" she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and allowed him to guide her to the great hall "So how is Ginny?"

"She is perfectly fine, all her strength returned when I defeated Tom"

"How did you do that?"

"I stabbed the book with a basilisk fang"

"I miss out an all the cool stuff" she muttered, they entered the hall and were immediately swarmed by all houses congratulating them and asking them what happened

"Oh move away and let the Potters sit down!" the Weasley twins called as they pushed everyone away and helped Harry with Ariel

"Thanks boys"

"Of course, we'd always help our prankster in training" the twins replied as they sat down opposite Harry and Ariel, no one cared that a Slytherin was sitting at the Gryffindor table at this point in time

"Hermione you're ok!" Ariel cheered happily, heading over to the girl to hug her tightly

"Yes I woke up this morning, but I felt as stiff as a statue"

"Well you were petrified" Ariel joked as she sat back down beside her brother

"May I have your attention please" Dumbledore called from his throne "Let us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout, Madam Pomfrey whose Mandrake juice has been so successfully administered to all who had been petrified" the school erupted into claps and cheers "Also in light of recent events, as a school treat all exams have been cancelled"

"YES!" Ariel screamed along with the rest of the school, the double doors suddenly opened and in came someone who Ariel was so happy to see

"Sorry I'm late" Hagrid spoke as he entered the hall "The owl that delivered my release papers got all lost and confused, some ruddy bird called Errol"

"Of course" Ron muttered

"Who cares about the bird!" Ariel yelled as she jumped up on her wobbly feat and hugged the half giant "I'm just glad he's back"

"I'm glad to be back and I would like to say that if it hadn't been for you, Harry and Ron and Hermione of course…I would still be you-know-where so I'd just like to say thanks"

"There's no Hogwarts without you Hagrid" the others nodded in agreement with Harry

"Come join me in my hug Harry" Ariel cheered and held an arm out, the three of them was were the adventure began and nothing felt better than being together with their best friends once more. Harry and Ariel stepped back and began cheering along with the rest of the school that Hagrid had finally returned "WELCOME BACK HAGRID!" Ariel yelled

"Yeah welcome back!"

"We missed you Hagrid!"

"It's great your back again Hagrid!"

Ariel looked over to Draco who was looking back at her, she looked into his icy eyes and gave him the greatest smile she could before running over the tables and giving him a hug "what's with the hug" he asked in shock

"I nearly died and there are no exams!" she yelled happily into his arms "how could this year get any better"

"I could think of something better"

"And what would that be?" she asked as she stepped back

"Me kissing you" Draco replied and slammed his lips against hers, she looked at him in shock for a brief moment before smiling and kissing him back, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around this neck.

Yes, now this year couldn't get any better


A/N: tada, second year is finally finished aaaaand! Draco and Ariel got their first kiss, now its going to be a little slow, meaning they won't become a couple just yet but I am not letting you hang dry, there will be lots of kissing and innuendoes and other things but the big stuff (meaning sex and dating) wont be till a while so please be patient. Thanks for reading everyone and I shall see you next year when we all attend Hogwarts for our third year! BYA!