In the crimson light of the setting sun, Harry Potter could make out a throng of students and teachers all standing at a beautiful spot at the edge of the Great Lake. As he edged closer to the group, he could see that they were gathered in a ring. Many of them were crying. This has to be for Myrtle Harry thought.
He walked through people to the centre of the ring, to see what was going on. Hagrid, Abigale, Eileen and Lelly were standing in the centre of the ring. Professor Dippet and a few other teachers stood near to them, heads bowed. Lelly held a young tree in her hands while the other clutched packets of seeds.
With a solemn wave of his wand, Dippet created a gaping pit in the earth. Her face obscured by a curtain of auburn hair, Lelly gently placed the tree into the hole. The hole was then filled in around the tree with another flick of Dippet's wand. With a last swish of his wand, the seeds planted themselves in a thick ring around the tree. Beautiful wildflowers and grasses immediately sprung up from the ground, like people sitting up in bed.
The tree sprung up in a similar fashion, dramatically growing to the size of an adult. It was at that point that Harry realised that he recognised this tree. It was the willow that his parents sat under in a memory that he was previously shown by Professor Dumbledore. He had sat under that very tree himself with Ginny's head head in his lap, counting the hours. Harry had so many memories under this tree, the tree that was planted in memorial.
"This tree will now on be known as Myrtle's tree. I hope that when you look at it you will remember the promising student with a long life ahead of her. You may go now."
The crowd slowly began to disperse, often taking one last sad look at the tree before they left.
"I can't believe you stopped the cleansing of the school of the filthy mudbloods just because the basilisk got the wrong person!" Harry heard Avery's voice hiss from behind him. He turned to see Avery and Tom standing side-by-side, contemplating Myrtle's tree.
"Do you really think that I give two figs that another muggle-born has been cleansed from this Earth? No I don't! What affects me is that it was HER friend, that I caused HER pain! I hated seeing her like that."
"So you really called the attacks off because of a ridiculous, short-lived crush on a cocky, pedantic ginger? My God, Tom, you're pathetic, a weakling. We have been planning this since first year and you change our plans because your head was turned by a girl. You're not fit to be Lord Voldemort!"
"You don't understand!" Tom hissed back, flushing a little, "You haven't felt like this before because you don't have a heart!"
"You don't have a heart either so you can't say anything!" Avery argued.
Tom went to reply but at that moment the red-head they were arguing about approached them.
"Um hey Tom," Lelly said awkwardly, "Could I have a word?"
"Yeah, okay."
He followed her to a spot a few metres away from Avery.
"I want to thank you, Tom, for helping me that day…" she began.
"But I didn't do anything!" he protested, looking like an embarrassed schoolboy.
"Yes you did!" Lelly argued, agitated, "I probably wouldn't have made it to Professor Dippet's office if you hadn't had calmed me down, I was in too much of a state. I would have been easy prey for whatever got Myrtle. You were there when my friends weren't! I have a lot to thank you for!"
She then leaned forwards a little, towards Tom, and gave him a kiss on his cheek. She drew away quickly and was lost in the crowd. Gingerly, Tom touched his left cheek, his eyes widening a little when he touched the area of impact.
"Well that's gratitude for you." He whispered to himself before turning back to his friend. Avery's face was impassive.
"You're a joke!" Avery snapped. Giving Tom a final glare, he stamped off like a child in a tantrum. With a sigh, Tom followed him.
Harry waited for the memory to end but it didn't. So he decided to search for Lelly and her friends. As he searched for them he pondered what he had just seen. It confused him immensely; he was completely sure that Tom Riddle was completely incapable of feeling anything but hatred and contempt. It also showed that Tom's friends were not afraid of standing up to him, even showing him contempt, which was surprising because he was previously convinced that they were all scared of him.
It didn't take Harry too long to find Lelly and the others. They were all standing by Myrtle's tree. They were silent as they contemplated it but Harry could sense the tension, the air was thick with it. It was almost like you could slice the air. They waited until the last of the other students and teachers filed out of the area to break the silence.
"I blame you for this!" Lelly snapped at Abigale with barely contained ferocity.
"Me? Why do you blame me you stupid cow?" Abigale argued back, marching up to face Lelly. The two girls squared each other up, taking defensive stances. They looked about inches away from hitting each other. Even though the memory was not material, Harry felt nervous watching the girls.
"Why? Ha! I blame you because you never came with me to look for her! If we hadn't have wasted so much time arguing we could have found her before she was attacked and she would still be with us now!" This was a kind of feeble excuse from Lelly, so feeble that it made Abigale laugh.
"Seriously, that's why you blame me?! What did we waste, thirty seconds, debating that? Ha! Personally I blame you, if you had just threatened or beat up Olive before she wouldn't have tormented Myrtle for all that time, so she wouldn't have run off from the feast!"
"So you expect me to always be the bodyguard for this group? Grow up Abi!"
"Stop arguing guys!" Eileen cut in, slightly panicked, "Myrtle wouldn't have liked us to stand here arguing!"
"Who are you to say what she liked?" Abigale shouted, turning on Eileen, "You and Lelly always used to sit together, giggling, and never gave a damn about Myrtle! Hagrid and I are the only ones that really knew her; she probably would have found this argument hilarious!"
"Don't you dare shout at her you nasty cow!" Lelly screeched at Abigale, flying at her. Eileen began to cry.
"Stop, this is nobody's fault Abi!" Hagrid said soothingly, gently rubbing Abi's arm with a dustbin-lid sized hand.
"You're taking their sized you great fat oaf?!" Abigale yelled at him next. He blinked at her and removed his hand from her arm. It was just then that she had realised what she had said. Abigale sank to her knees, both hands covering her mouth. She too began to cry, silent tears rolling down her face.
"I'm so sorry guys, I'm so so sorry." She whispered, her voice muffled from behind her hands.
"Forget it!" Lelly hissed at the girl that knelt in the floor, "Come on Eileen!"
At that the black and red haired girls linked arms and began to walk away.
"Rube?"
Hagrid looked down at his girlfriend, who had tears streaming down her face. She clung to the bottom of his robes, her eyes beseeching.
"Please?"
Hagrid said nothing but shook his robes to make her let go. He strode away from her, leaving her by herself.
Harry sensed that he had to follow the others so he did, but not without looking back at Abigale. He was filled with regret that such a previously tight-knit group of friends would split like this. However, it wasn't like he hadn't expected it to happen already.
Hagrid had obviously caught up with the other two because Harry could hear talking ahead of him. As he turned a corner he caught sight of them.
"So this is i' then?" Hagrid said regretfully, "This is th' end? Jus' three years go pas' and one of us is dead and th' other one insists on makin' enemies ou' of all of us."
"Well that's just it…" Lelly said thoughtfully, "Life's a bitch and then you die."
"Well that's a cheerful though for the end of the year!" Eileen replied sarcastically.
They stopped at the moving staircases.
"Right," Lelly said "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Just think, two days and then we get to go home."
Harry could think of someone who wasn't looking forward to going home.
"Oh goodie!" Eileen continued in a withering voice, "Going back home to London with the bombs that the muggles keep dumping on each other's heads."
They wished each other goodnight before going off in different directions. Lelly went upwards to the right to go to Ravenclaw tower while Eileen went downwards to go to the Slytherin dungeon. Hagrid then went straight ahead to get to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
Suddenly the memory warped and changed, like one of those old-fashioned televisions that wouldn't stay on the right channel. Harry could even hear the horrible scratching noise that TVs make.
Then, Harry arrived in a very familiar memory to him.
"C'mon… gotta get yeh outta here… C'mon now…in the box…"
A boy with black, silky hair crept towards the source of noise. Just as he could see last time, Harry could see the outline of a huge boy who was crouching in front of an open door, a large box next to it.
"Evening, Rubeus." Tom Riddle said sharply, but Harry could see sadness in his eyes that he couldn't see the last time he saw this memory.
Hagrid slammed the door shut and stood up so that he could look Tom in the eye.
"What yer doin' down here Tom?" Riddle stepped a little nearer to him.
"It's all over; I'm going to have to turn you in Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."
"What d'yeh-" Hagrid protested.
"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-"
"It killed no one!" Hagrid backed against the door. Harry could hear Aragog's rustling and clicking from behind him.
"Come on Rubeus," Tom moved closer, "Myrtle's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered-"
"It wasn' him!" Hagrid roared in protest, "He wouldn'! He never!"
"Stand aside," Tom drew his wand.
He blast a spell at the door. Hagrid was knocked into the opposite wall by the force of the door opening.
Aragog scuttle out of the door, his vast, low-slung body and tangle of black legs still terrifying Harry all these years later.
Tom raised his wand to get Aragog but it was too late, he had spent too long goggling at it. It bowled him over as it ran off, tearing up the corridor. Tom scrambled to his feet to follow but Hagrid jumped on him and bent his wand arm back.
"No! Don' hurt him!" Aragog never attacked anyone! At least I don' think so… No! He never!"
Tom Riddle looked incredulous, pinned under his enormous girth.
"There are no other monsters in this castle, Rubeus"
Liar Harry thought. Hagrid began to cry silently.
"Myrtle…" he whispered.
"I'm sorry but I have to turn you in."
Judging by the look on Riddle's face it was as if he had actually begun to believe the web of lies he had spun. Hagrid slowly nodded and got up. He then helped Tom Riddle up.
The television screen sensation came back as the scene changed again.
It was morning in the Ravenclaw tower. Lelly was coming down the stairs, still in her white nightgown. She was brushing her hair and talking to a blonde girl that Harry didn't recognise with a long nose and green eyes.
Suddenly, the common room fell silent as she properly entered the room.
"What is it?" she asked, concern etched on her face.
A couple of Ravenclaw girls Harry vaguely remembered from the sorting approached her, looking awkward.
"Um, Lelly, this is kind of not very nice to explain…" they began.
"Just tell me!"
"Well… Hagrid has been expelled. They reckon that he is the one who had all those people petrified and Myrtle killed. We don't believe it ourselves but a lot of others do."
Lelly took a deep breath in, looking paler than normal.
"Apparently he's still in Dippet's office." they added.
Without a moments hesitation Lelly turned and left the common room.
About five minutes later, she crashed into Dippet's office panting from running the whole way.
Hagrid was standing by the desk, his back to the door, deep in discussion with Dippet. When Dippet noticed Lelly he got up and left the room, giving them a chance to talk.
Hagrid turned to Lelly. His eyes were red, puffy and shining with tears.
"I' were me who killed Myrtle and petrified those students. It's all meh fault!"
Lelly thought about this for a second.
"You really believe that it was your fault?"
Hagrid nodded in reply.
"They're righ', Aragog is the only monster in this castle."
"But… Aragog is a spider. The creature that killed Myrtle can't have been Aragog. She had no pincer marks on her body, none that I could see. The only blood I saw was coming from her ears, eyes and mouth. It isn't fair; they haven't thought this through properly!
Hagrid shook his head.
"How d'yer know wha' yer saw? Yer were in a state. And besides, until they have evidence that i' weren' Aragog, I'm prime suspec'"
"I promise that I will find evidence that it wasn't you, Hagrid. I know it wasn't you! When there's a will there's a way! I'll make sure that you are accepted back into this school if it's the last thing I do!"
The scene ended with the two friends embracing. Then, as usual, the world around Harry went black. As he was left in the darkness, waiting, Harry mind raced; one thing was questioning him over everything else, who was Lelly and what is she to do with him?