With Tom's diary in her arms, Hallyn rushed up the stairs to the Hufflepuff common room. She ran up the spiral stairs to her bedroom and slammed the door closed. She leaned her back against the door and looked down at the black diary in her hands. She wanted desperately to read what was inside. Her conscience said she shouldn't. It was Tom's private business; it was not for her to know. But she couldn't help but wonder… Hallyn opened the diary, her hands shaking nervously. Tom's handwriting was so beautiful. Hallyn's eyes scanned the delicate script as she read the first page:

Something strange happened today. An old man came to visit me. I have never had a visitor before. I knew who he was when I saw him. He was the doctor. I overhear the others talk about me. They say the hospital will come any day now. Have me looked at. They think I'm different. Perhaps I am. The old man said he was not a doctor. He said he was a proffesser. He said he wants to take me away. To a school of magic. I believe he called it Hagwots. I do not believe him as much as I want to leave this place. The professor told me he was different like me. I told him to prove it. I told him to prove that he was different too. The most extraordinary thing happened then. My wardrobe caught fire. He looked at me and I knew that he knew what I did. I opened the wardrobe and saw the things I stole from the others. He said that thievery was not allowed at Hagwots. I looked at him. Then I told him about the things that happen to me. I told him about how I can tell animals to do what I want without training them. I told him I can make the others hurt if that is what I wish. And I told him that I can speak to snakes as well. They come find me. They whisper things to me. He did not answer. I wonder if that is normal for someone like me. The old man handed me a letter with my name on the front then he left. I cannot stop thinking about the things he told me. I have always wanted to believe I have special powers. I can do things other children can't and today the old man told me I was a wizard. I am to attend Hagwots beginning 1st September. I will leave this horrid place forever. I want to learn about my powers. The professor told me I will learn to control it. And one day, I will be the most powerful wizard in the world.

Hallyn flipped to the next page, her heart beating fast. A sudden knock sounded on the bedroom door. Hallyn jumped and closed Tom's diary.

"Just a minute," Halyn called.

"Let me in, Hallyn," Emily called back. Hallyn hid the diary behind her back and unlocked the door. Emily stood in the doorway with a curious look on her face. "What were you doing?"

"Um, getting dressed," Hallyn said. Emily nodded once and walked in the room.

"What is that you're holding?" Emily asked. Hallyn shook her head.

"Oh, it's nothing," Hallyn said. When Emily continued to look at her blankly, Hallyn added, "A book."

"Right," Emily replied. Hallyn let out a huge sigh. "What kind of book?" Emily said suddenly. Hallyn jumped nervously. "Well come on now. Let me see."

"No," Hallyn said quickly.

"Well why not?"

"It's…um, not mine."

"You're acting very curious," Emily noticed. "Why are you so jumpy?"

"No… no reason."

"Well, let me have a look."

Emily snatched the book from Hallyn's hands before she had time to react.

"No," Hallyn said attempting to take it back but Emily walked away from her and opened the cover. She glanced over the pages and then flipped the diary over in her hands.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Emily read. Her mouth dropped open. "Hallyn!"

"I didn't mean to," Hallyn told her. "I found it!"

"Is this Riddle's diary?"

"I just found it. I was going to return it, I swear."

Emily tossed the diary back to her.

"That's an invasion of privacy," Emily reprimanded.

"I'm going to give it back," Hallyn assured her. "I will."

That afternoon, Hallyn sat down at her usual table. The seat beside her was unoccupied as her partner, Bill Larkley, lay petrified in the hospital wing. She felt a pang of sadness overcome her when she realized Larkley would not be in class any longer, at least until he was no longer petrified. Professor Dumbledore began the lesson.

"The spell, Reparifarge, is used to correct transfigurations that have gone amiss. We will be focusing on conjuring the Reparifarge spell for the next several weeks as it is difficult to cast correctly with little practice. Untransfiguration is based fully on this spell. Now we will begin by casting a few simple transfigurations that all of you have learnt in your earlier studies. However, you will attempt to make the spells go slightly wrong in order for you to use Reparifarge to reverse it. This may seem difficult at first and will take many of you several classes to master it. Practice outside of class is highly recommended."

Then, Professor Dumbledore instructed the students to begin.

Hallyn left Transfiguration class frustrated. Professor Dumbledore was right about the difficulty of the spell. Even her attempt at making the simple spell go wrong was unsuccessful. As Hallyn left the classroom she saw Tom standing in the corridor waiting for her. He looked at her, the corners of his lips curved up into a small smile. Hallyn swallowed nervously as she approached him. She knew she had to admit it to him. She knew she had to admit that she had his diary and return it to him. She had been dreading this moment since she found the diary on the dungeon steps. Maybe she should have just given it back to him the moment she found it. She felt guilty for even opening it and especially guilty for reading the first entry. She touched her bag lightly with her hand.

"Tom," Hallyn said, "I have something of yours." She reached into her bag and pulled out the black diary. Her hands shook as she handed it out to him. Tom's face turned pale and a stern, rigid expression replaced the small smile.

"Where did you get that?" Tom growled. He was very, very angry and it made Hallyn's voice shake as she said:

"I-I f-found it. It was on the dungeon steps when I left your common room."

Tom took the diary from her shaking hands.

"I-I'm sorry," Hallyn stuttered.

"You read it," Tom accused.

"Just the first entry," Hallyn admitted. "That's all."

"You shouldn't have opened it."

"I know," Hallyn said, "I know."

"That's personal information. It's disrespectful and wrong to pry into others' thoughts, Hallyn."

"I'm sorry!"

"We will discuss this later. I have class," Tom said. He turned on his heel and walked away.

"Tom!" Hallyn called after him but Tom ignored her and continued on his way.

Hallyn returned to the Hufflepuff common room and sat down at a small table in the corner. She reached into her bag and pulled out her Transfiguration textbook. She turned the page to the chapter on the Reparifarge spell and began to re-read everything Professor Dumbledore went over in class that day. She didn't see Emily approach her and jumped slightly when Emily spoke.

"Did you give it back? The diary?"

Hallyn looked up at her and nodded.

"Well… what happened?"

"He was so angry with me, Em! He didn't even want to talk about it. He said it was very disrespectful of me to read his personal thoughts and then he left."

"I told you that you shouldn't have read it." Emily reminded her.

"I was just curious," Hallyn said quietly.

"You need to go find him. You need to sincerely apologize," Emily told her.

"I have apologized. I said I was sorry."

"Go find him," Emily said again. Hallyn sighed, returned the textbook to her bag, and left the common room.

Headmaster Dippet met Dumbledore just outside the girls' lavatory where Myrtle had been found. He was silent at first and then he said:

"The nurse has moved Myrtle to the hospital wing," Dippet said calmly. "Send an owl to her parents. They will need to come and collect her body."

Dumbledore didn't reply. He noticed immediately the correlation between the attacks and now Myrtle's death. The ones attacked were all muggleborns. Dumbledore began to leave and then stopped.

"Headmaster," Dumbledore said. "I am not sure if you have realized this."

"Realized…?"

"Every student that has been attacked has been a muggleborn," Dumbledore stated.

Dippet was silent for a moment.

"Do you know who is behind it all?" Dippet asked.

"I don't think it is a matter of whom, Armando. I think the correct question would be what is behind it all."

"What are you suggesting, Albus?"

"The four founders," Dumbledore said plainly.

Dippet raised his eyebrows. So Dumbledore continued.

"Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and the last, Salazar Slytherin. Three of these founders got along quite well or so I've heard," said Dumbledore. "One did not."

"Slytherin, I presume," Dippet replied.

"There is a reason that some students are sorted into Slytherin. I believe this reason to be that Slytherin wanted to be more… selective of the students admitted to Hogwarts."

"What are you saying?"

"If you have noticed, not one muggleborn has been sorted into Slytherin House since the beginning of Hogwarts School."

"I have," Dippet told him.

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "So you follow what I am saying."

"Go on."

"I have stayed in close contact with some of the professors who have long since retired. I've sent an owl out to an old friend a few days ago. I wrote about the attacks and the message written on the wall. He told me about a legend of Salazar Slytherin. It is said that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle not long after Hogwarts School was founded. It is said to be the home of a monster."

"And you say that this is what is attacking the students?"

"I do."

"What is it then, Albus? What is this monster?"

Dumbledore just shook his head.

"We haven't any leads," Dumbledore told him. "Do you remember what the message said on the wall?"

"Enemies of the heir," Dippet remembered.

"The heir," Dumbledore said.

"The heir... of Salazar Slytherin," Dippet told him.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then who…?"

Dumbledore shook his head again.

"We do not know."

"Shall we discuss closing the school then?"

"The students are in danger. Unless the one behind these attacks is caught, we must. The safety of our students is our greatest priority."

Tom Riddle peered out from an empty classroom listening intently to Dippet and Dumbledore's conversation. Tom smirked at the mention of Salazar Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the four founders. The founder of Slytherin House. The one who built the hidden chamber. The legend did not exist in Tom's mind. The chamber was real. It was alive. It was just as great as Slytherin had hoped it to be. Slytherin's great plan. To rid the school of mudbloods, Tom thought.

"Tom?" Hallyn said. She had appeared beside him. Tom hadn't noticed she had walked up to him. He was listening so intently. He was mesmerized by his own thoughts. Tom looked at her. The smirk was still on his face. He let out a long slow breath. "I wanted to apologize," Hallyn said quickly. "I'm sorry I read the diary. I just found it on the dungeon steps and I mean, it is better that I was the one who found it rather than someone else, right?" Tom's face was expressionless.

"I see," Tom replied.

"What are you doing over here anyway?" Hallyn asked him. Tom did not expect her question and it caught him by surprise.

"Just listening," Tom said. "I overheard the Headmaster and Professor Dumbledore speaking."

"Speaking of what?"

"That mudbl—" Tom stopped midsentence and then rephrased his words, "the girl you found in the bathroom. There is talk of closing the school unless the one behind these attacks is caught."

"Tom, what's happening?" Hallyn asked. "Students are being petrified. I'm afraid to walk the halls by myself. A girl just died."

"I know," Tom said. He said this again with no emotion. Hallyn reached out and touched his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I don't know what to do," Hallyn sobbed. "I'm afraid, Tom."

Hallyn looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Tom wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He lifted her chin and kissed her lips and then pulled away, not quickly this time, but slowly.

"I think I know who is behind it," Tom told her. Hallyn narrowed her eyebrows.

"You do?"

"Rubeus Hagrid," Tom told her.

"The third year?" Hallyn asked. "The Gryffindor?"

"There's a monster, the thing that is behind all of these attacks. Hagrid, he is the owner of it. I've seen it."

"What monster?" Hallyn asked slowly. Her hands began to shake as Tom told her more.

"An Acromantula," Tom said. Hallyn gasped and Tom continued. "Hagrid is behind it. His pet Acromantula is the thing attacking the students, Hallyn."

"And you know this for fact?"

"Yes," Tom said. "I've seen it. I believe that Hagrid calls it Aragog."

"So this monster, Aragog. He killed—"

"Riddle!" Hagrid called rushing up to them. "It wasn't me. Aragog never touched her. I swear on my life."

"I must turn you in, Hagrid," Tom told him. Hallyn looked from Tom to Hagrid and then back at Tom. "The girl's parents will be arriving soon to take her body. It is their wish to make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

"Don' do it!" Hagrid said angrily.

"How could you do that?" Hallyn said to Hagrid.

"Don' believe him," Hagrid told her quickly. "Don' believe a word he says."

"They'll have your wand for this, Hagrid. You'll be expelled," Tom told him. Hagrid looked at Hallyn desperately.

"How could you have killed that girl?" Hallyn said her voice cracking. Hagrid hung his head. He was tired of pleading with them. It was Tom Riddle's word against his. Tom Riddle, the prefect. Tom Riddle, the brilliant student. Tom Riddle, every professor's favorite. No one would take Hagrid's side and he knew this. So he gave up.

"We have to tell the headmaster!" Hallyn told Tom as soon as Hagrid disappeared from sight. Tom didn't speak a word but nodded in agreement. "We must."