Tobias Thorn is Dead

by DarkLordFluffy

We all know the story of the night Harry Potter became the Boy-Who-Lived and defeated Lord Voldemort. But what if one thing was different that night? What if because of the addition of a new character to this story, Voldemort didn’t have to wander disembodied all those years? What would change? This is the story of Tobias Thorn, that new character. But he's not really all that new.

11. Chapter 11

"What's going on here?"
Attracted by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. When he saw Mrs. Norris he fell back in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris? he shrieked.
His eyes fell on Harry.
"You!" He yelled. "You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll-"
"Argus!"
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. He swept past the students and removed Mrs. Norris from the wall.
"Come with me, Argus." Dumbledore said to Filch. "You too, Mr. Potter and Mr. Thorn."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly and offered his office since it was nearest.

The crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart feeling very important hurried after Dumbledore, so did professors McGonagall and Snape.
When they entered Lockhart's office several of the portraits of him, hair all in rollers, darted out of sight. Dumbledore placed Mrs. Norris down on the Lockhart's desk and examined her. Tobias and Harry exchanged tense looks and sank into nearby chairs, watching.
As Dumbledore examined the cat, Lockhart mentioned that it was definitely a curse that killed her and that he knew the very counter curse that could have spared her. Filch was sobbing so much, even Harry felt a little bad for him. Lockhart kept talking himself under the guise of saying how he'd seen something like this before.
Dumbledore straightens up. "She's not dead Argus."
Lockhart abruptly stopped talking about how great he was and how many murders he'd stopped.
"Not dead?" choked Filch staring at his stiff looking cat. "Then why does she look stiff and frozen?"
"She has been Petrified." said Dumbledore. "But how I cannot say."
"Ah I thought so." said Lockhart trying to bring the attention back to himself.
"Ask him!" yelled Filch as he pointed at Harry.
"No second year could've done this." said Dumbledore. "It would take dark magic way to advanced for someone of Harry's age."
"He did it!" Filch yelled. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found- in my office- he knows I'm a- I'm a...He knows I'm a Squib!" Filch finished.
"Harry never touched Mrs. Norris!" Tobias yelled.
"And I had no idea Filch was a squib, honest." Harry said.
"Rubbish. You saw my Kwikspell letter!" Filch said.
"If I might speak, Headmaster." Snape said from the shadows. Harry felt a sense of relief. Snape would believe them and would set them right about this. "Potter and Thorn may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do have to wonder why they were not at the Halloween feast however."
"Um that was kind of my fault professor. The food was so good that I ate a bit too much and got sick." Harry said sheepishly.
"I agree with Severus however it does seem strange that they were found in that location. Isn't the boys restroom in a different location?" McGonagall asked.
"Harry just wanted some air afterwards so we wandered a bit. We didn't do it I swear on my magic." Tobias said.
"There you have it then." Dumbledore said as he gave both Tobias and Harry searching looks.
"My cat has been Petrified!" Filch shrieked. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus." said Dumbledore. "Professor Sprout currently has a healthy bunch of Mandrakes. As soon as they reach their full size, I will have a potion made to revive her."
"I'll make it." Lockhart said. "I must've done it a hundred times."
"I happen to be the Potions master in this school." Snape said icily.
"You may go." Dumbledore said to Tobias and Harry.

They left as quickly as they could without actually running.
"Should we tell them about the basilisk Tobias?" Harry asked as they made their way back to their dorms.
"No Harry. They would just assume we did it if we knew what it was that petrified her. We don't want to give them reason to suspect us. We keep this between us."

The next day, while they were in the common room, they talk quietly about what happened.
"What's the Chamber of Secrets anyway? Ever heard of it?" Harry asked.
"It sounds familiar. I think I read about it in Hogwarts: A History. It's supposed to be a secret chamber in Hogwarts that Slytherin himself created before he left." Tobias said. "He apparently became very disgruntled with the other founders that they were letting muggleborns in and risking the secrecy of our world. He apparently left the chamber there with a monster inside. I think it was to protect Hoqwarts from any muggle attacks that might befall it."
"My father said someone opened up the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago. Several mudbloods were petrified and I think one even died. He wouldn't tell who opened it. I wonder who opened it this time though." Draco said eagerly, then he looked at Tobias. "Did you open it Tobias? You can speak to snakes like Salazar Slytherin. Are you the heir of Slytherin?"
"I'm as much of an heir of Slytherin as Harry is. Which is not. We don't have any Slytherin blood in our family trees whatsoever. I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets Draco." Tobias rolled his eyes. "Sorry to dissapoint you."
"Could the 'monster' in the Chamber of Secrets be the basilisk?" Harry hissed in parseltongue at Tobias so Draco wouldn't understand.
Draco had already known that Harry could speak to snakes for awhile but he still found it strange.
"It's possible Harry. Salazar could speak to snakes so his 'monster' could be a huge snake. Maybe we need to find this Chamber of Secrets." Tobias said thoughtfully.
"Hey I'm sitting right here. It's a little rude to speak in a foreign language to yourselves right in front of me. Is there something you don't want me to know?" Draco whined.
"Sorry Draco. I suppose it's ok if you know what we are talking about but we should go to our dorm and put a silencing spell up so no one else can hear." Tobias said dragging Draco to their dorm room.

They got to their room and Harry put up some silencing spells. They sit on their beds.
"So what is this all about? Is it about the Chamber of Secrets?" Draco asked eagerly.
"I suppose so. Sort of." Harry said. "You know about how our snake Nagini hunts around the castle for food right? Well earlier in the year she came across another snake in the castle. A really really big one."
"Bigger than Nagini?" Draco said.
"Much bigger. She believes it was a basilisk actually. A particularly old and large basilisk." Harry said.
"Really? An actual basilisk? So is that what petrified Mrs. Norris?" Draco said nervously.
"Probably. And is probably what Salazar Slytherin left in the Chamber of Secrets." Tobias said.
"Wait. 50 years ago someone opened up the Chamber of Secrets right? If the monster is a basilisk which is a huge snake, then the previous heir of Slytherin had to be a parseltongue right?" Draco said thoughtfully.
"Yeah. What are you getting at?" Harry asked.
"The Dark Lord was a kid once too right? Probably around that time period? And he was a parseltongue. So maybe he was the heir of Slytherin the first time this happened." Draco said smugly.
"Of course. That makes a lot of sense really. Who else would be so interested in killing muggleborns?" Harry said.
"I guess this means the current heir of Slytherin has to be a parseltongue too." Draco said. "If it isn't one of you then who would it be? Parseltongue is a really rare ability."
"Well I think Harry's ability comes from his encounter with the Dark Lord as a baby. Mine I have no idea where it comes from. But I know neither of us have opened it. So their has to be someone else here that's a parseltongue." Tobias said frowning. "Whatever the case may be, we have to be quiet about all this. If we give the teachers any reason to suspect us we could be in a lot of trouble. Don't go talking about this with anyone ok Draco?"
"Ok Tobias. I swear I won't say anything. But I do think it's exciting."

Despite them not saying anything to anyone else, most of the school seemed to suspect one of them of being the heir of Slytherin. Most of the muggleborn students gave Harry and Tobias a wide berth whenever they saw them. It didn't help that they were Slytherin students either. Many of the Slytherin students actually suspected them too and because of that treated them with more respect which just made the rumors worse. Ginny Weasley looked devastated because of the cat. Her brothers tried to cheer her up but weren't very successful.

They went back to the area where Mrs. Norris had been found to investigate. They were sure the entrance had to be close to there. Harry thought back to that night. He remembered a puddle of water on the floor. It had been moped up since then but he could still remember where the water was. There was a door nearby with an Out of Order sign on it.
"Where does this door go I wonder?" Harry asked.
Draco grimaced. "That's a girls' toilet. We can't go in there."
Tobias however looked thoughtfully at the door. "Harry remember what Nagini said about the pipes? This could be our entrance."
Tobias goes through the door, ignoring Draco's complaints that they shouldn't go in. Harry follows behind him and Draco reluctantly followed.
The first thing they notice is a very sad looking ghost in old fashioned Hogwarts robes floating around. She noticed the three boys enter and confronted them. "This is a girls bathroom. You aren't girls."
"We were just investigating what happened the other night when Mrs. Norris got attacked. Know anything about that?" Harry asked.
"I didn't notice anything. Peeves upset me so much that I came back here and tried to kill myself. Then of course I remembered that I'm-"
"Already dead." Draco said helpfully.
The ghost gave a tragic sob and dived into a toilet.
"Well that was informative." Harry said sarcastically.
After searching around they left the bathroom without any new clues.

On Saturday morning Draco and Harry were very nervous for their upcoming Quidditch match. Slytherin versus Gryffindor. They knew that they wouldn't hear the end of it from Flint if they lost to Gryffindor.
The afternoon approached and Harry and Draco made their way to the Slytherin locker room. Tobias went to go get a seat in the stands with Theo and Blaise. Flint gave his team a pep talk that basically consisted of him threatening them with bodily harm if they lost.
"Get that snitch or die trying, Harry. We've got to win today." Flint said.
As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them. Mostly boos and hisses from Gryffindor but the Slytherins made themselves known too. Madam Hooch asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.
"On my whistle." said Madam Hooch. "Three...two...one..."
They sped upward into the sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch.
A bludger heads in Harry's direction and a Slytherin beater bats it away towards a Gryffindor player. It changes direction and speed towards Harry again. Harry dropped quickly to avoid it and the bludger swerved and shot towards Harry's head.
Harry zoomed towards the other end of the pitch. He could the bludger following behind him. He couldn't concentrate on what was happening around him but could hear Lee Jorden commentating saying, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero-" He was glad that they were winning at least but at the moment all he could concentrate on was not being bashed in the head by the bludger. Both of Slytherin's beaters were flying really close to him now so all he could see was flailing arms and couldn't look for the Snitch.
"Someone has tampered with this damn bludger." the Slytherin beater said swinging his bat at it yet again.
"Forget about it. I can't concentrate on finding the Snitch with you two so close. I can deal with it myself." Harry said. "Get back to the game."
"You sure?" They said as they once again knocked the bludger away from him.
"I'm sure." Harry flew as fast as he could, swerving and dodging the bludger. He then noticed the Snitch! It was by the other seeker's ear and the other seeker hadn't noticed it yet. He turned around and hung in midair not daring to move in case the Gryffindor seeker saw it. He stayed still too long. The bludger hit him in the arm making a disgusting cracking sound. Dazed by the pain he noticed the bludger going for his face. He swrved and dove after the Snitch. The other seeker's eyes widened from fear. He thought Harry was attacking him. The seeker dove out of his way. Harry took his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch. He felt his fingers close on the Snitch. He then fell off his broom onto the ground.
He looked at the Snitch in his hand. "We've won." He promptly fainted.
When he came around he saw someone leaning over him. It was Lockhart.
"Oh no, not you." he moaned.
"He doesn't know what he's saying." Lockhart said to the crowd. "Not to worry Harry, I'm about to fix your arm."
Flint sent a stinging hex at Lockhart when he got close enough. "That's my seeker and you won't be touching him you ponce. He'll be going to the hospital wing."
Lockhart winces "Really it's no trouble. It's quite a simple charm, done it a hundred times."
"I don't think so." Flint said pointing his wand at Lockhart.
"Mr. Flint! Detention and 5 points from Slytherin! Attacking a teacher with a stinging hex, you ought to be ashamed." Madam Hooch yelled as she came up to them.
"Worth it." Flint mumbled under his breath winking at Harry.
"Now Gildroy I really must insist you let me take Harry to the hospital wing. Poppy would be quite angry at me if I let someone else try and treat a student." Madam Hooch said, much to Harry's relief.

Madam Pomfrey is indeed quite angry when she hears that Lockhart tried to mend Harry's bones himself. "That blumbering fool! There's no doubt he would've bungled it up somehow. To risk a student's health just to show off..." She grumbles as she mends the bones in Harry's arm.
"There you go Mr. Potter. All finished. Though I do think you should stay the night just in case. I don't like the fact that you fell off your broom. You could've gotten a head injury. But I won't force you to stay."
Harry thanked Madam Pomfrey and left the Hospital wing with Draco and Tobias.
"You scared me Harry. I wonder who messed with that bludger. It had to have been someone with quite a bit of skill. Maybe an older Gryffindor student?" Tobias wondered.

There was a party in the Slytherin dorms that night. Some of the older Slytherins managed to smuggle in some butterbeer and even some firewhisky. It went on till rather late that night till Professor Snape came in and threatened them all with year long detentions.
Hours later Harry wakes up to a weight on his bed. He sits up thinking Nagini wants something but he sees it's a houseelf. The same houseelf that warned him that something bad was going to happen.
"What are you doing here Dobby?" he whispered.
"Harry Potter didn't listen to Dobby. He came back to Hogwarts after Dobby said he would be in danger." Dobby said.
"Dobby I understand that something dangerous might happen but honestly- I had to come back. I'm not compromising my education just because a houseelf told me something bad wad going to happen." Harry whispered frowning at the houseelf.
"Dobby understands sir. But Harry must listen to Dobby. Bad things will happen. Dobby thought that his bludger would convince Harry that it was too dangerous to stay here."
"You were the one who messed with that bludger? Were you trying to kill me?" Harry has to stop himself from yelling.
"Not kill you. Never kill you. I hoped I would injure you enough that you would leave Hogwarts. It's not safe here and I wanted to keep you safe."
"This has to stop Dobby. I am safe here with my friends. I know that the Chamber of Secrets was opened. I know that the monster of Slytherin is a basilisk. But I'm safe because for one, I'm not a muggleborn, and two Hogwarts is full of teachers that can protect the students here. Please stop trying to protect me."
"Dobby is surprised that Harry Potter knows so much about what is happening but must insist that Harry leave Hogwarts for his safety." Dobby said.
Tobias wakes up and pushes the curtains of his bed open. "Who are you talking to Harry?"
Dobby disappears. Harry sighs. "Just some demented houseelf that thinks he needs to protect me from the dangerous things happening at Hogwarts. He sent the bludger at me so he's not doing a very good job."
"Oh geez. Is that the same houseelf Draco told me about? The one who wants clothes?"
"That's the one. Wish he'd stop trying to get me to leave Hogwarts." Harry said.
"Well we could always write Lucius and have him order the houseelf back to the manor." Tobias said thoughtfully.
"Maybe that will work." Harry said before going back to bed.

The next day the school was all in a buzz because a student had been attacked. Colin Creevy had gone out late last night to get a snack and had been found petrified, his camera had been found melted from the inside. Everyone was convinced that they were next so a roaring trade in talismans, amulets, and other protective devices was sweeping the school. Tobias thought it was ridiculous that people thought they could be safe with a simple amulet.

A week later Harry, Tobias, and Draco were in the entrance hall when they saw a small group of people gathered around the notice board. There was a new bit of parchment that had just been pinned up.
"They're starting a Dueling Club apparently." Tobias said as they got closer to the parchment. "Might be fun. Looks like the first meeting is tonight. Want to go Harry?"
"It could be useful I suppose. What do you think Draco?" said Harry.
"Father already said he'd teach us to duel over the summer but I suppose some lessons beforehand wouldn't hurt." said Draco.

At eight o'clock that evening they headed to the Great Hall. The dining tables had disappeared and a stage had appeared along the wall. What seemed to be most of the school seemed to be packed into the Great Hall all looking excited.
Harry wondered who would be teaching them. He had heard Flitwick was quite a dueling champion when he was younger. Maybe it would be him. Or even Snape who knew quite a lot about dueling. He just hoped it wouldn't be...Oh no. Gildroy Lockhart walked onto the stage accompanied by Snape.
Lockhart waved his arm for silence. "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions- for full details, see my published works."
"Let me introduce my assisstant, Professor Snape." Lockhart said with a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tony bit about dueling himself and has agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now I don't want any of you to worry. You'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Wouldn't it be great if Uncle Severus finished him off?"Draco muttered in Harry's ear.
Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered how Lockhart could keep smiling. If Snape had been looking at him like that he'd be running away as fast as he could in the opposite direction."
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed, at least Lockhart did very dramatically in fact. Sanpe just jerked his head irritably. Harry smirked. Lockhart was definitly going down. They then raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart told the crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill of course."
"A shame that." Tobias said quietly.
"One...two...three"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent. Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a bright scarlet light and Lockhart flew backward off the stage and smashed into a wall.
Draco and some of the Slytherins cheered. Tobias smirked at Lockhart struggling to get to his feet.
"Well, there you have it!" Lockhart said, making his way slowly back to the stage. "That was a disarming charm- as you can see, I've lost my wand- ah thank you, Miss Brown. An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do and if I had wanted to stop you it would have been too easy."
Snape was looking murderous. It's possible that Lockhart noticed so he said, "Now enough demonstrating! I'm going to come around and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me?"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Neville Longbottom got teamed up with Justin Finch-Fletchley. Ron Weasley got partnered up with Draco. Snape was kind enough to let Tobias and Harry partner up, and Theo got partnered up with Blaise. Hermione Prewitt was unfortunate enough to get paired with Milicent Bulstrode, an intimidating looking second year Slytherin girl. Harry had heard that her family were all very good at dueling and felt a little sorry for the bushy haired know-it-all.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart. "and bow!"
Harry imitated Lockhart and bowed dramatically at Tobias, while Tobias just inclined his head smirking.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents- only to disarm them. One...two..three-"
Harry swung his wand high but wasnt fast enough. Tobias's spell hit him and he went sliding across the floor his wand flying out of his hand. Tobias goes and grabs Harry's fallen wand and hands it back to him smiling. Then they noticed that the rest of the room weren't faring very well. Neville and Justin were both lying on the floor, panting. Ron was on the floor laughing uncontrollably while Draco stood there smugly. Millicent had Hermione in a headlock, their wands forgotten on the floor. Daphne Greengrass pulled Millicent off of Hermione. It must've been difficult as Millicent was a lot bigger.
"Perhaps it would be prudent to teach them how to block unfriendly spells?" Snape drawled as he took it the devestation that was the dueling club.
"An excellent idea Professor Snape. Let's have a volunteer pair. Malfoy and Weasley, How about you?"
Draco and Ron go to the middle of the hall and the crowd backed away to give them space.
"Now Weasley." Lockhart said to Ron. "When Malfoy points his wand at you, you do this."
Lockhart raised his wand and attempted a complex sort of wiggling motion, then dropped his wand. Harry snickered. Weasley had no chance against Draco.
Snape moved closer to Malfoy and whispered something in his ear. Draco smirked. Tobias knew this would be good.
"Scared Weasley?" Malfoy sneered.
"You wish." Ron said not very convincingly.
"Three- two- one- go!" Lockhart shouted.
Draco raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
A long black snake shot out of Draco's wand and fell heavily onto the floor between Draco and a very scared looking Ron. It raised itself, ready to strike. The crowd back away screaming, clearing the floor. Tobias and Harry grinned at Draco.
"Don't move, Weasley." Snape said lazily. "I'll get rid of it..."
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He flourished his wand at the snake and there was a large bang. The snake didn't disappear though. It flew ten feet into the sir and fell back on the floor with a loud smack.
"Damn human scum! I'll teach you to mess with me!" the snake hissed furiously. It slithered enraged straight towards Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself to strike.
Harry wasn't sure why he did it. Later he would kicked himself for it. He yelled at the snake to leave the boy alone. Problem was, he yelled in parseltongue so all the crowd heard was him hissing at a snake. The snake listened and slumped to the floor docilely. Tobias shook his head and put his head in his hand. Why did Harry have to have a saving people thing?
"What do you think you are playing at?" Justin Finch-Fletchly shouted at Harry before storming out of the hall.
Snape stepped forward and vanished the Snake, all the while staring at Harry curiously. The crowd muttered in a way Harry didn't like. Tobias tugged at his shirt.
"Come Harry we need to go." Tobias steered him out of the Great Hall. People on either side drew away as though they were contagious.

Tobias dragged him to the Slytherin common room and pushed Harry into an armchair. Draco appeared a few minutes later.
"Why oh why do you insist on making things more complicated than they already are Harry?" Tobias sighed.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. It just happened." Harry said.
"Well now people will think you are the Heir of Slytherin for sure. Now that they know you have one of Slytherin's most notable abilities." said Tobias.
"Not to mention you looked like you were egging the snake on or something." Draco chimed in.
Harry hides his face in his hands. "The rest of the year is going to be hardly bareable."

Sure enough the next day most of the school were convinced that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin. The younger students gave him a wide berth and the older ones could barely stop themselves from hexing Harry. Some didn't even stop themselves. Tobias and Draco had become Harry's shadows everywhere he went so he wouldn't be caught alone. Even the Slytherin students were nervous of him but were more respectful about it than the other students.

It didn't help at all when shortly after, Justin Finch-Fletchly was petrified right along with Nearly Headless Nick the Gryffindor ghost. Peeves had taken to following Harry around and singing "Oh, Potter you rotter, oh what have you done, You're killing off students, you think it's good fun."
Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff boy who been friends with Justin had taken to harassing Harry whenever he could. He would call Harry names and threaten him. Professor Snape caught him in the act and gave him detention and 5 points from Hufflepuff, but that didn't help Harry.

Soon after Justin and the ghost were petrified, Dumbledore called Tobias into his office again. He made his way up the stairs to the headmaster's office but noticed that Dumbledore was not there yet. He noticed the sorting hat sitting on a shelf and hesitated. Maybe it could explain to him why it had said those things to him when it sorted him. He looked around to see if Dumbledore was here yet and then placed the hat on his head. A small voice said in his ear. "Bee in your bonnet, Tobias Thorn?"
"Yes actually. I was wondering if you could tell me what you were talking about when you said I had been sorted before?" Tobias asked.
"I am sorry, but I believe you must discover that for yourself. I will say that I cannot reveal what I saw to anyone. Not even Dumbledore. Have no fear."
Tobias takes off the hat and frustratingly tosses it back on the shelf. He turns around and notices the phoenix on a perch looking very ragged. It must be close to a burning day for the bird, Tobias thinks to himself as he stares at the bird. The bird stared right back and gave him a rather interesting look while slowly gagging to itself. Then it bursts into flames. Tobias looks in wonder at the pile of ash on the floor.
The office door opened. Dumbledore came in looking very grim.
"Professor, your phoenix had its burning day just now." Tobias said.
"Oh so you know he's a phoenix, smart boy. It's about time too. He's been looking dreadful for days. I've been telling him to get a move on."
Dumbledore reaches into the pile of ash and pulls out a baby bird. He placed the bird on the perch stand and seated himself at his desk.
"How is Harry doing Tobias my boy? I noticed that many of his classmates are alienating him at the moment and wondered how he was taking it."
"Pretty well considering. He's pretty tough but I do worry about him." Tobias said. "Professor you don't actually think Harry is the Heir of Slytherin right? Because that's ridiculous."
"No. I do not think he is the Heir of Slytherin. In fact, his parseltongue ability may come entirely from his encounter with Voldemort when he was a baby. Voldemort could have unknowingly transferred some of his powers onto Harry when he tried to kill him."
Tobias who had already suspected this, pretended to be surprised. "Transferred some of his powers to Harry? Will that affect Harry in a bad way?"
"I do not really know. Keep an eye on him Tobias. We must protect Harry at all costs. He is too important."
"Of course sir."

The double attack on Justin and the Gryffindor ghost made most of the students very scared so sure enough when the Holidays came round, most if not all of the students went home for Christmas holiday. Curiously when Harry, Draco, and Tobias came back to Malfoy Manor for the holiday, Lucius seemed in quite the good mood for some reason. Tobias found him very suspicious. Other than that though, their holiday break was not very notable. They got dozens of presents as usual, though the amount sent by owl from Hogwarts students had dropped significantly. And Harry received several howlers from angry and frightened Hogwarts students parents. He ignored what they said and tried to have a happy Yule anyway.

Soon they were back at Hogwarts. The rest of the students still looked at Harry as if he would attack them at any time but strangely enough the Weasley twins seemed to find them thinking Harry was the Heir of Slytherin was hilarious. They follow him several times and would say "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin! Seriously dangerous wizard here folks." Harry found it reassuring that at least they didn't think he was a murderous psychopath. It did grate at him though, the other students actions towards him. He just wanted to be normal but everyone insisted on treating him differently. It wasn't fair.

One day Harry and Tobias were walking by the ghost Moaning Myrtle's bathroom when they noticed a great flood of water on the floor coming from out the door. Curious they entered the room and noticed the ghost sobbing to herself.
"What's up Myrtle?" said Harry.
"Who's that?" sobbed Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"
"Why would we throw something at you?" Harry asked.
"Don't ask me." Myrtle shouted. "All I was doing was minding my own business in this toilet when someone thought it would be funny to throw a book at me."
"Who threw it at you?" asked Harry.
"I don't know. I was just sitting here thinking about death and it fell right through me. It's right over there. It got washed out." She points at a small thin book on the floor.
Harry goes to pick it up. Tobias dried it off for him. Harry saw at once that it was a diary and the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old. He opened it cautiously. On the first page he could make out the name "T. M. Riddle" in smudged ink.
"Hanging on I think I know that name from somewhere. I can't remember where though." Tobias said frustrated.
Harry flipped through the pages. They were all blank.
"Odd. I wonder why someone would flush this book if there's nothing written in it." Harry wondered.
"There must be more to it than meets the eye." Tobias said taking the book from Harry. It felt weird in his hands. He turned it over to the back cover of the book and saw the printed name of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London.
"Riddle must've been muggleborn, to have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road. Hey I recognize this book now. Ginny Weasley dropped it in the train corridor when we were on the train to school. Maybe she'll know what's up with it." Harry said.
"Perhaps. But perhaps she was the one that threw it in a toliet. I wonder why she did that." Tobias said thoughtfully.

Later when they were in their dorm room, they tried just about everything to see what it might hide. Nothing worked. Then Harry had the bright idea to just write in it and see what happened. He wrote:
"Hello I'm Harry Potter."
Suddenly the words disappeared and other words appeared. Strangely the handwriting looked very similiar to Tobias's neat scrawl.
Hello Harry. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?
Harry and Tobias looked at the words in surprise. Harry wrote back.
"Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."
They waited eagerly for a reply.
Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. I always knew there would be those that would not want this diary read.
"How did you make it so you could write back years later? This book is from 50 years ago." Harry scrawled.
That is my secret and not something I wish to tell.
Tobias took the book from Harry and started writing.
"What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets? It was opened 50 years ago and its open again now."
This isnt Harry is it? The handwriting is different. Yes I do know about the Chamber of Secrets. I was a student at Hogwarts when it was opened. Several students were attacked and one was even killed. I caught the person who had opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, was ashamed that such a thing happened on his watch at Hogwarts and he forbade me to tell the truth. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The one who had the power to open it was not imprisoned.
"Can you tell me who it was that opened the Chamber?"
No
But I can show you.
The pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a storm. Then it stopped at a page that had June Thirteenth written on the top of the page. There seemed to be what looked like a tiny television screen on the page. Harry and Tobias crowded around the screen and then suddenly felt like they were sucked through the screen.
They both felt very disoriented for a bit and then they noticed that things were becoming less blurry. They were in what looked like the Headmaster's office but it was slightly different. And everything seemed to be tinted in grey. There was a very old looking wizard sitting behind the Headmasters desk and a sixteen year old boy was standing in front of the desk. The sixteen year old wore an old fashioned Slytherin robe and a prefect badge.
"Hello. Sorry we intruded. We'll just leave." Harry said to the wizard. The wizard didn't respond.
"Harry I don't think they can hear or see us. This is a memory I think." Tobias said very very uncomfortable. The deja vu was back with full force.
The sixteen year old phantom spoke. "You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?" said Riddle. He looked nervous.
"Sit down." said Dippet. "I've just been reading the letter you sent me."
"Oh." said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together tightly.
"My dear boy." said Dippet kindly, "I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?"
"No." said Riddle. "I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that- to that-"
"You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?" said Dippet.
"Yes, sir." said Riddle. He did not look happy about that at all.
Tobias stalked around the figures as he watched them speak. Why was this making him angry? Harry on the other hand felt a bit of kinship with the phantom boy. He knew how it felt to not feel wanted.
"The thing is, Tom." Dippet sighed. "special arrangements might have been made for you, but in current circumstances..."
"You mean all of these attacks, sir?" said Riddle. Tobias stopped pacing. Harry and Tobias both looked up eagerly.
"Precisely." said the headmaster. "You must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy...that poor girl...You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer to locating the source of this unpleasantness."
Riddle's eyes widened.
"Sir...if the person was caught...if it all stopped..."
"What do you mean?" said Dippet with a squeak. "Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?
"No, sir." said Riddle quickly. Tobias didn't believe him.
Dippet sank back into his chair. "You may go Tom..."
Riddle got up and made his way out of the room. Harry and Tobias followed him.
The phantom Riddle seemed to be doing some serious thinking. Tobias became suspicious of him. Then Riddle seemed to make some sort of decision and went striding down the hall with Tobias and Harry following him. They didn't see anyone else till they made it to the entrance hall when a tall wizard with long hair and a beard called to Riddle from the marble staircase.
"What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?"
Harry gaped at the wizard. It was a younger Dumbledore! Harry and Tobias both sneered at him together.
"What I wouldn't give to hex that man right here right now." said Tobias.
After Riddle and Dumbledore had a conversation, which Harry mostly ignored in favor of made rude gestures at the phantom Dumbledore, Riddle led them into the dungeons. Riddle closed the door then just stood there in silence waiting for something. It felt like an hour before something happened.
Someone was creeping along the passage. The noise passed the door that they were standing behind. Riddle quietly made his way out the door and followed the footsteps. Harry heard the creak of an open door and someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.
"C'mon...gotta get yeh outta here...C'mon now...in the box..."
Harry had heard the voice somewhere before.
Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner. "Evening Rubeus." said Riddle sharply.
There was a very large boy crouching in front of an open door with a very large box next to it. The boy slammed the door shut and stood up.
"What yer doin' down here, Tom?"
"It's all over." Riddle said as he came closer. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."
Tobias stared at the Riddle boy suspiciously. It was obvious this was a setup. This boy he was catching was Rubeus Hagrid the future gamekeeper of Hogwarts. There was a funny clicking sound behind Hagrid. A clicking sound that didn't sound at all like a basilisk.
"Come on, Rubeus." said Riddle. "The dead girl'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't him!" roared the young Hagrid. "He wouldn't! He never!"
"Stand aside." said Riddle, drawing his wand.
Riddle's spell hit the door and it flew open. And out of it came a very large very startled looking spider. Riddle raised his wand again but he was too late. The spider bowled him over as it scuttled away. He got up and raised his wand again but Hagrid leapt at him, seizing his wand and threw him down yelling "NOOOOOOO!"
The scene whirled and suddenly Harry and Tobias were back in their dorm room.
"Hagrid? Hagrid?! Bumbling Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets?!" Harry shouted frustratingly.
"No Harry. I think Riddle did it." said Tobias.