I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

First of all I would like to thank painter73 and StefanInVienna for alerting me of a big error I made in chapter 13. I somehow managed to petrify Colin twice in this story which is of course impossible. So thank you painter73 and StefanInVienna for pointing that out me.

Other than that not much to say; work is going great and I'm having a wonderful time every day. I guess I'm lucky enough to be one of those people who get to do a job they really like. I hope that this continues in the future as well.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter and let me know if I made any big mistakes like that again lol.

Chapter 14: A view of the past

If Harry and Hermione were shocked that the book replied they didn't show it; that didn't mean that they didn't understand things a little better. If this diary could answer your questions or comment on what you wrote than it explained how Ginny seemed to argue while writing her feelings down. They wondered what this diary had told her but they knew better than to ask about it. The diary probably wouldn't reveal anything about what Ginny had written anyway. Harry nodded at Hermione and grabbed the quill to write something down again.

'It's nice meeting you Mr. Riddle.' Harry wrote quickly.

'Just Tom is fine. No need for formality.' Appeared on the page.

'Thanks; could you explain how this diary works?' Harry wrote after Hermione ordered him to ask that question.

'I'm afraid I can't; you see I'm just a memory placed inside this diary'

'So you were a student here at Hogwarts?' Hermione wrote after taking the quill from Harry.

'That's correct; I was a student here about fifty years ago.'

"Harry, maybe we should ask it if he ever heard of the chamber. Surely other people have used this diary before." Hermione suddenly said. Harry nodded and wrote down the question; for a long time nothing appeared on the page and they started to think that it didn't know anything but then a message appeared.

'How about I show you?'

"Show us? How?" Hermione wondered. But before they could write down anything the pages started to turn and all of the sudden they felt like they were being pulled into the diary. The whole world seemed to turn and twist around them and they were getting worried but as sudden as it begun it stopped and now they were standing in a hallway. They looked around and recognized the place as Hogwarts, they started walking around very carefully trying not to get noticed when they heard voices from around the corner. They move closer and listened to the conversation.

"Prof. Dumbledore, did you talk to Headmaster Dippet about my inquiry?" A handsome young man asked. Harry and Hermione were shocked to see a much younger Dumbledore though they could definitely that it was him. He wore the same type of clothes and he had a white beard though it was as long as it was in the present day.

"I have talk to the headmaster Mr. Riddle but it is as I told you before I'm afraid." Dumbledore said softly.

"So there's no way I can stay here over the summer? I really have to return to the orphanage?" The now identified Tom said sounding very disappointed.

"I know you dislike the orphanage Tom but there's no other choice as Hogwarts cannot house students over the summer." Dumbledore said seeing how one of the best students in the last decades was feeling.

"But what about these attacks? I have heard rumors that the school might be closing; is this true?" Tom asked. The thought of having to return for the summer was bad enough but if he had to return to that dammed orphanage several months before it would be pure hell in his opinion.

"It's mysterious how fast news travels around here but I'm afraid those rumors are correct." Dumbledore sighed. "A young student died Tom; we cannot allow other students to be in danger."

"So if the attacks stopped then the school would stay open?" Tom asked again.

"I suppose that if we find the culprit who did this then yes the school would stay open." Dumbledore nodded. "Why these question young Tom? Do you have any idea who might have done this?"

"Oh no sir, I'm just curious. I really don't want to return to the orphanage so I hope I might be able to help with finding whoever did this."

"Please don't do anything foolish Tom." Dumbledore warned him. "Whoever did this is very dangerous and isn't something you should worry about. Let us teacher handle this problem. Now, I think it's about time you returned to your dorm."

"Of course Professor and thank you for asking the headmaster." Tom said politely before bidding his teacher goodnight.

Tom walked towards Harry and Hermione who tried to hide themselves from him but apparently they were invisible to him as he passed right next to him without any sign of seeing them. Knowing that the boy knew something about the chamber they quickly raced after him. They followed him as his walked through the corridors and though it seemed that he was just taking a walk they could see that he had a destination in mind. He went down to one of the lower levels of Hogwarts and had Hermione and Harry seen his face they would have noticed the evil smile he was wearing. All of the sudden he stopped and turned and for a second Harry and Hermione thought he had seen them but relaxed when he walked through them again towards what seemed to be an abandoned classroom. He sneaked closer to the door careful not to make a sound. After listening for a moment he pushed the door open and entered the classroom with both of Harry and Hermione on his heels. When they entered the room they saw something that they never thought possible.

"It's over Hagrid. I'm sorry but I can't let you continue this." Tom spoke with authority.

"Tom, you scared me there. This isn't what you think." The much younger and smaller Hagrid stammered while stepping in front of a large chest as if he wanted to protect whatever was inside.

"I know what you've been doing and now a young girl is dead because of it. They're threatening to close down the school and I won't let that happen." Tom said advancing a few steps.

"No, you're wrong. Aragog never hurt anyone I swear." Hagrid said defending whatever he was hiding.

"That monster can't be allowed to roam free Hagrid." Tom said taking out his wand but before he could usher a spell the chest opened and something jumped out before disappearing. It was so fast that neither Harry nor Hermione had seen what it was.

"Aragog isn't a monster." Hagrid said still defending what Harry thought was his friend.

After that the world started spinning and turning again and they knew that the memory was over. With a deep breath they seemed to wake up in the real world once again. Both of them were shocked at what they had seen; they had revisited the past and seen the experiences of a young wizard named Tom Riddle. It seemed unbelievable for such a thing to be possible but neither of them could deny it. After a few minutes of silent thinking Harry voiced his opinion.

"I don't believe for one second that Hagrid would be capable of such a thing." He said strongly. He liked the man; he was friendly and always treated everyone with respect.

"You're right Harry. Hagrid isn't the kind of man that would unleash a basilisk into a school." Hermione agreed. She liked Hagrid as well even with the man's obsession with strange and sometimes dangerous animals.

"Let's go see him in the morning and ask him what happened afterwards." Harry said.

"I think we already know what happened, Harry." Hermione said a bit sad. "Remember when Hagrid told us that he was expelled from Hogwarts?"

"Of course; how stupid of me. They must have believed Tom and blamed Hagrid for the death of that student." Harry said catching up. "Poor Hagrid, punished for something he didn't do."

"Yeah but I can't help wondering what he was hiding in that chest." Hermione admitted.

"Well we can ask him tomorrow." Harry said before picking up the diary and wishing Hermione good night. Once he got to his room he carefully put the diary in his trunk sealing it shut.

When the morning came the two second year students didn't waste any time and left straight after breakfast to go see their friend. Now that they thought about it they hadn't seen him in a few weeks and it worried them. They put on their cloaks as it was still rather chilly this time of year and traveled down the path towards Hagrid's hut. It was a path they had taken many times before so they knew where to pay attention not to trip on one of the stones or holes. The saw his cabin in the distance and noticed that there was smoke coming out of the chimney so they knew he was home. They banged on the door and heard Fang bark loudly before Hagrid calmed him down and opened the door.

"Harry, Hermione what are you two doing here?" he asked surprised motioning to get inside out of the cold.

"We came to see you of course." Harry said warming his hands near the fire. "We haven't seen you lately so we were worried."

"That's very nice of you but I'm fine." Hagrid said offering some tea and some of his own home-made biscuits. Both Harry and Hermione accepted the tea but passed on the biscuit arguing that they just had breakfast.

"Hagrid, can we ask you a question?" Hermione asked carefully.

"Of course you can Hermione. Fire away." Hagrid said laughing.

"Why were you expelled from Hogwarts?" She asked boldly. Hagrid's face changed from cheery to depressed and ashamed.

"Well, you sure know how to pick your questions don't you Hermione?" Hagrid said sadly.

"We really want to know Hagrid." Harry said encouraging his friend. "Maybe we can help you."

"I suppose it won't change all that much if I told you." Hagrid sighed before he started telling how he got accused of doing something really bad by a fellow student. Not only was he innocent but people even refused to believe him seeing as it was his word against that of one of the best students at the time. He told them that the headmaster had no choice but to expel him but how Prof. Dumbledore had managed to get him a job; the very same job he was still doing today.

"So you didn't open the chamber of secrets?" Hermione asked just to confirm what they already knew.

"Of course not, I'm innocent I swear." Hagrid all but shouted.

"Relax Hagrid, we believe you." Harry said calming him down. "But if it wasn't the monster that killed that girl that you were hiding, then what were you hiding?"

"Oh that." Hagrid said nervously. "That was just my friend Aragog. He's an Acromantula I found near the forbidden forest. I raised him but when Tom accused us of killing that girl he ran away. He lives in the forest now with his family."

Both of the youngsters gulped deeply; Acromantulas were vicious spiders that could grow to enormous sizes and who feared nothing. They hunt down everything they see and one colony could exist out of thousands of them. To think that such creatures lived in the forbidden forest this close to a school full of children wasn't exactly reassuring. They shook their head at how Hagrid always seemed to such dangerous and weird pets. They figured that there was nothing they could do about it and secretly vowed never to enter the forest unless it was absolutely necessary. They switched the conversation to other matters and stayed for a while chatting happily with Hagrid. After several hours they finally said their goodbyes and promised to visit him again soon.

They walked back to the castle in silence knowing that they couldn't discuss what they had discovered; they knew that they might get overheard by anyone so they would have to wait until the evening to talk about it. When they entered the Gryffindor common room they quietly sat down and pretended to be working on their homework or just reading. It seemed that it would be a uneventful day but Ginny came down from her dorm looking very anxious and nervous. She sat down on one of the desks but couldn't relax for even a minute.

"Ginny, are you okay?" Hermione asked concerned.

"What? Oh yeah I'm fine Hermione; I just lost my diary that's all." Ginny said smiling a bit. Hermione could see however that the smile was forced and not spontaneous.

"Where did you last see it? I'll help you look if you want?" Hermione offered her.

"No that's okay, I'm sure it will turn up somewhere." Ginny said hastily.

"Okay, let me know if you change your mind." Hermione said before returning to her homework.

Over the next few days Ginny seemed more and more agitated and sometimes very angry as she was unable to find her diary. Not only that but her health seemed to deteriorate as well, she didn't eat much and she was very pale. Frankly Harry and Hermione started to get very worried about her wellbeing. They kept an eye on her in case things got worse but it seemed that losing her diary had a very bad effect on her. Tonight Harry and Hermione were discussing what they should do with Ginny and the diary.

"Ginny is getting worse every day." Hermione said softly.

"Yeah, it's almost like she's a drug addict that couldn't get her fix on time." Harry nodded.

"And the diary is her drug." Hermione added agreeing with him. "What are we going to do? If this goes on her life might be in danger."

"I'm afraid we don't have much choice." Harry sighed. "We have to give back that diary."

"But what about the diary?" Hermione argued. "We know that it's dangerous and that somehow this Tom Riddle is involved. He showed us that memory trying to convince us that Hagrid killed that girl fifty years ago."

"I know 'Mione but we don't have a choice." Harry said sadly. "Look, we either give back the diary and keep a very close watch on Ginny or we keep it and watch her getting sicker and sicker."

"I guess you're right, we can't risk Ginny's life like this." Hermione agreed. "But we follow her as much as we can. She's just being manipulated by this Riddle guy I'm sure of it."

"I agree; okay let's recap everything we discovered so far." Harry said taking out his journal. A part of it had been used to write down every piece of information they had come across in this case. They went over everything from the very beginning until Hagrid's recollection of his expulsion. There were still several unresolved mysteries like the location of the Chamber, how to get inside and who was the girl that got killed all those years ago? When Harry read that last part he realized that they had known the girl all along and he slapped himself in the face.

"Oh my god Hermione, we're such idiots." Harry groaned.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Hermione said not knowing what he meant.

"Look at this." He said showing her the question mark next to the question about the girl who died. "Which ghost that we know died about fifty years ago? Who is the youngest ghost in Hogwarts?"

"I don't see how that's….." Hermione started until she pieced it together. "Moaning Myrtle!" she exclaimed.

"Last time we saw her she yelled at us that because she died about fifty years ago so the other ghosts aren't including her." Harry said nodding. "I'll bet you that she's the girl who died when the chamber was opened. She must have seen the basilisk and died in that very toilet she still haunts today."

"You're right; she has to be that girl." Hermione said excited. "We should ask her what happened."

"I don't think that's going to work 'Mione." Harry sighed again. "Didn't you say that she was very traumatized by her death?"

"Oh yeah; she flees as soon someone mentions it." Hermione said a bit disappointed. "But that doesn't mean we can't try."

"True." Harry admitted.

"Okay back to Ginny and the diary." Hermione said. "How do we give it back? I mean, we can't just go up to her and give it back can we? She'll know that we took it."

"We'll just say we found it while taking a walk outside. Besides I don't think the diary can discuss what other people wrote; remember that it didn't answer any questions about Ginny?"

"Fine; we'll give it back tomorrow. I don't think it would be wise to wait much longer." Hermione said.

"Very well; for now let's get some sleep. I have a feeling that the next few days will be very tiresome." Harry said yawning a bit.

Well, that's it for this chapter. Let me know how it was okay. Next chapter should be out on schedule so in two weeks from now. See you all then.