Ten minutes later, the four of them were standing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor. They had managed to get down to the kitchens to grab some food and come back upstairs unnoticed, but there was a good chance that someone would come around the corner any minute.

"It was right here," Dylan was saying, patting the brick wall. "A door just kind of…opened and Riddle walked in."

"Well, if he doesn't want anyone to follow him, then we're stuck," Danielle muttered. She paced up and down in front of the wall, thinking hard. "Did he use some sort of spell?"

Dylan shook his head.

I need to find Tom Riddle. I need to know where he's going, Danielle thought, frustrated. There had to be a way—

"Look!" Alyssa suddenly cried. Sure enough, the brick was fading away to reveal an ornately carved door.

Everyone stared at Danielle. "I didn't do anything," she stammered. "I just thought about what I needed and it opened…"

"That's wicked!" said Alphard. "I wonder who else knows about this."

"You go first, Clara," Dylan told her. "If Riddle's in there you're the one he's least likely to curse."

"What an honor," Danielle replied sarcastically, but she walked over to the door and pushed it open as the other three backed away.

She'd been expecting a dungeon-like and gloomy chamber, but was instead surprised to see a smaller, cozier room. A bed stood in one corner, with bookshelves covering every available inch of wall space.

"He's not here," Dylan said from behind her. "You can lower your wands, guys."

Danielle stepped further into the room. It was actually rather charming, with a fireplace blazing in a grate she hadn't previously noticed. A table sat in front of the fire, covered with what appeared to be maps.

"Albania?" Alphard asked, coming up behind her. "Why would he be looking at pictures of Albania?"

"No idea," Danielle murmured. She examined the papers more closely. There was a twenty-page essay detailing the complete history of Albania, with matching maps and diagrams. Tom appeared to have drawn arrows and circles around several parts of the map.

"He must have been looking for something," Alphard said.

"The diadem," Danielle said with a jolt of realization. That had to be it. Tom had somehow found out that Ravenclaw's diadem was in Albania and he was going to find it. If what Dumbledore had told her was true, it would be able to heal his curse.

"Care to explain?" Alyssa asked. "Why is he looking for the diadem?"

Danielle sighed. "See, if I told you, he would probably kill me."

"Come off it, Clara. We all know something's not right with Riddle," Dylan said. "It won't matter what you tell us."

She was torn. The others wouldn't trust her if she didn't tell them, and Tom would be furious if she did. Who should she be loyal to now?

"You see," Danielle began after a long pause, "Tom is...ill. Ravenclaw's diadem is rumored to have extraordinary healing powers and I think he thinks that if he can find it, he'll be all right again." It wasn't the entire truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie, either.

Thankfully, this seemed to satisfy the others. "How did he find out it was in Albania, though?" Alphard asked.

Danielle shrugged. "Maybe he read it in one of these books here. It doesn't matter, anyway. We just need to find him, and fast."

"He has to have left on foot," Dylan said. "Professor Dippet blocked the Floo Network and there's no other way out of Hogwarts."

"Let's go, then," Danielle said. She grabbed the nearest map of Albania and concealed it inside her cloak. "We don't have much time."

But as the four of them rounded the corner outside, Danielle caught sight of a ghost drifting down the hallway directly in their path. "Get back!" she hissed, but the ghost had already spotted them.

It was the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw house ghost. "What are you doing outside of your dormitories?" the beautiful woman asked, frowning disapprovingly at them. "It's not safe here."

"Yes, yes, we know that,' Danielle said impatiently. "Do you mind not telling anyone you saw us?"

"I would not unless explicitly asked," the Grey Lady said, looking at Danielle with dislike.

"Wait a second, madam!" Alphard said, stepping in front of her. "You're Helena Ravenclaw, right?"

"Yes, I am," the woman said arrogantly, raising her chin. "Why do you want to know?"

"How much do you know about your mother's diadem?" Alphard asked.

The ghost looked haughty. "I do not give that sort of information out to just anybody."

"We're not just anybody, though," Alphard said beseechingly. "We need to know about that diadem. It's important."

"Funny, you're the second person to say that to me today," Helena said. "Well, I am afraid that is private information."

"Wait," Danielle said. "Did the other person happen to be a Slytherin boy with dark hair and blue eyes, by any chance?"

Helena looked surprised. "In fact, it was. How did you—"

"The reason we're asking you is because of him," Danielle said. "That's why you need to tell us everything you know about the diadem. Please."

The ghost coldly appraised her for a few seconds. Finally she grudgingly said, "All right. I can tell you are serious about it. But you must not repeat this to anyone. Do you understand?"

They all nodded.

"When I was eighteen, a handsome, extremely wealthy man fell in love with me. I spurned his advances at first, but loved him back in secret. Our families would be horrified if they ever found out. They had a long history of conflict, you see.

"After a year of courting, we illicitly married and escaped to the other end of the country. Things were fine at first, but one day my husband came home from a long trip very ill. I asked him what had happened, and he confessed that he had gone back to tell his family about me. As a punishment, his father had placed a fatal curse on him that would continue torturing him until his death."

"That's terrible!" Alyssa yelled. "How could someone do that to their child?"

"Shut up," Danielle hissed. "Let her finish the story."

"Not long after, I discovered I was pregnant. My husband was distraught. He told me that the baby would be cursed, just like him. He suggested killing it before it could suffer. Refusing to put my child in danger, I ran back home. My mother took me in but was extremely ashamed of me. When I could stand her disappointment no longer, I ran away with her diadem to a place she would never find me. I had long coveted her beautiful diadem, and here I had a perfect opportunity to take what I wanted and hurt her at the same time." Helena paused. "I stayed there for several years. When my son was three years old, my husband came looking for us. My mother was very ill, he said, and wanted to see me one last time. I refused. He was almost dead himself. Whatever curse his father had placed on him had sucked the life out of him, leaving him a shell of what he once was.

"Because he was also mentally unstable, my refusal upset him beyond measure. In a rage, he killed me. Once he saw what he had done, he was deeply saddened and killed himself as well." She sounded bitter.

"At least he felt remorse," said Dylan. "He could have just walked away."

"He would have died within a week anyway," Helena answered cynically. "It didn't matter."

"What happened to your son?" Danielle asked.

"Having witnessed the entire thing, he ran away to the nearest village, where a kindly wizard adopted him. When he was seventeen, he traveled back to Britain and died only two years after." There was great sadness in Helena's eyes. "I regret never explaining why to him."

"This husband of yours," Alphard inquired, "He was Slytherin's son, wasn't he?"

"Yes, the Bloody Baron," Helena said mournfully. "I've been forced to face him every day for the past thousand years, and I haven't once offered him my forgiveness."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Alyssa asked.

The ghost looked irritated. "You would not understand unless you were in my position. Now, I really must be going. We have a school to protect."

"Wait!" said Danielle, stepping forward. "What happened to the diadem?"

"I hid it in a hollow tree deep in a forest," answered Helena. "It is surely long lost by now."

"In Albania?"

The ghost looked icily at them. "I have told you enough already," she said abruptly. "The diadem is gone." With that, she turned around and glided through the nearest wall.

"Cheerful, isn't she?" Dylan asked.

While Alphard and Alyssa laughed, Danielle was trying to fit the remaining pieces together in her head. Tom was going to find his ancestor's diadem; there was no doubt about that. With the information he now had from Helena Ravenclaw, he would use it to rid himself of Vetus Periculosus and then do…what? If he no longer possessed an "evil twin", so to speak, would he become a better person? Or would he still become Lord Voldemort?

Danielle froze as she heard brisk footsteps coming down the corridor towards them. "Someone's coming!" she whispered. "Quick—" Unclasping her suitcase, she rooted around until she found the Invisibility Cloak. "Get under it!"

"What is—"

"Now!" Danielle pulled the Cloak over all of them just as Dippet rounded the corner, closely followed by Professor Merrythought. "Well, Galatea, we've searched the entire school and there's neither hide nor hair of Tom or Clara," Dippet was saying. "Perhaps he abducted her?"

"That very well might be the case," Professor Merrythought replied, shaking her head. "In all the years I've taught Mr Riddle, he's never shown any inclination whatsoever to the Dark Arts…"

"Yes, that fact puzzles us all," Dippet replied with a sigh.

Danielle was confused. Shouldn't he have told Merrythought about Tom's curse? She was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all.

"Should we summon the Hogwarts Express to pick the students up tonight?" Merrythought asked.

"I'm afraid that might have to be the case," Dippet replied. "What with Miss Pratt dead, and two students unaccounted for…"

Beside Danielle, Dylan clapped a hand over his nose. She winced as he sneezed loudly.

Both professors turned around to face their hiding spot. "There's someone there," Merrythought said at once, raising her wand. "Homenum—"

Before she could finish the spell, Danielle lifted her own wand and whispered, "Confundo!"

There was a flash of red light and Merrythought stepped back, a puzzled expression on her face. "Oh, hello, Armando," she said to Dippet. "What are we doing here?"

Dippet looked positively horrified. Danielle prodded her wand into Dylan's side, mouthing "Go!"

Crouched under the Invisibility Cloak, the four of them began moving slowly down the hall. The Cloak barely covered them all and their luggage. Danielle caught sight of Alphard's shoe poking out from under the hem and signaled to him that he should move it.

Luckily, Dippet and Merrythought didn't pursue them. Once they had safely gotten down to the Entrance Hall with no one in sight, Danielle breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close," she said, pulling off the Cloak. "It's a good thing everyone is—"

She trailed off as she saw Alyssa, Dylan and Alphard staring incredulously at her. "Clara, you own an Invisibility Cloak, and you just Confounded Professor Merrythought," Dylan said in a strangled voice. "What other tricks do you know?"

"Dumbledore gave me the Cloak," Danielle replied. "And I don't know any tricks. It was just because Professor Merrythought wasn't expecting anyone to jinx her, so she was caught off guard, that's all."

There was a silence in which her three friends exchanged doubting looks. Danielle couldn't stand waiting any longer; Tom could be miles away for all she knew. "Well, if you're just going to stand there, you might as well go back to the common room," she said, walking towards the doors. "This isn't some adventure, guys. This is real, and this is dangerous."

"We know, Clara," said Alyssa patiently. "We're coming with you no matter what. Besides, Hogwarts is closing anyway. Where is there for us to go? Alphard only has his horrid family, and Dylan and I will be shut up in a drafty old manor with our parents. I'd much rather go to Albania."

"Think about it—if we find Ravenclaw's diadem, we could be famous," Dylan breathed. "We'd be written about in the history books forever!"

Danielle wanted to scream. Instead, she fought to keep her voice calm. "You're missing the point. I'm not going to find the diadem; I'm going to find Tom. He is extremely dangerous right now. He's unbalanced, ill. At any moment, he could snap."

This definitely sobered them up. "But—but we've known him for almost five years," said Alyssa. "He never showed any signs—"

"It's getting worse," said Danielle. "It's because of me, I think." Because I trigger strong emotions in him, like anger and hatred. Would his curse be less noticeable if not for me?

"If it's because of you, then why are you going to find him?" Alphard asked quietly. "Wouldn't it make him worse?"

This made her pause. "I…" Danielle trailed off, not sure what to say.

"You love him," Dylan said flatly.

"NO!" she exclaimed, too loudly. "I don't…I just want to stop him."

There was another silence. Faintly, Danielle heard voices in the distance. It was now or never.

"I'm coming," Alyssa said firmly, taking a step towards Danielle. "Maybe it's not what a true Slytherin would do, but I don't care."

"I'm coming as well," Alphard said. "I'm leaving nothing behind; my family would rather I die or disappear without a trace."

Dylan took the longest to respond. "Fine," he said after a long while. "I can't let Lyssa go alone, after all."

Danielle wasn't sure to feel relieved or disappointed. "Then let's go," she said, striding towards the front doors. She just hoped the others would follow her.


As luck would have it, a blinding snow had picked up outside. Danielle led the group, her hood pulled tightly over her face. She was beginning to question her foolish decision to follow Tom. She had no idea where he was, how to get to him, or even if he would take kindly to seeing her. Would they be forced to walk to Albania on foot?

"Thestrals!" Alphard shouted from behind her, as if he had heard her thoughts. "We could ride the Thestrals!"

"Are you mad?" Alyssa yelled back. "There's no way I'm getting on one of those things! Haven't you ever listened in Care of Magical Creatures?"

"They're not that dangerous," Danielle mused. "And—" she gasped as a sudden thought struck her. "They could lead us to Tom! I have the map with his scent on it!"

"That's a brilliant idea, but d'you have any idea on how exactly to find them?" Dylan asked sarcastically. "Last I checked, they weren't very easy to spot."

Danielle stopped and gestured for Alphard to take out their satchel of food. He pulled out a large piece of steak and grinned.

"Why are we wasting our food supply?" Alyssa asked, distressed. "You're not seriously thinking about riding those…things, are you?"

"Looks like it's the only plan we've got," Dylan told her. "Unless you have any other ideas."

She scowled.

Danielle took the steak from Alphard and held it up in front of her. "Er, Thestrals?" she asked, feeling stupid. "We've got food for you…"

She waited with bated breath for a minute. Then, amidst the snow that was swirling up around her feet, she saw hoof prints coming towards them, apparently materializing by themselves.

"Here they come," she said nervously. "I'm assuming no one can see them?"

Judging by Dylan and Alphard's blank looks, and Alyssa staring in the wrong direction entirely, the answer was a no.

The hoof prints continued until they were right in front of her, then something snatched the steak out of her hands. Danielle watched in trepidation as the food vanished in mid-air.

There was a loud snort, and a warm puff of air blew on her face. Hesitantly, Danielle reached out her arm until she could feel a smooth, glossy skin beneath her fingers. "How many of you are there?" she asked the invisible creature.

A loud, shrill cry pierced her eardrums and made her jump back, landing on her behind in the snow. Alphard and Dylan laughed. "It's calling the others," Alphard explained.

Sure enough, several more sets of hoof prints were heading towards them. Something prodded Danielle's side, and she gasped until she realized the Thestral was trying to help her up. "Thanks," she told it, patting its nose. Her fingers seemingly curled around nothing.

"I'm not getting on one of these things, Clara," Alyssa said shakily as one of the creatures passed close to her. "What makes you think they'll listen to us?"

"According to Professor Kettleburn, they're highly trained and very intelligent," Alphard said. He strode over to a set of hoof prints and jumped easily up into thin air, settling on what Danielle assumed was the Thestral's back. It looked extremely odd.

With some apprehension, Dylan swung himself up on the creature nearest him as well. "This is bloody peculiar," he said fervently, staring down at himself.

Danielle's Thestral nudged her shoulder. She reached into her bag and brought out the map of Albania Tom had been perusing. "Can you bring us to him?" she asked the invisible animal.

The beast snorted and cried sharply again. Hoping that meant yes, Danielle walked around to its side. She placed her hands on its back and lifted herself up, marveling at how strange it was. There appeared to be nothing between her and the ground.

Knotting her hands tightly in the Thestral's mane, Danielle looked down at Alyssa, who still had her feet planted firmly on the ground. "I'll only get on if I can double up with one of you," she said nervously.

Danielle was about to agree when an angry grunt came from behind Alyssa. She squealed and tried to flee, but only ended up running headfirst into the Thestral.

"Hurry up, Lyssa," Dylan said as he floated towards her. "We don't have all day before someone realizes we're here."

Finally conceding defeat, Alyssa reluctantly climbed onto the animal and grabbed onto what Danielle assumed was its mane in a death grip, shutting her eyes tightly. "Tell me when we're there," she moaned.

As if her words were a catalyst, Danielle's Thestral began to move forwards. She barely had time to secure her position before it took off at a dead gallop.

There was a horrifying second where she thought she was about to fall—then there was a loud flapping sound on either side of her and the animal took off into the sky.

Danielle's stomach dropped with a sickening thud as the Thestral flew higher and higher. She had to close her eyes to protect them from the snow flying into her face. Alyssa was screaming and Dylan was swearing loudly. From what Danielle could hear, Alphard seemed to be the only one enjoying himself—his excited whoops were the loudest of all.

They hadn't been flying for long when Danielle felt her Thestral pitch sharply forward and she slid several inches down its back. She managed to open her eyes and see a snow-covered forest looming in front of them before they landed with a sharp jolt on the ground in a small clearing.

The other Thestrals landed beside her not long after. Dylan got down at once, seeming off-balance. Alphard actually leaned over and hugged his before unwillingly leaping off. Alyssa was still frozen on the creature's back. With an impatient shake, the Thestral tossed her off and she landed safely in a large snowbank.

Danielle patted the great beast's neck and jumped down. "Thank you," she told it. "Now go back to Hogwarts and make sure Professor Kettleburn gives you lots of meat."

With an affectionate bump and a rush of beating wings, her Thestral took off. It appeared to be the leader, as all the other ones followed suit.

"Never—bloody—again," Alyssa said fervently, appearing from behind the snowbank. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah," said Alphard. He was squinting up into the sky where they had most likely disappeared. "Merlin, I wish I could see them."

While Alyssa complained about how it had been the worst experience of her life, Danielle had pulled her wand out and was scanning the immediate area. Had the Thestrals brought them to where Tom was? If so, where was he?

He would magically erase his footprints, of course. That meant it would be near impossible to tell the direction in which he had gone…unless…

"Point me," Danielle whispered. Her wand swiveled around to face the way they had come-northwards. He would be traveling south…so that meant they were to go in the opposite direction.

Leaving her three friends still in the clearing, Danielle began to make her way through the knee-deep snow. She could barely see ten feet in front of her. Was this a foolish mission, destined to fail before it even started?

Just as Alyssa, Dylan and Alphard were out of earshot, her wand flew out of her hand. Danielle stopped, heart in her throat. It had gone to a spot somewhere between two fallen trees—

A figure had appeared out of the snow, clad in a long dark coat. Danielle knew who he was even before she saw his face. "Tom," she breathed.

He stopped several feet in front of her, his expression wary but his eyes blazing. "What are you doing here?" he asked. His tone was not friendly.

"I came to look for you," Danielle answered. "You didn't honestly think I would let you just leave like that?"

"I hoped you would," Tom replied. He took another step towards her. "But I can see I was sadly mistaken. You do not learn from your previous faults, do you, Clara?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Danielle asked.

"It means I want you to go back to Hogwarts," he instructed, each word making a distinct puff in the air.

"I'm not leaving," Danielle insisted, but knowing she had lost. "Besides, Hogwarts is closing anyway. I have nowhere to go."

Tom turned away from her. "That is not my problem." His voice was colder than Danielle had ever heard it.

"You're going to find Ravenclaw's diadem," she said desperately. "We talked to Helena Ravenclaw before we left, and—"

He whirled back around. "How did you know?"

"D—Dylan said that last year he had noticed you going into a room on the seventh floor, and it opened for us and we found your maps of Albania—"

A fury was noticeably building inside of him. "You had the audacity to—"

"Tom," Danielle said brokenly. "At least let me come with you. Please."

His eyes flashed red. Remembering how it had worked down inside the Chamber, Danielle said quickly, "You'll never make it out of Scotland if you aren't careful, Tom. Like I said before, without someone else here you'll be…unbalanced. I have things that can help us find the diadem."

He visibly shuddered, struggling to stay in control of himself. "Why did you follow me?" he asked.

"Because I…care about you," Danielle whispered. There. It was out. She had said it.

There was a yell from somewhere behind her and Alyssa's voice called out, "Clara!"

Tom's demeanor changed almost immediately. He had managed to control himself, but at Alyssa's voice he had jerked. "You brought them along too?" he said, his voice low and dangerous.

"They insisted on coming," Danielle protested.

A strong gust of wind blew past her and she had to turn away. When it was over, Tom was gone. Danielle's wand was lying, abandoned, in the snow.

"Clara, where did you—oh, good," Alyssa said, relieved. She, Dylan and Alphard appeared from behind a clump of trees.

"He's gone," Danielle choked, not even able to move her limbs in order to pick up her wand. "Tom! TOM!"

But he didn't answer. He was right: she had made a terrible mistake.


Tom is upset she came back. Hehehe.

Fun fact: He had basically prepared himself to never see Danielle again. He had hardened his heart against her, so to speak. But when he realized she was there, and following him, his plan came crashing down. :C Poor Tom.

Also, the fact that Danielle cannot see Thestrals is important. In that one memory where her grandparents are being killed, she didn't actually see them die-her eyes were closed. So she hasn't technically seen anyone die. Another random fact: Tom CAN see Thestrals, because of Myrtle's death hours before. That's how he knew Danielle was there.