It was obvious that no one particularly wanted to be alone, but nor was anyone particularly chatty. The result was the entirety of Gryffindor house all in the common room, but other than the low hum of tense voices, it was so quiet that Draco thought he'd be able to hear a wand drop.
Even when Potter and Weasley returned, ushered in by McGonagall, no one said much; instead, everyone turned to look at the Head of House.
"Classes will be cancelled this afternoon as well," she said, and was met with silence. "Sandwiches will be provided here, for lunch, but dinner will be in the Great Hall, as usual. You are encouraged to stay here in the common room until I come to retrieve you."
"Professor," Parvati said, looking upset, "I wanted to see Padma-"
"I would advise against it, Miss Patil," McGonagall said, not unkindly.
"Professor, what if the monster comes here?" one of the girls from Potter's Quidditch team asked. Draco wasn't surprised by the question; it had not gone unnoticed that three of the monster's victims had been from Gryffindor, so far. He'd heard them murmuring about it all morning. Next to him, She-Weasley shifted, and one of the twins put an arm around her.
"Then you are advised to leave," McGonagall said, "but I don't think it will come to that." She looked around, as if to ask for any other questions.
"What about tomorrow?" Weasley asked. "Do we still have lessons?" It was such a Granger-sort of question that Draco couldn't help but wonder if that was why he'd asked it.
"At this stage, it is sounding like the school will remain open." Draco had a sour taste in his mouth. "The Board is making arrangements with the Headmaster – and I will keep you updated on that – and the Ministry has arranged for someone to teach Charms in Professor Flitwick's place. We – that is, the teachers – will likely escort you to and from lessons, but that is yet to be discussed, and again, I will keep you updated." She glanced around the common room, and then nodded once – in an almost-sad-almost-proud sort of way – and then she left.
The dull murmur of conversation started again, but not loudly, and Weasley and Potter wove their way through the clusters of students to join Draco and the other Weasleys. Draco was relieved to see Weasley had Draco's bag – the one Granger had borrowed – with him. He wouldn't have put it past them to forget it.
"Where'd you go?" She-Weasley asked, sounding almost suspicious.
"Myrtle's bathroom," Potter said quietly. "We thought it seemed odd that Percy was there-"
"Percy in a girl's bathroom?" Weasley Two asked, arching an eyebrow. His hand was still on She-Weasley's shoulder, and she looked like she needed it; she was as pale as Draco had ever seen her and didn't seem able to look away from Potter.
"Calm down, Ginny," Weasley said. "We just wanted to look around-"
"What did you find?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"Myrtle," Weasley said, wrinkling his nose. Draco grabbed his bag and sifted through it. The map and the cloak were missing – Draco guessed Potter had them somewhere on his person – but there were a few books, and a bit of torn paper.
"She was killed by the monster last time the Chamber was opened," Potter said. "And Percy was just attacked there… seems like there's a bit of a pattern. McGonagall said they searched it last time, but couldn't find anything, but she's said she'll go and talk to Myrtle and she and the other teachers will have another look around."
"But if they didn't find anything last time…"
"Exactly," Potter said, looking grim. "But McGonagall said the attacks stopped after Myrtle, except they're still going now… maybe something's different. Maybe this time, there'll be something there."
"Did Myrtle know what the monster is?" Draco asked.
"No," Weasley said. "She wasn't very helpful."
"Granger was." Draco skimmed the page that she'd left for them. "She thinks it was a basilisk." She-Weasley stiffened next to him. "Would have been nice for Myrtle to confirm it, but it makes sense; deadly stare, but only if you look right at it; otherwise you're petrified… it's a snake, so that fits too, Potter, that's what you've been hearing…" He passed the page to Potter and Weasley, who bent their heads over it for a few long moments.
"Rooster's cries are fatal to it," Weasley said, tapping the page. "That could be helpful, right?"
"There you go, Ginny. I'll owl Mum and she can send ours." Weasley One nudged her, grinning.
"You can carry it around in your schoolbag," Weasley Two added. They were the only ones that seemed entertained by it; She-Weasley seemed least amused of them all, and just stared.
"And remember the roosters, Ginny?" Potter said suddenly.
"No," she replied. "Should I?"
"After we found Mrs Norris, McGonagall was saying someone had been killing Hagrid's roosters… not that she said they were his, but he told me later, that time we went for tea, remember, Ron?"
"Yeah, I remember," Weasley said, and She-Weasley nodded too. Potter brandished the torn page at the five of them.
"I think Hermione was – as usual – right," he said. All Draco could think of was how still she'd been in the hospital wing that morning, and how scared. Going with her wouldn't necessarily have kept her safer – Astoria, a pureblood Slytherin was proof of that – but what if it would have? Would they ever know? Draco's misery wriggled in his chest, along with the anger at his father. It was an unpleasant combination. "I say we pass this onto McGonagall at dinner-"
"Not Dumbledore?" Weasley One asked.
"Father said he'd be gone by dinnertime," Draco said quietly.
"Dumbledore told me something similar," Potter said. He and Draco shared a long look. Potter, Draco was relieved to see, looked wry and worried, but not as if he was blaming Draco.
"That's mental!" Weasley said. "They can't get rid of Dumbledore!"
"They can," Draco assured him unhappily.
"But that's what Riddle wants," Weasley protested. "Without Dumbledore here to keep everyone safe-"
"We're not safe, though," She-Weasley said. "Look at Percy."
"We're safer than we would be without him," Weasley Two said firmly. "No one's died yet, which is already better than last time. Look at Myrtle."
"Without Dumbledore, though," Weasley said quietly, "the only one who can really do anything is…" Though he didn't finish what he'd been about to say, Draco could tell from where his eyes went, and his worried expression, that Potter's name would have been the next word.
"Lockhart," Potter said, with a grin he didn't seem able to help. The twins and Weasley chortled, though She-Weasley didn't, and Draco felt the tiniest smile pulling at the corners of his own mouth.
"We're doomed," She-Weasley said.
Ginny's twin brothers had long since disappeared up to their dormitory, but Potter and his friends – minus Granger – were still sitting nearby, talking over plates of sandwiches. Tom focused Ginny's ears on their conversation. She'd gone oddly quiet. He imagined she was exhausted, having not slept much at all the night before, and then there was the emotional trauma and whatnot. Poor Ginny. Tom chuckled in her mind, but she didn't respond. Pleased, he went back to listening.
"-say anything in front of them, was I?" Malfoy said, looking miserable. He picked at the sandwich on his plate, but didn't try to eat it. "He'd deserve it, but-"
"I don't blame you," Potter said, and Weasley nodded. "Are you all right? I saw Snape-"
"We talked for a bit," Malfoy said. "I almost told him, too, but- I don't know what he'd do either-"
"And we don't know how involved he is," Potter said. "He might not-"
"The fact that he's involved at all is more than enough for me, thank you," Malfoy said curtly.
"Don't start on Harry," Weasley said, lowering his sandwich.
"I wasn't," Malfoy snapped. "I'm just trying to cope with a few things, Weasley, so forgive me if I accidentally offended-"
"My brother's in the hospital wing with Hermione," Weasley said. "You not the only one who's trying to cope-"
"Shut up, both of you," Potter said tiredly.
Tom looked down, afraid his glee would show on Ginny's face. That morning, he'd seen just how functional Potter's little group could be, and some of their theories were getting too close for comfort. This sort of arguing was exactly what he needed; if he could keep them at each other's throats, keep them distracted, then he'd have a much easier time of things. He wondered if or how he could use Ginny… perhaps have her start a rumour about Malfoy, or-
I don't know why you even bothered with a monster, Ginny said to him. You're enough of one on your own.
Ah, you're talking again, Tom said.
"-need to find the thing he's hiding in," Potter said. "He can't have been living in a person for all this time, or they'd have died when he came to talk-" Distaste crept into Potter's voice. "-to me the other night. Remember Morton's owl?" Tom stored that away for later. Prickles of fear came from Ginny's direction.
That's your plan, isn't it? she asked.
No, Tom said. You'll have a long, slow death over several hours, to ensure the maximum amount of your strength goes to me. Having her drop dead the second he left her would not suit his purposes at all. He'd have to be careful with that.
You're not getting anything from me, she snapped. Tom reached up with her hand, to twirl her hair around her finger, just to prove he could, and revelled in Ginny's misery and fury.
"-find it? You said you think it's a ring, Harry?" Tom wondered if they meant his uncle's ring, and if so, wondered how they knew about that. Ginny took advantage of his distraction, to try to shout 'diary!', and almost got there; at the last moment, Tom thrust a mental cage around the part of Ginny's mind that was Ginny's control and pushed her back into a corner, where she wasn't as bothersome. And, he clamped her mouth shut so hard he tasted blood. Ginny shrieked, frustrated and rattled the cage.
"-what else it could be," Potter said.
"I know how we can find out," Malfoy said. He cleared his throat and said, "Dobby!" Potter and Weasley straightened and looked around expectantly. When nothing happened, Malfoy just looked angry. "I bet he thought of that," Malfoy said. "Doubtless he has instructions to ignore me until I'm behaving properly." He glowered around the common room.
"He might not have been able to say anything, anyway," Potter said. "He didn't last time-"
"This time, it's different," Malfoy said, "because I'm upset, and Dobby hates it when I'm upset. But that's fine, I'll get to him another way."
"I could try to get Kreacher to meet him," Potter said uncertainly. "Or we could send Hedwig-"
"I'll corner Hydrus," Malfoy said, as if he hadn't heard Potter. "Father won't see that coming, because he's an idiot."
"Malfoy won't call Dobby for you," Weasley said, looking apologetic.
"Oh, yes he will," Malfoy said, and Tom believed him.
"And Dobby will help?" Potter asked. "I know he'll want to," he added, when Malfoy glared at him, "but last time-"
"I told you, it's different this time." Malfoy was silent for a moment and then a calculating look spread over his face. "And you won't be with me, Potter; that way, if Dobby says no, I've got a back-up; I'll say you were attacked." Malfoy looked pleased and a bit guilty all at once. "He'll crumble. I think he likes you better than me; he's always been a bit odd." Malfoy smirked, and Potter and Weasley laughed.
"So you'll go at dinner?" Weasley asked.
"I'll go now," Malfoy said. "And then this can all be done by dinner; we know what the monster is now and to use roosters, we know about the bathroom, and we know it's Riddle… if we can find out exactly what this thing he's hiding in is, then we can tell the school… someone will have seen something-"
"Malfoy, you-"
"You and Potter were just downstairs in the bathroom, so you can't tell me-"
"Mate," Weasley said putting his hands up, "Do you really think we're going to stop you?" Malfoy stared at him. Tom swore silently; he'd hoped they would stop him; that, at least, would give him more time to work out what he was going to do. Potter and Weasley – and even Malfoy – would put everything together the second this Dobby they were talking about mentioned the diary. Tom was skeptical that anyone knew, but they seemed confident, and Tom had learned not to underestimate Potter and his friends. "I was just going to ask if you wanted company."
"Oh," Malfoy said. He was silent for a moment. "Best not. Hydrus is going to be a big enough pain without you there." He and Weasley watched each other for a moment and then Malfoy made an odd gesture and said, "Brothers." Weasley nodded.
"Take your wand," Potter said.
"Obviously, Potter, I'm not an idiot."
"And if you see any of the teachers-"
"I'll tell them what we know. Again, Potter, I'm not an idiot." Malfoy grinned, and Potter pulled a face at him. "I'll see you in an hour or so."
Now what, Tom? Ginny asked smugly, as Tom swore and tried to think.
