A/N: Hi everyone, here's my updated chapter with what I hope is a more fitting confrontation at the end. Please let me know what you think in the reviews and I hope that you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 29: Fifty Years Ago

Harry was instantly on guard. Had the diary really managed to send him and Sabrina back in time? Or was this just replaying one of Tom Riddle's memories from his time owning the diary? Realising that there was nothing that he could about it for now, he made his way forward to the bottom of the Grand Staircase. Once he reached it, he noticed a figure appear in front of him. It was Tom standing there with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Tom? Is that you?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Tom gave no response. In fact, it didn't even seem as though he had even heard Harry at all. He was just too focused on whatever he was thinking about. Harry slowly walked up to him, now sure that this was a memory and wondered just what it was that Tom was trying to show him. It didn't take long for him to find out as both he and Tom heard a noise and looked up to the top of the staircase where a group of witches and wizards were carrying something down.

As the group got close to Harry and Tom, Harry looked at what they were carrying and gasped as he realised what he was seeing. They were carrying a body on a stretcher. It was covered with a white cloth, but it failed to cover the slender, feminine arm that was swinging lifelessly from side to side with each movement of the stretcher. This was the victim from when the Chamber was first opened.

~Hmm...so, he's going to show us the day it happened then? This should be interesting to see~ Harry commented.

~Just be careful. We don't know what tricks he may try to pull on us here~ Sabrina warned.

Harry nodded and watched the poor victim get taken away before a voice finally brought Tom back to reality.

"Tom?" came the voice of none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore," Tom greeted cordially with a short bow.

Harry was shocked as he turned and saw Tom walk up to a much younger Dumbledore, well sort of younger. His beard wasn't completely white yet and he did seem to be more stable. The most shocking thing, though, were Dumbledore's eyes. They seemed almost...genuinely concerned. The twinkle that hid his subtle calculating and underlying plotting was instead replaced by a more calm twinkle, the kind that he obviously thought that he still had. However, there was no more time to think about Dumbledore now as the younger Dumbledore and Tom began to converse with each other.

"It is not wise to be wandering around the corridors at this late hour, Tom. Not with everything that has happened," Dumbledore said sternly.

"I know, Professor...I guess that I just wanted to see for myself...to verify whether everything that Headmaster Dippet told me was really true," Tom replied.

"I'm afraid that everything is true, Tom," Dumbledore said, clearly saddened by this.

"Headmaster Dippet told me that the school would be closed because of all of this. I didn't want to believe it. I really hoped that it was just rumours or a prank gone wrong...Professor, surely they can't do that. I have nowhere else to go. Hogwarts is my home!" Tom said, seemingly in distress.

"It is out of my hands, Tom. Headmaster Dippet and the governors have to do what they feel is best for the students and the staff of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said sadly.

"But if the monster was destroyed and the one who let the monster loose was caught...then what? Would Hogwarts remain open?" Tom asked, speaking out of desperation.

Dumbledore paused for a second. Harry too paused to think for a moment. He guessed that he came to the same conclusion as Dumbledore as the question that Dumbledore asked would've been the same thing that he would've asked.

"Is there something that you wish to tell me, Tom?" Dumbledore asked, the twinkle slightly faded now as he gave Tom a piercing gaze.

"No, sir. Nothing at all," Tom said, unnervingly calm for someone who was so distressed and desperate only a few seconds ago.

"Very well...Off you go," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

Tom walked away from Dumbledore and down a corridor. Harry noticed that Dumbledore didn't take his eyes off of Tom until he went around the corner. Only then did Dumbledore finally turn around, still clearly suspicious, and went back up the staircase. Harry looked down the corridor that Tom had gone down and decided to follow him. He needed to see what Tom was going to do next.

~Funny how in sync you and Dumbledore were just now, my Harry. It seemed like both of you knew that Tom was hiding something. It was all an act. He knew who opened the Chamber and what the monster was. It was obvious~ Sabrina hissed.

~I know. The weird thing was that I didn't see the current Dumbledore in those eyes though. He seemed different...like everything he claims that he is now, he used to be. What changed from here to present time?~ Harry replied.

~We'll have plenty of time to figure that out once we find the truth about the Chamber. Stay focused on the task at hand, my Harry~ Sabrina said.

Harry had to agree and managed to catch up to Tom quickly. He followed Tom as he went towards a door off to the side of the corridor and wondered whether the monster was behind the door. Tom pulled out his wand and Harry did the same on instinct, regardless of the fact that this was a memory and, therefore, nothing could harm him here. Tom unlocked the door and opened it to reveal a large boy hovering over a wooden chest telling whatever was in there not to worry.

"Hold it right there, Hagrid!" Tom ordered, aiming his wand at the young Hagrid.

'Hagrid?! That's impossible!' Harry thought incredulously.

The young Hagrid turned, clearly shocked and frightened by Tom's unannounced intrusion. He stood in front of the chest, trying to keep himself between Tom and whatever was in the chest.

"Stand aside, Hagrid. I have to turn you in. I know that you probably didn't intend for it to kill anyone, but...," Tom said.

"No! You don' understand! Aragog never killed no-one! Ever!" Hagrid cried desperately.

"Hagrid, the girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least that this school can do is to make sure that the monster that killed her was destroyed!" Tom said.

"No!" Hagrid pleaded.

"Stand aside, Hagrid!" Tom ordered.

"No! I won' le' you kill him! He didn' do i'!" Hagrid bellowed, more forcefully now at his friend being accused.

"Cistem Aperio!" Tom cried.

The chest was blasted open and a rather large arachnid crawled out and scuttled down the corridor at a rapid pace, clearly fearing for its life.

"Arania Exumai!" Tom bellowed.

Tom fired spells at the spider, but it was too fast and too far away for him to hit it. Tom lowered his wand angrily at failing to hit his target, but his wand didn't remain down for long as Hagrid's cries for his friend filled his ears.

"Aragog, no! Aragog!" Hagrid cried out.

Hagrid tried to chase after his friend, but was halted by Tom's wand at his neck. Hagrid was now panic-stricken and looked like he was going to cry. Harry couldn't believe what was going on. There was no way that this was true.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid. They'll have your wand for this. Lets go to the Headmaster's office," Tom said.

Harry watched as Tom led Hagrid out of the room. As he made Hagrid march forward, he shut the door and, for the briefest of moments, a shadow of a smile appeared on his face before he put the serious look back on and followed behind Hagrid, his wand always pointing at the poor boy's back.

As Harry watched the pair go around the corner, a bright light engulfed him, forcing him to close his eyes due to the brightness. When he was able to open his eyes again, he found himself back on his bed with the diary in his hand as if nothing had happened. He placed the diary on his bedside table, stood up and walked over to the window to think about what he had just seen.

~There's no way that Hagrid or Aragog were responsible for the attack. It certainly explains why Hagrid is not allowed to use magic. Tom was clearly very clever with how he manipulated those fools into believing his word over Hagrid's, regardless of the fact that evidence would show that it wasn't a spider that attacked that poor girl. If it was a spider, then why is no-one dead this time? Why are they only petrified and no marks were ever found on the bodies?~ Harry hissed.

~Not all witches and wizards use logic though, do they? No, I'm afraid that we're on our own again. Perhaps we should talk to Hagrid and find out what he knows. We have to get to the bottom of this soon. Otherwise, he might be accused again and, worse yet, arrested~ Sabrina suggested.

Harry nodded in agreement and went back to his bed. He glared at the diary before placing it inside of his robes. He went downstairs and exited the common room intent on talking to Hagrid. He would have the last piece of the puzzle to solve this mystery and, hopefully, confirm what he suspected. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be going just yet.

"Where are you going, Harry?" asked a voice, almost too innocently.

Harry spun around at the unexpected voice and grabbed his wand ready to defend himself. Even as he saw who was addressing him, his stance didn't falter.

"Ginny..." Harry sighed.

"Where are you going, Harry?" Ginny asked, a hint of anger in her voice this time.

"I'm going to see someone. I have some questions that need answering. I'll be back soon," Harry replied, wary of the change in Ginny's voice.

"But why are you in such a hurry to get these answers? Couldn't even bring your best friend along, could you?" Ginny questioned, spitting out the words 'best friend' as if they were venom.

Harry looked at Ginny. Something wasn't right with her. Then, he saw them. Her eyes. Her eyes weren't their usual bright chocolate-brown colour anymore. They were a dull, misty grey-brown that just seemed...blank. Unconsciously, he brought his free hand over his robes where he had pocketed the diary and he felt the wrongness again. His guard was fully up now.

"Its nothing too serious. Just a simple question about something that I read in a book," Harry answered, not completely lying.

"The same book that's in your robes?" Ginny asked.

A look of shock passed over Harry's face. How did she know where the diary was...unless…?

"Stupefy!" Ginny cried, quickly raising her wand.

"Protego!" Harry responded, shaking himself out of his stupor and blocking the stunner.

Harry was sure of it now. The diary was controlling Ginny. How it could possess someone, he didn't know, but he knew that he needed to get the diary as far away from her as he could. He should've destroyed it as soon as he found it. But no! His curiosity won out. How had he not realised what was happening to her? He had been so caught up in his need to clear his name that he had failed to truly see the change in his best friend. If he was right, and the diary was linked to the Chamber of Secrets opening again, then it must've been possessing her throughout the entire year.

Now Harry realised what was going on after the Polyjuice Potion incident. Ginny was realising what was happening to her. And what had he done? Dismissed her concerns as if they didn't matter! If he had only listened to her properly instead of focusing on the Chamber of Secrets then, perhaps, she would've told him out the diary and they could've destroyed it there and then. He could've prevented her from being possessed. But he didn't. He failed her.

"Impedimenta!" Ginny cried.

Harry just managed to cast another shield charm to block the oncoming spell. This went on for a while, the possessed Ginny firing spells at increasing frequency and intensity and Harry either shielding himself from them or dodging out of the way. Tom had clearly been a powerful and very skilled duellist and Harry just could not match Tom's skill at this point. He tried to cast some disarming spells, stunners and Impediment jinxes of his own, but they were just swatted aside as if they were nothing. Realising that he wasn't going to get very far by being offensive, he decided to just defend himself and find a way to escape to end the conflict. His priority was to get away and destroy the diary once and for all. That was the best that he could do for Ginny at the moment.

As Harry found himself backed up against a wall, he looked to his right and saw that he was at the turn to the next corridor which had a crossroad in the middle. If he made a run for it now, he could possibly lose the possessed Ginny if he chose the right turn. Thinking quickly, he remembered a spell that he had read about in some books for future years and decided to try it out.

"Fumos!" Harry cried.

A blast of smoke came out of Harry's wand, blocking the possessed Ginny's view. Not wasting any time, Harry took off down the corridor and went down the left turn.

"Confringo!" the possessed Ginny yelled.

Harry turned and saw that the smoke cloud had been dissipated and a spell was flying in his direction. Being too slow to stop it, Harry watched as the spell blasted the right wall apart. The impact wave disoriented him and knocked him to the ground as rubble piled on top of him, preventing him from moving. As he tried to regain his bearings, he was too slow to react when he saw the possessed Ginny's wand aimed at him.

"Stupefy!" the possessed Ginny said in triumph.

That was the last word Harry heard before everything went dark and his upper body slumped to the floor. The possessed Ginny reached into his robes and found the diary before walking away with a smirk. Knowing that Harry was now onto him, Tom realised that he needed to perform the final stage of his plan. She was ready now. And the great Harry Potter would be powerless to stop him. He could get rid of him now, but where was the fun in that. After all, he still had a few questions of his own to ask the Boy-Who-Lived. Once he got his answers, then the boy would be disposed of. However, there was one more thing that he needed to do. One last thing to incite the boy further. Yes, their inevitable meeting would certainly be a spectacular one.