Hermione stayed in the Hospital Wing until the second week of February, which Maribella thought was great, because that meant she'd have company during one of her monthly stays at the infirmary; although Maribella would never admit it, for fear of sounding unsympathetic, or worse, needy and lonely. It was unlucky for Maribella, however, that it was on the very night of the February full moon that Hermione was released from Madam Pomfrey's care, de-whiskered, tail-less, and fur-free.

Compared to the holidays, January and February were uneventful. Harry and Ron had found some diary in Myrtle's bathroom, which for some reason they considered to be of tremendous importance to the Chamber of Secrets case. However, both boys refused to let Maribella or Hermione examine it once they expressed how risky it was to mess with unknown books: there were ones that could burn your eyes out just with a look, others that screamed you insane, and, of course, there were Lockhart's joke of a book. That was a point brought up by Hermione (except the bit about Lockhart, Maribella's only contribution). Maribella mostly supported Hermione because she felt sorry for everything that had happened with the Polyjuice Potion. Then, when she privately tried to take it back, the boys still refused to let her see the notebook. But, oh, well. Maribella was sure no diary would be useful in helping them solve the case.

Inside the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful. There had been no other attacks for a few months, and Maribella was wondering if the monster had gone away for another fifty years. People were starting to be friendlier towards Harry, and Neville even asked him to borrow a tubeworm in Potions once. To top all that, Professor Sprout's Mandrakes already had acne and were on their way to developing newer leaves.

All in all, Maribella was feeling pretty good when she was discharged from the Hospital Wing after the February full moon, on the 13th. She immediately made her way up to her dorm, wanting to take a shower and get some rest. Her good mood was most definitely ruined, however, when she arrived.

Over the past year, Maribella noticed Hermione was getting increasingly closer to the other girls in the dorm, bonding over their mutual love of Lockhart. This was something that woke an unpleasant sentiment in Maribella. It wasn't that Maribella was jealous or insecure, no, she just… didn't approve of the idolization of Gilderoy Lockhart. Of course. That evening, she walked in on Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione giggling together. The three of them were sitting on Lavender's bed, parchments out and scribbling furiously. Spread out on the bed, they had several ribbons, beads, and sequins. Maribella approached warily.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Tomorrow's Valentines Day!" Lavender exclaimed excitedly. "We're writing Professor Lockhart cards."

"Lockhart?" Maribella looked at Hermione.

Hermione blushed.

"He's done some remarkable work. We just thought he deserved some recognition," she explained, not meeting Maribella's eyes.

"Have you seen his classroom? He gets enough recognition from himself."

"All those portraits," Lavender sighed dreamily. "Oh, if I looked that good I would do the same thing," she laughed. "No wonder he's a five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award."

"You could join us, Maribella." Parvati offered.

"I'd rather send Snape a Valentine," Maribella said, walking towards her bed and laying down.

"Oh, Mari," Hermione said. "You could just write someone else."

"Who would I write to?" Maribella asked, eyes already closed. "Ron? Harry?"

It turned out Harry didn't need Maribella to write to him, because the next morning they found out somebody already had. After enduring a morning filled with pink hearts, lurid pink flowers, pink heart-shaped confetti, and, even worse, Lockhart in bright pink robes, the quartet got accosted by a dwarf after their Charms lesson. The dwarves had been hired by Lockhart as card-carrying cupids, who'd been delivering messages all around the castle.

"Oi, you!" shouted a wing-wearing dwarf as they moved in the crowded hallway. "'Arry Potter!" Being so small was working in the dwarf's favor, as he practically flew with his golden wings to get to where they were.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," he said, twanging the harp he carried in a threatening sort of manner.

"You actually sent Harry a Valentine?" Hermione whispered to Maribella, looking quite shocked.

"Of course not!" Maribella asserted defensively. "It wasn't me!"

"Not here!" Harry hissed desperately, but it was too late. He'd be receiving a singing telegram in front of their entire class, plus a line of Gryffindor first-years. But the dwarf had already grabbed a hold of Harry's bag and pulled his bag. The two scuffled for a short time before Harry's bag ripped open, and all his books spilled on the floor, with an ink bottle drenching everything.

As Harry scrambled to get his stuff together, the dwarf cleared his throat and recited:

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard.

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord"

As the hall exploded in laughter, Maribella heard somebody snigger in her ear, and turned to find Malfoy standing nearby. She pursed her lips in distaste.

"What?" Malfoy asked, still smirking. "Have you got a crush on Potter, Piccinni? Was this your doing?"

"No," she snapped. Why did everyone assume she was the one who sent him the Valentine?

"Piss off, Malfoy," Ron said.

"You believe me, don't you, Ron?" Maribella asked.

"'Course, it just doesn't make sense. Besides...," Ron pointed towards a small girl in the first-year line, hiding her flaming face behind her flaming hair.

Ginny?

Well, Maribella thought, her mood souring considerably. Maybe she really ought to have sent Harry something, to show Ginny a thing or two. Her card certainly was not going to humiliate him in front of others like that. Honestly, did Ginny not know the boy? It really was unfortunate for Harry that Maribella was a self-proclaimed Valentine hater.

"Now, what's this-" Malfoy said, bending down and snatching up something by her feet.

But at that point, Maribella was no longer willing to listen or care. When Percy arrived to disperse the scene, she was more than happy to stalk ahead of her friends to Charms, sitting with Ron at the back of the class. He was having trouble with his wand again, and large purple bubbles blossomed from its tip.

That night in the Common Room, Fred and George were singing an acapella version of, 'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad'. Needless to say, Maribella went to bed very early.

The next morning, she found out she wasn't the only one who had had a bad night. The four gathered in the Common Room early, before anyone else was up. Harry brought to them awful news: he had been communicating with his diary and it had told him it was Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago.

Maribella and Hermione were both skeptical of it all, because diaries were notoriously non-sentient beings. Even magical ones had to be charmed with very advanced magic to be able to communicate back. And of course, if it blamed Hagrid, it clearly was a, at best, mischievous, and at worst, a nefarious diary. But Harry was stubbornly convinced.

"Will you finally let us take a look at it, then, before we start believing its accusations?" Hermione demanded.

Harry brought out a familiar black-covered notebook that Maribella immediately recognized.

"Wait- Harry, that's not yours-"

"I know it's not," Harry interrupted. "It's Tom Riddle's, he's the one who-"

"What? No! That's Ginny's. I mean it was mine first, I guess, but I passed it on to her, because it's such an useless book."

"It's not useless, Mari," Harry said, looking quite offended.

"Why did Ginny just chuck it, then?" Ron asked, frowning his face and focusing his gaze on the stairs that led up to the girls' dormitories, as if straining to go up there and see if his sister was alright.

"Well, I dunno," Maribella said with a shrug. "I talked to her the other day, and she didn't seem all that pleased with the diary. I guess she got frustrated because all the words just disappear once you write on it, though I did warn her…" Maribella trailed off, losing her line of thought for a bit. "Anyway," she shook her head lightly, "I suggested she flushed it down Myrtle's toilet."

"Here, let me take a look," Hermione said, taking it from Harry. She flipped through the pages.

"Don't bother, Hermione," Maribella said. "It's all blank."

"How d'you talk to this Tom Riddle, Harry?" Hermione asked, taking out her wand and muttering a revealing spell, but nothing showed up.

"There's no Tom Riddle, Hermione!" Maribella said. "Ginny had that thing for months and she didn't mention anything."

"You said you had it first, and Tom didn't talk with you either," Harry pointed out.

"I never tried to, though. I barely wrote in it." Maribella replied.

"Maybe Ginny didn't either, then." Harry concluded, with raised eyebrows. "Maybe Tom Riddle knows we're," he waved his hands around, motioning the four of them," now in a similar position he was fifty years ago, trying to find the culprit, and is helping us specifically," he said, leaning forward. "He showed me his memories, Mari, I saw it with my own eyes."

"And he's blaming Hagrid?"

"He's coming from somewhere- he caught Hagrid in the act," Harry said, sounding as miserable as Maribella felt.

"No," she said, sinking back into her armchair. "Hagrid… Hagrid would never." She said decisively.

"We all know how he is with his creatures, Mari," Ron said, giving her a sympathetic look.

"I've a liking for creatures as well, but you don't see me setting them off on anyone, do you, Ron?" Maribella snapped.

"Have you forgotten about Norbert? Or Fluffy?" Ron shot back. "If Hagrid heard there was a monster hidden in the castle, do you have any doubt he'd have gone lengths to see it? And possibly set it free?"

Maribella was silent. She could very clearly picture Hagrid scavenging the halls and passageways for whatever Slytherin's monster was, trying to fit in a leash over its head, and accidentally letting it do the atrocity it did.

"I just know Hagrid didn't know what the monster was capable of until it was too late," Harry voiced out her thoughts.

"I don't see how it's possible Hagrid could be Slytherin's heir, though," Maribella said weakly.

"You'll find that very easy to prove," Hermione, who had been quiet ever since they had started arguing, croaked with slight hesitation. "Slytherin lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, Hagrid could be his descendant."

Maribella shook her head in disbelief, looking down at her hands. Her eyes filled with tears.

"I can prove it to you," Harry said, opening up the book on a random page. He took a quill out, dripped it in ink and wrote: Hello, Tom Riddle. The words disappeared, replaced with, a few seconds later, Hello, Harry Potter. Maribella gasped, standing up brusquely.

"No," she heaved.

But she couldn't deny it anymore. Tom Riddle existed, and if Harry wasn't lying about that, why would he be lying about Riddle's memories?

"But," Harry continued, closing the book with a snap. "I'm just as certain Hagrid didn't mean to harm anyone."

Maribella's legs were shaking, and she slowly took a seat again. She swallowed her tears, she said, "Harry, tell us again what the diary showed you."

A.N.: Tough, busy, chapter, huh? We have a lot happening here; from teenage jealousy to another step of the mystery uncovered- even though we all know what'll happen at the end, I hope you're still enjoying following Maribella's journey through the discoveries.

This was an early update, because as mentioned in the last chapter, I'll probably not be able to update again in at least three weeks. This is, I guess, a little 'treat' for you guys. Thank you for being here and reading my story :)

Thank you also to my beta reader, who has outdone themselves and finished editing all the way to the last chapter!

And, lastly, let me know your thoughts on the chapter! What are you excited for in the coming updates?

~MJP