Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029 and Gazaran, who beta this story.
Chapter Forty-Three
Tom Riddle's Diary
Harry, Hermione and Ron all tried to think of anything that would connect Mr. Malfoy to someone else that was at Hogwarts but they couldn't come up with anything useful. Ron was still convinced it had something to do with the Slytherins, and even mentioned Snape a few times, but Hermione shot that down. She said that they did not have enough reason to blame anyone more than the others, so it was pointless to just point their figure at the Slytherins.
Harry told Remus and Sirius about what he had found out, without telling them exactly what means they used to found it out, though he could tell that they both had questions about this. He had a feeling that over this coming up summer break they were going to questioned him more in depth. However, as for right now, they let it go. They told him the names of all of the Death Eaters that had escaped Azkaban because they pleaded enchantment and had enough money to buy their way out. Harry realized that several of these Death Eaters' kids were at Hogwarts, including Theodore Nott, who Harry still was not sure of. Still, he was starting to think that he wasn't going to figure anything out in this line of investigation.
That was why, when Hermione asked him what she should do with the two or three doses of the Polyjuice Potion that was left, he just smirked at her. He did not think it was wise for them to try and interrogate anyone again, but he could think of a few people that would find the potion useful.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Hermione said in disgust. "I will not give them that potion!"
"Come on, Hermione," Harry pleaded. "I'm sure they could think of something good to do with it …"
"Good … don't you mean something dangerous … horrible …" Hermione growled.
"Hilarious … wonderful," Ron laughed. "I think it's brilliant idea!"
"That's out of the question!" Hermione huffed. "I didn't make this potion so it could be used in some kind of prank!"
"Hermione, everyone could do with a bit of laughter," Harry said. "With the way the castle is … it might make things better."
Hermione grimaced at him.
"I'll make them promise not to do anything too bad," Harry added.
"Please Hermione," Ron added his pleading to the mix.
"Argh …" Hermione huffed. "It better not get out that I had anything to do with this."
"Thanks Hermione!" Harry beamed and hugged her as Ron smirked.
O
It was a week after everyone came back from Christmas holidays that the twins put the potion to use, though they didn't use it quiet like Harry thought they would. In fact, they didn't use it at all. They had Ginny and Neville use the draft, causing the two of them to turn into Fred and George respectively. Harry quickly realized that they did this so they would have an alibi for whenever their prank went off, knowing that McGonagall would have suspected them first.
The twins didn't tell anyone what they had planned, but Harry knew immediately that today was the day because when he said hello to who he thought was Fred, the other 'boy' blushed and could not look at him. Not waiting to draw attention to this, Harry made sure not to look in that direction again knowing that it was actually Ginny. He was rather surprised when he noticed that Ginny was easily able to imitate her brother's confident nature to all of the twins' friends. Neville had a little more trouble, but he tried his hardest to follow Ginny's lead.
Of course, neither of them had to worry about this long, because there was a huge commotion caused merely moments after Harry had arrived.
It started at the Slytherin table,of course. All the food that was on the table started to float in the air before it flung itself at the person that was closest to it. The Hufflepuffs all back away from their table when their food started to move too, but instead of flying at them, it just started to dance the conga down the table until it fell off the edge closest to the professors. The Ravenclaws did not know what to think when their food started moving. Anyone that backed away from the table was pelted by food, meaning that there were only a few Ravenclaws that remained clean. Luna, who had not moved initially, laughed so hard that she leaned backwards a little too far and was hit by the pancakes she was eating, which only made her laugh harder. The Gryffindor food started moving on it is own too, seeming to be attacking people at random. And it didn't not stop at just going after Gryffindors, the food seemed to have been made into Bludgers, and just keep flying around the room until they hit something solid.
By the time the last piece of food flew across the room, hitting Montugue, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, in the face, the room was filled with laughter.
"That is enough!" McGonagall shouted when she noticed that people were making a move to grab food and throw it manually. She started walking towards the Gryffindor table. "Breakfast is over. Be assured we will find out those who are responsible for this! Now get to your classes!"
Everyone got up to go, but McGonagall put her hands on Ginny and Neville's shudders and Harry was tempted to try to stay but he didn't not know how to do that.
"Explain yourself!" McGonagall demanded of them.
"You think we did this!" Ginny as Fred said, trying to look exasperated.
McGonagall didn't look pleased by this response.
"We were sitting here the whole time," Neville as George said, he was covered in jam and syrup.
"You know we couldn't possibly have pulled this off without waving our wands," Ginny added, using the same way of talking as Fred and George used.
"Exactly, this was excellent charms work," Neville said with a grimace. "And I know why you would immediately think of us …"
"But we didn't have time to pull this off," Ginny huffed. "Trust me; we're just as upset about this prank as you are …"
"We should be the ones that have done this!" "Neville" added.
"But at last, we are mere vitamins just like the rest of the school," "Ginny" finished shaking her head.
McGonagall did not say anything, she knew that something was not right here, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The truth was, she had been keeping her eyes on the twins the whole time and they did not do anything. She couldn't not get rid of the feeling that they were behind this, but she didn't not have any proof.
"Very well, you may go," she was force to say and Fred and George (or at least to her they were Fred and George) left the room.
O
"Did she figure it out?" Hermione asked when Neville and Ginny met them in the hidden passageway that the trio noticed the twins were waiting in. Harry took his cloak back from Fred (who he had lent it to help pull off this prank) as soon as they got there and waited for the others to arrive.
"No," Ginny said. "Merlin I've never been that terrified in my life."
"McGonagall isn't that scary," Fred rolled his eyes.
"At least Mum is a lot worse than her," George added.
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly used to getting in this much trouble with Mum, now am I?" Ginny said. "I am her baby after all …" she added rolling her eyes.
"Well, if she knew how good you are at acting she wouldn't think of you as such a baby anymore," Neville chuckled. "Ginny you were brilliant."
"You weren't so bad yourself, Nev," Ginny laughed, she looked a lot better than she had in a long time.
"Well, I think we should all be pleased with our hard work, and for the first prank that we pulled together," Fred chuckled. "Some obviously playing more of a roll than others, but still everyone one of us had something to do."
"Yes, yes, it was brilliant, but we really do need to get back to our classes before someone realized that we're not where we're supposed to be," Hermione said and everyone laughed.
O
Everyone was talking about the flying food incident for a few days after that and Harry was happy that there was a small distraction to the gloomy mood that had been in the castle this year. However, everything went back to dreadful a few days later, as people started to remember the attacks again. Harry noticed that Ginny in particular seemed to be stepping back into her aversion stage and every time that he tried to talk to her, she would manage to get away from him.
It was two weeks after that that Harry noticed something odd going on in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, there was water coming from the door.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, with Ron and Harry standing behind her, she then looked around and noticed that Myrtle wasn't there. She seemed to have blocked all the sinks with something causing them to overflow and then she must have left to go sulk somewhere else.
"What's that?" Harry said looking at the black book that was on the floor near Myrtle's favorite toilet.
"It's a book," Hermione said in her 'isn't that obvious' voice.
"Don't pick it up!" Ron said as Harry was about to touch it.
"It's a book," Hermione repeated.
"I know that, but as hard as it might be for you to believe, books can be dangerous," Ron huffed.
"Dangerous?" Hermione scoffed.
"Yes, dangerous!" Ron hissed. "Dad told me about this book; once you start reading it you can never put it down … you just have to go through the rest of your life reading it. Then there was the book that burned your eyes out … and one that makes you only speak in limericks …"
"Are there really books like that?" Hermione asked slightly unnerved.
"According to Dad there are," Ron said. "I don't think any of those books would be at Hogwarts … at least not the ones in the library, but you don't know where this one came from."
"Someone was obviously trying to get rid of this," Harry said thoughtfully, looking at the book. "I think I'm going to have to risk picking it up …"
"Don't …" Ron tried to warn again but Harry didn't listen this time and picked it up.
"It's a diary?" Harry said making it sound like a questioned. "I guess it belonged to T.M Riddle, whoever that is …" he said flipping it over and seeing the name.
"Hang on, that name sounds familiar," Ron said and Hermione nodded her head.
"I think I've heard of it too."
"That's right, T. M. Riddle won an award for special service to the school fifty years ago," Ron said.
"Really?" Hermione said.
"Yeah, I remember having to clean that trophy a lot when I got detention for cursing Malfoy," Ron said smirking at the memory of Draco belching up slugs.
"Are you sure it was fifty years ago?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, pretty sure," Ron said.
"We should check it out," Hermione said and they all left to go to the trophy room and they found the award that Ron hand mentioned along with his name listed on a few other trophies.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Harry asked his friends as he looked at the book in his hand.
"Er …" Ron said looking confused.
"That Riddle had something to do with the capture of whoever it was that was opening the Chamber fifty years ago," Hermione said. "That would be the reason he got the award right …"
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Harry said frowning.
"Then why don't you look so happy about this?" Ron asked.
"Well, first of all, the diary is blank, so it's not really going to be useful," Harry said, but that wasn't his only reason to be glum. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like he was missing something. "Hermione, do you remember where you heard the name?"
Hermione frowned, but shook her head.
O
Harry carried the new found diary around with him everywhere he went, knowing somehow that it was important but not sure how. He wanted to believe that it could be useful to him, that somehow it would help explain what happened fifty years ago, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had heard the name Riddle somewhere before. Then there was the strange feeling he got when he was carrying the diary around because it felt so familiar to him. He would often open it and flip through the blank pages expecting something more to be there.
It was not until he had brought the matter up with Neville almost a week later that he got any answers to his question. They were in the hidden corridor they liked to hang out in, this time they were not planning anything dangerous, just playing wizarding chess where no one else could bother them. Harry seemed to still be suspected of being the Heir and everyone would stare at him wherever he went.
"I didn't realize that you had a diary," Neville said as Ron and Hermione played chess and he and Harry watched.
"That's not mine," Harry said and then explained how he got the diary and whom it once belongs to.
"T.M. Riddle," Neville muttered looking at the initials that were on the book.
"It sounded familiar to Hermione and me but we don't remember where we seen the name before," Harry said. "However, Ron told us that he received an award for Special Service fifty years ago …"
"Tom Riddle," Neville gasped. "That was the guy that was in Quirrell's office the day that he … well you know … the stone was almost stolen."
"What?" the trio said at the same time.
"Oh my God, you're right!" Hermione gasped too now. "I can't believe I didn't remember that."
"Well, you didn't stare at the name quite as long as I did," Neville shrugged. "We only had one map at that time and Harry give it to me … I must have stared at the name for almost an hour before I had to get ready to go."
"And he was with Quirrell the whole time?" Harry asked narrowing his eyes.
"Every time I looked he was," Neville answered.
"What are you thinking, Harry?" Ron asked his friend.
"I don't know," Harry frowned. "I just have an odd feeling about this."
"Maybe this Tom Riddle bloke knew that Quirrell was up to something," Ron supplied.
"Maybe," Hermione said looking thoughtful. "However, it's unlikely that T.M Riddle and Tom Riddle are the same person if the diary is fifty years odd. I mean there is no Professor Riddle here. However, it is just as likely that they are related somehow … maybe Tom Riddle was trying to follow in his ancestor's footsteps."
"I don't know about any of that," Harry frowned. "Either way, it would probably be good to talk to this Riddle bloke …"
"Good idea," Hermione nodded her head as Harry took out his map and said the password to unlock it. "He's probably the one that had the diary before."
"Tom Riddle," Harry said to the map and waited for a dot to appear, but even after a minute of waiting nothing happened. "I don't get it. He's not here."
"Are you sure the map is working?" Ron frowned.
Harry rolled his eyes, but humored Ron's questioned anyway. He asked for Fred and George and saw that their dots were in the Gryffindor common room.
"Why wouldn't Riddle show on the map?" Neville questioned.
"Well, there are a few explanations," Harry said. "He could have found one of the passageways and left the school. Or he could have graduated last year."
"But how did his, or his family's, diary get here?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Harry said. "We're not even sure if T.M. Riddle has anything to do with Tom Riddle."
"But you think they're connected," Hermione observed as she looked at Harry's face.
"Yes," Harry agreed, and he couldn't really explain why he felt this way, he just did.
"Well, just keep an eye on the map for a little while to see if Tom Riddle shows up on it," Ron advised. "It would be so much easier if we could just write to him though, like we write to the others through the map."
"He doesn't …" Hermione started to say.
"Ron! That's it!" Harry exclaimed and his three friends looked at him oddly. "I can write to him."
"What are you talking about, Harry?" Hermione questioned.
"The diary … I bet it's just like our maps are!" Harry explained as he picked up the diary and got out a quill. He then wrote 'Hello, I'm Harry Potter.'
The ink started to sink into the book for a few seconds after Harry had stop writing and then a message started to come out of it.
Hello Harry Potter, I am Tom Riddle.
"So he is Tom Riddle," Ron gasped.
"The Tom Riddle we saw on the map last year was probably just names after this person or something," Hermione said logically. "Harry, asked about the Chamber."
Harry rolled his eyes at her (obviously he was going to ask about the Chamber) as he wrote his question.
I was wondering if you knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets.
Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, which it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who had opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned.
Harry's heart started to beat fast at finally getting some answer to his questions.
"Ask who did it last time!" Ron exclaimed and Harry wrote down the question. Riddles answer came back quickly.
I can show you, if you like, you do not have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him.
"Harry … I don't think that's such a good idea," Hermione said immediately.
"But I want to know," Harry said. "And memories can't be forged … at least according to Remus they can't."
"What does he mean by show you?" Hermione asked, still feeling nervous.
"Er … I'm not really sure," Harry said putting his quill to the paper writing 'Okay' before saying. "I guess we'll see …"
The words were barely out of his mouth before Harry seemed to be sucked into the book.
"BLOODY HELL!" Ron exclaimed as Hermione and Neville shouted, "HARRY!"
"Where did he go?" Hermione asked, looking from one friend to the other.
"Don't look at us … you're the bloody genius here," Ron said, still in shock.
"I've never heard of something like this … you're the one that seems to know all these weird facts about books," Hermione huffed back at him.
"Stop it," Neville hissed at the two of them. "We've got to figure out what to do about Harry?"
"I don't think there's anything we can do," Ron said miserably.
"Hopeful he's just seeing the incident like Riddle said he was showing," Hermione said in the same tone as Ron. Neville sighed, realizing the other two had been arguing a second ago as way to make themselves relax but now there was nothing any of them could do but wait, and hope that Harry was back soon.
None of them would have called it soon, but Harry did come back eventually. His expression was sickened as he fell out of the book and was now sitting on the floor.
"Harry!" all three of his friends said in the same relieved tone and Hermione hugged him.
"It was Hagrid," Harry said.
"What?" they all exclaimed.
"Hagrid was the one that Riddle caught," Harry repeated with a frown.
"There is no way that Hagrid would open the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione said shaking her head. "Not then and especially not now."
"I can't believe he would be the one opening it now either …" Harry agreed but he was looking wary all the same.
"But you think that he opened it before?" Neville said shaking his head.
"What would Hagrid do if he heard about a monster that was inside the castle?" Harry asked and the others all frowned.
"He would probably want to free it," Ron groaned, thinking about Norbert and Fluffy.
"Harry, you have to tell us everything you saw," Hermione demanded and Harry told her everything.
"I still can't believe that Hagrid would open the Chamber … and someone died …" Neville said shaking his head.
"I can't believe it either … but I know that memories don't lie," Harry said. "And this was definitely not altered … this happened."
"We should talk to Hagrid about this," Hermione said. "He's the only one that can answer our questions now."
Harry definitely did not want to talk to Hagrid about this, but Hermione was right, he was the only one that they could go to for answers. "Fine … but can we wait until after my game on Saturday …"
"Whatever," Hermione said, but she would allow the two-day delay.
A/N: First of all, the part in bold was taken directly from the book and the other thing I wanted to mention is that the scene where Harry watches Riddle capture Hagrid happened the same way in this as it happened in the book.
