Chapter 4: Nott in the Plot

Lucius paced up and down in his study, ignoring the worried looks he was getting from his elf. That Defense against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts was altogether too good at her job. That she had identified the creature and the probable location of its lair at the moment it was revealed was simply unbelievable. Draco insisted in his letter home that Harriet Potter was part of that conversation as well, but Lucius couldn't see how she could have added anything.

But this was bad. Lucius' plan to break up Crouch's relationship with Dumbledore had already run aground with the disastrous collapse of his werewolf legislation. But this could be beyond disastrous! If Dumbledore found the Chamber it would almost certainly lead to certain questions being asked. And if anyone ever found that Diary…

It should have been foolproof. The spirit inside the diary assured Lucius that when it was finished it would take the Weasley girl into the Chamber and seal it behind her. He'd balked at that at first, he didn't really want to kill children. But he had to make sure that no one was going to find the diary! If they found the Chamber then everything might be exposed!

Barty Crouch Jr. entered the study, joined by Theodore Nott Sr. Crouch hadn't exactly been thrilled to let Nott in on his status as a Death Eater, but they had no choice. Morgan Solaire had seen to that.

"Given the urgency with which you called me here, I assume that this has something to do with what happened at Hogwarts," said Nott, his eyes suspicious.

"It does," said Lucius, "We… may have set the events in motion that let Slytherin's monster out. And I might add that it is being controlled by an artifact designed by our lord to do exactly that, control the basilisk."

"You willingly unleashed a basilisk upon Hogwarts?" demanded a furious Nott.

"I didn't know it was a basilisk!" insisted Lucius, "It was a creature. That was all I knew."

"The Diary was rather cagey on that matter," said Crouch Jr., "I guess it didn't want us getting bouts of conscience over unleashing it."

"You wrote to it?" asked Lucius.

"It was left to us by our master, of course I wrote to it!" said Crouch. He sounded very annoyed.

"Can you get the Diary back?" demanded Nott Sr.

"Unlikely," said Crouch, "We'd either have to break into Gryffindor Tower, on the girls side mind you, or we'd have to get someone to steal it for us."

"So why are you coming to me?" asked Nott.

"Because your son could potentially deal with this situation," said Lucius, "If he managed to capture Miss Weasley when she had the Diary on her, he could deal with this once and for all."

"Are you insane?" demanded Nott, "That's incredibly dangerous."

"I agree," said Crouch, "he's bound to get caught."

"Why don't you have Draco do it?" asked Nott.

"Because Ginny Weasley is part of the friend group of Harriet Potter," said Lucius, "Which means she is friends with Hermione Granger. Draco will be expelled if he gets even slightly involved. As long as your son doesn't try to actually harm Miss Weasley, the worst he will get is detention!"

Nott glared at Lucius for a long time. "Fine," he said after a long moment, "But I'm only doing this because it is clear that this would probably finish off our faction in the Wizengamot permanently if word of what you've done were to leak out. But Lucius, you need to stop with these little plots. They may be cute, but in the long run they are doing real damage to our cause."

Nott turned to Crouch Jr. "As for you, it seems you still have a brain in your head. And you still seem loyal to the Dark Lord."

"Always," said Crouch.

"You should reconsider who you are working with," said Nott, "Lucius doesn't need any more encouragement. I, on the other hand, might be able to use your talents."

"I will consider that," said Crouch, his face revealing nothing.

"Bah, I'll go and write to my son now," said Nott Sr, "You better hope he decides to go along, because if he doesn't want to, I won't force him."

Nott Sr. rushed from the room, as if it was on fire.

"Predictable response," said Crouch Jr., "He's not likely to betray me, but his vision is limited."

"Hmmm," said Lucius. He knew better than to respond to this. Nothing he said would impress Crouch.

"I can make sure offers are made to Nott Jr. to sweeten the pot for him," said Crouch.

"What? That's quite dangerous, isn't it?" asked Lucius.

"It won't be able to be traced back to me, don't you worry," said Crouch with a smile, "Let's just say I've found a reliable new ally. I'll make sure he does what he needs to do."

"Very well Barty," said Lucius, "Don't get us caught."

Crouch grinned. "Oh, no worries there."

XXXXX

As Crouch left Malfoy Manor he scowled. That had gone disastrously. He didn't want Nott to stop his lord's revenge. But if rumours were true, Dumbledore was close to finding the Chamber. Crouch needed a mudblood to die, and it needed to happen soon!

He knew exactly what he was going to have Umbridge do.

XXXXX

Dumbledore watched as Morgan Solaire paced frustratedly up and down the 2nd floor girls bathroom. The room was full of Aurors who were taking the room apart bit by bit. The problem was that they weren't finding anything.

"When I said an outside set of eyes, I meant some curse-breakers," said Morgan, not particularly caring about the looks the aurors were giving her, "No offense intended to your Aurors, Madam Bones, but this isn't what they are trained for. I know. I had a lot of learning to do once I shifted from being an auror to being a cursebreaker. Luckily I'd taken all the right subjects at Beauxbatons."

"My people are quite professional," said Amelia Bones, somewhat sniffily.

"I'm not doubting their professionalism or their competence," said Morgan, "Just the specific suitability of Auror training for this task. Aurors aren't trained to wrangle dragons either!"

"Unfortunately, the Board of Governors would not authorize the funds to hire the curse-breakers you want," said Dumbledore. No doubt Lucius Malfoy's influence there. He was clearly up to his neck in this, but Amelia didn't have enough evidence to even warrant an investigation of him.

"Bah," said Morgan angrily. Amelia actually nodded in agreement at that. She wasn't a newcomer at this. She knew what was up, and it frustrated her too.

The only lead they'd had was one sink that had an emblem of a snake on it; Slytherin's sign. But no magical detection had detected anything unusual about the sink. Morgan insisted that Slytherin could have hidden the entrance perfectly, but the sinks had clearly been installed long after Slytherin died. Of course there was precedent at Hogwarts for a Room changing into whatever it needed to be, but as far as Dumbledore could tell, this bathroom was simply a bathroom.

"Honestly I don't see that this is bringing us anywhere," said Dolores Umbridge, the last, and most unwelcome, of the people who were observing the Aurors working, "I say we just arrest Hagrid and be done with it."

"Hagrid did not open the Chamber of Secrets," said Dumbledore, "The evidence against him was circumstantial, and it never fit the actual crime committed. Acromantulas cannot petrify people."

"The Minister himself said that he was not convinced of Hagrid's guilt," said Amelia, "We are not going to arrest him unless we find some real evidence of his guilt."

"And put the potential deaths of these children on your heads?" demanded Umbridge.

"If we lock away the wrong person, some people will inevitably lower their guard," said Morgan, "It would be worse than doing nothing, it would put more people at risk!"

"Hmph well the consequences are on your head," said Umbridge huffily before she stormed out of the room.

"Why is that woman here?" asked Morgan.

"The Minister sent her as his representative," said Amelia, "He doesn't exactly like her, but she's one of the few people who is willing to do his dirty work for him right now. Not that I understand why she's here for this."

"Minister Crouch is probably worried that if we fail to deal with this that I might be sacked," said Dumbledore lightly, "he wants a political operative on scene to make sure he's ready for anything."

"Doesn't he normally look in himself though?" asked Morgan.

"He does," said Amelia, "Apparently Umbridge asked for this job."

"Oh, fun," said Morgan, "She's up to something. I better track her down."

As Morgan left, Amelia gave Dumbledore a wry glance.

"She doesn't miss much, does she?" said Amelia.

"No, she doesn't," said Dumbledore.

"Seems strange to have a competent Defense against the Dark Arts teacher here," said Amelia, "Hell, even Moody might approve of her."

"Strange indeed," said Dumbledore.

XXXXX

Nott was waiting exactly where he had been told to wait by his father. He had no idea why he was here, other than that something from the school needed to be recovered. He didn't like the idea of his getting involved in whatever it was, but it had to be important if his dad asked him for it.

He never saw it coming when Umbridge walked up behind him and said, " Imperio."

XXXXX

Things had calmed down at the school since the Aurors had finally left. They hadn't found anything, which Harriet considered to be unsurprising. Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets hadn't been hidden for a millennia for nothing. Of course things weren't going well on top of that.

First, Dumbledore had tried to seal off the second floor girls loo. It hadn't gone well. The door refused to stay sealed. After less than an hour it always unsealed itself. In Harriet's opinion that was proof that there was something special about that room, but no one was asking her. She supposed it was obvious to Dumbledore as well, he probably just didn't know what to do. The room had officially been listed as out of bounds, and Harriet knew that everyone was giving it a wide berth. And apparently the portraits were keeping an eye on the entrance, so nothing got in or out of the bathroom without Dumbledore's knowledge.

Still, Harriet had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. She didn't in any way believe that this threat was contained. But when would it reveal itself again? And she was also worried about Hermione. If the legends were true, Slytherin's creature would attack muggleborns. Morgan might declare that Slytherin wouldn't do that, but it was clear as day that the last time Slytherin's monster was loose it had attacked only muggleborns.

Hermione had looked into the matter, but so far her research hasn't unlocked anything. She had encountered a reference to the Chamber of Secrets in Helga Hufflepuffs journals, but it had been incredibly cryptic. Hermione did suspect that the final key to finding Ravenclaw's study was in the Chamber. It had probably been given to Slytherin when he was still on good terms with the other founders. Or at least he would have hidden it away.

Harriet sighed. She had a lot on her mind right now. Especially since this weekend she was playing her first Quidditch match of the season. Somehow she had a feeling that it wasn't going to go well for her.

XXXXX

Harriet flew up in a corkscrew maneuver, just barely evading the rogue bludger that had been dogging her for the entire match.

"Are you sure you don't want us flying cover for you?" shouted George Weasley as he flew by.

"If I can't catch the snitch, we'll have to win by taking an over 150 point lead!" snapped Harriet back, "We need you protecting our chasers!"

George gave a resigned sigh and moved back to covering the lone bludger on the chasers.

Harriet had no idea how she was going to stay ahead of the bludger, honestly. Luckily, the Slytherin seeker hadn't improved since last year. Even flying for her life, Harriet was certain she could outfly him. But he could spend all his time looking for the snitch.

Suddenly, Harriet turned in sharply, heading straight for Marcus Flint, who had the Quaffle. She spun around him from the back, and brought herself parallel to him. He stared at her vacantly for a moment. In one moment he realized the truth: Harriet had placed herself so that Marcus was directly between her and the bludger.

Less than a second later the bludger hit him.

The entire non-Slytherin crowd, which was convinced that somehow Slytherin was cheating, cheered.

Harriet didn't have time to celebrate though, she had to dodge away from the bludger again. And her counterpart was suddenly accelerating. Well that was bad. Harriet kicked her broom to top speed and quickly followed the other seekers line of sight. Yep, there it was, the snitch. Unfortunately, the bludger wasn't going to leave her alone. Harriet sighed. She knew what she had to do.

As the bludger soared towards her Harriet suddenly thrust out her arm. With one smooth move her arm swept up, deflecting the bludger upwards. As her arm hit the bludger Harriet heard a snap and felt a spasm of pain. She'd felt worse really.

But the maneuver had bought her the crucial seconds she'd needed. Reaching out with her good arm, she snagged the snitch right from in front of the Slytherin Seeker's nose.

The crowd went wild.

But it wasn't over yet. Harriet was losing flight control because she was essentially steering with her knees. She popped the snitch into a pocket to get at least one hand back on her broom. She didn't dare land; in the air she could at least maneuver, but on the ground she'd be a sitting duck.

Harriet noticed Ron and Hermione running on to the Quidditch pitch. Hermione raised her wand at the bludger and yelled, " Finite Incantatum!"

And her spell missed.

Harriet swore, but then saw Ron raise his wand.

" Finite Incantatum!" he shouted.

Ron didn't miss, but the spell didn't quite work. The bludger slowed, but didn't stop.

But slowing it was enough. Hermione gave it another try, and this time her spell connected. The bludger fell from the sky.

Harriet gingerly landed by her friends.

"Are you all right?" asked Hermione.

Harriet barely had time to nod before Ron broke in. "That was brilliant, Harry! The way you trapped Flint was amazing! And the way you deflected the bludger! The most amazing seeker performance I've ever seen!"

"Oh, it wasn't that good," said Harriet as she noticed Hermione's sceptical glare.

Hermione just shook her head. "Okay, it was a little brilliant..." she admitted. Harriet blushed, just a little bit.

"...but it was also insane!" finished Hermione.

Harriet gave Hermione a long look. "Hermione," she said finally, "I love you girl, but you just don't understand Quidditch."

"A lot of people don't, Harry," said Fred as he landed on one side of Harriet.

"But don't count us among them," said George, who landed on the other side.

"We've come to escort you up to the hospital wing," said Fred, "Wouldn't do to have some angry Slytherin try to ambush you."

"What about Wood?" asked Harriet, "He hasn't come over to talk to me yet…"

"He's busy," said Ron, pointing across the pitch. Wood and Flint were in a full pitched screaming match as they both tried to get Madam Hooch's attention.

"Ah," said Harriet, "Seems like a much more productive use of his time. Let's go!"

XXXXX

"Whatever possessed you to intentionally get hit by a bludger, Miss Potter?" demanded Madam Pomfrey.

"I won the match," said Harriet weakly.

"Oh, of course, you'd have to be one of those, wouldn't you?" demanded the school nurse.

"It was going to hit me anyway," protested Harriet, "I just deflected it!"

"So instead of a clean break, you have multiple breaks in your arm," said Madam Pomfrey, "Did you think about that possibility?"

"Can you fix it?" asked Harriet.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "I'm tempted to just vanish the bone and let you regrow it," she said to a wince from Harriet, "But that would be cruel. I can heal it. But keep it rested tonight. In fact, I think I'll confine you to the Hospital Wing, just to be sure."

"Of course," said Harriet, putting her arm out.

Madam Pomfrey cast a spell on it. Harriet gasped as she felt the bones knit back together. "Thank you Madam Pomfrey. You're the best." Harriet flashed her the most charming smile she could think of.

"Hmmm," said the nurse, her eyes narrowing, "Just get some rest Potter. You'll find that I'm immune to your flattery."

Harriet shook her head and laid down on the bed she'd been sitting on.

XXXXX

It didn't feel like long when Harriet woke up. At first she was confused. Why did something feel wrong? Then it hit her: she wasn't in the dormitory, she was in the Infirmary. There shouldn't be anyone else there, but she surely sensed someone!

She suddenly felt a sharp pain on her scalp. She threw herself up, only to see Dobby standing over her, with several strands of her hair in his grasp.

"Okay, this, this is creepy," she said angrily, "Why are you taking my hair?!"

"Dobby is sorry!" cried the house elf pitifully, "Dobby tried to drive you away, earlier today. Dobby swears he did!"

"Wait, you were behind that bludger?" demanded Harriet, "Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Never kill you!" objected Dobby, "You just need to get far away from Hogwarts!"

"And my hair?" demanded Harriet again, "what is that about?"

"Dobby cannot say, so sorry, but he CANNOT!" practically bawled Dobby, "Dobby has already been caught. Dobby must punish himself for this."

Harriet's heart sank. "Please don't. I don't want to see you hurt! Just stop trying to save me! I can take care of myself. I know about the basilisk."

Dobby gasped. "The creature is a BASILISK? You must flee!"

"Never!" swore Harriet.

Dobby looked despondent, but he shook his head defiantly. "You will understand. Dobby will make you."

And then Dobby apparated away.

"Damn it," said Harriet. The elf had escaped her again.

But why had he taken her hair?

XXXXX

The day after the Quidditch match, Draco made his way upstairs. He was long past having his movement restricted, but he was a bit concerned that one of the more hostile teachers to him, like Professors Solaire or McGonagall, would take offense to his presence. But today he wanted to return a book before class. He needed to do some research on Potions. So far he hadn't managed to displace Hermione as top of the class in potions, but he was close.

On his way up, he saw Harriet. He gave her a vague nod. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. He couldn't blame her. His father was almost certainly up to something, and was probably behind this whole basilisk situation.

Harriet met up with Ron Weasley, and the two of them headed upstairs. That was odd. Maybe Harriet needed to talk with the Headmaster. Draco shrugged and continued on. As he reached the library though, he saw Hermione leaving. She saw him as well. Her eyes went hard as soon as she recognized him.

"C'mon Harriet," she said. Harriet followed her out of the library.

Wait… Harriet had been going the opposite direction! Draco looked back at 'Harriet' and saw that 'she' had drawn her wand. Draco could clearly remember Harriet's wand, pointed directly at his face. That wasn't it.

Draco didn't have to do anything. He could just let what was about to happen, happen. No one would ever be able to prove anything. But something in his head scolded him. Simply staying out of it wasn't the behavior expected of a pureblood. And if this was somehow related to the basilisk...

Draco gasped. Whoever this was, they were trying to kill Hermione. All thought about staying out of this left him. Especially if his father was behind this. This could destroy their family! The new anti-Muggleborn hate laws would give any punishment real teeth. No this had to be stopped, and now.

Draco followed them, trying his best to remain quiet. Suddenly the fake Harriet leveled her wand at Hermione.

"Look out!" shouted Draco.

Hermione dove for the floor, just as fake Harriet's spell was released. It sailed over Hermione's head. Draco sent a stinging hex at fake Harriet driving her back.

"What…" said Hermione, leveling her wand at Draco.

"That isn't Harriet's wand!" shouted Draco, "It's polyjuice potion!"

Hermione saw the wand and gasped, shifting her weapon towards the imposter. " Petrificus Totalus!" she cast, just barely missing.

" Serpensortia!" cast Draco, sending a snake directly at the imposter. The imposter gave a short cry and began to run off.

" Impedimenta!" cast Hermione. The imposter tripped, but they had already reached the next staircase and threw themselves over the bannister with their arms. Draco ran over, but when he reached the staircase there was no one there anymore.

"What is the meaning of this!" came the voice of McGonagall. Draco's heart sank.

"Someone was using Polyjuice Potion to imitate Harriet!" shouted Hermione, "They just tried to attack me! They would have succeeded except for Malfoy here."

"Mister Malfoy?" asked McGonagall, her tone surprised, "That is… unexpected."

"With what was going on, I had to assume that this attack had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said Draco, "Given that, I had to assume their intent was to kill. I'm not going to pretend to be a saint, but I don't want Granger dead."

McGonagall's face softened towards Draco.

"Of course you don't," said McGonagall, "Are you quite all right Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded. Draco swore to himself. Whether he wanted to or not, he had just picked a side in this struggle.

XXXXX

"It was Dobby," said Harriet as soon as Hermione finished her story.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"Dobby stole some of my hair last night," said Harriet, "It was used in the polyjuice potion. I mean, Dobby probably wasn't the person who was polyjuiced, but he was involved."

"One would think that it would have been Malfoy that attacked Hermione then," said Ron.

"Not necessarily," said Harriet, "I have a feeling that Draco is trying to keep a low profile. Lucius might have recruited someone else.

"Very true," said Dumbledore, "I wish we had proof for any of this."

"Why did Malfoy help Hermione though?" wondered Ron.

Harriet sighed. "Because Lucius didn't tell him his plans," she guessed, "I'm willing to bet he knows his father is involved in all this though. But it's possible that Draco is just reformed enough that he recognizes this is a really bad idea."

"I suspect you are correct," said Dumbledore, "Professor Snape has been remarking at the great progress Mr. Malfoy has made. I wish to thank you again Miss Granger, for giving him this chance. It appears to have rewarded you."

"Glad at least something good came of it," said Hermione.

"Furthermore, I am inclined to agree with Draco. I think that now that we have a watch on the entrance, someone wants to bring the muggleborns to the creature rather than have the creature come out."

"That's horrifying!" said Harriet, her voice catching in revulsion.

"I fear our enemy has no regard for human life," said Dumbledore, "We may need to take more precautions."

XXXXX

Lucius stepped out of the fireplace into the home of the Nott family. This most recent development was a disaster, and he had no idea what had caused it.

Lucius quickly looked around as he entered the room. Only Nott Sr, good.

"What was your son doing?" demanded Lucius, "Attacking Granger was the single stupidest thing he could have done! He's lucky he wasn't caught."

"I told him to go after the Weasley girl and to get the diary," said Nott, "I have no idea why he disobeyed me. He had plenty of opportunities to just not take part in this."

"I don't believe he just decided to do this on his own," said Lucius.

Nott breathed in sharply. "You think Crouch Jr. did this?" he asked.

"At this point, what else can I think?" asked Lucius.

Nott nodded, "I agree. I wonder if he has Imperiused my son? If he has…"

"If he has, we can do nothing," said Lucius.

Nott scowled, but didn't disagree.

"We are lucky that Draco recognized he was an imposter, though," admitted Nott, "If he hadn't, and my son had succeeded, he might be looking at a lifetime in Azkaban right now."

"I am very proud of the judgement that Draco used in this situation," said Lucius. "Once this is all over, I will have to tell him how much he has helped us."

"And Crouch?" asked Nott.

"From now on, we're done with him," said Lucius, "He's simply too dangerous."

Nott nodded. Crouch was no longer going to be welcome with any of the former Death Eaters. They'd see to that.

XXXXX

Harriet was now on full alert. Someone was trying to kidnap and kill muggleborns, and that was a very unwelcome development. In the days that had passed since the attack on Hermione, the school had been searched from top to bottom. Nothing had been found of course.

So now, Harriet was on her own quest. She had a suspicion that the key to all of this was Draco. She guessed that he wasn't involved in it, he wouldn't have saved Hermione if he was, but he might have an idea who would go after Hermione.

Talking to Draco was no easier than it had been earlier in the year. Still, Harriet knew his schedule better now, so she had at least some idea when he would be alone in the dungeon.

Still, he didn't take it well when she emerged out of the shadows of the dungeons like a ghost.

"Whaaaa!" he shouted as she stepped forward, "What are you doing here Potter?"

"Thanks for saving Hermione," said Harriet simply.

"You don't need to thank me," said Draco, "I didn't want her getting killed."

"Do you know who ambushed her?" asked Harriet.

"Not a hundred percent," said Draco, "The person had a fairly generic looking wand. Of course, Theodore Nott has a fairly generic looking wand."

"You think it's Nott?" asked Harriet.

Draco shrugged. "Let's just say I'm keeping a close eye on him. I don't think he opened the chamber of secrets though. He was in the Great Hall for the Halloween feast."

Harriet nodded. "Why are you helping me? You do realize that it is almost a certainty that your father is behind it, right?"

Draco scoffed. "Oh, of course it has to be my father," he said sarcastically, "But let's say that is the case, theoretically. It's still in my interest to make sure that no mudbloods get killed in that case. This is a bad plan. Whoever set it in motion, it is clearly going very wrong. And whoever did set it in motion is in real danger of getting caught. And if someone dies…"

"I get it," said Harriet. And it did make sense. Draco wasn't trying to save lives, so much as prevent his father from being charged with murder.

Draco seemed to be considering something. "Snape warned me about this. I should have listened to him. Too many Death Eaters are so obsessed with restoring how things were under the Dark Lord. They lose perspective. That was a war. This isn't. The rules are different."

"Maybe," said Harriet. She didn't want to think what would happen if Voldemort came again. She certainly didn't think the Death Eaters had ever been justified.

Without another word, Harriet turned and walked away.

XXXXX

Draco was pretty perturbed by his encounter with Harriet. Something about it didn't sit right with him. He shook his head. It was all pointless to speculate. Time would show what was going on. Draco headed towards the Slytherin common room when he heard voices. Instinctively, he hid in the nearby shadows, the same shadows that Harriet had just left.

He saw Nott, along with Crabbe and Goyle. They were clearly trying to avoid attention. Draco snarled silently. The defection of his former friends to Nott had been predictable, but he had no intention of forgiving it. But Draco's curiosity was now at war with his caution. And curiosity won out. Draco quietly followed them. It wasn't hard, Crabbe and Goyle were hardly quiet.

Draco followed them to the area around the kitchens. This part of the dungeons was more populated, given its proximity to Hufflepuff house. Nott and his goons took the side stairs up to the ground floor. Made sense. It gave easy access to the greenhouses, but little else. It was probably safe to use them at this time of day, as the Hufflepuffs were the only people who used them, and only to go to Herbology. But no Hufflepuff year had Herbology right now. They didn't take the exit on the ground floor however. They continued up, to the old battlements. That was odd.

When he got to the top of the stairs, Draco suddenly understood. On the far end of the battlements he saw Colin Creevey, a Gryffindor first year and a mudblood, taking pictures of the forest. And that was when he realized that this was a trap. Nott had lured Colin out here.

Sure enough, in moments Nott had Colin subdued and restrained. Malfoy hid himself in a dark alcove in the stairwell. He had a very good idea about what was about to happen. Now he had to figure out what to do about it.

XXXXX

Harriet was on her way to Gryffindor tower when she ran across McGonagall and Morgan. She silently cursed. How would she explain why she was coming out of the dungeons at this time?

Luckily, Morgan and McGonagall were deep in conversation.

"I still don't know why people think it was Hagrid," said Morgan, "He clearly can't be the one who opened the Chamber."

"He was accused by a very prominent student at the time," said McGonagall, "A prefect by the name of Tom Riddle. He went on to become Head Boy. Albus mentioned it once."

Harriet's brain started screaming at her. Tom Riddle. Why was the name familiar? Oh, bloody hell, Ginny! Maybe it wasn't connected though.

"Tom Riddle?" said Morgan with a laugh, "I've heard that name before."

"How could you?" said McGonagall, "He hasn't been seen since the 50's."

Morgan shook her head. "No, that isn't true. He just changed his name. To Voldemort. Don't you see? HE opened the Chamber."

Tom Riddle was Voldemort. Ginny was talking to Voldemort in her diary.

"PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL!" shouted Harriet.

Morgan and McGonagall turned to Harriet, both of them quite surprised that she was there.

"Ginny Weasley is opening the chamber of secrets. She is in possession of a Diary that was owned by one Tom Riddle," she said, as calmly as she could, "But I think that it is possessing her."

McGonagall and Morgan looked at Harriet in horror.

Author's Note:

One thing that was important to me as I developed this story was that the first few stages of Draco's reformation had to be intrinsically selfish. You don't go from the level of entitlement he had to a reformed character overnight. His first attempts to do the right thing are motivated by fear (though he does feel guilty as well). Other than that, there isn't a lot to say about this chapter.