Three hours later, Leo sat alone in the Slytherin common room, trying to think and not let the weight of despair cloud his thoughts.
He'd messed up. It was all his fault, and he'd failed. Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, because he had tried to be subtle instead of doing the sensible thing and telling a teacher everything.
And now Ginny was going to die because of his actions, and what was (almost) worse, Hogwarts was going to close. And without Hogwarts there would be no education, no learning, just stuck with the Malfoys forever. And worst of all – no Marisa. Because of his own stupid actions, he was never going to see her again.
He had to think. There had to be something, anything, that he could do to stop this from happening.
Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber of Secrets. She had some information, relating to the diary or one of her classmates. The writing on the wall read "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever".
Something didn't add up, he was sure of it… and then it hit him. When you had a monster that could kill with one glance, why would you need to take the victim into the Chamber itself?
It was a trap. It had to be a trap – the Heir was trying to lure someone into the Chamber… but no-one knew the entrance, and the teachers wouldn't be reckless enough to go down there – oh.
Potter. The Heir was trying to kill Potter. It was so obvious, once he thought about it. The victims – Creevey had been annoying Potter, there had been the incident with Finch-Fletchley at the Duelling Club, Granger was his friend, and now Ginny was his best friend's sister.
Someone had to stop him from going into the Chamber. "Tracey," said Leo, "can you lend me a mirror?"
"Uh – sure," said Tracey. "I won't ask why."
"Good," replied Leo.
Tracey hurried upstairs and returned a moment later with a small hand-mirror.
"Thanks," said Leo. He took it from her, stood up and began walking towards the exit of the common room.
"Where are you going?"
He kept walking.
"Come back! We're not supposed to go!"
He was gone before he could hear any more of her protests, not that they would have made any difference.