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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters...

Marvolo confiscated the journal. He had no other choice. Now that he knew it was in someone else's hands-a child's hands at that-a Weasley even more, he couldn't just leave it be.

But the Weasley girl couldn't possibly have been able to get it from the Malfoy vault on her own. In fact, other than he himself, who was the exception, only a Malfoy could have entered that vault. Not even Narcissa or Severus, Lucius' soulmates, could enter. So how had she obtained it?

When he asked her, she, nervously, told him it had been with all the other books her parents had bought for her from Diagon Alley. Well that was all fine and well, but where had her parents gotten it from, then? They couldn't have entered the vault any more than their children.

Lucius had had no idea, and Marvolo hadn't done it himself. Narcissa and Severus were unable to enter that particular vault, which left only one option...

Marvolo watched impassively as a rather frightened looking Draco entered his office. If, other than Marvolo, only a direct Malfoy could have entered Abaraxas' old vault, and Lucius hadn't done anything, then his son Draco was the only person left who could have.

"You...you wanted to-to talk to me? Um, sir?"

"Indeed." Marvolo regarded the boy closely. "Did your father take you to your grandfather's vault at Gringotts over the summer?"

Draco blinked, then nodded slowly. "He did, yes, sir. Father wanted something from there-I don't know what."

"Did you touch anything when you were in there?"

"I-I didn't take anything!"

Marvolo raised a brow. "I said 'touch', not 'take', Draco." He watched, satisfied, as the boy paled and his eyes widened. He had at least one answer now. "You took a book from there, didn't you? A small, blank book with a name printed across the front."

Draco hesitated, no doubt wondering whether it would be better to admit it, or deny it. Admitting it was probably going to get him into trouble, but denying it might get him into even more trouble. Finally, he nodded again, his entire body tense.

"What did you do with this book?"

"I..wrote in it, and someone inside...wrote back to me. They said their name was Tom, and when I told him my name, he said he knew my grandfather. He said I should give the book-the journal, to someone weaker, who would be able to-to-"

"I see," said Marvolo, interrupting. His younger self, embedded within the diary had no doubt seen the connection between Abaraxas, who had been in his own year at Hogwarts, and Draco. And seeing Draco as more of a potential ally, he had asked for the boy to pass the diary along to someone more easily manipulated, so that they may do his bidding, so to speak. Of course, all that meant was that Draco had been fairly easily manipulated himself. "Who did you give the journal to?"

Draco looked away. "...Weasley," he muttered. "The girl. Father and I bumped into the Weasleys at the bookshop at Diagon, and she was carrying a cauldron filled with her new textbooks. So I slipped it in there when no one was looking."

And there was the next answer he had been looking for. Draco had stolen the journal when his father had taken him to the vault on an errand of his own. Draco had spoken to Tom, who had successfully talked him into passing the journal on to another. And then Draco had sneaked the journal into the Weasley girl's belongings. Then she had, no doubt, begun writing in it, confessing her secrets to Tom, who had used her energy to grow stronger and eventually had enough power to possess the girl. Possessed by Tom, she had then been able to open the Chamber of Secrets and call for the basilisk. And then Granger had just so happened to encounter the basilisk, had caught the reflection of its eyes, and ended up petrified.

"Draco, do you realize the severity of your actions?"

Chagrined, the boy nodded his head. "Yes, sir. You-you'll be telling mother and father and Uncle Severus, won't you?"

"Indeed I will. Not only did you steal something that did not belong to you, you put a great many people in danger. Ginny Weasley herself could have very well lost her life. If she had-if anyone had died because of this, you would have ended up expelled at the least, and imprisoned at the most. Your parents will see to you. You are dismissed."

"Y-yes, sir. I-I'm sorry." Saying nothing more, Draco hurried out of the room, relieved Marvolo hadn't done anything to him himself. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he had once been, but he was still not exactly the nicest person.

Once the door had fallen shut, Marvolo set his elbows on his desk, propping his head in his hands, and stared at the journal sitting innocently on the smooth wood.

Now that Weasley was no longer in possession of the journal, she would soon grow healthy again, so that wasn't an issue anymore. The basilisk wouldn't be able to leave the Chamber either, so there would be no fear for more attacks either. It seemed there were only two Parselmouths in the castle after all. Just him and Violet.

But even then, he was beginning to realize that it was too dangerous to leave this journal anywhere. This had been his own fault for leaving it where it had been, but he found that he couldn't trust to leave it in Gringotts either. If anyone else happened to get their hands on it...his younger self would have little trouble in doing the same as he had to Weasley, to this new person.

Maybe there were places he could hide it where no one could ever get their hands on it, but...perhaps it would be better if he just...destroyed it. It was his last remaining horcrux though.

No, he could always create one more, then destroy the journal. That would still leave him with one horcrux, ensuring he remained immortal, and since it would be created before the destruction of the journal, it would contain only a small part of his soul, whereas the journal contained half of it. Doing it this way would leave him with more of a soul than if he just left the journal intact. He even had the perfect item in mind.

A new horcrux with a smaller soul piece, while still able to influence another, wouldn't be powerful enough to do as the journal had. So even if someone somehow got their hands on it, they wouldn't have to worry about anything like this happening again.

He could even keep the new one on his own person without it coming across as odd. He was Slytherin's descendent, after all. Wearing his ancestor's locket would hardly be considered strange or suspicious.

He would turn the locket into a new horcrux, and then destroy his old journal. Yes, that was what he would do. He could not risk death. Never.

That's it for now. I've already started writing the next chapter, but I can't say when it might be finished. I don't have any doctor's appointments for a couple of weeks (hopefully), so I should be able to get some writing done (hopefully). Anyway, looking forward to reviews! Laterz!