Chapter 23: Suspicions

Weeks flew by again. Term started up once again and Snape had given us so much homework that even I found it close to impossible to get it and our other homework done in time for our classes and for Harry and I to go to Quidditch practice. Oliver was working us harder than ever and was one of the few people outside our clique who knew it wasn't Harry and I who'd downed the people in the hospital wing.

Some doubted that it had been me Petrifying all those people, but most were near-positive it was Harry who'd done it. I was getting more and more furious to see people skirting in the halls to get out of his way. They didn't so this much to me, but none would talk to me with the exception of Fredrickson, Draco, and Susan from any of the other Houses and the most Fredrickson ever did was give a little wave and a short and to-the-point "Hi, Angel."

Harry, Ron, and I were walking down to the library one afternoon in particular and came across a huge flood in front of the girls' bathroom. I hear Moaning Myrtle's great sobs and levitated over the puddle to see what was going on.

"Hey, Myrtle, what's happening?" I asked as I floated into the bathroom.

"What are you doing here? Want to throw something at me too?" she squawled.

"Naw, just wanted to know why you're crying, Myrtle," I told her gently. "Is that what they through at ya?" I pointed to a small, black book under the sink in the bathroom. She nodded on choking sob and dove into the toilet, spraying me a little before I heard her cries coming out of the U-bend. I rolled my eyes just a little as I gingerly picked the tiny book up and floated back out of the bathroom.
"Someone threw this at Myrtle," I informed the boys, "And I want to know who, because whomever it is, she's the one we're looking for." Harry and Ron stared at the bound diary in shock, not truly comprehending what was going on but following my drift slightly (literally, I'm still up in the air!).

"We might as well keep it," Harry said, wonderingly as he flipped through the bewitched diary as though expecting to find anything. He looked at the words on the front page, T.M. Riddle and looked up at me shrewdly.

"This was Voldemort's diary when he was a kid here, wasn't it?" he whispered fiercely.
"You got it, boyo," I told him. "But keep it. We'll need it later on to prove whoever had it innocent." Harry pocketed it and we continued on our way down the hall.

***

I had expected that since the fiasco of the Dueling Club, Lockhart would've given up by now. But no, when February the fourteenth came around, I was horrified to find that he had decorated the Great Hall out of his own tastes, which I found quite appalling.

Trunks, you should see what this man did to the Great Hall! I yelled in my head. I explained to him, in detail, what it was.

And there it remained. Lurid pink flowers were dazzling off the walls and tiny, red, white, and pink heart-shaped confetti was falling from the bewitched ceiling of the Great Hall. Lockhart himself was dressed in pink robes that matched the flowers. He stood up a few moments after breakfast had appeared.

"Happy Valentines Day!" he shouted over the crowd. I blocked out the majority of his speech, him thanking those forty-five who had sent him a Valentine already and that he had arranged the "surprise" for us. I was not interested in the surly-looking cupids that walked in through the doors and appeared there to give out Valentines all over the school.

"I've always hated Valentines Day," I grumbled as I began to eat again. I was having less and less sleep with that stupid nightmare repeating itself in my head. But without Trunks or a group of the others with me when I sleep, it would haunt me until it happened or I went insane. I figured the latter would probably come around faster than the former.

The day dragged on. The small cupids were running around the school left and right, interrupting classes and annoying the teachers. I didn't expect a Valentine, but poor Harry got two of them and both were singing.

One was in the middle of the hallway with nearly everyone around. The cupid forced Harry to stay and then sang his Valentine, leaving behind a very red-faced Harry and a couple of giggling guys.

The second was in Professor McGonagall's class. The entire Griffindor second years knew that Harry had received a Valentine and all were laughing hysterically at it.

"Oh, leave him alone, Draco," I told the blond boy, "It's not his fault he's got two girls after his heart." I winked at Harry, whose face turned bright red.
"Yeah, and you've already got a boyfriend," Harry shot back. My face turned red as well and Susan and Hermione got a good laugh staring between the two of us. Jupiter, on the other hand, remained stony-faced, with her pretty face drawn up in a scowl.

"Oh, what's wrong, Jupiter?" I asked her. "Something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong, it's just this crazy thing that...Lockhart's doing!" She seemed to be in a rush to say the words and her eyes kept darting around as if trying to see someone coming up to give her a singing Valentine as well.

However, when the next class began (Snape's, of all people), it was I who got a singing Valentine. My face went maroon and brick in some places as the cupid began to sing.

My sweet little Angel

How can I ever express my love for you?

You're shiny raven hair and black eyes

Can you ever say that you love me too?

The cupid left me, my face even redder than before. Harry tried to console me while the others laughed.

"At least whoever wrote you yours knows how to write poetry," he whispered as Snape tried, in vain, to refocus our attention on our potion.

***

That night, Harry came over to my room and held up Tom Riddle's diary.

"Something dodgy about this diary," he pointed out, "All my other books are pretty much covered in red ink, but this one's clean as the day he'd bought it."

"You wanna know the secret of this diary, Harry?" I asked him with a knowing smile.

"Shoot," he said, sitting down.

"Give me my quill and some ink and I'll show you," I smirked as he did as he was told and sat down on the edge of my bed with them. I opened the diary to the first page and dropped a bit of ink on the page. Harry watched as it disappeared without a trace.

"Hello. My name is Angel Galis. And this is Harry Potter." I wrote in the book. It too vanished, but it was replaced with words that neither Harry or I wrote.

"Hello, Angel Galis, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come across my diary?" Harry looked at me in absolute shock.

"We found it in a girl's bathroom." I wrote back.

"Good thing I chose to write my memories in a more lasting way than ink." Tom Riddle wrote back.

"Harry, I think we'd better be careful about what we tell this guy. This is Voldemort, if you can't recall," I warned him.

"Yeah." He nodded, looking at the diary.

"We gotta jet, Tom Riddle, somebody's coming," I wrote to the boy.

"Jet?" He wrote back.

"It means to 'leave quickly'," I said, laughing a little.

"Oh. Okay, then I'll see you two later, then?"

"Probably," I answered, then I closed the diary. Jupiter came in seconds later and I wondered what she would have done if we had gone any further in our conversation with Tom Riddle. She was closely followed by Ginny, Hermione, and Susan, who had been granted access to the Griffindor Tower as of late.

"Whatcha doing, Angel?" Ginny asked as she sat down next to Harry.

"We were just talking," I sighed a little. "About Tom and Trunks and stuff."

"Oh, okay," she smiled at me, showing her pearly white teeth and the way her hair sort of lit up every time she smiled.

"We'd better get to sleep if we want to get up early," Hermione warned us.

"Yeah, we need to get to our classes tomorrow on time," Jupiter put in, "I don't want to be late again cause some stupid cupid decides to give me a..." She blushed and her voice trailed off.

"Someone gave you a Valentine?" I asked with a sly smirk. "Do you know who?"

"No, I don't," she sighed, "Wish I did, it was a nice one." She got this far away look in her eyes as if she were daydreaming, which she probably was, then sighed deeply.

"Well, good night," she said, standing up. She walked out of the room, her robes swinging around the corner as she left.

"We'd better go, too," Harry said, standing up. The others stood and left while he picked up the ink and quill and set it on the table again. When I turned to pick up the diary, it was gone.

"Harry, did you take Riddle's diary?" I asked, lifting my pillow.

"No, why?" he replied.

"It's not here," I stated with a panic-stricken look upon my face. "Oh, no...that means that one of our friends has Riddle's diary!"

"Great," he muttered sarcastically. "I'll see you in the morning, Angel, I'm gonna go to bed. This day hasn't been the best." He tromped off, closing the portrait to the lovebird's nest on his way out.

***

Time passed quickly despite our ever-growing load of homework and Quidditch practice. Trunks was still Petrified up in the hospital wing, but his mind was still quite there as he talked to me every now and then. I taught him all the things we were learning in our classes through our bond, and Hermione taught Tom. All of us were quite intrigued by our unique ability to speak with our closest friends through our minds, all except I, of course.

Easter holidays finally came around and it gave me the chance to choose my subjects for next year. I scrolled down the list, looking at the options and weighing my decisions carefully.

"Well, I certainly don't want Arithmancy," I said, crossing that off my list that I'd copied to another sheet of paper. "I want Care of Magical Creatures, definitely. Divination..." I smirked evilly as I thought about what had happened in this crazy little class and made my decision. "Definitely. Muggle Studies...hmm." I thought about it a while. Who knew more about the Muggles than I? But from the wizarding point of view, everything I'd ever used in life was as interesting as I had been about their world when I'd first picked up the first Harry Potter novel.

"Nah." I shook my head. I wanted to give up Divination around the time Hermione did, but I didn't want to push myself like her.

"How about the Magical Creatures course?" Ron asked as he sat down next to me. "Are you taking it?"

"Yes, of course," I told him with a smile. "It'll be the best one, I'm sure of it!" He took my word for it and signed up for it himself.

But there was a class on the list that I'd never heard of before. Even Hermione steered clear of it.

"What's this one?" I asked, holding it up so Hermione could see. "Corp. of Wizards?"

"It's not a very popular class," Hermione said. "It's where you learn to be a good fighting wizard or witch."
"Really, now?" I asked, surveying it. Hey, Trunks, you wanna learn to be a fighting wizard? I asked him with a furtive grin.

Sure, why not? Can't do much to us, you know. He answered.

"I'm going to sign Trunks and me up for it," I said, marking my choices on the list I'd been given and then Trunks' on the one McGonagall had given me for him.

***

The next day was warm and bright, but time was hurried in the Great Hall for those of us on the Griffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams. Today was our match and none could be late. I ate as much as I could without hindering myself before walking. Jupiter and Ginny were both absent and I wondered about this for a while. We were just coming out of the Great Hall when it happened.

"Let me rip....let me tear...let me kill..."

Harry and I leaped in the air in fright and the others stared at us.

"It's that voice again!" I hissed.

"I think I figured something out!" Hermione raced down the corridor before we could stop her.

"I'm going with her," Susan said and raced off. Draco followed soon afterwards, leaving only Harry, Ron, and I to get to the game.

I raced out onto the field and took off with a loud whoop for some warm-ups. I landed just as Professor McGonagall came onto the field, brandishing a purple megaphone.

"This game has been cancelled!" She yelled into it. "All students are to make their way toward their House common rooms immediately. You will be briefed by your House leaders over the situation. As quickly as you can, please!" She lowered it as people sped past her, some worried, some angry, some just plain clueless.

"Angel, Potter," She said to us, "I think you two'd better come with me." I followed her, a sense of foreboding in my stomach as Ron followed us. It wasn't any big surprise to me that she said, "Yes, Weasley, I think you'd better come along as well."

I moaned in my head at Trunks.

The others are up there with you, aren't they? I asked, my "voice" full of dread.
I can't see, Angel. But I think so, I can feel them. He answered back, confirming my worst fears.

"I think that we just lost a bunch of friends," I muttered to Harry under my breath. He nodded grimly as we made our way to the hospital wing. I gasped as I saw everyone there, everyone, including Ginny.

"So it wasn't her this time," I muttered to myself. I rubbed my eyes a little and thought a little. "Or maybe it was and she accidentally looked in the reflection."

"Reflection?" Professor McGonagall inquired. "You know something about this, don't you?" Her voice was accusing, as were her eyes. I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know some of it, but we can't do a thing about it until we find out who has got Riddle's diary," I moaned and put my face in my hands. "This world is crazy. Everything, well, most of it, is going by those darned books!"

"I need to address the students in any case," she said heavily. "Come along, you three will need to hear this as well."

***

When Professor McGonagall finished telling us that we couldn't leave the common room for anything without being accompanied by a large group, she sighed and posted the parchment onto the board. She climbed rather awkwardly out the portrait hole and the common room exploded in talk.

"Angel!" came a breathless shout. "Angel!" I heard a loud crash as someone moved nearer to me. Jupiter looked at me, her breath gone. "Angel, what's going on?! I had to finish up some homework up in my room and suddenly everyone's in here talking about a new round of attacks!"

"Oh, that's where you were," I said, "Yeah, we've had a LOT of attacks today. Ginny, Draco, Hermione, Susan...oi. Everything is all screwy."

"I'll say," Ron put in, rolling his eyes.

"That's a lot of people who've gotten downed," Lee Jordan said. "But has anyone noticed that the Slytherins are safe?"

"Draco was a Slytherin," I pointed out heatedly.

"Yeah, but you guys have done some kind of turnabout on that kid," Lee Jordan pointed out, "But have any of you noticed that this is almost all pointed at us Griffindors?"

"True," I growled, "But have you also noticed that this is all pointing toward us in particular? It's Dirken!"
"But you said this happened in those books too, Angel," Jupiter added.

"Yeah, and it was all pointed toward the Slytherins then too," I said, rather sadly as she pointed out the sad truth. "Well, it is actually not pointed toward anyone in particular except me. Did you notice that one of the people downed was my boyfriend? And Tom?"
"Yeah, and Tom used to be Voldemort," Ron said. "It's all to you and Harry, Angel, nobody in particular, right." I growled but nodded at this.

"Come on," I said finally. "Everyone go to bed, we've got a long few weeks ahead of us." The entire House nodded in near-unison (a very scary sight indeed) and went up to their own dormitories. I held Harry and Ron back until the very end and led them into my room.

"Here, you two," I told them as I threw my Invisibility Cloak over us. "We're going to pay a little visit to Hagrid's." They looked close to shock but did as they were told. I did a little bit of my Instant Transmission and landed outside Hagrid's hut.

"Jeez, Angel!" Harry hissed shrilly. "I completely forgot you could do that!"

"Quiet!" I whispered. He shut up. I knocked quietly on Hagrid's door as I threw the cloak over my shoulder, making half of my body disappear beneath it.

I was greeted not in a friendly manner, but with a crossbow directly between my eyes.

"You think that's gonna hurt me?" I asked jokingly. "What's the crossbow for, Hagrid?" I pushed the tip away from Harry and Ron, who had both jumped in surprise.

"Protection," he answered. "Come on in, you three." He seemed quite nervous about something.

"Did you hear about the others?" I asked as I sat at the table.

"Yeah," he answered, dropping the teapot in his haste to get the hot water into cups. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Trunks."

"That's okay, Hagrid," I smiled up at him. "I know it wasn't you, nor is Aragog the monster everyone's worried about." Ron and Harry stared at me as though I was nuts.

"H-How do you know about Aragog?" Hagrid stuttered.

"Duh, Hagrid, just like I knew everything else. It's in the book, silly," I gave him a brash smile. "And I know you're innocent. I just hope I can keep Mr. Fudge from taking you to Azkaban."

A loud knock interrupted us. I threw my cloak over Harry and Ron.

"Stand in the corner," I whispered to them, "Don't make yourself be known. Dumbledore knows that I can take care of myself, but he won't take kindly to the two of you." They nodded, the air sort of rippling as they backed into a corner.

Hagrid opened the door and there stood Dumbledore and a gray-haired man I knew to be Cornelius Fudge. I nearly laughed at his strange assortment of clothing, including a lime-green bowler cap tucked under his arm, a scarlet tie, and pin-stripped suit.

"Good evening, Hagrid," Dumbledore said as he entered. "Angel, what a surprise." He smiled at me and I nodded back.

"Is this famous Angel Galis?" Fudge asked, staring at me.

"Indeed I am, Minister," I answered coolly, "And I know quite well what you are doing here. I make it known here and now that it was not Hagrid. That spider from fifty years ago ain't to blame."
"Then what is it, Angel?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"I-I, um...if I tell you, you have to promise that Hagrid gets to stay here," I growled at Fudge.

"You have my promise," Fudge said, relief in his voice.

"It's a basilisk, Professor. It's in the pipes. Harry and me are Parselmouths, we can hear him," I explained, "And the person who commands him holds also a diary belonging to Tom Riddle. He is manipulating whomever it is without their consent or knowledge."
"Well, that certainly clears up a great deal," Fudge chirped.

"I know where the Chamber of Secrets is located, but it does none of us any good until we find a message under the first. It read 'her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever' in the book, but with a new person controlling it, I dunno what it will read," I smirked a little. "At least it wasn't Ginny again, heh."

"Ginny?" The Minister asked shrilly. "Not Ginny Weasley, now?"

"Yes, sir," I shrugged, "But it wasn't her this time either. I don't know who it could be, though, it could be anyone in the Griffindor Tower at this point, with the exception of the three of us."

Oops.
"The three of you?" Dumbledore inquired raptly. "I see only one. Where are your companions?"
"Harry, Ron, come on out," I said, sighing. "I brought them down here with my IT, using Hagrid's ki signature. They weren't in danger."

"Well, I had best go inform the governors," Fudge said cheerfully. "Um...one question. In this book, how much longer would we have until this happens?"

"Tomorrow night," I answered. "That's when it happens. And I'd bet my bottom dollar it will. I can depend on Dirken that much."

***