Chapter 12
Over the next few weeks, not much really happened. Diana kept having this dream about the third floor corridor. She would go through the trapdoor while the dog was asleep, do a potion combination, play wizard's chess, and fly over to a flying key to get to a room with a mirror.
In this room, she saw the outline of a person, but she always woke up before she could see who it was. She told Draco about it, and he seemed to take it very seriously. He said that he had been having the same dream; only he was just watching her. He hadn't really gone through everything.
Diana wondered if he was just making this up. He had never lied to her before, though. She trusted him, and trusting wasn't something she did much of. When she told Fred and George about it, they asked if he had seen a six hundred-year-old man while she was there. She didn't understand why they asked that. She asked, but they just snickered. Fred told her to ask Harry Potter. Diana did not want to ask Harry Potter. She asked him again, and he insisted that she ask Harry.
One day, before Transfiguration, Draco ran up to Diana and told her,
"Potter's got a dragon."
"Is it six hundred years old?" asked Diana.
"No...it's hatching soon!" Draco said with a victorious sound in his voice.
"You sound so happy," Diana observed.
"Dragon breeding is illegal," said Draco, smirking.
"I see. You're going to tell a professor, aren't you?" asked Diana.
"I think I'll see it for myself first," said Draco, his smirk growing wider.
After lessons that day, which were full of Draco talking about the dragon. That night, he dragged Diana over to some bushes near Hagrid's hut. They waited there for a while. Diana saw McGonagall and told Draco to run. She ran into the forest to hide. Apparently, he didn't hear her, because Diana saw McGonagall take Draco by the ear and scold him for prowling around at night. Diana snuck back to the castle. She was much better at sneaking around than Draco was. She had done much of it in her lifetime, and not even you caught her.
Diana went back to the Slytherin common room, where Blaise asked where she had been all this time. She told her that Draco thought Harry had a dragon or something. She would suspect Hagrid of keeping dangerous animals, but Harry keeping them wouldn't make much sense. Draco just wanted to get Harry into trouble.
Diana was sure Draco would be about as satisfied with getting Hagrid into trouble, especially since Hagrid wasn't a pureblood. It was obvious that Hagrid was part giant, unless he had swallowed a bottle of Skelegro when he was younger or something like that. That must have been it: Skelegro. Professor Dumbledore would never allow a dragon on the grounds.
The next morning, Diana found out that Gryffindor was now in last place, and Slytherin was in first. Draco was having a detention in the Forbidden Forest. He tried not to act frightened, but Diana could tell the poor lad was absolutely terrified. She wished there was something she could say to comfort him. She had only been to the forest once, and that was with Fred and George. She hadn't been in trouble.
She had never been in trouble before, even at Hogwarts. She was never thick enough to get caught. For some reason, sneaking around gave Diana a lot of adrenaline. She enjoyed sneaking around so much that she decided to go to the forest tonight. Draco didn't know, of course. She didn't tell anyone. She just told Blaise she had work to do as an excuse not to be in the common room.
So, that night, Diana went to the Forbidden Forest before Draco's detention, mostly so she could find a good hiding spot. She looked around for quite awhile before she was fortunate enough to have found a very shady spot between a few trees and a small patch of bushes. She saw a unicorn or two pass by. Neither of them acknowledged her. There was a centaur who looked at her very skeptically, but it didn't say anything.
It just looked at her for a few minutes with a gaze that provoked caution. She looked back at it, trying to be stern, though a bit fearful. After what seemed like hours, Diana saw Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Draco Malfoy come into the forest for their detention.
None of them looked quite ready to be in the Forbidden Forest. Draco looked especially afraid. He talked about working in the forest being servant's work. Diana couldn't help but smile. The fear in his eyes made him look almost innocent, and that was unusual for him.
She wanted to go tell him not to be scared, because embarrassment and fear at the same time would make Draco the cutest little thing. Diana blinked. She was starting to feel a bit sadistic. Draco and Harry separated from the rest of the group with Fang, Hagrid's dog. Diana followed them throughout the trees until Harry saw something that caused him to grasp the scar on his forehead.
Diana got the feeling this wasn't something she wanted to see, and Draco ran away when he saw the thing. Diana tried to follow Draco through the trees, but he ran too fast. Diana caught up with him around Hagrid. Hagrid ran over to the place where him and Harry were a minute ago. Harry was still there, and there was a centaur in front of him. Centaurs weren't usually very friendly to humans, but this one, Firenze, didn't seem to have a problem with young Harry Potter.
She looked back and saw a cloaked figure drinking unicorn blood. She looked at the thing, having this urge to go up and hug it. It floated up to her and asked,
"Is that you, Diana?"
"Y-yes," said Diana, a bit frightened, "Who are you?"
"I am Lord Voldemort," said the thing.
"You cannot even address yourself as my father?" Diana asked, a bit offended.
"That, I am," said Lord Voldemort.
"Well, well, so my father's a stubborn one," said Diana.
"And my daughter is, well, my daughter," said Lord Voldemort.
"So, now that Potter's at Hogwarts, you decide to come back in this disguise?"
"None of my Death Eaters have come back to help me. I'm what's been hidden under Quirrell's turban. Did you never wonder?"
"I wondered all along what he was hiding. So odd to think that it was you."
"Indeed, it was I. So, long time no see."
"Yes. Very long time. I barely knew you when you left."
"I did not leave. I was forced into hiding. Besides, you had that diary."
"Of course, but people change with time."
"The Weasleys must have taught you alot."
"May I ask why I was left in the forest as an infant for them to find me?"
"That was the work of Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater who was supposed to raise you."
"Draco's father?!"
"Yes, Draco's father. I see you and that boy have become good friends."
"Yes, we have. I never thought it would be his father who would abandon me."
"Let us hope his son turns out better than he did. You should be going now."
"Yes. Well, bye."
"It was nice talking to you."
"I wish I could say the same."
With that, Diana left the forest. She was still absorbing what her father had just told her. She did not go to the Slytherin common room, even though Draco was probably there waiting for her. Actually, Draco's being there to wait for her was likely a big part of the reason she didn't go. Now was the time Diana wanted to see Draco the least of all. He had just endured a detention in the forbidden forest.
If Diana told Draco about his father, that probably would have made it worse for him. Diana would hate to make her friend hurt more than he had to, so she went to a bathroom to think. The bathroom was flooded, and Diana remembered hearing about a ghost that stayed there. It was completely empty, so Diana stood against the wall and thought.
She heard a high-pitched whine coming from one of the stalls. So much for silent thinking. Sure enough, a girl with black hair and pearly glasses with old Hogwarts robes floated over to her. This girl was semitransparent, assuring Diana that she was a ghost. The girl looked at Diana for a minute. She didn't say or do anything. She just looked at her. Diana looked back at this girl. She wondered if the girl would say something. She didn't, so Diana went back to thinking, trying to ignore the ghost in front of her.
The ghost, however, asked her,
"What are you doing here?"
"Me? Oh, I just came here to think. Sorry, I thought no one was here," Diana said quickly.
"What is your name?" the ghostly girl asked.
"Diana. What is yours?"
"Myrtle. They call me Moaning Myrtle, though. They think it's funny."
"They have nicknames for every ghost, it seems."
"I know, but Moaning Myrtle. Who would want that nickname?"
"It's better than the Fat Friar."
"I don't think I would want to be Nearly-Headless Nick, either."
"So, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing important."
"Well, well. Defiant, are we?"
"Not really. I'm just not thinking of anything involving you at this point in time."
"You remind me of someone."
"Who might that be?"
"His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle."