Surprisingly enough, there was not another attack at Hogwarts for about a month. It was almost possible to forget everything that had happened, with the exception of the empty places where Cornelius and Nathan usually sat. We were all assured that they were going to be okay once the mandrakes which were supposed to cure them had matured.
It was late evening in May and Catherine and I were headed back to the common room after visiting Nathan's petrified body in the hospital wing. As we strolled through the halls chatting aimlessly, the voice of Professor Dippet was broadcasted over the school. "All students must return to their common rooms immediately- this includes prefects and Head Boy and Girl. Return to your common rooms immediately."
Struck with fear, Catherine and I hurried as quickly as we could to the Ravenclaw common room. The room was buzzing when we entered and everyone was dying to know what had happened, searching the room to make sure their friends were all there safely.
After a few minutes our head of house, Professor Blake, arrived. She cleared her throat and the entire room was plunged into silence. Finally she said, "I regret to inform you that a terrible tragedy has occurred. One of our students here at Hogwarts has passed away in a freak accident."
The whispering started up again. "Freak accident!" exclaimed one boy. "I bet it had to do with the Chamber of Secrets."
"There is no such thing as the Chamber of Secrets," said Professor Blake evenly.
"Who died?" asked a young girl.
Professor Blake sighed. "A young 2nd year girl in Hufflepuff named Myrtle."
A few of the younger kids looked upset, but none of the older kids knew her so we were left only with a sick feeling in our stomachs.
"There will be some new, extremely strict rules," continued Professor Blake. "Everyone must be in the common room by six o'clock PM every night. There will be no wandering the halls, and all students will be escorted to their classes by a teacher. Anyone caught breaking these rules will be punished severely."
oooooooooooooooooooooo
The next day at Hogwarts was extremely different. There was hardly any talking in the hallways and everyone was terrified. Many students had already been pulled out of Hogwarts by their parents. I felt sick all the time and could barely pay attention in class anymore. I hardly ever got to see Garrett, since the houses had been sticking together for safety.
We were being escorted from Defense Against the Dark Arts to Herbology when I discovered I had dropped my wand. Looking around quickly I did not see it at all and with a sinking feeling realized I must have dropped it awhile back. I couldn't survive at Hogwarts without my wand, so I was going to have to try and retrace my steps to find it. I was scared to death to be on my own, but I snuck off anyway.
With great relief I found it by a statue of a witch and bent down to pick it up. When I rose again I was face to face with Tom Riddle.
"Phoebe." He paused after saying my name and I stared up at him, speechless. "Get out of here. Now." His eyes were cold and I could tell he was very serious. I felt as if I was going to pass out just from looking into his eyes, so I backed off without a word.
I was headed back to Herbology when I saw two teachers headed towards me. Knowing I was not supposed to be out alone I quickly darted behind a curtain as they passed me.
"Terrible things," I heard one say. "Even the headmaster doesn't know what's behind it."
The other teacher sighed. "It'll only be a matter of days until they close Hogwarts. It can't remain open much longer with students dying."
Their footsteps faded into the distance and I slowly emerged from behind the curtain. I then made a split decision that was completely uncharacteristic of me. Instead of heading out to the greenhouses I sprinted off in the direction Tom had gone in, determined to see what he was up to. If Hogwarts was closing anyway, it wouldn't matter if I was caught. What would they do, expel me? And I wasn't too worried about being attacked, because I am a pure blood and Slytherin wanted to get rid of Muggleborns.
I actually succeeded in catching up with Tom, and saw that he was headed down to the dungeons. I watched him enter a room and slam the door behind him. I quickly pressed my ear against the door. I was in the middle of this now and I was too curious not to find out what was going on.
"Evening, Rubeus," I heard Tom say sharply.
"What yer doing down here, Tom?"
"It's all over," replied Tom. "I'm going to have to turn you in."
I gasped. Rubeus Hagrid, a 3rd year that was half giant, had been behind the attacks. And Tom was going to bring him down. I didn't know much about Rubeus- only that he had giant blood in him. That had been enough for me to steer clear of him, though.
"I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets."
"It never killed no one!" said Hagrid, his voice getting louder.
"Come on, Rubeus. The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered…"
"It wasn't him!" roared the younger boy, and his voice echoed around him. "He wouldn'! He never!"
"Stand aside," said Tom.
Before I could comprehend what was going on, the door flew open and a saw a bright flash of light. I had been crouched down right in front of the door and it hit me square in the forehead, knocking me to the ground. I blacked out for what must have been quite a few minutes.
When I awoke again Rubeus was gone and the door was shut. Tom Riddle was standing over me.
He just stared down at me and said quietly, "I thought I told you to get out of here."
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A/N: I made all that stuff up about Myrtle being a 2nd year Hufflepuff- I couldn't find any concrete information, but if someone knows something let me know so I can change it.
Another thing that I noticed is that the HPLexicon says the Chamber of Secrets was opened in Voldemort's 6th year, but I was rereading the second book and the diary says directly that it was in his 5th year. Either way, for the purposes of this story it is his 6th year.
Also, I borrowed some of the dialogue between Hagrid and Tom directly from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Oh yes, and Happy New Year everyone!