Madam Pince left the library, her arms full of books when she gasped, dropping them at the scene in front of her: two more petrified victims, with a sickly and tear-stained Brooklyn kneeling down near them, gripping Hermione's hand tightly. She shakily pulled herself together, and put a hand on the gargoyle's shoulder, who jumped, looking up at her with a saddened look.
"What happened?" she gasped.
"I d-don't know. I found them like this!" Brooklyn said in a shaky voice. Pince felt pity and pulled gently on Brooklyn's arm.
"Come, they'll be taken to the hospital wing, it'll be—." But Brooklyn pulled away.
"Let go of me! I can't-leave them...!" He cried, his voice at first shouting but then going quiet.
"Please, Brooklyn, it'll be okay, they'll be safe," she said gently, taking his arm again. Looking once more down at Hermione, he nodded, and Pince guided the troubled gargoyle to the hospital wing for some calming draughts from Pomfrey, for he looked like he needed some.
McGonagall had cancelled the Quidditch Match and brought Harry and Ron with her to the wing.
They both saw Hermione for themselves, where Brooklyn once again sat with her after having his medicine, holding her hand. This had gone too far. Gripping Hermione's hand tightly, Brooklyn made a big vow.
Hermione, you will be avenged. I am going to fulfill my duty of being a Guardian by getting rid of Riddle for good this time, I promise!
After that, Brooklyn got up and left for the common room, not even looking back at his friends, who were watching him in confusion.
...
McGonagall then had an announcement in the common room that evening, with a list of lockdown rules where nobody was allowed to roam anywhere without a teacher. And if they didn't catch the Heir of Slytherin by then, they would be forced to close the school.
Brooklyn himself found a secluded spot in a chair away from the thickest part of the crowd, looking around the room, seeing everyone looking scared and frightened. He spotted Percy, face pale and shocked, staring at nothing in particular.
Hermione's petrified form kept coming into his head, making him growl softly, scratching the armrest of his chair.
I swear, Tom Riddle, I swear, you will go down!
Ginny saw Brooklyn with a lonely, frustrated, and sad look on his face. Sighing softly, she stood up and went to check on him, sitting next to Brooklyn.
"That Ravenclaw Prefect you found Brooklyn, Penelope Clearwater; Percy likes her. I actually walked in on them kissing one time!" She told him in a gentle voice, ending with a small giggle, attempting to cheer him up. This only made Brooklyn feel worse, his head throbbing again. She watched him with worry. "Brooklyn, have you been okay? You really haven't been looking like yourself these days. And I've hardly seen you with Harry, too."
I'm in more trouble than you know, Ginny, Brooklyn thought miserably, turning his head, and smiling sadly, tears beginning to come, as he struggled to retain himself from breaking down in front of Ron's little sister.
"Haven't been feeling well, stress headaches, that's all," he muttered, wrapping his wings around his shoulders, hoping for some comfort from it.
What happened next surprised him, Ginny's eyes filled with tears, and she gave Brooklyn a hug. His heart started to feel a little warm again, accepting her hug, even wrapping her in his wings gently. Despite all he had been going through, some of his friends still cared about his wellbeing. Brooklyn was glad that, even though he didn't have a mate of his own, he had been able to make friends with the most compassionate humans he ever met.
After they broke apart, Ginny tugged on his hand. "Come on, Brooklyn, you need to be with your brother. He's right there."
Brooklyn stood, following, and coming to his decision; he was going to tell Harry what was going on, even if it meant losing his trust as a brother, wanting to make up for all this.
Ginny then left him with them. Brooklyn felt somewhat nervous, watching Harry.
"Harry, I-I need to tell you something," Brooklyn said in a nervous voice.
"You can tell me later, Brooklyn, for we have a mission." Harry interrupted, looking determined, but excited as well.
Narrowing his eyes, Brooklyn folded his arms. "What are you up to now?"
"We're going to talk to Hagrid, Brooklyn. We just can't believe it is him. If he did set the monster loose last time, he would know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets. That's a start!"
Brooklyn was surprised, as he didn't like the idea of sneaking out again, but if it was to save Hagrid, he was willing to help. At least he can get away from Tom for a while.
"But what about McGonagall's lockdown rules?" he suddenly asked. Brooklyn's question was answered when Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak. It had been ages since Brooklyn had seen that thing!
After managing to get Brooklyn under it with them again, the trio snuck out, walking across the yard to Hagrid's house and knocked on the door.
It opened, revealing Hagrid with his crossbow, pointing it at them. "Who's there?" he demanded. They threw off the cloak.
He lowered it as he recognized them. "Oh, it's yeh three. Come in. I'm sorry about Hermione. Just made a pot o' tea."
Brooklyn noticed how pale Hagrid was as he tried to pour the tea but dropped the teapot. He looks worse than I do.
Harry approached him with the question. "Hagrid, do you know who's opened the Chamber of Secrets?"
Before he could answer, somebody knocked on the door. Brooklyn's heart stopped, getting to his feet, as Hagrid ushered them under the cloak and told them to be quiet.
Under the cloak, Brooklyn saw who came in; Dumbledore, and another man he didn't recognize. But Ron seemed to know who he was.
"Who's that?" he whispered. Ron stared at him in disbelief. "That's my dad's boss, Cornelius Fudge! The Minister of Magic!"
The gargoyle then knew Hagrid was in trouble if the Minister was here!
Dumbledore looked the most grave as he stepped in, Fudge behind him looking solemn.
"Bad business, Hagrid, very bad business. Had to come, three attacks on Muggleborns. This ministry has got to act!"
The friends looked at one another in horror, especially Brooklyn. This wasn't good!
Hagrid's face was filled with disbelief. "You'd know I'd never, Professor!" he protested.
Brooklyn's chest ached. It's not him! Hagrid is innocent! I'm the guilty one! He desperately wanted to scream this out loud, but this wasn't the good time. He bit his tongue, trying to keep quiet.
Dumbledore had tried to persuade Fudge that he had his full confidence, but it didn't work as Fudge then said he was taking Hagrid to a place called Azkaban, the wizard prison. It should be me going there, not Hagrid! The gargoyle cried inside, his arms trembling.
Then, the last person Brooklyn wanted to see again stepped in: Lucius Malfoy.
"Already here, Fudge?"
Hagrid glowered at Lucius. "What are yeh doin' here? Get out o' my house!"
Lucius strode about, nearly bumping into Harry, Ron, and Brooklyn, who backed up away from him.
"I absolutely take no pleasure being inside... You call this a house?" Turning up his nose, he looked back towards them. "I simply called up the school and was told that the Headmaster was here."
Dumbledore just gazed at him calmly, but his eyes weren't twinkling. Brooklyn himself could admire Dumbledore's stature, not cowering before a man like Lucius.
"And what exactly is it that you want with me?"
Lucius gave a cold grin. "It had been decided with the governors that it was time for you to step aside. Here's a letter of suspension. I'm afraid that you might have lost your touch."
This can't be happening again! Brooklyn thought in dread. With Hagrid and Dumbledore both gone, he was going to be controlled even more by Tom Riddle! He shivered at the idea.
Hagrid seemed to agree, too. "Yeh can't take Professor Dumbledore away! Take 'im away, and those Muggleborns won' stand a chance! Yeh mark me words, there will be killins next!"
Brooklyn blanched, afraid of being controlled by Tom to kill people instead of petrifying. Harry saw his brother shaking. The way the gargoyle had been behaving recently had really been concerning him, isolating from everybody, pale and sad, not even speaking to him or Ron.
Dumbledore's voice brought him back to reality.
"Calm yourself, Hagrid. If the governors desire my removal, I will of course step aside. But may I remind you, help will always be given at Hogwarts, to those who ask for it."
To Brooklyn's surprise, Dumbledore suddenly looked over to where the three of them were standing. Could he somehow be powerful enough to see through invisibility cloaks? He gave them a reassuring smile before walking out with Lucius.
Fudge had Hagrid follow, but before he gave some more 'advice'.
"If anybody was lookin' fer some stuff, all they would have to do is ter follow the spiders. That's all I have to say."
He left, adding that somebody would need to feed Fang while he was away.
As the trio threw off the cloak, Brooklyn was simply staring down at the floor, feeling defeat surging through him. His first year of being the Guardian of Hogwarts, and he had gotten two important people kicked out, for something they didn't do!
He suddenly felt Harry pulling on his arm. "Brooklyn, come on!"
"What are we doing?" He asked, before finally seeing those spiders climbing out of Hagrid's window.
"You heard what Hagrid said, 'Follow the Spiders'."
But Ron wouldn't follow right away. "Th-They're headed into the Forbidden Forest!" he croaked. Brooklyn's heart dropped. Not again!
But Harry ventured forward, and Brooklyn turned to Ron, shrugging his shoulders as he followed his brother. If this could help clear Hagrid's name, then into the Forbidden Forest they would go!
He heard Ron behind him. "Why spiders? Why couldn't it be following the butterflies?" Brooklyn just shook his head, chuckling softly as they at last made it into the shadowy trees. They brought Fang with them.
Harry, Ron, and Brooklyn followed the trail of spiders, Brooklyn trying his best to not jump at every noise, thinking it was either that terrible snake monster or Tom Riddle.
The spider trail got bigger as they moved deeper towards the middle of the forest, the gang tripping on tree roots every now and then.
A small cave covered in spider webs appeared, making them halt in their tracks. Brooklyn had never seen anything like this before! Ron was whimpering behind them. "Can we go back now?"
Brooklyn turned sharply. "Don't you want to help Hagrid?" He snapped, feeling desperation in his veins. Ron looked suddenly scared and nodded. Brooklyn took his arm, and they all walked into the cave.
Brooklyn stared around, taking the scenery containing nothing but webs and spiders in. He wondered if the spiders would let them leave after they asked their questions, now feeling like he felt a little too brave to step into a spider's den!
Then a deep voice spoke. "Who is it? Hagrid? Is that you?" Brooklyn's mouth fell open. A spider, bigger than the one that attacked him last year, came into view. "Jalapeña!" He gasped, taking in this creature's size and many eyes. Now this was a story to tell his clan, if he got out of this alive, that is!
"We're friends of Hagrid's. And you're Aragog, aren't you?" Harry asked. The spider studied them. "Yes. Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," it spoke. But then Aragog gazed down at Brooklyn, who swallowed nervously.
"But I've never seen the likes of you before. What are you?" He hissed in a questioning tone.
"I-I'm a gargoyle, the Guardian of Hogwarts. Brooklyn, formerly of Clan Wyvern, to be exact," he introduced, trying to remain calm.
"Hmm." Aragog hummed thoughtfully, watching Brooklyn curiously before looking away again, making him sigh in relief. He just couldn't believe that Hagrid kept this thing as a pet! Was he wanting to be put in jail?
"Hagrid's in trouble," Harry continued. "Up at the school, there have been attacks." Brooklyn felt that hot guilt in his stomach again, looking down. "I think he opened the Chamber of Secrets, like before!"
No, Harry. Tom Riddle's lying! Brooklyn argued silently. He was going to eventually storm at Tom Riddle for hurting two of the people who could help him get home!
Aragog unknowingly agreed with Brooklyn. "That's a lie! Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets!"
"Then you're not the monster?"
Aragog growled. "No! The monster was born in the castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land, in the pocket of a traveler!"
Ron was tugging on Brooklyn's wings, but he shook his head sharply, and asked his own question. "If you're not the monster, then, what did kill that girl fifty years ago?" Even though his memories were usually wiped clean after those blackout dreams, he always had vivid memories of a strange serpentine creature slithering along the corridors.
"We do not speak of it! It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. The girl was discovered in a bathroom. When I was accused, Hagrid brought me here."
When Aragog mentioned a bathroom, things slowly started to click in his memories. He almost always dreamed of standing in a bathroom, facing a sink mirror. Did that mean... that the creature in his blackout dreams was living under the school at this very moment, waiting for his orders to strike again? He trembled, not even feeling Ron pulling on his wings, almost lost in his own fear of being controlled again.
"Brooklyn! Brooklyn! Snap out of it!" Harry called, tugging his arm, and pointing to the army of spiders now coming for them. He blinked, shaking his head, now noticing, and stayed protectively near Harry, ready to fight.
"Uh, thank you," Brooklyn said. "We'll just go now, I think." He began to usher his friends away.
Aragog narrowed his eyes. "Go? I think not! My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid under my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid and gargoyle." He then backed down into his hole, the rest of the spiders closing in.
Brooklyn drew his wand, the clicking sounds of the spiders ringing in his ears.
"You guys know any spells?" Ron whimpered. Brooklyn shook his head. "Just one," Harry countered. "But it isn't powerful enough for all of them!"
"How perfect!" groaned Brooklyn in annoyance, kicking a spider away with his foot and swiping his tail at another.
"Where's Hermione when you need her?" Ron wailed.
"She's petrified at the moment," the gargoyle yelled back.
As Brooklyn felt like they were going to become a spider's buffet, there was a roar, sounding like an engine. Bright lights shone through the trees, and a huge thing knocked over several spiders, clearing a path for them. And to his surprise, it was the old Ford Angela. Now living wild.
I's doors opened. "Come on!" Brooklyn yelled, Harry, Ron, and Fang following him as he got into the front, his friends struggling into the back.
Wait a tic, I'm in the front? Brooklyn suddenly realizing his mistake.
"Get us out of here, Brook!" screamed Ron desperately.
But Brooklyn didn't know how to start the engine. "Uh, I can't drive this thing!" he yelped in earnest. Motorcycles were a cinch, but cars were totally different!
He was spared the argument when the car started up itself, almost making him fall back in his seat as it plowed through the spiders, escaping into the dark trees.
A few minutes of driving, and nearly being overtaken by the spiders, the Angela finally came to the edge of the trees near Hagrid's hut.
Brooklyn stumbled out of the car, panting heavily, the car driving back into the trees. Ron was in a daze until he got his voice back.
"Follow the spiders! Follow the spiders! If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him! I mean, what was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out?"
Brooklyn folded his arms, glaring. "Just look at the bloody facts, Ronald. Hagrid never opened the chamber. He was innocent!"
Harry agreed. "And that means the Heir of Slytherin is still out there!"
He gave a small sigh, as they trooped back up to the castle. And I'm possibly being controlled by him. It is quite obvious now that this Heir of Slytherin was Tom Riddle all along! Why again did I pick up that stupid book in the first place?
