Chapter 7: Christmas

By next morning, the school was all in abuzz about Dawn possibly being the heir of Slytherin. No matter how many times she repeated she wasn't in her classes. Some of her students were now terrified of her and afraid they would do something.

In fact she had dismissed one class early simply because of how aloof her students were to her. She wondered the corridors listening other classes still in session. She passed the library and heard the whispers, thanks to her Slayer hearing, about her. Between Willow being petrified and this … she just didn't know what more she could do.

Dawn did not pay attention to where she was going when she walked straight into Hagrid, which if not for her Slayer reflexes would have knocked her backward onto the floor.

"Afternoon, Hagrid," Dawn said.

"Dawn," Hagrid said. "Didn't you have a class this hour?"

"Cancelled it," Dawn said. "Between Willow being petrified and the students being afraid of me because I can speak Parseltongue." She sighed. "What's with the rooster?"

"Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin' Bugbear, an' I need the headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop."

"I'd do it for you," Dawn said. "I know a ward that would protect the hen coop. But its Wiccan and I'm currently restricted to wand only."

"Is it because of …" he motioned towards her hair.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. When I, like Willow, go black hair and black eyed. It's the dark magicks at work. At one time Willow thought it was because I'm just so powerful. But I'm not so sure anymore. I wish I knew more about the Key. I could tell you then. Well I better get back to my classroom, my next subject is about to start."

Hagrid nodded and walked off.

Dawn made her way down a corridor, which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane. She was halfway down the passage when she tripped headlong over something lying on the floor.

Dawn turned to squint at what she'd fallen over. She saw Justin Finch-Fletchley lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. And that wasn't all. Next to him was another figure, the strangest sight Dawn had ever seen.

It was Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor.

Dawn got to her feet and opened a portal. She leaned her head through into Albus office. "Albus!"

"Dawn, what is it?" Dumbledore said as he came up before her.

"Another attack," she said as she pulled her head back into the corridor. Dumbledore exited the portal a second later.

"This is most serious," Dumbledore said. "I know you were checking into this before Willow was petrified. Did you come up with anything on who was controlling the basilisk?"

"There was the possibility of Draco Malfoy," Dawn said. "He did make an idle threat when Mrs. Norris was found. Just before you, Willow, Severus, Minerva and Lockhart arrived Malfoy said and I quote, You'll be next, Mudbloods! That doesn't prove anything of course. But Willow and I were teaching Harry, Ron and Hermione a glamour. Willow and I intended to delay Crabbe and Goyle while Harry and Ron took their places. I don't know who Hermione intended to replace she just said she had someone in mind. But they were going to find Malfoy and ask him questions to see if he knew anything. But with the fact I stopped teaching them the glamour I don't know if they are still going to do that or not." She looked at Justin and Nick. "I think I know how Justin was petrified. He saw the basilisk through Nick."

"That would make sense," Dumbledore said. "And since Nick is already dead."

Dawn nodded in agreement.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn was glad when the Christmas holidays arrived. It meant most of the students were leaving. Add on top of that Buffy and Faith were coming to spend the holidays with her.

Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Dawn woke to find several presents beneath the tree. The first one she found was for both her and Willow and for a moment she debated not opening it since it was addressed to both of them. When she did she found that Ron had given them a book about Quidditch. Hermione had got them matching stationary with their names stenciled on top. And Harry he had got them both a broomstick with the promise that he would teach them first to fly and then later to play Quidditch.

Dumbledore sent Dawn some of his favorite candy and note saying he would pick up Buffy, Faith and Joyce himself and that they would meet her at the feast.

When Dawn made it down to the Great Hall she noted it looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling.

As Dawn sat down she spotted Dumbledore standing at a side door. He opened it wide and Buffy, carrying Joyce, walked out with Faith.

Dawn jumped up and ran to her sister throwing her arms around Buffy just seconds after Buffy had handed Joyce to Faith.

"How are you holding up?" Buffy asked.

Buffy and Faith had gotten all the letters Dawn had written since coming to Hogwarts so they knew what had happened to Willow. And even if Dawn had wrote, Dumbledore told them.

"I'm okay," Dawn said.

"Don't lie to us, little D," Faith said. "We know you're not alright."

"Truth be told," Dawn said. "Not good. It's hard just getting through the day."

"I know it is," Buffy said. "We talked with Albus on the way. He consented till Willow is unpetrified that I can stay and help you with your classes."

"Thanks, Buffy," Dawn said, "that means a lot."

"Hey you want to hold your niece, little D," Faith said as Dawn nodded. She handed her sister-in-law her daughter.

And for the first time since Willow was petrified Dawn smiled.

Later during the feast Dawn noticed that Hermione ushered Ron and Harry out of the Great Hall. "Excuse me, Buffy, Faith. There's something I need to do." She got up and exited the hall.

"Dawn?" Harry exclaimed on seeing her.

"Do you have the glamour down?" she asked as Harry and Ron nodded. "Go on." She gave the pair of them directions to the Slytherin dormitories. "Hermione and I will take care of Crabbe and Goyle."

Harry and Ron cast their spell and then headed off down into the dungeons.

"How are we doing this?" Dawn asked Hermione.

"I've got it all worked out," Hermione said as she held up two plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All we have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. When it comes to food they are kind of greedy, so they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep we'll safely hide them in a broom closet."

Dawn pulled out her wand and a levitation spell and the cupcakes floated into the air. And then they moved out of sight behind a couple suits of armor next to the front door. When t

Crabbe gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbed them. Grinning stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large mouths. For a moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of triumph on their faces. Then, without the smallest change of expression, they both keeled over backward onto the floor.

Hermione and Dawn then hid Crabbe and Goyle in the nearby broom closet and returned to the feast to await Harry and Ron's return.

When they finally returned Harry and Ron could say what Malfoy knew in three words. "He doesn't know."

Dawn let out a sigh. "It's time to talk to Myrtle. I'll do it after Faith takes Joyce home."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

It was nearing the end of the holidays when Faith and Joyce left for home. Dawn walked towards Myrtle's bathroom when she heard wailing coming from within. As she pushed her way inside she could tell that Myrtle was hiding in one of the toilets.

It was dark in the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

"Myrtle, what's wrong?" asked Dawn.

"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"

Dawn waded across to her stall and said, "Why would I throw something at you?"

"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me…"

"I'm sorry someone was very rude, Myrtle," Dawn said. "Can you tell me who threw it at you? I'll make sure their punished."

"I don't know … I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head," said Myrtle, glaring at them. "It's over there, it got washed out…"

Dawn looked under the sink where Myrtle was pointing. A small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom. She picked it up off the floor.

She saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told her it was fifty years old. She opened it. On the first page she could just make out the name T. M. Riddle in smudged ink.

Dawn gasped out as a memory surged forth. She saw Harry and Ron in the bathroom looking at the front page of the book she held in her hand.

"Hang on," said Ron, who had approached cautiously and was looking over Harry's shoulder. "I know that name… T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

"How on earth d'you know that?" said Harry in amazement.

"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention," said Ron resentfully. "That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it, too."

Dawn nodded as she peeled the wet pages apart and found they were completely blank. She quickly left the bathroom and headed for her suite and entered to find Buffy sitting on a couch. "What do you make of this?" she handed her sister the wet diary.

Buffy looked at it. "Looks to be just a wet diary. Though whoever owned it never used it."

"I went to talk to Myrtle," Dawn said. "Which by the way I forgot to ask her about her death. But she told me someone threw that at her. I know kids can be mean. But I know this is important since I had a flash of memory about it."

"Let's try something, then," Buffy said as she moved to a desk and pulled out a pen from her purse and wrote I am Buffy Summers, the Slayer.

The words shone momentarily on the page and then sank without trace. Then something happened.

Oozing back out of the page came words Buffy hadn't written.

"A Slayer, my word! Hello, Buffy Summers. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?"

These words, too, faded away.

Buffy looked to Dawn. "This is quite unusual."

"Agreed," Dawn said. "I want to know more. So let's see what Tom has to say. Tell him how I found it."

Buffy nodded as she wrote. "My sister found it. Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."

"Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read."

"What do you mean?" Buffy wrote.

"I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"That's where Dawn and I are now," Buffy wrote.

"Ask him about the Chamber," Dawn said. "Maybe he knows a way in."

"Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" Buffy wrote.

Riddle's reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew. "Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, which did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one.

"Tell him we know about Myrtle," Dawn said. "That she is a ghost."

"We know about Myrtle, she is a ghost now," Buffy wrote.

"I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled."

"Let me have the pen," Dawn said as Buffy handed it to her. She wrote, "This is Dawn, hello Voldemort. We know your lying now. Hagrid had a pet acromantula. And we know Slytherin's creature is a basilisk. We also know it was you that opened the Chamber." She then closed the book as she looked at her sister. "I'm going to let this dry out and then put it in my classroom. Maybe the student who threw this at Myrtle will wind up wanting it back. When they do …"

"We'll catch them," Buffy said.