Chapter 15:

"Idiot!" Tom yelled angrily, knocking over his nightstand. He began to pace back and forth, his breathing was heavy. Cygnus and Abraxas looked quite fearful. "How could he possibly think it was just some student with advanced knowledge in paralyzing agents, how?" He swore under his breath and continued pacing. Travis Baker and Olivia Hoffman's bodies were found in the fourth floor girl's lavatory a couple of days ago. Both of which were mudbloods. Mudbloods. Had he scared anyone, anyone at all?

"He isn't the brightest Headmaster, is he?" Cygnus asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Tom glared at him intently. "That was a rhetorical question I hope," he countered in a cold, unforgiving voice.

Cygnus gulped. "Yeah, um, rhetorical," he gave a nervous chuckle.

Tom walked out the door of the dormitory in one swift motion. He couldn't be bothered by his followers' idiocy any longer.

Cygnus turned to Abraxas confused. "What does rhetorical mean?" Abraxas just shook his head with clear distain.

Tom headed towards the kitchens, he was growing impatient. Things weren't going exactly as planned. Even worse, Dumbledore had been keeping a more watchful eye over him since the event transpired. If only he were as clueless as Headmaster Dippet.

He tickled the pear, entering to see if Benny was present. It was a dangerous move on his part. He didn't particularly trust Benny, but he couldn't confront Nicole, she seemed to be distancing herself from him.

He looked around; Benny was nowhere to be seen. He headed towards one of the house elves. "Is Benny here?" He asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. The little house elf shook its head. He sighed in frustration. What was that house elf's name? The one Benny had told him to contact? He looked back at the house elf. "What about Catter?" He asked suddenly.

The house elf looked at him baffled. "There's no Catter here Mister Riddle."

Tom gritted his teeth. "What was his name?" He asked aloud. "Catter, Crater, Kanker, Calder…"

The house elf's eyes widened. "K-Kanker, Mister Riddle?" it asked stunned.

Tom scratched his head. "Yes, yes. That was it. Kanker. Where can I find him?"

The house elf shifted uncomfortably. "Kanker isn't a good house elf Mister. Kanker is a bad bad house elf." He shook his finger at his left side as if Kanker was there to be scolded.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, a very bad house elf. Where is he?"

The house elf bit its lip. "Kanker is in his cupboard."

Tom raised a brow. "His cupboard?"

The house elf nodded to him, motioning for him to follow. He revealed to Tom a set of stairs that went further into the depths of the castle. About twenty steps in, he saw a small door. The house elf knocked on it three times. Tom heard a loud grunting sound from behind the door. The door creaked open revealing quite a gruesome sight.

There stood who Tom assumed to be Kanker, an ancient looking house elf with yellow eyes, long jagged finger nails, and as Benny described, a large chunk taken out of one of his ears. "SCRUFFY!" He screamed in a raspy voice, his nose wrinkled as though he smelled something quite unpleasant. "No VISITORS!" He shouted again, accompanied this time with a growl.

The house elf called Scruffy shook. "M-mister Riddle wants to see you," he stuttered.

Kanker looked over at Tom, seeming to size him up. "Hmph." He looked over at Scruffy. "Go! Leave me alone you stupid maggot." He pointed his finger and Scruffy scurried off. Tom stood his ground. Kanker stared up at him, going back into his cupboard. "Ya comin' in err not boy?!" He yelled, and Tom looked at the creature in distain. He wasn't one to be talked down to. Still, he was running out of options. He crawled into the cupboard, which as is turns out wasn't a cupboard at all. It was the size of his dormitory, and just as tall as well. He saw what looked like a large potato sack; covered with frumpy looking rugs not unlike the one he had seen in Benny's come and go room.

Pictures and books littered the place. Newspaper clippings were strewn about everywhere. Kanker sat himself on the potato sack, giving a moan as he got himself comfortable. It was a wonder how he was still alive. "So, boy, why have you trespassed into my home, eh?"

Tom made a face. "You invited me," he replied.

Kanker scratched his head. "I did? Ah, I did! I remember." He shook his head. "What do you want?"

Tom sighed, he decided to be honest. It weren't as though this Kanker would likely remember any of this anyway. "I want to scare away the mudbloods from this school." He put it incredibly bluntly.

Kanker smiled a three toothed smile. "Muddy, muddy, mudbloods!" He chuckled, a chuckle that was hard to distinguish from a cough. "Yes, yes the mudbloods. Filthy creatures. My masters, murder, murder, murder. All of 'em. Filthy cows, disease ridden maggots!" He spoke with great enthusiasm.

Tom nodded uncertainly. "Yes," he tried to gather his thoughts. "So, Benny told me if I needed to contact him I should talk to—"

"Benny, the madman?" Kanker inquired thoughtfully. Tom nodded. "Benny then, very mad that one, yes. I know him. But you don't want him. No, Mister Riddle," he gave another cackle.

Tom was growing bothered by this creature. "And what, pray tell, do you think I want?"

"Ohh, 'pray tell', 'pray tell'," he mocked. "To old for thinking Mister Riddle. I know." He grinned again. "I know who you are."

Tom had half a mind to wring this thing's neck, but kept his composure just barely. Kanker stood, and turned his back to face the wall covered in moving pictures and excerpts from novels. "Tom wants to make a statement; Tom wants to scare away all the muddy mudbloods, Voldemort wants the world to know of his greatness."

Tom's eyes widened. "How did you—"

Kanker held his hand out. "Your lovely, she betrayed you," he began. "Left you all alone, no where to turn to, so you come here. A message, I shall give them as message, all of them. You needn't worry."

Tom didn't know what Kanker was going on about, Nicole hadn't betrayed him, she was just less receptive than normal. It wouldn't come of anything. Unless she was the one who revealed to Kanker his other name, but that was impossible. "What sort of message?"

Kanker looked towards him. "They shall know of your greatness." There was a silence between the two of them for a moment. Kanker's eyes seemed to glaze over; he looked up at Tom, his face contorted. "No VISITORS!" He stamped his feet. Tom gave a look of disgust. He had gotten nowhere with Kanker. It would have helped if Benny had mentioned the fact the he was psychotic. He crawled out from the cupboard; the door was slammed behind him. He patted his robes, going up the stairs in an even worse mood than before, returning to his dormitory.

The next morning he awoke, Professor Slughorn had knocked on his door. Cygnus rubbed his eyes groggily. "What?" Abraxas yawned and Tom stared intently at Professor Slughorn who had never, as far as he knew entered their dormitory before.

He looked fearful, and dreadfully tired. "Dress yourselves, I'm to escort all of you to the Great Hall in thirty minutes."

Cygnus laughed. "Escort us? Why?"

Slughorn was sweaty and uncomfortable. "Just get dressed already!" He yelled in a stressed voice.

They did as they were told; Professor Slughorn had never acted so strangely. They went down to the common room where all of the other Slytherin students stood confused and uncertain. Through the crowd he saw Kaiser again, looking pointedly at him. Slughorn stood before them, "Right, well everyone stick close to me, then." He said, giving an unconvincing smile.

The doorway opened and the students began filing through. Was this Tom's doing? Had Dippet somehow become the wiser? He pondered this as they walked towards the Great Hall. The Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws were already seated, whispering between one another. The Gryffindors were just being seated. He looked over at Nicole who looked at him as though he'd been struck with the plague.

After the Slytherins seated themselves, a pale face Dippet stepped forward, his voice shaky. "Though I do not wish to instill panic, I feel it best for your information to come from myself, rather than the perhaps distorted views of your fellow students." Tom suddenly became incredibly interested. "Last night, all our roosters and hens in Hogwarts' possession were slaughtered, and a message was written upon the entrance to the school claiming that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed, been opened." There were gasps from the crowd of students.

Tom tilted his head slightly. Had Kanker been the one behind all this? He had clearly underestimated him. "Now, now, settle down, settle down. There have been many recorded instances of attempting to find said chamber, and still no one has ever come across it. It is believed to be rumor and nothing else. Whoever is behind this is most likely an imitator." Headmaster Dippet was gradually regaining confidence. "We will find them. Until then, we have taken extra precautions for your safety. No one will be allowed out of their respective common rooms past eight o'clock, and all must be in their dormitories at nine." At this he heard a great deal of moaning.

"You will be escorted by a teacher to and from your classes. At no time are you to be alone in an unsupervised area. Any suspicious activity that takes place must be reported immediately." He gave a deep sigh. "Muggleborn students should take extra precautions." He looked throughout the crowd. It was unlikely he helped in avoiding panic. "I have informed each of your parents or legal guardians of these events and it is entirely possible some of them may wish for you to return home."

Uneasiness filled the air immediately after Headmaster Dippet's speech. Rubeus seemed even more nervous than usual.

Nicole took notice of this, though seeing as they were seated four or five seats away from one another, she decided not to talk to him about it until they returned to their common room.

It was rather tedious. The removal of the students from the Great Hall took what seemed to be an eternity. There was head counting, and students were beginning to show much impatience with their Heads of House. When they all were finally settled in their respective common rooms they were forced to await another Professor to escort them to their classes.

The day was long, and full of whispers, fear, and curiosity surrounding what Armando Dippet had said. No one in the Gryffindor house seemed to know exactly what had been written on the entrance.

At last, night fall came over the castle. Professor Dumbledore was keeping a watchful eye over his students in the common room, which seemed to perturb most as they retreated to their dormitories well before nine o'clock, likely to continue gossiping uninterrupted.

It was around eight thirty, and Professor Dumbledore, seeing only Rubeus and Nicole left in the common room took his leave to his own room for the evening. Headmaster Dippet was dependent on him for protective methods for the school, and seeing no harm in leaving the two of them alone, the Professor retired.

Nicole saw him leave over one of her books and sighed in relief. She thought he'd never leave. She quite liked Professor Dumbledore, but whenever he was around she felt vulnerable, more likely to give into the temptation of betraying Tom's secret.

But she could never do this. Though she disagreed with Tom's methods, she loved him, and couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to him. It was her selfish need of Tom that caused her to ignore his wrongdoings. She didn't wish to dwell on her moral dilemma any longer, and shifted her interests towards better understanding Rubeus.

"Did you lose it again?" She asked softly. Rubeus looked over at her confused. She smiled. "Aragog," she inquired just above a whisper.

He looked down at the floor, averting her eyes. "Err, no. I didn't lose 'em."

Nicole looked slightly surprised. "Him? You never mentioned it was a him before," she stared at him, generally interested.

Rubeus looked up at her. "I shouldn't a said that," he muttered.

"Why not? What is he? A cat? A rat?" She was thoughtful for a moment. "A snake?"

Rubeus shook his head, and looked around to see if they were really alone. "Ye promise you won't tell anybody?"

Nicole was slightly put off by this, but she nodded anyway. "I promise Rubeus, I won't tell anyone."

He scratched his head. "Err, well… Aragog, he's erm, he's a spider."

"A spider? Rubeus why can't I tell anyone you have a spider?"

Rubeus bit his lip, and resisted the urge to grin. "He's not jus' a spider, he's an acromantula."

Nicole wrinkled her nose in confusion. "An acromantula? I think I've heard of those before…" she sighed. "I just can't think of where."

Rubeus' eyes brightened. "Ye have, have ya?" He gave a genuine smile. "They're fascinatin' creatures, 'em acromantulas. They can talk, right intelligent too, 'en they grow really big," he stopped on that last part. "Aragog, he's jus' a baby. He's only a little fella. When he grows big enough, I'm gunna release 'im, into der Forbidden Forest."

She shook her head. "Rubeus, if you were to tell Professor Dumbledore I'm sure he'd help you relocate Aragog."

His smile faded. "I can' do that."

"Why not?"

Rubeus looked down. "Cause they migh' think Aragog's the beast."

Nicole looked at him uncertainly. "The beast?"

"The Chamber's suppose ta have a beast, but 'is not Aragog, I'll tell you that!" He remarked, clearly appalled by the idea.

Nicole smiled. "I believe you Rubeus." She got up from her chair, heading towards her dormitory.

"Yer not gonna tell nobody, right?" He asked again, and Nicole looked behind him.

"Nary a soul," she replied giving a light laugh.