Disclaimer: Harry, the Griffondors, Draco, all the Slytherins except Maria, the teachers, the other students and Voldie aren't mine. The poem, however, is mine.

A/N Next term I'm gonna have a ton of homework, so after this week I won't update as much, sorry. Oh and sorry 'bout the valley girl...hehe.

Chapter 4: Searches

Maria tore through her bag, throwing it's contents everywhere around the room. Just moments ago, she had reached in her bag for her diary only to find it gone. But that couldn't be! She had frantically looked again, which also didn't reveal any results. She was in a state of sheer panic now, if she didn't have it anybody could! And her diary must not be read by anyone other than herself. She hated herself for writing her lineage in that book...

Another one of the girls came in and looked at the mess. "Like, did you drop an earring in there? Because your potions book just hit my make-up drawer." Maria rolled her eyes.

"No, I didn't drop an earring. I lost my diary!" The girl just grinned widely.

"Really! Like, Oh my gawd, when I lost my diary, my crush found it, and he read it, and now we're dating. Oh! And my friend, she dropped her diary in front of her crush on purpose, and now they're dating! You lucky girl! Did you write your crush in it?" She looked expectantly at Maria, as if she thought Maria had understood everything she had just said. Maria merely took a moment to try to make sense of it all.

"No, I don't even have a crush. But I have other things in there!" However, the other girl had lost interest when she discovered there was no crush for her to gossip about. Maria sighed, wishing she could just explain to someone why she needed it back... But if she could, her diary missing would have been a trivial matter. At least she hadn't put her name on it...

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Harry was sitting in the common room, leafing through the pages of the diary. On almost every page he could see things like 'Voldermort is my father' or 'I'm Voldermort's kid.' If he had taken more time, he would have also noticed things like 'It's such a terrible burden, knowing he is part of me' and 'If only I could just be normal, like everyone else.' But Harry was too busy trying to find a name, any name, that might help him discover who it belonged to. He had already checked the cover for a name, but there had been nothing there but a poem.

Past Undone

Darker secrets, darker fears
Shadowed past and hidden tears
Stories lost, but more begun
And yet I am the only one
Good or Evil, soon you'll see,
The past will never bend for thee
The world is cruel, so listen close
You'll always lose what you want most.

Harry secretly agreed with this poem. You'll always lose what you want most...how ironic, it was almost as if this poem was written for him. He shook his head as if to scare the thoughts away, then continued scanning the diary.

It was pretty obvious that this person was a Slytherin, but what age? It could be anyone, the owner of the diary had left no clues whatsoever for him to work off of. The only person he could cross of his list was Malfoy; he wasn't stupid enough to let Harry get his diary, but he wasn't smart enough to know that Harry knew that. One suspect down, at least a hundred to go.

Harry sighed and closed the book, just as Hermione came downstairs. "Harry, normally I'm the one who reads into the night. What is that book? Ron and I are starting to get worried, and you haven't been this obsessed with a book since Riddle's diary." (A/N sorry about the pun)

"I guess I have a thing for diaries then"

"Oh, Harry! Who's is it and what so special about it? It doesn't respond to you, does it?"

"No, Hermione, it doesn't. I'm not that stupid." Harry took a deep breath. "Apparently Voldermort had a child." Hermione just looked at him strangely.

"Wha... What makes you say that?"

"It says so in this diary. On nearly every page. This person obviously is proud of him, but I haven't found any other names yet. I have no idea who it is. A Slytherin, I'm sure, but..."

"Oh, Harry, we have enough problems with Dumbledore gone, Voldermort at large and all our classes! You don't need to find this person! They're probably just looking for attention!"

"I can't be sure." Ron climbed down the stairs, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey 'Mione, what's taking you so long? You've been talking to Harry for forever... You're not starting some kinda book club or somethin', are ya?"

Hermione merely looked at her shoes, unsure how to explain. Harry busied himself putting the diary away, taking an unnecessarily long time. Neither wanted to explain the situation to Ron. However, Ron was properly awake now.

"What in bloody hell is wrong with you two? I asked you a question... Hey, there's something fishy going on, isn't there?" He looked expectantly at them both, until Hermione burst out.

"Ron, Harry thinks he has found a descendant of Voldermort, and he's trying to find him through this diary! Ron, tell him this is absurd!"

"Harry! You-Know-Who has a desc... a descen... a kid? Is he here? Do you know who he is yet? We've got to get rid of him!" Hermione gave him a how-could-you look, obviously upset he had joined Harry's side.

"Honestly, both of you! What does it matter? This person is still learning magic, and it's not very likely they're in the same grade as us, and we're at Hogwarts! We're safe here! Remember? Even Voldermort wouldn't come here!" Harry just looked at her with a piercing stare.

"All right Hermione, let's do this your way-logically. You made your point, now I'll make mine. This guy probably learned dark arts from Voldermort, which would make up for what he hasn't learned here. And Voldermort wouldn't come here before because of Dumbledore, and Dumbledore is dead. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore. Finally, Hermione; whoever it is will probably be looking for me, too. I'm in danger with this person around, and the closer I get to knowing who it is the safer I'll be. And besides, he's probably passing information to his good old dad."

Hermione sighed, defeated. She could think of nothing else to say, and Harry had made a valid point, yet she still thought it was pointless to hunt this person down. As she walked back up to the girls' dorm, she decided she wanted to look at that diary herself.

Meanwhile, Maria was tossing and turning in her bed. Her dreams were full of passages from her diary, along with fire, spells, curses and voices. Shouting voices, angry voices, kill her, take her down, she's dangerous...

A/N Whadya think so far? The tension is mounting (maniacal laugh). Sorry about the diary being passed around, but the story is going places without me (hey, I'm just typing it). How did you like the poem? It took me awhile to write it. Hope I can put up another chapter soon, and I definitely hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it :-)