Chapter 2-
I got ready to begin my second year at Hogwarts with more excitement than I had ever felt in my young lifetime. I had found out I was the top of my class, and I was ecstatic, but even more so I missed Harry and Ron terribly. My parents took me to Diagon Alley and as they were exchanging money I was delighted to see Harry walking towards me with Hagrid, though I was confused as to why he looked so dirty and scruffy. A second later my confusion was cleared when Ron and his entire family came running up in panic, apparently Harry had gotten lost and ended up in a particularly nasty part of Diagon Alley. I remember that the first time I met Ron's family I was extremely nervous. It was the first time I had ever met a friend's family, but they seemed quite nice. They all walked into the bank to take out money and Ron told me to wait there for them, which I did. When they came back Ron, Harry, and I went off on our own, I was so happy to be with my friends again.
We went to Flourish and Blotts to pick up our books. When we went inside we saw it was very crowded. We investigated and I saw a very handsome wizard with a charming smile. He said his name was Gilderoy Lockhart, and he was talking about all the books he'd written on magic. I must admit that I was smitten, he seemed so smart and charming and handsome. As soon as he saw Harry he pulled next to him to let the press take a picture and he gave Harry all his books free of charge. I thought that was very kind of him. When Harry came back to us he was about to give the free books to Ron, when his arch rival Draco Malfoy showed up. Harry and Draco were about to get into a fight when Mr. Weasley and a man who I assumed was Draco's father intervened. I was relieved until I realized that this man was just as rude and unkind as his son, he insulted Mr. Weasley calling him poor and mocking his job. Then he made a comment about the company he kept, and I was offended when his eyes rested on me and then my parents. What did that man know about me? Just then Mr. Weasley got into a fight with him, and the book store owner had to pull them apart. We left soon after and I said goodbye to my friends at the Leaky Cauldron but all the way home I was still thinking about what in the world could have made that horrible man be so rude to me and my parents.
When I got on the Hogwarts Express a few days later I was completely distressed because Ron and Harry didn't seem to be anywhere. I looked in all the compartments and finally asked Ginny, who was Ron's little sister, if they had gotten on the train. She had said she thought they had, the last time she saw them was on the platform right before she ran through the barrier. I was beginning to panic. What if something happened to them? When we got to school and they still weren't there I was completely distraught. I looked anxiously up and down the table for them during the Sorting, I also noticed Ron's little sister had gotten into Gryffindor. Another thing that caught my attention was that Gilderoy Lockhart was our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, this made butterflies erupt in my stomach and I blushed at how silly I was being. During the meal I started to hear the most fantastic murmuring up and down the table. People were saying that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had been expelled for flying to school in a Ford Angelica. I knew this couldn't be true but there was an uncomfortable knot growing in my stomach, what if my two best friends HAD been expelled? I would have to start all over again! I made my way up towards Gryffindor dormitory after getting the password from Percy the prefect, who was also Ron's brother. As I came in sight of the portrait I saw the back of my two favorite people in the world. I ran up to them and confronted them on the rumors, they informed me that they had not been expelled, but the car story was true. I was torn between being furious with them for being so stupid, and thrilled that they were still at school. As we went into the Common Room the whole house had turned out to greet them. They ran quickly for their dormitory saying something about needing sleep, but they turned to wish me a good night before they went up, and even though I was still glaring at them reproachfully, I was happy.
The next morning at breakfast things got even better when Ron got a horrible Howler from his Mum that exploded in the middle of the Great Hall so everyone heard him getting reamed out. As I looked at his beat red face with satisfaction I decided he and Harry had now been punished enough and I started being nice to them again. The rest of the day went on without incident, we met Gilderoy Lockhart outside our Herbology class and I tried hard to keep from blushing. I was not sure why I found him so fascinating, but the night before when I was looking at my schedule I caught myself making little hearts around all the periods I had him for. I felt completely ridiculous, these were NOT the kinds of things I did. After lunch we all went out onto the grounds during for our afternoon free time. Ron was complaining loudly about his wand which had been broken in the car wreck and was now very shoddy at doing any spells. A little boy ran up to us and begged Harry for his picture, Harry acquiesced but I could tell he was uncomfortable, he never really liked being famous. The boy asked him to sign it which he flatly refuse, but unfortunately Draco Malfoy overheard, and starting mocking Harry. Ron was about to curse him when Lockhart stepped in and saved the day. Our next class was his and I was overjoyed when he gave us a quiz all about him, and I got every answer right. He smiled at me and I blushed furiously. He gave us the task of rounding up fairies and it turned into quite a disaster, by the end of the lesson Harry and Ron were grumbling about his lousy teaching… but I thought it was unfair. Every teacher had their bad days… and Gilderoy was new!!
A few days later Ron and I went down with Harry to watch his Quidditch practice. We took our seats in the stands and waited for them to come out, but something was wrong. Not just the Gryffindor team came out; the Slytherin team did as well. They met in the center of the field and seemed to be having a heated debate so Ron and I went down to see what was going on. They were saying they had permission to practice because they needed to train their new Seeker, who was of course Draco Malfoy. He began flaunting the new brooms he bought his team, and mocking the outdated brooms of Ron's older twin brothers. Finally I had enough so I retorted that at least they didn't have to buy they're way onto the team. I was satisfied that I had gotten him back but then he turned to me and called me a name, Mudblood. I had no clue what it meant but I immediately new it was bad, because everyone but Harry and I reacted and began to yell at him. To my surprise the minute he heard it Ron pulled out his wand and sent a hex at Malfoy, unfortunately because Ron's wand was so destroyed the spell backfired and hit him instead. I quickly ran to him to make sure he was ok and found he was now burping up slugs. Harry and I quickly carried him to the gamekeeper Hagrid's house to see if he could help. Hagrid told him there was nothing to do but wait, he asked Ron what Malfoy had said and when they told him he was also outraged. I asked finally asked what in the world it meant and Ron explained. It meant dirty blood, it meant that I was not as good of a witch in his eyes because my parents weren't magical. Hearing those words hurt me deeply, all I wanted to do was prove that I could be a great witch and everything seemed stacked against me. Ron went on to say that it was complete rubbish, and anyone who believed it was stupid, he pointed out that Neville was a pure blood and he was horrible at magic, and Harry added that despite what Malfoy believed I was the best in the year. I blushed with pride and then looked at Ron, he was holding my gaze in encouragement for a moment, and then he disappeared back into the bucket to belch up more slugs. Yet that moment was the first time I realized how perfectly his grayish blue eyes complimented his fiery red hair. The thought startled me a bit, I wasn't sure what had brought it on, but I knew that no one had ever tried to hex someone to defend my honor before, and I knew that it meant the world to me.
The next night Harry and Ron both had to serve their detentions for the incident with the car so I was left alone in the Common Room. I sat down to try to work some more on my essay for Gilderoy but my mind was unsettled. I kept thinking back to that moment in Hagrid's hut. The reason that it bothered me so much was that there was something in that moment that I couldn't quite my finger on, but it seemed important. The fact of the matter was that I had on more than one occasion noticed how Harry's green eyes seemed to be made even brighter by the compliment of his dark hair, but something about that moment with Ron was…different, and I had no clue why. Ron was my dear good friend and so was Harry so why should there be any differences between them. After a few more minutes of pondering I decided to turn in for the night. That night was the first night that I ever dreamed about Ron, he was sitting in Hagrid's hut with me he wasn't saying anything we just sat there looking at each other, I got the distinct feeling he was trying to tell me something but it was as if neither of us could speak. The dream seemed to last only moments but when I woke up it was morning.
As the weather grew colder I tried not to dwell on the dream, which I was now having about once a week. About a week before Halloween Harry came and told Ron and I that he had promised Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, we would go to his Deathday Party. I was excited, this was going to be a new experience for me. Ron of course complained but I knew he would go anyway. On Halloween we made our way down to the party in the basement, it was terribly cold with all the ghosts, and their idea of music was horrible. There was also no edible food because apparently ghosts prefer it rotten. We were standing there talking when all of a sudden Moaning Myrtle showed up, she was a ghost that haunted the girl's toilets, and she was completely depressing. We of course managed to make her float away bawling without even trying to. A few moments later the party was interrupted by a group of Headless Ghosts who were extremely rude to Nick, and I felt very bad for him. We ere all feeling cold and hungry so we tried to slip out as quietly as possible. We were on our way back up to see if the banquet was quite over when suddenly Harry stopped, he said he heard something but Ron and I didn't hear anything. He was walking purposefully down the corridor asking us if we heard anything, but we said no. Suddenly his eyes grew wide and he said it was going to kill. He took off running, and Ron and I were close behind. I was terrified, one of two things was happening either one of my best friends was going crazy, or he was hearing some unknown killer, both were very bad options. We rounded the corner and found a puddle of water, and a message. It read, "the chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware." On second inspection we found Mr. Filches cat Mrs. Norris petrified. Before we could leave the scene everyone coming up from the feast found us, Draco shouted something about how the Mudblood's would be next and I glared at him. Dumbledore came and ferried us into Gilderoy's office. Most of the other teachers arrived shortly, they determined that the cat had been petrified, and then Snape tried to pin it on us! Harry gave him our alibi minus the part about him hearing voices. I was thankful for this because even though I thought I believed Harry, I knew that Snape would not. Dumbledore told Snape that he had no doubt we were innocent and let us go to bed, but I was not settled. I went to bed determined to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets I was not going to let being a Muggle Born put me at risk.
I spent the next few weeks in utter frustration. I had left my copy of Hogwarts a History at home so I could bring all Gilderoy's books back with me, and now I was paying for it dearly. Everyone seemed to have the same idea I did about looking up the Legend of the Chamber of secrets so there were no copies available in the library and as hard as I tried, I couldn't find anything about it anywhere else. I was more frustrated than I had been in a long time. Suddenly when we were sitting in History of Magic one afternoon I had an idea, Ron and Harry were sitting comatose next to me, they never paid attention in history of Magic. Suddenly I had an idea. I raised my hand and Professor Bins, our only host teacher, was completely caught off guard. He called on me, and got my name wrong, but I went on anyway. I asked him about the chamber of secrets. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to change the subject, but other students picked up on my plan and began asking him questions too. Finally he acquiesced and told us what he knew. The Chamber of Secrets was a Legend, it was said that one of the school founders, Salazar Slytherin, thought that children who came from non-magical families were unworthy to practice magic, children like me. I felt the frustration and anger building again as he continued, was I ever going to be able to prove myself the equal of other witches and wizards? Professor Bins continued to say that Slytherin had a falling out with the other founder's and left the school but the legend said that before he left he built a secret chamber with a monster in it that would kill all the Muggle borns in Hogwarts, and it was said that only Slytherin's heir could open it. He assured us it was just a fantastical story, but we were all terrified.
We all left History of Magic trying to keep our emotions at bay, but none more than me, I knew the other two were scared but at least they didn't have to wonder if a monster was going to sneak up behind them and kill them! As we walked Colin Creevey ran up and informed us that people were saying Harry was the heir of Slytherin, both Ron and I were outraged but Harry seemed resigned to it. Ron asked if I thought all this Chamber of Secrets business was true, and I told him the truth. Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, which meant what Petrified her probably wasn't a creature he dealt with very often, and it definitely wasn't human. We shared a meaningful look, and then the three of us decided to go investigate the scene of the original crime. The most interesting new thing we found there was a line of spiders running out the window. To my surprise Ron got very upset and informed us he was terrified of spiders, I actually found it adorable the way he couldn't even look at them and trembled in disgust. I tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle. Harry changed the subject for poor Ron and asked where the water that had been on the floor came from, we followed the trail to the girl's bathroom across the hall. Ron was indignant that he wouldn't go in, until I informed him that it was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, so no one would be in it. Myrtle was there and we tried to ask her about the attack but unfortunately Myrtle was so sensitive, and Ron and Harry were so completely oblivious that they had hurt her feelings within a few seconds and she swooped away bawling. On our way out Percy spotted us and he got in yelling match with Ron about them being in a girls bathroom, and also about how suspicious it looked that we were back at the scene of the crime. Later that night in the Common Room, Ron told us his suspicions that Draco Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin, and Harry of course jumped on the bandwagon immediately. I wasn't convinced, Draco seemed too much like a stupid ignorant little boy to pull off such a large task, but the facts did fit. He was in Slytherin, he hated Mudbloods, and he did seem to have the resources. Harry and Ron were trying to come up with a way to figure it out, and I interjected my idea, I thought we should make Polyjuice Potion, which turns you into whoever you wish. They agreed to the idea, though Ron was a little wary. Our next problem was to get a note to take Most Potent Potions, out of the restricted section of the library, I knew this would be tricky, but I had a plan.
The next day we put the plan into action. After Defense Against the Dark Arts I went up and asked Gilderoy if he would sign for the book. I told him it was for extra research on one of the theories in his book about trolls, and he signed immediately. He also called me the best student in my year, and I blushed furiously. When we left for the library Ron called him a brainless git. I tried to defend him but Ron immediately called my bluff and said I was only defending him because I fancied him and he complimented me. I said nothing more; I was embarrassed that Ron has seen through me so easily. When we got to the Library I showed Madam Pince the note but I was reluctant to let her have it, I wanted to keep Gilferoy's autograph. Finally I complied and she went to get us the book. She was still suspicious but with a teachers signature she couldn't say no. I found the Potion and read it, it was the most complicated thing I had attempted at that time. I also saw that it took a month to brew, and we were going to have to steal supplies from Snape's private store cupboard, both things that the boys complained loudly about. This was turning out to be much more complicated than I expected, but I wouldn't be dissuaded, I needed to find out how to stop this, before me or someone else like me died because of something they couldn't help!
The next day Harry had a Quidditch match and Ron and I went down to the pitch to watch. It was an important game because Gryffindor needed to beat Slytherin to stay in the running for the cup. Since none of us were that fond of Slytherin at the moment we were all very excited. About half way through the game it started to rain, and suddenly a noticed something funny. One of the Bludgers would not leave Harry alone, it kept swooping at him and trying to knock him off his broom even when other people were closer. After Harry had to do an impressive role to stay away from it other people began to notice to, Hagrid shouted that the Bludger had been tampered with and Gryffindor took a time out. I was relieved, I knew Quidditch was important to Harry but staying in one piece was more important, therefore I was infuriated when he flew back up into the air a few minutes later. It was so like a boy to risk his life for a Quidditch game. Suddenly Harry saw the Snitch, he pelted down the field towards Draco with his arm outstretched but there was a sickening crunch as the Bludger collided with his arm. I knew it was broken from the way he cradled it, but he just kept flying, at the last second he took both hands off the broom and grabbed the Snitch and then nose dived into the ground at full speed. I shrieked, and Ron and I tore out of the stand to make sure he was ok. When we got there we found him dizzy and disoriented, but his broken arm was the worst of his injuries. He had caught the Snitch and won the game for Gryffindor. Gilderoy kindly offered to fix his arm, but the spell unfortunately went a bit wrong, he ended up removing his bones by accident. As we took him up to the hospital wing Ron was again complaining about Lockhart, and I again defended him saying anyone could make mistakes. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, informed us he needed to regrow all his bones. She gave him a potion to do just that, and the rest of the Quidditch team came up soon after us, they were just about to start a party when Madam Pomfrey shooed us all out. Harry had to stay in the hospital wing overnight, so Ron and I went down together and had dinner. We went back to the Common Room and spent the next few hours working on our homework, which consisted of Ron asking me for help every minute or so and also trying to figure out who could have wanted to hurt Harry. Ron thought it was Draco of course, or Snape, but I convinced him that Draco wasn't skilled enough to put a tracing spell on a Bludger, and I reminded him for the hundredth time that Snape was a teacher and on our side, he wouldn't hurt Harry. After another hour or so… we both went to bed. That night I had my dream but this time it changed. Ron and I were now standing in the corridor were the attack had happened. We were still looking silently at each other, and it still seemed like he was trying to tell me something but then his eyes focused on something behind me, and grew wide with terror. He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him as he took out his wand, I turned to see a great dark thing that seemed to be hidden in shadow. Ron looked up at it and said that it would have to go through him if it wanted me. The thing advanced quickly and I screamed, as I did I sat bolt upright in bed. The other girls in my room had been woken up by my scream and they sat up in alarm. Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil asked me if I was alright. I was just telling them that it had only been a nightmare, when we heard murmuring from the other side of our door. We made our way down to the Common Room and found half of our house there. I asked what was going on, and Fred Weasley told me there was a rumor that Colin Creevey had just been attacked, and was now laying Petrified in the hospital wing. I sank into a chair by the window, I felt completely numb, it was starting, the Muggle borns were being attacked. I tried very hard to hold in the sob starting to well up but tears leaked out of my eyes. Ron saw them and was immediately at my side. He put his hand lightly and I turned to him. I asked him, 'what if I'm next' he looked hard into my face and said that wasn't going to happen, because first thing in the morning we were going to start on the Polyjuice Potion, and then we were going to figure this thing out. I smiled at him and he told me to try to get some sleep, so I went back to the dormitory, but sleep did not come easily.
On our way to the bathroom the next morning we overheard McGonagall talking about the attack, which confirmed it. We went to the bathroom and holed up in one of the stalls, just in case, I worked diligently on the potion and Ron helped where he could giving me a steady stream of encouraging words. I was vaguely aware of how much of a comfort Ron was to me, as scared as I had been the night before, whenever he was with me, I felt much more at ease. A few minutes later Harry showed up completely healed but with some disturbing news. He confirmed that Colin Creevey had been attacked, and he also told us that the Malfoy's house elf Dobby had come to see him the night before. Dobby had told him that he had sent the Bludger at Harry to try to get him out of school, apparently Dobby had also visited Harry that summer in an attempt to get him not to return. The even more upsetting thing that Harry heard was that the Chamber of Secrets had apparently been opened previously, and a Muggle born had died! Now Ron and Harry were completely convinced it was Draco, who was doing opening it. Not only did his house elf seem to have inside knowledge of the situation, but the previous opening of the Chamber coincided with when his father was in school. I had to admit, the theory has merit.
A few days later we put our plan into action to steal the supplies from Snape. I decided to do the actual stealing because the other two had so much on their records already if they were caught they would have been expelled. I was terrified of stealing from the intimidating Potions master, but I was more terrified of dying at the hands of Slytherin's monster. So when Harry threw an Exploding Firework in Goyle's potion, sending swelling solution all over the dungeon I ran as fast as I cold to the cupboard, I didn't even have time to check that Snape wasn't looking, I simply crack the door and began grabbing everything we needed, I ran back to my seat with my robes bulging and my heart bounded, but Ron gave me an impressed grin which I returned with a bit of a blush. A few days later we saw a sign posted that Gilderoy was going to teach dueling lessons, I was thrilled, not only did I get more time with him, but I could actually learn how to defend myself. We went to the great Hall the night in question and he paired us into groups, I got stuck with a rather scary looking Slytherin girl who glared at me menacingly. Gilderoy told us to try and disarm each other but it didn't work very well. Most people started sending hexes at each other and my partner dropped her wand and just tackled me. She put me in a painful headlock and swung me around, I cried out in pain but I kept my send about me. I reached up and pulled hair off her robes, I needed it for the Polyjuice Potion so I could become a Slytherin girl, a moment later Harry wrenched her off of me. Then Gilderoy decided to have people practice defensive Magic and he picked Harry to help him demonstrate, and Snape, who was assisting him, chose Draco. I knew from the second it started this was a bad idea, and I was right Harry and Draco began sending ever kind of hex they could think of at each other, and while Gilderoy tried to stop them, Snape seemed to be egging them on. Then it happened, Draco shot a snake out of his wand and it slithered along the table towards Harry, Gilderoy tried to get rid of it, but he just made it angry and then it turned toward a boy named Justin Finch-Fletchly, suddenly Harry began to make funny hissing noises towards the snake. The snake looked at Justin and then at Harry. Harry made some more noises, and then snake looked at him again. Suddenly I realized with a jolt of horror what was happening, Harry was speaking to the snake. Everyone stood in stunned silence for a moment, and then Snape vanished the snake. Everyone was staring at Harry in wonder and concern, but Ron grabbed his arm and we rushed him back to the dormitory. He was completely confused why we seemed so worried. Ron asked him how long he'd been able to talk to snakes, Harry explained that he'd been able to talk to them for as long he could remember, but he didn't see the big deal. I explained that it was a very rare gift, usually associated with dark magic, and the more disturbing thing, was that it was the reason Slytherin's house animal was a snake. Slytherin had been a Parsletongue, so now everyone would believe even more that Harry was his heir. Harry insisted that was impossible, but I pointed out to him that he has know way to know that for sure.
The next day things went from bad to worse, Harry felt bad because Justin Finch-Fletchly thought that he had been trying to make the snake attack him. When Harry found Justin however, he had been Petrified by the monster. Now Harry's implication in the matter was so strong almost everyone believed it. Barely anyone stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas that year, but I did. My parents were very disappointed but I convinced them it was the best for my studies and they allowed it. On Christmas morning I woke up early and opened my presents. I sat there for a minute deciding what I wanted to do next, I knew Ron and Harry were the only two boys left in their dormitory so I picked up their presents and ran up to their room. I woke them up and Ron immediately told me I wasn't supposed to be in there, I ignored him of course. Yet I felt slightly shy sitting on the end of the bed where Ron slept. I tossed both of them their presents and then I told them I thought we should use the Polyjuice Potion that night. That night we put my plan into action I left the boys to get hair from Malfoy's best friends Crabbe and Goyle, I gave them two cupcakes with sleeping draught in them. Crabbe and Goyle were such pigs that I knew it wouldn't be difficult to get them to stuff their faces. Sure enough they showed up in the bathroom with the boy's robes, shoes, and sprigs of their hair a few moments later. WE put the hairs in three separate cups and then each went into our own separate stalls because when we ere Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent we wouldn't fit in one. The minute I drank my potion I knew something was wrong, I felt prickly hair start to grow on my face and my fingernails were elongating and sharpening. Suddenly I had a horrible feeling I knew what was going on, I pulled out my little hand held mirror and was horrified to see a cat face looking back at me. I was so humiliated, here I was bragging that I could make this potion and I did something as stupid as pull hair off someone's robes without making sure it was their hair! I heard the vices of Crabbe and Goyle from the other side of the door. They told me to hurry up, I was panicked I couldn't go with them like this. I told them to go without me, and for one horrible minute I thought they were going to refuse, but time was of the essence so they left. I came out of the stall and began to pace rapidly panic rising in me. The potion was only supposed to be for human transformations, I didn't know what this would do to me, I didn't know if there was a way to put it right, but I definitely knew that I wasn't going to be able to put it right by myself, I would have to go to Madam Pomfrey. What was I going to tell her? I felt a sob welling up in my throat and I let it pills over, I sank to the floor and put my head on my knees. Just then Myrtle showed up she took one look at me and began to cackle unkindly, I told her to get lost but she just kept swooping around me calling me Kitty face, I wished I had something to throw at her, even though it would simply fly through her, it would have been satisfying. A little while later I heard the boys come back to the door, I quickly retreated into the stall so they couldn't see me, but Myrtle told them how awful I looked so I had to come out. They both of course reacted violently when they first saw me, but then they were really nice and helped me get to the hospital wing without anyone seeing me. Thankfully Madam Pomfrey didn't ask too many questions, she was apparently sued to dealing with this sort of thing. But she did tell me that I would be in the hospital wing for a few weeks.
Being bed ridden was infuriating for me, but there were a few things that were nice about it. Firstly Ron and Harry came to see me everyday, and they even brought me my homework, which I was very grateful for. They told me about their talke with Malfoy, and that he was not the heir of Slytherin, this didn't surprise me too much, but it was frustrating, because we were back to square one. Gilderoy also sent me a get well card, which I couldn't help but keep under my pillow and take out to read every few hours or so. By the time the third week of the new term rolled around I was almost ready to leave the hospital wing, I had also had a lot of time to think, and I had some interesting new leads on what the monster in the Chamber might be. When I met up with Ron and Harry I found out something very interesting, Harry had found an old diary that seemed to have been from the time that the chamber had first been opened. I was ecstatic, I thought maybe it held some secrets, in it's pages, but try as I might I couldn't get anything out of it, so I had to assume it was simply and old blank diary, and the timing was merely coincidence. Weeks later the importance of that little book was finally revealed, Harry came down from his dormitory one morning to breathlessly tell Ron and I more alarming news. He had written in the diary and it had written back! Then he let himself be pulled magically into and he saw a scene played out in the memory of its previous owner, who's name had been Tom Riddle. Tom showed Harry a scene that made it seemed like Hagrid was the one who opened the Chamber fifty years earlier. I didn't want to believe this, Hagrid was our friend! But at the same time we knew he had been expelled in his third year, and that he had a fondness for terrifying creatures. We were trying to figure out how to approach him about it, but I also had another thought on my mind. I wanted to know what the monster was, I thought that if I at least knew that, I could protect myself. I had thought about it while in the hospital wing, because I saw poor Justin and Colin everyday. I knew that the petrifying was the key. This monster was supposed to be Killing Petrifying was curable, as soon as Professor Sprouts Mandrakes were grown Justin and Colin would be back to normal. That meant something was going wrong. I had it narrowed down to a few creatures that all petrified people in certain circumstances, but the problem was until we could get more information on the attack patterns of this certain monster I had no clue which one it could be. Then one morning Ron and I were walking with Harry back towards the dormitory when he stopped, he looked around at us and asked us if we heard anything. He was hearing the voice again. Suddenly it all clicked, Harry was hearing a voice we weren't, which means it was a voice Ron and I couldn't understand. I knew of only one animal Harry could understand. I gasped and told them I had to go to the library, I ran there and pulled out a book I had found earlier about deadly magical creature, and found page forty seven. The basilisk, it was an ancient snake that was gigantic in size, and it killed people with its stare. I thought this must fit but the only problem was, why had no one died? I thought long and hard and suddenly it came to me, Colin saw it though his camera, Justin had been found with Nearly Headless Nick, he must have seen it through Nick, and Mrs. Norris…. she saw it in the reflection of the water! As I thought about the water another thought came to me, at every attack there had been water. Why was that significant, and then I realized. The snake was moving through the pipes. I wrote the word pipes on the page and underlined it, and then I tore the page out of the book. Normally I wouldn't have dreamed of defiling a book that way but a ominous feeling was rising inside me. I felt like somehow my knowing what I was up against made me an even bigger target, and if the snake got me, I had to be able to get this information to Harry and Ron. I walked out of the library and saw the halls were deserted; everyone had gone down to the Quidditch match. My heart was pounding very hard as I began walking, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I felt like I was being watched. Just then a voice from behind me made me jump, it was the Ravenclaw prefect, she asked why I wasn't at the game. I suddenly heard a soft noise from the corridor to our left and I froze. I quickly asked her if she was a Muggle born, and she looked at me in alarm and said yes. I was terrified, for a moment I wasn't sure what to do, but then I remembered my hand held mirror in my pocket, I took it out carefully. Better to be petrified than dead… I told myself, if I let it petrify us Professor Sprout can bring us back. I clenched my fist tightly balling up the page of the book and held my mirror around the corner of the hall. The prefect and I both looked into it, and saw a pair of huge yellow eyes looking back at us, then everything went dark.
The thing people don't know about being petrified is that you are not unconscious immediately. I was lying on the floor I couldn't move and I couldn't see anything, but I heard things. I heard a younger boy find us and run screaming for the teachers, I heard the teachers come and take us to the hospital wing. By the time McGonagall came in with Harry and Ron the darkness was pressing in on my consciousness, it felt like someone had put a weight on my thoughts and was slowly pressing me into a deep sleep. I was afraid, I needed Harry and Ron to find the note in my hand, I needed them to end it. One of the last things I heard was Ron gasping my name, and even though I couldn't see anything, his face flashed before my mind's eye as the darkness overtook me.
The details of what happened from that point on I can't tell you. If you want to know more about it I suggest you read the wonderful tale that has been written about Harry's life. I do know from later conversations with Ron and Harry that through a combined conversation with Hagrid right before he was sentenced to Azkaban for opening the Chamber, and also the note I left. They figured out what was going on. I also found out that everything lead back to that diary, apparently Tom Riddle was the name of Lord Voldemort when he was in school, and the diary had been possessing none other than Ginny Weasley! And making her do those horrible things. Harry and Ron found the Chamber of secrets, and then Harry stopped Riddle and saved Ginny. I was immensely proud of them.
I remember the day I woke up. It was late evening when my eyes first opened and Madam Pomfrey helped me sit up carefully. She asked me how I was feeling and I told her honestly that I was fine. She smiled and told me I could go join the end of the year feast. I was astounded that I had been out that long! I asked her about the monster and she told me Harry Potter had killed it. I was so happy that I began to cry. I ran down the stairs to the Great Hall, when Harry and Ron saw me they jumped up to run to me. I threw myself into Harry's arm and hugged him fiercely gasping that I knew they could do it all along. Then I turned to Ron, I almost made to hug him but then I stopped, I looked into those grey blue eyes, and for a second it was just like my dream. We silently held each others gaze and I felt like he was saying something. Then he grinned and patted my shoulder, and told me he was glad I was ok.
The next day we all got on the Hogwarts Express, we had a wonderful time laughing and talking as we made our way back to London. I got off the train with my friends and we saw Harry's aunt and uncle waiting for him. They seemed like very unpleasant sorts of people, and I felt bad having to leave Harry with them, but shrugged and waved goodbye to us cheerfully. I saw my parents standing near the road, and went to meet them. Yet before I could leave Ron called my name. I turned to him and he said that he would write and let me know when they were going To Diagon Alley at the end of the summer, so that I could meet them there. I nodded and smiled, before waving goodbye.