A/N: I have a cold. I also have a four day weekend. The cold began as I got off work. It should only last four to five days. That means I should be fine on Monday morning. On the other hand, it is a mild cold. It doesn't stop me from eating or anything. And it gave me a great excuse to avoid the relatives for the holiday. (I'm thinking of asking Santa for another cold for Christmas. Heck, knowing my relatives, maybe I'll just fake the flu.)

Just saw the film, August Rush. (Robin Williams is in it.) Oliver Twist meets the 21st century, with a guitar. I could almost believe Charles Dickens was the director. I still can't decide if I liked it, (probably did, because I mentioned it,) but I did like the music. One surprise, though. Having poor eyesight, I misread the cast list. That's why I never figured out which part Kurt Russell had. (To save some of you some confusion, the real actor was KERI Russell.)

C'est la vie.

Chapter 13: Hogwarts

Draco was awoken in the night by popping noises from outside his bedroom. This was followed by an argument between Sirius Black and Alastor Moody.

"Damn fool idea. And what did we learn? Nothing." Draco could hear Moody scowling.

Black was laughing. "We learned how big spiders can grow. And how fast you can run."

"And that was about it."

"Alastor, we do know for a fact that Hagrid's monster was not the same one that killed that girl fifty years ago. And if anyone doubts us we can direct him to our source." Black was laughing again.

"That would get rid of our detractors," Moody admitted, then laughed as well. When the laughter ended, he called out, "Draco, are you awake?"

"No. I slept through the whole thing."

"Good. Because Sirius and I just escaped from thousands of giant man-eating spiders and I wouldn't want you to have nightmares about it."

"You're daft," Draco replied, "Why would I dream about spiders when I could have a perfectly good nightmare about two madmen popping into my bedroom in an abandoned shack any time they wanted to."

"I think he's angry," Black said.

"Doesn't matter," Moody replied, "Had no choice. Either wake him up or be eaten alive. Good night, Draco."

"Wait," Draco called out. "You're not leaving just like that. What happened?"

Moody growled. "It was that idiot, Hagrid. Kingsley went to Azkaban to interview him, and the blasted fool told him to follow the spiders."

"Oh, yeah," Draco said as though he remembered.

Two men were now staring at one boy. "Oh, yeah, what?" Moody demanded.

"It was in the book, the one you made me read on magic creatures."

"What was?"

"That spiders run away from it. I guess they all went into the dark forest?"

Moody and Black smiled at each other at the irony. "We didn't need to go into the forest at all," Moody said.

Black disagreed. "We did meet Aragog. And from what he told us, we know Hagrid was innocent of the murder."

"Aragog?"

"Giant spider that Hagrid kept as a pet when he was at school."

"And you talked with it? Is that like Parseltongue?"

"It speaks English." Moody explained. "And yes, we talked with it. It even promised not to eat us."

"It was the only one that promised," Black pointed out, and both laughed again.

"Yer both mad," Draco said in disgust.

"We are," Moody agreed. "We almost died, and lived to tell the tale. But we do know, now, that Rubeus Hagrid is innocent. It will be extremely difficult, but we can prove it."

Draco looked up. "But?"

"Did we ever tell you about Dumbledore?"

"No," Draco said nervously.

"He was removed as headmaster of Hogwarts, because of his bad judgement."

"Beginning of April?" Draco asked.

Moody's voice showed surprise. "You did know?"

"No, but . . . I saw him at one of the matches. Am I his bad judgement?"

"Not all of it, Hagrid was the other half." But Moody's voice faded away. He had started to think about something.

Black took the time to physically walk into the boy's bedroom and up to the bed. The moon light was bright enough to see by. "You are a strange one, Malfoy. Why would Dumbledore take the time to watch you play football?"

"Easy answer. He had the time. He decided to check on one of his bad judgements."

"You're probably right," Black replied. "Curiosity, if nothing else."

There was no noise except for Black leaving the room. A popping noise as the man apparated away.

Draco said into the dark, "Are you leaving, too?"

"I have to," Moody replied. "I need to take the train to Hogwarts, tomorrow. Too many questions will be asked if they find out I'm already here. There is one other thing before I go. The trunk beneath your bed. Along with your clothes, it has one of my invisibility cloaks. You'll need it in the morning. Early."

"Anything else?" Draco asked.

"Try to get some sleep. You need your rest."

It was still dark when Draco was shaken awake. It was Sirius Black. He had made a light with his wand so that the room was partially lit. His hand covered the top so that the light only shone downward. Any light seen from outside would be investigated.

"Malfoy, get dressed and grab the cloak. Meet me downstairs in what used to be the kitchen."

Draco complied as quickly as possible and as quietly as possible. Every noise he made seemed to echo through the entire building. He carefully made his way downstairs and confronted Black.

"We're going into the school?"

"Do you have the cloak?" Black opened a door inside the kitchen. Lighting his wand again, it revealed a flight of stairs. Seeing the question on Draco's face, he answered. "There's a tunnel down here that leads onto the school grounds. Are you familiar with the Whomping Willow?"

"It's that big tree we're warned to stay away from. It likes to attack things that come near it."

Black smiled as he motioned for Draco to follow him. "This tunnel ends at the base of the Whomping Willow. And I know a spell that will freeze it for about five seconds, enough time for you to run clear. With that cloak, you should be able to sneak inside and find a place to hide until Moody can get there." As they neared the end of the tunnel, Black reminded him. "Remember, do not attempt to visit that ghost until Alastor catches up with you."

Draco laughed. "If I do, you'll know about it. Along with the entire school."

"And keep your voice down," Black admonished. "Now get ready as I cast the spell . . . "

"Professor, a quick question. Why are you helping me?"

"You should have asked earlier. Don't you trust me?"

"Didn't think. I was just curious. After what Pettigrew did, being you're such good friends, I don't trust you. But I trust Uncle Al." He inched toward the opening. "I'm ready."

Black glared at him. "Wait a minute. What did Peter do?"

Mock surprise. "You don't know? Professor Pettigrew personally wrote to that doctor at Saint Brutus about all of my mental problems. I saw the letter. In his handwriting."

"He wouldn't. Dumbledore specifically reminded all the teachers that no comments were to be made about you to any muggles." Black sneered. "And he directed that comment at your Uncle Severus."

"You're right," Draco said callously. "And you can go there to check it out. Make sure there is no evidence."

"I will." Black's voice was harsh.

Draco laughed at him. "I won't tell anyone. I'm tired of being called a liar all the time."

"I will check," Black said with controlled anger. "And I will let everyone know what I find out." He took a deep breath as though remembering where he was. "You need to get going. I've got something to do, now, and I don't want it to wait. Get Ready . . . GO."

Wrapped in the invisibility cloak, Draco ran out of the tunnel until he was clear of the tree. He turned in time to see it unfreeze and begin to sway in the wind again. He looked back at the tunnel but could see no one there. He couldn't even see the tunnel.

Hoping he was completely covered, Draco made his way to the main entrance. There, he hesitated. If someone saw the door open but saw no one enter or leave, they would know something was up. The only option was to wait. But Draco couldn't wait too long. Moody had explained to him that this cloak was not good in direct sunlight. It would cast a faint shadow. Draco decided he had to chance it. He opened the door only as much as he needed to slip in. He let it close softly and slipped into a shadowy corner to wait for any sign that he'd been heard. There was only silence. Satisfied, Draco took a step, and stopped. There was a faint echo to his step, at least as far as he could hear. He stepped again after standing still for another minute. And he stepped as softly as he could.

Slowly, in the early morning quiet, he made his way to the staircase to the upper floors. Then he would search for an empty classroom or a storage room that he could hide in. Someplace as close as possible to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Walking was easier once he reached the top of the stair. The carpets on the floor helped muffle the noise. He made his way to the girls' bathroom and began his search from there. It was a short one. A broom closet, almost empty was just around the corner. As dusty as it was, Draco knew it wasn't being used. It would be perfect for his wait. He closed the door behind him and sat down against the back wall with just enough room to spread his legs. That it was dark was perfect. It meant Draco could go back to sleep.

Draco was awake in an instant when the light hit his face. He was still squinting when two pairs of rough hands grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. One pair of hands let go of him as he heard a familiar voice say, "Look, Fred."

"We were going to turn you in," Fred hissed, "but now I want to know why you're here?"

"Why should you care?" Draco snapped.

"Because," George whispered into his ear, "there is no logical reason for you to be here. Yet here you are AND you have an invisibility cloak."

Draco paused. How much could he explain? And even if he could explain all of it, how much would be believed. He decided to try for a boldfaced lie preceded by an unvarnished truth that wouldn't be believed.

"Sirius Black helped me sneak into the school. That cloak belongs to a friend of his. We're getting together later today to hunt Snarks."

"He's lying," George said with authority.

"Yeah, but he's a Malfoy. There's always a bit of truth in every lie."

The twins looked at each other. Then they both cast a quick glance around. Satisfied that no one had discovered them, they hustled Draco into the one place he didn't want to go.

"Don't worry," Fred told him with mock friendliness, "no one ever comes here. This bathroom is haunted."

"By Moaning Myrtle," Draco told him. "She likes to scream and yell at everyone who comes in."

"Then talk fast. Why are you here?"

George leaned into him as well, "And make sure it's the truth. We really do want to know why you're here. And fast."

"Snarks," Draco repeated, his toes occasionally touching the ground. He tried to look at Fred, but he was too close for Draco to focus. Although his anger was clearly visible. He turned to George, whom he could see slightly better, but that made him look even more angry. Then he found a face he could focus on. She was looking at him from between and above the twins. "Hi, Myrtle."

"Having a fight in MY bathroom," Myrtle said loudly.

Fred dropped Draco out of surprise, to which Draco replied, "Ow."

"And what ARE you doing here? ALL OF YOU?"

Draco decided to answer, with his own angry voice. "They thought you might want a companion. They just wanted to torture me first. Okay?"

"We weren't going to kill you," George said.

"Not that we don't want to," Fred added. He turned to Myrtle. "He was thrown out of school for attacking our sister and now he's back. We want to know why." He turned to look at Draco. "Then we'll kill him."

Myrtle giggled. "I would like company. And now I'm curious, too. Why are you here?"

It was too good a moment to pass up. He had to be honest, even if it meant letting the twins know too much. "I wanted to talk to you."

Myrtle laughed at the lie. "And why did you want to talk to Poor Dead Myrtle."

"I'm hunting for your murderer. I think he's back. I think he's the one responsible for all the attacks."

If Draco were in the mood, he would have laughed at the look of surprise on the ghost's face. One of the twins broke the spell by saying, "That's the best lie yet?"

"Stuff it, George," Draco said. "He's also the one that cast the Imperious Curse on your sister." His own look of anger keep them quiet long enough for him to finish. "I had it confirmed by a retired Auror. You ever hear of Alastor Moody?"

"Oh, Him?" Fred laughingly said. "Yeah, we know Mad Eye. We'll run down to London and ask him about it."

"Don't bother," Draco told him in a casual tone. "He'll be here this afternoon to talk to McGonagall about it. He's supposed to pick up my wand. All you have to do is wait a few hours."

"Fred?"

"George?"

The twins were having serious doubts. Everything Draco said could have been a lie but, and it was a big but, Draco HAD snuck into Hogwarts using an invisibility cloak. They stepped back to have a private discussion. Draco knew he had won a reprieve when he was asked, a few minutes later, "Are you sure it was the Imperious Curse?"

Draco nodded. "She was looking at me with a dreamy smile when she was, um, undressing, then she looked shocked, almost like she had just woken up. Moody said I gave him a classic description." He added, with a glance at Myrtle. "When he gets here, you can ask him. And let him know I'll be hiding in that closet."

"Sure," George answered, and handed him the invisibility cloak.

Fred even smiled as he offered to make sure the way was clear.

"You could wait here," Myrtle said politely with an amused smile. "After all, you said you wanted to talk to me. I suppose it would be alright. This one time."

Draco nodded with a sense of relief. Something was working in his favour. And he now had two of his friends back, even if they didn't completely trust him.

The snarls were now a pair of smirks as the twins left Draco alone with Myrtle.

Draco stood there as the ghost hovered in front of him. She looked to be fourteen or fifteen. She had gangly hair, a bad case of acne which ruined her looks and a thick pair of glasses that seemed to make her eyes impossibly big. And she was smiling.

"What did you want to ask me?"

"I, um," Draco's hand was sweaty. He was embarrassed for some reason. "I wanted to ask how you died."

"Really?" Myrtle sounded pleased. "It was all Olive Hornsby's fault," she told him. "I even haunted her afterward . . . until they made me stop. If she hadn't been teasing me so much, but she was always teasing me . . . because of my glasses and . . ."

Draco made a motion, with his hand, toward his face, as though he too had pimples. "I know. It's something I have to look forward to." He tried to give her a friendly smile and it worked. She smiled in return.

"There's not much to tell, really. I was in here, crying . . . I did that a lot . . . I still do . . . And I heard a boy's voice."

"What did he say?"

Myrtle paused as she thought. "Funny. I don't know. I don't think he was speaking English. But I opened the door to my stall to yell at him." She looked at Draco with sudden sadness. "I died."

Draco watched as a ghostly tear fell down her cheek. He looked down and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Myrtle snorted through her tears. "It wasn't your fault. It was his fault. And I never saw his face. Only . . . huge yellow eyes."

"And that was all?"

"I wish I had more to tell you. After all, you were nice enough to ask."

Draco nodded in return. He said something polite. But now he was expected to say something else. And he couldn't think of anything. There was one thing he did quickly think of. He would be spending most of the day with Moaning Myrtle. "So, um," he shrugged his shoulders, "I used to be in Gryffindor, with Fred and George. What house were you in?"

"Ravenclaw? If nothing else, I was smart." She began to frown. "If I had been smarter, I would have known better than to let Olive get to me. And I would still have been alive." Myrtle sniffled.

"Ugly prats like her always seem to know how to get to you," Draco said angrily. "Like Potter, always making some kind of comment, about anything. Just to irritate me."

His plan worked. Myrtle was smiling again, except now he was frowning. But it did start a conversation. They spent most of the next hour telling each other about all the mean tricks one person or another played on them. Fifteen minutes was spent specifically talking about Peeves, the poltergeist that lived at the school and did its best to torment everyone.

After that, the conversation turned to friends. Myrtle told him about Gail and Jeffrey who would do homework with her. Gail was always wondering why she was in Ravenclaw because she seemed about to fail everything. Jeffrey was a pureblood but was always quiet and keep to himself. He liked Myrtle and Gail because they would never bother him with personal questions. And he loved to talk magical theory with them. They would talk for hours.

Draco laughed and told her about clever clogs Hermione who always seemed out of place in his house. And Justin, the rich muggle kid who came to Hogwarts to discover that, here, he was not automatically one of the elite. Myrtle was intrigued when Draco said they were best mates. She laughed when Draco told her how they first met. Justin had heard all the rumours about Draco. After a chance comment, he became the one to tell those rumours to Draco.

Shortly after that story, Fred and George reappeared. They had been clever enough to think about food, and brought him a bag filled with sandwiches and fruit, enough for two good meals. Fred had to remind him that if it turned out that he lied, this would be his last meal. George smiled as well and asked his own question. What was Draco planning on doing, now that he had talked to Myrtle. Draco shrugged. He would wait for Moody to show up. All of this was HIS plan. Draco was only following orders.

Draco noticed the look the twins gave each other. The question had been a test, and he had passed it. Fred's smile became genuine as he told Draco to keep them informed as they were now part of the team. George added that the authorities didn't take Draco's trunk away right when he left, so the two of them took care of that. Some of the things he had left behind were also in the bag. They added that they would stop back after their last class.

After the twins left, Draco excused himself as he sat on the floor in the corner behind from the door to eat. Myrtle sighed as she thought about the last time she had eaten. Draco pulled out his sunglasses as their discussion turned to favorite foods and both laughed when they discovered they both hated treacle tarts. The glasses went into a pocket and Draco found his deck of cards. He showed Myrtle some of the card tricks he knew. It made conversation easier as they had begun to talk about their childhoods. In all, they were having fun together. It was only a matter of time before Myrtle asked Draco a question he should have expected.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"No," Draco answered honestly. "Not the way you are. Not that it's your fault. You died too early."

Myrtle looked surprised. "What do you mean by 'too early'?"

"Well, in a year or two your skin would have cleared up. That would have made a big difference. And your hair . . ." he paused, "I don't know . . . maybe that was the style back then, but nobody, at least no girls I know, wear their hair that way anymore. I guess that part's just me."

"At least no girls?"

"Yeah. There's some blokes got hair like that, mostly musicians"

Myrtle's eyes went wide. "You have to be lying."

"You don't have to take my word for it. Can you go into the houses? I know girls are always putting up posters of their favorite stars. You can go look for yourself."

Myrtle nodded at the thought. Draco looked at her pale features and tried to imagine how she would look without all those pimples. He noticed how one of them seemed to disappear behind the frames and laughed at a sudden thought. Myrtle gave him a questioning look that said, Now What?

"Your mum bought those glasses for you."

"How did you know that?" Myrtle was looking straight into Draco's eyes, hovering over his sitting figure.

"They look like they'd be perfect on somebody else."

Myrtle was grinning. "They looked great on her."

They were laughing again. They would almost stop but one of them would look at the other and they would start again. A pause, and all would be quiet, and that was enough to start them off again. Finally they calmed down enough to talk again. Myrtle was still hovering above him. Her face was only a few inches from his.

"Draco, have you ever kissed a girl?"

"Yeah, plenty of times." His palms were sweating again. "You know, pleased to meet you kind of kisses."

Myrtle was giving him one of THOSE kinds of smiles. "But you never kissed a girl just to kiss her."

"Uh . . . No."

"I kissed a boy once. He said he was curious what it was like. But he just pecked my cheek. It wasn't . . . you know . . ."

"Yeah," Draco said quietly. "How . . ."

Draco swallowed the rest of his sentence. He was going to ask how they would do it. How would a boy and girl kiss when one of them was a ghost. Myrtle was watching him, her smile was gone. If anything, she looked as nervous as he felt. And she seemed to know what he was about to ask.

"I suppose we get close enough . . . to touch lips . . . the sensation, you know . . ."

"Okay." The word spoken was barely a whisper. Their faces came closer. Draco pursed his lips for the ghostly kiss and, just before their lips met, he closed his eyes.

WHAM!!!

The door to the bathroom slammed open, smashing into the wall inches from Draco's head. Too stunned to react, Draco turned to confront whoever it was that had surprised the two of them at that most embarrassing moment. His eyes focused not on a figure standing before him but on a figure running to the row of sinks along the far wall.

It was Ginny Weasley. She had run into the bathroom so intent on reaching the sinks that she had not noticed either him or Myrtle. If he was surprised, that was nothing compared to what was going to happen next. Ginny called out the phrase, "By my command, Open". But it was not said in English. Ginny spoke in Parseltongue, Snake Language. As Draco watched, the sink Ginny was standing in front of seemed to slip into the floor, revealing an opening. A large pipe? She jumped into the opening and disappeared. The sink rose out of the floor and back into its original position.

In the echoing silence, Myrtle spoke. "For one brief second, I thought that was my father."

Draco pushed the door so that it slammed shut, figuring that if anyone had heard it then they had already heard the door when it slammed open. Keeping a straight face, Draco said, "I thought the same thing."

"That it was your father?"

"No. That it was your father."

Time was now dragging. Draco had quickly understood what had happened and how serious it was. Regardless, he was still staring at the sink from his position on the floor for a good ten minutes. The first thought to enter his head wasn't his.

"That was the girl who threw the book at me."

Draco nodded numbly. "A book? Deliberately?"

"Well . . . she threw it into the toilet where I spend most of my time." Myrtle paused. "She did come back a couple of weeks later and take it out again."

"What kind of book?" Draco asked.

"That's a stupid question. I couldn't exactly pick it up and read it, Could I?"

"Sorry," Draco said to mollify Myrtle. "I didn't think."

"She's very rude," Myrtle said, expecting an argument.

"You're telling me," Draco agreed. "She's the one who had me thrown out of here."

"You should tell somebody," Myrtle insisted.

"I will, soon. Moody should be at the school anytime now. I don't dare tell anybody else."

Myrtle sighed. "I know what you mean. Whenever I had problems, I always had to deal with them on my own."

Draco nodded. "Like with her. The head boy in our house is her brother. He wouldn't have helped me even if I had any warning."

"We had a stinky Slytherin for head boy. Always polishing apples for the teachers but once they turned their backs, he would turn his as well. Not that he was rich or anything."

"Like that Weasley girl. Barely had more money than me," Draco retorted, "Whole family's poor."

"He was, too," Myrtle noted. "I just remembered . . ." she said with half a smile. "He was poor for the same reason."

"As the Weasleys?"

"No. He was like you. He had to go back to the orphanage every summer." Myrtle was remembering something. "I laughed at him once, for putting on airs, and his face became red with anger. I swear he looked like he was going to kill me. He said I should be afraid to speak his name and he walked away."

Now, Draco was curious. He also had an evil grin on his face which made Myrtle smile. "So, what was his name, so I can be afraid, too."

Myrtle laughed at the way he said that. She was still laughing when she said the name, "Tom Riddle."

"Oh, dear," Draco said, "I am afraid. Afraid I never heard of him."

Myrtle loved him for saying that and, in her sweetest voice, wished he was dead. Draco smiled at the thought that this was the first time someone said it to him and meant it as a compliment.

"Wait," Draco said to himself. "I have heard that name before."

Myrtle was surprised. "Where?"

"Not quite sure. I remember thinking he was rich, like Justin." He felt anxiety build up in him. "Myrtle, could I ask you a big favour? Find Fred and George, find out if Moody's arrived yet. We need him here as fast as possible."

Before Myrtle could speak, Professor McGonagall's voice was heard. It was as though she was speaking through a loudspeaker system. "ALL STUDENTS ARE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOUSES AT ONCE. ALL TEACHERS ARE TO REPORT TO THE STAFF LOUNGE." The message was repeated three times.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. He dragged himself to his feet and brushed his trousers. "Never mind. We'll have to wait."

"YOU have to wait," Myrtle said. "I can go anywhere I want to. What does Moody look like?"

"Easy to find," Draco replied, "Face that looks like it's been in too many fights. Big magic blue eye that can see around corners, and a fake leg that thumps loud every time it hits the ground."

Myrtle nodded. "And while I'm gone. Remember where you heard about Tom Riddle." As a parting shot, she said, "Maybe you read about him?"

"Don't read that much," Draco admitted. He waved uselessly as Myrtle disappeared through the door.

In his head, clear as day, Bellatrix Black spoke to him, "The books I took from my sister. Are you interested?"

Draco nodded as the memory came back, full and clear. "Who'd buy a personal diary and never use it? Tom Riddle, of course." And Myrtle said Ginny Weasley had thrown away a book, then came back for it. He knew he had all the pieces of the puzzle, all he had to do was put them together. He cursed that Hermione had been petrified and hoped that Moody would arrive soon. He listened for the sounds of anyone coming, of any voice regardless of how distant, but heard nothing. He sighed in relief. The monster wasn't coming yet. He still had time.

He approached the sink and stared at it for a while. It looked so normal. Then he spied it. The one difference between it and all the other sinks. It had a snake engraved on the tap. He smiled at the subtleness. No wonder no one ever found the Chamber of Secrets.

The door pushed open and Moody walked in, Myrtle floating behind.

"I GAVE you that cloak to wear. And why are you here in the first place?" Moody's voice was low but he was angry.

"Fred and George found me. They dragged me in here to question me."

Moody rolled his eyes. "And what did you do so that they could find you."

"Nothing. I was half asleep in a broom closet with the lights out. They grabbed me as though they knew I was already there."

"And you smooth-talked the ghost into helping you?"

Draco turned to Myrtle, "He didn't mean that. He's mad at me."

"OH, that makes it all right." Myrtle glared at Moody. "It's obvious you don't need MY help anymore." With that, she disappeared into her stall.

Moody ignored Myrtle. " The entire school is in an uproar. I barely spoke to McGonagall when your ghost appeared. While you were in here having a high old time with your girlfriend, the Heir of Slytherin kidnaped a student and took her into the Chamber of Secrets."

Draco smiled at what he knew Moody's reaction would be. "Ginny Weasley wasn't kidnaped. She is the Heir of Slytherin. And the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is directly behind me." He called out in Parseltongue, "I command you to open, and to stay open."

Moody nodded. He was clearly impressed at the demonstration. Behind him, Professor McGonagall gasped in surprise. Draco tried to smile.

"Hi, Professor. Did anyone else come?"

"No, Mister Malfoy. Unless they're sneaking around the way you are. And I regret to inform you that Ginny Weasley is NOT the Heir of Slytherin."

Draco held his ground. "She's a Parselmouth. I knew where the Chamber was because she went to it and ordered it to open. Then she entered it and let it close behind her. Myrtle was also a witness." Draco paused as one of the puzzle pieces fell into place. "Um . . ."

"What?" Moody demanded.

"A book," Draco said. "I gave Ginny a book when we first met. A diary. It had a name on it. Tom Riddle. Myrtle told me he was Head Boy."

Moody nodded. "He was the one who found Rubeus Hagrid with the spider. That's why he was expelled. What was written in this diary? Do you remember?"

"Nothing."

"Alastor," McGonagall said, nervousness in her voice, "It's obvious now that you've been working on this problem. I trust your judgement on what we should do."

Moody nodded as though that was exactly what he had expected to happen. But when he turned to Draco, he also had the look of pride. Someone was listening to him, and not just humouring him. It was obvious that, but for a couple of people, that had not happened in a long time.

"We'll ignore the book for now," Moody said, "We have to make sure what it is we're facing. We're almost positive it's a basilisk."

"It is," Draco said, firmly. "Myrtle remembered seeing it. She didn't know what it was, though."

Moody nodded, and deliberately smiled at Draco. "And how long has it been since Ginny Weasley entered the Chamber?"

"About two hours."

Everyone waited for Moody to decide what to do. He said slowly, "Draco said that the twins knew. They must have let something slip. Which is why their sister fled. I will need to investigate the chamber. Which means I'll have to take Draco with me."

McGonagall objected. "But he's twelve years old."

"And a parselmouth. And the only other parselmouths I know of are a girl of eleven and Lord Voldemort. I don't have much choice in the matter."

"And what should I do?" McGonagall asked.

"You told me you had the teachers waiting. Get an attack group together, as well prepared as you can be, and come back here. We'll try to get word to you within the hour. If not . . . you know what you have to do."

McGonagall did not waste any time. She would have everyone organized to attack the Chamber well before the hour was up. And would probably start early, to be on the safe side.

"Nasty place," Moody said as he looked into the pipe. "Are you ready, Draco?"

"Almost." Draco walked over to the stall with the closed door. "Myrtle?"

There was no response.

"I wanted to say . . . I might die today . . . it could happen . . . either way . . . I'll be back. I promise."

Myrtle's face appeared through the stall door. "You would do that? Stay with me?"

"We're friends," Draco assured her. With a sudden grin, he leaned forward and tried to kiss her on the lips. He smiled at the failed effort. "We'll have to work on that."

"Draco," she called as he turned away. When he looked back, she said, "I do hope you die but. . . I also hope you don't."