OOO

If Theo had been tied down and forced to make a metaphor for what he was going through, he would have compared it to a flood. There was the first terrifying deluge, waking up to find himself ankle-deep and trapped. After that came the persistent, gradually rising of the metaphoric water seeping into every corner of what he had always assumed was a rather inviolate sanctuary. Panicked, he did what he could to raise barriers; but every day the intrusion went a little deeper, every day he lost a little more ground.

There were still some parts of his mind and memories he managed to keep private; but Nott worried that soon there would be little left that Riddle didn't know, little left of himself. There was no place to be alone, no place to ponder that was private from his most unwelcome guest. Necessity was forcing him to develop mental barriers but he worried it would be too little too late.

After all, at this point even trying to fight back would be futile; his thoughts were still too unguarded and anything he thought up to throw off Riddle's influence would, for the moment, almost certainly be known by him. Nott refused to cede, however. The best defense was, as Napoleon said, a good offense and, one way or another, he would find a way to strike back at his subtle and ghostly captor.

Somehow. Before there was too little of himself left to do much of anything at all.

OOO

"…and my gram says a long time ago a girl died!" An exceedingly pale Neville told a group of first years who were sitting at the feet of the older students, nervously tittering.

"Is the monster going to come after us?" One girl asked.

"How will we even know what the monster is?"

"You should have a pretty good idea when you see the fangs," Lee Jordan added jovially.

"Lee!" Percy blustered. "Now there's no reason to say things like that!"

"Maybe if we get lucky you'll be next, Perce," Fred teased.

"Fred!" Katie Bell chastised him, but giggled as she did.

Percy, however, looked quite red in the face, Harry noticed, and seemed not at all amused.

"This who thing is just a rumor! There is no Chamber of Secrets; it's only somebody trying to get you riled!"

"Well if there is no Chamber, what attacked Hermione?" A boy asked defensively.

"I'm sure the teachers will figure it out," Percy reassured them as Harry and Nott joined up with the twins and Lee.

"Oh, I can think of something," Seamus Finnigan spoke up with a glare at Harry.

Immediately, Harry flushed. "What are you looking at me for?" He demanded. "I mean, yeah, I got there first, but that doesn't mean I had anything to do with it! Just ask Sir Nicholas – I was down with all the ghosts at the deathday party until Myrtle came floating through the ceiling! Besides, Hermione is my friend, you know that!"

"She's your friend," he insinuated. "But can't you think of somebody that we all know rather disliked her? Somebody who's very good with animals? Somebody with dark wizards extended back in his ancestry as far back as anybody can remember?"

Harry glowered. "If you mean Draco," he snapped, "say it."

"Fine!" His cheeks flushed. "It's what we've all been thinking anyway!"

"All of us?" Said Harry dryly. "Is that so?"

"Well Zach Smith told me that Draco wasn't with the rest of the Hufflepuffs at the feast but showed up right after Hermione's body was found!" He looked around at the other students. "And you know how crazy he is about monsters and other creatures! All those dead horses he says he plays with, always swimming around with that squid in the lake… he'd skip off to the forest every other day if Hagrid wasn't there to stop him. And his father… well, I think we all know about him."

"First off – Smith? Yeah, that's a real good unbiased source for information about Draco," George broke in. "Because he didn't hate him from the day they both got Sorted into Hufflepuff."

"Well I checked with Susan and she said he ran off too! Something about spiders," he scoffed. "Which basically means that he could have been anywhere, doing anything!"

"You've got an awfully big mouth for somebody who wasn't even with the Hufflepuffs and hardly says two words to Draco," Fred growled, agitated.

"This is just a bunch of baseless accusations!" Harry shot back. "I know Draco and, like Hermione or not, he wouldn't do what you're suggesting!"

"You've known him for a year," Seamus replied. "And maybe you didn't really know him at all."

"This is insane. I'm not going to listen to this." He stood up. "Have you forgotten the end of last year? Draco is a hero. Nothing like what you're making him out to be!"

"Could have just been biding his time, though, couldn't he have? We don't really know what happened down there in that forest, do we?" Seamus remained defiant. "We just have his word and Hagrid's. Who, or so I've heard, was mixed up with something like this when he was in school!"

"Oh, so now it's Hagrid too? You're nutters." He headed for the stairwell to the dorms. "And I hope you don't think anybody is stupid enough to listen to that ridiculous story you've come up with."

He left with vocal support from the two Weasleys and Nott hot on his heels.

"Can you believe that?" He asked Theo, pulling off his socks. "Draco! Other than us, I can't think of a person less likely…"

"Maybe he has a point," Theo whispered quietly.

"What?" Harry's tone was flat and disbelieving.

"I mean, the cloak and map are gone. And he would have known about them. If he was planning something like this – no wonder he wouldn't want you to know he had them."

"But you said yourself… I mean, he's no more likely than you or the twins or Ginny or anybody else who knew!"

"Yeah, but none of us have anything against Hermione. Well… perhaps Ginny. But she was at the Gryffindor table when the attack happened. If Draco wasn't…"

"You weren't either; I'm not going to go suspecting my friends just because I didn't keep track of their whereabouts!"

"It's not just that, Harry," Nott said gently. "Maybe it wasn't even his fault. It's Halloween, everybody was in high spirits – you know how Draco is about beasts. He's like Hagrid, he tends to underestimate their dangerous capabilities." He sighed. "I confess, I had heard something about the previous death at the school." He looked gravely at Harry. "It's the reason Hagrid got expelled all those years ago – smuggling dangerous creatures into the school and trying to raise them."

Harry frowned. "How come nobody else has ever heard this?"

Nott shrugged. "It was over sixty years ago. A lot of people forgot. Remember Harry – my father is a lot older than most of the other parents of the kids here. The stories of Hogwarts I heard when growing up, what few he chanced to tell, involved a whole different generation of students apart from your parents or Draco's."

"Well I don't believe it," Harry said firmly. "I won't believe it of Draco and I don't believe it of Hagrid either. If he was punished for it, I'm sure it was unjustly."

"If you say so…" Theo said with the beleaguered air of one talking to a stubborn child.

Harry rolled over, confident that even if Theo had his doubts, nobody else would buy the cock and bull story that people like Smith and Seamus were selling. Draco was a good guy; people could see that. It was obvious.

OOO

The next morning, Harry and Draco found out that such assumptions were rather unfounded.

"Why is everybody looking at me like I've been drowning kittens?" Draco whispered to Susan as they went down to breakfast.

Susan exchanged a look with Hannah, who glanced at Ernie who looked back to Susan. "Draco…"

"I'm so sorry!" Hannah looked anguished. "Yesterday, after you ran up to us in the hall, Smith grabbed my arm on the way back to the dorm and asked why you weren't with us! I didn't think anything of it but I said you went off chasing spiders."

"And I said the same thing to Seamus Finnigan," Susan added apologetically.

"So what? I was curious about where they were going! That's… it's not that weird."

"Draco," Ernie said, pulling him aside, "they aren't saying you were chasing spiders. They think you were… They're saying you were the one who opened up the Chamber."

"What?" Draco's face bespoke a mixture of horror and confusion. "But… but why! What reason would I have?!"

"We know you don't have any," Hannah assured him. "But they're saying you fought a lot with Hermione."

"You've always liked monsters and maybe you got curious about what was in the Chamber," Susan pointed out.

"And your family does have a long Slytherin history, even if you weren't Sorted into it," Ernie finished.

"I know I did and I know I have and maybe I do… but I didn't!"

"We know that," Susan reiterated with a sigh. "It just doesn't look very good to people who don't know you as well."

"And I'm sure Smith isn't doing anything to disabuse people of that idea," he said bitterly.

"He hasn't liked you from day one, you know that," Susan said. "He's taking this as an opportunity to imply that he was right all along to suspect you. The bad thing is, I think he's got a lot of people convinced."

"When did all of this happen anyway?"

"After you went to bed a bunch of the first years were nervous and wanted explanations. Cedric started saying that there were a lot of rumors and legends and then Zach started interrupting with his theories and accusations. His version of the story sounded a lot more exciting than the down-played sense that Cedric was talking so of course everybody began talking that up." She looked at him sympathetically. "And I know it isn't right but for those born in the wizarding world… not everybody trusts the name Malfoy you know."

"Cedric didn't believe them did he?"

"He was the one who eventually told Zach to keep his mouth shut and get to bed," Ernie told him. "He was really confident too, said that we shouldn't suspect other students of this and told the first years about the end of last year."

"At least I have somebody pulling for me," Draco grumbled.

"And us!" Hannah reminded, but then frowned. "Of course I'm not so sure about the other houses."

"You said Seamus was saying stuff too?" He sat down, casting a glance at the Gryffindor table and a group of first years who were casting him sidelong glances.

Ernie nodded glumly. "I'm sure Harry or Theo could tell you more about it than us. I haven't really been outside of the Hufflepuff dorm since last night. But given the looks you're getting… sorry pal."

"This is ridiculous," Draco snapped, ladling porridge and strawberries into a bowl. Just then, he noticed Zach stepping up to the table; losing his temper for a moment, Draco stepped back from the table and confronted him, Dragon following at his heels. "You know, I have been nothing but polite since day one. And then you go and do something like… What is your problem?" He snapped.

"Maybe I don't like people who attack fellow students," Smith answered with a smirk. "Maybe I don't want to end up Petrified like Hermione. I mean, that's what seems to happen to your enemies isn 't it?" He laughed as Draco flushed. "What happened, Draco?" He taunted with faux sympathy. "Did your dad tell you about the Chamber? Maybe had a book on how to open it? Did you get a little curious about what was inside it, maybe thought you'd give her a scare? Did you lose control?" Draco trembled. "Were you going to kill her?"

"Shut your lying mouth!" Draco brought his fist crashing into Zacharias' jaw, sending him smashing into a Ravenclaw fourth year behind him.

His face flushed, Zach glowered at him from the floor then leapt up and made to throw himself at the panting Draco. He found himself suddenly restrained by a quick-thinking and rapidly acting Cedric Diggory while Ernie and Hannah helped to hold Draco back.

"I knew it!" Zach shrieked. "I knew it, you violent monster!" He pointed at Draco accusing. "I'll have you thrown out of Hogwarts for this, you'll get expelled and they'll never let you back in!"

"Stop spewing lies about me you nasty little wanker!" Draco screamed back while Dragon barked incessantly. "I don't even know if there is a stupid Chamber or how to open it and I would never attack another student like that! I never hurt anybody!"

"Boys!" Professor Sprout pushed her way through the crowd that had gathered around the two boys. "Stop this instant!" Draco relaxed into his friend's arms and Zach stilled with a backwards glare a Cedric as the prefect silently released him. The slightly grubby witch looked from one to the other. "This behavior is absolutely outrageous. Mr. Smith – you have no proof of what you are suggesting and it's only causing anxiety and tension, so I would suggest you keep your conjectures to yourself. And Mr. Malfoy – no matter what anybody says about you, you have no right to assault another student like that!" She put her hands on her hips and glared. "Twenty points from Hufflepuff – apiece! And I will see both of you in detention."

With that she returned to the head table and the Great Hall, which had fallen silent, gradually began to fill up with noise again. Draco and Zacharias glared at each other for a moment before Draco brushed past him with Dragon at his heels, breakfast forgotten, and stormed out of the castle, heading for the lake.

"Come on," Susan sighed, followed on her heels by Hannah and then, after a pause to grab a basket of toast and marmalade, Ernie. They found him sitting by the lake, as he usually did, looking out at the water.

"Thanks guys," he said with a smile, ceasing to pet Dragon for a moment and reaching for a piece of toast.

"You can't lose it like that," Susan chided as she spread marmalade over a piece of bread. "Otherwise it'll only look like he was right all along and give him more ammunition."

"I know. But…" Draco shrugged. "He got to me. It was like my first day at Hogwarts all over again except that this time – what if somebody does believe him?"

"There's no proof," Ernie reassured him. "They can't expel you based on circumstance and a grudge."

"Besides, it isn't like your dad's without any clout of his own," Susan pointed out. Draco shot her a look and she lifted a hand up defensively. "Only bringing it up."

"Look!" Hannah pointed behind them. "It's Harry!"

"Harry!" Draco grinned and waved.

"Hey." He sat on the grass and began munching the toast as well. "Quite a scene you made in there."

"Yeah." He sighed then looked at Harry. "Harry, be honest with me. The Gryffindors… are they saying it too?"

Harry bit his lip but nodded. "Yeah. Seamus was going on about it last night. The twins and I told him off for you but…"

"Nott isn't here," Draco observed in a tense voice.

"No. He's not." Harry looked at him with worry. "Draco, you know that he's a bit…"

"Yeah. I know." He laughed. "That's just great. Now even my friends are losing trust in me."

"Don't say that. It's Hermione so it's only natural… Well, I believe you had nothing to do with it. And the twins don't either."

"Or us," Hannah reminded.

"And I'll be if we ask Ginny and Luna they won't think you had anything to do with it either. They're smarter than that – they're in Ravenclaw after all – and even if Luna believes a lot of things she's never going to believe you're a murderous Heir of Slytherin."

Draco chewed his toast thoughtfully, and then broke into a small smile. "Guess you're right."

"It's just rumor and people will believe anything when they're scared," Harry reassured him. "A few more days and they'll have moved on to blaming somebody else. Or they'll find out who's really done this and then Smith will look like an idiot."

"You're probably right." He stood and started for the castle. "Let's get going before we're late."

OOO

For a few days it looked as though Harry was right. Nott kept a wary distance, but Ginny and Luna assured him that everything would be fine and that they didn't think for a moment he'd had the slightest hand in the matter. Zach was still doing all he could to cast suspicion on Draco, but by the end of the week it was looking as though even the nervous first years were having their doubts. There was still a great deal of tittering about the Chamber and more than one class had derailed Professor Binns into a frustrated discussion of the possibility of its existence. This had subsided into an interest in the Chamber itself, however, and there was less and less talk of Draco being the heir.

Then, the Friday before the Quidditch match, Justin Finch-Fletchley walked into the Hufflepuff bathroom to find a Petrified Zacharias Smith lying face down in a half-filled tub. He was unmoving and at first Justin, thinking he'd drowned, ran into the Common Room screaming and wearing nothing but a towel.

Draco hadn't even been dressed when he'd been marched in front of the Headmaster by Cedric, as much for his own safety to get him away from the crowd as any actual belief in his guilt.

"I didn't do it," he whispered miserably to Cedric as they walked through the still-empty. "I'm being framed." He looked up at him. "You believe me… don't you?"

"Yeah, Draco." He nodded. "I do."

But they both had a rather nasty feeling that, at this point, that might not be enough.

OOO

The moment he'd gotten the letter off of the owl's leg and scanned over it, the blood drained from Lucius Malfoy's face. Forgetting to feed the owl or let it out, he stormed up the steps, screaming.

"Narcissa!" He burst into the bedroom where she was writing a letter. "Narcissa, come here."

"You look as pale as your peacocks, Lucius," she said, setting the quill aside. "Whatever's the matter?"

He thrust the letter towards her.

"It's Draco." He watched her read. "Someone has opened the Chamber and…"

"…they're blaming him," she finished, looking up distraught.

OOO

A/N: So a little more about Nott and things are starting to look bad for Draco… No worries, though. They're both resourceful. ;) Plus, as this goes on, we'll get to see some more development with Lucius, Ron, and a host of other characters.