Chapter 8: T.M. Riddle
The rest of the Christmas Holidays passed by without further incident.
Missis Longbottom actually opened up to the children and it was more often then not that you would find her at eight o'clock sharp engulfed in a debate with the five kids on mostly any subject at hand. She was mildly impressed with Diana and Neville's knowledge of Herbology, respectively Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, and more then a little awed at Hermione and Heidi's vast knowledge of mostly anything and everything, while Dudley won the woman over with talks about the Muggle life and drills (something he had learned from his father).
Two days before Christmas found the kids and Miss Longbottom in Diagon Alley wondering for presents.
Christmas day was spent in a jovial atmosphere, the twins, Dudley and Hermione received gifts from their parents and a few old friends like: Lavender and Parvati, Hagrid, Malfoy (surprisingly) and Ron Weasley (though, this time, it was addressed to Hermione).
The rest of the week past in a whirlwind of fun and relaxation, and no little work on the kids' defensive and offensive spells – the four were surely not going to take the whole idea of a Basilisk running around the school lightly, especially since they weren't quite sure where the entrance to the Chamber was – so, Missis Longbottom would often indulge them with a duel or two, in which they would get totally whooped by the elder woman.
The twins, Dudley and Hermione returned to their respective houses on the semi-last day of the holidays and promised Neville they would see each other on the train.
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"So, what are we gonna do about the whole chamber incident?" Diana asked once she, Heidi, Hermione and Neville had managed to find a free compartment and barricade themselves in it.
"I say we go and tell Dumbledore," Hermione insisted. "We promised Missis Longbottom that we'd do just that the moment we get to school!"
"I had my fingers crossed," Diana said earning herself an enraged glare from her bushy haired friend. "Why don't you try to straighten that hair of yours?" Diana snapped. "Come her and let me fix it for you!"
Diana started fussing over Hermione's curly looks while the seriously aggravated girl turned to look at the other occupants of the compartment.
"Diana's right," Heidi said. "We can't go to Dumbledore without proof. I say we check the corridor for the entrance in the chamber, and then, once we find it, we go and tell Dumbledore."
"We're not going in are we?" asked Neville looking fearful.
"Of course not," Heidi waved his worries aside.
That's what you think, Diana mussed in a mischievous voice.
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The first evening at Hogwarts past by with little to no incident, since the kids were far too exhausted, thanks to their long journey, to think of anything else but sleep.
The following day, when afternoon came and the sun was glittering through the mount of foggy clouds, no soon had lunch ended and the majority of the school headed out towards the grounds to enjoy what little good weather the day would provide, found the quartet snuggled inside a broom closet on the second floor, anxiously waiting for Snape (that greasy git!), to pass so that they could begin their inspection of the corridor.
The kids had come fully equipped with two sets of mirrors (Neville had four), and a tricky little device that the girls had found in Diagon Alley which was charmed to replicate any animal's voice (it was currently set on roster).
Snape finally strolled around a corner and down towards the spiral staircase, his long, black cloak billowing dramatically after him with every sluggish step the man took.
The four kids poked their heads out to make sure the coast was clear and then quietly exited the cramp closet.
"What do you think Snape was doing here?" Neville queried in barely a whisper.
"Isn't it obvious," Diana asked in an equally quiet voice. "He's the culprit! And is therefore checking the corridor to make sure he hasn't left any evidence behind!"
"Or just to hinder people from investigating," Heidi supplied.
"Yeah, that too," Diana nodded.
"Guys! Would you stop that," Hermione chastised. "You've suspected Snape last year and you were proven wrong! What if you're wrong this time?"
"What if we're right?" Heidi countered.
"Stop yapping and start scanning the corridor already!" Diana prompted. "We don't know when that oversized bat is gonna come back again!"
The kids gave a mute nod and proceeded to split up in pairs and took to wandering the corridor. Diana and Hermione took charge of the path which led toward the spiral staircase, while Neville and Heidi set off down the opposite road.
"You know," Hermione muttered after some time. "I, for one, doubt that Slytherin would have left his chamber in a corridor, I think he might have built it in one of the classrooms or… a secret passageway or… I don't know – a cupboard?"
"Mione, we've been over this," Diana chided. "We check the corridors first! Then, if we turn up empty handed, we check the classrooms."
"What about the bathroom? Quite a few of the incidents took place right next to it, the writing is pretty close too, and there was water on the floor the night Missis Norris was attacked. And we've already established that the Basilisk uses the pluming system to get through the school," Hermione reasoned.
Diana turned to give her friend an angry scowl.
"Hermione, we're almost at the end of the corridor here! Can't you wait a little longer?! We'll see the bathroom afterwards, I promise!"
The curly haired girl nodded reluctantly and resumed her scan of the corridor.
Pointless, she was thinking. How are we supposed to find anything here if we don't know what we're looking for? It's like trying to find a needle in a sack of hay, only then we'd at least know we're looking for a needle, but now –
Something quite peculiar caught the girl's eyes as she randomly surveyed the corridor.
"Hey, look!" Hermione beckoned Diana towards her.
"Did you find something?" Diana asked eagerly.
"Just another proof that we're dealing with a Basilisk," she pointed at a crack in the wall, where an absurd number of spiders were fighting viciously with each other to get through first.
Diana shuck her head disapprovingly.
"Come on Mione, we've wasted enough time."
The two resumed their scan of the corridor, but half an hour later, when the four had reassembled, they came up empty handed.
"I say we try the bathroom," Hermione opted.
"I agree," Heidi nodded.
"She's been a nightmare," Diana whined.
"It wouldn't hurt to check," Neville reasoned.
The four kids made their way towards the bathroom door, while silently praying that Moaning Myrtle, the annoying spirit which haunted the place, was somewhere else.
No such luck.
The moment the four stepped into the bathroom they were greeted with the morbid sight of the pearly white figure of one of the ugliest girls you could ever see. She was a bit on the fat side, with plump cheeks and a pronounced belly. She wore round, geeky glasses and a foul look on her face which clearly stated that she was not at all happy to see them.
"Hello Myrtle," Hermione greeted cordially.
"What are you doing here?" Myrtle asked sharply. "Come to throw something else at me?"
"Why would you think that, Myrtle?" Neville asked kindly. "You know we'd never do something like that to you."
"And why should I believe that?" she snapped. "You're just as-"
"Because I know what it's like when someone else bullies you," Neville promptly interrupted. "And I'm not a fan of such barbaric behaviors! I would never submit someone to such vile treatment."
"That's right Myrtle," Hermione joined in the conversation. "You know that we would never dream of hurting you. Why don't you tell us what's wrong?" Hermione inquired, smiling reassuringly at the ghost.
Myrtle began sobbing and talking about what a horrible day she had had, and how Peeves the poltergeist had chases her throughout the castle with a bag of popcorn which he had thrown at her, while Diana and Heidi scooped the bathroom for anything out of the ordinary.
The floor was unusually slippery, and a putrid smell of sorts mixed with the sent of decaying metal was still traceable in the air. It seemed that Myrtle had flooded the toilets not long ago, the twins were just glad that they hadn't been around to see it.
"Myrtle, is this the object that was thrown at you?" Diana asked while critically surveying a shabby little book which lay unceremoniously on the glassy floor. Contrary to the rest of the surrounding, which was, for the most part, dry, the black and scrawny book was still soaked to the cover, and not a little smelly.
"Yes, that's it," Myrtle choked out and began sobbing again.
Neville shock his head disappointed, then he and Hermione resumed their vain attempts at calming the ghost. Heidi was already inspecting some other side of the bathroom, her attention short for such childish behavior. Diana too, was about to turn her head away from the plain book, but something on the back of its cover caught her eye.
"1942?" That was the date that was imprinted on the back of the diary. "50 years from today? That's rather old," Diana mussed. She sent the old book a dirty look – it must be filled with germs and god only knows what other stuff. She tentatively stretched out a hand towards the sullied old thing only to withdraw it before it touched the cover.
What the bloody hell is wrong with you! Leave the filthy thing to rot! Her inner voice snapped at her, but there was another voice which prompted her forward, taunting her with the promise of information about the Chamber's location, or even the name of the perpetrator.
And 1942 shouldn't be that long apart from when the chamber incident took place, the owner might have written something! That soul thought convinced her to hastily pick up the tiny book and stuff it in her bag. She then pulled out a napkin from her pocket and whipped her hands on it.
At diner time, the kids left the corridor behind, though quite reluctant, but the two know-it-alls insisted that it would look suspicious if they missed dinner. "Someone might think there has been another attack," Hermione tried reasoning with Diana, but the red head was as stubborn as ever, though, one death threat and a rather nasty glare from her sister latter, had her on her way towards the Great Hall faster then you could blink.
"So, we found nothing," Neville said discouraged.
"Hey, don't give up yet! There's still loads of places aside from the bathroom on that corridor," Diana encouraged. "We'll find that stupid entrance eventually!" she assured, and dove into her plate of food.
"And I was so sure it was the bathroom," mumbled Hermione disgruntled.
After diner, the kids decided to return to the corridor to do some last-minute-scan, but they bumped into Filch who whined about the slow rate at which the Mandrakes were growing. Then Filch resumed his guard of the corridor and the kids had no other option but to head up to bed, less they risked looking suspicious to Filch.
"We wouldn't need to do this if we just go to Dumbledore and let him take care of things," Hermione reprimand and stormed off to bed looking irritated.
"What's her problem?" Diana grunted as she settled into on of the comfy armchairs by the fire.
"She's mad because she's right," Neville said matter-of-factly. "I'm off to bed, and just so you know: We don't find the chamber in one week's time, then I personally am going to Dumbledore and I'll tell him everything I know."
"Neville! Are you really gonna be like that?!" Diana whined, but the blond boy was already on his way up the stairs and didn't bother to grace her with a response. Heidi was soon to follow Neville's lead and head up with a last drowsy "Good night," to her sister.
Diana patiently waited for her sister to disappear off to bed, then she hurriedly laid her bag on the table and scooped through, up until she found the germ-infested diary she had picked up earlier. Giggling slightly, she hastily opened up the tiny book, expecting to find some long forgotten treasure of the past, but came across empty page, much to her disappointment.
"You have got to be kidding me," she glared at the dirty old book with distaste. "Not one little word?" she flipped throughout the pages, but found absolutely nothing in the old book, only a name written on the back page in a neat handwriting, which read: T.M. Riddle.
"T. M. Riddle?" Diana wondered. "I know that name…" But for the life of her she could not remember where she had seen it. "T? Tom? Tom Riddle!" she exclaimed, suddenly remembering the Award for Special Services to the School she had seen in the trophy room a little over a year ago. "This belonged to Tom Riddle!" she giggled, while regarding the ragged old diary in a new light. "And he didn't even bother to write in it," she huffed disappointed.
"His loss," she said and pulled out a quill.
January 7, 1992, she wrote. I'm bored! Then sniggered. Should I start writing a diary? She was pondering over those words, when the writing on the diary suddenly disappeared to be replaced by a sentence written in the same neat handwriting as the name on the back:
I don't see why not. A lot of people find it practical to be able to share their thoughts with someone, even if that someone is an inanimate piece of paper.
The writing then magically disappeared and Diana was stuck gaping at the black paper for several seconds up until she finally snapped out of her stupor and hurriedly dove her quill into the ink bottle and wrote:
How did you do that?
The ink disappeared again and a new line appeared:
Do what?
That? Diana wrote impatient. Make the writing disappear?
Oh, that! I'll explain to you in a minute, but first, could you tell me your name?
Oh, how rude of me. My name is Diana Potter. And you are?
Tom Riddle. It is a pleasure meeting you milady.
Tom Riddle? You mean the actual owner of the diary? Diana asked excited.
Yes. Where have you heard of me?
I saw your Award in the trophy room.
I didn't actually think someone was interested enough to visit that place. It certainly never drew any attention in my time.
It's not getting any special treatment today either, I just happened to stumble by it when I was looking for a blond idiot I'd like nothing more then to throttle. So are you gonna tell me how is it that you can talk?...write?
Her conversation with Tom Riddle lasted on long into the night. Diana found out that the diary was actually enchanted to preserve the boy's memory from his time at Hogwarts within, something which pleased Diana to no end, since she wanted to know everything about the boy with the cutest name in the world.
My name is not cute!
Of course it is! It flows so smoothly off the tongue see: Tom Ridddddddle!
And my name had only two "d"-s in it!
I knew that!
The conversation covered a whole variety of topics, from parents, to teachers, to the Chamber of Secrets itself.
Did you receive that award after catching Hagrid for opening the Chamber? Diana had asked out of the blue.
Where did that come from?
Well, it was awfully easy to make the connection. I mean, you did get your award on the same day that Hagrid was expelled and the Headmaster did announce that they had caught the culprit the day before.
Who told you that?
Neville's granny, Missis Augusta Longbottom. Do you know her?
Yes, I remember her. She was a third year Gryffindor when the Chamber incident occurred.
Well, I just wanted to know if you knew where the entrance to the Chamber was?
No, I can't say I do.
Then how did you know Hagrid did it if you didn't know where the entrance was?
That is because he was hiding the monster in a box in his pocket, and-
A box? Are you kidding me?! A 1000 year old Basilisk can't fit in a box! It would have been as big as my house by them!
B-basilisk, you say?
Yes, Basilisk. My friends and I came to the conclusion that it could only be a Basilisk that was behind the attacks. You see it lives long enough, its eyes kill the victim instantly, but I think that if you look at them through something else it just petrifies you, and…wait for it… it's a snake! And Salazar Slytherin was renowned for his ability to talk to snakes, and being the conceited bastard that he was I'm sure he would of picked nothing less then the best as his special house pet! There! Makes sense doesn't it?
Tom had staid surprisingly quiet after that, unnerving the red head girl with a full two minute of absolute silence.
Tom? Is everything alright?
Yes, Tom had responded after a short pause. I just need a break so that I can stomach what you've just revealed to me. I hope you don't mind?
No, not at all! Diana was quick to reply. It's already three in the morning, so I best be going of to sleep – busy day tomorrow and so on. Good night Tom!
Good night, where the last words of the diary for that night.
Diana had actually started worrying that she might have upset the diary somehow, or been a little to insensitive about the whole Chamber story. After all, Tom might have wrongly accused an innocent man. She too would have been shaken had that happened to her. Diana went to sleep with a heavy heart that night, but not before promising herself that she would somehow cheer Tom up tomorrow.
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It seemed Diana needn't had worried, since Tom was back in good spirit the next day and actually offered to help her and her friends come to the bottom of the whole Chamber incident.
Well, we know that it's housing a Basilisk, and that it's supposed to be located somewhere on the second floor.
Second floor? Why the second floor?
Well, for one: The writing appeared there, both the first and last time, then there's the fact that both the past and present victims seem to have been found somewhere inside that corridor, and of course there's also the bathroom there, which is a perfect place for asnake to use to get into the pluming system – we've come to that conclusion that he uses those to move around.
That's quite and interesting theory.
Oh, you don't know the half of it! But anyhow, we're stuck on places to search. Our best guess was the bathroom, but we found nothing there.
Nothing?
Nope, nothing.
Well, you did say that Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth, maybe he has sealed the exit with parsel-magic?
We thought about that too. And it won't be much of a problem since my sister and I can speak Parseltongue.
Oh, really?
Yeah, isn't it great?!
Tom's answers took a suspicious one-word-only turn, which made Diana think that she might have said something else that had upset the boy and so she decided to change the topic, which seemed to alleviate the diary a bit, as his responses became concrete sentences once more.
Diana thought a few times about telling her sister and friends about Tom, but she didn't actually feel like it. She didn't like the idea of sharing such a smart and hot guy with anyone – she had asked to see his face one day and Tom had told her to lock for one in the Hogwarts register, and what she found was one hell of a guy who she'd like to snogg on sight. She didn't want to unnerve Tom with the whole Chamber subject and so, she had resorted to not mentioning about her daily wonders throughout the corridor with little to no success to the old diary, and had instead take to discussing her courses and homework with him.
On more then one occasion the old diary had helped her out with her assignments which had earned her an Outstanding in class and a suspicious glare from her sister which she easily countered with a: "So what? You think you're the only one who's studying around here?" Which had earned her a few more suspicious looks from her sister, but the green eyed girl refused to comment.
So, between swooping the corridors, talking to the memory of a 50 year old boy, Quidditch practice, coir lessons, a tone of homework which seemed to double by the day and the ever exhausting classes themselves, 14 of February found the quarter in another heated battle.
"Diana, Heidi, Hermione! Be reasonable already! We have to tell Dumbledore!" Neville was whining on that fateful day.
Over the past month, Hermione had started seeing the whole find-the-Chamber-of-Secrets thing as a new and exciting project, while Heidi just got plain stresses over the fact and the two had joined Diana in her protest about going to Dumbledore. Neville had, of course, not been true to his word about telling Dumbledore in fear that he might anger his newly acquired friends, and therefore, the girls had stopped taking him serious on the threat and stubbornly refused to listen to his request.
"Neville have you sent Ginny a valentine's card?" Diana asked in hopes of distracting the boy.
It worked. The blond turned bright red and began stuttering madly while nodding his head.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Diana squeaked and hugged the boy, then quickly pulled away and asked: "You didn't send it anonymously did you?"
Neville hung his head in shame and Diana gave a frustrated groan. "Why? Why can't you just go up to her and tell her you like her?! Not even in a bloody letter Neville!"
"Sorry," Neville muttered embarrassed.
"You're one to talk," Heidi hissed tauntingly. "When you told Malfoy that you liked him barely a year after you started crushing on him."
Diana blushed an angry shade of red and turned to glare daggers at her twin. "Well, sissy dear, have you sent Diggory any letters for Valentine?" she shot back while giving her sister a nasty smile.
"Of course," Heidi answered. "And it's signed," she added smugly.
Diana squeaked in delight and throttled her sister with a hug while Neville looked at her with new found admiration and Hermione hung her head while forcing on a smile.
"Is your abandoned-at-the-shore complex not over yet?" Diana asked the brown haired girl. Hermione did not answer and definitely didn't make a move to lift her head of the ground.
"Please tell me that you did not send a Valentine to Lockhart or Weasley!" it was a demand rather then a question, and Hermione was definitely avoiding eye contact this time. "You didn't!" Diana snarled before she threw herself at the girl while Neville and Heidi tried to restrain her.
"Run!" Neville screeched as he wrestled Diana away from the girl.
Hermione didn't need to be told twice as she leaped from the place like a frightened puppy, while Diana managed to disentangle herself from her restrainers and chased after her. Hermione speed up towards the great hall and promptly opened the doors, only to be shocked speechless by what was inside. Diana caught up to her and was about to strangle her when she too, noticed the change that the majestic hall had undergone.
The walls were tinted in a pale pink color on which a multitude of flowers of all shapes and sizes were embroidered, and there were heart-shaped confetti falling from the navy blue sky.
The girls stood rotten to the spot, mystified by the sight in front and only snapped out of their stupor when Heidi and Neville walked in behind them and gave a disgusted groan at the sight ahead.
"I thought Halloween was over," Heidi said while wrinkling her nose.
"It's so cute!" Diana said in a dreamy voice.
"Yes, it is quite a sight," Hermione mumbled from somewhere beside her.
"I bet Lockhart did it," Heidi said. Diana's smile dropped of her face and Hermione's eyes seemed to acquire a new glee of delight, while Neville looked plainly uncomfortable with the girlish decoration.
"Well it's not that good," Diana scoffed heading for the Gryffindor table and took a seat right beside the door. "Come on, let's finish eating and get out of this place before it makes me sick," she prompted.
Neville sat down instantly and began filling his plate with food, Heidi was soon to follow, but Hermione, on the other hand, turned to give her a disapproving glare.
"You said it was cute earlier," she reminded.
"That was before I found out who made the arrangements," Diana said and stuffed a pile of potatoes and sausage in her mouth.
"I can't believe you're being so biased!" Hermione huffed indignantly and took a seat next to Neville.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted, making the quarter jump in surprise. Diana nearly choked on her potato, while Neville almost fell under the table, Heidi sent him a few colorful swears while Hermione looked up with a racing heart.
Lockhart was dressed in lurid pink robes, which matched the color on the walls perfectly, and was droning on about the decorations as if they were some sort of treat he was handing out to little children. He actually dared to whine about the fact that he received only forty-six Valentines so far in his ever attention-seeker-brat manner and revealed to them that he had had the vile idea of hiring dwarfs to send their Valentines (a fact that horrified more then a few students).
"Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"
Diana's nostrils blew out steam when she saw her favorite professor look positively distraught at the high table while Heidi hoped that Snape would just off Lockhart one of these days and not take his anger on the poor fangirls which were sure to follow his lead and got to the man for a love-potion.
"You were not one of those silly little fangirls who sent that man letters were you?" Diana asked in barely contained anger.
Hermione threw her a fearful expression and finished her food in one gulp then proceeded to storm out of the Great Hall with Diana fast on her tail. Neville and Heidi sighed in defeat and hastily took a few bites, then sat up and left the hall.
On their way out, Neville and Heidi bumped into Ginny Weasley who had a desperate sort of expression on her face.
"Hey there Gins," Heidi greeted. "Where's the fire?"
"Hello, Miss Potter," the girl replied shyly. "I was just wondering if you have seen a small black diary somewhere around here? I lost mine about a month ago and it's very important to me and I need it back, but I can't-"
"Hey, slow down," Heidi interrupted. "There's no need to panic! We'll help you find your diary. Isn't that right Neville?"
Neville flushed bright red and nodded his head. "Yeah," he managed to say.
"Oh, thank you," Ginny looked relieved. "I was so scared and I can't tell my brothers or they'll tease me about it."
"Ok. Let's sit down and why don't you tell me where you've last seen it," Heidi prompted and dragged Neville along.
Ginny kept stuttering madly as she tried to recall where she had lost the diary, and the three kids circled around the school looking for it, up until they reached Moaning Mirtle's bathroom.
"This is where you lost your diary?" asked Heidi confused.
"I'm sure I didn't have it on me when I left," Ginny replied.
"What were you doing here in the first place?" Heidi asked slightly suspicious. "This toilet is out of order."
"I know," Ginny fidget. "I just…didn't want anyone to see me when I- I just ran into Diggory and-"
"Ok, I get it," Heidi nodded while Neville looked on in confusion. "The diary was most certainly here," Heidi informed her.
"Are you sure?" asked an anxious looking Ginny.
"Yes," nodded Heidi. "My sister found it a few weeks ago when we were helping Mr. Filch clean up," she lied smoothly. "But we didn't take it. It should still be around here."
"Why don't we search for it," Neville suggested looking jittery.
The other two nodded, and for the next hour or so, the three proceeded to scan the bathroom from top to bottom, inch by inch, up until they came to the unsatisfying conclusion that the diary was nowhere to be found.
"It's not here," Neville hung his head, disappointment clearly written on his face.
"Maybe someone came in here and took it," said Ginny.
"You're probably right," nodded Heidi. "I have one more place I want to check, but first I need to go to the bathroom. Can you two wait outside for me?"
"Sure," Neville nodded then he and Ginny left the bathroom.
Heidi took her time in the bathroom, wanting to give Neville some time alone with Ginny, unaware that the two would just sit there like statues, each avoiding eyes contact, and squirming uncomfortably on the spot. She strolled off to one of the sinks and turned on the lever, wanting to wash her hands, but no water poured out of the old sink.
"Are you kidding me?!" she sighed frustrated and tried the following sink. A stream of water tipped out of the rusty old sink and Heidi washed her hands gratefully, while giving the previous sink a calculative glare. She turned off the sink and moved to the one next to it, and turned it on. Water was pouring freely out of this one too. And the next…and the next, and so on, up until she reached the first sink she had tried, which, for some reason, didn't seem to work.
"Interesting," she mussed and started scrutinizing the sink carefully, up until she came across a small serpent embroider on the sink's water pipe. She traced the serpent with her finger while looking gleefully at it.
"Gotcha," she smiled triumphantly and rushed outside to find Neville and Ginny engulfed in an awkward silence.
"Neville, I've found the Chambe-," she said and the two kids turned to look expectantly at her. "Oh," then she remembered that Ginny was there. "Right, the diary. Let's go up to the common room, there's a place I want to check."
Heidi rushed the two up to Gryffindor tower, eager to get rid of the Weasley girl, and instructed the two to wait in the common room. She rushed up to the second year girls' bedroom and headed for her sister's trunk.
Truth be told, she didn't want to think that her sister was that dumb as to take that germ filled old diary with her, but they had been scanning the corridor for weeks now, and they hadn't seen anyone walk into that bathroom, so the most likely thing that could have happened was that Diana (she tended to pick a lot of things off the street when she was young), or Hermione (she might have though someone was looking for it and would have either brought it to a teacher or took it to a prefect, or held on to it for safe keep), might have taken the diary, so, she wanted to be sure that it wasn't any of them before she sent the Weasley girl off to McGonagall or a prefect, because she was sure as hell not gonna tell that innocent little first year about her other suspicion about who might have taken her diary.
Luckily (or not), it seemed that Diana had not abandoned her bad habit of picking germy items off the ground. The diary was sitting neatly in her bed drawer. Heidi hurriedly grabbed it and marched out the door and down the steps.
"Here," she handed the diary to Ginny, and, not waiting for a thank you, she grabbed Neville and ran out of the common room, with the boy hurrying behind her.
"Heidi, what's all tha-"
Heidi spun around on the spot and whispered in a quiet, but excited tone: "I found the Chamber!"
Neville didn't seem to register what she said for the fist few seconds and looked dumbly at her, but then his eyes widened dramatically and he asked in an eager voice: "Really?"
"Yeah," Heidi nodded as means of confirmation and proceeded to tell him how she had stumbled across it in a very fast and hushed voice that the boy had trouble keeping up with what she was saying.
"And you see, that's why we couldn't find it! Because we completely disregarded the fact that the passageway to the chamber might not be hided inside a wall, so we ignored the sink at our first scan through the bathroom!"
"Wow, so we found the chamber," Neville asked bewildered.
"Yeah, we did," Heidi nodded. "We have to go and tell Diana and Hermione, then go to Dumbledore with this at once!"
Neville nodded numbly, still in a stage of shock, then the two ran down the corridor and towards the library, thinking that the two girls might have gone there to study.
Heidi marched up to madam Pince, not wanting to have to scan the whole library to find the two. "Excuse me," she said in a polite, but slightly impatient voice. Madam Pince turned to give her a cold glare. "Have you seen Hermione or my sister today?"
"No, not today," she replied coolly.
"Thank you," Heidi nodded curtly and stormed out the door with Neville rushing up beside her.
"Maybe they're in the great hall?" Neville suggested. "It's nearly lunch."
"You have a point there," Heidi nodded and the two set course for the great hall.
The two, however, decided to not go anywhere near the place when they saw the mountain of dwarfs waiting there with letters in their hands and harps on their back, looking around the crowd of people. Heidi knew that if this Valentine was gonna be anything like the last, then at least three of those dwarfs were waiting for her, so she said:
"I honestly don't think Diana would go anywhere near that place."
Neville nodded mutely – seemingly uncomfortable with approaching the threatening looking dwarfs, so the two spun on their heels and marched back up the stairs.
The two spent the next hour or so searching through the castle, and finally decided to quit their search in favor of waiting in the common room. Diana arrived half an hour after dine had started and both Neville and Heidi were quick to fill her in on the latest news regarding the Chamber incident.
"You found it?" she asked excited.
"Yeah, but we're not telling you where it is until we get to Dumbledore's office," Heidi told her sister.
"But, why not?" she asked slightly irked.
"Because you'd go in there and try to save the Basilisk," Heidi answered.
"I would not-" Diana started to protest, but Heidi cut her off.
"Do you know where Hermione is?"
"No, I haven't seen her since lunch," Diana answered.
"So, you were in the great hall?" Heidi asked puzzled.
"Yeah," Diana nodded. "A few dwarfs came and sang a few poems and delivered a few letters." Heidi gave her a skeptic look. "What?" Diana snapped. "I was hungry! I wasn't about to starve to death because of some bad written poetry! Besides they made themselves look bad by writing those things! Sis, you should have seen the look on their faces when the dwarfs shouted out their names," she said in a chuckling voice.
"Diana," Heidi looked slightly pale when she spoke. "You haven't seen Hermione at all, since lunch?"
"No," Diana answered. "I was out with Parvati and Lavender, and Mione said that she wanted to go looking for you and Neville."
"Was she at dinner?" Heidi insisted, the color on her face draining rapidly.
"No," Diana said. "I was waiting for you guys to show up, but no one did and so I got bored and came to look for you."
"We need to find Hermione," Heidi said and promptly sat up.
"Isn't she in the library?" asked Diana following her sister's lead.
"No," Neville answered. "We didn't feel like going to lunch and so, we went to look for you to tell you two about the chamber, and the library was the first place we looked."
"Figures," Diana nodded, and then stopped dead in her track. "She's been missing for four whole hours?" the red head asked in a panicked voice.
"It seems that way," Heidi nodded.
The three rushed down to the library to disturb madam Pince once again, and their worse fear was confirmed: Hermione had not been in the library once today, and knowing the girl quite well, that was not a good sign.
"Let's head down to the second floor corridor," Heidi said. "She might have thought that we were checking it out again." The kids nodded and bolted for the spiral staircase, their hearts pounding wildly in their chest.
As soon as they reached the corridor, they knew something was horribly wrong.
There was water spread out on the floor, spiders running hazardly around, trying desperate to escape the place and Filch was standing still as a statue, right in the middle of the corridor.
"Mr. Filch?" Diana asked tentatively.
Filch turned abruptly to look at her, a panicked expression maiming his face. "Diana, don't come here!" the caretaker rushed forward and tried to push her out of the corridor.
"Mr. Filch, what are you-"
"Hermione," Neville whispered in a numb voice, which still echoed in Diana's head, making her stiffen on the spot.
Heidi had dashed forward followed shortly by Neville. The sudden movement of her two companions seemed to snap the red head back into motion, and she pushed roughly past Filch, and stopped dead in her tracks.
"HERMIONE!" she shrieked and stormed towards Heidi and Neville.
Up ahead, lying stone-dead on the marble floor, surrounded by a pool of water, sat Hermione Granger. A horrified expression was carved on her marble face and a pocket mirror was held firm in the girl's hands.