Harry rushed out of the castle and to Hagrid's hut, clutching Tom Riddle's diary close to his chest. He was stunned to see Hermione was there with Ginny Weasley.

"Oh, hello," Hermione said as she stepped out of the hut before Hagrid could see who was at his door. "Neville."

Harry glared at her, well-aware she had caught on to his act half-way through his interrogation. He'd had to run before she could call a teacher and she had glared at him every time he saw her.

"I was just doing what you had been doing," Harry told her in a level tone. "Trying to find out what was going on with the Chamber of Secrets."

"Oh, so it's not you?" she asked shortly.

"No," he deadpanned.

"Harry?" Hagrid called from inside the hut and Hermione stepped aside to allow Harry into the home.

The giant of a man gave Harry a hug and then offered him some tea.

"Hagrid," Harry started as he set Tom Riddle's diary down on the table. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

He dared a glance over at Hermione and Ginny.

"Uh...alone?"

"Anything you have to say to Hagrid, I'm sure you can say to me!" Hermione gasped.

"It's private," Harry told her.

"All right," Hagrid got up before any of them could start arguing. "Hermione, Ginny. It was great ter see ya. Why don'tcha head up ter the castle, hmm?"

The two girls politely excused themselves, Ginny giving the man a hug before they left.

"Now, what's this all about, Harry?" Hagrid asked.

"It's about the Chamber of Secrets," Harry started. "And how you were blamed for opening it."

Hagrid explained everything he could, about how he hadn't actually opened the Chamber, but everyone thought he had.

"I got blamed by a fellow student and it was his word against mine."

He'd had a spider named Aragog, a giant thing now, that he had kept in a spare room. The student had blamed Aragog, but Hagrid said it wasn't him.

"He never left that room, not even his chest, until I took him ter the Forbidden Forest."

He also told Harry how the girl had died in a bathroom.

"Poor thing. It was all so sudden. I lost me wand, got it snapped, but Dumbledore, he's a good man, he let me stay on as gamekeeper."

The man dabbed at his eyes and then decided it was getting late. Harry got up, reaching for where he had put the diary, only to find it was gone.

"What's wrong?" Hagrid asked in alarm when Harry gave an angry shout.

"Hermione!" Harry hissed. "She stole the diary!"

"I don't have your stupid diary, Harry," Hermione fumed as she stuck a book back onto its shelf in the library. "Maybe you dropped it."

"It was either you or Weasley," Harry accused as he glared at her.

"Ginny?" Hermione's tone was tense as she glanced at Harry. "Neither of us took your diary!"

Frustrated as he wasn't getting any answers, Harry stormed out of the library.

Not many weeks after Harry's argument with Hermione, the girl was the next victim. The accusations which had already labeled Harry as the culprit increased. Everyone knew the two weren't friends, even if they had sort of been friends last year. They also knew the two had "recently" gotten in an argument. Fingers were pointing and Harry was hiding. He almost wanted to skip classes. Everything seemed to have turned upside down at this change in events. To top it all off, Hagrid had been taken to Azkaban and Dumbledore had been forced to leave thanks to the governors, something Draco got immense enjoyment out of.

Throwing his bag across the common room, which he could only hope was empty, Harry let out a frustrated yell.

"Bloody hell, Potter."

The voice made Harry jump and he realized with horror he'd thrown his bag at Theodore Nott, who was sitting on a couch with books all around him, some of them not even his own anymore.

Apologizing, Harry approached the other Slytherin and began to gather up his books.

He paused when he discovered a hefty book about magical creatures.

"What's this?" Harry asked as he cracked open the book to where it was bookmarked only to find a page had been ripped out. "What happened here?"

"Someone tore a page out," Theodore shrugged as Harry examined the neighbors of the missing page. "About the basilisk."

"Basilisk?" Harry questioned.

"Yes," Theodore took the book from Harry, treating it with care. "Its a giant snake that can kill people by looking them in the eye."

Harry froze at hearing this and looked up at Theodore with wide eyes.

"What?" Theodore quirked a brow.

"N-nothing."

Harry finished packing his bag and then rushed towards the exit.

"Potter!" Theodore shouted after him, but he was ignored.

Harry was rushing so quickly towards the Great Hall, where Draco had said he'd last seen their Head of House, that he ran right into Ronald Weasley. There was one moment where they were shocked to see each other and then in the next Ronald was punching Harry.

"Get off!"

Harry tried shoving the taller boy away, but he wasn't strong enough. He heard his glasses crack and his nose pop. He tasted blood in his mouth.

"You give her back!" Ronald was yelling. "You give her back right now!"

Harry kicked out finally, getting Ronald right in the groin and causing him to double over with pain. Scrambling to his feet, Harry took off down the hall, Ronald quick to chase him as soon as the pain had subsided. Running faster than he had been when looking for Snape, Harry completely missed the water on the floor and let out a yell as he slid across the wet stones. He landed hard on his bottom, his glasses skittering across the floor. He was lucky it sounded like Ronald had fallen as well.

Crawling over to his glasses, Harry put them on only to realize there was more writing on the wall.

"Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever?" he read aloud as Ron stood.

"My sister!" Ronald accused. "You took her! Into the Chamber of Secrets!"

"I didn't!" Harry insisted. "I swear!"

Ronald yanked out his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"You give her back!"

"I didn't take her!" Harry stood cautiously. "But I'll help you get her back. I promise."

Ronald thought about this before nodding slowly and lowering his wand, but he didn't let go of it. Harry wasn't a fool. He knew Ronald still suspected him and probably hoped Harry would lead him down into the Chamber where he could get his sister. Harry did have intentions of getting down into the Chamber, but had no plans to allow Ronald to go with him.

They were halfway to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom when Harry managed to disarm the other student. He caught Ronald's wand and then tossed it out the window.

"You cheating lying..." Ronald cursed, causing Harry's brows to jump up onto his forehead.

"Run along," Harry encouraged the other boy. "Go tell your Head of House I know where the Chamber of Secrets is and I've gone to get Ginny back."

When Ronald didn't move, Harry encouraged him with a nudge from his wand. Spitting in disgust, Ronald turned and ran back the way they had come. With the Gryffindor gone, Harry took off towards Myrtle's bathroom, hoping to get down into the Chamber before Ronald had the brilliant idea of following him instead of getting help.