Coral remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. There was a flurry of rumour about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Vanilla took out her curtains again and placed them around Coral's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a stone face. Razor and Silver visited her that evening to give her that days homework "If my skin turned to rock I'm might take a few days off" "Don't be silly, Razor, I've got to keep up". Coral was in higher spirits after her skin turned back into flesh "I don't suppose you have any new leads" "None. I was sure it was Rutan" "What's that?" Silver asked pointing at something sticking out from Coral pillow. She blushed "Just a get well card". She tried to move it but Razor was too fast and took it "To Miss Coral, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Geoffrey St John, Order of Forelock, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award". Razor looked disgusted "You keep this under your pillow". Coral was thankfully spared from answering this by Vanilla bringing her medicine. Silver and Razor had to leave "Smarmy git" Razor said about Goeffrey on their way out. They made their way back to Shinobi Tower. Infinite had given them so much homework Silver thought he'd be in his sixth year before he finished. A

s they headed back they heard a yell coming from upstairs "That's Rykor" "You don't think someone's else has been attacked". They stopped and listened "Even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Locke". They heard his footsteps disappear so they headed up to see what was going on. They were back at the spot where Spooky was attacked, they immediately saw why Rykor was yelling. The floor of the corridor was flooded, water was coming from the door to Lah's bathroom. Without Rykor yelling they could hear her wailing "Now what's wrong with her?". They ignored the out of order sign as always and found Lah resting by the window crying "What's up, Lah?" Silver asked. She jumped "You're not going to throw something at me?" "Why would I do that?" "Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me". Razor casually shrugged "But surely that wouldn't hurt you. I mean… It'd just go right through you". He clearly said the wrong thing as in an instant Lah was in front of them "OH, SURE! Let's all throw books at Lah because she can't feel it! Ten points if you get it through her stomach!". She pushed her hand through Razor's stomach making him gasp "30 points if you get it through her head!". Silver held up his hands calmingly "Who threw a book at you?". She calmed down when he spoke to her "I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head. It's washed up over there" she pointed to one of the sinks. Silver spotted it underneath the sink, a small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom. Silver went to pick it up but Razor grabbed him "What?" "It could be dangerous" "Dangerous? It's a book".

Razor stared at the book like it was about to go off "You'd be surprised. Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated. Dad's told me, there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed. And-" "Okay, I get it!". Silver cautiously approached the book and picked it up. He looked at the cover. He could tell immediately it was a diary, and according to the faded date on the top right corner it was 50 years old. Silver opened the book and found on the first page in old faded ink the name "Sam Tund III". Razor looked over his shoulder "Hang on, I know that name. He got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago" "How do you know that?" "Because Rykor made me polish that trophy about fifty times in detention. That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it, too". Silver turned over the pages but there wasn't anything else written in it, not even a "Aunt Murial's Birthday" or a "Dentist Tomorrow". He looked at the back cover and found "Blue Ridge Road, Knothole" "He must have been Muggle-born".


Coral returned to Shinobi Common Room at the start of February. The moment she returned Silver showed her the diary. She examined it enthusiastically "Oh, it might have special powers" "If it has it's hiding it well. You should have chucked it, Silver" Razor said. Silver was staring at the book "I wish I knew why someone else wanted to chuck it. And what Sam did to win special awards to the school". Razor shrugged "Probably got thirty G. or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Lah; that would've done everyone a favour…". But Silver could tell from the look on Coral's face that she was thinking the same as him "What?" Razor said. Coral stared at him in disbelief "Oh, Razor we know the last person to open the Chamber of Secrets was expelled fifty years ago. This diary is fifty years old and belongs to someone who performed a special service to the school. What if he got the award by catching the Heir of Raiju. The Diary could tell us everything we need to do. The person who opened it this time wouldn't want this lying around". Razor crossed his arms "Well that's a really good theory, Coral, with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary". Coral took out her flute "It could be invisible ink" "Aparecium" was sung from her flute. Nothing happened, she was undeterred and pulled out what looked like a red pen "I got this revealer in Avalon. She rubbed it against the first page but still nothing. Razor shrugged "I told you, there's nothing there. Old Sammy just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in".


Silver couldn't explain why he didn't throw out the diary. The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absentmindedly picking it up and turning the pages, as though it were a story he wanted to finish. And while Silver was sure he had never heard the name Sam Tund before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Sam was a friend he'd had when he was very small, and had half-forgotten. But this was absurd. He'd never had friends before Soleanna, Menniker had made sure of that. Nevertheless, Silver was determined to find out more about Sam, so next day at break, he headed for the trophy room to examine Sam's special award, accompanied by an interested Coral and a thoroughly unconvinced Razor, who told them he'd seen enough of the trophy room to last him a lifetime. The golden shield didn't specify what he did to get it, something Razor said was good or he'd have to polish it more. The only other thing they could find his name under was a list of old Head Boys. Razor rolled his eyes "Sounds like Hamlin. Probably top of every class" "And what's wrong with that?" Coral asked.


As the month went on a hopeful mood had grown over the castle. They're hadn't been any other attacks after Smokey and Barney. Chrysan and Vanilla had told them that the Meridian Roots had become more secretive and moody which meant they were leaving childhood. Silver thought the Heir of Raiju and hopefully the monster was going into hibernation for another fifty years. Geoffrey St John seemed to think he himself had made the attacks stop. Silver overheard him telling Professor Echo so while the Shinobis were lining up for Transfiguration "I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Echo" he tapped his nose knowingly and winking. "I think the Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him. You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash away the memories of last term! I won't say any more just now, but I think I know just the thing…" he tapped his nose again and strode off.


Goeffrey's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February fourteenth. Silver hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Sky Chase practice the night before, and he hurried down to the Great Hall, slightly late. He thought, for a moment, that he'd walked through the wrong doors. The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Silver went over to the Shinobi table, where Razor was sitting looking sickened, and Coral seemed to have been overcome with giggles. Silver sat next to them "What's going on?". Razor was too disgusted to answer so simply pointed at the staff table. Locke wasn't there but the rest of the teachers were stone faced but even from his distance Silver could see their mouths twitching. Goeffrey looked to be in his element as he waved for silence "Happy Valintine's day. And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all and it doesn't end here!". He clapped his hands, a small army of flying Chao entered through the window "My friendly, card-carrying cupids. They will be flying around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Infinite to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Charles knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!". Chuck buried his face in his hands while Infinite gave a look that told everyone that under no uncertain terms the first person to ask for a love potion will have poison forced down their throat. As the students left the hall to head to class Razor glanced at Coral "Were you by any chance one of the forty-six?". Coral was suddenly very interested in looking for something in her bag.


The teachers patience was tested this day, all through out their lessons Chao would fly in and drop Valentines cards in front of students. On his way to Charms a Chao flew in front of Silver. It was quite relentless to deliver it based on the angry look it was giving him. Silver took the card to make it go away "Watch out, Hedgehog!". Something hit him from behind and he fell over. Silver's ink bottles smashed on the floor as stuff fell out of his bag. Silver looked up and saw the person that hit him was Rutan backed up with Rough and Tumble. Silver then realised Rutan had picked up something, Sam's diary "Wonder what he's written in his" "Give that back!". Onlookers were watching wondering what would happened. Blaze was one of them staring between the diary and Silver, she looked quite terrified. Hamlin then arrived to see what the commotion was about "Get to class". Silver didn't care he was here "I said give it back, Rutan!". Hamlin realised "Hand it over, Rutan" "Just want to see what's in it" "As school prefect I-". Silver had enough, he raised his hand, his whole body glowed cyan and "Expelliarmus!". The diary shot out of Rutan's hand and was caught by a grinning Razor. Hamlin was not happy "Silver! No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!". Silver didn't care, the look on Rutan's face was worth five points from Shinobi. Rutan was so angry he decided to take it out on someone else. He picked up the Valentine card which was now completely black from the ink bottles and watched Blaze walking away "I don't think he liked your card!". Blaze ran faster and turned a corner out of sight. Razor snarled and raised his hands but Silver stopped him, he didn't want another day of Razor puking slugs. They headed to Charms, holding the Diary in his hands he started to notice something. Everything else in his bag was drenched in ink but the diary was clean. In fact now that he thought about it the dairy didn't have any sign of damage from being flushed down the toilet either. He tried to point this out to Razor during class but he was too distracted by his gloves malfunctioning again, bubbles were coming out of his palms.


Silver was now siting wide awake on his bed in the middle of the night. He was staring at the diary in his hands considering it. Then he took a bottle of ink and a quill out of his cabinet. He dipped the quill into the ink and then let a single drop of ink fall onto one of the blank pages. After a few seconds the ink shined brightly and then disappeared. Silver wondered if what he was about to do was crazy but he pressed on. He dipped the quill into the ink and then wrote "Hello, my name is Silver the Hedgehog". The ink again disappeared but this time after a few seconds the ink reappeared forming new words "Hello, Silver the Hedgehog. My Name is Sam Tund. An Echidna, if you're wondering. May I ask how you came to find my diary?". The words disappeared as Silver scribbled his reply "Someone flushed it down the toilet" "Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read". This got Silver's hopes up "Are you talking about the Chamber of Secrets" "Yes. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Scruffy the Goat, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Soleanna forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned".

Silver nearly spilled his ink in the hurry to reply "It's happening again now. There have been three attacks and no one seems to know who's behind them. Who was it last time?". There was a longer pause and then "I can show you, if you like. You don't have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him". Silver didn't know what he meant. Show him? Fresh words appeared "Would you like me to show you?". Silver slowly dipped his quill in the ink and wrote one word "Ok". The pages suddenly moved at incredible speed making Silver jump. It finally stopped on a page which now had June written on it. A light started to shine from the diary, before Silver could move the light consumed him. He felt like he was spinning, he kept his eyes closed from the blinding light until finally he it solid ground. He opened his eyes, he wasn't in his dormitory. He recognised his surroundings, it was Locke's office but there was something off about it. The objects around the room were different and their were less paintings on the wall. He then noticed an old goat in a jacket sitting at the desk "Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" the goat didn't seem to know he was there. Silver wondered but then realised as he remembered Sam's words, this was Soleanna as he remembered it. So the goat at the desk must be Headmaster Scruffy. There was a knock at the door "Enter" Scruffy said in a tired sounding voice. A young echidna boy entered, he wore an orange robe and yellow boots, a prefect badge was shining on his chest "Ah, Sam, please sit down". Silver could tell what Sam's Talismans were immediately. Over his robe was a black cape that was fastened by a gold circular object with a half moon symbol on it. His hands wore bandage like gauntlets with rings over the wrists. Sam sat opposite Scruffy "You wanted to see me, Headmaster?" he looked nervous. Scruffy nodded "I've just been reading the letter you sent me".

He noticed Sam gripping his hands together tightly "My dear boy, I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?" "I'd rather stay at Soleanna" "You stay at a Muggle Orphanage, I believe?". Sam looked ashamed "Yes, sir" "Are you Muggle Born?" "Half blood, sir. My mother was a witch and she died after giving birth. The people at the orphanage said Sam was my father's name and Florev was my mother's maiden name". Scruffy sighed "The thing is, Sam, Special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances…" "You mean the attacks, sir?". Silver's heart leapt, he moved closer making sure he didn't miss anything "My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy… the death of that poor little girl… You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the, er, source of all this unpleasantness…". Sam considered these words "Sir, if the person was caught. If the attacks stopped". Scruffy stared at him with narrowed eyes "Is there something you wish to tell me, Sam?". Sam paused and then "No, sir. Nothing". Sam got up from his chair "Good night, sir" he left the office. Silver followed him down to the corridor which was the exact same as when Echo walked him through it. Sam stopped and leaned against the wall clearly conflicted over something. He then made an expression which told Silver he had come to a decision. Silver followed him further through he castle. They didn't meet anyone else until the entrance hall when "What are you doing, Sam? Wandering around this late at night?". Silver stared at this man until it clicked, it was Locke, fifty years younger. He wore a white robe and his facial hair was black instead of grey "I had to see the headmaster" Sam answered. There was a clear familiarity between these two men, Silver thought, beyond just teacher and student.

Locke looked deeply saddened "You better hurry to bed. It's not safe to be wondering the school these days. Not since…". He gave a deep sigh, nodded to Sam and walked away. Sam continued his journey, Silver hoped to be led to some secret tunnel or passage but instead he was taken down to the dungeons. Silver realised he was going to the biggest room, the one where the Deathday Party took place. There was a voice coming from behind the door to the room "C'mon… gotta get yeh outta here… C'mon now… in the box…" there was something familiar about the voice. Sam kicked the door opened and raised his hand threateningly which reminded Silver of himself. The person inside the room turned around, he was in shadows but Silver could tell he was quite large with long ears "Evening, Big". Silver's eyes widened as he watched the confrontation "What yer doin' down here, Sam?" "It's all over. I'm going to have to turn you in, Big. They're talking about closing Soleanna if the attacks don't stop. I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and-" "He never killed no one". Sam moved closer and saw a wooden crate behind the young Big "The dead girl's parents will be here Tomorrow. The least Soleanna can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered…" "He wouldn'! He never!" "Stand aside". Big stood his ground "No!" "Stand aside, Big!" "NO!". Sam without uttering a word fired a spell at the crate blasting open the lid. Silver let out a scream that nobody heard, out of the crate came a massive non-anthro spider which made a break for it "SYTHON!" Big yelled. Sam raised his hand "Arania Exumai!" it just missed the retreating spider. He was about to shoot again but "NO!" Big tackled him to the ground and the spider scuttled out of sight. Silver moved to help but he was suddenly being pulled back by an invisible force "Big!". He tried to fight the force "BIG!" a light enveloped him and he was suddenly back on his bed. He looked back at the diary thinking about what Sam had shown him. It was Big. Big opened the Chamber of Secrets.