The aftermath of Mrs Norris' petrification went similarly to last time; Harry and Hermione followed a group of professors to Lockhart's office where the caretaker's cat was thoroughly examined. After Snape and Filch had thrown a series of accusations at Harry, and once again McGonagall had come to his defence, the two Gryffindors had been dismissed. As Harry and Hermione headed back to their dorm, they spoke in hushed whispers; it wasn't late enough for curfew to be in place so many students were still walking around the halls - many staring the two down as they came by.

"Harry, we need that diary," Hermione urged quietly.

"I know, we're lucky the timeline hasn't changed so much that someone died yet but, it's not safe," he paused a little, "Do you think you could get into her room maybe?"

"Perhaps," Hermione thought aloud to herself, "But I'll need to wait for a time where she leaves it in her dorm - how often do you think she'd do that?"

"Maybe for flying practice? If we can find out the first year timetable, we can figure out when she'll leave the book behind."

"Well, how do we get hold of something like that?"

Thankfully, Harry had Colin Creevey who was more than happy to show his timetable to the-Boy-Who-Lived during lunch the next day. "You know, Harry, I don't believe any of the nonsense anyone says about you."

"Oh?" Harry smiled, "and what nonsense is that?" Harry was used to being the centre of attention at this point, it was all he'd had all his lives, so a few kids staring at him was nothing. Despite his claim, the first-year still seemed somewhat nervous to speak, "Um.. that you're th-the Heir of Slytherin and you opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"Hm, that's an interesting one," Harry laughed, "You'd think I'd remember doing something like that. It's good that you know not to believe everything you hear, Colin," the boy beamed as Harry patted his back.

As Colin headed back to his dorm to get his notes for his next class, happy his hero was asking to spend time with him, he saw a second-year Gryffindor staring him down. He tried to give the older boy a small smile, but that just seemed to aggravate the boy who headed straight for him.

"What are you doing with Harry Potter?" Ronald was furious. This year had gone nothing like he wanted it to so far. All he felt like he'd been doing was babysitting his weepy sister. Sure, he chose to be with her because no-one else really sat with him during meal or break times, but since Filch's cat had been attacked, she couldn't stop crying all the time. It was annoying. Why did she care so much about that damn cat? He'd tried to assure her that these things don't really happen at Hogwarts and that they'd definitely catch the nutter who'd attacked the feline soon, but that just made her cry more! And now, to see a first-year, who had barely known Harry at all, getting to have lunch with him as though they were close friends? It just frustrated Ron so much. He'd put so much work into Harry last year and for what? For Harry to just latch on to the stupid witch even more. When she'd lost all those points for the house, Ronald was sure the other Gryffindors would start seeing what an arrogant, annoying loser she was, but instead everyone started defending her? He just couldn't understand it. And Dumbledore had been so unavailable to him this year. All his focus seemed to be elsewhere entirely. Ronald did not like it at all.

"I-i was just talking to him, he asked me to have lunch with him," Colin stammered. He was trying to figure out what he did wrong.

"To talk about what?" Ron spat.

"He was just curious about my timetable, I don't know why," Colin was getting somewhat scared. He was sure his upperclassman wouldn't do anything crazy in the middle of the hallway during the day time, but he was now almost nose-to-nose with him.

Ronald stayed staring at Colin for a minute or so. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to get out of this, he just needed someone to be angry at. He supposed, more than anything, he was mad at Harry. He was supposed to be my friend. And he screwed it up. Maybe that stupid Granger had ruined him, but come on, did he really not know any better? Ronald stormed away from Colin, leaving him completely confused. Ron stomped outside, he needed some air. He needed to think. He needed a plan.


The following week, flying lessons were starting for the first years. Hermione had feigned sickness during her first class of the day and was given the day off to rest and recuperate. She knew flying classes would be before lunch; they didn't want to deal with the consequences of well-fed students getting motion sickness while up in the air. She left her dorm room and headed down to the first year's chambers. Despite knowing no-one would be around, she tried to be as quiet as possible, avoiding any creaking steps and slowly pushing the door open.

As she stepped inside, she couldn't believe the mess around Ginny's bed.

While most of the girls' had unmade beds, as was common when most students got a break from their parents' homes, hers was covered in scrolls and quills. Her trunk was opened at the end of her bed, clothes spilling out of it. Some of her ink pots had actually spilled out onto her bed. As Hermione edged closer she noticed Ginny's bag lay open and empty on the bed. Has she taken the diary with her? Why would she rush to it in such a panic? Or is she actually just this messy? Hermione spent as long as she could filtering through the mess. Fishing through the clothes and stationary, she looked through every note book but her efforts came up fruitless. Perhaps she's so possessive of the diary she keeps it on hand at all times? Hermione sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. She fingered through some of the papers she'd picked up earlier. Most of them appeared to be class notes and homework. Mixed in amongst it all though, was a crumpled up letter, unaddressed it read;

I'm really scared. I know Tom said he was helping me but I don't know what to do now, Professor. I never wanted to hurt that cat, I promise, I don't even remember it happening. He said he'd help me get whatever I want, and I know you said that would be good and that I should trust him but I don't want to hurt anyone else. What if something worse happens next time, Professor? Please help me.

Hermione couldn't tell if Ginny ever intended to send this to anyone, likely Dumbledore, but she couldn't help but pity her somewhat. Last time, she'd gone sick with worry over Mrs Norris and whether or not Harry would get expelled for it. She was constantly crying and went horribly pale anytime someone brought up the chamber. She must've been terrified. She must still be; there was running ink from where tear drops likely fell on to the page. Hermione put the letter down and headed back upstairs. She could feel sorry for what the girl was going through now but it didn't excuse what Hermione knew was to come next from Ginny.

"So, what I'm hearing, is Dumbledore knew exactly what was happening and just kept letting people get petrified? What if someone had died?" Harry was exasperated. Every time they thought they'd maybe gained a holistic view of Dumbledore's plan, something new appeared that really just made it feel like he'd acted out of pure impulse. They were sitting in the room of requirement, nothing fancy, just somewhere quiet to talk. With the current rumours about Harry, all eyes were on him. The Hufflepuffs avoided him, the Slytherins scoffed at him, everyone was either avoiding him at all costs or trying to eavesdrop whenever he spoke to a friend.

"Apparently? And he'd even encouraged Ginny to build a relationship with Tom. I don't know what he hoped to gain out of it." Hermione sighed. She was still frustrated she hadn't found the diary itself.

"Maybe he just wanted to see what would happen. It's pathetic, it's like his students lives were just props for entertainment or curiosity or whatever else you want to call it." Too many of these conversations seemed to just end with additional disgust and frustration at Dumbledore - it was truly impossible to figure out what was going on in his mind.


Hogwarts seemed to continue on as normal. Since Filch's cat, no more attacks had occurred. Though Harry and Hermione tried to figure out if there was something different about Ginny, she'd continued to look just as sickly and weepy as before. They really couldn't tell if anything had changed with her.

Draco was back in classes finally, and seemed to have been given the ok to participate in the upcoming Quidditch match. His stint of sickness meant Snape continuously booked the Quidditch pitch for the Slytherin team - Oliver could not be more angry. Every time he tried to get a shot at the pitch, even with McGonagall's help, the Gryffindor's barely had any practice time. As the match drew closer, Wood became more and more antsy, scheduling ridiculously early practices to avoid the snake house and even more rigorous routines. By the time the match came, Harry just couldn't wait for it to be over.

The whistle blew and the players soared. Harry went as high as he could, searching for the snitch. Draco quickly attempted to follow him up, his broom unsteady. He still looked ridiculously pale and flying at such speed seemed to make him dizzy. As fast as he'd flown up, he'd come back down just as quickly. No wonder they needed to practice so much if Draco took Hermione's spell that badly. There was no time to think about that however, Harry continued to scan the pitch searching for the snitch.

Thick rain began to pelt down, Harry's glasses getting fogged up and wet. He could barely see a thing as he navigated the pitch. Thankfully, he suddenly noticed all the players dropping down to the pitch. It seemed a time out had been called.

As his feet hit the ground he began wiping his glasses, noticing Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch team leader pointing angrily at Harry while shouting.

"We're not losing by forfeit when its your seekers fault that our seeker can't fly!" He screeched.

"You know the rules," Oliver crossed his arms, with a slight smirk. "If you forfeit you lose. Besides, Granger isn't our seeker, Harry is, and he didn't lay a hand on Malfoy." Flint threw his broom down. Wood didn't particularly like to win by default, but he always found it fun to stick it to another team.

"Also," Fred stepped forward, "If Malfoy hadn't called Granger a you-know-what, then he wouldn't be in this predicament."

Madame Hooch finally stepped in, "Should you forfeit Mr Flint, your team will lose by default. If Mr Malfoy feels like he can't play anymore, the remaining players can still attempt to win the match without him. Make your choice. Now." Everyone was staring at Flint. Everyone knew the chances of them winning a match without a seeker was ridiculously low.

"Whatever," he picked up his broom and stormed off the pitch. Taking that as an acceptance of defeat, Madame Hooch declared the Gryffindors as the winners.

"One moment! One moment, please!" How is it that he can project his voice over all these people? Harry thought to himself as Lockhart hurried down to the pitch, somehow louder than the Gryffindor cheers. The professor rushed over to the young Slytherin who sat pale and somewhat sweaty on the bench.

Lockhart pulled out his wand, "You'll feel right as all this rain in just a moment." He grinned a toothy smile as Draco feebly attempted to pull away from him. He pointed his wand towards the boy and -

"Perhaps, he should simply return to the hospital wing," came Professor Snape's low drawl.

"No, no, professor, I've got this don't you worry," he twirled his wand and shot a bright spark at the sickly Slytherin. Draco folded over, fainting at once. Snape stormed forward, lifting the boy up.

"I swear to you Lockhart, if your negligence has caused anymore problems to one of my students, you will severely regret this." He spun and walked towards the Hospital Wing. Lockhart looked somewhat pale himself now, clapping his hands together, looking ready to say something to save face. He surprisingly decided against it and simply turned and walked away. Despite the interruption, Gryffindor cheering resumed as the team returned to their dorm to celebrate.


I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you guys think - your reviews and comments have really helped me improve my writing!