Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Monster of Slytherin.

Parts of this chapter are quoted from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.


Chapter 2

The next morning, Parvati quickly felt on-edge as more than a few people started avoiding her and whispering about the Heir of Slytherin behind her back. Had their secret got out after all? Had Harry told someone? But no, Hermione had been nothing but sympathetic last night—well, clearly afraid of the monster, but not afraid of her. And Parvati soon noticed that they were whispering about her and Harry. She had been found with Harry at the scene where Justin was attacked, so she was also a suspect. She didn't have it as bad as Harry since everyone knew he was a Parselmouth, but it was enough to make trouble for her.

And it didn't take much brainpower, especially within Ravenclaw, to figure out that since Padma was her twin, she must also be the Heir of Slytherin. Unfortunately, they still weren't smart enough to think it all the way through, and Parvati saw her sister become increasingly testy throughout the day until she finally got fed up and yelled out to anyone who would listen, "For gods' sakes, Parvati and I can't be the Heirs of Slytherin! Our family wasn't in Britain in Slytherin's time!"

Padma's housemates blinked in surprise and quickly backed down when they realised how stupid they were being. Most unfortunately, Ernie Macmillan was listening in.

"Besides, it's obviously Potter," he said loud enough for passers-by to hear. "Patil just got lucky that she didn't walk in on him doing it. She'd better watch her back, now."

Parvati was debating whether it was worth it to go over and give Macmillan a piece of her mind, but Padma just walked away, coming over to her instead.

"Sorry about that," she said. "You must be getting it even worse in Gryffindor."

"Well, over there, they're focusing more on Harry, but yeah," Parvati replied.

"How is Harry doing?"

"Still closing himself off with Hermione and Ron. They've been doing that a lot since Halloween, honestly."

"Is there anything we can do?" Padma asked.

"Not really anything we're not doing already. Keep asking around if anyone knows about the Heir. Don't get attacked. Hope Dumbledore figures something out."

Padma sighed: "I was afraid you were going to say that. It seems like being you-know-whats isn't much help."

"I mean, would it be?" Parvati asked. Padma just shrugged.

A few moments later, there were yells from the corridor approaching the Entrance Hall—not a blood-curdling scream like there was another attack, but loud enough to tell people were freaking out. Worried, Parvati and Padma stared at each other, wondering if they should move toward the sound or away, but soon enough, the sound came into the Entrance Hall in the form of Fred and George Weasley, who were escorting a slightly embarrassed-looking Harry Potter.

"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin," the older twins called, "seriously evil wizard coming through."

They were flanked by several other students who actually were running to get out of Harry's way, plus their little sister, who seemed to be nearly in tears at the whole thing.

Parvati sagged with relief, which was quickly replaced with anger. How dare they? They were only making things worse. She strode toward the pair and snapped, "Hey! That isn't funny, you two. If you keep doing that, people will start to believe it."

"They already believe it," Padma added.

But the Weasley twins were unfazed. "Au contraire, Misses Patil," Fred—probably Fred—replied with a grin. (Really, even with being twins themselves, the girls had trouble telling them apart.) "We're only showing people how ridiculous they're being thinking Harry's going around attacking people."

"Although we wouldn't mind if he attacked Snape next," said the other twin.

Parvati crossed her arms. However, Hermione, who had been following behind Harry, spoke up: "Yes you would. We need Professor Snape to brew the Mandrake Draught."

The Weasleys stared at her for a moment before one of them said, "Touché."

"Alright, Harry. Snape gets a pass," the other said.

"Can you two be serious?" Parvati cut in. "This isn't one of your pranks. People are really getting hurt here!"

"No, really, it's fine, girls," Harry interrupted, to both of their surprise. "It's good to know someone isn't afraid of me."

"We aren't afraid of you, Harry," Padma assured him.

Harry nodded awkwardly. "I know," he sighed. "It's just that it seems like you're some of the only ones who aren't."

"It isn't that bad, really," Padma said. "They're just…loud and obnoxious. Most people are only afraid of the Heir in general, not you."

That much was true. Even with just one day left before the winter holidays, the mood throughout the castle had gone from fearful to outright panicked. The attack on Justin Finch-Fletchley was bad enough, but Nearly-Headless Nick was in another league entirely. No one knew what could do something like that to a ghost, and no one wanted to be the next to find out.

"Are you going home for winter holidays, Parvati, Padma?" Hermione asked, looking eager to change the subject.

"Yes," said Parvati. "We were going to already, but Mama and Papa don't want us to be here any more than we have to while the Heir's on the loose." Nearly all the students who hadn't yet signed up to go home for the winter holidays yesterday had done so the first thing that morning. "What about you, Hermione? I mean…" She looked around awkwardly, trying to think of a more tactful way to say it. "…you are muggleborn."

Hermione shivered a little bit. "I know, but I need to be here," she said solemnly. "Harry…" She looked to him, biting her lip.

"I'm staying. I don't get on well with my relatives," he said as if that explained everything, but Parvati was surprised. Did Harry Potter really have nowhere else to go?

"Are they that bad?" said Padma, aghast. "With everything that's going on at Hogwarts…"

"I mean, I can deal with them in the summer," he insisted, "but I'm not spending any more time with them than I have to."

That…still sounded pretty bad, actually. Even if he wasn't being hurt or something, if Harry couldn't stand his relatives that much, that sounded like a bad sign. And Parvati was pretty sure his relatives were muggles, too. She could hold out hope that he just didn't want to leave the wizarding world that badly, but she felt like there must be more to it than that. She tried one more time: "Are you sure you'll be okay here, Harry? I'm sure we could help you find somewhere to stay."

"It's fine, Parvati. I've got plans at Hogwarts, anyway."

"Really?" She couldn't imagine what plans someone would have for the holidays specifically at Hogwarts. Although…he was Harry Potter. Maybe he was getting secret lessons from Dumbledore or something. "Well, if you say so," she said uncertainly.


In spite of their worry for Harry and his other friends, Parvati and Padma felt lighter as they rode the Hogwarts Express to London the next day. True, the holidays were only for two weeks, but they were two weeks in which they didn't have to worry about the Heir of Slytherin lurking around every corner. Two weeks when Dumbledore wouldn't be busy and might be able to find the Chamber of Secrets. (Never mind that the Patils were purebloods. Most people would say that should keep them safe, but if the Heir found out they were Parselmouths, he still might decide they were unwanted competition.)

And not to mention, it was two weeks to spend time with family, exchange gifts (even their most traditional family members observed the secular side of Christmas), and (mostly) not have to worry about homework.

Not that the threat of the Heir of Slytherin was ever far from their minds. One of the first things they did after they returned home was ask Papa if he knew anything about other Parselmouths, and how they might be connected to Slytherin. Mama and Papa were both greatly surprised to learn that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth (that wasn't likely to stay secret for long), but they still didn't know of any others in Britain, and they weren't convinced it was really the strongest lead to find the Heir regardless.

Also, it led to an embarrassing conversation when Mama asked them, "So, girls, do either of you like Harry?"

Papa, however, did humour them and quietly ask around about other potential Parselmouths and Heirs of Slytherin. And Padma also exchanged a few letters with Mandy Brocklehurst, whose family was usually well-informed on wizarding history. But none of them found much.

"Of the people whom I thought were safe enough to ask, I am pretty sure that the former students who were not Slytherins do not know anything," Papa concluded shortly before the girls returned to Hogwarts. "Of the former students who were Slytherins, some of them might know something, but no one I talked to knew more than rumours. Some of them had heard of the Chamber of Secrets being opened sometime around Grindelwald's War, but they didn't think anything ever came of it. And if there are any other Parselmouths in Britain, I think they have hidden themselves as well as we have."

"We were afraid of that," Padma told him, "but thank you for trying, Papa."


The day of the students' return to Hogwarts always ended up being too late a night to properly catch up. Parvati only really had time to talk to Lavender at the feast and afterwards. She did notice, however, that Hermione was not seated at her usual spot with Harry and Ron. Harry waved at her when he saw her, but the two boys seemed to be keeping to themselves and didn't want to talk—as usual.

"Lav, have you seen Hermione?" Parvati asked as the feast was winding down.

Lavender looked down the table in surprise. "Hermione? Huh, I guess not. Probably just in the library, though."

"She doesn't often miss dinner to study, though," said Parvati. "And she's had the past two weeks to study all she wanted."

"Hm…" she mused. "Potter and Weasley seem alright, though."

"Yes…" But Parvati had to wonder how the boys would be acting if something had happened to Hermione, especially early in the holiday. Harry hadn't sent her a letter or anything, but…would he? She still had a hard time reading him.

The boys, though not looking overly distraught, weren't talking. She asked the rest of the table, but with so few students having stayed at the castle over the holidays, no one else had seen her. But just to be sure, she turned around to ask Padma at the Ravenclaw table.

"Pad, I haven't seen Hermione all night. Can you keep an eye out for her?" Hermione didn't have close friends in Ravenclaw, but she did travel in the same circles when she wasn't with the Gryffindor boys.

"Of course, Parv," her sister said. "Do you think something's wrong."

"You talking about Granger?" a voice cut in. They turned around to see Mandy, whom Padma had been talking to a few moments early.

"Yes. Have you seen her?" Parvati asked.

"No. I just got back too, you know," Mandy admonished. "But earlier, I heard Macmillan say Malfoy was laughing about Granger being in the Infirmary."

"The Infirmary?" Lavender gasped, almost too loudly, even in the crowded Hall. "Was she attacked?"

Mandy shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know if it's true. Malfoy probably would've said if she was, you know? But I wouldn't know why she is in there."

"Still, we should check on her," Parvati said.

"We'll have to do tomorrow morning," Padma stopped her. "There isn't enough time before curfew tonight."

"I hope she's okay," Lavender whispered.

"I think Harry and Ron would be more worried if she was really poorly," insisted Parvati. "But we should still check on her."


The next morning, however, the Patil twins were dismayed not to have made any progress on that mystery either. Madam Pomfery wouldn't give out private information except that Hermione was indeed in the Infirmary, but would make a full recovery. (That was not comforting, considering Madam Pomfrey also said the same thing about the petrification victims.)

With no leads there, they turned to the larger mystery facing the school…for which they also had basically no leads, but they still needed to catch Harry up on the situation; Parvati made sure to get Mandy's notes from Padma so she had everything in hand before seeking him out. Once again, Harry was wandering far from the staring crowds when he wasn't with Ron, which worked to her advantage.

"Hi, Harry," she said when she found him, looking around to ensure they were alone before greeting him in Parseltongue.

"Oh, hi Parvati. Er…good holiday?" he replied.

"It was nice, thank you," she said. "You got the Parseltongue this time."

"Oh, did I?" he said, jerking in surprise.

Parvati frowned. "Haven't you been practising?"

"Er, no? Should I?"

"Well, if you can't tell Parseltongue from English…"

"It's not like I'll start speaking Parseltongue by accident," he insisted. "Besides—I mean to say, is it really all that useful?"

Parvati hesitated. She and Padma almost never used Parseltongue day-to-day, and not just because they wanted to keep their ability a secret. And it wasn't really a skill you had to practice to keep sharp—except in Harry's case. "It depends, I guess," she decided."If you have a pet snake, it's useful—or if you want to use snakes for something. And Papa says there is some magic that is done in Parseltongue, but he won't teach us until we're older, so…anyway—" She gave it up and switched back to English. "And you didn't tell Ron and Hermione…?"

"No, I didn't tell them about you two. Not like it would make much difference. I mean, it wouldn't help us find the Heir of Slytherin, right?"

"Not unless we hear someone else speaking Parseltongue, and the Heir is probably smarter than that now he knows about you. I don't suppose Dumbledore found the Chamber of Secrets while we were away?"

Harry shook his head. "No, he hasn't said anything. I'd expect he's looking, but…" He waved his hand vaguely at the castle walls.

"No one's found it in all this time?"

"Yeah, that." He snorted. "Lockhart says he's looking and is sure to find it, but Ron and I've stopped paying attention to him."

Parvati nodded. "Padma says she's thought something was off about him for months. I mean, Lav still loves him, but I kind of have to admit Pad has some good points. But I had something else to talk to you about." She held up Mandy's parchment. "We got some information. About the Heir."

Harry practically jumped at the news. "You did? Hey, we did too—sort of."

"Really? What did you find?"

"Um…it's not that big a deal." He suddenly looked chagrined, not sure what to say. "We, uh…well, I can't tell you everything, but we did find out that it's not Malfoy opening the Chamber of Secrets—or his dad."

Her face fell. "Oh, is that it?" Honestly, she didn't know how he could have even found out that much, but somehow, she'd expected the famous Harry Potter to learn more, if he found out anything.

"Er, yeah—no, not quite. We found out that the last time the Chamber was opened was fifty years ago, and that time, a muggle-born girl died."

"Oh!" Parvati squeaked.

"Yeah. Anyway, that's too long ago for Malfoy's dad, and…er, it's not anyone else in his family, either."

She stared, but decided not to question it. "Well, it's too recent to fit Mandy's notes, either."

"What's that?" Harry asked, looking down at her parchment.

"Notes from Mandy—Mandy Brocklehurst?" she added at his blank expression. "Padma's roommate? Blonde?"

"Oh, right. I think I know her," Harry said in a tone that did not have her entirely convinced. Boys really could be oblivious.

"She asked her great-grandfather over the holidays about the Heir of Slytherin, and he gave her what information he had on him."

"He did?" Harry said in surprise. "She did? How's that?"

"Mandy's great-grandfather is on the Wizengamot," Parvati explained. "He knows all the old pureblood families. Mandy said he told her what he remembered himself, and he asked his friends to confirm the story."

"And?" Harry asked eagerly.

Parvati stood beside him and showed him the parchment, pointing to the bottom few lines. "Look here. According to this, the last publicly acknowledged descendant of Salazar Slytherin was Ominis Gaunt, who was murdered by someone he claimed was his brother in 1923."

"His own brother killed him?" Harry said, aghast.

"That's what Ominis said before he died, but it was never proven. No one knew anyone else in his family, and there was no clear consensus on a motive. Also, Ominis was blind, so people weren't sure if he was reliable. Mandy's great-grandfather said there might be more in the Ministry archives that he doesn't know about, but at least among the Wizengamot types, no other family has claimed to be descended from Slytherin in this century."

"But the Chamber was opened in 1942 or '43," Harry pointed out.

"Exactly. So that's too late to be Ominis Gaunt or any of the other known Heirs of Slytherin. And if it's not Malfoy…"

"Then we've still got nothing." He gave a heavy sigh and slumped back against the wall.

"Sorry, Harry. It was worth a shot, at least. Hey, I wanted to ask, is Hermione okay? She wasn't in our dorm, and people said she was in the Hospital Wing, but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let me see her. I was worried she'd been attacked. No one seems to be sure if it was the Heir or not."

"No, it wasn't the Heir," Harry said. "She…well, she probably doesn't want me to say, but it wasn't the Heir."

"Was it that bad?"

"No, no, Madam Pomfrey said she'll be back to normal in a few weeks. She just doesn't want to see anyone."

"It's not, you know, witches' problems, is it?" Parvati asked.

Harry looked confused at that, then even more horrified than he had been about the Heir: "What? Oh—OH! No no no! It's not that—look, just ask Madam Pomfrey if she'll talk to you, okay?"


Parvati and Lavender both tried, but they couldn't convince Hermione to give up the full story. They only knew that she had had some kind of potions accident, and they caught a glimpse of an oddly hairy face. Why she was brewing potions over Christmas Holidays was anyone's guess, but it was Hermione. There was also the report that filtered through the grapevine—supposedly from Moaning Myrtle of all people, that Hermione had tried to turn herself into a cat, but botched it. Parvati wasn't sure she believed that. The Hogwarts rumour mill tended to say the most outrageous things.

Whatever it was, Hermione was more embarrassed than they'd ever seen her before. And while Harry and Ron insisted she was fine, she stayed in the Hospital Wing all the way until February. (Madam Pomfrey wouldn't say whether she needed to remain there for her treatment.)

Despite their lack of leads, as the weeks ticked by with no new attacks, the fear that gripped Hogwarts at Christmas was slowly subsiding. Life returned to normal, with the usual grind of classes and homework—and gossip that was no longer solely focused on the Heir of Slytherin. People didn't quite count themselves safe yet, and Ernie Macmillan and a few others still muttered darkly about Harry behind his back, but most of the school was starting to relax.

Professor Lockhart said that his investigation (if there ever was an investigation) had scared the Heir off, so the attacks were over. Lavender felt reassured by this, while Padma simply rolled her eyes. When Lavender challenged her on it, Padma pointed out that even if he had, if the rumours about the Defence post being cursed were true, then Lockhart would be gone next year, so he had only delayed the Heir's return.

"You just watch; Lockhart's going to beat that curse," Lavender said indignantly, hands on her hips. "Besides, the Heir of Slytherin is obviously a Seventh-Year."

"What? How do you know that?" Padma demanded.

"Think about it. The Heir knows advanced dark magic. They can't be a younger student. Plus, they wouldn't risk getting caught and expelled earlier when they could just wait till seventh year."

Parvati had to admit that was a solid argument. But she still found herself increasingly agreeing with her sister about Lockhart. For all his exploits, he hadn't really done anything impressive in class all year (other than being gorgeous, of course).

Regardless, things seemed to be looking up, and Parvati could almost forget about the Chamber of Secrets, as she and Lavender were preoccupied with trying to guess what the Valentine's Day surprise was that Professor Lockhart had hinted at.

That was why she was so surprised when Harry was the one to seek them out next.

"Um, Parvati, can I talk to you and Padma for a minute?" he asked them one day after class.

"Of course, Harry," Parvati said. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," he said quickly. "I just need to talk to you. Same classroom, maybe?" Presumably the one they'd met in back in December.

"Sure. I'll go grab Padma and meet you there," she said.

Before she left, Lavender, who had overheard, waggled her eyebrows at her, clearly hoping for some juicy gossip. Parvati just shook her head at her. It Harry were to be the subject of the usual sort of gossip, he wouldn't ask for both of them…at least she hoped he wouldn't.

In any case, she was pretty sure she got Padma to the empty classroom without anyone besides Lavender noticing, where they found Harry waiting for them. As for Harry, he looked looked…agitated. He was fidgeting and rocking on his feet slightly, and for a moment, he looked like he was about to bolt when they walked in.

"Hi Harry—are you okay?" Padma asked.

Harry stopped and gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, it's just…Ron and Hermione think it's nothing…" He sat down at one of the desks. Parvati and Padma sat across from him.

"What's up?" Parvati asked.

He took a deep breath and said, "I need you to tell me if I'm being crazy…I found something."

Both of the girls' eyebrows rose. "Something related to the Chamber of Secrets?" Padma ventured.

"…Maybe. It's this." He held out a slim, black book to them.

Parvati took the book and thumbed through it. It had a soft leather cover, and inside, she saw dates, but no writing. "A blank diary?" she asked in confusion.

"Look at the date," he said. "1943. That's the same year the Chamber of Secrets was opened last time." That got their attention, and Padma also took a look. "And there's a name on the first page. T. M. Riddle."

Parvati didn't recognise the name. "Who's she?"

"He," Harry said.

"He?" She supposed some boys kept diaries.

"He was Head Boy, but that's not the important thing. T. M. Riddle was given an Award for Special Services to the School in 1943."

"You think he had something to do with…what, closing the Chamber of Secrets last time?" Parvati asked.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" he said, a bit defensively.

"I suppose so," she agreed.

"This actually is kind of strange," said Padma. "Where did you find this?"

"It was in Myrtle's bathroom."

Both girls snapped their heads up and fixed Harry with a piercing look. "And just what were you doing in the girls' bathroom, Harry Potter?" Parvati demanded. Even if no one used that bathroom, it was the principle of the thing.

Harry told them the story, then—starting, at their insistence, with how he had spoken with Myrtle following the other attacks, so they knew each other a little. How Myrtle had flooded the bathroom (angering Filch), how she was distraught at people throwing things at her—specifically the diary. And how they eventually concluded that whoever it was had tried to flush it down the toilet as if to dispose of it.

"That's got to mean something, doesn't it?" he concluded.

"Er, well, the bit about Riddle's award definitely does," Padma concluded. "But the diary's still blank."

"I know," Harry said, sighing again. "Hermione looked for invisible messages in there, but she didn't find anything, and Ron thinks I'm barmy, and Riddle just never used it, but…"

"But you think there's more to it?" asked Parvati.

"Yeah. I was hoping you could find something…ugh, I don't know. I mean, there really isn't anything there, but still, someone threw it away in Myrtle's bathroom for a reason. And it is from the same year the Chamber of Secrets was opened the last time. I just can't shake the feeling that there's something more to it, even though I can't find anything. Plus, even if it is blank, someone found it. Where did they find it? And how? And why throw it away like that?" He kept talking faster as he said all this.

Parvati scoffed. "You've talked to Myrtle. Don't tell me you never wanted to chuck something through her head."

"Well, sure, but I wouldn't. Besides, they didn't really throw it; they just flushed it—and I don't think it was for no reason."

"It does seem odd," Padma mused. "How does a diary from a student just turn up fifty years later in the first place? Even in a place as old as Hogwarts, stuff doesn't stay undisturbed that long."

"What I want to know is why they tried to get rid of it?" Harry said. A thought struck him, and he added, "You think maybe it was the Heir that did it?"

Padma looked at him, confused. "So…what, the Heir found the diary, was worried there might be hidden messages in it that they couldn't see, and then tried to flush it?"

"You'd think the Heir would be smarter than that," Paravti countered. "Why not throw the diary in the Lake? Or burn it? Or bury it?"

"Or just keep it so no one else could get it, for that matter?" Padma added.

"Alright, alright," Harry conceded.

"Maybe it really was just a coincidence," Parvati offered.

"Maybe. It just doesn't feel like it is. I don't know why."

"Hm…have you ever tried Divination, Harry?" she asked.

"No, what does that have to do with anything?"

"If you get a feeling like that that you can't explain, and it turns out to be right, it could be a sign that you're a Seer. Has anything like that happened to you before."

Harry thought about it, and for a moment, she was sure he was going to say yes, but he answered, "No, not really. I couldn't even figure out that it was Quirrell trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone."

"Whatever happened with that, anyway? We heard a lot of talk, but no one was ever clear on what was behind it," Padma asked.

It turned out that "Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort" was a pretty good conversation killer.


Parvati needed few days to recover from the shock of that little revelation. Luckily, Valentine's Day was just around the corner, and despite the numerous complaints (especially from the boys), she enjoyed Professor Lockhart's surprise of singing valentines.

It figured that somehow, the next day after everything seemed back to normal, Harry asked to speak with Parvati and Padma again, this time with an even bigger revelation.

"Hagrid?!" the girls exclaimed in unison.

"That's what the diary told me," Harry said. "I thought you ought to know since I already told you about it."

"The diary told you?" Padma said. "The diary that's blank?"

"You're going to need to start at the beginning," Parvati insisted.

Harry's story this time was a good deal wilder than how he had first acquired it. The diary may have been blank, but it turned out that when he wrote in it (after noticing that ink spilt on it had disappeared), it wrote back. That was…well, honestly, it was either some novelty product from Zonko's, or it was some creepily powerful magic.

The diary had claimed to be Riddle himself—or at least a memory of him—which then showed Harry his memory of the night he caught the Heir of Slytherin in 1943—or at least the person who was opening the Chamber of Secrets, since they couldn't imagine Hagrid of all people being the Heir of Slytherin—or having a vendetta against muggle-borns—or deliberately trying to kill anyone in the first place.

"Or knowing where the Chamber of Secrets is," Padma noted after they started discussing it.

Harry's eyes grew wide. "That's right. He can't have known where the Chamber of Secrets was. He would've told Dumbledore."

"But then how could he have found Slytherin's monster?" Parvati asked. "He…wasn't a Slytherin, was he?"

"No, he…" Harry stopped and thought. "You know, I've never actually asked him. I guess with how much he likes Dumbledore, I just thought he was a Gryffindor. But however he found it, there's no way he was deliberately attacking people. He wasn't writing messages on the wall or anything. He'd never do that."

"Not to mention Dumbledore's let him stay all these years," she agreed. "How sure are we that Riddle was telling the truth? I don't even know what the magic on that diary could be. Do you, Pad?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've heard there are ways to store memories and replay them, but I didn't think they were supposed to talk to you."

"It fits, though," Harry said. "We know Hagrid got expelled. And Riddle got that Award for Special Services. And the attacks stopped right after Hagrid was caught."

"So maybe it was him, but it was an accident…" Padma concluded. "In which case it's probably not him doing it again."

"Or," Parvati said dramatically, "he was framed."

And…that would have been much more exciting if she weren't stuck in the middle of this mess.

"So you don't think it's him?" Harry said hopefully.

"I don't think it's him letting the monster out now. It just doesn't make sense."

"So the Heir of Slytherin is still out there," Padma said glumly.

That certainly put a damper on what little hope they had. "Well…maybe we can figure something out about the monster," Parvati said. "Did you see what it was?"

Harry shook his head: "No, it was too dark. I could see it had a lot of legs, and pincers, but that's it."

She made a face. "Like a bug? How big was it?"

"Big enough to knock Riddle down. Maybe the size of a dog?"

She shivered. "Just what we need. A giant bug."

"Well, it's better than actual giant sized," said Padma.

"True. Still, I wouldn't've expect a bug, you know? As monsters go, it sounds more creepy than super-scary for something huge and powerful like a…a dragon or something…Say, there's a thought. Everyone talks like Slytherin's monster would be a horrible giant thing, but what if it wasn't? Wouldn't it be more like Slytherin to use something small and sneaky? And if it was venomous, it could petrify people, and it would explain why Dumbledore couldn't reverse it with just a spell."

"But why a whole secret chamber, then?" Padma asked. "Why not a…I don't know, a bookcase in the Slytherin Common Room with an enchanted safe behind it?"

"What if that is the secret chamber? After all, does anyone outside of Slytherin really know where it is? …For that matter, does anyone inside Slytherin know where it is?"

Harry looked surprised at the idea, but he thought about and said, "Well, the Heir must know. But the other Slytherins? Maybe they don't."

"It would explain why no one's seen something big lumbering around, too," she added.

"You think we should be trying to find out what small creatures could petrify people?" Harry asked.

Parvati shrugged, but Padma shook her head: "I'd think the teachers could figure it out better than we could…but I guess we can ask the older students. Or, you know, ask Hagrid."

"No," Harry said at once. "We thought about that, but that's not gonna be a very cheery conversation. We decided we weren't going to ask him unless there's another attack—Ron and Hermione and me, I mean."

"Could you ask the diary?" Parvati suggested. "Or get it to show you the memory again."

Harry's jaw dropped. Evidently, he hadn't considered that possibility. He also didn't respond right away. He seemed to be wrestling with himself, going on longer than he had the whole time, to the point that it worried Parvati. "I think…" he finally said. "I think I'm going to make that another one that I'll only do if there's another attack. I don't know why, but I really don't want to talk to the diary again. I kind of wish I didn't figure out how to work it in the first place. I don't want to use it unless we really need it."

"Hm, maybe that's for the best," Parvati concluded. "Papa always says with powerful magic, you should act cautiously and trust your instincts. And who knows, maybe Professor Lockhart's right, and there won't be any more attacks."

"We should be so lucky," Harry mumbled.