As soon as we got back upstairs to our dormitory, I told Tom about what had happened, and how I thought I was the culprit.
"Relax Ginny. There is very little to implicate you. I am sure you were merely sleepwalking" he said.
"I thought that at first, but I woke up right at the scene of the crime, I must have had something to do with it"
"Did anyone see you do it, or see you acting in an unusual manner?"
"No, but i've been feeling so strange for weeks now, I've been restless, I've felt heavier and lighter as if something has been entering and leaving me. I know something is going wrong. I don't want people worrying about me so I haven't told anybody but you."
Tom paused.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before" he said. "In fact, it happened in 1942, the year I'm currently living in. It resulted in the death of one student. I caught the culprit, and I was rewarded for it. If I'm not mistaken, you mentioned that this person still lives at Hogwarts. Let me show you"
Suddenly the diary flipped several pages over, and a small square appeared in the top right corner the page, it became larger and larger, and all of a sudden I was sucked into the diary.
It showed me something that was clearly a memory of Tom's. It began with him in Professor Dippet's office, where he asked to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, and if he would be able to apply for the position of Defense against the Dark Arts professor. Dippet was the headmaster before Dumbledore, and he declined both of Tom's requests. It then showed Tom leaving the office and then having an encounter with Professor Dumbledore, who appeared suspicious of Tom and questioned him briefly, before Tom went down to the dungeons. He entered a room, and saw what appeared to be Hagrid, who was guarding something. Tom declared that he had caught Hagrid, and that Hagrid was the one responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets and killing a Muggle born girl. I was then thrust back out of the diary and on to my bed.
"You see?" he said. "Hagrid did it, and I'm sure he's doing it now. You don't need to worry about a thing"
I bit my lip and just said "Ok" before closing the diary. I laid down on my bed but I knew there was no hope of sleep for me tonight. I was so confused. I thought Hagrid was a good person, there's no way he'd have done something like this. And it still didn't explain why I was covered in blood and rooster feathers that night. No. There had to be more to it.
The next few days were of no help to me. The only slight positive was that it turned out Ms. Norris hadn't been killed, just petrified.
"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told me bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her." My lip trembled. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron assured me. "They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled. I'm only joking —" Ron added hastily as I blanched.
The Chamber of Secrets was all that anyone talked about now, and everyone was determined to find out more about it. I of course knew more than everyone else, but I wasn't about to tell. I wasn't going to implicate myself and get expelled.
When Amy, Demelza and I went to History of Magic, the class was all very strangely paying close attention. Very soon I found out why. Almost as soon as Binns had entered the room, Colin's hand went up, and he asked if they could be told anything about the Chamber of Secrets.
"No" said Binns "You are not the first class to bring up this subject with me. The only thing I will say is that there is no evidence whatsoever that it exists, and that this class is called History of Magic, where we learn facts, and only facts. We shall return to our story of the Goblin Rebellion of 1612..."
Disappointment washed over the class, apart from me. I had no desire to learn more about my terrible actions. Demelza and I resumed our usual mini quaffle game to pass the time and it did help take my mind off things.
As we were heading downstairs for lunch, we overheard Colin and another boy talking.
"I reckon Potter's the heir. He did beat You Know Who, and as a baby no less! How would he have done that without having some seriously dark magic?"
"It's not Harry!" I shouted, before I could stop myself.
Everyone on the staircase turned to look at us in silence.
"And how would you know that?" said the boy.
"I'm a good friend of his, he stayed at my house over the summer, and I know he'd never do anything like that, he's a great person, and a Gryffindor no less!"
"Sirius Black was a Gryffindor, and look how he turned out!"
"He was an outlier though, his whole family were Slytherins!" I retorted
The boy didn't look convinced, but he turned and skulked away nonetheless.
"Honestly some people are such idiots, am I right?" I said to Amy and Demelza.
"Absolutely" said Demelza
"It's just a shame that whoever that is, will now probably spread it around. Hopefully Harry doesn't take it too seriously" added Amy.
There was one thing that raised my spirits though, and that was the upcoming first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor vs Slytherin. I was very confident in my team, we'd made so much progress in practice and everyone was getting on so well with each other. I couldn't wait to humiliate those Slytherin twats, especially Avery and Mulciber, and after they seemed to know I was involved in the attack on Mrs. Norris, it was even more important. It was also a great chance for me to stake a claim at taking Alicia's place in the first team, so I knew I needed a great performance.
In the week leading up to the match, I insisted on daily practices, which got me some complaints, but they all shut up when I threatened to have them dropped from the team if they didn't comply. Hermione of course, as she was so brilliant in seemingly everything, still attended every practice with enthusiasm and was able to get all her homework done early.
After the final practice before the match, she approached Demelza, Amy and I in the changing room.
"Hey, so I was thinking, why don't the four of us start this weekly girl talk sort of thing, where we all discuss things we wouldn't normally discuss with our male friends, and also just generally catch up on our lives. I also have some suspicions about the Chamber of Secrets that would be great to share with you all."
"That's a good idea" I said "Especially considering we're first years and you're a second, we don't get to spend much time together outside of Quidditch"
"Exactly. There's also a really good wireless show that I've started listening to called the Clipped Twig, which is on Friday nights, so how about we meet in my dormitory around 8pm each week, starting tonight?"
"Sounds like a plan to me. Any objections?" I asked Amy and Demelza
They shook their heads.
"Great, let's do it then!" I said.