XVI. Arcane

Understood by few, mysterious or secret.

Two weeks later, Jayla visits Hermione in the Hospital Wing with Harry and Ron, carrying dozens of Library books in their arms and comes to their friend's bed to find it covered in books. "Oh, good. Put those anywhere." Hermione smiles, glad to see her friends.

"Where?" Jayla asks, seeing nowhere to put them, and the boys place them on the floor.

"Madam Pince asked that we relay a message to you, Hermione: She'd appreciate it if you'd leave a few books for the rest of the school," Ron informs her.

"I've got to keep up, haven't I?" Hermione replies, and her tail twitches into view.

"Is that thing ever going away?" He asks her, pointing at it.

"Any day now, according to Madam Pomfrey. I'm just thankful I've stopped coughing up furballs." She informs them.

"We all are, believe me." The redhead grumbles, earning a slap from Jayla.

"Now. What about the Chamber of Secrets? Any new leads?" The bushy-haired brunette questions, looking at her friends.

"Nothing." Harry answers.

"And has it gotten any better? I mean… is anyone speaking to you?" Hermione asks, being out of the loop as she is cooped up in the Hospital.

"Neville asked to borrow a tubeworm in Potions yesterday. I suppose that's something," Harry replies, smiling sheepishly.

"To Miss Granger," Ron reads the get-well card under Hermione's pillow. "Wishing you a speedy recovery from your concerned teacher Gilderoy Lockhart."

"What a dope." Jayla mutters.

"You sleep with this under your pillow?" He asks Hermione, frowning.

"Of course not." Hermione denies. "I don't know how that got there. Now go. I still have six hundred pages to read in Transformation Through the Ages."

"Get better soon. I can't deal with the boys alone for too much longer." Jayla jokes, hugging her friend before leaving with the boys.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Harry and Ron emerge from the Hospital Wing on the second floor and go upstairs when Jayla rushes to join them. "I know Hermione's mental, but can you believe she falls for that smarmy nonsense of Lockhart's?" Ron complains.

"Shut up," Jayla snaps, slapping his arm, making him yelp when they stop; looking down and seeing a great flood of water streaming from the girls' bathroom and can hear Myrtle moaning.

"Looks like Myrtle's flooded the bathroom," Harry announces, and they splash their way toward the bathroom.

"These are expensive shoes." She groans, being careful not to get water in her shoes.

"Yuck!" Ron complains, and they walk toward Myrtle's bathroom.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

"Dear Merlin." Jayla gasps, seeing all the taps running, streaming like tiny waterfalls, flooding the room and finding Myrtle in the last cubicle, making huge, wracking moans echoing off the grey tiles.

"Come to throw something else at me?" Myrtle asks them, spinning around accusingly.

"Why would I throw something at you?" Harry asks her.

"Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business," The ghost girl moves out of the cubicle toward the three second-years. "And someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me…."

"What a horrible thing to do." Jayla mutters, seeing the ghost girl smile softly at her.

"But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you." Ron comments. "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?"

"Oh sure!" Myrtle shouts, getting into his face. "Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach." She thrusts her hand through his stomach, startling him. "Fifty points if it goes through her head!" She smashes her hand through his head, startling the redhead.

"Who threw it at you anyway?" Harry asks her.

"I don't know." She whimpers. "I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell through the top of my head. Mm-hm." The ghost girl sobs, flying off to cry, and Harry sees a small black book on the floor and walks over, picking it up and inspecting it.

"Fifty points if you can get it through her nose," Ron mutters, earning a slap from Jayla.

"I HEARD THAT!" Myrtle shouts, scaring the boys and making them dash out of the room.

"Good one, Myrtle." Jayla laughs, strolling out to join the boys in the corridor.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Harry walks along with Ron and Jayla, examining the book. "This is a diary. And it's old…." Harry comments.

"It's a diary, it's old…." Ron replies. "...and was most recently in a toilet, Harry." Harry goes to open it, but Jayla stops him, grabbing his hand.

"Are you mad?" Jayla snaps at him. "That could be cursed."

"Dad once told me about a book the Ministry confiscated that burned the eyes out of anyone who tried to read it." He warns his friend.

"I'll take my chances…" Harry replies and opens the book. "Ahhh!" He screams, scaring the two Pure-bloods. "MY EYES! MY EYES!" They freeze, terrified, when Harry stops screaming, grins at them, and ends his ruse.

"You absolute moron!" Jayla yells at him, and at the end of the corridor, Ginny stands, looking from the diary to Harry in utter terror, then dashes off.

"Ginny!" He shouts after her. "I was only joking - Brilliant. Even your sister thinks I'm the monster now."

"Who doesn't." Ron replies, frowning suddenly, looking at the back of the diary to see in embossed letters spelling out a name: Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"What is it?" Jayla asks him, looking at the book. "Tom Marvolo Riddle?"

"I know that name…." He replies, thinking. "Of course! The night I had detention… My job was to polish the silver in the trophy room. I remember because I kept burping slugs all over Tom Riddle's trophy. I must have wiped slime off his name for an hour." Harry takes the book from Jayla, fanning the pages to see they're all empty.

"That's odd. He never wrote in it." Harry comments, frowning.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Harry later sneaks into the Hospital Wing, needing to talk to Hermione about the diary, and she examines it, seeing in gold embossed writing the address on the back. Waxflatter's Booksellers. 422 Vauxhall Road. Harry sits with Hermione in the moonlit room as she studies the diary curiously. "Tom Riddle… Hm. And Ron said he won an award fifty years ago?" Hermione asks.

"Special Services to the School or something…" Harry replies.

"Fifty years ago? You're sure?" She questions, frowning.

"Yes. Why?" He asks her.

"Don't you remember what Malfoy told you? The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened was -." The bushy-haired brunette reminds him.

"Fifty years ago!" The ravenette exclaims, but with a withering look from Hermione, he quietens down. "That means -."

"Tom Riddle was here, at Hogwarts, when it happened. What if he wrote about what he saw? It's possible he knew where the Chamber was, how top open it, even what sort of creature lives in it. If so, whoever's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want a diary like this lying around, would they?" Hermione questions, looking through the book.

"That's brilliant theory, Hermione. With just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in this diary." Harry tells hers.

"It might be invisible ink." She reasons and pulls out her wand.

"Jayla already tried that." He informs her.

"Oh. I see," The bushy-haired brunette mumbles, frowning and returning the book to Harry. "I don't know, Harry. But I think you should be careful with this. Something tells me Ron and Jayla might be right. It could be dangerous."

"You don't think I'm dangerous, do you, Hermione?" The raven-haired boy asks her. "I mean, you're not scared. Of me."

"I'm scared, Harry. But not of you." Hermione assures him.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

It's Valentine's Day, and Harry sits in the Common Room, sulking a little because Jayla got over a dozen cards from most of the boys in their year. Fred and George gave her one, too but as friends. Harry gave her one too. Harry looks at the diary as he sits at one of the tables in the room while everyone sleeps in their dorm rooms, Hermione having returned from the Hospital Wing. He looks at the ink pot next to him and dips his quill hesitantly, an idea flickering in his mind. A drop of ink splatters onto the open page, blazing briefly before vanishing as if sucked into the book. Harry grows excited and dips his quill into the inkpot again, beginning to write.

"My name… is Harry Potter…" Harry mumbles as he writes and sees the words fade from the page and more words appear. Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. Harry's mind races, and decides to continue writing. "Do you know… anything aobut… the Chamber of Secret?" The words disappear again, and one word appears. Yes. And he quickly replies. "Can you… tell me?" And there's a disappointing answer. No. Harry frowns and throws his quill down, but there's a strange response. But I can show you… Harry frowns, waiting, intrigued. Let me take you back fifty years ago. The pages violently flutter and then stop. 13th June. The date appears in the corner, and Harry picks up the book, waiting when the seam of the diary shimmers with light and a bright beam sucks him into the book.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Harry appears in a beam of light coming out of a corridor, looks around to see everything is inky and black and walks into the Entrance Hall; looking around, and finds a teenage boy spying on something at the top of the stairs. "Excuse me." Harry calls out to him. "Could you tell me what's going on here?" He gets no response. "Are you Tom Riddle?" Still nothing. "Hello…?" The boy doesn't respond, and Harry peers around the corner to see men coming down the stairs carrying a stretcher and passes them. An arm falls out from under the sheet, startling Harry.

"Riddle?" A voice shouts, making Tom turn around, and Harry turns, too. Seeing a younger-looking Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore." Tom replies, strolling calmly toward him.

"It's not wise to be wandering around this late hour, Tom." Dumbledore warns the boy.

"Yes, Professor. I suppose I - I just had to see for myself if…." He replies, glancing back. "... the rumours were true."

"I'm afraid they are, Tom." The Professor answers.

"About the school as well?" Tom asks. "They wouldn't really close Hogwarts, would they, Professor?"

"Headmaster Dippet may have no choice. I'm afraid." Dumbledore informs him, and Harry remembers seeing the name when he and Jayla were in Headmaster Dumbledore's office, and his friend was talking to him.

"Sir? If it all stopped. If the person responsible was caught…." Tom wonders, making the Professor curious, staring at him.

"Is there something you wish to tell me, Tom?" He questions, giving him a strange look.

"No, sir." The teenage boy answers after a long pause. "Nothing." But Dumbledore doesn't believe him, studying Tom for a moment.

"Very well, then. Hurry along." Dumbledore tells him and strides off past Harry, not seeing the boy, and when he's gone, Riddle quickly leaves toward the dungeon steps.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Tom quickly rushes off toward the Dungeon, comes to a door and peaks inside through a crack inside; someone is speaking. "C'mon. Aragog. Gotta get yeh outta here… C'mon now… in the box…." Riddle pulls the door open, and Harry can see clearly into the smaller room to see a younger Hagrid, still more significant than the average person crouching by a box where a strange clicking noise comes from inside the box.

"Evening, Hagrid." Tom greets him, and the half-giant slams the door shut. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Hagrid. I don't think you meant it to kill anyone -."

"No, yeh can't! Yeh don' understand!" Hagrid protests, waving his arms around.

"Hagrid. The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow." He replies. "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

"It wasn' him! Aragog never'd kill no one! Never!" The young half-giant argues.

"Monsters don't make good pets, Hagrid. Now… stand aside…" Riddle warns him, drawing his wand, blasting the door off its hinges, and extinguishing the torches.

"No!" Hagrid shouts.

"Stand aside, Hagrid!" Tom demands, raising his wand at the younger Hagrid.

"No!" He repeats.

"Cistem Aperio!" Riddle casts the spell at the box near the Half-giant, bursting it open, and a giant spider crawls out and scurries out of the room away from the Slytherin boy. "Arania Exumai!" He fires another spell at the retreating baby Aragog, but it misses him, and he escapes.

"Aragog! Aragog!" Hagrid shouts after him and goes to find him, but Tom levels his wand at him.

"I can't let you go. They'll have your wand for this, Hagrid. You'll be expelled." Tom tells him, and the half-giant hangs his head in shame.

"Hagrid!" Harry shouts, stretching his hand out to him and the door slams shut as he's pulled out of the memory. "HAAAAAGRIIID!" Harry disappears from the memory.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

The diary spits Harry out, and he reappears in the Gryffindor Common Room, nearly falling out of his chair. "Whoa!" He runs off, going back to his dorm.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

The next day, Harry explains what he found out about Hagrid from the diary of Tom Riddle. "It was Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago." Harry informs the others.

"It can't be Hagrid," Hermione argues, shaking her head as they cross the courtyard to their next class. "It just can't be."

"We don't even know this, Tom Riddle." Ron adds. "He sounds like a dirty rotten snitch to me."

"Agreed. He doesn't sound credible." Jayla agrees.

"The monster killed someone, Ron, Jayla. What would any of us have done?" Harry argues, looking at them, coming to a stop,

"Look, Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go and ask him about it?" Hermione questions.

"That'll be a cheerful visit. "Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"" Ron jokes, and Hagrid appears behind them, hearing the last part.

"Mad and hairy?" Hagrid asks, startling the four Gryffindors, and they swirl around to see the Groundskeeper behind them. "You wouldn't be talking about me, now would ya?"

"No!" The four tweens answer simultaneously, and awkward silence hangs in the air.

"What's that you've got, Hagrid?" Jayla asks him, seeing the green canister in his hand.

"Oh, it's Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent." Hagrid answers, showing them. "For the Mandrakes, you know. Now, according to Professor Sprout, they've still got a bit of growing up to do, but once their ache's cleared up, we'll be able to chop 'em up and stew 'em, and then we'll get those people down at the Hospital Unpetrified."

"That's good." She nods, seeming calmer than the others.

"In the meantime, though, you four had best be looking after yourselves, all right?" He warns them, looking at them before leaving, passing a running Neville. "Hello, Neville."

"Harry, I don't know who did it, but you'd better come!" Neville runs up to them. "C'mon!" He leads them away to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Neville shows them the mess of the boys' dorm room, and the whole place is ransacked; everything of Harry's has been thrown around the room and trashed. Jayla enters the room as Harry looks through the mess, and Ron and Hermione stand at the entrance; the young Heiress moves to Hedwig. "It had to be a Gryffindor. Nobody else knows our password. Unless it wasn't a student."

"It was definitely a student." Hedwig replies, and Jayla looks at her,

"Do you know who?" Jayla asks.

"All I saw was red hair." She replies, making the young Heiress frown.

"Whoever it was, they must have been looking for something." Ron comments.

"And they found it." Harry confirms, looking up from the mess. "Tom Riddle's diary is gone."

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Jayla rushes out of her room, smiling and goes to the boys, waiting for her. "What's got you so happy?" Ron asks her.

"You don't know what day it is?" She asks him, frowning.

"Happy Birthday!" Hermione exclaims, coming into the Common Room with a present, and Jayla looks at her.

"Thanks." The young Heiress smiles, taking the gift and turns to the boys to see them holding more.

"We didn't forget." Harry tells her, smiling.

"Happy Birthday." The boys grin, giving her the presents, and she beams.

"Thank you." Jayla hugs them.

"Well, open them." Hermione tells her, wanting her to open hers first.

"Who's that?" Harry asks, seeing Ryder at the window, carrying cards in his beak and a small box.

"Ryder!" Jayla beams, skipping to the window and letting the owl inside. "Good morning."

"Morning. Happy Birthday." Ryder replies, nibbling at her fingers as she takes the cards.

"Thank you." She smiles, and he flies off after the young Heiress gives him a few treats she keeps in her pocket.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

The next day after Jayla's birthday, it's Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor, and everyone is excited to see it as the students stream into the Quidditch Stadium. Meanwhile, Harry and Jayla, dressed in their Quidditch robes, dash down the marble staircase with Ron and Hermione and down below, Ron spies his sister, Ginny. "Hey, Ginny! Going to the match?" He asks her, making her look up, startled, and then she shakes her head before walking away. "I tell you, she gets weirder and weirder by the day…."

"Kill this time… Let me rip… Tear." Jayla and Harry hear the voice hissing again, making them freeze, and their friends see it, knowing what it is.

"No… don't tell me…." Ron groans, and they turn, following the voice, and Harry absently touches his fingers to the wall, glancing around. Hermione studies him with interest and his fingers, then Harry abruptly turns away, shaking his head. It's gone. Hermione looks up, her eyes vaguely upon Harry as her mind runs miles away.

"Harry, Jayla… I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the Library!" Hermione exclaims, sprinting back up the stairs.

"What do you understand!" Jayla yells after her, but she's already gone, and she looks back at the boys, puzzled.

"The Library?" Harry wonders.

"That's Hermione. When in doubt, go to the Library?" Ron replies, and they go off to the stadium for the match.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Jayla smiles, happy to play another match, though she feels terrible about taking Katie Bell's spot for the season, and the Gryffindor team sits in the changing room preparing for the game. "All right, listen up." Oliver tells them in front of the whiteboard. "We play our game; Hufflepuff doesn't stand a chance." He leads the team out toward the Pitch. "We're stronger, quicker, and smarter."

"And not to mention, they're dead scared that Harry'll Petrify them if they fly anywhere near him." Fred jokes, looking back at Harry, who shakes his head at their antics.

"Well, that too." Oliver teases, and Jayla laughs, nudging him in the side, and he looks at her, smiling.

"Poor Harry." Jayla giggles, and before they can enter the Pitch, Professor McGonagall approaches them, blocking them.

"Professor McGonagall." He greets her, smiling.

"This match has been cancelled." McGonagall announces, disappointing the team, who groan in protest.

"They can't cancel Quidditch." Oliver protests.

"Silence, Wood." She warns him and turns to the rest of the team. "You and your teammates will got to Gryffindor Tower now." The others all disperse dejectedly. "Potter, Darkmore, you two and I will find Mr Weasley. There's something the three of you have to see."

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Professor McGonagall leads Harry, Jayla and Ron into the Hospital Wing, some beds covered by the curtains because of the Petrified patients. "I warn you, this could be a wee bit of a shock." She warns the students, and they see what she means, stopping abruptly at seeing their friend, Hermione, lying on a hospital bed, Petrified.

"Hermione…" Ron mutters, overcome with shock.

"She was found near the Library, along with this." McGonagall informs them, picking up a mirror on the bedside cabinet and showing them. "Does it mean anything to any of you?"

"No." Harry answers, and she sets the mirror down as he feels Hermione's stiff hand.

"Merlin, please." Jayla mumbles, moving over to her best friend with tears rolling down her cheeks.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Later, McGonagall stomps into the Gryffindor Tower, where all the students are gathered in their Common Room. "Could I have your attention, please?" She gains their attention. "Because of recent events, these new rules will be put into effect immediately." She unrolls the parchment. "All students will return to their House Common Room by six o'clock every evening. All students will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No exceptions." She rolls it up. "I should tell you this: unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught, it is likely the school will be closed." She quickly leaves, the students all looking around, worried.

"Haven't any of the teachers noticed that the Slytherin are all safe?" Neville speaks up, standing in the corner near Harry, Ron, Jayla, and their classmates. "Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin - why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?"

"I don't think it's that simple, Nev." Jayla mumbles, still crying, wishing her best friend was there.

"They can't close Hogwarts. Where would we all go?" Seamus questions, looking around.

"I don't care what anyone says. As long as Dumbledore's here, Hogwarts will be here." Dean remarks, and the others nod, agreeing with him.

"We've got to talk to Hagrid, Ron, Jayla. I can't believe it's him, but if he did set the monster loose last time, he'll know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets, and that's a start." Harry whispers to them, hugging Jayla's side as she keeps crying.

"But you heard McGonagall. We're not allowed to leave the Tower except for class." Ron argues, rubbing the crying Heiress' arm to calm her down.

"I think it's time to go get my Dad's old cloak out again." He replies. "Are you up to it, Jayla?"

"For Hermione." Jayla replies, wiping away her tears.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

The next night, Harry waits until everyone is asleep, and he opens the drawer near his bed, takes out the Invisibility Cloak, and walks out with Ron down into the Common Room to see Jayla waiting for them. "Ready?" Jayla asks the boys, and they nod, putting the Cloak around them.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

Harry, Jayla and Ron, under the Invisibility Cloak, make it out of the castle, even passing Snape before approaching Hagrid's hut and knocking on the door, making Fang look up from the couch and Hagrid puts the lid on his teapot, readying his crossbow. "Who's there?" Hagrid demands, walking to his front door and gently kicking it open. "Hello?" The tweens remove the Cloak, and Hagrid lowers it at the sight of them.

"What's that for?" Harry questions, looking at the crossbow.

"Oh, nothing. I was expecting, uh… It doesn't matter. Come on in. I just made a pot of tea." He tells them, letting the children inside as he nervously pours tea into a cup over the brim.

"Hagrid, are you okay?" Jayla asks him, seeing his tremoring hands.

"I'm fine. I'm all right." The Groundskeeper assures her, putting the teapot down.

"Di-Did you hear about Hermione?" Harry asks him.

"Oh, yeah. I heard about that, all right." Hagrid replies, avoiding their stares.

"Look, we have to ask you something. Do you know who's opened the Chamber of Secrets?" He inquires.

"What you have to understand about that is…." The half-giant replies, but before he can say anymore, there's a knock at the door, making Fang bark, and they look over to the door. "Quick." He whispers to them. "Under the Cloak. Don't say a word, be quiet, all of you." The tweens quickly go into a corner, and Ron throws the Cloak back over them as Hagrid pushes the door open to find Dumbledore at the door, accompanied by Cornelius Fudge. "Oh, Professor Dumbledore, sir."

"Good evening, Hagrid." Dumbledore greets him, and Fudge gives the Groundskeeper a slight smile. "I wonder, could we…?"

"Of course." Hagrid beckons them inside. "Come in, come in."

"That's Dad's boss, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic." Ron whispers, recognising the man as he enters.

"Slimey nitwit." Jayla grumbles, glaring at the man.

"Bad business, Hagrid. Very bad business. Had to come. Three attacks on Muggle-borns. Things have gone far enough. The Ministry's got to act." Fudge comments, looking at the half-giant.

"But I never… you know I never, Professor!" Hagrid protests.

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence." Dumbledore adds.

"Albus, look, Hagrid's record is against him. I've got to take him." Fudge replies, gesturing to Hagrid.

"Take me? Take me where? Not Azkaban Prison?" Hagrid shouts.

"I'm afriad we have no choice, Hagrid." He says, hanging his head, and the door opens again, revealing Lucius Malfoy.

"Already here, Fudge?" Lucius smirks, looking at the Minister of Magic. "Good."

"What are you doing here? Get out of my house!" Hagrid demands, looking at the man as he steps into the room.

"Believe me, I take absolutely no pleasure being inside your…." He replies, stepping toward the stop where Harry, Ron and Jayla are standing, causing them to back away as he looks around the hut. "You call this a house?" He turns away, facing Dumbledore. "No, I simply called up the school and was told the Headmaster was here."

"And what exactly is it that you want with me?" Dumbledore questions, looking at the slimy man.

"The other governors and I have decided it's time for you to step aside," Lucius announces, holding up a roll of parchment. "This is an order of suspension. You'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you've rather lost your touch, and what with all these attacks, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts."

"There's no way my Mum signed that." Jayla hisses, glaring at her uncle.

"I can only imagine what an awful loos that would be to the school." He teases sarcastically.

"You can't take Professor Dumbledore away. Take him away, and the Muggle-borns won't stand a chance. You mark my words; there'll be killings next!" Hagrid protests angrily.

"You think so?" Malfoy questions, seeming amused by it.

"Calm yourself, Hagrid. If the governors desire my removal. I will, of course, step aside." Dumbledore complies, walking up to Lucius. "However, you will find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." He looks straight at Harry, Jayla and Ron, making eye contact with them, surprising them. Lucius turns to see what the old man is looking at but sees nothing and turns back to Dumbledore.

"Admirable sentiments. Shall we?" Lucius remarks, and Dumbledore gives them one last significant look before leaving the hut. "Fudge."

"Come, Hagrid. Well?" Fudge calls for him, looking at the Groundskeeper.

"If, um, if anybody was looking for some stuff, then all they'd have to do would be to follow the spiders. Yep, that'd lead 'em right. That's all I have to say." Hagrid says and reluctantly begins to leave. "Oh, and someone will need to feed Fang while I'm away." He walks out the front door as Fang growls at Fudge.

"Good boy." Fudge stumbles, following the half-giant out the door and Harry, Ron and Jayls take off the Invisibility Cloak now the coast is clear.

"Hagrid's right. With Dumbledore gone, there'll be an attack a day!" Ron exclaims in a panic.

"Look." Harry says, spotting a line of spiders crawling out of the window and drawing his friends' attention. "Come on." He takes the lantern near the door.

"Come on, Fang." Jayla encourages the cowardly dog as Harry leads them outside.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," Harry lies, patting his leg, and Fang bounds happily out of the house behind them, dashing to the edge of the forest, and lifts his leg against a large sycamore tree. Jayla takes out her wand, murmuring, "Lumos!" a tiny light appears at the end of it, just enough to let them watch the path for signs of spiders, as the lantern does hardly anything.

"Good thinking," Ron comments. "I'd light mine, too, but you know - It'd probably blow up or something…." Harry taps him on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary spiders hurry away from the light into the tree's shade. "Okay," He sighs, thinking the worse. "I'm ready. Let's go." Fang scampers around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves as they enter the forest. By the glow of Jayla's wand, they follow the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. The tweens walk behind them for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for noises than breaking twigs and rustling leaves. Jayla can barely hear them speaking amongst themselves in hushed tones.

Then, when the trees become thicker than ever so that the stars overhead are no longer visible, and Jayla's wand shines alone in the sea of darkness, they see their spider guides leaving the path. Harry pauses, trying to see where the spiders are going, but everything outside the little sphere of light from the lantern is Pitch black. He has never been this deep into the Forbidden Forest before. Harry vividly remembers Hagrid advising him not to leave the forest path the last time they'd been here. But Hagrid is miles away now, probably sitting in a cell in Azkaban Prison, and he has also said to follow the spiders. Something wet touches Harry's hand, making him jump backwards and crushing Jayla's foot, and he sees it's only Fang's nose. What'd you reckon?" Harry asks the others, whose eyes he can just make out, reflecting the light from Jayla's wand.

"We've come this far," Ron tells him.

"Yeah. We should keep going." Jayla agrees, and so they follow the darting shadows of the spiders into the trees. The tweens can't move very quickly now as the tree roots and stumps are in their way, barely visible in the near blackness. Harry can feel Fang's hot breath on his hand, and they stop again, and he crouches and finds the spiders in the wand light as Jayla moves it. They walk for at least half an hour, their clothes snagging on low-slung branches and brambles.

After a while, they notice the ground seems to be sloping downward, though the trees are as thick as ever. Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making them jump out of their skins. "What?" Ron yelps loudly, looking around into the pitch dark, grips Harry's elbow very hard. "There's something moving over there."

"Listen… sounds like something big…" Jayla breathes, and they listen. Some distance to their right, something big is snapping branches as it carves a path through the trees.

"Oh, no." Ron squeal.s "Oh, no, oh, no, oh-."

"Shut up." Harry snaps frantically. "It'll hear you."

"Hear me?" He yelps in an unnaturally high voice.

"It's already heard, Fang!" Jayla snaps, and the darkness seems pressed on their eyeballs as they stand, terrified, waiting. There's a strange rumbling noise and then silence.

"What d'you think it's doing" Harry wonders.

"Probably getting ready to pounce." Ron replies, and they wait, shivering, hardly daring to move.

"D'you think it's gone?" Jayla whispers, looking around.

"Dunno -." He whispers back, and then to their right comes a sudden blaze of light, so bright in the darkness that they fling up their hands to shield their eyes. Fang yelps and tries to run but gets lodged in a tangle of thorns and yelps even louder. "Harry! Jayla!" The redhead shouts, his voice breaking with relief. "Harry, it's our car!"

"What?" Jayla questions, frowning.

"Come on!" Ron shouts, and they blunder after him toward the light, stumbling and tripping, and a moment later, they emerge into a clearing.

The Weasley's car is standing, empty, in the middle of a circle of thick trees under a roof of dense branches, its headlights ablaze. As Ron walks, open-mouthed, toward it, it moves slowly toward him, exactly like a giant turquoise dog greeting its owner. "It's been here all this time!" Ron marvels with delight, walking around the car. "Look at it. The forest's turned it wild…." The sides of the car are scratched and smeared with mud. Apparently, it has taken to trundling around the forest on its own. Fang doesn't seem keen on it, keeping close to Jayla, who can feel him quivering. His breathing slows down again, and she stuffs her wand into her pocket. "And we thought it was going to attack us!" Ron leans against the car, patting it. "I wondered where it had gone!" Harry squints around on the floodlit ground for signs of more spiders, but they have all scuttled away from the glare of the headlights.

"We've lost the trail," Harry grumbles. "C'mon, let's go and find them." Ron doesn't speak or move. His eyes are fixed on a point ten feet above the forest floor behind Harry and Jayla. His face is livid with terror. They don't even have time to turn around. There is a loud clicking noise, and suddenly they feel something long and hairy seize them around the middle and lift them off the ground, and they find themselves hanging facedown.

Struggling, terrified, they hear more clicking and see Ron's legs leave the ground, too, hearing Fang whimpering and howling - the next moment, Harry is being swept away into the dark trees. Head hanging, Harry sees that what has hold of him is marching on six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching him tightly below a pair of shining black pincers. Behind him, more are carrying Ron and Jayla, moving into the very heart of the forest. Harry hears Fang fighting to free himself from a fourth monster, whining loudly, but he can't have yelled even if he wanted to, seeming to have left his voice back with the car in the clearing.

The tweens don't know how long it is. They're in the creature's clutches, only knowing the darkness when suddenly lifting enough for them to see that the leaf-strewn ground is now swarming with spiders. Harry cranes his neck sideways, realising that they've reached the ridge of a vast hollow, a hollow that has been cleared of trees, and the stars shine brightly onto the worst scene he has ever laid eyes on. Spiders the sizes of carthorses, eight-eyes, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic and the massive specimens that are carrying them make their way down the steep slope toward a misty, domed web in the centre of the hollow while its fellows close in all around it, clicking their pincers excitedly at the sight of their loads.

Harry falls to the ground on all fours as the spider releases him, and the others thud down next to him. Fang isn't howling anymore but cowering silently on the spot. Ron looks precisely like Harry feels, though Jayla seems more put together than the both of them, seeming to be listening to the spiders surrounding them.

"Dinner!" The spiders keep chanting, and Harry realises that the spider has dropped him is saying something and looks at it, but it's hard to hear because of the clicking.

"Aragog!" The spider clicks. "Aragog!" And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerges very slowly. There is a grey in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head is milky white. He's blind.

"What is it?" Aragog replies, clicking his pincers rapidly.

"Men," Clicks the spider, who was carrying Harry.

"I'm a woman." Jayla grumbles, and Harry looks at her to be quiet.

"Is it Hagrid?" The giant spider questions, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.

"Stranger," The spider who brought Ron clicks.

"Kill them." Aragog orders fretfully. "I was sleeping…."

"We're friends of Hagrid's!" Harry shouts as his heart seems to leave his chest to pound in his throat. Click, click, click goes the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.

"Lies! Aragog! Lies!" The spiders shout, but Aragog pauses.

"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," Aragog says slowly.

"Hagrid's in trouble," Jayla answers, keeping herself calm. "That's why we've come."

"In trouble?" He asks, and Harry hears the concern beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?" Harry doesn't get to his feet, worried they will wobble and stands on the ground calmly.

"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a - a - something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban." Harry explains, and Aragog clicks his pincers furiously and around the hollow; the sound echoes by the crowd of spiders like applause, except it makes him feel sick with fear.

"But that was years ago," The elderly spider replies fretfully. "Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free."

"And you… you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets, right? You're an Acromantula," Jayla asks him, looking at the elephant-sized spider, and Harry looks at her, frowning, wondering how she knew that.

"I!" He angrily clicks. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend and a good man. When I was discovered and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness…."

"That was kind of him." She agrees, trying to keep on the good side of the giant spider.

"So you never - never attacked anyone?" Harry asks, summoning what remaining courage he has.

"Never," Aragog croaks. "It would have been my instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our Kind like the dark and the quiet…."

"But then… Do you know what did kill that girl?" He asks. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again -." His words are drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily, large black shapes shifting around them.

"The thing that lives in the castle," The old spider replies, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well, do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go. When I sensed the beast moving about the castle."

"What is it?" Jayla asks urgently, and there is more loud clicking, more rustling from the spiders seeming to be closing in on them.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog snaps fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of the dread creature, though he asked me many times." Harry doesn't press the subject, not with the spiders pressing close on all sides, and Aragog seems tired of talking, backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continue to inch slowly toward Harry, Jayla and Ron.

"We'll be going now, then." Jayla calls desperately to Arago, hearing leaves rustling behind them.

"Go?" He says slowly. "I think not…."

"But - but -." Harry stutters.

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid." Harry spins around, and a few feet away, towering above them is a solid wall of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly black heads. Even as he reaches for his wand, he knows it is no good, and there are too many of them, but he tries to stand, ready to die fighting; a loud, long note sounds, and a blaze of light flames through the hollow.

The Weasley's car is thundering down the slope, headlights glaring, its horn screeching, knocking spiders aside, even sending several flying onto their backs, their endless legs waving in the air. The car screeches to a halt before them, and the doors fly open. "Get Fang!" Harry yells, diving into the front seat. Jayla jumps into the back as Ron seizes the boarhound around the middle and throws him, yelping, into the back of the jar with the young Heiress - the doors slam shut - Ron doesn't touch the accelerator, but the car doesn't need him as the engine roars, and they are off, hitting spiders.

They speed up the slope, out of the hollow, and soon crash through the forest, branches whipping the windows as the car winds its way cleverly through the widest gaps, following a path it knows. Harry looks sideways at Ron, his mouth still open in the silent scream, but his eyes aren't popping. "Are you okay?" He asks and looks back at Jayla.

"Great." Jayla smiles, and Ron stares straight ahead, unable to speak. They smash their way through the undergrowth, Fang howling loudly in the back seat, and Harry sees the side mirror snap off as they squeeze past a large oak. After ten noisy, rocky minutes, the trees thin, and Harry can see patches of sky.

The car stops so suddenly that they are nearly thrown into the windshield and reach the forest's edge. Fang flings himself at the window in his anxiety to get out, and when Harry opens the door, he shoots off through the trees to Hagrid's house, tail between his legs. Harry gets out, too, with Jayla, and after a minute or so, Ron seems to regain the feeling in his limbs and follows, still stiff-necked and staring. Harry gives the car a grateful pat as it reverses back into the forest and disappears from view. "Bye!" Jayla waves the Ford Anglia goodbye. "Thank you!" Harry enters Hagrid's cabin to get the Invisibility Cloak, and Fang trembles under a blanket in his basket. When Harry goes outside again, he finds Jayla comforting a violently sick Ron in the pumpkin patch.

"Follow the spiders," Ron grumbles weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. Were lucky to be alive."

"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his." Harry reasons.

"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" He shouts, thumping the wall of the hut. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out and looks where it got him! A cell in Azkaban!" He shivers uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out? I'd like to know?"

"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets." Jayla replies, and Harry throws the Cloak over them, prodding him in the arm to make him walk. "He was innocent." Ron gives a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard isn't his idea of being innocent.

As the castle looms nearer, Harry twitches the Cloak to make sure their feet are hidden, then pushes the creaking front doors ajar. They walk carefully across the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase, holding their breath as they pass the corridors with watchful sentries walking.

⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵

At last, they reach the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room, where the fire is burning itself into glowing ash. They take off the Cloak and climb the winding stairs to their dormitories. "Good night," Jayla whispers, going to her dorm, not really wanting to go without Hermione, and the boys go to theirs after saying night. Ron doesn't bother getting undressed or falling into bed, and Harry, however, doesn't feel very sleepy as he sits on the edge of his four-poster bed, thinking hard about everything Aragog said.

The creature that is lurking somewhere in the castle, he thinks, sounds like a sort of monster Voldemort - even other monsters didn't want to name it. But he, Ron and Jayla are no closer to finding out what it is or how it Petrified its victims. Even Hagrid never knew what was in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry swings his legs onto his bed and leans back against his pillows, watching the moon glinting through the tower window. He can't see what else they can do, having hit a dead end everywhere.

Riddle caught the wrong person, the Heir of Slytherin has got off, and no one can tell whether it is the same person or a different one who has opened the Chamber this time. There is nobody else to ask. And Harry lies down, thinking about what Aragog said, becoming drowsy and falling asleep.