Chapter 16: It's my Birthright

The first month of school was passing and Kiba spent most of his free time searching for the Chamber of Secrets. He barely tried when he did his homework, paid little to no attention in class because his mind would constantly wander off thinking of the vast halls, corridors and rooms of Hogwarts where he might did the hidden Chamber. But there was always a little something that sparked a weird fear in his mind. What if the entrance to the Chamber was inside the Slytherin common room?

"Kiba!" Hermione once again snapped her fingers in front of Kiba's face, this calling him back to reality. They were sitting in they library with a group of Gryffindor Girls and boys. it was Thursday, which ment allot of free time to do homework and assignments, but Kiba wasn't doing anything… he sat there almost falling asleep "Hey!" Hermione snapped her fingers once more "you've been dozing off allot lately, are you not feeling well?" Hermione leaned over the library table and placed her hand on his forehead

"I'm feeling fine, don't worry" Kiba replied gently removing her hand "just don't really want to work right now"

"are you sure that you're okay? You of all people not doing his homework?" Hermione questioned him

"I'll do it later, it's homework until next week" Kiba said standing up, "I'm taking a little walk"

"where are you going?" Harry asked

"i don't know, somewhere where i can clear my head" without another word Kiba began walking aimlessly through the castle and through the grounds. Kiba was frustrated, he hadn't learned anything about the Chamber of Secret except what the book said about it, and he was as close to finding it as at the start.. which means not close at all. Kiba had also taken to searching at night while no other students could catch or distract him, except Filch. Filch had caught him three times already but every time he managed to somehow miraculously escape him at some point, but since then Filch had begun keeping a close eye on him and his friends, and he had most likely passed on what he suspected to Snape, McGonagall and the other head of houses. But that didn't stop the ambitious Gryffindor and his nightly search, again and again he snuck out but never found anything worthwhile.

Kiba found himself ascending the staircase that spiralled around a tower, which led to the Owlery on top. He didn't know why but his feet had led him there, he entered the lower part of the Owlery and then proceeded up the last set of stairs to where all the owls sat. There was a giant pool of water in the middle of a stone formation from which they could drink and little sacks of seeds hung from nails on the wall. An owl screeched behind him and dropped a package into his arms and landed by the water fountain. "is this for me?" Kiba asked aloud

'for Kiba Scamander' the black owl hooted back. Kiba smiled, how curious that he'd receive a package, he put the package under his arm and pulled of the attached letter. He looked around one more time to see if his Phoenix owl, Kuzon, had returned with a letter from Faye but he was nowhere in sight. He made his way down the spiral staircase of the tower and headed for the common room as he read the letter.

'Dear Kiba,

Draco told me your birthday is on the 8th of October so i thought i'd send you a little something from your past. You see, i knew your father, we were well acquainted and he left his diary in my possession. He asked me to give it to his child.

His diary contains stories and memories of his past, from his time in Hogwarts and a few years after his graduation.

A happy birthday,

Lucius Malfoy'

'my father's diary? Awesome!' Kiba quickly opened the parcel and saw the contents. The book was black but the edges were slightly ripped and the parchment was old, the diary looked more like a fossil then a book. He grabbed the book and held what belonged to his father, he felt something on the back of the book that wasn't it's black leather cover, he flipped it over and saw a name written in golden letters 'Tom Marvolo Riddle… seems like my parents weren't married. Maybe my father doesn't even know i exist' he opened the first pages of the book and to his surprise, they were empty. He flipped through the entire book but there wasn't a single word written on any of them, not even a drop of ink. "so much for stories and memories" Kiba sighed, he dropped the diary into his nightstand drawer and dropped face first onto his bed.

"Slytherins heir…"

"No, not you aga- Slytherins heir!" Kiba jumped up from his bed 'if I'm Slytherin's heir then so must have been one of my parents… my mom was a Hufflepuff so my father must also be… maybe if i find out more about my father!' Kiba ran as fast as he could towards Dumbledore's office. He spoke the password, ascended the stairs and knocked on the door. He waited for a moment and then the door slowly swung open but the study was empty, the upstairs was dark as ever but Dumbledore didn't appear at the top of the stairs. Kiba was puzzled, Dumbledore usually remained in his study but it was empty. Kiba thought hard trying to figure out who in the school could tell him about Tom Riddle and one name popped into his head 'Snape'

"excuse me, Professor?" Kiba said politely after knocking on the door to Snape's office,

"what is it, Scamander?"

"I've just got a question about a Hogwarts student who used to be in Slytherin" Kiba replied, Snape placed his book down and focused on the boy

"why ask me? Dumbledore would surely know more then me" Snape said

"well yes, but he's not in his office. Besides, you're head of Slytherin house, it's worth a shot"

"very well, make it quick I've got potions to prepare"

"of course, i was wondering if the name Tom Riddle rings any bells" Kiba said, snape's eyes widened and his eyebrows raised slightly.

"I know the name," Snape began "however, you should ask the headmaster. That name was before my time" Kiba saw in his eyes that he knew something, something that scared him even but if Snape wanted to keep a secret not even a truth potion would make him spill it..

'maybe I'll have to invent a truth potion to make him tell me' Kiba thought, he left the room and headed for the great hall. It was about time for dinner anyways.

"speak of the devil" Ron said as Kiba sat down beside Hermione "we've been wondering what's on your mind"

"oh, it's nothing. don't worry" Kiba said half heartedly, Ron seemed to accept that answer but Harry and Hermione shared a quick look

"you'll come watch me practice tomorrow, right?" Harry asked excitedly

"is Quidditch practice starting tomorrow?" Ron asked

"yeah, we've got our first match in two days. Saturday"

"two days? shouldn't you have started practice a week ago then?" Kiba asked with a mouthful of potatoes

"The pitch was booked for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff" Harry answered "Hufflepuff is playing Slytherin tomorrow, so we're –"

"Ravenclaw" Hermione replied "it'll be interesting seeing you and Cho face off, you are the best seekers in the school"

"you'll come too, right Kiba?" Harry asked, he knew Ron was coming no matter what and Hermione always comes to watch Harry train, but Harry wasn't sure about Kiba. It really seemed like his friendship with Draco had driven them apart a bit.

"yeah, I'll be there. But i can't stay too long, Professor McGonagall asked me to help her and i said I'd do it" Kiba replied, making up a plausible story as quickly as he could. In reality he was gong to search for the Chamber again, and he wasn't going to stop until he searched every creak and crevasse of the castle, from the lowest dungeon to the highest tower and the teachers chambers if he had to.

That night Kiba sat at the table near the bookshelves in the Gryffindor commonroom. His feather was hastily scraping over the parchment before him, from his shoulder his owl, Kuzon, curiously observed his writing. Meanwhile Hotaru was sound asleep by the fireplace, on the red armchair. Kiba folded the parchment and stuck it into an envelope which he, together with a second one, handed to Kuzon. "this one goes to Mister Malfoy," Kiba said holding out the first "and this one goes to Faye"

'I'll get it done,' the owl hooted enthusiastically as it took the envelopes into its beak and flew off, through the open window. The owl sure had changed, it had been sceptic about Kiba's reason for buying him and was generally pessimistic towards anything he didn't know about, but he had warmed up to Kiba and his friends, and especially Hotaru. Kiba grabbed the diary that lay beside him and left the common room through the portrait hole.

He walked, as silently as he could along the halls and corridors of Hogwarts, checking any rooms he hadn't yet in hopes of finding a clue to the Chamber. He didn't doubt the chambers existence, in his mind every myth had its roots in the truth, he truly believed that Salazar Slytherin had left something behind for his heir, and his heir only.

'caught you again' Kiba heard a feminine hiss behind him as he opened the door to a classroom 'just my luck' Kiba didn't have to turn his head to know that a pair of red eyes were stareing daggers into him, it was Mrs. Norris no doubt. She began furiously meowing for Filch who arrived just a second later, his face was dimly lit by the moonlight but the smile that formed on his face was recognizable.

"you're not getting away this time" Filch spat as he grabbed the boy by the collar and dragged him to his office. He pushed Kiba inside and slammed the door shut behind himself. He pushed his way past the wizard and snatched the diary from his hand "what have you stolen, eh?"

"i haven't stolen anything, that's mine. I'd appreciate it if you keep your filthy hands off" Kiba snarled. The caretaker obviously didn't care for the boy's tone as he grabbed him by the wrist and slapped a metal cuff around it, he did the same to his other wrist and tried to also shackle his ankles but Kiba fought back with all his might. Kiba tried to reach his wand but Filch got to Kiba's ear first and retrieved the wand, placing it next to the diary on his desk.

"Professor McGonagall might fire me for this, but it will be worth it…" Filch snarled as her left the room. As soon as the door closed he began struggling to break free, he pulled at the shackles in the hope of them being rusty so they would eventually fall apart or break, but to no avail. All he did was hurt his wrists, he cursed every time he did and he could see them reden from his struggle.

'damn, no wand this time and no Hotaru' Kiba thought but then a new idea popped into his mind 'Wandless magic!' The book Kiba bought at Borgin and Burkes had an entire ten pages on Wandless magic but Kiba hadn't tried it before. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on his right hand and then the shackles that held them "Alohomora"

"Alohomora"

"Alohomora! Alohomora!" He tried and tried again and again but nothing happened the shackles remained,

CLING

With a loud noise the shackle opened and Kiba's right hand was free, he reached for his wand on the desk but couldn't reach it no matter how far he stretched. He thought he could try the summoning charm on it, or he could use the unlocking charm on the second shackle also but it was to late. With an earpiercing creak the door to the office opened. Kiba saw Filch's nasty smile fade as he saw the boy escaping again. "Mister Filch, why is Mister Scamander bound to the wall?! Explain yourself"

"The lads been sneaking around at night mam, caught him stealing this time" Filch said holding out the diary to McGonagall.

"The only one stealing is you, you take my diary and then my wand" Kiba spat at the caretaker who stared him dead in the eyes. Kiba was resisting the urge to kick our punch the old caretaker and painfully clenched his fists and suddenly his left hand was free to, he turned to look at the shackle which was slowly melting away into nothingness. McGonagall didn't seem to have seen it, her eyes were fixed on the diary, more specifically on the name written in golden ink.

"Mister Filch, please return Mister Scamanders wand," Kiba grabbed his wand from Filch's hands quickly and the diary from McGonagall's avid headed for the door "you'd best be in bed by the time i check the common room Kiba" McGonagall said sternly. "I'll have to inform the headmaster about this" she added silently towards Filch.

Kiba felt like jumping as he returned to the common room, he didn't find the Chamber but Filch had done wrong by him and was going to receive punishment. Maybe Dumbledore would take away his Cat, or fire him. Whatever, Kiba happily jumped into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Luchtime rolled around the next day, and since Kiba told Hermione that he wasn't hungry he wandered around aimlessly still searching for clues, he had however promised to attend Harry's training today. He made his way to the common room to meet up with the trio and found Harry hiding behind Ron, away from Colin. "come on Harry, let the boy take a picture!" Kiba said leaning against the fireplace frame. Harry quickly looped around and hid behind Kiba

"He wants me to sign them afterwards" Harry whispered

"this is even better, a picture of Harry and his Sidekick" Colin squeaked "and you can both sign it! it's just for my yearbook"

'Sidekick?' Kiba thought, the first year raised his camera but all he saw through the lens was Kiba's deadly stare. He paused and hiss entire body tensed and he slowly lowered his Camera,

"maybe some other time…" he said, the cheerful and ecstatic tone had disappeared and was replace by what you might call fear, and Colin no longer sounded so annoying but that didn't last, Harry suddenly broke into a run and jumped through the portrait hole with Colin behind him asking questions as he chased him. He almost fell as he left through the hole but managed to stay on his feet as he closed the portrait. Kiba couldn't help but laugh at the scene that hat played out infront of him and he soon joined Hermione and Ron in the high seats at the Quidditch pitch. Hermione watched Harry soar through the clear sky while Ron constantly stopped Colin from taking any pictures, meanwhile Kiba scribbled in his notebook where he had mapped out what places he had searched for the Chamber, and which he still needed to.

"have you thought about next year's classes? it's been on my mind for a while," Hermione suddenly began "i was thinking of taking Arithmacy or Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle studies because they'll be easier for me. But there's also Devination, it seems a bit like hokus pokus to me though.. Kiba?"

"yeah, I'm listening" they boy replied not looking up from his book

"are you? you've been distracted lately…"

"i heard everything you said" the wizard replied slightly irritated "and yes, it had crossed my mind on multiple occasions" he added

"what are you even writing there?" Hermione asked leaning over to get a peek at the notebook

"nothing…" Kiba said quickly snapping the book shut so Hermione's peering eyes couldn't catch a thing "stuff…" he added

"oh no…" Ron suddenly said

"what is it?" Hermione and Kiba asked in unison.

"Trouble…" Ron replied pointing down to the field and sure enough there saw what he was pointing at. A group of black clothed students walked on the pitch with majestic black brooms, the emerald features on their robes made it obvious which house they belonged to, Slytherin.

The three quickly made their way down the wooden steps and onto the pitch with Colin in tow. Apparently, Snape had given the Slytherin team special permition to practice because they had acquired a new seeker. When Wood, the Gryffindor captain, asked who the new seeker is the Slythetin's split apart to let none other then Draco walk through with a nasty smirk. "Surprised? I wouldn't be, this really is happening" he said "then again, i would've been on the team last year if the rules hadn't restricted me" he added with a look of disgust towards Harry. "but I'm not all that's new" Draco said showing off the sleek black brooms that the team had acquired

"those are Nimbus-twothousand-and-ones!" Ron pointed out "how'd you get those"

"courtesy of Draco's father" the Slytherin captain, Flint, replied with a smile that showed his nasty and rotting teeth.

"helps when you have wealth on your side, huh Weasley?" Draco said "but you wouldn't know"

"shut your mouth Malfoy" Ron stammered weakly

"what could your father buy you?" Draco asked sarcastically. Kiba quickly stopped Ron from lunging at the blonde wizard, "hey Kiba, sorry about the early birthday gift. My father never listens properly to me" Kiba found feel the piercing eyes of every Gryffindor stab into him like daggers, but he didn't care. The situation on the pitch was rapidly getting out of hand and it would only take a little push to tip the glass.

"The pitch is ours, Wood. So take your little kittens and clear off, the big Dogs are practicing now" Flint called out as he began hovering on his broom with a nasty grin.

"you watch your mouth Flint, or I'll punch out the rest of your rotten teeth" Wood shouted back but then reluctantly left with the Gryffindor team, Hermione, Kiba, Ron and Colin in tow. Kiba breathed a sigh of relief but then Draco came running towards them calling out to him, and the moment of relief was short lived.

"Kiba! Hey, wait up!" he shouted "listen, my father –" Draco began, Kiba had adored and turned to face him and Hermione and Ron stayed by his side in an attempt to stare Draco away. "do you mind?"

"we do actually" Ron snarled as he turned to leave, Hermione grabbed Kiba by the wrist and tried to pull him along but he forced his hand free and looked at the girl questioning

"what are you doing?" he asked, Ron had already disappeared from view along with the Gryffindor Quidditch team "go on, I'll be right there. Just a minute"

"No, WE should go. He's only going to say something mean" Hermione pleaded

"Just…" Kiba began, causing Hermione to take a step back. The boy turned back to Draco "make it quick, I've got studying to do"

"Sure thing! So my Father wanted to –" Draco stopped when he saw Hermione coming closer again "didn't Kiba tell you to go?" he snarled

Hermione was overstepping the line quickly now and it didn't sit well with either of the boys. She had to put herself in check our things could go really wrong, really really wrong.

"Piss off, Malfoy" Hermione suddenly said. Kiba was taken aback by her choice of words, was that really Hermione?

"How dare you speak like that to me, disgusting mudblood!" Draco shot back. The expression on Hermione's face said everything, how hard that instil had hit her. Kiba knew what a mudblood is but he didn't expect to hear anyone say it in Hogwarts. The rest of the Gryffindors had wondered where they were avid returned just in time to hear Draco say what he did.

Kiba grabbed Draco by his collar and shook him hard "you take that back Draco! Take it back!" he clenched his first, he could and was going to hit Draco but Flint stepped inbetween and pushed Kiba off and went for a punch. Kiba quickly grabbed his wand and pointed it at the older student who looked shocked, maybe even scared for a split second but Hermione pulled his hand to the side a bit and shook her head lightly as she looked into his eyes.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before joyful laughter caught their attention, Flint immediately went over to the huddled group of chuckling Slytherins. Kiba sighed and placed his wand back behind his ear and afterwards joined the huddle but they all broke apart taking multiple steps away from Ron who was down on all fours.

Kiba crouched down beside the redhead to check if he was okay but all he got was a load of slime and slugs dumped on his shoes. "Slug vomiting?" Kiba muttered under his breath "who did this?" he asked loudly looking towards the Slytherins, and Malfoy who he suspected of using the spell.

"The idiot did it to himself" one of the Slytherins replied making the whole team burst into laughter again. Kiba growled in frustration, he wanted to blame them for something more then just provoking them. Heck, Ron could be punished for trying to use a spell on another student out of class and Slytherin could continue laughing.

"let's go to Hagrid's" Harry suggested, Kiba nodded and the two boys pulled Ron onto his feet and swung his arms around them.

"wait! Let me take a picture!" Colin squeaked raising his Canberra in front of them.

"No Colin, get out of the way!" Harry snarled at the boy. Frankly Kiba wanted to do much more then snarl, he wanted to take that annoying camera and blast it to pieces. But Ron was a priority now, so he came first. They reached the hut on the edge of the Forrest and Hermione knocked on the heavy wooden door. Hagrid swung the door open with a giant smile but the four quickly pushed past him and practically threw Ron into one of the giant chairs. Hermione grabbed an empty bucket and gave it too Ron who immediately burped up a stomach full of slugs.

"who did this ter you, Ron?" Hagrid asked, fearing that another student had cursed Ron.

"Ron tried to curse Malfoy," Harry said

"why would yer try ter use a broken wand, Ron? They aren't save ter use" Ron tried to answer but all that came out were more slugs. It look painful, judging by Ron's groans and whimpers. Kiba looked away and walked over to the window to look outside.

"it's there anyway we can stop this Hagrid?" Hermione asked nervously patting Rons back.

"nothin' ter do but wait 'till it stops, I'm afraid" Hagrid replied with a heavy sigh

"Hagrid, what was Lockhart doing here?" Harry suddenly asked. When they had made their way to the hut, the came across the teacher.

"He wanted ter help me catch kelpies in a pond! A Pond!" Hagrid said laughing loudly

"I'm sure he was just trying to help, he probably ment well" Hermione said, her faith in the goodness of Lockhart not wavering. "besides, Dumbledore hired him so he can't be that bad" she added softly

"Nonsense! Look me in the eyes and tell me there was no one better then 'im" Hagrid replied "I think that any student at this school could do It better then Lockhart, Kiba four instance, no one knew as many spells as he does at his age. But it's mostly bin like this, teachers coming in and out. Defence Against the Dark Arts is a strange post to take up, these days.. So, why'd you try to curse somebody with your broken wand, Ron? Must've had a good reason."

"Draco," Kiba said from the window darkly, he crossed his arms and sighed audibly. "He called her a.. Mudblood…"

"He did not!" Hagrid nearly shouted in disbelief, the little that was visible off his face grew red with anger "He should be expelled for that!"

"what's a Mudblood?" Harry suddenly asked "judging by everyone's reaction, nothing good" Ron tried to speak but instead all he did was burp up more slugs.

"it means dirty blood" Hermione said standing up, she took a few steps away from Ron and Harry and looked out another window of the hut "it's a very faul name for someone who's muggle-born. Someone with non-magical parents, someone like me." She continued turning back to them "it's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation"

"i still don't quite understand" Harry said, seeing Hermione visibly upset

"there are some wizard families, like the Malfoys, who think of themselves higher because they are what you call Pure-bloods" Hagrid said with a hint of spite in his voice, he turned his attention to Hermione and held his hand out to her.

"so, Blood status doesn't mean a single thing?! Look at you, Hermione. You're a Muggle-born yet you're better than Malfoy. He couldn't do half the things you can in class, i'm sure of it." Harry stated. Hermione smiled as she went a bit red.

"Thank you." She said quietly. Hagrid held her tiny hands in his immensely large ones. All anger had been replaced by sincerity and ease. "yer don't ever, and I mean EVER, think that yer are lower than anyone else. Yer are a brilliant, smart young girl who could take on the entire world if she could. Yer are amazing, yer hear me? Amazing!" Hermione went into a deeper shade of red as she smiled at Hagrids encouragement. Kiba was still not looking but slightly admired that Hagrid did not have a single bad bone in his body. He tapped against the window, looking at the larger than usual pumpkins that were growing in Hagrid's garden. He felt like a traitor, being friends with Draco. Well, they were friends. Kiba was going to cut off all ties with him, no way was he going to be friends with him again.

They stayed in the hut until Ron stopped puking slugs and afterwards headed back towards the castle. Kiba promised Hermione that he would cut off his ties to Draco and avoid him whenever he can. Harry and Ron received detention from McGonagall on their way to lunch. Ron had to polish the trophies on Friday and Harry had to help none other then Lockhart to answer his fan mail. Later that evening Kiba had suddenly felt sentimental and he began to scribble into his father's diary.

He began writing about Draco and what he had said to Hermione when the ink began disappearing from the pages. Suddenly, new words formed where he had written previously. 'Hello, my name is Tom Riddle' Kiba dipped his feather into his ink and replied with his own name. 'it's a pleasure to meet you Kiba. If you don't mind me asking, how did you come by this diary?'

"it was given to me, it belonged to my father" Kiba wrote on the parchment,

'so you are my child. I presume you are at Hogwarts? Have you done your duty?'

"my duty?"

'yes, your duty as my heir, as His heir?'

"No. I have yet to find the Chamber"

'let me show you!'

The pages of the diary began flipping to one further back avid the binding began to illuminate in a brilliant glow. He felt the light touch him and then drag him, right into the diary. Everything when dark and Kiba lost all sense of orientation.

--

AN: well damn, this chapter ended up being longer then i wanted to, and took me way to long to finish. well i was kinda stressed out and experienced a slight case of writers block but i think it's gone now, I'll be working hard to get the next chapter out as soon as possible! Review!