Poison A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Six - Trust

The months went by and  they still hadn't found a promising clue as to where the entrance of the  Chamber of Secrets could be located. They had spent their patrols  searching for possible secret passageways and had spent lots of time in  the library, researching information in every book they could lay their  hands on. For many months now, they had been looking for any information  they could find concerning Slytherin's secret.

It was a rainy day in  early May 1943. Cassiopeia was on her way to Charms when she suddenly  felt the need to go to a bathroom immediately. In the bathroom she  rushed to the nearest toilet cubicle and shut the door. She had been in  there for quite some time and was feeling slightly better, when she  heard two girls come in and go to the sinks. One voice was complaining,  "I hate that bitch. How could she do that? Look at my face; do you think  these spots will ever go away?"

Another voice mumbled  something comforting. Cassiopeia heard the tap of a sink being turned  and then the first voice exclaimed, "Oh, blimey, that rotten sink. When  will they ever repair this?"

The other voice replied,  "My sister says it was already out of order when she was a first year.  And, mind you, she graduated three years ago."

Cassiopeia heard the tap  of another sink being turned and then the sound of water splashing into  a sink muffled the voices. Cassiopeia sat there, taking in the  conversation. Suddenly things fell into place. When Cassiopeia heard the  bathroom door close behind the girls she left the cubicle and went to  the sinks. She examined the sink that had been out of order ever since  she first came to Hogwarts and noticed a small engraving on the side of  the tap. Cassiopeia had to move really close to make out the shape of  the engraving. She gasped. It was a snake. Cassiopeia felt her heart  skip a beat. Could it be that this was the entrance to the Chamber? She  couldn't wait to tell Tom. All of a sudden the sickness was gone.  Cassiopeia grabbed her bag and ran to the Charms classroom.

When she arrived, the  students were still waiting in front of the classroom. Cassiopeia  spotted Tom being surrounded by his Slytherin cronies. Avery was talking  excitedly. Tom was casually leaning against the wall, his bag under his  arm, his face expressionless. There was no way of talking to him in  private now. When the professor opened the doors, Cassiopeia slipped  into her seat and took out her parchment and quill. She quickly  scribbled a few words on the parchment and then vanished them with her  wand. By now, Tom had taken his usual seat in the first row, right in  front of her. Cassiopeia folded the parchment. Tom put his equipment on  his desk and leaned back in his chair. Cassiopeia casually placed the  folded parchment on the edge of her desk and then pushed her book  slightly forward causing the parchment to fall to the floor. Tom heard  the paper fall. He slowly turned and caught her eye before he quickly  picked up the note. He turned back to his desk and smoothed out the  parchment. It was empty. With a flick of his wand there appeared six  words: 'Second floor girl's bathroom broken tap'. Tom stared at the  writing and with another flick of his wand he vanished it again.

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Cassiopeia was  desperately curious if the tap really was the key to the legendary  Chamber of Secrets. But somehow, ever since she had given the parchment  to Tom there had been no chance to talk to him. It soon became evident  that he avoided her on purpose. He was always surrounded by his cronies,  knowing that she would never approach him when the Slytherin gang was  around. He didn't come to the library or the prefects' common room any  more. And he even ditched prefect duties making sixth year Nott take his  place.

And then the incidents  started occurring. Repeatedly, Muggle-born students were being attacked  under questionable circumstances. The whole school was at a loss for an  explanation but Cassiopeia had a vague idea who was responsible. She was  sure Tom had succeeded in opening the Chamber of Secrets.