Emrys Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2 of The Four Ribbons Series)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Those Who Live Without Love

I looked up at the sound of footsteps and frowned when I saw my uncle, and a small house elf. He stopped as he reached me and I stared up at him with a frown before scrambling to my feet as e threw open the door, nearly taking out Harry who had been on his way out. I shared a look with Harry before stepping into the room as Lucius came to a stop in front of the desk where Dumbledore now sat. " So, you've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts." Lucius said coldly.

" Well you see, Lucius, the other eleven governors contacted me today, something like being caught in a hailstorm of apples, to tell you the truth. They'd head that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed and ordered me back here at once. They seemed to think I was the best one for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me to, some of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place." Dumbledore said and I shared a look with Harry.

" So, have you stopped the attacks yet? Have you caught the culprit?"

" We have"

" Well, who is it?"

" Same person as last time, Lucius, but this time Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else, by the means of this diary." Dumbledore responded holding up the small black book.

" I see."

" A clever plan. Because if Harry here, and his friends, hadn't discovered this book Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would have ever been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own freewill. And Imagine, what might have happened then. The Weasleys are one of our most prominent Pureblood families. Imagine the affect on Arthur Weasley and his muggle protection act, if his own daughter was caught killing muggleborns, very fortunate that the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memory wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise."

" Very fortunate, indeed." Lucius said stiffly.

" Don't you want to know how Ginny got ahold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked and I glanced toward him with a frown before looking back toward my uncle as he turned on Harry. " How should I know how a stupid little girl got a hold of it. "

" Because you gave it her at Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her transfiguration book, and slipped it inside it, didn't you?"

" Prove it." Lucius hissed.

" Oh, no one will be able to do that. Not now, Riddle has vanished from the book, and I would advise you, Lucius, not to go handing out anymore of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If anymore of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley for one, will make sure they are traced back to you." Dumbledore warned and I smirked as he turned to his house elf.

" We're going, Dobby." Lucius snapped at his house elf, before leaving the room quite quickly.

Harry left to return the diary to Lucius, and I found myself alone with Dumbledore, who smiled at me kindly. " Have a seat, Miss Riddle." He told me and I took a seat in one of chairs across from him.

" Do you remember the conversation we had last year, Miss Riddle."

" Yes, sir." I said nodding. " I've tried to be his friend, I really have, but after what happened tonight I'm not so sure he'll ever trust me again. He knows that I'm related to Voldemort now, and I did promise him that I would answer his questions."

" The truth is a hard thing to swallow, Miss Riddle. Trusting others with who we are is just as difficult, as is accepting it."

" In the Chamber, he was so cruel. How could anyone become that heartless?" I asked.

" Those who live without love, Emrys, wither and die inside. What is left, is a very dark thing."

" My mum said that love is the greatest power of all."

" Yes, yes it is." He agreed. " Something your father never learned, I'm afraid."

" He'll never stop trying, will he? Trying to get to me? That's why mum makes me stay here as much as possible."

" When you were born, Miss Riddle, it was not love that he held for you, but obsession. You were something, he never thought possible."

" I try to hate him, Headmaster, but I just feel sorry for him. Is that wrong?" I asked." To feel sorry for someone who has caused so much misery in this world?"

" No." He responded. " No, it's not."