John Constantine and The Overgrown Serpent

The Truth

"What?"

Poor lad looked heartbroken.

He had trusted him.

"Yes, Harry."
His smile grew.
"It was Ginny Weasley, who opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"No."
Harry shook his head.
"She couldn't...she wouldn't've!"

"Yes. It was Ginny who set the Basilisk on the school. It was Ginny who wrote the messages on the walls!"

"Why? Why would she do that?!"

"Because I told her to...you'll find that I can be very...persuasive."

"What?"

"He possessed her."

Finally Riddle looked at him.

"Its not uncommon for a cursed object with enough power to influence or even possess someone who comes into contact with it."
John looked at the 'spirit' with new eyes.
"Most times, possession is a battle of wills. The stronger one's will is, the longer they can hold off the evil intent. And the weaker...anyone can be possessed if their will is weathered down far enough. Is that was you did, Riddle? Grind her will, her soul and her spirit, down into nothing but a shell of what it was so who could you use her as a puppet and a makeshift battery?"

Riddled hummed.

"I don't believe I caught your name."

"And you can keep chasing it for all I care."
John smirked ruefully.
"What changed."

It didn't really come out as a question, not one really meant to be declined-but Riddle was in a monologuing mood it seemed.

"She started to notice what I had been doing."
He looked over John carefully, interest in his eyes.
"She began to fear to diary's power, and tried disposing it within the abandoned bathroom."

Good girl.

"And then,"
Tom looked back to Harry.
"That's when you found it. The one boy I was most anxious to meet! Harry. Potter."

He started to circle them, forcing them to move the opposite way to keep a certain distance.

"Why would you want to meet me?"

"Well-after everything I've heard, I just knew I had to do everything in my power to talk to you. So I showed you my capturing of that brainless oaf Hagrid."

"Hagrid's my friend!"
He growled, stepping forward until John reached to grab at his shoulder.
"And you framed him, didn't you?"

"Oh yes~"
Riddle twirled Harry's wand absentmindedly.
"It was my word against his."

Then his expression changed.
His smirk twisting into a scowl.

"The only one who had thought he was innocent was Dumbledore."

Harry picked up his disdain, taking delight from it.
"He must've saw right through you."

Riddle's scowl deepened.
"Yes, he certainly kept an annoyingly close eye on me after the fact. Because of this I knew that it wouldn't safe to open the Chambers again-not while I was still at school...so I left my diary behind. Preserving my younger self in this book so that one day I might guide another into finishing Salazar Slytherin's noble work!"