The following day seemed like any other the boys were gearing up for a game of quidditch. Snape was giving them a pep talk about not making their whole house look like idiots when McGonagall burst in waving a note. "Severus."
"I am sure I don't need to ask why you are interrupting?" Snape replies coldly.
"The match is cancelled." She says making her way over. "There has been another attack." She whispers.
"Who did the beast get this time?" Snape questions.
"Spiritwalker..." she mumbles. Harry and Draco could just barely hear her.
Draco turned pale. "But... I thought it only attacked mudbloods?" He thought she would be safe from the monster he never thought the beast would attack a pure blood.
The other slytherin students head back inside complaining about not getting to show off after they had practiced so hard.
Harry steps up to the chattering professors. "I'm sorry did you say, spiritwalker was attacked? As in our sort of friend faith spiritwalker?"
She looks nervously at snape. "What do I say?"
Snape turns to the boys. "Your friend has been petrified. Like the other students she can be cured."
"But I thought she was a pure blood." Draco says. "The monster only attacks mudbloods right?"
The two professors exchange a look of nervousness and then they both turn and speed walk toward Dumbledore's office.
Harry and Draco head to the hospital wing to see if it is true. When they arrive they find the nurse tending to a student who seems to have fallen down the stairs.
"Excuse me ma'am." Harry asks.
The nurse looks up. "Oh. Can I help you boys?"
"Our friend might have been attacked last night." Harry says.
"Ohhh." She frowns. "Over there." She points to a drawn curtain.
Harry and Draco pull back the curtain and it's justin looking terrified.
"Wrong bed." Harry says shutting the curtain.
"Sorry the one next to it." Pomfrey corrects.
"Alright." They switch to the next bed and this time it is faith. She had her hands down at her side but eye wide with fear and mouth gaped open.
"She really did get attacked." Draco says quietly. "After I said all those awful things."
"You were just being honest." Harry says. "She is very rude and self centered."
"But I didn't want her to get attacked." Draco mumbles.
Snape comes in and hurriedly explains something to Pomfrey. She leaves in a hurry. Snape walks briskly over to faith and pulls out a tiny vile. He glances at the boys. "Shhh." He says taking a small droplet of blood from her using the same technique he had used on jade at the beginning of the school year. He takes the sample and leaves no trace. He says as he slips the vile into his robe.
Harry and draco exchange a worried look.
"It's odd right?" Harry asks.
"Yeah." Draco nods. "But the sample might be something he did to everyone who was attacked. Not just faith. We don't know the whole story."
"Well let's go learn the whole story then." Harry says. "Faith isn't going anywhere."
They follow Snape to his office hiding behind corners and pillars. When they reach his office they seem to have lost sight of him. They enter the office looking around and the door slams shut behind them.
"I don't have to explain how very rude it is to enter somebody's chambers without an invitation." Snape says, crossing his arms. He had been behind the door.
"We were curious." Draco replies.
"You Know what muggles say about the curious." Snape says coldly. "It kills the cat." He steps over to his table and places the vile on a scroll he has laid out.
"The family tree?" Draco says remembering the ritual from earlier that year.
Snape nods. "I have been asked to check." He says.
"Why?" Draco asks.
"I have a few." Snape replies. "The first being that Dumbledore is concerned that pureblood students might no longer be safe at hogwarts."
Draco nods. "I would sure like to know."
Snape nods. He continues to do his task ignoring the intruders. He places the blood on the paper and grabs up a small droplet of the purple potion. Immediately it bubbles and begins to pain the design of a tree.
Branches appear with names on them.
"No siblings." Snape assesses.
Then higher up branches form.
"I see." Snape says. "So she is not jeffery's daughter."
"What?" Draco asks.
"She wasn't born to Jeffrey Spiritwalker." Snape replies. "She is not a pureblood." He studies the family tree more and then he puts it away. "She probably has no idea she was raised by a man who isn't really her father, and that her real father was a muggle."
Draco stares at snape. "She isn't..."
"Your father will want to know I'm sure." Snape says. "Don't tell anyone else. you can't imagine the toll this information will take."
They both nod and leave the room.
Draco writes to his dad about what Snape had said. The two try to study but they are restless; they find they are more interested in solving the riddle of the chamber. They decide to investigate.
They head down the corridor at random and just kind of go to places neither of them had been too.
"You don't think the chamber of secrets is the chamber where they hid the sorcerer's stone last year?" Harry asks.
Draco puzzles. "Well it wouldn't be very secret then would it?"
"I guess not." Harry puzzles. They round the corner and step in a puddle of water.
"Bathroom is flooded again." Harry observes.
"Hopefully there isn't another dead cat hanging around." Malfoy mumbles looking at the walls.
The two follow the flooding to the girls bathroom. They witness toilets overflowing and sinks running over. Harry turns the water off on the sink and as he does his fingers brush against a small decal on one of the nozzles. He looks and finds a little snake carved into the fauset. "Odd." He mumbles.
"Look at this?" Draco says pointing to a cauldron on the floor. "Somebody has been practicing potions outside of class." He peeks because he is curious. "Smells awful." He frowns and puts the lid back down.
"Great merlin I can smell that from here." Harry gasps.
"I wouldn't fiddle with that if I were you." A girl's voice says, kind of whining. "The girl brewing it told her friends it takes a month to finish and it's only been a few days."
"Maybe it will smell better after." Draco sneers. He looks around. "So who is talking?"
"Myrtle." She replies sadly appearing from a toilet stall. "Have you come to throw another book at me?"
"Why would we do that?" Harry asks.
Draco crosses his arms. "Who cares if we throw a book at you. You're a ghost, you can't feel it."
"Oh sure let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it!?" She floats over to draco and punches him in the stomach. "10 points if you get it through her stomach, 20 if it goes through her head!" She growls firing a shot through his head.
Draco stares at her feeling a bit sick.
"But I suppose you wouldn't care." She says sadly again floating away. "After all, who cares about the feelings of a ghost?" She dives into a toilet and disappears.
Draco looks at harry. "Man that felt weird."
Harry snickers a bit. "Well now we know not to throw books at ghosts." He spots a little black book on the ground and picks it up. "Property of Tom riddle?" Harry says curiously as he reads the back.
Draco takes a look at it. "The pages are blank." He tosses it back to harry. "Useless thing."
Harry shrugs. "Maybe it has magic ink that is hidden by enchantment."
Draco shrugs. "Who cares." He starts for the door. "I'm outta here before that crazy girl comes back."
Harry follows him. "She did seem really young though, like not much older than us."
Draco stops and turns to harry. "She did..." he thinks for a moment. "I wonder if she died at the school?"
"Kind of had to be, right?" Harry questions.
Draco frowns. "My dad told me the chamber had been opened before. He wouldn't go into detail but he did say last time it opened a mudblood died." He glances at the toilet where Myrtle had disappeared. "A student."
"The monster killed a student?" Harry said, baffled. "And the school remained open?"
"Muggle born." Malfoy replies. "Nobody really cares if a muggle born student dies."
"All magical life has the same value." Harry says annoyed. "Would you wish death on your friend Faith?"
Draco pauses. "I don't want her to die. I want her to leave us alone." He looks at the floor. "It's complicated with her though. She didn't ask to be a mudblood. she's just a really terrible person."
Harry sighs. "Nobody asks for it malfoy."
Draco stares at Harry bewildered. He hadn't thought of any of that before.
"You two can come visit me." Myrtle says as she floats around the room again. "Nobody visits myrtle." She whimpers.
Draco is beyond curious. He wants to know how she died. "Hey myrtle." He says.
She turns and looks at him. "What?"
"You are awfully young aren't you? To be dead I mean?" He says.
She turns away whimpering. "Not that my living life was much better than death."
"What I mean is how is it you ended up... haunting the bathroom?" He asks.
"No one ever asked." She says looking at the sink. "I was in here. In this very bathroom some 30 or so years ago. She turns to draco coldy. "A bully named olive had been picking on me saying my glasses were ugly and too big for my face."
"You were bullied?" Harry questions.
Myrtle nods. "Oh it was awful." She floats down closer to them. "I was crying in the stall when somebody came in. They spoke in a weird language that sounded made up. It was a boy's voice though I was sure."
"In the girls bathroom?" Draco questions.
"You're in the girls bathroom." She replies with a little smirk.
She had them there.
"Anyway." She continues. "I opened the door to tell him to go away and I saw a pair of big yellow eyes." She whimpers looking at the sink. "By that sink there."
"Yellow eyes?" Draco wonders.
"It took them a long while to find me. Dead and cold on the bathroom floor." She says, that hint of a whimper still present in her voice. "But I got my revenge. I haunted my bully until she filed an order at the ministry to make me stay here at the school."
"Didn't you tell anyone how you died?" Harry asks. "It seems a bit irresponsible for a student to have died and they didn't even bother to ask you how?"
Myrtle shrugs. "Probably trying to spare my feelings." She floats away. "Good night."
After she leaves, Draco looks at harry. "So 30 some years ago the chamber was opened. A mudblood died and it was myrtle?"
Harry nods. "I think so." He looks around. "She is the youngest ghost in hogwarts. She seems to be about the correct age of a student."
They discuss this more as they walk down the halls toward the dorm. They pass some gryffindor students.
Eventually the conversation turns to the diary. "Do you know any spells to reveal it?" Harry asks.
Draco shrugs. "No. Maybe an older student could help."
They enter the dorm and find jade studying a book. She has a wilted flower in a jar of clear water. They were about to greet her when she picked up her wand and tapped the glass twice. Then she sighed and placed the tip of the wand near the flower. Nothing happened.
She sighs again and puts her wand down.
"Whatcha doing?" Harry asks.
Jade looks up from her project. "Trying to make this flower bloom. It is supposed to be a very simple non verbal spell but I can't seem to..."
Draco steps over and taps the glass. The flower responds and sits upright blooming a little and turning the petals the color blue. "It's easy."
"I didn't know you could do that?" Harry says stepping over.
"Mom taught me." Draco replies defensively.
"It's cool." Harry says.
"How did you get it to turn blue?" Jade asks.
Draco doesn't answer. "You think it is cool?"
"Magic can do amazing things." Harry says.
"Dont ignore me." Jade says. "I know you heard me. How did you turn it blue?"
Draco looks at the flower. "It's like a mood thing. Whatever you are feeling is relayed to the petals."
Harry looks at the flower and then at draco. "Explain."
"Basically I can see you are trying too hard. You need to feel it, don't over overthink it. A book can only teach you so much." he says.
Jade nods and tries again this time she takes a deep calming breath first. When she points her wand at the flower this time it turns pink. She smiles. "I did it!"
Draco sits opposite her. "Why are you practicing non verbal spells?"
Jade looks at her book. "It's part of my extra classes with mcgonagall."
"That's advanced for a first year." Draco says. "Typically you don't start learning those sorts of spells till third year."
"She says it will be good for me to start early." Jade replies.
Harry sits next to draco.
Jade looks at harry. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Harry shrugs. "We did."
Draco nods. "In the girls bathroom."
Jade stares at them. "You mean moaning myrtle?"
"Yeah." Harry nods. "Have you met her?"
Jade looks irritated. "I tried to use the bathroom on the second floor but she ran me out. She said I have a fowl aura and I reminded her of death."
"Weird." Harry mumbles. "We found this in the bathroom. It appears to be a blank book."
Jade takes a look. "Tom marvolo riddle..." she gasps and drops the book on the table.
"What is it?" Harry and Draco both ask.
"I will be right back!?" Jade says taking off up stairs.
They exchange a glance.
Jade returns with her family tree parchment. "I thought so." She says pointing at the tree. "Just there."
Harry and draco spot it as well. Plain as day her family tree was the name Tom Riddle.
"See my dad was Rabastan Lestrange my mom francine gaunt was the daughter of this couple and an only child. Her mother was bell gaunt, the only child of medli gaunt. Medli was a sister of Tom's mother." She says.
"So Tom is the son of your grandaunt?" Draco says.
Jade nods. "Yeah that sounds right. That makes him my first cousin."
Harry nods. "His family tree is really short."
She nods. "Yeah." She looks at the diary. "So it belonged to my first cousin." She picks it up again and opens it up. "I wonder how old it is?"
"Well if this is in your family I think you should probably keep it." Harry says.
The three of them gather on the same sofa. It was getting late and nobody else was around.
"Write something." Draco suggests.
Jade places her quill in the ink. "What shall I write?"
"Just start with your name." Harry suggests.
Jade nods and taps her name into the book. The ink disappears. "Oh... it went away."
"Look something is appearing." Harry points.
'Hello jade, my name is tom riddle.'
"It's enchanted." Draco says. "It replies when you write."
"Maybe somebody has a copy and it sends it back and forth." Jade suggests.
"Dude how old is your cousin though?" Harry questions.
'How old are you tom?' She writes
The book replies. 'My 16 year old self is imprinted in these pages, but that was 30 some years ago.'
"16?" Harry questions. "30 years ago was when myrtle said she died."
"Do you think he knows anything about the chamber of secrets?" Jade asks. "Maybe he saw it while he was at school?"
"Ask." Harry suggests.
'Do you know about the chamber of secrets?'
'Yes.'
'Can you tell us?'
'No.'
They exchange glances. "Odd."
'But I can show you.'
In a flash of light they are in a black and white version of a memory. They look around but the halls of Hogwarts seem abandoned.
"Who is that?" Harry asks his friends.
At the top of a staircase a young man stands staring at a higher flight of steps.
"Hello?" Draco says walking up to him.
The boy doesn't acknowledge them.
"He is a slytherin." Draco observed. He heard talking up the stairs and they turned and saw a group wizards carrying a body downstairs. He became pale as a ghost.
"Is it true sir?" The boy asks as a young dumbledore follows them down the steps. "That a young girl died?"
Dumbledore stops to talk to tom. "It's late tom. You oot to be in bed."
"Forgive me I had to see if the rumors were true." Tom replies. "Is hogwarts no longer safe?"
Dumbledore frowns. "The one responsible for this will be caught dear boy. He places a hand on tom's shoulder. "Is there something you need to tell me?"
"Not at all sir." Tom replied.
Dumbledore nodded and continued to follow the ministry people.
Tom moved quickly down the hall and confronted Hagrid with his acromantula.
"Aragog wouldn't hurt a student." Hagrid protests as Tom flings a spell at the box knocking it open.
The three of them are flung out of the book and back onto the sofa.
Draco shakes his head. "So Hagrid opened the chamber?"
"Tom seemed to think so." Harry says.
"Well then we better go ask hagrid." Jade says. She takes the dairy and shoves it in her bag. It was a small bag but she took it everywhere. She never did explain how she managed to fit everything she owned in it. (the extension charm was added by mcgonagall as a way to help her carry her many books.)
Harry saw the time and realized he would need his cloak. He ran and grabbed it. The three snuck out to see hagrid. They arrived to find hagrid was on edge when he opened the door he looked worried.
"Students?" Hagrid says confused. "What are you doing outta bed?"
"Coming to see you." Harry replied.
"Well come in then." Hagrid ushers them inside. "Why is it you only comin visit in the middle of the night harry?"
Harry laughs. "Well I guess I could make more of an effort to visit you when the sun is out."
"We need answers." Draco says. "About the chamber of secrets."
"See the thing you need to understand about that is..." he starts but there is a knock on the door. "Get hidden." He says making his way to the door.
The three kids hide under the cloak. They back away toward the fireplace as lucius malfoy and the minister enter the place.
"Hagrid." The minister starts reading from a parchment he brought.
Lucius walks around the cabin looking disgusted. "Lives like a slob."
Hagrid frowns. "That's uncalled for."
Dumbledore enters the room. "It's best we just go along with it hagrid." He mumbles.
"Well I suppose if anyone wanted answers. Real honest answers. Then I imagine all they would have to do would be follow the spiders." He looks at his dog. "And somebody will need ta feed fang o course."
Lucius gets offly close to the hidden students but they step back just out of reach. They don't want to get caught out of bed.
The ministry leaves, taking Hagrid into custody.
Once the adults are gone the cloak comes off. "My dad was here with the minister." Draco says.
"Isn't that his job though?" Harry asks.
Draco shrugs. "He is probably the one who convinced the minister to arrest Hagrid."
Jade notices the spiders in the window. "Follow the spiders." She says.
They both look at her.
"Look, they are running in single file." Jade says. "That's very bazaar."
"It's a line." Harry exclaims. "I think we are meant to follow it."
They grab a lanturn. And follow the trail outside they follow the trail a bit more and realize it leads into the dark forest.
"No way!?" Draco yells. "We are not going in there! It's dark, and wolves, and spiders, no way!?"
"But if we want to know the truth we have to go." Harry says.
Draco sets the lanturn down. "If we go in there we are going to die."
Jade is already kind of following the spiders. She is nearly out of sight when Harry realizes she went without them. Harry rushes after her. "Jade?!" He hisses.
Draco turns to walk away. "Nope nope nope nope nope nope." He puts his hands up in surrender. "Nope nope nope nope nope." But something in the back of his mind pulls at him. His friends, the only two people who were who he considered companions. They were both following spiders into the woods.
He turns slightly and watches Harry disappear behind a tree. "Potter is going to get himself killed." He grumbles. He looks at the lanturn on the ground. "But if he does it because I am not there I would feel bad forever." He grabs the lantern and runs into the dark forest chanting "nope." Over and over. Convinced he could still talk his friends into not going to follow the spiders.