HERMIONE AND LILY were seated on the tiled floor of the abandoned girl's bathroom and much to their luck, Moaning Myrtle was nowhere in sight. The ghost could've ratted them out to a professor or sat with them as she wallowed in her own self-pity and they definitely didn't want that to happen. Fred and George had managed to help Lily acquire all of the ingredients needed to make the Polyjuice potion that would allow Harry and Ron to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle; however that was as far as she would let them get involved. Lily added the last of the ingredients into Hermione's cauldron and as the brunette stirred.
"Lily, are you alright?" Hermione queried, starting up a conversation in the otherwise quiet bathroom, the only other noise being the constant drip, drip, dropping of the leaky sink, "Ever since the...incident during Lockhart's dueling club, you've been different."
Lily sighed, knowing she couldn't keep the thought to herself anylonger, "I think he's back, 'Mione."
"Who?" she asked, but Lily could tell Hermione knew the answer before she even said his name.
"You-know-who." Lily answered with a slightly teasing smile before correcting herself, "Voldemort." she spat out his name like it was poison as she stared down at the cauldron, "I don't think the Heir of Slytherin is Malfoy. I think it's Voldemort."
"Then why are you going through with this?"
"Because, Ron told me that most Slytherins grow to be dark wizards, like Voldemort. If that's true, then Voldemort must have followers of his own. Maybe they're responsible for this."
"Have you told Harry?" Hermione asked.
Lily shook her head no before explaining, "I hinted at it, but I think he's trying to be optimistic about all of this."
"Maybe you should be, too." Hermione shrugged, "I mean, what you're saying makes sense. It's better to be prepared for that. But keep it on the low until there is more evidence."
Lily nodded; even if she thought this Heir of Slytherin was Voldemort, the Weasleys had told her and Harry plenty of times before that the Malfoy family was once in league with Voldemort. A few moments later, Harry and Ron entered the bathroom side by side making the girls look up at them.
"Did you get it?" Lily asked, seeing the uneasy looks on Harry and Ron's faces as they heldup their hands showing that in each was a tuft of hair.
Hermione gestured to a pair of Slytherin robes saying, "I snuck those out of the laundry." The boys' eyes settled on the cauldron with the bubbling mixture; the potion resembled mud and as the quartet glanced at it distastefully, she knew it would taste just as bad, if not worse.
"I'm going to need a flask's amount of the potion for the twins." Lily chimed in. Her three friends looked at her questioningly and she shrugged, "They're up to something, as usual."
"Like always." Hermione chuckled falsely, she was eyeing the ghastly potion as she spoke watching as disgusting bubbles popped on the surface and more took their place. "I'm sure I've done everything right. It looks like the book said it should and Lily brought all of the ingredients." Hermione explained to the boys, "Once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves."
"Now what?" Ron asked as she reached for a ladle-like spoon.
"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs." Lily answered for Hermione.
"Wait, Lily, you're not drinking it?" Harry asked. The look upon his face caused Lily to grin, the look alone told her that he thought it was unfair they had to go through such torture.
The red-haired twin held her invisibility ring up and upheld her grin. "I don't have to drink it." she practically sang making Harry and Ron grimaced as they returned their gaze to the cauldron. Hermione dipped the ladle into it and she poured the brew into three cups and handed it to each of the boys; the two sprinkled the hairs they had stolen from Crabbe and Goyle into it, to which the potion turned a gross yellow color. The duo set their cups down as they dressed into the Slytherin robes Hermione had grabbed and turned back to their cups.
Ron sniffed his gagging at the smell, "Ugh. Essence of Crabbe..."
The trio, Ron, Hermione and Harry, nodded and clinked glasses, scrunching up their noses as they three drank the mixture. Immediately, Ron swallowed grimly and doubled over, as if the potion gave him an immediate stomach ache. "I think I'm gonna be sick." the redheaded boy gagged. He ran into a stall whereas Harry stepped to a cracked mirror and leaned over the sink. As Harry watched his face contort into the thick features of Goyle, Hermione looked at her arm and she ran into a stall, as if they were dancing Ron emerged from his stall right after she entered one, he was dead ringer for Crabbe. "Harry?" Ron gaped looking at his friend.
Harry scanned him over, "Ron?" he questioned, looking at the friend turned bully, quite literally.
"Bloody hell." the once red haired boy exclaimed.
"We still sound like ourselves." Harry pointed out, as Lily sat back on the sink, trying not to laugh at the scene she was witnessing.
"Ron, you need to sound more like Crabbe." Lily told him, suppressing a smile.
The boy spoke lower, "Bloody hell."
"Less intelligent." Harry added.
Ron rolled his eyes and dumbed his voice down, "Bloody hell."
"Excellent." Harry and Lily said in unison.
"Hey... Where's Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around them.
"I -- I don't think I'm going." Hermione's voice sounded from a few stalls away; the girl sounded distressed but she had locked herself in so there really wasn't much she could do. "You go on without me."
"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Just go! You're wasting time!" she exclaimed, not answering his question. Ron and Harry looked at Lily for confirmation and she nodded and before they could speak, she twisted her ring on her finger and disappeared. The trio ran out of the bathroom and rushed through the corridors. When they reached a staircase, they hurried down.
"Don't swing your arms like that." Ron noticed Harry was swinging his arms as they walked, "Crabbe holds them sort of stiff." Harry did as advised and Ron nodded, "Yeah, that's better."
Lily walked ahead of them, unbeknownst to the two boys. As she turned another corridor only second before them, she spotted Percy heading their way. "Heads up!" She whispered. They heard her and only had a second more to prepare themselves before Percy spotted them.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, not doing very well to mask his voice to his elder brother. Percy squinted, confused by Ron's voice; he thought he sounded like his youngest brother and though unknown to him, he was absolutely right. Harry elbowed Ron not-to-discretely, much to the dismay of Lily, who would have throttled them both if she had not had to maintain her cover. "What are you doing here?" Ron repeated himself, adjusting his voice to the one he had practised in the bathroom.
"I happen to be a prefect. You, on the other hand, have no business wandering the corridors at night." Percy narrowed his eyes at them. He then sighed, muttering the last part, "It's not safe these days."
Harry and Ron nodded dumbly as the boy of whom they were impersonating would, afraid to speak and blow their cover. Lily was grinning; she loved this invisibility ring for its sole purpose of messing with others; she was currently pulling at a loose thread on Percy's socks, irritating the boy to the point where you would think he was dancing from the way he kept slamming his foot against the ground and brushing it against his other leg. Percy squinted at the boys again trying to regain composure after what Lily was doing, "What're your names again?"
Before they could speak however, the voice of the exact person they had sought out to find rung out. Draco Malfoy. "Crabbe. Goyle. Where have you been?" Malfoy questioned them as he approached the group, then he snottily answered his own question, as though he were correct, "Pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?" The platinum-haired, scowling Slytherin not glanced witheringly at Percy, who responded with his own look of distaste. "And what are you doing down here, Weasley?" Malfoy spat causing Lily to quit messing with him and stand up straight, defending the obnoxious boy who was apart of the family she loved so dearly.
"Mind your attitude, Malfoy. You want to show a little bit more respect to a school Prefect!" Percy retorted irritatedly.
"Come on, boys." Malfoy said, looking at Harry and Ron, "Weasley thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's hair single-handed." Percy steamed as Malfoy sneered and walked off with Harry and Ron. Before Lily followed, she reached up and yanked a few hairs from Percy's pretty red-haired head. He winced and his hand flew to his head, but Lily had already shoved them into a ready flask and ran down the corridor after the other three.
Harry, Ron and Lily trailed Malfoy inside. The boys glanced around warily. The Slytherin common room had the sort of aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck. The dungeon common room extended partway under the lake, giving the light in the room a green tinge, as well as the green lamps hung above. It had low backed, black and dark green button-tufted leather sofas that sat around the fireplace. Skulls posed as decor along with dark wood cupboards. It had a grand atmosphere, but it also had quite a cold one.
"Listen to this..." Malfoy began as he sat down on one of the sofas. Ron and Harry followed suit, sitting opposite of him. They were clearly uncomfortable but Lily stood behind Draco's sofa, peering over his shoulder, deciding how she could mess with the blonde without blowing her cover. Malfoy had grabbed The Daily Prophet and began reading the front page aloud, ""Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car. 'Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute,' said Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts. 'He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."' Grinning at the name of his father, Malfoy glanced over the paper at Harry and Ron and continued, "Arthur Weasley loves Muggle so much he should snap his wand in half and go join them. You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave. Embarrassment to the wizarding world. All of them." Ron growled at this, unable to control himself. Harry elbowed him and Ron quickly composed himself, but Draco had already caught it and looked surprised. "What's up with you, Crabbe?" he questioned Ron, squinting his eyes slightly at the boy.
Ron spoke in the low, Neanderthal-like voice as he explained, "Stomach ache."
"Well, go to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick in the arse for me." he responded, sitting back in his seat; Lily had put her hands in a choking motion next to his neck, glaring immensely at the back of his head. "You know, I'm surprised The Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet. I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father always said Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place."
"You're wrong!" Harry snapped making Lily smack her forehead this time and inwardly curse her brother. Had she had been the only one that could keep herself composed? When she looked back on this day, she would have done it differently. She would have choked Draco Malfoy when she had the chance; and he literally would not have seen it coming.
"What? Did you say that I was wrong? You think there's someone here who's worse than Dumbledore?" Malfoy sat up, speaking daringly.
Ron stiffened, worried. Harry thought for a few seconds before coming up with the perfect answer, "Harry and Lily Potter."
"Good one, Goyle. You're absolutely right. Saint Potters. They're another two with no proper wizard feeling, or they wouldn't go around with that Mudblood Granger." the boy grinned, "And people actually think they're the Heir of Slytherin." Lily paid closer attention now. They had gotten somewhere. Harry and Ron exchanged a quick glance, to which Harry had leaned closer to Malfoy.
"Then you must have some idea who's behind it all?" he queried.
"You know I haven't, Goyle. How many times do I have to tell you?" he snapped, but then smiled satisfyingly, "But my father did say this much: It's been fifty years since the Chamber was opened. He wouldn't tell me who opened it -- only that they were expelled -- but I know this: the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died."
Lily had frozen entirely at Malfoy's words. The last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened fifty years ago, a muggle-born witch or wizard had died. Lily knew that if she and the others did not help to put a stop to this, history would repeat itself, no matter how horrid. Ron and Harry were not allowed the chance to react as they wished to, for they had to maintain their cover until the potion wore off. Malfoy was the only one within the room that seemed entered unaffected by his words, as if they were music to his ears. It made Lily wonder then...did he truly feel that way? Would he have been an entirely different person had he not been raised by his strict, pureblood, muggle-hating family? Many years later, when Lily thought about the boy, she liked to think he would have been different; a good different.
"So it's only a matter of time before one of them's killed this time. As for me... I hope it's Granger." Malfoy finished, grinning slightly. As he grinned, Ron stood and his fist rose to strike the snobbish boy. But Harry intervened and stopped him. Malfoy stood, confused and irritated by their strange behavior.
"What's the matter with you two?" he exclaimed, eyeing them, "You're acting very... odd." Ron made a sort of gurgled sound and Harry turned to him. But Lily saw what Ron saw: Harry's scar was beginning to surface beneath the skin of Goyle's thick forehead. And then Lily saw Ron as his bred hair began showing its red self. They both jumped to their feet and dashed out of the room before Malfoy could process what had just happened.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Malfoy shouted.
Lily, however, stayed in the Slytherin common room. She knew Harry and Ron would be fine. She also had her own agenda. She was, of course, in league with Fred and George. How could she not use this opportunity. Malfoy nodded his head as if trying to figure out what had happened and soon retreated to the boys' dormitory. Lily spotted a potions cabinet at the far corner by the fireplace and grinned as she grabbed a few flasks. She then made her way towards the girls' dormitories. All she or the twins would reveal about what she did that night was that it made Hogwarts pranking history. Hell, maybe it could even be considered Marauder worthy. After Lily had fulfilled what she and the twins had planned only hours before, she carefully exited the Slytherin dungeons. She ran back towards the East Wing of the castle where the abandoned bathroom was located and slipped in. It seemed as though Harry and Ron had gotten there only a few moments before.
"Where's Hermione?" Lily asked them. They whirred towards where their heard her voice, startled, just as she twisted her ring and revealed herself to them.
"That was close!" Ron sighed in relief, "I thought Lily was going to strangle us for a second, there."
"Hermione, come out." Harry called out, his voice echoing slightly in the grand bathroom, "We've got loads to tell you!"
"Go away!" Hermione called back. The brunette was still locked in the stall she had locked herself in when they left. The three others exchanged confused looks and just then, Moaning Myrtle swooped in through one of the walls. She had a disturbingly happy smile on her face, as if nothing exciting had happened to her in years and something finally had.
"Ooh, wait till you see. It's awful!" she squealed; and just then Lily heard the stall's lock slide back and the door opened slowly. It opened to reveal Hermione, hidden in the shadows, but she did not look like herself, exactly. She had the face of a furry feline, of a cat. She had pulled hairs off of Millicent Bulstrode's Slytherin robes, but they were not hers...
"Do you remember me telling you the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations...?" Hermione began. The three gaped at her. Her face was covered in fur, her eyes yellow like a cat's and pointed ears poked through her blonde-brown hair. "It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes!" she exclaimed, "Look at my face!"
"Look at your tail." Ron remarked before Lily whacked him on the back on the head, she was surprised but that did not mean he could hurt her friend more.
***
They had brought Hermione to the hospital wing and two days laters when they visited her, they were ordered to come with books, and lots of them. Fred and George were quite thrilled when Lily brought back their elder brother's hair -their brother of whom was a prefect, if that helped to give any part of their scheme away. Harry, Ron and Lily made their way over to Hermione's bed, which was literally drowning with books. Stacks of books from the floor to the bed and on the bed stood unsteadily. "Oh, good. Put those anywhere." Hermione gestured. They looked. There is no anywhere. So the three just dropped them and Lily shrugged, sitting down at the foot of her bed.
"Madam Pince asked that we relay a message to you, Hermione: She'd appreciate it if you'd leave a few books for the rest of the school." Lily relayed.
"I've got to keep up, haven't I?" she shrugged. Just then, her tail twitched. It was the only sign that showed anything that had happened the two nights ago.
"Is that thing ever going away?" Harry eyed it.
"Any day now, according to Madam Pomfrey." Hermione nodded and smiled glumly, "I'm just thankful I've stopped coughing up fur balls."
"We all are, believe me." Ron nodded.
"Now." Hermione changed the subject, placing her hand on Lily's as she asked them, "What about the Chamber of Secrets? Any new leads?"
"Nothing." Harry sighed.
"And has it gotten any better? I mean... is anyone speaking to either of you?" she asked the twins.
"Neville asked to borrow a tubeworm in Potions yesterday. I suppose that's something." Harry shrugged gloomily. Hermione looked to Lily, who shrugged as well.
"I have Fred and George and you three. I don't care about anyone else."
Hermione sent her a reassuring smile. Ron eyed a GET-WELL-CARD peeking out from under Hermione's pillow and took it. Lily noticed Hermione looked away as if she had been caught red-handed.
"'To Miss Granger. Wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher Gilderoy Lockhart.'" Ron read aloud and then looked at their best friend, "You sleep with this under your pillow?"
"Of course not. I don't know how that got there." Hermione tried to cover it up, "Now go. I still have six hundred pages to read in Transformation Through the Ages." So they bid their best friend farewell and allowed her to returned to her stacks of books. They didn't begin a conversation until they were a little ways away from the hospital wing. When they did, Ron began ranting.
"I know Hermione's mental, but can you believe she falls for that smarmy nonsense of Lockhart's?" he scowled.
"Is Ron jealous, Harry?" Lily asked her twin, eyeing the boy.
Harry grinned, "I think so, Lily."
"Oh, shut up." Ron rolled his eyes. But before Lily could tease her best friend any further, the three of them stopped in their tracks and looked down. A great flood of water streamed from the abandoned girl's bathroom. Inside, Lily had heard Myrtle moaning and whimpering.
"Looks like Myrtle's flooded the bathroom." Ron commented.
"Is that so?" Lily replied sarcastically, "I thought she had invited Sir Nicolas and Peeves to a pool party."
Ron turned to her, "Was that necessary?"
"Yep." Lily nodded and they splashed off towards the bathroom.
Ron stepped lightly but still managed to get some water to pour into his shoes. "Yuck." he groaned, shaking his foot so droplets of water sprayed out. Loud moans echoed off of the dreary tile. All the of the sinks were running, the tap water streamed like tiny waterfalls. As Harry, Ron and Lily had stepped to the last cubicle, Myrtle spinned accusingly at them.
"Come to throw something else at me?" Myrtle glared at Harry.
Harry knitted his eyebrows, confused as to why she was mad at him, "Why would I throw something at you?"
"Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me..." Myrtle replied, frowning.
Ron looked up at her as she floated in the air, "But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'd just go right through you wouldn't it?"
"Great." Lily muttered under her breath, knowing what was coming next.
"Oh sure! Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it!" she shouted angrily, "Ten points if you can get it through her stomach!" She plunged her hand into Ron's stomach as if to punch him and it went right through the him. "Fifty points if it goes through her head!" the ghost continued as she plunged her fist through Ron's head and he had a flustered look on his face. When a living person passed through a ghost, it is as if they could feel it in a way; the coldness and voidness. It felt odd.
"Who threw it at you anyway?" Lily questioned her, trying to get Myrtle to calm down.
"I don't know. I didn't see them." Myrtle replied in her usual whimpering voice, "I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death and it fell through the top of my head."
Lily spotted a small black book on the floor and knew it had to be the book Myrtle was talking about. She approached it and picked it up. Harry walked over to where she stood examining it. However, Lily noticed something that Harry did not. There was one person of whom Lily had remembered was in possession of a book looking exactly like this. Her young friend. Ginny Weasley.
*****
"It's a diary." Harry inspected the book in Lily's hands, "And it's old."
"It's a diary, it's old... and was most recently in a toilet, Harry." Ron replied sarcastically. Harry took it from Lily and began to open it, but Ron grabbed his hand to stop him.
"Are you mad?! That could be cursed!" the red-haired boy exclaimed, "Dad once told me about a book the Ministry confiscated that burned the eyes out of anyone who tried to read it."
"I'll take my chances..." Harry said. He then opened it and started shouting, "Ahhh! MY EYES! MY EYES!"
Ron froze in terror and Lily smacked her brother upside his head. Harry grinned and ended the ruse. Then, Lily spotted Ginny standing at the very end of the corridor, looking from the diary to Harry, utter terror etched upon her young face. Just as Lily was about to speak up, she bolted away.
"Ginny! I was only joking --" Harry began but sighed and turned back towards Ron who was glaring at him, "Brilliant. Even your sister thinks I'm the monster now."
"Who doesn't?" he retorted. Ron frowned suddenly as he eyes the first page of the diary, where a name was written.
Tom Marvolo Riddle.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle? Hang on. I know that name..." He thought. After a few seconds, he thought of it, "Of course! The night I had detention... My job was to polish the silver in the trophy room. I remember because I kept burping slugs all over Tom Riddle's trophy. I must have wiped slime off his name for an hour."
Harry fanned the pages to see they were empty; free of any marks or words, "That's odd. He never wrote in it."
However, Lily was not worried about that. Rather, she was much more concerned with Ginny. Ginny had not fled from Harry's terrible acting, but from the book itself. Lily knew for a fact that Ginny had this book in possession at some point and for some reason, it scared her. She intended to find out why and so she made it her sole duty to watch out for Ginny.
* * *
Harry and Lily accompanied Hermione in the moonlit hospital wing. It was Hermione's last night there. Ron was in the great hall with the twins and the rest of the houses eating supper but Harry was explaining how they had come across the diary and Hermione inspected it peculiarly. "Tom Riddle... Hmm." Their friend thought aloud, digging through her brain for any fragment of memory regarding someone named Tom Riddle. It was possible she had come across the name in a book of some sort and forgotten, but she had not. "And Ron said he won an award fifty years ago?"
Harry nodded, "Special Services to the School or something --"
"Fifty years ago? You're sure?"
"Yes." He nodded, "Why?"
"Don't you remember what Malfoy told you? The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened was --"
Lily turned at this. They were finally onto something after they had come to a stop with leads. "Fifty years ago!" The Potter twins realized.
"That means --" Harry began.
"Tom Riddle was here, at Hogwarts, when it happened. What if he wrote about what he saw? It's possible he knew where the Chamber was, how to open it, even what sort of creature lives in it." Hermione interrupted him, then frowned, "If so, whoever's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want a diary like this lying around, would they?"
"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione. With just one tiny little flaw." Harry sighed, flipping the pages, "There's nothing written in this diary."
"It might be invisible ink." Hermione shrugged as she took the book. She proceeded to pull out her wand and tapped the book three times as she chanted the spell to uncover invisible ink, "Aparecium!"
Nothing had happened and so the perfectly cut parchment pages remained blank. Hermione passed the book back to Lily who examined it herself again. She was convinced there was more to this book than meets the eyes.
"I don't know, you two." Hermione frowned, "But I think you should be careful with this. Something tells me Ron might be right. It could be dangerous."
"You don't think we're dangerous, do you, Hermione? I mean, you're not scared. Of us." he asked full of hope, Harry was taking everything to heart, even though he knew he shouldn't.
"I'm scared, Harry. But of you two? Never." Hermione replied honestly.
* * *
Lily and Harry had returned to the Gryffindor common room an hour later. All of their house members were fast asleep, for it was almost midnight. The moon light delicately shined into the room through the tall glass panes windows, but such graceful rays had no power against the dancing flames in the grand fireplace, which casted it's orange tinted rays of light around the room. It did wonders, making it feel warm and comfortable against the red sofas and armchairs. Harry had sat himself down in front of the fireplace on the red and gold rug. The dancing flames of the crackling fire reflected in his round, black rimmed glasses as he stared at them in a sort of daze. Lily sat at a dark oak table close by, inspecting the leather-bound book they had discovered hours before now that she could really take a look. Only moments ago, she had set a bottle of ink and a quill of her own down. After many dead ends, she decided there was nothing more to the book and picked up her quill. Dipping it in black ink, she began writing on the parchment paper, her handwriting in neat, unique script. She had only written one letter, but that single letter blazed briefly and then vanished, as if it were sucked into the page. Wide eyed, she dipped her quill in ink again and this time, she wrote her name.
My name is Lillian Potter.
"Harry!" Lily exclaimed quietly. She had snapped her brother out of his thoughts. He turned to see what she had called him for, but her eyes had already averted back to the book. He stood and made his way over to her. He had made it right on time to see what she had written, and just as soon as he saw it, the words blazed and vanished, just as they had before.
"What the--" He began. But then, something happened then. Something even more peculiar then the vanishing words. New words appeared on the page, then, but the handwriting was entirely different from Lily's own.
Hello, Lillian Potter.
My name is Tom Riddle.
Lily's mind raced and she looked at Harry who then beckoned for her to continue. Coming to a decision, Lily began writing under the response and muttered what she wrote aloud, "Do... you... know... anything... about... the... Chamber... of...Secrets?"
Yes.
Harry and Lillian exchanged looks, to which she then wrote and spoke aloud what they wrote, "Can... you... tell... me?"
No.
Lily frowned and sighed; another dead end. Just as she was ready to give up, Harry nudged her as new words slowly oozed to the surface of the page.
But I can show you...
Confused by those words, Lily furrowed her eyebrows. How could this person show them? For all they knew, he was a ghost or something. She could not even explain how they were communicating through the diary. But nonetheless, the twins waited, intrigued. Then suddenly, the pages began to flutter wildly, as if blown by a strong wind. Then it stopped on one page with a date specifically marked onto it. Lily had flipped through every single page; it was not there before.
June the 13th.
A small square under the date appeared and Lily lifted the book to get a closer look. She put her eyes close to it and suddenly, she and Harry pitched forward, spilling through the widening window and into a whirl of color and shadow.
The Potter twins tumbled onto their feet, only to find themselves not in the common room, but in a torch-lit corridor. Everything around them was desaturated and dull, aside from Lily and Harry who retained the true, rich colors of their present time. Lily's vibrant red hair seemed to blaze against their dull surroundings. They glanced about, disoriented, until Lily spied a boy at the end of the corridor, peering around a corner. A flurry of shadows danced on the wall beyond the older boy, indicating other were present nearby but in another room. Harry followed Lily and as they advanced upon the older boy, low voices emanated from the shadows within the other room.
"Excuse me. Could you tell us where we are? Hello...?" Harry questioned. But if he had heard Harry the boy did not reply, as if Lily and Harry were ghosts and could not be heard or seen. Oh, but it was the entirely opposite. They were staring at a ghost of the past and were surrounded by Hogwarts in its slightly younger years. The boy had jet black hair and piercing gray eyes that matched with his ghastly pale pallor. He possessed sharp, angular features and was quite handsome if someone were to look past the superior and hateful look upon his face and communicated through his posture. He must have been a fifth or sixth year, if not older. Just then, the twins watched as a group elder wizards and witches, Hogwarts Professors, Lily and Harry had guessed, spoke amongst themselves, emerging from the entrance hall. They had sorrowful looks upon their faces, as if something bad had happened. Then abruptly, they went silent. They all made way for two younger wizards who were bearing a stretcher. And on that stretcher was a body; a dead body, covered with a white sheet.
"Riddle." The voice of an older man spoke; authoritatively. The boy wheeled and looked right thought Harry. Harry turned, and Lily who was a few feet away, turned as well to see Dumbledore. The headmaster appeared a bit younger; fifty years younger, to be exact.
"Professor Dumbledore." Tom Riddle replied.
"It's not wise to be wandering around this late, Tom." Dumbledore spoke.
"Yes, Professor. I suppose I -- I just had to see for myself, if..." Tom began. Riddle glanced towards the young wizards and watched them carry the stretchers past them and up the stairs and into the night, "... the rumors were true."
Dumbledore's face showed an expression of great grief, "I'm afraid they are, Tom."
Lily cringed as a petite, pale hand slipped off of the stretcher; a girl's hand. As Harry paid attention to the conversation between the two, Lily followed the wizard's carrying the stretcher and caught up. They halted as they reached a door and Lily took that time to peer under the sheet. Whomever was deceased on this stretcher had a huge connection to the Chamber of Secrets. She must've been muggle born. But Lily was not prepared to see who it was as she pulled back the sheet, for she did know who lay dead on this stretcher.
Moaning Myrtle.
Except, the poor girl was not known as Moaning Myrtle then. Only was she known as Myrtle and after this very day, June 13th, fifty years ago, she would be remembered and forgotten as Myrtle, the muggle born witch who died under the wrath of whatever monster lied in the Chamber of Secrets. Forever would she haunt the very place where she died; the very place where, in Harry and Lily's time, was left abandoned for that very reason. The girl's bathroom. Lily, shocked by what she had seen, turned and descended the stairs once again, meeting back up with Harry.
"About the school as well? They wouldn't really close Hogwarts, would they, Professor?" Riddle asked.
"Headmaster Dippet may have no choice, I'm afraid." Dumbledore replied.
"Sir?" Riddle queried, "If it all stopped. If the person responsible was caught..."
"Is there something you wish to tell me, Tom?"
A long beat passed, and Riddle replied, "No, sir. Nothing."
That had reminded Lily of when Dumbledore had asked her and Harry the same thing in his office. Harry replied the same way. Dumbledore studied Riddle for a moment. "Very well then. Hurry along." He nodded. He strode directly past Harry and Lily, not seeing him. When he was gone, Riddle moved quickly on his feet, towards the dungeons steps.
"Follow him." Lily said. Harry obliged and Lily trailed behind him as they descended the stairs. Riddle reached a door and peered into it. Though Harry and Lily could not see who was behind it, they heard a voice. And quite a familiar one at that.
"C'mon, Aragog. Gotta get yeh outta here..." The voice spoke, "C'mon now.. in the box..."
Lily looked at Harry then, "Hagrid?" And she was right, for as Riddle pushed the door clear to reveal a second room, crouched by a box was a huge boy; young Hagrid. A strange clicking noise emitting from the box.
"Evening, Hagrid." Riddle greeted quite coldly. Hagrid slammed the box shut.
"I'm going to have to turn you in, Hagrid. I don't think you meant it to kill anyone --" Riddle began.
"No, yeh can't! Yeh don' understand!" Young Hagrid pleaded.
"Hagrid. The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow." Riddle told him, "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."
"It wasn' him! Aragog never'd kill no one! Never!"
"Monsters don't make good pets, Hagrid. Now... stand aside..." Riddle spoke, drawing his wand. Riddle blasted the box open, causing the torches within the room to extinguish. Harry gasped and Lily shrieked and jumped on his back as a low-slung creature with a tangle of black legs, many eyes and a pair of razor sharp punchers scuttled out of the shadows. Just as Riddle pointed his wand at the creature, the giant spider, Hagrid leaped forward at Tom.
"NOOO!!" Hagrid shouted. Riddle turned and pointed his wand at him.
"HAGRID!!" Harry and Lily screamed. But as young Hagrid and Tom Riddle tumbled to the floor, the twins found themselves plummeting through color and shadows again. Before they could realize what had happened, they landed flat on their backs on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, in present days. Harry was the first to compose himself and Lily soon followed. Without a second thought, they bolted up the stairs towards the boy's dormitory and ran into the bedroom where Ron and Harry slept. In the circular room, Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron slept soundly, with Harry's bed empty. Harry urgently shook Ron awake and the boy groaned. Lily loomed over him, too. "Ron!" Harry whispered urgently.
"Ron!" Lily whispered as well, followed by her smacking Ron on the head with Harry's pillow.
"What?" Ron awoke. He sat up and saw the urgency on his best friend's faces, "What's happened...?"
Harry could not believe what he had to tell his friend, "It was Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."
****
Harry, Ron, Lily and Hermione were walking the grounds together during their free period. The sun shined down upon the courtyard of which they strolled through, adding to the cheery attitude of the day. Harry had just informed Hermione about everything that had happened the night before, to which she agreed with Lily immediately. Hagrid could not have opened the Chamber of Secrets, and that was one thing that Lily knew was a fact. Hagrid was too kind-hearted to even think of such a thing. "It can't be Hagrid." Hermione disagreed, shaking her head. "It just can't be."
"We don't even know this Riddle. He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me." Ron added much to Lily's agreement.
"The monster had killed someone, Ron. What would any of us done?" Harry replied making Ron fall silent.
"Look. Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go ask him about it?" Hermione suggested.
"That'd be a cheerful visit." Ron mocked, "Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"
"Mad an' hairy?" Hagrid's familiar voice sounded behind them, "Wouldn' be talkin' 'bou me, now would yeh?" The four best friends whirred around and spotted Hagrid grinning at them, to which they instantly looked guilty.
"No!" They all exclaimed. They glanced at each other and Hagrid eyed them curiously. To change to subject quickly, Harry nodded at the strange canister Hagrid was holding in his hand, "What's that you've got, Hagrid?"
"Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent. Fer the Mandrakes, yeh know. Accordin' ter Professor Sprout, they still got a bit o' growin' up ter do, but once their acne clears up, we'll be able to chop 'em up, stew 'em, an' get those people in the hospital un-Petrified." Hagrid responded, "Til then, you three best watch yerselves, all righ'?" They nodded in response and watched Hagrid walk away. Just as he was far enough away, Neville came running towards them, an urgent look on his face.
"Lily, Harry, I don't know who did it, but... you'd better come." he panted, "Quick!" The four friends looked at each other before following Nevile back into the castle. They raced up to the Gryffindor tower where Fred and George stood in the doorway of Harry's bedroom. Lily was the first to enter and when she did, she saw everything was a mess. Sheets were pulled back, furniture tossed aside and their contents spilled on the floor. Harry had kept the diary in his room.
"It had to be a Gryffindor. Nobody else knows our password." Hermione said, " Unless, it wasn't a student..."
"Well, whoever it was, they were looking for something." Ron said.
Harry peered into his drawer and sighed, looking back at them, "And they found it... Tom Riddle's diary is gone."
***
Students streamed into the Quidditch Stadium as the Gryffindor team prepared for their match against Hufflepuff. Harry, Rom, Lily and Hermione were descending the stairs when they came across Ginny. "Hey, Ginny! Going to the match?" Ron questioned his little sister. Ginny looked up, startled, and then shook her head and exited.
"I tell you, she gets weirder and weirder by the day..." Ron mumbled.
"Yeah, and intend to find out why." Lily looked at Ron, "Wait a moment, will you?" They nodded and she descended the stairs in pursuit of Ginny. She caught up with the girl and stopped her, to which she spun around in fright. "Whoa, there. It's only me." Lily said and Ginny seemed to relax slightly.
"You going to be late for your Quidditch match." Ginny had said.
"I don't care. I know my priorities, so to hell with Quidditch. What's wrong, Ginny?"
"Nothing." The girl replied a little too quickly.
"Ginny, I told your parents and your siblings that I would watch over you, and I intend to keep that promise. You're my best friend. I know something is wrong." Lily said before she tilted her head continuing, "I saw you with that diary a few days ago." Ginny tense then and Lily decided to mention something else, "I've had my experience with that diary and I know it's power. Ginny, if you're in trouble, you can tell me."
"You're right." Ginny nodded, "I will."
"Okay. I'll see you after the match?" Ginny only nodded in response and Lily met back up with Hermione, Ron and Harry at the bottom of the stairs.
"So?" Ron asked, a little protectively.
"I didn't get much out of her." Lily shrugged. Just then, Harry and Lily heard again. The shrill, chilly voice laced the walls yet, bounding throughout the hallway.
"Kill this time... Let me rip...Tear." It hissed. The twins froze and Ron and Hermione stopped, knowing by their faces.
"No... don't tell me..." Ron began.
Harry walked in the opposite direction, his fingers absently touching the walls as he glanced around. Lily remained where she stood, knowing that whenever they followed the voice, it led to another petrified person. As abruptly as it had come, the voice stopped and Harry turned, shaking his head. Hermione looked up, her eyes were vaguely on Harry and Lily but her mind was miles away.
"Lily, Harry... I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!" Hermione sprinted back up the stairs.
Harry and Lily yelled after her, "What do you understand?!" But their friend was already gone.
"The library?" Harry guessed.
Ron shrugged, nodding, "That's Hermione. When in doubt, go to the library."
"Let's go to the field before Wood gives us a lecture on attendance." Lily chucklef, Harry nodded in agreement and the remaining three made their way through the corridors and to the Quidditch field.
"Listen up now. We play our game, Hufflepuff doesn't stand a chance. We're stronger, quicker, smarter." Wood said. Harry and Lily had made it on time and Ron found himself a seat in the bleachers
"Not to mention they're dead terrified Lily and Harry'll Petrify them if they fly anywhere near him." George grinned, earning a smack in the arm from Lily. She then smacked Fred as he laughed at George being scolded.
"That, too." Wood nodded. Just then, Professor McGonagall appearing, barring their way. "Professor McGonagall --" Wood began diplomatically.
"This match has been cancelled." she cut him off right away, but Lily could see the troubled look on her face.
"Cancelled! They can't cancel Quidditch --" he began to rant.
"Silence, Wood! You will return to Gryffindor Tower now." the professor said, not having any of it, "Potters, you and I will find Mr. Weasley. There's something the three of you need to see." Lily paled knowing what it was. Someone else had been petrified.
***
McGonagall paused outside do the door of the hospital wing. Harry, Ron and Lily stood behind her and she turned to them. "I warn you." she frowned, "This will be a bit of a shock." She opened the door and the three saw Madam Pomfrey leaning over a bed where a girl laid. As she straightened up, they saw who the girl was. She was petrified, frozen like a statue. But she was no statue. It was Hermione.
"No!" Lily exclaimed as she reached the bed where her petrified best friend laid. She fell to her knees and tears streamed down her cheeks as she touched her best friend's hand.
"Hermione!" Ron's voice broke a little.
"She was found near the library. Along with this." McGonagall said, holding up a hand-held mirror, "Does it mean anything to either of you?" Harry shook his head and McGonagall nodded gravely, began to lead them out of the hospital wing.
"I'm staying." Lily spoke up, her voice shaky as she looked at Hermione.
"Lillian, this announcement is something everyone must hear--" McGonagall began, but was cut off.
"I know what you are going to say." Lily replied, "Hogwarts is no longer safe. Kids are being petrified one after the other and until whatever is doing this is caught, you're closing down the school." McGonagall was speechless. That was exactly what she was going to say. Now she knew Lily knew a lot more than what she first thought; she was involved in this in ways that not even Harry could explain.
"Alright, well, don't stay too long." McGonagall nodded, frowning. Lily only nodded once in response.
***
Later that evening, Lily had managed to leave Hermione and began racing through the halls of the corridor. She had found something. Actually, no, Hermione had found something and left it for them as a clue before she was petrified. She had answered everything they wanted to know, and more. Now she just had to find her brother and Ron.
She had almost reached the east wing when she saw something peculiar. A trail of spiders scuttled urgently into attempts the escape something through an open window pane. She squealed, terrified of spiders. But then something clicked and reluctantly, she slipped out of the castle. It took a few moments, but she raced alone across the grounds in pursuit of Hagrid's hut. There was not a doubt in her mind that Harry and Ron weren't already there, seeking answers. But then she heard the two boys scream, the sounds emitting from the dark forest behind Hagrid's hut. If course the blubbering idiots would go there, but why? Without even checking to see if Hagrid was home, she ran into the dark forest without a second thought as she heard the two boys shouting and screaming. She grabbed her wand and readied it as she jumped over tree roots and weeds that sought to trip her. Then she saw them. What was even more peculiar, however, was the fact that they were in Mr. Weasley's flying car in the middle of the woods. Spiders of different sizes --the sizes of a hand, the size of basketballs and even much, much larger-- were attacking them from the outside. She was ready to be sick, but she pointed her wand at them and shouted. "REDUCTO!"
With a flash of blue light, the spiders were thrown off of the car as if by a strong wind and the two boys spotted Lily and sighed in relief.
"HARRY POTTER! RONALD WEASLEY!" Lily shouted, "GET YOUR ARSES OUT OF THERE BEFORE THESE DAMN SPIDERS COME BACK! BECAUSE I WILL NOT HESITATE TO LEAVE YOU AS SPIDER FOOD THIS TIME!" They bolted out of the car and followed her out of the forest at a quick pace. The flying car retreated wildly back into the forest, apparently into a newly found home.
"How did you know where we were?" Harry asked.
"I came to Hagrid's thinking you came here in search of answers and then I heard you two screaming like bloody five year old girls."
Ron engulfed Lily in a thankful hug, "Lillian Potter, have I told you how much I love you?"
"And I also went searching for you because I found something." she finished. Ron pulled back and the two looked at her.
"What did you find?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Hermione found it, actually. Right before she was petrified, she figured everything out and wrote it down." Lily said, pulling a crippled piece of paper that was ripped out of a library book out of her pocket, "I found this crumpled in her hand."
She gave it to Harry who took it and, under the light of Lily's wand, he read it aloud, "'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meets this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it and only the crowing of the rooster can kill it.'" Harry read then looked up at Lily and Ron, "This is it! The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why we can hear it speak. It's a snake."
"But it kills by looking people in the eye. Why is it no one's dead?" Ron queried.
"Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least..." Lily explained and they began rushing towards the castle, "Colin saw it through his camera. Justin -- Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick!
"Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost -- he couldn't die again..." Harry chimed in and she nodded.
"... And Hermione had the mirror! I bet you anything she was using it to look round corners, in case it came along." Lily added.
"And Mrs. Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror." Ron remembered.
"The water... there was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection..." she explained.
Harry scanned the page again, "The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it! That's why Hagrid's roosters were killed! Spiders flee before it! It all fits!"
"But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake. Someone would have seen..." Ron asked.
"Hermione answered that, too.." Lily said, looking at the bottom of the paper. Scribbled in Hermione's handwriting was one word: pipes.
Ron, aghast, "Pipes...It's using the plumbing?!"
"Remember what Aragog said? About that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom. What if she never left." Harry put the pieces together.
"You're right, Harry. I saw whose body it was when we were sucked into the diary... it was Moaning Myrtle."
Just then, McGonagall's voice echoed throughout the castle, magically magnified, "All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second floor corridor. Immediately."
The three glanced at each other before running back towards the castle. They managed to slip back inside unnoticed, for all of the teachers were gathering on the second floor. They began racing up the steps and Lily ordered Harry to put the cloak over him and Ron.
They rounded a corner and peered behind a wall to see Mcgonagall standing before a desecrated wall, surrounded by the rest of the staff. "As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster. Into the Chamber itself." McGonagall's voice wavered gravely as the teachers reacted, "I'm afraid we shall have to send the students home. I'm afraid... this is the end of Hogwarts."
Just then, Lockhart bursted into the corridor happily, "So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?"
"Just the man." Snape mocked him but managed to remain entirely serious, "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last."
"My m-moment?" he stuttered.
"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" Snape replied.
"D-did I? I don't recall..."
"That settles it. We'll leave it to you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy." McGonagall spoke, "Your skills, after all, are legend."
"V-very well. I'll -- I'll be in my office, getting -- getting ready." Lockhart spluttered away.
"The rest of us should go and inform the students what has happened." McGonagall sighed.
"Who is it the monster's taken, Minerva?" Professor Sprout asked fearfully.
At McGonagall's reply, Ron's and Lily's knees gave away and Harry had to catch them. "Ginny Weasley."
The teachers scattered then in pursuit of their houses so they could inform their students. Once they cleared away, the three walked into the corridor and Lily managed to read aloud the words written on the wall, in blood, "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."