Double Double Toil and Trouble // Two // [ON HOLD]

Chapter Fourteen

Harry pocketed the diary. We decided not to say anything about it until Hermione was released from the infirmary so the five of us could talk about it together. We waited until the beginning of February before we all met in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle?" Hermione read the name on the back of the diary aloud.

Ron suddenly gasped. "I know that name! He received an award for special services to the school like fifty years ago!" He said.

The rest of us frowned at him. "How on earth do you know that?" Nat questioned.

"Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention. It's the one I burped slugs all over. If you cleaned slime off of a name for an hour, you'd remember it too." The redhead explained.

"What do you think he got a special award for?" I wondered aloud.

Ron shrugged. "Could've been anything. He could've gotten thirty O.W.L.s or rescued a teacher from the mermaids in the Black Lake.

"Maybe he murdered Moaning Myrtle." Nat said. "That would've done everyone a favor." She and I giggled but stopped when we noticed how deep in thought Hermione seemed to be.

"What is it Hermione?" Harry asked her.

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?" She asked. "That's what Nott said."

Harry and Ron nodded. "Yeah..."

"And this diary is fifty years old." I felt the gears in my head begin to rotate as I caught onto what she was getting at.

"So?" Ron said. I closed my eyes in frustration, and I could hear Harry sigh.

"Think Ron!" Hermione snapped. "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know Tom Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. What if Riddle got his special award for catching the heir of Slytherin. His diary would probably tell us everything: where the Chamber is, how to open it, what sort of creature lives in it. The person behind these attacks wouldn't want that lying around, would they?" She sighed deeply after she finished explaining. I wondered if she had managed to say all of that in one breath.

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione." Ron said, taking the book from her hands and flipping through the pages. "Just one flaw. There's nothing written in this diary. Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered filling it in."

~

In what felt like no time at all, it was Valentine's Day. The morning went by as usual until we walked into the Great Hall. The tables were all covered in large, pink flowers, and heart-shaped confetti was falling from the ceiling.

"Nat, I think I'm gonna vomit." I said, staring dumbfoundedly at the scene before me.

Nat pulled on my robes and led me over to our regular seat at the Slytherin table. "In that case, you might as well eat."

I cringed as Lockhart stood up from his seat at the Professors' table. "Oh bloody hell." I muttered under my breath.

"Happy Valentines Day!" He exclaimed, causing the hall to go silent. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!"

"How much do you wanna bet that Hermione was one of those forty-six?" Nat whispered in my ear. I stifled a laugh.

"Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all, and it doesn't end here!" As if on cue, the hall doors opened and a dozen small dwarves walked in. Each of them wore golden wings and carried harps.