Harry Potter and Hermione Granger: The Chamber of Secrets

Trouble in Hagird's Hut

Dateline: May 7th, 1993

After research on the Basilisk in February, not much has been going on inside of Hogwarts for the past three months. Sure they figured out who the monster is but were not quite sure about the person who opened it fifty years ago. Hagrid was their friend from the start of Hogwarts, and he got a little frightened when Hermione asked him, 'you don't want to be expelled from this school, do you?' in Norbert's rescue for Charlie and his friends, he thought back, fifty years ago when Tom Riddle sued him for opening the Chamber of Secrets. All he was doing was setting a small spider free, out in the wild.

When picking schedules for this year, Hermione told him that she would be taking every single course the school has and will have McGonagall's approval for every one of them. After scheduling their classes, they were out in the courtyard, talking about whether Hagrid had opened the Chamber at all.

"It can't be Hagrid," said Hermione. "It just can't be."

"The Basilisk had killed someone, Hermione. What would any of us had done?"

"Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go and ask him about it?"

"That'll be a cheerful visit. 'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"

"Mad and hairy?" said a voice from behind them. It was Hagrid. "You wouldn't be talking about me now, would you?"

"No," they said together.

"What's that you've got there, Hagrid?" said Harry, looking at a strange canister Hagrid was carrying.

"Oh, it's, er, Fresh-Eating Slug Repellent. For the Mandrakes, you know. According to Professor Sprout, they still got a bit of growing up to do, but once their acne clears up, we'll be able to chop them up, stew them, and get those people in the Hospital un-Petrified. In the meantime, though, you two had best be looking after yourselves, all right?" they nodded, and he left.

Just as soon as Hagrid left, Neville Longbottom came sprinting down the halls, looking frantic.

"Harry, Hermione -- I don't know who did it, but you'd better come. Come on!" he said in a worried tone, and they followed him to the Gryffindor common room.

Inside they clambered up the staircase to the boys' dorm where the contents of Harry's trunk had been thrown everywhere. His cloak lay ripped by the floor. The bedclothes had been pulled off his four-poster, and the drawer had been pulled out of his bedside cabinet, the contents strewn over the mattress.

Harry walked over to his bed, openmouthed, treading on a few loose pages of Travels with Trolls.

"It had to be a Gryffindor. Nobody else would know our password unless it wasn't a student. So whoever it was, they must've been looking for something." said Hermione.

"And they found it," he said in an undertone to Hermione. "Tom Riddle's diary is gone."

Dateline: May 8th, 1993

They woke the next day to brilliant sunshine and a light, refreshing breeze as they left the Great Hall to collect their Quidditch things, and another severe worry was added to their growing list. They'd just set foot on the marble staircase when they heard the voice again --

"Kill this time . . . let me rip . . . tear . . . "

"The voice," said Harry and Hermione, looking at one another.

"There must've been another attack!" said Hermione. "But who?"

"We'll have time to think about it, Hermione," said Harry. "It's nearly eleven!"