𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞 | 𝐇.𝐏.

𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟐 - 𝟕

"It was Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago," Potter finished explaining to us as we walked around outside in the crisp spring air.

"It can't be Hagrid. It just can't be," Hermione argued. She had finally left the hospital wing, and had no fur or tail left. The only remaining feature that gave away her incident was her eyes. If you looked close enough, you could see a yellow tint to their normal brown.

"We don't even know this Tom Riddle," I said.

"He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me," Weasley voiced. 

"The monster had killed somebody, Ron," Potter replied. "What would any of us have done?"

"Look, Hagrid's our friend," Hermione said. "Why don't we just go ask him about it?"

"That'll be a cheerful visit," I muttered.

"What would we say?" Ron asked. " 'Hey, Hagrid. Have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

"Mad and hairy?" A gruff voice came from behind us. "You wouldn't be talkin' about me, know, would yeh?" Hagrid asked jokingly. 

"No," we all said, much too quickly, at the same time.

He looked down suspiciously.

"What's that you've got, Hagrid?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, it's Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," he answered, holding up the small green tin can. "For the Mandrakes, you know? According to Professor Sprout, they've still got a bit of growing to do, but once their acne's cleared up we'll be able to chop 'em and stew 'em, and then we'll get those people in the hospital un-Petrified.

"In the meantime, though, you three had best be looking after yerselves. All right?" He asked. 

We nodded solemnly.

As Hagrid walked away, Neville Longbottom came running up to us. 

"Harry," he gasped. "I don't know who did it, but you'd better come." We all followed Longbottom up to the boy's dormitory that I assumed was Potter and Weasley's. I felt a bit awkward coming up here, as I guessed Hermione did too from the way she hesitated at the door.

But we stopped short when we saw the entire room. Everything was strewn everywhere, like a bomb had gone off. Not only crumpled papers and quills, but clothing, mattress feathers, and shards of glass scattered the floor.

"It had to be a Gryffindor," Hermione said as Potter began to search through all his books. "Nobody else knows our password."

"Unless it wasn't a student," I added uneasily. 

"Whoever it was, they must've been looking for something," Weasley said.

"And they found it," Potter finished for him. "Tom Riddle's diary is gone."

"Miss. Malfoy, please come with me," Professor McGonagall said, pulling me over. 

Everyone was gathering for one of the biggest Quidditch matches of the season, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. I hadn't seen Hermione all morning, but I knew that she had been in the library long after I had fallen asleep last night, not telling us why. She just ran off after dinner like she had an epiphany, and nobody had seen her since.

I followed Professor McGonagall out to the Quidditch pitch, but to my surprise, everyone was filing out of the stands. What had happened to cause an entire match to be discontinued? We found Weasley in the crowd, and soon the both of us were trailing Professor McGonagall.