About You, Ron Weasley.

Chapter Six

Chapter Six 

"Oh, I'm no longer a kid, and everything has changed." 

"August, I don't know who's done it, but you'd better come quick!" Draco calls out, running up to the older Slytherin in a panic. August runs and follows after him down the corridor and through the dungeons. "C'mon, hurry–" Behind him, are his group of Gryffindor friends, and Draco doesn't have a chance to shut them out before they're past the Slytherin common room and up in August's dormitory – which – his side of the room has been torn apart and destroyed from top to bottom.

"Who else has the password?" Meissa asks, as August searches the room for a sign of Tom Riddle's Diary. He looks to Meissa, shaking his head, and her eyes widen – alarmed by the prospect of losing the diary.

"A couple of Gryffindors – the Weasleys, Potter, Wood, Granger, Ardie, Lupin, Longbottom–"

"Why would you give him the password?" Draco cringes in disgust, and Meissa looks to him; "Sorry," Draco utters quietly, as he begins repairing the room to its original state with the help of the others.

"Nothing's been taken– I don't know who would've done this–" August tells them, and Draco nods his head. "Just, keep an eye out." He tells Draco, who nods his head and vanishes down the corridor, out of the dormitories and into the common room; probably to boast about his heroic duties or spread some form of gossip, August presumed the former. Draco Malfoy was too mighty for gossip.

"Tom Riddle's diary is gone," August tells Meissa, who nods her head; her eyes scanning the room, a frown resting on her lips.

"I've gathered that." She sighs. "It must've been another student – or maybe it wasn't a student at all," she'd gathered, as they exit the dormitories and make their way down to the Quidditch Pitch – to watch the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"Professor McGonagall–" August starts, watching her retreat from the Quidditch Pitch the moment they'd arrived. Students were flocking to their dormitories, being guided by prefects; a stutter of disappointment murmured among the crowds. August watches, as McGonagall approaches; Harry and Ron tailing behind her.

"Mr. Prior, Miss. Lestrange. I was just about to come find you. Come with me, you four, down to the Infirmary," she tells them, and they nod their heads. "I warn you. This could be a bit of a shock..." She trails off; August swallows thickly, following closely behind the group.

They enter the Infirmary, to see Hermione placed on the bed next to Rue; petrified. A mirror is in her grasp, and she's being tended to by Madam Lawrence. August takes a step forward, approaching Hermione and taking her hands in his own. Her fist is bunched up; just like Rue's, there's a piece of parchment torn from a schoolbook about reflections and petrification; crumpled up into a ball.

With new rules and regulations put into place by the Headmaster, August and Meissa weren't able to see most of their friends – and this left them worried. August, who had a thousand thoughts on his mind; boiled down to one. Who had the diary? And who was attacking those he'd cared about?

Speculation, that night, of Dumbledore's suspension and Hagrid being sacked also loomed over the school amidst the chaos – after the Weasley Twins saw Dumbledore and Hagrid leaving his hut with Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy. Even Draco looked nervous, once he'd realized that not even Purebloods or Half-bloods were safe from the beast in the Chamber.

August and Meissa, creeping through the corridor in the middle of the night – with the map he'd borrowed off the twins again, peered around the corner at the sight of McGonagall, Flitwick, Lockhart, and Snape discussing the Chamber of Secrets. Back pressed to a wall, he tries to decipher the message written on the wall.