𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 (𝟐) || HARRY POTTER LOVE STORY

55

"What d'you mean, we won't be-" Harry said as he straightened up again.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter." said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"Look." said Harry, losing his patience "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later!"

"We're going to talk now." said Riddle, still smiling broadly, and he pocketed their wands.
Harry stared at him.

"How did Ginny get like this?" Julie asked slowly, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Well, that's an interesting question, Clarke." said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" Julie asked now more confused.

"The diary." said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books, how - Riddle's eyes glinted'- how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her, because he's only got eyes for Julie Clarke..."

Julie's stomach immediately was filled with butterflies. Not only because Riddle just said that Harry likes her, but also because she's now got new a thing she can tease Harry for.

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl." he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back, I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me.
'No one's aver understood me like you, Tom I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in . It's like having a friend I can carry round in my
pocket...' "

Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Julie's neck.

"If I say it myself, Harry, Ive always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No" Julie whispered, not believing what she just heard.

"Yes" said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries... Far more interesting, they became... Dear Tom" he recited, watching Harry's horrified face, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keepstelling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think be suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"

Julie's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into her palms.

''It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary" said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet."

"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Julie could feel him getting angrier.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry" said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history."

His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and his expression grew hungrier.

"I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust!"

"Hagrid's my friend." said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but-"

Riddle laughed his high laugh again.

"It was my word against Hagrids, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student, the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden for to wrestle trolls. But l admit, even I was surprised how well he plan worked. I thought someone must realise that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power! Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed. Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did."

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you" Julie said, her teeth gritted.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled." said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it." Julie said triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat."

"In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again!" Harry added, supporting her.

"Haven't I already told you" said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me any more? For many months now, my new target has been - you!"

Harry stared at him.

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue... So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her: she put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last. I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter!"

"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.

"Well" said Riddle, smiling pleasantly "how is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now. Julie's stomach twisted horribly at his words, realisation hitting her.

"Why do you care how I escaped?" asked Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time."

"Harry, he's Voldemort..." Julie stammered, backing away from Riddle, her breath heavy and the look of horror on her face evident.