Silver Hourglass

A Snake's Diary Chapter 17

Harry made sure he was along in the Slytherin Common Room before he pulled out Riddle's Diary. Miles, Terence, and Adrian took almost forever to return to their dorms, Miles complaining to the couple about some Ravenclaw boy. The three finally retreated when the clock struck almost midnight and Harry took a breath as he took out Riddle's diary. Harry placed the simple black leathered notebook on the desk and stared at it. He flipped through the pages, all of the empty. He got a new bottle of ink from his bag and dipped his quill in it, watching as the scarlet ink drop onto the pages. The small blob of ink shone brightly into the page for a second, and then, as though it was being sucked into the page, vanished. Excited, Harry loaded up his quill a second time and wrote "My name is Harry Potter."

The words stated there for a second, then bled into the page, leaving nothing. Then, a second later, oozing out of the page with his very own ink was words that he hadn't written.

"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle. Tell me, how did you come by my diary?"

Excited to reply, Harry wrote "Someone tried to flush it down a toilet."

"Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way then ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read."

"What do you mean?" Harry wrote, barely containing his excitement. He bit his lip as the ink disappeared, getting a feeling that was similar to whenever Draco kissed him unexpectedly.

"I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"That's where I am now!" Harry wrote quickly. "I'm a Slytherin student at Hogwarts and horrible stuff's been happening. Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"

His heart hammered. Riddle's reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, he was hurrying to tell all he knew.

"Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets young Slytherin. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned."

Harry nearly stabbed his bottle in his hurry to reply. "It's happening again. There have been three attacks and no one seems to know who's behind them. They all believe that it is the 'Heir of Slytherin' and that I am that heir. Who was it last time?"

"You? The Heir of Slytherin... interesting. Why would they believe such a rumor?"

Harry bit his lip and decided to tell Tom. "It is because I am a Parselmouth." He wrote.

Harry waited with bated breath as the ink was absorbed in the pages. Then, slowly, the ink reappeared, as if Riddle was choosing his words carefully. "A Parselmouth? Harry, you may indeed be a descendant of our Founder, for that ability runs in his bloodline. Though faint, you may be a true Parselmouth, thus heir to Salazar Slytherin. I believe you are not the Heir of Slytherin that everyone is worried about Harry Potter, but you are definitely a heir to our Founder and Head of House."

Harry bit his lip as he read it, both relieved and worried. He was relieved that Tom Riddle believed him, and calmed his fear of him not being the Heir of Slytherin. Though, the worry came from Tom's declaration that Harry is one, thus granting him his ability to speak Parseltongue. He wanted to ask more about, but decided to stay on point. "Tom," he wrote, "can you please tell me who was it last time?"