Harry Potter's Twin Sister and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 16- Tom Riddle is Dead

I trudged miserably through an empty corridor. I'd left Harry in the company of Ron and Hermione, and John in the Ravenclaw common room where he was challenging himself to a game of chess. I didn't want to speak to anyone anyway. I wanted to wallow in misery over the fact that Hagrid, of all people, had been accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago. I kicked a dropped quill roughly, trying to vent my overflowing frustration.

Hagrid had a love for monsters of all sorts, and anyone that had ever met him could tell you that. In fact, I had my own fascination with beasts, and seeing Hagrid's stronger one only made the enthrallment stronger. The spider Hagrid had fifty years ago was an acromantula: the only beast I refused to ever have anything to do with. Dragons and basilisks I could handle, giant spiders were a different story. I knew why it had fled though, all those years ago. It wasn't because Tom Riddle had threatened to capture it, but because of the beast that Tom Riddle controlled in the Chamber below.

The basilisk, as I had read in my studies, was the mortal enemy of all spiders. This included the acromantula. There were many theories as to why, the most reasonable being the spiders eight eyes. They had an extreme field of view, and eight eyes which could accidentally meet the deadly gaze of the basilisk. I was unable to feel any sort of sympathy for the arachnids I hated so dearly.

My thoughts moved away from beasts and back to Hagrid. Once again I found myself face to face with question after question. I resented myself for thinking it, but the most prominent question in my mind was: How the bloody hell was Hagrid not in Azkaban? I tried to shake my head and think of other things. I had questions that needed answering, and the answers were likely to be held in the library.

"Are you done sulking yet?" John was behind me with a smirk that didn't match the house crest on his robes.

I scowled. "How are you not in Slytherin?"

"I possess only the cockiness that I find you Slytherin's do. Besides that, dear Lily, I'm all Ravenclaw."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm headed to the library to find the heir of Slytherin."

John looked at me with incredulous eyes. I shot a glare directly into them. He was unfazed, and trailed slowly behind me as I turned to walk to the library. He said nothing, but I could almost sense the snide remark threatening to burst from within him.

"Say it, Doe," I said, calling him for the first time by his 'last name'.

"If you insist, Potter. What, pray tell, do you plan on looking for in the library? The Heir of Slytherin- Life Revealed or The Lovely Life of Tom?"

"His full name is Tom Riddle."

"What? When did you find this out?"

"An hour ago, maybe? I'll explain while we walk."

I did just that. As I walked with John to the library I told him about how Harry and I had found a diary belonging to this Tom Riddle. I told him how Harry and I had seen Riddle's memories through the diary, and how we'd seen a glimpse of what had happened fifty years ago. I told him how Riddle had lied, and convinced everyone that the heir was Hagrid. John was listening to the story with patience.

"You can't possibly mean Hagrid the gamekeeper?" John had said when I finished.

I nodded in response. John's eyes filled with an unexpected anger, and he picked up the pace to the library. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, almost having to jog to keep up with John's long strides.

"Bloody hell, John," I said, keeping pace with the older boy. "What's wrong with you?"

"I've been unable to interact with people for fifty years Lily, and yet I still know that Rubeus Hagrid wouldn't hurt a fly! Sure he's got an odd affinity for monsters, but hell, so do you!"