Ineffable | Harry Potter - George Weasley // COMPLETED

13 | Follow the Spiders

"It was Hagrid," Harry explained to us as we walked through the courtyard, the snow now completely melted away and the weather becoming warmer. "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

Harry had found an old book in the girls' lavatory and brought it back to the common room, where he apparently got sucked into the book and brought back fifty years ago to when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened. I know, it sounds completely mad, but at that point, there weren't a whole lot of things I wouldn't believe.

I mean, two years ago I thought that wizards weren't real.

Hermione, who was back to her normal self, shook her head. "It can't be Hagrid. It just can't be."

"We don't even know this Tom Riddle," Ron mentioned the name of the man who had owned the book Harry had found. "He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch."

"The monster had killed somebody, Ron," Harry repeated for about the fifth time. "What would any of us have done?"

I sighed, not quite sure what to do in that situation. "Why don't we just go and ask Hagrid himself? He's our friend, right? He wouldn't lie to us."

"That would be a cheerful visit." Ron scoffed. "'Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"

"Mad and hairy?" Hagrid, the large man, somehow snuck up behind us. "You wouldn't be talking about me, now, would you?"

"No." we all denied at once, earning a look from Hagrid.

Pointing to the container that Hagrid was carrying, Harry attempted to change the subject. "What's that you've got, Hagrid?"

"It's Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent," he answered. "For the Mandrakes, you know. Now, 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 them up and stew them...and then we'll get those people down at the hospital un-Petrified. In the meantime, though, you four had best be looking after yourselves. All right?"

We all nodded as Hagrid turned and started to walk off, but before either of us could say another word, Neville came running towards us, panic on his face. "Harry, I don't know who did it, but you'd better come. Come on!"

Following Neville, we ran up to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory where all of Harry's things had been smashed and thrown on the floor. Feathers from his pillow scattered the ground along with ripped out pages from books and torn clothing.

"It had to be a Gryffindor." I looked up to see Harry's owl, Hedwig, still sitting safely in her cage. "Nobody else knows our password. Unless it wasn't a student."

"Whoever it was, they must have been looking for something." Ron shook his head.

"And they found it." Harry turned to us. "Tom Riddle's diary is gone."

_______________

The next day, as I was getting ready to head down to the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor Quidditch match, McGonagall, Harry, and Ron stopped me in the hallway. Harry and Ron looked just as confused as I was, but there was worry in McGonagall's eyes.

She wouldn't tell us what was wrong, but only to follow her to the hospital wing. Once there, she turned to us. "I warn you. This could be a wee bit of a shock."

Walking further into the room, we spotted the nurse standing over a petrified Hermione who was lying frozen on one of the beds. "Hermione!" Ron gasped.

"She was found near the library...along with this." McGonagall held up a small mirror. "Does it mean anything to either of you?"

We shook our heads. "No."