PERCEPTION

The scene moved on to show Harry, Ryan, Ron and Neville running back into the girl's bathroom.

"Hermione, come out." Harry said when he saw that she was still locking herself behind the stall door. "We've got loads to tell you!"

"Go away!" Hermione yelled to them.

"Is she crying?" Neville whispered.

"I wonder what's wrong with her." Marlene said.

Moaning Myrtle phased through the stall door with a wicked smirk on her face. "Ahh! Wait till you see. It's awful!" she sniggered as she floated out of the way.

"Uh-oh." Dorcas gulped.

Ryan looked at the other three boys confused before he slowly pulled the door open.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Ryan asked.

"Aaah!" Myrtle began to howl with laughter.

"Do you remember me telling you that the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations?" Hermione turned around and revealed her face making the boys stare at her in shock. "It was cat's hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes. Look at my face."

"Look at your tail!" Ron exclaimed.

Ryan slapped a hand over his mouth and resisted the urge to smile.

Several students in the audience gave her looks of pity. Others, on the other hand, found humor in the situation and, like Ryan, tried to keep from laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Myrtle however, made no attempt to hide her mocking.

The camera moved upward and faded through the ceiling. When it went up through the floor, instead of the school, it came into view of a house that was void of lights and placed in the dark.

A large bright red glowing tear appeared lighting up the room and Regulus, Severus, Lily and Cathy came through soaking wet. The tear behind Cathy closed and she looked at her friends concerned.

"You lot alright?" she asked.

"Yeah." Regulus nodded. Lily and Severus both nodded with him.

Cathy noticed Lily holding her arms together and rubbing them in an attempt to warm herself.

"I'll get you some towels." Cathy said. As she walked past them, Cathy waved her hand over the fireplace and a large fire appeared. Both Lily and Severus moved quickly to the warm flame while Cathy disappeared up the stairs.

"Wait a minute." Euphemia said. "This is our house."

Although Regulus was also wet and cold, he moved toward the framed photographs on the walls. Looking at them, he saw Cathy as a little girl and her with her parents and several with James. Regulus smiled at the sight of all the pictures as he moved from one to another.

"You brought them to our house?" James questioned.

"Oh, so you can have your friends over but I can't?" Cathy shot back.

Cathy came back down the stairs and stopped at the doorway to the living room. Her hand moved to the light switch and lit up the room.

"Here." Cathy handed them all some towels. "Dry yourselves off."

"Where are we?" Lily asked as she and Severus took the towels. Cathy threw one over to Regulus and he caught it.

"My house." Cathy said.

"Your—" Severus looked around in a panic. "You brought us to your house!"

"Relax, no one else is here." Cathy assured him. "We all alone. My parents are off on their anniversary week."

"Oh, that's when this was." Fleamont nodded.

"Their what?" Regulus looked confused as he dried his hair.

"My parents use up an entire week to celebrate their anniversary." Cathy informed them.

"Why a whole week?" Lily asked from the fireplace.

"My dad says that when you get to a certain age you learn not to take things for granted. You have to celebrate as much as you can for as long while you can."

"That's a nice way to live life." Severus said. "So, if you're parents aren't here, then what about the spawns of evil?"

"Yes." Euphemia nodded. "Weren't you at home watching the house with her?"

Sirius and James sunk into their seats.

"James and Sirius?" Cathy waited for Severus to nod in confirmation. "They were supposed to stay here with me but they snuck over to stay with Remus for the next few days and they paid me three galleons each not to tell my parents."

"My god, you left your sister alone in the house for days?" Euphemia questioned.

James turned to Cathy. "I want my money back." He told her.

Severus nodded at what Cathy said and gave Lily a glance before continuing to talk.

"So…are we going to talk about what happened or are we pretending that it didn't happen? You know about how you can use magic outside of Hogwarts? Or how you can do magic powerful enough to open a portal without speaking an incantation?"

"This is how you found out about Cathy being a Chaos Castor?" Mary looked to Lily.

"Yeah."

Cathy looked at the floor was she dried her own hair. "Well—"

"She's a Chaos Castor." Regulus interrupted.

"Some of us that is." Lily added.

Everyone turned to him with a bewildered expression especially Cathy who was beyond shock.

"What's a Chaos Castor?" Lily whispered.

"An extremely powerful and rare type of wizard." Severus replied.

Cathy took a step toward Regulus as she gave him a strange look.

"You knew?" Regulus nodded. "How? Since when?"

"It wasn't that hard to figure out when I put the pieces together." Regulus told her. "I've seen you in class. In Charms and Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts you get the spell right on your first try. Most of the time I see you not even saying the spell, you just mouth the words. Then there's the fact that you can read ancient runes like it's written in English and how skilled you are as a Legilimens."

"I'm a natural-born Legilimens." Cathy said.

"You could share your ability to detect emotions when we were little." Regulus reminded her. "Pretty sure not even a natural-born Legilimens should have been able to do that at that age."

"You knew?" Sirius looked to his brother.

"So, you knew this whole time?" Cathy questioned.

"Not the whole time I just sort of suspected. What we saw tonight just confirms it is all."

Why didn't you ever saw anything?" Cathy asked.

Regulus smiled at her. "I didn't want to make you feel…I don't know I guess I just wanted you to tell me when you felt comfortable."

Cathy and Regulus looked at each other and seemed to be in their own world. Their silent exchange was immediately broken by Severus.

"Guys." Everyone turned to him. "I feel sort of funny."

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"I—" Before he could say anything, Severus looked at the fire and giggled at the flickering flames. "You know what I always wanted to say?"

"What's up with him?" Peter enquired.

"Oh no." Severus groaned.

Regulus and Cathy walked over to Severus and looked at him peculiarly.

"What?" Lily asked.

"I loved you guys." Severus said with a sad expression. "I use to just love Lily but now I love you two too, too, too. Wait. How many toos is that?"

"Is he drunk?" Evan questioned.

"Are you feeling all right there, Sev?" Cathy asked.

Severus stood up and beamed happily at her.

"I feel fantastic!" Severus opened up his arms and wrapped them around Cathy. He then proceeded to lift Cathy up off the floor.

"Oh my god, what is happening?" Lily stood up and looked curiously at her friend.

"Did he hit his head on something?" Cathy asked. "Sev, put me down. Put me down!"

Severus reluctantly placed Cathy back on the ground and released her from his arms.

"What is wrong with him?" Regulus asked Lily. Cathy walked back to the two of them and Severus went back to watching the flickering flames. "Is he drunk or something?"

"He didn't drink a thing." Lily told them. "All he did was eat the…. oh no."

"What? What is it?" Cathy questioned.

"The brownies." Lily answered. "The brownies we ate must have had weed in them!"

Lily gasped and covered her mouth with her hand dramatically while Cathy and Regulus were confused. The two of them looked at each other puzzled and then looked back at Lily.

"Muggles put weeds in their food?" Frank wondered.

"What do you mean weeds?" Regulus asked.

"Yeah, I know that muggles are very different from us but why on earth do they put weeds in their brownies?" Cathy enquired. Lily gave both of them shocked looks. "I mean, I admit that they tasted great but why would they do that? And how would that make Sev—"

"No, no, stop!" Lily interrupted. "I don't mean 'weeds' I meant 'weed'."

Regulus tilted his head to the side. "As in…singular?"

"As in weed!" Lily told them. "The kind you usually roll up and smoke. Also known as pot, hash, grass, dope, marijuana?"

"What kind of weed is this?" Regulus asked.

"Wait. Do you mean hemp?" Cathy asked. "Leaves have a lot of edges, cane-like stalk, aromatic and makes you relaxed when you smoke it?"

"Yes." Lily nodded.

"Oh!" A lot of people in the audience realized what Lily had been referring to.

"Oh." Cathy looked at Regulus. "Hemp or as it is more commonly known cannabis."

"Oh! That I know!" Regulus nodded.

Immediately they all turned to face Severus who was still staring at the flames in the fireplace.

"Oh boy." Cathy said.

"Wait. If cannabis was in the brownies than shouldn't that mean that we'll all end up like that?" Regulus asked.

"I don't think so." Cathy said. "I mean, I don't know about you two but I only had a bite."

"I ate half."

"I ate one." Lily said.

"Wait, I bought like ten. Who ate the rest?" Cathy questioned.

Once again, the three wizards looked to Severus who was lying on the floor and looking up at the ceiling with a strangely content expression.

"Oh Sev." Lily said sadly.

"What a gluttonous little thing." Walburga commented.

"So that bad news is that Sev is as high as a kite." Cathy stated. "Usually hemp takes a few hours to come into effect but sadly wizards have a high metabolic rate."

"Is there good news?" Lily asked.

"Yeah." Cathy assured her. "Because of our metabolism he should clear the hemp out of his system fairly quickly. But I don't know how much hemp was in those brownies and we don't know for sure how much he ate."

"So, what do we do until then?" Regulus said.

"Go back and if the fella that sold the brownies wasn't arrested ask him and if possible buy some more?" Cathy suggested.

"Really?" Euphemia said sarcastically.

"Hehehe." Severus was waving his hands in the air and was chuckling at the sight of the shadows dancing on his face.

"Tempting but no." Regulus shook his head.

"Let's try getting him some water." Lily suggested. "Maybe if we hydrate him, he'll sober up."

"Good luck." Cathy said. "Compare to when you smoke it, consuming hemp makes the effects stronger and last longer."

"Great." Lily said sounding disappointed. "So, what do we do?"

"We'll just have to wait it out." Regulus said.

"Wait a minute." Cathy disappeared out of the room for about a minute and when she came back, she had a camera in her hand. "Hey Sev. Give us a smile."

Severus gave her a giant grin and Cathy quickly snapped a photograph.

"What are you doing?" Regulus enquired.

"What?" Cathy looked at the two of them. "We may never get this chance ever again."

"Give me that!" Lily grabbed the camera from Cathy's hands before she could take any more pictures.

The camera moved upward and came to the clock that was hanging on the ceiling. The time on the clock faded away and showed that an hour had passed.

The scene moved to Regulus sitting down outside on a swing outside looking up at the sky. The door from inside the house opened and Cathy came out.

"Hey." Regulus greeted her. "How's Severus?"

"Still staring off in space so I think he's getting better. Or maybe worse I don't really know." Cathy sat down on the swing next to Regulus.

"These swings are nice." Regulus told her.

"Hey! That's my swing." James whined.

"You haven't used it in years." Cathy reminded him.

"Doesn't matter, it's mine!"

"Thanks, my dad made them for me and James when we were little." Cathy said.

"You must really love him."

"He is my dad." Cathy laughed. "Of course, I love him. What, you don't love your father?"

"I don't know." Cathy stopped laughing when she saw his expression. "I don't really know my father that well to be honest."

"Does he travel a lot or something?" Cathy asked.

"No." Regulus answered. "He's at home a lot."

"So?"

"I…I just don't really know him that well." Regulus admitted. "My family's not like yours. We're not particularly big on feelings."

Orion and Walburga felt funny inside and listened intently to their son.

"To each their own, I suppose." Cathy said. "You don't relate to anyone in your family at all? What about your mother?" Regulus shook his head silently. "Sirius?"

"We use to be close when we were little but then…" Regulus looked ahead and smiled weakly. "…he got sorted into Gryffindor."

"House of the Self-Righteous." Cathy said.

Regulus let out a small laugh. "What?"

"What did she say?" Alice said.

"Oh." Cathy realized what she said and smiled. "It's nothing. It just that…when James came back from school for the holidays, he always thought that no matter what he did, because he was sorted into Gryffindor that meant that he was good. That no matter what, he could do no wrong. Before I got to Hogwarts, I called Gryffindor the House of the Self-Righteous in my head. It certainly didn't help that when I got to Hogwarts a lot of people in Gryffindor had the exact same mindset as him."

"I don't do that!" James turned to his friends. "Do I?"

None of them answered him. They were too busy listening to the film.

"House of the Self-Righteous." Regulus chuckled. "Was it just Gryffindor or did you have a nickname for the other houses too?"

"Oh yeah." Cathy nodded. "I called Ravenclaw the House of the Vain."

"What!" Someone in Ravenclaw said angrily.

"Because they're conceited?"

Cathy shook her head. "No. Because even though there are a lot of smart people in Ravenclaw, this makes some of them think that they know better and are smarter than they actually are even though they have no proof of their intelligence. They're proud of something that most of them can't prove they have."

"Like when you make a vain attempt at something." Regulus nodded.

"Exactly." Cathy nodded. "They have all this pride and most of them can't back it up with results."

A lot of people in Hufflepuff looked at Cathy annoyed at what she had said about their house.

"I suppose that makes sense." Regulus nodded. "What about Hufflepuff?"

"Oh, I love Hufflepuff." Cathy smiled.

"Really?" Regulus seemed surprised.

Quite a bit of people in the audience also seemed surprised at Cathy's response.

"Oh yeah." Cathy nodded. "I call it the House of the Well-Adjusted. Hufflepuffs aren't as pressured to be brave and smart and cunning like the other houses. I mean some of the are competitive but they're so calm and not aggressive as everyone else."

"That's not exactly a good thing." Regulus said. "A lot of people think that they're a bunch of dopes."

"Excuse me!"

"A lot of people are dopes." Cathy said. "People think that just because we're in houses that we're just happened to be sorted into that means that we have to constantly exhibit those traits they're famous for and nothing else. That sort of pressure on children as they grow up can make it hard for them to have their own personalities."

"And Hufflepuff doesn't have this problem?"

"Oh, they do." Cathy answered. "But not to the same extent we do. They aren't pressured to be something or act in some way. They grow more well-adjusted than others. I mean take a look at their traits; Loyal and Just."

"So?"

"To be loyal you have to pick a side and to just you have to know the difference between right and wrong. Hufflepuffs are more capable to deciding this because they aren't overwhelmed by their Houses characteristics the way the rest of us are. Being smart and brave and cunning is fine and all, but I think Helga Hufflepuff had the right idea. Hufflepuff is all about inclusivity and openness. That's why the entrance to their common room isn't password protected."

"But most of them are dopes though. You can't argue with that." Regulus pointed out.

"They aren't dopes. They're children." Cathy corrected. "And we're supposed to be like that. People shouldn't be pressuring us to be who they want us to be."

"You think people shouldn't have expectations for us?" Regulus enquired.

"There is a difference between expectations and demands." Cathy told him. "The problem is people, whether they're on the giving or receiving end, can't tell the difference sometimes."

Regulus stayed quiet for a while. He thought about everything that Catherine had said. About people thinking they something based on the house they were placed in. How they change themselves to fit in with the way they thought they should be. How his parents, his friends and everyone had expectations and demands for him.

His whole life was about how he should think this and act that way. How he never managed to fit in with all the questions in his head that he could never ask, lest he be treated the same way that Sirius was treated. He became the perfect son for his parents and that made him the worst brother to Sirius. He and Sirius used to be close but that all changed the day Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. Sirius returned home after his first year rejecting all the ideals and beliefs that Regulus was raised on.

Catherine was right. The sorting forced people to act a certain way at a young and impressionable age and if they questioned it, the system was designed to make them feel terrible about themselves. House of the Self-Righteous, House of the Vain and House of the Well-Adjusted.

Every house thought positive things about their own house and negative things about the rest. It created a sense to distrust and distain from the very beginning. No wonder it was so easy for people to rage conflicts against each other.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Cathy interrupted his thinking.

Regulus looked at Catherine quietly. "How did you come by this idea of the Houses and everything?"

Cathy shrugged. "I'm a Legilimens. It's easy for me to see the world the way every individual person eyes because—"

"Because actually you can." Regulus finished.

"Lucky me."

"Perks of being a Legilimens." Cathy said.

"What about Slytherins?" Regulus asked.

"I call you lot the House of the Half-Glass." Cathy smiled. "Like the phrase about the glass that been half filled. Positive people say—"

"That the glass is half full and negative people say it's half empty." Regulus finished.

"Yeah." Cathy nodded as she started to pushed herself on the swing a bit. "Some people in Slytherin think that they're good and in the right and others don't. Everyone else thinks that you're bad but some don't think so. You're not easy to define because everyone has their own opinion and they're own beliefs. Some act on their beliefs and others don't but act like they do for fear of how they'd be perceived. That's why I decided to call you the House of the Half-Glass."

"Because it's about perception." Regulus realized. "How we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us."

"Is that what you really think?" Remus asked her.

Everyone turned to Cathy.

"It's just my opinion." She said. "Feel free to disagree."

Cathy smiled. "I knew you'd figure it out, Regulus." Regulus gave Cathy an astonished look. "What?"

"You called me Regulus."

"That's your name, isn't it?"

"Yes, but, that's the first time you've used my full name." Regulus said. "You always called me Reg."

"You do always call him Reg." Lily realized.

"Well, other than my mother, you're the only one that calls me Catherine." Cathy said. "Everyone else calls me Cathy except for you."

"Cathy isn't as pretty as Catherine." Regulus said.

Cathy raised her eye brow and smiled. "You're being rather flirty tonight, Regulus."

"I may have eaten more of that brownie that I initially let on." Regulus admitted.

"You should have said so, Regulus."

"Okay stop overusing my name." Regulus told her.

Cathy laughed. "I'm sorry. It's a unique name; Regulus."

"My family has a tradition of naming it's children after celestial bodies." He told her. "I was named after a star in the Leo constellation."

"Well, that explains it. I'm dreadful at astronomy." Cathy said. She looked up at the sky and looked around. "Can you see from here?"

"The Leo constellation?" Cathy nodded. "Yes, it's behind us."

Cathy stood up from the swing and turned around. "Show me." She said.

Regulus got up from the swing he was on and stood next to her. He looked at the night sky and searched for the constellation.

"There." He pointed. "That one."

"Where?" Cathy tried to see what he was pointing at.

"Right there." Regulus leaned down to match her height and adjust his hand to the side of her face. Cathy for a moment glanced at Regulus and his eyes met hers. They went back to the sky and Cathy squinted her eye. "See those nine stars?"

"I…I think so." Cathy said.

"I'm right…over there." Regulus pointed to the star near one end.

"That bright one?"

"Yes." Regulus smiled. "That's me. One of the brightest stars in the sky."

Cathy smiled, pleased that she had found the star. She turned around abruptly to praise herself but…Regulus' face was still so close to hers.

Regulus looked at Cathy and neither one of them moved. Slowly Regulus leaned in. Cathy didn't move away. Instead, her eyes fell on his lips. Regulus' eyes went up to Cathy's eyes and hers met his. At the same time, they moved closer and closer and finally their lips touched.

That night, outside the Potter family home, by the swings, Regulus Black kissed Catherine Potter.

And the audience burst into applause and cheers at the blushing pair. Both of them ignorant of the glares that Fleamont was giving Regulus.

CHAPTER 46
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

After an excruciating amount of teasing from their peers and glaring from Fleamont Potter everyone turned their attention back to the screen.

Walburga and Orion were both pleased and proud l by the looks on their face whereas James, Euphemia and Sirius were discomforts by the scene they had just witnessed.

As the camera faded away from Cathy and Regulus and their first kiss, the scene changed to the stairs at Hogwarts. Ron, Neville, Ryan and Harry were marching up some stairs with the camera's view following behind them.

"Have you spoken to Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Earlier today when we gave her homework." Neville nodded.

"She should be out of hospital in a few days, when she stops coughing up fur balls." Harry said.

"That's not nice to say." Euphemia commented.

When they arrived at the end of the stairs, the corridor they were at soaked the shoes with water. The entire floor was flooded with rushing water.

"What's this?" Ryan said.

"Yuck!" Ron said in disgust. Ryan looked ahead and saw that Ron was looking at the source of all the water.

"Looks like Moaning Myrtle's flooded the bathroom." Harry said. He ran ahead with Ron to the bathroom.

Neville and Ryan on the other hand stepped slowly and gently as not to splash any of the water from the bathroom onto their robes.

The camera followed Ron and Harry as they rushed into the bathroom. There, they found Moaning Myrtle floating in the air crying.

"Oooh, oooh, ooooh, huh- huh." Moaning Myrtle hiccupped as her tears continued to fall.

"Great, what's nagging at her now?" Marlene said.

"She's done that before?" Remus asked.

Lily nodded. "Not exactly that but something as dramatic. Because Peeves teases her."

The door to the bathroom opened and Ryan and Neville arrived. Ryan looked around and to his relief found that the source of the water was coming from the sinks that were probably blocked and the faucets were currently running.

"Thank god. I thought this water was coming from the toilets." Ryan sighed in relief. He raised his hand at the sinks and the faucets all shut themselves off.

"Hmm." Sirius agreed.

A strange look appeared on Ryan's face. He looked curious at the sinks but before he could do or say anything, Moaning Myrtle turned to speak to them.

"Come to throw something else at me?" she hiccupped.

"Why would I throw something at you?" Harry answered.

"Don't ask me!" Myrtle cried. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me."

"But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'll just go right through you." Ron pointed out.

"True." Peter nodded.

This was clearly not the right thing to say. Myrtle quickly flew down to Ron's level.

"Sure! Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you get through her stomach!" Myrtle shoved her arm through Ron's torso. "Fifty points if it goes through her head!"

"Is a bit agreesive." Cathy said.

Ron looked startled at Myrtle's hand going through his head next.

"Who threw it at you?" Neville asked.

"I don't know, I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend thinking about death - aah - and it fell through the top of my head." Myrtle whimpered and the tears started to fall again.

"I'm sorry that sounds awful." Ryan said trying to empathize with her.

Harry walked over to a corner in the bathroom and picked up a book that was soaked from the flood that Myrtle had caused. Harry picked it up and turned the book around to see that the book had the name 'TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE' inscribed in fading gold letters.

Immediately Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn stiffened and exchange glances that no one else noticed.

"There's a name in this diary." The scene shifted Hermione in the hospital wing. Hermione was on a bed with the boys all around her as she examined the book that Harry had found. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Do you think he might be related to Mattheo?" Neville enquired.

"Mattheo's muggle-born remember?" Ryan reminded him. "Though we should ask him anyway. Maybe there's a wizard or two in his family."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle?" Ron repeated. He gestured for Hermione to give him the book. When she did, he started to tap on the fading inscription. "Hang on. I know that name. Where do I know that name? of course. That night we had detection. I remember because I ended burping the last slug on his trophy."

"Oh yeah." Ryan leaned in to his cousin. "You should have seen it. So funny."

"I bet it was." James chuckled.

"What was the trophy for?" Harry asked.

"He won an award fifty years ago. Special services to the school or something." Ron answered.

"What do you think he did?" Neville wondered.

"Could've been anything," said Ron. "Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would've done everyone a favor..."

"That's not something he should joke about." Molly said sternly.

Ryan suddenly had a thought. When he looked at Hermione, he could tell from the arrested look on her face that she was thinking what he was thinking.

"What?" Harry said when he saw them looking from one to the other.

"Well, the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?" he said. "That's what you said Draco told you."

"Yeah..." said Ron slowly.

"And this diary is fifty years old," said Hermione, tapping it excitedly.

"So?"

"Oh my god." Regulus sighed

"Oh, Ron, wake up," snapped Hermione. "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the Heir of Slytherin? His diary would probably tell us everything - where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it - the person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they?"

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione," said Harry, "with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary."

"Aww!" Sirius said in a exhausted manner.

Harry opened up the book and flipped through the pages that had been clamped together by the dampness.

The scene shifted again. This time to show the Gryffindor common room. Harry was the only one there and was sitting in front of the roaring fire with the diary. Harry placed the book on the table and picked up a quill. After dipping it into the ink, Harry hovered the quill over the opened book.

The ink dropped a blot onto the first page of the diary. The ink shone brightly on the paper 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 shone momentarily on the page and they, too, sank without trace. Then, at last, something happened.

"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle." It wrote back in neat cursive.

"Well that's not fucking normal." Cathy murmured.

"Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry wrote.

"Yes."

Harry quickly dipped his quill in ink again. "Can you tell me?"

"No." The book wrote. "But I can show you. Let me take you back fifty years ago."

Abruptly the book flipped through the page and stopped at a specific page.13thJune.The date recorded itself on the book and in a flash of light the book absorbed Harry into its pages.

"What just happened!" James exclaimed.

"Shh!" Remus shushed him as everyone shifted attentively in their seats.

Harry opened his eyes and found himself in the corridor staircase leading up to Myrtle's bathroom. Near the end of the stairs was a boy with a silver prefects' badge and slick black hair.

Professor Slughorn turned painfully pale at the sight of the student on the screen. He looked at the headmaster again but Dumbledore was busy staring at the screen.

Two wizards came down the stairs carrying a stretcher. The arm of a young child was hanging off by the edge. The prefect was watching carefully as the body was taken away.

"Excuse me." Harry spoke to the prefect politely. "Could you tell me what's going on here? Are you Tom Riddle? Hello, can you hear me?"

"Riddle!" Harry looked up and saw that professor Dumbledore was at the top of the stairs gesturing him to come up. "Come."

"Headmaster?" Sirius looked at their current headmaster in confusion.

"Professor Dumbledore." Riddle greeted as he walked up the stairs.

"Dumbledore?" Harry looked surprised.

"It is not wise to be wandering around this late hour, Tom." Dumbledore said.

"Yes, Professor." Riddle said nervously. "I-I suppose I-I had to see for myself if the rumors were true."

"I'm afraid they are, Tom. They are true." Dumbledore said.

"About the school, as well? I don't have a home to go to. They wouldn't really close Hogwarts, would they Professor?"

"I understand Tom, but I'm afraid Headmaster Dippet may have no choice."

"Who's headmaster Dippet?" Peter asked.

"I think that this was before Dumbledore became headmaster." Remus told him.

"Sir- if it all stopped- if the person responsible was caught-"

Dumbledore moved closer to Tom. "Is there something you wish to tell me?"

Tom looked like he had something else to say but instead he shook his head, "No, sir. Nothing."

"Very well, then. Off you go."

"Good night, sir."

"Rather shifty isn't he?" Regulus stated.

Tom departed from the corridor and Harry who was watching the exchange closely thought that his behavior was rather suspicious. Harry followed after Tom and the two of them end up in the dungeons.

"Let's get yeh out of there." A familiar voice said from inside one of the cells.

"Is that-"

Tom took out his wand and when he entered the cell, Harry was hoping against everything that the voice he heard didn't belong to the person that he thought it did.

"Evening, Hagrid." Tom said to the person in the cell. Harry's heart sand when he saw the familiar height of the Hogwarts Gamekeeper. Tom pointed his wand at the half giant, his eyes twitching toward the box that Hagrid stood in front. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Hagrid. I don't think you meant it to kill anyone, but-"

"You can't!" Hagrid cried. "You don't understand."

A lot of the students began to talk among themselves at the sight of Hagrid being cornered by Tom Riddle.

"The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow." Tom said and for a moment Harry felt that what Tom was doing was right. "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered."

"It wasn't him. Aragog never killed no one! Never!" Hagrid stated.

"Monsters don't make good pets, Hagrid. Now, stand aside."

"No!"

"Stand aside, Hagrid!"" Tom repeated.

Hagrid bravely stood his ground. "No!"

Tom pointed his wand at the box. "Cistem aperio!" a flash of light came out of his wand and blasted the box open. "Arania exumai!" Tom tried to attack the creature with another spell but what ever it was, it moved to quick to be seen proper.

"What was that?" Evan enquired.

"Aragog! Aragog!" Hagrid yelled at the creature. He tried to chase after it but as soon as he took one step, Tom turned around and pointed his wand up at Hagrid's face.

"I can't let you go." He told him. "They'll have your wand for this, Hagrid. You'll be expelled."

"Hagrid!" Harry shouted at the half-giant as he was being dragged backwards. "Hagrid!" Harry tried to reach out to him but a flash of light from behind him consumed him and then he appeared right back in the Gryffindor common room.