"It was Hagrid," explained Harry as he guided the group out of the castle. "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago.

Last night, after the incident with the dwarf, he had realised something quite interesting. When the ink spilled all over his stuff, T. M. Riddle's was the only thing that didn't get stained by it.

Ben had agreed that it was odd, but didn't pay much attention. Perhaps it was under others when the ink fell, and that was why it was clean.

However, Harry thought there was something hidden in it, and he went upstairs to the dormitory before anybody else. Ron kept saying Harry was wasting his time as he and Ben finished their History of Magic homework, ignoring Fred and George as they sang, "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad".

Ginny, who was horribly embarrassed by it and seemed to be regretting her choices in life, had been discovered to be the one who sent Harry the valentine, and her brothers kept annoying her about it.

"Okay, let me get this straight," said Ben, trying to clear his mind. "Last night, you decided to write in the diary. And you began communicating with this Tim Riddle-"

"Tom," corrected Harry.

"Yeah, Tom," he repeated. "So, you asked him about the Chamber of Secrets, and the book... absorbed you." He raised an eyebrow, and did a small pause to look at Harry, who nodded. "Then it showed you memories, and you found out Hagrid- the man who's been our friend for over a year- is apparently the one behind all these attacks."

"And Tom got the award for catching him," finished Ron.

"Look, I know it sounds a bit weird..." began Harry.

Ron laughed. "Just a bit?"

"Harry, we are talking about Hagrid," Hermione shook her head in denial. "It can't be him, it just can't!"

"We don't even know this Tom Riddle," added Ron. "He sounds like a dirty rotten snitch to me."

"The monster killed somebody, Ron," Harry reminded them. "What would any of us have done?"

"Look, Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go ask him about it?" suggested Hermione.

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

The voice of the man they had been talking about was suddenly heard behind them. "Mad and hairy? You wouldn't be talkin' about me, would ya?"

"No," they all said at the same time, perhaps way too quickly.

Hagrid stared at them with a suspicious expression, clearly noticing they were acting very unusually. There was a very awkward and uncomfortable silence, in which the Gryffindors shared glances, wondering how much Hagrid had heard, until Harry broke the silence.

"What's what you've got there, Hagrid?"

"Oh, it's Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent. For the mandrakes." Hagrid said. Ben tried to pull a straight face. "According to Professor Sprout, they've still got a bit of growing up to do, but once their acné's cleared up, we'll be able to chop them up and stew them, and then we'll get those people at the hospital un-petrified. Meanwhile, you four best be looking after yourselves, alright?"

———————————————

The second years were given something new to think about during their Easter holidays. The time had come to choose their subjects for the third year, a matter that Hermione, at least, took very seriously. She had been lecturing them all day about how important it was as they read the list of new subjects.

"I just want to give up Potions," said Harry.

"We can't," complained Ron gloomily. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Hermione was absolutely shocked. "But that's very important!"

"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," retorted Ron. "I haven't learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."

"And the difference between purple and lilac," added Ben, before clearing his throat and, mimicking Lockhart's voice, saying; "Lilac is a pale shade of violet, with a slight pink hue. Purple is a colour intermediate between red and blue."

Ron and Harry chuckled, as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What are you gonna pick, Ben?" asked Ron.

"Let me guess," said Harry, thoughtfully. "Care of Magical Creatures."

"Mm-hm," the boy nodded. "And Muggle Studies."

Ron's jaw dropped, "You're kidding."

"No..." said Ben, sounding more like a question.

"What's wrong with Muggle Studies?" frowned Harry, watching Ben.

"It's not the subject," explained Ron, sitting up straight on the sofa and turning to the brown-eyed boy. "You do realise that your parents won't like it at all, right?"

"That's pretty much... the whole point?" shrugged Ben.

"Ben!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I just think it's an interesting opportunity to learn about something that has been denied for me my whole life."

Hermione agreed with him on that. "I'm going to pick it too."

"You're muggleborn, Hermione-" said Harry. "You already know everything about muggles."

"But not from a wizard's perspective," she replied with a smirk, as she marked all the subjects with checks.

The following days, they barely had time to do anything apart from going to class, doing homework, studying and, in Harry's case, Quidditch.

Once again, Wood was stressing the Gryffindor team with a lot of practice, since next Saturday they had a match against Hufflepuff, and they thought they had a good chance of winning.

So, when Harry arrived at the common room after training, he was in a bright and happy mood. Seamus, Dean, Ron and Ben were prepared to begin a game of Exploding Snape, they were just waiting for Neville to come back from the dormitory so he could play with them too, as Hermione read a book called 'Ancient Runes Made Easy'.

"Hey Harry," greeted Ben when he saw the boy walk through the entrance, with his hair messier than usual. "How was practice?"

"It was nice, Wood thinks we can win the Quidditch cup this year," he told them.

"Great," answered Ron happily. "Gryffindor hasn't won in a long time, maybe it's finally our year."

"Wanna play with us?" asked Dean, tilting his head towards the already ready cards.

"Sure, but I need to leave this in the dormitory first," he lifted up his broom.

"Hold up, we'll go with you," said Seamus, standing up. "Neville said he needed to use the toilet, and we're still waiting for him."

"Alright," he nodded, and they all went upstairs as Ron made a brief resume of how to play the game, in case somebody hadn't played it yet. At the top of the stairs to the dormitory, Neville Longbottom was looking frantic.

"HARRY!" he cried nervously. "I don't know who- or why did it... I just found-"

Harry pushed the door open with a confused look, and a general gasp of surprise was heard.

The contents of Harry's trunk had been thrown everywhere. His cloak lay ripped on the floor. The bedclothes had been pulled off his four-poster and the drawer had been pulled out of his bedside cabinet, the contents strewn over the mattress.

"Holy shit!" swore Dean quite loudly.

"I promise I don't know who did this-" Neville kept stuttering, scared. "It wasn't me-"

"Don't worry, Neville," Ben tried to calm him down. "We know you didn't do it, you wouldn't have had time."

Neville nodded very fast and helped Harry pull the blankets back onto his bed. Hermione came in, and let out another surprised gasp.

"You should be more organised!" she rebuked them, disapprovingly.

"It doesn't usually look like this," explained Seamus, who was helping Harry pick everything up, like the others.

Harry was throwing his books into his trunk, as Ben waved his wand, using a spell to return a drawer to its place. Ron seemed to be very interested in checking Harry's robes, and noticed all the pockets were hanging out.

"Someone's been looking for something," called Ron. "Is there anything missing?"

Harry's face turned as pale as the moon. He approached Ben and Ron with a worried look, and got close to them so only they could hear him, "The diary's gone."

"Are you sure?" asked Hermione, appearing right behind them.

Harry nodded confidently.

The girl looked aghast. "But- Only a Gryffindor could've stolen it, nobody else knows our password..."

"So, it's got to be a Gryffindor who knew you..." Ben lowered his voice before continuing, "had the diary."

"Exactly," nodded Harry.

———————————————

The Saturday morning weather was simply perfect. The sky was painted in the softest hue of blue, adorned with scattered, white clouds. The sun cast its brilliant rays upon the world below, infusing the landscape with radiant energy. A gentle and refreshing breeze danced through the air, carrying away the heat and leaving a sense of cool tranquility.

Harry was being accompanied out of the Great Hall after breakfast by his friends before the Quidditch match began. Wood had been incredibly cheerful that morning.

He had boosted everyone's morale so much, including those who didn't play on the team, that even Ben, who wasn't particularly a fan of the game, was excited to see them play.

Hermione was telling them about what she had written for the Potions essay that was due to Snape the next Monday when Harry suddenly let out a shout, making them jump away from him.

"The voice!" he exclaimed, looking alarmed. "I just heard it again- didn't you?"

"I thought we already made it clear that no one besides you can hear that voice..." began Ben worriedly.

Hermione clapped a hand to her forehead. "I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"

And she sprinted up the stairs, leaving the three boys with the same confused expressions on their faces.

"What does she understand?" asked Harry, though he didn't seem too focused on that. He was looking around, like he was trying to find out where a sound was coming from.

"Loads more than I do," Ron shook his head. Ben let out a chuckle as people began coming out of the Great Hall, chatting loudly as they exited through the front doors on their way to the Quidditch pitch. "Anyways, you'd better get moving. It's almost eleven, the match's about to start."

Harry nodded before running up the stairs. Ron and Ben joined the large crowd. "Do you think we should wait for Hermione?"

"She's in the library," said Ron, huffing and puffing from the effort of trying to walk through the mass of students. "You know she's gonna take a while. I guess she'll meet us on the pitch."

"Alright."

They soon joined Neville, Dean and Seamus in the Gryffindor stands. All of them were very excited to see the match, and the whole crowd erupted in tumultuous applause when both teams got out of the locker room.

Ben honestly didn't care about who won. It wasn't because he wasn't interested in it, but because Cedric had been picked as the Hufflepuff seeker that year. So, if Gryffindor won, he would be happy for his house and Harry, but if the victor ended up being Hufflepuff, he would be glad too.

However, before the match started, McGonagall stepped onto the grass, marching as fast as she could across the pitch, and carrying an enormous megaphone. "This match has been cancelled!"

"What? You can't cancel quidditch!" cried Wood, his voice heard all over the pitch through the megaphone, though they would've probably managed to hear him without it.

There was loud boos and shouts from the crowd, and Wood looked so devastated it seemed as though he had just been told his whole family had passed away.

"All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

Ben saw McGonagall beckoning Harry to her and whispered something to him. "Ron, there's something going on with him."

"Let's go!" The two boys detached themselves from the crowd, and ran after Harry and the professor, who were setting off to the castle.

Surprisingly, McGonagall didn't tell them to go away. "Yes, perhaps you two'd better come too, Weasley, Walker."

Harry shared looks with Ben and Ron, and they all followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the marble staircase. Ben felt his heart pounding in his chest as they approached the hospital wing.

If they were going to the infirmary, it meant something bad, very bad had happened.

"This will be a bit of a shock," McGonagall explained in an oddly gentle voice. "There has been another attack... another double attack."

They held their breath worriedly as the woman pushed the door open, letting them walk in. Madam Pomfrey was bending over a tall Ravenclaw with long, curly hair. Ben recognised her as Penelope Clearwater, a school prefect.

But there was somebody else in the bed next to hers.

"Hermione!" cried Ron, rushing to her. She was lying still, like she had frozen completely, with her eyes open and glassy.

An excruciating pain in his chest stopped Ben from asking Professor McGonagall what had happened. However, it wasn't necessary, because the teacher approached them again.

"They were found near the library," said Professor McGonagall, and held up a small, circular mirror. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was Miss Granger's."

Ben narrowed his eyes to take a better look of it as Ron and Harry shook their heads. It was one of those mirrors Audrey used to revise if her makeup looked okay, and that could only mean two things.

"Hermione doesn't use makeup," spoke Ben, avoiding looking at Hermione. "So it's got to be Clearwater's."

McGonagall shook her head, "Granger was holding it when we found them."

Ben frowned. It made no sense for her to randomly go to the library just to put some makeup on, so it meant she was using the mirror for something else. But what?

He visualised everything that had happened in his mind, like it was a movie.

The first thing was those voices that Harry had been listening to for a while. No one else besides him could hear them.

Right after that, the message on the wall. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware." And the first victim: Mrs. Norris.

Then, McGonagall had told them about the chamber. The legend said that Salazar Slytherin had created it, and that there was a monster hidden there, waiting for Slytherin's true Heir to open it.

Later came the Duelling club, when they discovered Harry was a parselmouth. That meant he, and only he could understand snakes.

Only he could listen to them.

Something clicked inside Ben's mind. 

A/N: today (24th august) is ben's birthday, so i'm doing a marathon to celebrate it! get ready to read <33