Fatal Innocence

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Note: Not edited once again.

Chapter 17:

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office. The words enemies of the heir, beware kept playing in his head. Had he really done the right thing? When the house elf had dropped the diary, he had panicked. He had, of course, known what it was immediately. The little black book that he'd always wanted to get his hands on.

Tom Riddle's diary.

It contained the secrets of a mad man. The plots of a tyrant. The inner most workings of a murderer. Unfortunately, he had been unable to read the thing. The pages were blank. A few incantations later and he had known exactly what the diary held. It was Voldemort's inner child so to speak; a little piece the Dark Lord had left behind long ago.

It hadn't taken long before he realized what the plan was, and while he hadn't been eager to unleash a basilisk upon the school, he felt it was time for Harry to get a little dose of what life had dealt him. Sure, it sounded cruel, but Albus knew what it felt like to suddenly be thrust upon a battle field. He knew the horrors and the tragedies. The sooner Harry came to terms with his run of bad luck known as Voldemort, the better.

He just wouldn't tell Severus about it.

--

The book was lying in the middle of the hallway. On top of that, it was blank. It had only the name Tom Riddle to mark its owner.

Were there any Tom Riddles at Hogwarts? Did it really matter?

An empty, deserted book was an empty, deserted book. If Riddle missed his book then oh well. It had a new owner now.

--

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for that's what we all are, welcome to the dueling club." Lockhart smiled at everyone, his perfect, chiclet teeth shining brightly. "This, my good people, is a rather ingenious idea thought up by yours truly to bring us all together to learn. Yes, I, Gilderoy Lockhart, sat down to think about the poor souls of Howarts' dear children, those near and dear to me, and came up with a way to put a little pizzazz into your week."

Harry had to smother giggles throughout the entirety of Lockhart's speech because Severus, who was standing opposite Lockhart on the dueling platform, was making the most extraordinary annoyed face Harry had ever seen.

"—So now, without further ado, I, Dueling Master Gilderoy Lockhart, shall face one of your own instructors in a very dangerous duel." With that, Harry watched as, with lightning speed, Severus fired only three spells that had Lockhart flat on his back and speechless. The blonde haired man frowned and cleared his throat. He looked uncomfortable, and Severus smirked.

"That, my dear children, is how I demonstrate how to fail miserably. My assistant, Professor Snape, did an excellent job, but keep in mind that, had I not lost of purpose, that it would be he and not I who was flat on the floor." Most of the students, the male ones anyway, rolled their eyes. Lockhart was a fool, and only the females besotted with his good looks and apparent charm were the slightest bit taken in by his utter idiocy.

Severus, who was by now utterly fed up with Lockhart and his drivel, stalked to the middle of the platform where Lockhart was standing. "Might I suggest that we allow some of the students to demonstrate their knowledge of shielding charms?" The words were spoken in a tone that suggested death if you disobeyed. Harry had seen Severus use it many times on unsuspecting students. The reaction was the same for Lockhart as it would have been any first year.

The man stepped back from Severus's intimidating glare and promptly agreed. Although his spirit was not dampened enough to prevent a clap. "Well then, well then, who would like to join me up here on this lovely platform, hmm? Oh, I know just the lad. He, like myself, should always have the chance to shine. Harry Potter, you know I'm talking to you. Come on up here!" Lockhart held out his hand to help Harry up. Harry ignored it and instead climbed up on his won to stand beside Severus with a roll of his green eyes.

Harry's presence on the platform earned another clap from Lockhart and a wink that had Harry cringing. He inched a little farther behind Severus and only he heard the soft chuckle that his guardian spared at his expense. Harry glared up at him as Lockhart chose his next 'volunteer'. The arched eyebrow and smirk he got in return infuriated him. It wasn't like he had chosen to be onstage! Needless to say, he was overjoyed at the prospect of blasting whomever Lockhart chose next across the room. Hermione and Draco had both taught him some useful spells, and he was ready to make use of them.

He could tell that somewhere to his left, Draco was smirking when Ron Weasley was called up onto the platform. The redhead accepted Lockhart's hand and came to stand in front of Harry, his face as red as his hair. It was obvious that, besides the blush, Ron was enjoying the attention that his friends gave him as he faced Harry. A few names came to Harry's mind as he watched the cheering Gryffindors: Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnegan, and Dean Thomas. Somewhere pushed to the back, Harry knew, Neville Longbottom stood.

"Guess I'll be the first person to say I beat the great Harry Potter." Ron smirked and unlike Severus's smirked earlier, this one wasn't as friendly. Harry rolled his eyes and chose to ignore the comment. It hardly mattered what Weasley and his big head thought.

As it was, Harry won the duel with ease, and Lockhart dismissed everyone from the Great Hall. Draco and Harry were headed for the library and they expected Hermione to follow. She never missed a trip to the library. However, she just waved them on.

"Probably wants an autograph." Draco said as he rolled his eyes. Harry quite agreed. Hermione was thoroughly enamored of Lockhart and made no secret of it.

Once the boys were gone though, Hermione approached Severus and not Lockhart. "Professor Snape, sir?" Despite having known the man since she was a child, she insisted on treating him with the respect that he most definitely deserved.

"Yes Miss Granger, what can I do for you?" He looked at her impatiently, but she dove into her question without hesitation.

"It's about the Chamber of Secrets, sir. Do you mind telling me about it? I can't seem to find much about it in the library, and with the attacks and all; I thought it might serve to be well informed." She smiled as hopefully as she could and crossed her fingers that she would get an actual answer from the foreboding man.

"I don't know whether to be surprised about the fact that you were the first curious enough to ask or not." He gazed down at her and crossed his arms. With a soft sigh, he nodded toward the door. "Come with me then, Miss Granger."

--

Later that evening, Harry was making his way down to the lower dungeons. As he walked, the whispers in the walls filtered through his head. He steeled his eyes and walked forward. He was going to pretend they weren't there. That was all there was to it. So he stalked ahead until he reached the inconspicuous door to Severus's private chambers. He whispered the password and ran inside. Severus was nowhere to be found so Harry tried his office. There he was sitting at the table with papers and his rather scary looking marking quill. Harry craned over his shoulder and caught sight of fifth year essays that were currently receiving the full brunt of Severus's sarcastic wit.

"Go sit over there, you nuisance. I can't have you craning over my shoulder. It's distracting." Severus waved Harry into the chair across from him. A moment later, and Severus looked up to see an anxious boy sitting in front of him. "You look…ill."

"I'm hearing voices." Harry stated promptly. He had decided on the walk over that he needed to tell someone who would believe him.

Severus raised an eye brow and looked curiously over at his charge before standing abruptly to extend a hand and feel Harry's forehead. "You do not seem to have a temperature, and therefore I must conclude that you are either telling me the truth or have ingested something toxic."

Harry sighed. "I started hearing them right before Mrs. Norris…well; I started hearing them right before that."

"What sort of voices did you hear exactly?" Severus had sat back down in his chair, and he was listening intently to Harry which was how he missed Lockhart's knock, and was subsequently surprised when the flamboyant man threw open the door.

"Voices? Oh, I've heard them for years. It's the price we pay for fame." Lockhart smiled at them both, and Harry scowled in return. He wasn't too thrilled to see the man, and even less so since he had interrupted what was supposed to be a private conversation. "I was hoping to have a chat with you, Severus."

"As you can see, Professor, I was currently engaged in a discussion with a student. If you would like to, ah, chat," Severus spat chat out with disdain. "Then you will have to wait your turn. Please shut the door behind you when you leave." Lockhart looked like a fish with his mouth open wide. He shut the gaping hole and his garish yellow robes swirled as he left the room with a wave and a wink for Harry.

"I don't like him." Harry said. "He's annoying. It must suck to have to go to staff meetings with him, huh?"

Severus sighed. "It is a dreadful experience, I must say, but Lockhart is not what you came here to talk about. I would be assuming correctly that, unlike Lockhart, you haven't heard these voices for years and just haven't told me until now because it hadn't occurred to you?"

"I'm pretty sure you know just about everything there is to know about me, Severus so you can answer that question for yourself." Harry replied picking up the red ink well from the desk and staring into it.

"Well, I shall ask the Headmaster if we have unfortunate guests in the walls. Meanwhile, you will go immediately after this conversation to the Infirmary and allow Poppy to give you a check up." Harry nodded. "Well then, dismissed."

--

Harry's check up turned up nothing unusual, and the days wore on very slowly. Hermione spent even more time in the library, and one dreary afternoon she rushed into the Slytherin Common Room—Harry had supplied her with a list of passwords after getting permission from Severus--with pink cheeks and a triumphant smile. She presented a book to both Harry and Draco.

"A basilisk?" Draco asked. "What's that got to do with anything? I thought they were extinct."

"Well, I've been collecting information since the attacks started you see. I talked to Professor Snape about the Chamber of Secrets, and I've decided that a basilisk lives in the Chamber which actually does exist." Harry and Draco exchanged incredulous glances and then looked at Hermione with curious glances.

"Just how exactly did you come to these conclusions?" Draco asked.

"Like I said, I've been doing my research. You see this isn't the first time this has happened. It happened once before. Some kid named Tom Riddle apparently caught the person, or the heir I suppose, and everything went back to normal." Hermione stopped for a moment to catch her breath. "He got a medal for it too. It's in the trophy room. I've seen it."

"Tom Riddle?" Draco asked suddenly, his grey eyes were wide. He reached inside his bag and pulled out a little black book. He held it out to Hermione to inspect. She looked at the cover and flicked through the pages uncertainly.

"Draco, where did you get this?" Hermione whispered. Draco shrugged and Harry heard him mutter that he'd found it. Hermione dropped the book in Draco's lap, and Draco clutched it to his chest.

"What is it then?" Harry asked. Draco handed him the book and he gasped. The cover said Tom Riddle. Obviously it was the same Tom Riddle Hermione had found out about. Harry paged through the book. Every page was empty. Harry took a quill out of his bag, dipped it in ink and wrote on a page ignoring Draco's cries of protest. The ink disappeared. Harry stared at the page in wonder. He looked at his quill and then at his ink well. Last time he had checked, he hadn't purchased any invisible ink. Then the ink reappeared on the page. Only the handwriting and the words had changed substantially. Hermione turned white and Draco's hands tried to snatch the book back from Harry.

Hello Harry Potter. I'm Tom Riddle. It's nice to meet you. Draco isn't very good company.

Harry glared at Draco. "You knew it did this? Why didn't you tell us sooner? This could be very dangerous, Draco."

Hermione nodded fiercely. "Harry's right. It's probably full of dark magic, Draco."

Harry turned back to the book. "Hermione," he whispered, "I think we should at least ask him what he knows though." Harry had his quill poised to write again. Hermione glared at him.

"I won't have any part in this." She said and stormed out of the Common Room in a huff. A few Slytherins stared at her retreating back with smirks on their faces. Harry quickly scribbled his question on the page.

I know quite a lot. Would you like to see?

Harry quickly wrote no. He'd much rather be told. He flashed a terrified glance at Draco who was watching the book with a mixture of the same fear Harry was feeling and wonderment. Harry was about to ask Riddle to tell him who had opened the Chamber all those years ago when the portrait door opened to reveal Severus Snape and a really pissed Hermione Granger.

"Mister Potter, Mister Malfoy, please join me in the corridor." Severus growled. Harry gulped. He was in all kinds of trouble.

A/N: Just once, I'd like my prediction of 'I'll finish the year up in the next chapter' to come true. Thank you for the encouragement guys. You helped me out of writer's block.