Second Year (Spring)

"Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would've done everyone a favour..."

25 December 1992

Our plan worked, sort of. The Polyjuice fooled Malfoy, but he's innocent — well, he's innocent of being "Slytherin's heir," anyway. He's still guilty of being a hateful git. He wants to know who the heir is so he can help him. He also showed us a Prophet article saying the Ministry fined my dad fifty Galleons because of that flying car. Draco, of course, thought it was hilarious, and we had to pretend to laugh. I hate him; I really do.

Not everything went great, though. The hair Hermione put in her potion belonged to Millicent Bulstrode's cat, so it gave her a hairy face, pointy ears, and a tail — and they're still there! I didn't tell her this, but it's a little scary looking. Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey says she can get her back to normal in a few weeks.

Anyway, when we got to the common room afterward, I told everyone that Harry and I were having a duel when my wand went haywire and did something weird to Hermione, and that Madam Pomfrey was sorting her out, but that she was embarrassed and didn't want visitors. Percy lit into me, but Fred and George were laughing so hard I couldn't even hear him, and Harry and I escaped upstairs before anyone could ask us more questions. What a Christmas.

26 December 1992

I haven't written home in a bit. Maybe I should send Dad a letter this week, tell him again that I'm sorry about the car. Fifty Galleons. And I won't mention my wand once.

29 December 1992

We brought the chess board to the hospital wing tonight so Hermione and I could have a game. She already has a huge stack of books, but reading all day just can't be healthy. Besides, nobody plays chess like Hermione; the way she huffs when I guess her moves and cut her off is hilarious. If she didn't have the same strategy every time, she wouldn't be so easy to predict.

Hermione was complaining about having fur, so I told her to be thankful that Millicent doesn't have a rat — she could look like Scabbers right now. She threw one of my bishops at me! Girls have no sense of humor sometimes.

18 January 1993

It looks like Hermione's almost back to normal, which is a good thing, because my marks are really starting to suffer. I hadn't realized just how many questions I ask her during homework. She's like a walking encyclopedia.

And this sounds really stupid, but it's not half as much fun to have food fights with Harry if she's not there to get annoyed.

14 February 1993

Harry just went into a book. A few weeks ago, he found this empty, 50-year-old diary in Myrtle's bathroom. Tonight he wrote something in it, and T.M. Riddle (the guy whose name is on the cover) actually wrote back. Then Harry somehow got pulled inside the diary and watched one of Riddle's memories. According to the memory, Hagrid opened the Chamber when he was a student and let the monster loose. The monster eventually ran away, but Riddle still told on Hagrid, and he got expelled.

But that just doesn't make sense. Hagrid wouldn't hurt anyone, and he doesn't care two beans about that "pure blood" nonsense. Besides, Riddle sounds like a snitch. The monster had already run away; why did he have to tell on Hagrid? To get his name on that stupid trophy?

Oh, and this morning Ginny actually had the guts to send Harry a Valentine, so Malfoy made fun of her in front of everybody. Taking the mickey out of Harry and I is one thing, but a first-year girl? I wish he was the heir of Slytherin so I could see his lousy rat face get sent to Azkaban.

1 March 1993

Malfoy's memory-enhancing potion exploded all over him this morning, Harry gave me an amazing amount of chocolate for my birthday, and we haven't heard a peep out of the Chamber of Secrets for over three months. Maybe the monster decided to do us all a favor and ate the heir of Slytherin.

16 April 1993

I've barely written a thing lately because things have been really normal — class, homework, Quidditch, more homework. What do people write in journals when they're not friends with Harry Potter?

Speaking of Harry, he actually got Ginny to play a few games of exploding snap with us tonight. She didn't play very well, but she seemed to be having fun — even looked Harry in the eye a few times. He sure is intimidating, eh? Girls.

7 May 1993

Somebody trashed our room tonight and stole Riddle's diary. Why? Hermione's right, it would have to be a Gryffindor. But who? The only person the book's dangerous to is Hagrid, and he doesn't even know it exists. I wonder what house he was in.

8 May 1993

The monster from the Chamber got Hermione. She's just lying there, on a bed in the hospital wing, perfectly still, not moving or breathing or anything.

She doesn't even look like her any more. I mean, she does, but it's like she isn't really in there — like Hermione's not there. Her eyes are empty.

9 May 1993

Madam Pomfrey won't let us in to see Hermione. She says petrified people can't see or hear anything, but what if she's wrong? What if Hermione is awake, but she just can't move? Staring at the ceiling, all day and all night, without anything to read. Or anyone to talk to.

And because things weren't bad enough, the Ministry sent Hagrid to Azkaban and SACKED DUMBLEDORE! Brilliant, eh? The heir's going to start killing people now, for sure. Harry and I have got to figure this out before something happens to the rest of the Muggle-borns. And Hermione was on to something too, before it got her.

On the way back from dinner, Percy was going on about the Minister having a "responsibility to his blah, blah, blah" and how Dumbledore was "past his prime" and "deserves a good rest" — when George grabbed him and shoved him up against the wall! I couldn't tell if George said anything, but Percy looked terrified — for a few seconds, anyway. Then he pulled his 'dignified prefect' look, took ten points, and stormed off to his room to sulk. Best thing that happened all day.

22 May 1993

Madam Pomfrey says the mandrakes will be ready next week, and then we can ask Hermione what she figured out. They still won't let us visit her.

25 May 1993

Hagrid may never have killed anyone with his "pets," but not for lack of trying.

Last night we followed the spiders — just like he said — straight into the Forbidden Forest, where we met his dear friend Aragog, the ENORMOUS TALKING SPIDER WHO TRIED TO EAT US! We barely got out of there alive, and I am not exaggerating.

But hey, at least we learned that Aragog was the animal Hagrid was raising 50 years ago, which means some mystery person opened the Chamber of Secrets, which means WE ALMOST DIED AND WE STILL HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO GO ON. Totally worth it. Thanks, Hagrid.

Alright, I guess we learned one useful thing: Aragog said the girl who was killed 50 years ago died in a bathroom, so Harry thinks it could have been Moaning Myrtle. Now we just have to find a way to sneak away from the professors and talk to her alone. No problem at all.

I wish Hermione were here.

29 May 1993

You-Know-Who was possessing my sister! All school year! Ginny was the one who wrote those creepy message, and opened the Chamber, and told the Basilisk to attack people — Ginny!

You-Know-Who brought her into the Chamber to kill her this morning, and Harry and I went to save her. Harry killed the Basilisk with Godrick Gryffindor's sword! Then he stabbed You-Know-Who with a Basilisk fang!

And Hermione's okay! And THEY CANCELED EXAMS!

30 May 1993

So it turns out this whole thing was Malfoy's dad's fault, so we were right all along, kind of.

You know Tom Riddle's diary, the one Harry went into? Well, Tom Riddle grew up to be You-Know-Who! And he somehow put his memories in the diary. Mr. Malfoy had the diary, and he gave it to Ginny at the beginning of the year.

So Ginny wrote to Tom Riddle, and he wrote back and used the book to take her over. She was speaking Parseltongue and setting the Basilisk on people, and she didn't even know it. I want to ask her how much she remembers, but Hermione says I should wait a little while. Ginny's probably still pretty shaken up about the whole thing.

And Harry says that Dobby is — no, was! — the Malfoy's elf, so he knew the plan and tried to warn Harry. And last night, Harry got them back — he tricked Malfoy's dad into setting Dobby free!

Speaking of people who got what they deserved, I forgot about Lockhart. When Harry and I went into the Chamber after Ginny, we tried to bring him with us because he's Defense Against the Dark Arts, right?

Yeah, right. That idiot — that stinking, worthless git — tried to run away. He would have just abandoned Ginny to You-Know-Who! He told us that his books are full of things other people did, and then he tried to wipe our memories like he wiped theirs.

Fortunately, he used my wand, so the idiot fried his own brain instead. Unfortunately, he also caused a cave-in that trapped him and me at the entrance to the Chamber. I couldn't even help Harry save my own sister.

Dumbledore gave both Harry and I two hundred points for Gryffindor for rescuing Ginny, and we each got a Special Award for Services to the School. That doesn't seem fair, though. All I did was survive a cave-in and then wait around while Harry did all the heroic stuff. Kind of like last year.

Of course, Riddle got a Special Award for framing Hagrid. I guess deserve it more than he did.

It would have been pretty cool to fight a Basilisk with Gryffindor's sword. Next time Harry, I don't know, saves the school from horde of Inferi or something, I am not getting left behind!

12 June 1993

I think I could get used to this class-without-exams thing. Maybe I can find another monster to sneak around the school next year (especially if my wand is still setting other people's hair on fire).

Hermione's been studying like mad anyway, of course. She's really worked up about how much class she missed and is convinced that she'll do "just terrible" next year. Ha. She could be petrified for all of next year and still know more than I do.

She's not studying Lockhart's books, though. We told her what he did, and she actually swore. She said she feels like an idiot for liking him, but Harry and I reminded her about making the Polyjuice and figuring out about the Basilisk, and all of that. I told her that not even she can be right about everything. She hit me.