Ed grabbed Dobby his shoulders. “What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets,” he demanded. “And what do you mean it’s been open once more?”

Harry jumped into the conversation as well. “I’m not Muggle-born (“I might be.”- Ed) how can I be in danger from the Chamber?”

“Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby,” stammered the elf. “Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen – go home, Harry Potter, go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, ‘tis too dangerous-“

“I’m not leaving my friends in danger,” Harry snapped.

“Harry Potter is so brave. Risking his own life for friends!” moaned Dobby. “So noble! So valiant! But Harry Potter must not –“

The sudden sounds of footsteps alerted both Dobby and Ed. “Dobby must go!” breathed the elf, terrified. There was a loud crack as Dobby disappeared. Ed dove under Harry’s bed, praying he wouldn’t be spotted. Harry lied back in the hospital bed and pretended to be asleep.

Moments later, Dumbledore appeared wearing a long wooly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying something. Right behind him was Professor McGonagall in her own nightgown and robe, carrying the other end. They heaved whatever they were carrying onto an empty bed and Professor McGonagall disappeared, probably to fetch Madam Pomfrey.

Seconds later Madam Pomfrey appeared as well. “What happened?” gasped Madam Pomfrey. Harry cracked one his eyes open to see what was happening as Ed watched closely from under the bed. It was Colin Creevey. The poor boy, no matter how annoying he was, was as stiff as a statue, just like Mrs. Norris.

“Another attack,” said Dumbledore. “Minerva found him on the stairs.”

“There was a bunch of grapes next to him,” said Professor McGonagall. “We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter.”

Ed’s stomach lurched. If he had gone straight up to the tower instead of visiting Harry…

“Petrified?” whispered Madam Pomfrey.

Professor McGonagall nodded. Dumbledore reached and grabbed Colin’s camera from his rigid grip. “You don’t think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?” asked Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore didn’t answer. He opened the back of the camera. There was a loud hissing noise… like the sound of something melting. The scent of acid stung Ed’s nose. That camera was done for. Even he wouldn’t be able to repair that… well not with the evidence still intact.

“Melted… all melted,” mumbled Madam Pomfrey.

“What does this mean, Albus?” Professor McGonagall asked. Her tone of voice was urgent and worried. These attacks… why were they happening? It couldn’t be that the Chamber was open, right?

Dumbledore confirmed her worse fears. “It means… that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed opened once more.”

Ed’s breath caught, while he heard Harry let out a small gasp. So the next mystery to tackle was to find out what happened the last time the chamber was open.

“But, Albus… surely… who?” stammered Professor McGonagall.

For once, Dumbledore’s eyes lacked their comforting twinkle. “The question is not who, the question is how…”

Ed was lost for words and he was pretty sure that Harry didn’t understand any of this any better than he did. Why did he have a bad feeling about this?

-------------------------

Roy read through the documents once more. He kept reading them, but he didn’t want to believe them. He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. This was giving him a major headache.

The sound of crashing and loud thuds of books falling caused Roy to twitch and his headache to double. He looked up in time to see Shinka bump into another stack of books and papers. Of course, the very adorable kitten paid no attention to this, too focused on the piece of yarn that Roy bewitched for her so that she wouldn’t get into trouble.

Roy sighed again. Another mess to clean up. Fullmetal really needed to take his kitten with him when he left.

--------------------------

Downstairs, pure exhaustion finally claimed sleep over Draco… His mind still tumbled about with endless questions. Why on earth did Potter push him out of the way like that? He could have always let the bludger hit him and then grab the Snitch. Why save him? They were rivals… mortal enemies practically. For what reason did Potter do what he did?

And why did those lovely emerald eyes haunt his dreams?

Such endless thoughts spiraled into nothingness as a dreamless sleep finally rocked Draco to sleep.

-----------------------------------

Word of the attack had spread throughout the entire school by the end of breakfast. Students whispered and told rumors, each version getting a little crazier. The curiosity of what the Chamber of Secrets was grew in every student. False accusations were thrown in every direction.

Hermione was working frantically on the Polyjuice Potion. She was convinced that Malfoy knew about the Chamber. Ed, on the other hand, declined in joining them for drinking the potion. He really didn’t want to change his appearance.

Currently though, Ed was in the library as usual, doing something he wasn’t normally able to do. To start, a miracle had happened and Roy was actually doing his paperwork for once. The strange part was that he was so focus on his work that Roy had no idea that in the past hour Ed had: poked him, drew a circle on his cheek, made devil horns and placed it on his head, and took pictures of all it. Shinka on the other hand caused twice the damage: knocking over two stacks of papers, three stacks of books, and torn a hole in Roy’s coat, all while she chased that piece of yarn.

Finally Roy snapped. “Ed,” he said, twitching. “Stop. Now.”

Ed grinned. “About time you paid attention to me. What the hell are you working on that me drawing circles on you didn’t even get you to look up?”

Roy grabbed a napkin and attempted to wipe away the ink from his cheek. “Nothing special. Just trying to get this work done.”

Ed’s eyebrow rose. “Since when were you so focused on paperwork? You ALWAYS slack off.”

Similar words rang in Roy’s head. Why did everyone accuse him of that? It wasn’t like tru—okay it was true. But still did everyone have to accuse him of being lazy? A little voice in his head whispered yes.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a sharp pain. Roy twitched when he realize that Ed pinching his cheeks. “Fullmetal!”

----------------------------

Ed stopped in front of the notice board. One notice caught his attention.

DUELING CLUB!

First Meeting Tonight!

Fourth Floor

Classroom at the end of the Hall

All Students Welcome!

Ed read the notice. Interesting… A dueling club… That might be fun. He could probably learn some new spells and how wizards actually duel. Mentally, he made a note to check it out. As long as Lockhart wasn’t teaching the class, he’ll stick around to see what happens in the class.

“Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape and Mr. Mustang. These two have graciously agreed to help me. But do not worry! You’ll still have your Potions Master and Librarian when I’m through with them!” said Lockhart. Behind him Snape glared at the somewhat worthless Defense Against Dark Arts professor while Roy just twitched. It wasn’t like the two has agreed to doing this. Lockhart had just grabbed them. Snape might have just made a temporary ally in killing Lockhart.

Roy subconsciously tugged on his spark gloves just itching to burn the annoying man into ashes. While he was sure Ed would somewhat enjoy the fire show, half the students wouldn’t appreciate their professor being burned to death in front of their eyes… Plus those fan girls of his were scary. That was one place he dare no tread upon… yet.

“Mr. Mustang!” said Lockhart cheerfully. “You first!”

Roy was whisked onto the dueling platform. While he knew how to duel, wizarding dueling is a little different, using magic and all and Roy really didn’t have the time to go brush up on the proper etiquette of it. It would seem that Lockhart had forgotten (or didn’t know) that Roy did not have a wizard upbringing, much less have attended a real wizarding school when younger.

So honestly… what was there to expect to happen after Lockhart bowed and raise his wand?

-BOOM!-

Roy blinked for a brief second before realizing that out of pure instinct he had used his spark glove and fire alchemy. His nose crinkled as he recognized the smell of burnt flesh. Apparently in his mind, he held back for it smelt nothing like the bodies he had burnt to crisp—bad thoughts bad thoughts. This was not the time to be dwelling on the past… Anyways that idiot was probably going to have to visit the hospital wing.

One Point for Flame, Zip for Lockhart.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Will you please shut that hole under your nose?"

(Detective Conan, Kogorou Mouri)

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------

Reimei: Honor and Pride

--------------

Chapter VIII

A Blow to the Pride; The Language of Snakes

--------------

The rest of the evening with the dueling club just continued to spiral downward. Lockhart, miraculously, did not die… in fact he didn’t even have to go to the hospital wing. He was just nicely burnt to a crisp. Though, it was amusing to watch Lockhart worry frantically over his skin and how he’ll never look the same and would never be as handsome as he was before.

Still, it felt like an eternity to Ed before Lockhart dismissed them for the night. He didn’t care what anyone said to him, he would never attend another lesson of the Dueling Club so long as Lockhart was teaching the class. Just this one lesson was causing him to twitch uncontrollably. Ed really HATED that man. Lockhart was beyond annoying.

“So you’re serious about never going back?” asked Ron.

Ed nodded and jumped up over one of the trick steps. “I didn’t learn anything from this except that Lockhart is a bigger fool then I originally thought.”

Hermione gasped as Ron and Harry silently nodded in the background. The four of them were currently heading back up to the dorms after Lockhart had let them go. “It was amusing to see Lockhart get burnt like that by Mr. Mustang,” snickered Ron. The scene kept playing over and over in the red head’s mind.

Hermione snorted. “Please. You know Mr. Mustang wasn’t even using magic. That was alchemy, right, Ed?” She looked over at the small alchemist.

Ed didn’t answer. He didn’t have a chance to.

“FULLMETAL!”

Ed paused and cringed. There was only one person in the entire school who called him that and judging from the tone of voice, it wasn’t a good thing. Slowly, Ed turned around and let out a small “meep” as Roy climbed up the staircase.

Without a word, Roy shoved a ball of reddish-brownish fur into Ed’s arms. Ed blinked, realizing it was Shinka. Shinka on the other hand, hissed loudly at Roy, clearly annoyed by the older man. The nerve of that man! She wasn’t some piece of trash that he could just throw around! Shinka hissed even louder. The fool was going to pay for this one day.

Roy was perhaps even more furious than Shinka. In a low and rather dangerous tone of voice, he said, “She practically destroyed the entire library tonight and you, Fullmetal will be coming in first thing tomorrow morning to repair all the damages that she has done.”

Ed gulped. “Y-yes sir.” Roy was definitely another person when he was angry. What on earth did Shinka do to the library while they were at the dueling club?

-----------------------------------

Apparently, a lot of damage…

Ed blinked in shock as he looked at library. Roy was not kidding when he said that Shinka practically destroyed the library. Papers were scattered about; some he recognized as Roy’s paperwork from Hawkeye mixed in with Hogwarts’ sign in/sign out sheets. A good couple dozen of them were torn in half. There were also ink paw prints and pool of dried black ink that had dripped down from the desk. The desk was black from the broken ink bottle and what little papers were still on it was covered with paw prints. Quills and other miscellaneous things were scattered all over the desk and floor of the surrounding area. And the library shelves… Ed didn’t know how Shinka did it, but somehow she managed to knock over three shelves of books. The books were tossed all over the floor, the shelves themselves were broken, the wood snapped from the fall. Ed cringed to see that a few books had paw prints on them as well and wondered if he had to pay for new ones. Even the shelving cart was toppled over. In short, everything was a mess.

Shinka was never being left alone again.

-----------------------------------

Meanwhile, outside, Harry was taking a stroll. The air had a nice chill in it. Red and golden leaves fell from the trees, giving out a crunching sound as Harry walked over them. Hogwarts was covered in a cloak of red, orange, and yellow. Vines that usually snaked up the wall were starting to turn brown. The once green grass was already looking dry. Autumn was truly a beautiful season and in a few weeks, winter would be here bringing in a blanket of white snow. Hogwarts was a serene scene in every season.

In the distance, he spotted Hagrid walking about. Harry quickly jogged towards his giant friend. “Hey Hagrid!” called out Harry. The giant man turned around and waved to Harry.

“’ello Harry,” Hagrid called out. “You haven’t seen a ‘ittle snake around have ya? There’s a little Red Striped Ribbon Snake running around. It’s a harmless bugger, but I still need to find it.” He looked around the grass.

Harry shook his head. He hadn’t seen any snake today. “Nope. Sorry, Hagrid.”

The giant man just waved his hand. “Nah, it’s okay. The little bugger will show up eventually… I just hope none of the students get scared of it.”

Harry smiled. “You’ll find it, Hagrid.” However the gamekeeper had already made his way a few feet further searching through the leaves for the snake. Harry’s smile grew wider. Hagrid was always doing something unique.

-----------------

-Thud!-

With that, Ed wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. He was finally done with all the repairs. Shinka had really made a terrible mess. It had taken Roy and him all morning to repair all the damages his little fireball kitten had gotten into. All the books were finally back on the shelves; all the shelves were fixed and lined in straight rows. Most of the ink spills had been removed from the carpet. There were a few stains that no matter how much magic or scrubbing they tried, remained there stubbornly, almost taunting Edward about the mess. Fortunately, all the stains that were on the books came out with ease.

Roy was sitting at his newly cleaned desk with a scowl on his face. He was trying to salvage what little remained of his paper work. Riza wasn’t going to be happy and somehow he knew she wasn’t going to believe him if he said Shinka destroyed them all. Luckily, the more important documents were safe from harm. Shinka was no kitten… she was a destroyer of paperwork.

Ed collapsed into the seat near the window. He was dead tired. They had only been at the dueling club for a mere hour or two. How was it possible that Shinka destroyed the entire library in that short of a time frame?

Peering out the window, Ed caught a glimpse of a red and yellow scarf and unruly black hair. It was probably Harry. …. Was that a snake wrapped around his arm! Ed leapt up and darted out of the room, yelling a quick “see ya Roy” before disappearing completely down the stairs.

Roy’s eyebrow rose. What on earth was Fullmetal up to now?

-----------------------------

Harry had walked around Hogwarts a few more times, enjoying the scene around. He was just about to take a step when suddenly a voice rang out towards him.

“Watch where you are ssstepping, human.”

Startled, Harry jumped back and looked around. “Down here,” the voice hissed at him. Harry crouched down towards the ground. Almost blending into the red leaves, there was a small snake hidden among them. It was black with two white strips on the side with a red stripe straight down the middle. Harry immediately recognized the species of the snake; it was the Red Striped Ribbon Snake that Hagrid was searching for earlier.

“You’re the Red Striped Ribbon Snake!”

The snake glared up towards him. “No, the ssstripess are jussst for ssshow.”

“Hehe, I’m Harry.” Harry didn’t know what else to say. After all, he did almost step on the poor little guy. Who would have thought that he would be spending his afternoon talking to a snake? It never did cross Harry’s mind that his ability to talk to snakes was anything peculiar. It was just this little gift that he had and could do. There was nothing strange about it to him.

The conversation continued. You have the most interesting conversation with snakes, as Harry found out. The snake’s name was Hebi and apparently Hagrid had brought him to Hogwarts for the next Care of Magical Creatures lesson for the older students. Evidently Professor Kettleburn had asked Hagrid to fetch Hebi from Magical Menagerie from Diagon Alley. Eventually, Harry allowed the snake to slither up around his arm. The two of them wander around Hogwarts, continuing their conversation.

It was close to lunch when Harry heard another voice calling out to him.

“Harry! Hey! Wait up!”

Harry stopped and turned around. Around the corner, flying towards him was Edward. The trademark braid danced in the wind as it looked like Ed had been trying to catch up with him for quite sometime. Also… were that ink stains all over Ed’s clothes? “Hey, Ed,” said Harry.

Ed stopped right in front of him and bent over to catch his breath. There was more stairs between the library and outside then he had originally thought. After finally catching his breath, Ed pointed to the snake and asked, “Is that a snake around your arm?”

Hebi left out a hiss. “I have a name, human. Isss it too much to asssk to be called by it?”

Ed, of course, didn’t understand what Hebi was saying. Harry on the other hand did. “His name is Hebi and he would rather you call him by his name,” Harry told Ed.

“Right. Hebi, got i- wait a minute… what did you say?” Ed looked up towards Harry.

“I said that Hebi said that he would rather have you call him by his name instead of being called ‘the snake’,” Harry explained. Was there something strange about what he said?

Ed quickly grabbed Harry by the shoulders and shook him. A tone of urgency fled into Ed’s voice. “Harry, are you able to talk to snakes! Have you told anyone?”

“Ed-d-d c-can y-you s-s-stop s-shaking m-me,” asked Harry. Hebi on the other hand, fell to the ground and slithered to a safer distance. Humans were very… odd. Ed quickly stopped shaking Harry. After regaining his balance, Harry answered Ed’s question. “Err, yeah, I guess, but this was only my second time doing it. The first time I talked to a snake was a boa constrictor at the zoo. It told me that he had never seen Brazil and then it kind of slithered away after I sort set it loose on my cousin. Why?”

Ed paled greatly. “A boa constrictor told you it’s never seen Brazil?”

Harry stared at Ed. “What’s so bad about it? I’m sure plenty of wizards can talk to snakes.”

Ed shook his head. “No, they can’t. It’s a special ability. Harry, you’re a –“

“Parselmouth!”

Ed and Harry whipped their head around to see Draco standing there in complete shock. Before they could move to stop him, Draco disappeared completely. Ed looked at Harry and said, “Shit.”

---------------------

Three hours later, the school was in an uproar. Suddenly, all the rumors were directed towards Harry. Poor Harry was completely overwhelmed by this. Edward was bombarded with question after question being the only other witness besides Malfoy. Everywhere Harry went, people suddenly seemed to retreat away. Whispers darted behind his back and people jumped whenever Harry decided to speak to them.

Harry slumped down into a chair in a half pitied attempt to sink into it and hope that no one saw him. This was the worst day of his life. Ed looked at him sympathetically with no words to offer. Hermione and Ron had quickly joined them as soon as the news had reached them.

“I can’t believe everyone thinks I’m the Slytherin Heir,” Harry mumbled to himself.

“Well, the symbol of the Slytherin house is the serpent and being a Parselmouth does mean you can talk to snakes, so everyone thinks you’re Salazar Slytherin’s great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson or something,” said Ron.

Harry slumped down further into his chair. If there was ever a time he wished to be invisible, now was it. “If it makes you feel better, we believe in you,” said Hermione.

Harry’s spirits did brighten a little. It was nice to have friends. Still, it was depressing to think about what everyone else in the school thought about him. Not to mention Draco… Harry strayed away from that train of thought.

Suddenly, Harry stood up and started to walk off by himself. Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Harry interrupted her. “I need some time to be by myself.”

-----------------------

Countless thoughts ran through Draco’s head. He couldn’t believe it. Harry Potter… was a Parselmouth. It was trait that only someone of Slytherin’s blood could have. So that meant that Potter was also a Slytherin? A part of Draco thrived and leaped for joy at the prospered thoughts. Another part held a bit of envy and anger. Why on earth was Potter chosen to be the heir of Slytherin? Draco was almost positive that the old legend was true and that Potter had the ability to unleash the monster. (Thus another part of him worried that he might be the next victim, despite what the legend said).

Muttering under his breath, Draco wonder, why was it that every problem he seemed to encounter involved that green eyed boy?

-----------------------

Harry had found himself wandering around Hogwarts again before he unexpectedly ran into Hagrid again. Somehow, talking to his giant friend allowed Harry to relax and stop worrying about what everyone was saying. Hebi apparently, returned back to Hagrid and was sleeping back in Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid then moved onto his next problem, dead roosters. Harry found it a little weird that Hagrid was carrying around a couple of dead roosters but didn’t say anything. It was just the kind of person that Hagrid was. It made him unique.

The night had come all too quickly and Hagrid shooed Harry back to the castle before he got into trouble. Harry waved goodbye and headed back, knowing full well Hagrid was right.

-Howl-

An icy wind sprinted through the long winding hallways. The torches that lit the pathways flickered; many fading away into nothingness. Harry was halfway up the stairs before he tripped over something… or rather, someone.

Harry’s stomach gave a lurch and feeling of horror raked at his heart. Justin Finch-Fletchley, a boy he had met from the Dueling Club, laid on the ground frozen. His face had a shocked expression; his body was rigid and cold. Justin wasn’t the only one… Nearly Headless Nick was there as well. Instead of the usual transparent colors, Nick laid floating a good six inches off the ground, a black and smoky color. Like Justin, he had a frozen, shocked expression.

Harry nearly stumbled, falling down the stairs. His heart began to race. What was going on here? Should he leave them here?

And if the situation could get any worse… Peeves appeared. Immediately, the poltergeist shouted on the top of his lungs. “ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!”

Harry wished he could just sink into the floor…

-----------------------------

Unaware of the chaos down beyond, Roy was shelving the books that had been returned that day. Out of the corner of his eye, Roy noticed something. Walking over to it, he picked it up. It was a small black book with an untidy cover. On the inside there was the name, T.M. Riddle. Roy frowned. Someone had left their diary in the library.

------------------------------

‘What’s a Shaman! Wait a minute…

If it’s a secret, why is he blabbing to me!’

(Manta, Shaman King Vol 1, Reincarnation 1: The Boy who Dances with Ghosts)

--------------------------

-------------------

Reimei: Honor and Pride
-------------------

Chapter IX

Redefined Honor; The Mysterious Diary

------------------

READY STEADY CAN'T HOLD ME BACK

READY STEADY GIVE ME GOOD LUCK

READY STEADY NEVER LOOK BACK

LET'S GET STARTED READY STEADY GO

----------------

If the school could have plunged any deeper into pandemonium, it would have. Whispers and rumors spread faster than a wildfire. Harry wished he could have disappeared completely as the teachers tried to hush the students and take Justin and Nearly Headless Nick up to the infirmary. Professor McGonagall escorted Harry up to Dumbledore’s office where the black haired boy was currently standing, awaiting his punishment or whatever lecture that was about to come.

Harry looked around. Dumbledore’s office was … exclusive, so to speak. It was a large circular room with trinkets everywhere. Countless glass orbs floated around, circling in a constant pattern. Various other instruments whirled and blew puffs of smokes. Several of the silver objects glowed luminously. On the walls, rows of portraits of the former headmasters and headmistresses lined up. Every one of them was currently slumbering, not noticing that Harry was in the room. On the shelves was the tattered Sorting Hat. Instantly, the Sorting Hat’s words from his first year echoed in his mind: You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head, and Slytherin would help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that….

A strange gagging noise snapped Harry out of his thoughts. Sitting on a golden perch behind him was a strange bird. Half of its feathers laid scattered on the ground. Its black eyes were dull and lifeless. It looked like extremely ill.

‘I hope it doesn’t die while I’m in here… I don’t think I could take it,’ Harry thought glumly to himself. He didn’t want to be blamed for killing Dumbledore’s bird too while he was at it. No sooner had he had thought that, the bird burst into flames.

Harry gave a yelp of surprise and quickly looked around for some water to put the fire out. It was too late. The bird had completely burned away into a pile of ashes. As if his fate couldn’t get any worse, Dumbledore suddenly walked in.

“Professor,” Harry stammered, stumbling over his words. The day had been very tiring and Harry was reaching his breaking point. “Your bird – I didn’t – I couldn’t do anything – he just.”

To Harry’s surprise, Dumbledore merely smiled. “Well, it’s about time. He’s been looking dreadful for days; I’ve been telling him to get a move on.”

Harry just gaped. Dumbledore chuckled lightly and explained. “Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Look.”

Harry peered at the pile of ashes. Slowly but surely, a small wrinkled head poked its way out of the ashes. Harry let out a sigh of relief. “It’s a shame you had to see him on his Burning Day. He’s really a handsome creature most of the time, a wonderful red and golden plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets.”

Dumbledore took a seat behind his large wooden desk; his blue eyes never leaving Harry. “Now, Harry, I want to have a talk with you.”

Harry blinked and then remembered why he was here. Oh boy… it was going to be a long night.

--------------------------

Upstairs, Shinka’s tail swished back and forth. Her piercing onyx black eyes watched her prey in the darkness of the night. The sounds scratching and scampering whispered throughout the room. At the edge of one of the beds, a rat darted back and forth.

Shinka’s eyes narrowed, her fur already beginning to stand on its ends. She always thought there was something wrong with that rat. It would be best to just kill it now before it caused any trouble. Now, as long as that red head boy doesn’t come walking in…

Shinka crouched, poised to pounce. Dead rat anyone?

-------------------------

By the time morning came, most of the chaos had died down, but the fear was still present. There had been a mad rush of students signing up to return back home for the Christmas holidays. None of them wanted to try braving the vacation at school when there was a possibility that they might be the next one to be attacked.

Fred and George found the entire situation quite amusing. They would march ahead of Harry and shouting “Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming though…” On the side they would jokingly ask Harry who his next target would be or how they would try to ward him off with a large clove of garlic.

Percy and Ginny didn’t find the situation funny at all. Fred and George’s antics weren’t helping either. To Harry though, Fred and George’s jokes made him feel better. It was their way of telling him, ‘Harry? The Heir of the Slytherin? No way! We believe our mate has nothing to do with it! But in the mean time we’ll make a joke out of it!’ Or something like that…

Ron, Hermione and Ed had also been supportive of Harry. They weren’t going to leave him alone to deal with it all by himself. Hermione excitedly whispered to Ron and Harry that the Polyjuice potion was almost done. Ed groaned when he heard that; he really had hoped that they have given up on that idea.

The days, to Harry at least, rolled by slowly. But without a doubt, the term came to an end and winter came silently at night. A thick blanket of snow now covered Hogwarts. The razor sharp edge of cold sliced through the night. Snowflakes danced upon the wind, slowing falling. The mandrakes, according to Professor Sprout, were growing nicely and needed to be fitted with socks and scarves for the winter. This brought some relief to many people. Though, it didn’t stop students from quickly retreating home as the first day of winter break begun.

Harry found himself being able to relax and breathe again. With almost the entire school gone, there was no longer any taunting, whispering behind his back, jumping the moment he wanted to speak, the hissing, and gossip. It was all gone with the wind. Just blissful silence. The only people he had to worry about was Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Oh well, Hogwarts was big enough. It should be more than easy enough to avoid them.

------------------------

Three days into the winter break and Ed was wandering the hallways. This year, Al and everyone couldn’t make it to Hogwarts but they did all send their love and gifts. Honestly, Ed didn’t blame them. It took weeks to get here, having to cross an ocean and travel quite a distance on land as well. He wasn’t sure what Roy got, but whatever letter Hawkeye (or who ever it was) sent definitely caused Roy to pale a few shades. Ed wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. He did know that Hawkeye sent about ten boxes worth of paperwork which caused Roy to twitch uncontrollably and mutter about how paperwork would be the death of him. That was fun to watch.

Ed tugged on his red and golden scarf. The cold was sharp and prickled. He took a deep breath and blew out, watching the little puffs of his breath freeze and be swept away by the wind.

As he turned around the corner, Ed ran into his conflict of the day: Malfoy.

Ed scowled. Of all the people he could have run into, it had to be Malfoy. What a wonderful way to start the morning. Malfoy, on the other hand, glared right back. It was obvious that both didn’t want to see each other.

“So, you decided to act brave and stay for the winter, shrimp,” taunted Malfoy.

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BEANSPROUT?” Ed’s glare increased ten fold towards the younger boy. Quickly regaining his cool, Ed shot back his own snide remark. “And I guess you decided to stay and plan who you’ll be targeting next.”

Malfoy snorted. “As if I were the Heir of Slytherin. You just assume that because I’m in the Slytherin house, that I’m the heir. Too bad I’m not. If I knew who it was I would be congratulating them for doing a fine job.”

‘So if he’s telling the truth, then who is the heir,’ Ed thought to himself. He glared at the younger boy warily. “Yeah,” snorted Ed, sarcasm laced heavily on his words. “I so believe you.”

Malfoy’s glare grew shaper. “Believe what you want you Griffin-dork,” he snarled. “I really could care less. I hope the monster somehow manages to eat you next or that who ever is behind this, targets you next.”

-------------------------

Upstairs in the library, Shinka was at it again. That rat had managed to get away all the times she tried to attack. Many times it was usually because it ran to its master in time and its master would scold her. Shinka scowled. She would kill that rat sooner or later. It was way too crafty to be just a regular rat. She let out a low hiss and pounced once more. This time the rat couldn’t be saved by its master.

------------------------

Roy, meanwhile, was going through the student registry in hopes of finding this… T.M. Riddle. He wasn’t having much luck. Whoever Riddle was he wasn’t a current student enrolled in Hogwarts. So, Roy then turned to the past years’ registry. With some luck he found what he was looking for.

Tom Marvolo Riddle was a student enrolled at Hogwarts fifty years ago. He was awarded a special award (the book didn’t say why) and was found on the list of old Head Boys. Riddle’s name also was on the old Medal for Magical Merit list as well. He was also enrolled here during the time the last Chamber of Secrets was open. Roy’s eyebrow rose. Interesting… While Riddle certainly sounded like a bright, smart student, it still didn’t explain why his diary was on the floor of the library.

Roy sat back in his chair and pondered. There was always the possibility that Riddle had left it shelved on one of the bookshelves fifty years ago and due to a student or perhaps Shinka, it had fallen out of the bookcase. Then again, Riddle sounded like a model person and didn’t sound like someone who would throw away anything so easily like that. Interesting… unless someone had found Riddle’s diary and was currently using it for their own use.