a/n: this has got to be one of my favorite chapters
—— Hermione POV, to spice it up ——
I heard hurried footsteps come from the door. I was expecting Lila around this time, so I put my book on the bedside table and sat up expectantly.
Only for Malfoy's rat face to peak in through the curtain.
I instantly put my hands over my ears (the cat ones), though I wasn't fast enough. My nails were still incriminatingly long.
"Malfoy? What are you doing here?" I sent him my nastiest glare. "Come to have a laugh at me?"
"No. I'm looking for my Potions partner." He grimaced, though his eyes went wide when he caught sight of me. That awful smirk found it's way to his lips. "What the hell happened to you, Granger?"
"Transfiguration accident," I lied. His eyes fell to the side of the bed, where my tail wasn't covered by the blanket.
"Is— is that a tail—" he started to laugh.
"Shut it, Malfoy." I snapped, feeling my face heat up. "I've still got claws too, so I'd watch yourself if I were you."
"Right, sorry, sorry," he was not sorry, and I could tell he was holding in another bout of laughter. He composed himself after a few minutes. "So if Holmes isn't here, and she wasn't in class today—"
"She wasn't in class today?" I was suddenly on high alert. We'd talked enough about the Chamber yesterday, and Lila had been acting shifty. No, she couldn't have—
"Potter and Weasel haven't seen her either, apparently," Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "So I suppose you'd be the only one with any idea what she's up to."
"Oh, I've got an idea alright," I frowned. "I bet she went looking for the Chamber."
"She did what?!" Malfoy's voice went uncharacteristically shrill. I shushed him.
"Don't draw attention to us. We need to get out of here," I hissed. "Quick! Give me your robes. Do you have a hat? I'll need that too."
"You're lucky Blaise just gave me my Christmas gift," he murmured. "I'll have to disinfect this at least three times before I touch it again, mind you."
"Oh, can it," I scoffed as I took the beanie he'd pulled out of his bag. Gucci. Why would I expect anything from less from these rich freaks? I shoved it over my cat ears. I was surprised at Malfoy's willingness to comply, but since Lila was involved I supposed I shouldn't have been.
I never quite understood their relationship, but I had the impression that they'd both developed a soft spot for each other and simply didn't know it.
"Thanks," I shoved his robes over my hospital wing pajamas. "We're going to Gryffindor tower first. She might have left some clues up there."
Peeking nervously out of the curtain, I saw Madam Pomfrey was asleep at her desk. The poor woman had her work cut out for her this year. Luckily for us, it gave Malfoy and I the opportunity to slip away to the tower. The other second years were in class, supposedly, so I figured it would be easy.
I made him wait outside the portrait hole as I hurried through the common room and up the steps. I took her bag full of papers and emptied out the ones I was looking for onto my bed. As I was picking them up, I noticed the corner of one peaking out under my covers. I read the note she left me with an exasperated sigh. Reckless. But at least she gave me someone to talk to.
I felt my worry start to get stronger as I met Malfoy back in the corridor. What had happened to her? Where could she have gone? Was it too late?
I led him to an empty classroom and laid out the many mind maps on the desk. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline at the sheer amount of them she'd amassed.
"Thank goodness she dates these," I murmured, having grown familiar with her roundabout organizational structure. I found the three most recent and inspected them. I also handed Malfoy the note she'd left me in case he'd be able to derive some meaning from it.
"Of course she wouldn't say anything about where it is." Malfoy said sardonically. "That would be too easy."
"It's only because she knows we'd go after her." I protested, though I agreed. "She wants us to be safe."
"You leave this girl alone for one night—"
"Look at this!" I noted a few repeated symbols on the final mind map that weren't on the others.
SS
| | /\
L, H(?), A & T
T = V
V — 16, 1943
V — ?, 1993 = HOW?! NOT EVEN HERE!
CC = camera, MN = puddle (?), JF = NHN, NHN = already dead, Andrews = ???, MW = ??? (died, bathroom)
"There's a lot of V's on this one," I noted. "And there aren't anywhere else. This is the most recent one, too."
"Well, I've got a pretty good guess on who that could be," Malfoy said with a scoff. I raised an eyebrow at him, but his expression was grim.
"You can't be serious!" I gasped. "You-Know-Who? Again?"
"He's the only other Parselmouth that's well known," Malfoy replied. "But how he got here or where he could be, I don't know."
I couldn't help but round on him. "Didn't your dad set the whole thing up? How could you not know?"
"I don't know!" He retorted, running a hand through his hair. "He didn't trust me." He laughed bitterly. "For good reason too, clearly, because I'd tell you right now if I could, Granger."
I felt like I was seeing him for the first time. The worry in his eyes, the way his lip had gone red from biting it, his disheveled hair. He was worried, maybe more than I was. He really cared for her.
"Malfoy," I tried, "I—"
"Don't, Granger," he stopped me, turning to look back over the papers on the desk. "I just wish I'd had more to tell her."
"You did all you could," I said gently. "Your hints were helpful. She started protecting herself with a mirror. I mean, even we forgot to tell her that Harry was also a Parselmouth."
This made Malfoy whirl around like I'd claimed I was the Heir of Slytherin. "What?! So Potter also talks to snakes." He laughed and dragged a hand down his face. "Of course. Who next, Dumbledore?"
"Old news," I waved my hand flippantly. "Focus. Are you making any connections, here?"
"Let's go talk to Myrtle," Malfoy said instead. "I feel like we're losing time trying to translate her chicken scratch."
As much as I wanted to protest, Malfoy had a point. Currently, I cared more about finding what happened to Lila than finding out what Slytherin's monster even was. We left the classroom shortly after, Malfoy promptly adjusting the back of my robes (his robes, I supposed) after my tail had started to slip out of its own accord. A few students gave us a strange look.
"Could you cover that up any better—" he hissed.
"You try having a tail!" I snapped back.
Thankfully, it wasn't long until we reached the bathroom. Malfoy frowned at the door. "This is the last place I saw her. Wouldn't tell me what she was doing in here."
I bit back a grin. "Probably for good reason." I pushed open the door, frowning when Malfoy hesitated. "What?"
His cheeks were pink. "This is a girl's room—"
"Nobody's in here, come on!" I urged him, tugging him through by his sleeve. Once I closed the door behind us, Myrtle floated over to us curiously.
"You're not supposed to be in here," she said to Malfoy immediately. He gave me an accusatory look. I only sighed.
"Myrtle, our friend Lila disappeared last night," I told her. "Did you see anything?"
"No, I was gone for the night." Myrtle sighed. "She was knocked out when I got here. Some boys came and fetched her maybe ten minutes ago, actually. A redhead and a boy with glasses. They couldn't wake her up either."
Hermione was relieved Harry and Ron had found her, though Malfoy's face had gone impossibly paler. "She was breathing, right?"
"Oh, yes, sadly." Myrtle sighed. "I was hoping maybe she'd join me to haunt my toilet, but no, she's just asleep. Some kind of spell, I'm sure. I think she knew too much."
"Did you see who did it to her?" Malfoy asked. His fist was clenched at his side, his other hand resting over his wand.
"No. I'd moved to another bathroom," Myrtle said calmly. "Needed my beauty sleep, you know?"
Malfoy looked like he might burst, so I quickly started to tug him out of the room.
"Well, thanks for the help Myrtle. It's been lovely," I chirped over Malfoy's muttered swearing. He pushed me off of him as soon as I shut the door behind us. He was furious.
"Merlin, what was the point of her being there if she didn't even know anything?" He scoffed.
"Just be glad she's alright. Ron and Harry have her," I reassured him. "They probably took her back to the Hospital Wing. Let's go see if she's there."
He looked like he wished to add something else, but forcibly closed his mouth. Shaking his head, he steadied his expression. I'd never seen Malfoy exercise such self control. "Yeah, alright. Let's go."
We returned to the hospital wing to see Madam Pomfrey bent over someone in the bed next to mine. Upon our entrance, Ron and Harry looked over. Ron's mouth fell open — reasonably so, I supposed I looked a little ridiculous in Malfoy's robes and stupid Gucci beanie.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Ron pointed at him accusingly.
"Aren't you?" Malfoy clipped back.
Madam Pomfrey finally noticed us and squealed when she saw me. "Get back in bed, my dear! How long have you been out?!"
"She's a student, not a pet, as much as she might look like one right now," Malfoy rolled his eyes. I shot him a warning look. Madam Pomfrey was just doing her job, as much as I appreciated him standing up for me. Backhandedly.
"Have we figured out what happened to her?" I asked. Harry shook his head.
"Madam Pomfrey says it's some very dark magic. None of the typical solutions will work."
Malfoy clenched his fists beside me. "So what now?"
"The most we can hope for is that someone will catch the Heir, who can undo this," Harry gestured. He looked to Malfoy, who only scoffed and laughed coldly.
"What are you looking at me for? You're the best one for the job, Potter." Malfoy sneered. "After all, isn't it just the same guy as always?"
Ron squinted. "That's what Lila said. Why are the two of you so bloody cryptic?"
Malfoy gave him a flat look. "By my observation, Weasley, you're just an idiot."
"Voldemort," Harry muttered, and even the whisper struck all of us like a gunshot as we collectively flinched. "But how?" He asked, not noticing. He and Ron immediately looked at Malfoy accusingly. I knew I'd done the same earlier, but I stood up for him.
"Malfoy doesn't know either. Don't act like he personally invited You-Know-Who himself," I huffed. "It's no good to go around accusing each other. The most we can do is try and investigate together. Did you see anything else while you were there?"
Harry and Ron exchanged a look.
"No," Harry said, though I could tell he was lying. I figured it wouldn't be easy to win them over concerning Malfoy, but I was willing to serve as a link between the two, if I had to.
"Alright then," I turned to Malfoy as I started to remove the clothing he'd lent me. "Thank you for your help today. I'm sure Lila will appreciate it when she wakes up."
Malfoy nodded, taking his things back. He looked over at Lila's still form pensively, a frown tugging at his lips. "Yes. When she does."
———— lila pov ————
When I finally came to, my head ached miserably and I certainly wasn't slumped against the wall in the girls bathroom anymore. In fact, I was in an armchair.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were very heavy. I finally forced them open, and they took some time to adjust to the room around me. I could tell by the skull decor and green aesthetic that I was in the Slytherin common room. But how did I get here? What happened to Ginny? I couldn't hear anything, not even the Black Lake outside or the chatter that usually echoed in the dungeons.
"Ah, you're finally awake."
I jumped, causing a searing pain in my head. I squeezed my eyes shut because I couldn't move my hand to hold it.
"You'll be able to move soon, just give it a moment."
"Who are you?" My voice was gravelly and strained.
"You know who I am."
"Why do you sound so young, then? Aren't you supposed to be well into your sixties by now?" My head still pounded, but my voice was getting better.
There was a laugh. He sounded no more than sixteen. "Oh, Lila, you don't age a day in a diary."
"How do you keep track of time?"
"She writes in the dates for me."
"Ginny Weasley?"
"Ginny Weasley."
I was finally able to turn my head in the direction of the voice. He sat on the chair across from mine, his hands folded in his lap, and a smirk ever present on his face. He was an attractive boy — striking green eyes, smooth black hair, a smooth complexion and proportionate body. The similarities between him and Anne were even more striking in person.
"You look just like her."
He scoffed at this. "Unfortunately."
So this was teenage Tom Riddle. He was looking at me curiously, a morbid sort of fascination in his eyes.
"I honestly thought I'd done it."
"What?" I glared at him, though still in a large amount of pain.
"Killed off all connections to my bloodline," he replied. His eyes shone with interest. "But no, because you're here."
"So what now?" I asked, as defiantly as I could. "You're going to kill me too?"
"No, unfortunately," he said, unfolding his hands to stand. "See, I designed this diary to keep my soul immortal. So no, I cannot kill you. The pain you're feeling is just from the transition. Afterwards, you won't be able to feel any, probably, ever again."
"So you're going to keep me in here forever?" I asked. To my surprise, he laughed (a cold, hollow sound) and shook his head.
"That would be unwise. Only until my plan is complete. Then, you'll be able to come out with me and I can finally kill you." He smirked. "It's such a shame that I have to. We could have done great things."
"You're going to fail," I told him. "Just like you failed to kill your bloodline."
The laughter disappeared from his face. He stared at me icily.
"I don't fail," he snapped. "And neither your mother or her mother is here to save you now."
"My mother died after she gave birth to me," I told him. "You won't have to worry about her."
"How interesting, mine did too," the curious look returned to Riddle's face. "A good thing. She was weak. I suppose yours was too."
"She was stronger than you'll ever be," I snapped at him. He chuckled.
"Oh, Lila," he sneered. "Don't you know who I am?"
I finally could move my arm enough to point. I directed a finger at him with great effort. "You," I began, "are pathetic."
"I," he scowled. "Am Lord Voldemort."
"I don't fear you," I said, feeling my own voice shake. He only laughed, catching this.
"You're a terrible liar."
a/n: only five more chapters of this year after this one!! more shenanigans and a LOT more draco and lila (finally!!) so hold on tight!
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