August Seventeenth 2014

A little over two weeks passed ever since my visit to Diagon Alley. Ever since the trip, I've wanted to ask my mum about many things. How she knew Rita Skeeter. How everyone in the store who knew we were. What Ollivander meant by how my father preferred his wand to the most powerful wand in the world. Though, I could never bring myself to ask any of these things.

My mum of course, acts as if none of those things had never happened. Albus and Lily naturally forgot about it. For the past few days I've been browsing through some of my school books. I can already tell that I'm not going to like History of Magic, but Transfiguration and Defense Against The Dark Arts actually sound a little interesting.

I also find myself reading a book I had received as a birthday present two years ago from my Aunt Hermione. 'Hogwarts: A History(The 2nd Edition)' by M.L. books. I've never read it before now of course, but I want to know as much about the school as possible. It wasn't until earlier today, when I was halfway through the book I read something that caught my eye.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

For many years the Chamber of Secrets was believed to be a myth. This of course, like many things, has to be found untrue. The Chamber of Secrets is in fact, real.

This chapter looked a little more interesting than 'The Illusional Ceiling' or 'The Four Founders' so I started reading.

As you have read previously that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago(the precise date is uncertain) by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built the castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by Muggles, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.

For a few years, the founders worked in sync together, seeking out children who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements came between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within pure-blood families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a long while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and eventually Slytherin left the school.

Serves Slytherin right. If anyone has the judgement that just because you're a pureblood that means you're superior to everyone else, then something is desperately wrong with you. Growing up my father had told me this so many times. And I agree with him, why should purebloods be better? It's just as bad as racism. I mean, I'm a halfblood myself.

Reliable historical sources told us this much at the time. But the honest facts had been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The myth goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.

Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the monster within the chamber, a monster only the heir of Slytherin could control, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.

The Chamber was opened for the first time during the 1942-1943 school year by a young boy by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle, later known as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Who is that supposed to be? How am I supposed to know his name, if he's called He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named?

Through his mother, he was the last remaining direct descendant of Salazer Slytherin, and he desired to see muggle-borns driven from Hogwarts. In his fifth year, Riddle located the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and was able to control the Basilisk, the monster in the Chamber, as he was the Heir of Slytherin. Riddle turned the beast loose on the school, injuring many.

The last victim was a student named Myrtle Warren, who was killed in the girls' bathroom. Hogwarts was due to be closed, which upset Riddle, who did not want to return to the Muggle orphanage in which he was raised. He framed fellow student Rubeus Hagrid, who had concealed a pet Acromantula named Aragog.

Hagrid? I know Hagrid. He's one of my parent's friends. He's my brother's God Father! So is that why he isn't allowed to do magic? Because he was expelled? He always has had a taste for strange creatures.

I remember the day he came to visit when he brought something called a 'Blast End-Screwt.' He said it was for his class at Hogwarts. Not to be rude to Hagrid or anything, but when I'm allowed to choose my new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures will not be one of them.

Riddle convinced the Headmaster at the time, Armando Dippet, that Aragog was the monster that had terrorized the school. Hagrid was expelled, and Riddle received an engraved trophy for special services to the school. The death of Myrtle Warren was later covered up as a 'freak accident'.

How can someone's death be covered up as a freak accident?

Albus Dumbledore, then the Transfiguration Professor, distrusted Riddle and kept a close watch on him after that.

I gasp. Albus Dumbledore.... Is that my brother's namesake? My eyes continue to scan the page.

As it was no longer safe to open the Chamber of Secrets, Riddle created a diary in which to preserve his sixteen year old self, hoping it would one day lead someone to finish Slytherins's 'noble quest'.

The Chamber was re-opened for the second time in the 1992-1993 school year,

Wait.... That was my mother's first year. About a week ago, didn't she say something about a diary? Is it possible she had been talking about Riddle's diary?

The Chamber was re-opened for the second time in the 1992-1993 school year, when the bewitched diary of Tom Riddle manipulated and controlled the infamed Ginny Potter(née Weasley),

Infamed? Controlled? My mother? My eyes read over the pages very quickly, trying to soak in more words.

Ginny Potter(née Weasley), who was at the time only a first-year student who had gotten hold of the diary by Lucius Malfoy, who slipped it in her cauldron when he was viewing her other spellbooks in Flourish and Blotts and fell under its influence. Ginny was compelled to vandalise the school by painting terrifying messages on the corridor walls. The first massage read "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware." She was made to open the Chamber, releasing the Basilisk.

So is that what she meant in Flourish and Blotts? 'First year all over again. At least it's not Lockhart.'

It petrified many students, including first year Colin Creevey, second year Justin Finch-Fletchley, fifth year Penelope Mayfield(née Clearwater), and second year Hermione Weasley(née Granger),

Aunt Hermione? Mum petrified Aunt Hermione?

-second year Hermione Weasley(neé Granger), as well as the ghost of Nearly Headless Nick

How do you petrify a ghost?

-Nearly Headless Nick and the Argus Filch's(The Caretaker) cat, Mrs. Norris. They were later restored to their proper states through the use of Mandrake Restorative Draught. Fortunately, this time, no one was killed. Ginny had been forced into petrifying these students opening the Chamber of Secrets letting the Basilisk come out and making people look at it in different ways; Hermione saw the Basilisk's reflection in her hand-mirror and Mrs. Norris saw it through the flooded water floor.

On 29 May, 1993, Ginny was taken down to the Chamber to die,

"What?" I cry out. If mum was supposed to die in this Chamber of Secrets, how did she get out?

-Ginny was taken down to the Chamber to die, while Riddle intended to feed off her life force to become fully alive again. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and then-Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Gilderoy Lockhart went to the Chamber to rescue Ginny,

Dad and Uncle Ron, of course! But, if the Chamber can only be opened by the heir of Slytherin, how did they get in?

-went to the Chamber to rescue Ginny, as a message had been left that she was being held prisoner there. The exact events of what happened in the Chamber are unknown. Though we do know that Gilderoy Lockhart's memory was permanently damaged, as he was too, revealed as a fraud. Ginny was recovered and nobody was harmed.

Mum and Dad kept talking about 'tell the kids who we really are'. Could this be it? Are they famous for discovering the Chamber of Secrets or something? At the beginning of the chapter it said, 'Infamed Ginny Potter who was at the time only a first-year'. So is this what she's famous for? Being possessed by a book?

I look and see one more paragraph to the article. It reads:

The Chamber was rumored to be opened one more time, though it is unclear if this is true or not. It is said that on 2 May, 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts,

'Battle of Hogwarts'?

2 May, 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Ron Weasley(for the second time) and Hermione Weasley went back to the Chamber of Secrets to retrieve more fangs. It will not be said why, at the moment. Whether this is true or not, we'll leave that for you to decide.

I slam the book closed. It's Sunday, so my dad'll be home. I need to talk to my parents about this. Now. Besides, it's probably not even a big deal. Why would they want to hide from me that they found some sort of myth within the school? It's pretty cool actually. So the question is, why haven't they told me about it?