Dear Diary
When Anne returned to Hogwarts, the end of year of exams seemed a lot closer to this side of Christmas. The other Ravenclaws clearly agreed with her. Even if there was a monster petrifying students exams were still important.
In the first week of term the second year, Ravenclaws started drawing up their revision time tables again. The exams, after all, were only five months away!
Anne came into the Common Room about a week after the start of term to find Luna crying in a corner of the Common Room.
“Are you alright Luna?” asked Anne sitting down next to her.
There was no answer.
“Are the other first years being mean to you again?”
Luna shook her head.
“Look, Luna, I can't help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong!”
“It’s Ginny” Luna sobbed, “she’s been acting funny for months. I don’t think she likes me anymore!”
“I’m sure that’s not it Luna!” reassured Anne, “do you want me to try to talk to her?”
Luna nodded.
“You alright now?” she asked.
“I think so, I’m going to try and find Ginny,” said Luna getting up from her chair and leaving the Common Room.
“Well that’s weird…” muttered Anne getting out her Charms homework.
“What was weird?” asked Irwin distractedly as he got out his parchment and quill from his bag.
“Luna.”
“Luna’s always been a bit weird!”
Anne glared at him.
“It’s true! Luna is a bit weird”
“It's not her normal kind of weird,” explained Anne, “not nargles and crumple horned snorcacks, she’s worried about Ginny.”
“Anne its probably nothing to worry about!” said Irwin getting out is charms textbook.
“Yeah you’re right,” she admitted, and they got on with their homework.
In mid-February Anne and Irwin were going past Myrtle’s bathroom when they noticed that it was flooding.
“What the…” started Irwin standing outside the door before opening it. The bathroom was flooding because Myrtle had flooded all the toilets.
“Myrtle,” Anne called gently, “Myrtle?”
“Who’s there?” sobbed Myrtle.
“Its Anne and Irwin” called Anne stepping into the bathroom.
“Is there something wrong Myrtle?”
“Oh I thought it was someone else,” said Myrtle in relief, “there was someone in here earlier trying to throw a book at me, they tried to flush it down the toilet.”
“Why would someone want to flush a book down the toilet?” muttered Irwin.
“I don’t know,” said Myrtle, “they left it over there.”
Myrtle pointed towards an old leather book that was lying in the middle of the soaking floor.
Anne went over to the book and picked it up. It apparently belonged to a T. M. Riddle in 1942. Even though the floor was soaking wet, the diary seemed to be completely dry.
“Irwin,” Anne stammered, “this book is fifty years old.”
“So?” asked Irwin kneeling down on the floor next to her.
“The chamber was first opened fifty years ago,” she whispered, “maybe it’s got some information about it!”
“The diary’s empty Anne” Irwin pointed out getting off the floor.
“Yeah I know that, but the diary the Lovegood’s gave me would appear empty to most people apart from the writer, it might still have some information in it”
“You’ve got a fair point there,” said Irwin.
“Myrtle, can we borrow this?” asked Anne to the ghost.
“Sure, as long as you don’t throw it at me!”
“I think we should investigate,” said Irwin, “but I think we should do it together.”
“Ok,” said Anne uncertainly.
“Come on,” he said pulling Anne up the staircase to the dormitories, “we’ll do it in my room, there’ll be more privacy than in the Common Room.”
They shut the curtains on Irwin’s bed and sat down on the bed together. Irwin opened the diary and began to write.
He let a drop of ink go onto the book which disappeared instantly.
“Hello, my name is Irwin Scamander.” He began.
“Hello Irwin, my name is Tom Riddle.” Appeared on the page, Anne and Irwin stared at each other in shock.
“I am writing with my friend Anne.”
“Hello, Anne.”
“Tom,” Irwin struggled to find the right words, “do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Someone’s being petrifying students again”
“I see.”
“So can you tell me anything?”
“No.”
Irwin sighed in exasperation and was about to close the book.
“But I can show you!”
Anne and Irwin looked at each other nervously. Anne looked terrified but she nodded her head in agreement.
“Are you sure?” Irwin asked.
Anne nodded again.
“Ok,” wrote Irwin in the book.
A small moving picture so tiny they could hardly see it appeared on the page. Anne and Irwin tried to move closer to the picture to see it better, but next thing they knew they were being sucked into the book.
“What just happened?” whispered Irwin.
Anne didn’t answer but just looked around confused.
There was an old man reading at a desk.
“Um excuse me, sir,” said Irwin politely “but where are we?”
The old man however just ignored him.
Anne looked around the office and realized that this wasn’t Dumbledore’s office that Harry had described, where was Fawkes the phoenix?
“Irwin, I think we’ve gone back in time”
“What?” asked Irwin, “how do you know”
But Irwin was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by a knock on the door and a handsome teenaged boy came in through the door.
Anne and Irwin listened intently as Riddle and Professor Dippet discussed how he could not stay at school over the holidays. Anne felt slightly bad for Tom, he must have a pretty horrible home life if he didn’t want to go home for the Summer holidays!
After a while, Tom left the headmasters office and Anne and Irwin followed him down to the dungeons.
Anne and Irwin stood waiting for nearly an hour for something to happen.
“How much longer are we going to have to wait here?” groaned Irwin.
“Shhh!” whispered Anne, she could hear something.
“Come on, gotta get you outta here, come on get in the box!”
That voice sounded strangely familiar to Anne.
“Evening Rubeus!” called Tom.
The boy stood up shocked. He looked much larger than most other boys.
“What are you doing down here Tom?”
Riddle stepped towards the large boy.
“I’m sorry Rubeus but it’s all over, I’m going to have to turn you in. They’re talking about closing the school if the attacks don’t stop.”
The large boy started to panic and block the box from Tom's view.
“Monster don’t make good pets Hagrid,” he said pulling his wand out, “I don’t think you meant it kill anyone, but the girl’s parents are coming tomorrow, they’ll want to see justice!”
“Aragog never killed no one!” Hagrid protested.
“Stand aside Hagrid,” commanded Riddle pointing his wand at the box.
Tom pointed his wand at the box and a huge black spider came scampering out of the box.
Anne stepped behind Irwin in fear, she was terrified of that spider ever if it was only a memory!
The spider escaped out the window and Riddle advanced on Hagrid with his wand drawn.
Suddenly as soon as the memory started Anne and Irwin suddenly landed back on Irwin’s bed.
“What in the name of Merlin!” shouted Irwin.
“It doesn’t make sense,” whispered Anne once she had composed herself.
“Huh?”
“It can’t have been Hagrid.”
“Why not he was expelled in his third year.”
“That’s true,” she muttered, “but he wouldn’t. He doesn’t care about people's blood.”
“Its more than that though,” considered Irwin, “I think that was an infant acromantula.”
“A what?”
“Acromantula, a giant spider, that was a young version though.”
“Ok,” said Anne slowly, “but how does this help us?”
“Acromantula’s will eat people,” Irwin began, “but they can’t petrify you!”
“How do you know all this?” asked Anne curiously.
“Grandpa told me about them a while back.”
“Oh of course,” muttered Anne, Newt knew about all sorts of different creatures.
“So, Hagrid’s innocent?”
Irwin nodded, “now we just need to find a way to prove it!”
A few days later Anne and Irwin were lining up with Gryffindor’s for transfiguration when Ginny came charging into Anne who was doing up her laces. “Sorry Anne, I wasn’t looking properly” she muttered
Both bags of books went all over the floor and Anne and Ginny quickly repacked their bags. It wasn’t until that evening that Anne noticed that Tom’s dairy was gone.
Anne and Irwin had told Harry Ron and Hermione about what had happened with Tom's diary and the five students spent hours in the library every day making lists of possible creatures that could be petrifying the other students. They were desperately trying to prove Hagrid’s innocence.
One day in mid-March Anne woke up to find the weather was particularly bright there was another quidditch match today and Anne was going to watch Harry play against Hufflepuff. She got dressed in her Ravenclaw striped jumper and did her hair, her ribbons turned navy blue to match the stripes.
“Morning Anne!” called Irwin as he sat down at the table with her.
Irwin tucked into his toast and they were soon joined by Harry Ron and Hermione.
“Hi Harry, you nervous?” asked Anne.
“No, its good flying conditions and we’ve been training for months!”
“Fair enough!” laughed Anne.
“Come on then Harry” called Wood passing their table, “we’ve got to get going!”
They all followed Wood out from the Great Hall, Harry stopped in the entrance hall, however.
“What's up Harry?” asked Ron
“Its that voice again” he stammered.
“You can hear that voice?” asked Anne
“Yeah, it's going to kill someone!” panicked Harry.
“Calm down mate!” said Ron “it's probably nothing.”
“It can wait till after the match Harry!” said Irwin leading Harry towards the pitch.
“Aren’t you two coming?” asked Ron when he saw that Anne and Hermione were staring at each other.
“Library!” they said in unison. They had both just realized something very important!!