"The weather is fine today. I've finally found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. That foolish oaf gave up its location to me all too easily.
"I wonder whether Slytherin himself would feel ashamed to know he had such a descendant. But no matter—as a fellow heir of Slytherin, I'll finish the task he never managed to complete at this school."
"So the monster within the Chamber of Secrets is a Serpent King—a Serpent King that has lived for a thousand years. Excellent. Now it shall be my first loyal servant.
"On its very first day, the Serpent King killed a Mudblood. What a fine start. Next we press on—we'll cleanse all of Hogwarts!"
"Dumbledore told me that because someone died and he still couldn't find the culprit, the school might be closed down.
"Could I let Hogwarts be shut down just like that? No.
"Fortunately, there was that foolish half-blood giant. Those Ministry of Magic officials who fancied themselves clever actually believed he was the culprit.
"That works well enough—at least now he's been expelled and can never prove anything again."
Reading the diary from beginning to end, Harry, hunched under the glow of his night-lamp, had sweat beading on his forehead.
The owner of this diary was indeed the true culprit behind the murder in the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago!
It was he who had framed Hagrid, he who had loosed the Basilisk and killed Myrtle!
Almost on instinct, he wanted to get up and find Kate, to ask her to hand the diary over to Dumbledore.
But he'd only taken a few steps toward the door before he realized the plan didn't seem terribly reliable.
The diary's owner had been careful. The handwriting was standard block print, and the contents revealed nothing about his identity.
Harry didn't even know whether the diary's owner was a man or a woman!
Did he really think he could take a diary like this to Dumbledore and ask him to help investigate the Chamber of Secrets and everything that had happened all those years ago?
Just as Kate had said last year, without sufficient evidence he couldn't make anyone believe him.
He had to find more proof!
First of all, he needed to understand exactly what sort of creature the Basilisk was.
At Hogwarts, when it came to knowledge of magical creatures, even Hagrid probably couldn't match Kate.
Harry took a deep breath and forced himself to lie back down in bed.
Tomorrow he'd go ask Kate about the Basilisk—and if he could, he'd try to convince her that the Basilisk truly existed!
Clutching the diary tightly, he stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, terrified that at any moment the Basilisk might come slithering out from who-knew-where.
And so the next day, Harry naturally hadn't slept well again—dark circles had formed beneath his eyes.
Even Ron and Hermione couldn't help worrying about his state of mind.
"Harry, maybe you should go get yourself checked at the Hospital Wing."
"Right—and that notebook of yours. However precious it is, you don't need to keep holding onto it even while you eat, do you?"
At the mention of the notebook, Harry—who had been drowsy a moment ago—suddenly perked up and shot to his feet. "I'm going to find Kate!"
Then he went dashing over to the Slytherin table and forcibly hauled Kate up from the meal she was still eating.
The onlookers were left astonished.
Ron and Neville exchanged a glance brimming with question marks—this fellow hadn't fallen for Kate, had he?
Hermione, on the other hand, was much more level-headed. She calmly finished her meal and calmly rose to head to the classroom.
"Hermione, you forgot something," Ron said, a little exasperated, holding up the book she'd left on her chair.
If even the ever-studious Hermione could forget her book, then this whole affair was clearly having no small impact.
Meanwhile Harry, the culprit himself, had no idea his behavior was already beginning to undermine the group's unity. He dragged Kate along at a mad sprint, stopping only once he was gasping for breath.
When he looked back, Kate was staring at him utterly dumbfounded, still holding a half-eaten piece of bread in her hand.
"Uh... sorry, I didn't mean to..." He waved his hands in a flustered explanation. "I was just in too much of a hurry—I have so much to tell you!"
"Young man," Kate said, patting his shoulder with grave sincerity, "I'm not interested in you."
Harry froze, his already-frantic mood growing even more tangled. It took him great effort to squeeze out a few words: "That's not... Kate, don't read too much into it."
He'd give anything for Hermione and Kate to end up together—how could he possibly do something like that!
Seeing that he was already sweating from anxiety, Kate finally set aside her urge to keep teasing him and, biting back a laugh, asked, "So what did you need me for?"
At last, they were getting to the point.
Harry pressed his lips together and, with effort, collected his thoughts. "I wanted to ask you for detailed information about the Basilisk. In all of Hogwarts, I doubt anyone knows more than you."
"You're still suspicious about the Chamber of Secrets?" Kate furrowed her brow with superb acting.
Thanks to all the performances she regularly put on in front of Dumbledore, her acting had improved considerably since last year.
"All right. Since you're so determined, I suppose I can tell you." She sighed and put on a look of great reluctance.
Then she went over the general facts about the Basilisk, including how it was the natural enemy of spiders and how it feared roosters, among other traits.
As she finished, she stroked her chin and said thoughtfully, "Come to think of it, when I came down for breakfast this morning, I thought I saw rows of spiders on the ground floor all scurrying away outside."
"It's the Basilisk!" Harry's eyes lit up, and he declared with conviction, "They must have sensed the Basilisk was about to appear again—that's why they all fled!"
Very good—the boy's deductive skills weren't half bad.
Kate's expression turned grave to match. "You mean... the Basilisk really exists?"
"Of course!" He nodded quickly. "While the Basilisk hasn't harmed anyone yet, we need to report this to the professors right away and get their help!"
"Don't rush. Although all these clues point to the Basilisk, it could also just be coincidence. It's best to investigate each one thoroughly and rule out the distractions before reporting to the professors."
Harry's eyes went as wide as brass bells. "So do we have to wait until the Basilisk actually appears and hurts someone before it counts as solid evidence?!"
"That's not what I meant..." Kate scratched her head. The Basilisk wasn't going to come out and hurt anyone again, after all.
She had no choice but to say, "How about this—there's a Dueling Club meeting tonight. You tell Professor Lockhart all this yourself. He teaches the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, so he ought to know how to deal with a Basilisk."
"Him?" Harry said doubtfully. "Can he really handle it?"
More likely the man would simply bolt before Harry even finished explaining.
Kate shrugged. "Or would you rather tell Professor Snape directly? Or Professor McGonagall? Do you think they'd believe you?"
Uh...
Harry felt himself instantly won over.
"Fine," he agreed with difficulty. "I'll go tell him. But you have to come with me!"
Kate spread her hands. "No problem."
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