Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

looking at him through a misted window. But there was no mistaking him.
    ‘Tom – Tom Riddle ?’
    Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry’s face.
    ‘What d’you mean, she won’t wake?’ Harry said desperately. ‘She’s not – she’s not –?’
    ‘She’s still alive,’ said Riddle. ‘But only just.’
    Harry stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.
    ‘Are you a ghost?’ Harry said uncertainly.
    ‘A memory,’ said Riddle quietly. ‘Preserved in a diary for fifty years.’
    He pointed towards the floor near the statue’s giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there – but there were more pressing matters to deal with.
    ‘You’ve got to help me, Tom,’ Harry said, raising Ginny’s head again. ‘We’ve got to get her out of here. There’s a Basilisk … I don’t know where it is, but it could be along any moment. please, help me …’
    Riddle didn’t move. Harry, sweating, managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor, and bent to pick up his wand again.
    But his wand had gone.
    ‘Did you see –?’
    He looked up. Riddle was still watching him – twirling Harry’s wand between his long fingers.
    ‘Thanks,’ said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.
    A smile curled the corners of Riddle’s mouth. He continued to stare at Harry, twirling the wand idly.
    ‘Listen,’ said Harry urgently, his knees sagging with Ginny’s dead weight, ‘we’ve got to go! If the Basilisk comes …’
    ‘It won’t come until it is called,’ said Riddle calmly.
    Harry lowered Ginny back onto the floor, unable to hold her up any longer.
    ‘What d’you mean?’ he said. ‘Look, give me my wand, I might need it.’
    Riddle’s smile broadened.
    ‘You won’t be needing it,’ he said.
    Harry stared at him.
    ‘What d’you mean, I won’t be –?’
    ‘I’ve waited a long time for this, Harry Potter,’ said Riddle. ‘For the chance to see you. To speak to you.’
    ‘Look,’ said Harry, losing patience, ‘I don’t think you get it. We’re in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later.’
    ‘We’re going to talk now,’ said Riddle, still smiling broadly, and he pocketed Harry’s wand.
    Harry stared at him. There was something very funny going on here.
    ‘How did Ginny get like this?’ he asked slowly.
    ‘Well, that’s an interesting question,’ said Riddle pleasantly. ‘And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley’s like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ said Harry.
    ‘The diary,’ said Riddle. ‘My diary. Little Ginny’s been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books, how –’ Riddle’s eyes glinted ‘– how she didn’t think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her …’
    All the time he spoke, Riddle’s eyes never left Harry’s face. There was an almost hungry look in them.
    ‘It’s very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl,’ he went on. ‘But I was patient. I wrote back, I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom … I’m so glad I’ve got this diary to confide in … It’s like having a friend I can carry round in my pocket … ’
    Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn’t suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry’s neck.
    ‘If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her …’
    ‘What d’you mean?’ said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.
    ‘Haven’t you guessed yet, Harry Potter?’ said Riddle softly. ‘Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four