( That Evening )
"How was Hagrid?" Tracy asked from her chair.
"Surprisingly knowledgeable," he replied back as he sat down in the remaining free space. "Hagrid was set up by Tom Riddle, that much is clear, and Headmaster Dippet used him as a scapegoat. There was no proper investigation at all, despite our current Headmaster's urgings for one, who believed Riddle was behind it." He explained to the group as he told them of Hagrid's role.
"An Acromantula, really? That was his pet?! Fucking hell, only Hagrid would have a man-eating spider as a pet!" Tracy exclaimed, pretty much echoing all their thoughts on the subject.
"Yes, he named it Aragog," Harry said with good humour. "However, from what Hagrid implied, it's still alive and living in the Forbidden Forest with its children. To quote Hagrid's words, 'it's just a small nest.'"
"Small as in human small or half-giant small?" Tonks demanded, clearly knowing of the danger the nest presented from DADA. He only knew of the species because he looked up dangerous magical creatures last year while researching about Hagrid's pet Cerberus. "Their nests can grow into the thousands as long as there is enough food around to prevent them from turning on one another," she explained to the rest of them.
"If it's been there for over 50 years, there are probably several nests throughout the forest. I would imagine the only reason we haven't encountered them already is due to the castle wards; if the wards ever collapsed, we would have serious problems," he said, not liking the idea of hundreds of man-eating spiders living so close to a school full of children.
"Fuck," Tonks said to no one but herself.
"Moving on," Daphne said, taking charge of the meeting while clearly trying to ignore the idea of hundreds or even thousands of man-eating spiders in the nearby forest. "I had my parents track down anything they could get on Tom Riddle. I found out the following: He got perfect grades throughout Hogwarts, all 'Outstandings,' to the point his teachers expected him to immediately get into a high Ministry position upon graduating.
However, he ended up working in the alley at Borgin and Burkes, a store known for dealing in antiquities and off-the-record dark arts items. This shocked many of his classmates and teachers. Now here's where it gets interesting. Tom then spent the next two years working there before suddenly disappearing. He's wanted for questioning by the Ministry over his possible involvement in the death of Hepzibah Smith, a lady he met two days earlier while buying some of her private collection of antiques for the store on the owner's behalf."
"Now pay attention, this is the important part. Originally, Mrs. Smith's death was ruled as an accident after the Aurors questioned her old house-elf, who confessed to accidentally poisoning her by mistake. Naturally, the elf was disposed of by the Ministry without a second thought. However, when Mrs. Smith's remaining family later reported that two of her most prized heirlooms were missing and unaccounted for, the Aurors reopened the case. The missing artefacts were Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup," Daphne said smugly to the room—well, as smugly as she could without ruining her icy persona.
"Sounds just like what happened to Hagrid; another easily accused non-human set up to take the fall," Tracy said. "What are the odds that this Riddle guy is involved in the Chamber of Secrets and the thief of a Slytherin artefact? And a Puff one?"
"Exactly. If this Riddle guy was the heir, he may have believed he was entitled to the locket. And if he had already gotten away with murder once, what's to stop him from doing so again?" he asked the room. "Plus a Hufflepuff one as well? That's a cherry on the cake. Each would be worth a fortune if sold to the right person, I imagine. This guy had no money, so he could always use the gold."
"Plus, the plan of setting a fall guy up worked before with Hagrid; the Aurors don't look for you if they believe they've already got their killer, so why not do so again with an elf? Something the Ministry considers nothing more than a slave," Tonks stated factually.
"I agree, there is quite a bit of evidence to support this theory, but he's a Muggle-born. How can he be the heir of Slytherin?" Blaise said, pointing out a possible hole in their logic.
"He's an orphan. That does not necessarily mean he's a Muggle-born," he said firmly, finding it rather easy to connect with this Riddle character. "Trust me, as an orphan I was always interested about my past, always trying to find out more about it, trying to find something to connect with. I didn't find out about my family until I met the goblins."
Looking at the file, "The file states he's a Muggle-born; that just means the wizards that found him believed he was a Muggle-born. For all we know, his mother or father could have been a magical, but they died in a Muggle area. Or one of his parents could have been cast out of the main Slytherin family generations ago, and he is from this discarded bloodline of squibs. It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened; the Blacks did it all the time. The Muggle authorities wouldn't know where he came from; he would just be another child found on the steps of an orphanage."
Remembering his relatives' off-handed threats about shipping him off and watching the movie 'Oliver' at Christmas time before replying, "Frankly, they are hard, unforgiving places, even by today's standards, yet even worse back then. It would explain the hatred of Muggles and Muggle-borns if he had a bad childhood at the orphanage, just to discover when he got here that he had Slytherin blood in his veins later on."
"Then he would reach out for it, trying to claim something of his heritage, something to connect with," Penny added, clearly seeing where he was coming from. "We all desire to understand our existence, our purpose in life, and without a past, that's hard to do."
"I would," he added quietly. "If I found out that I was 'Slytherin's heir' and I grew up in an orphanage where I was beaten and bullied, I could very well see that my forbear was correct and decide to carry on my ancestor's work. Then if he was sent back to the orphanage every summer, forced to endure bullying, unable to use his magic to protect himself, forced to suffer," he said as he examined the picture of the guy, as well as the stolen heirlooms. "Every year this guy went from being the most gifted student in his year, the envy of his peers, to nothing, each summer. How would that affect him?"
"It's possible," Daphne admitted, seeing his rationale. "He could very well reject everything Muggle, just from his hatred of the orphanage."
"Might I remind you that Voldemort is the last known heir of Slytherin... I know a bit of history; Riddle is not a typical wizard name, and there are no Lordships with the name of Riddle in Britain... at least to my knowledge," Blaise argued, playing the role of devil's advocate.
"I agree, but he disappeared. He could very well have been killed by Voldemort. After all, I doubt Voldemort would accept a half-blood for a brother or a distant cousin..." Daphne stated.
Looking towards the window, seeing the lights of Hogsmeade in the distance confirmed that it was getting late, "How about we take a break and think this over. I'm sure you all agree this Riddle guy is certainly a good suspect for setting Hagrid up and opening the Chamber the first time around. There are just too many similarities between the events," he told the room, yet still needing time to think it over.
"Yeah, I think we all need to take a step back and think about it, plus it's getting late," Padma said, seconding his opinion.
"Daphne, you and Tracy were going to talk to Myrtle; have you found anything out?"
"Not yet. She's naturally mistrustful of us," Tracy said, answering for the pair.
"It will take more time than we thought," Daphne added, clearly annoyed at her own failure, which made it clear why she got her parents to find out so much about Riddle, since that had been his job and Rita was currently digging up his dirty secrets.
"Fair enough. No offense to you guys, but Slytherin does have a rather bad reputation."
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