HARRY POTTER and the Chamber of Secrets Chapter Fourteen
Chapters 1-14
Chapter Fourteen
THE VERY SECRET DIARY
Hermione stays in the hospital for several weeks because of her “feline” condition. Harry and Ron visit her every day. And when the new semester begins, they bring her homework from each day. She is happy to be able to keep studying. And she is even happier when all the fur on her face is gone. But her eyes stay yellow for some time.
One day, returning to Gryffindor from the hospital building, Harry and Ron hear something strange. There is a loud yell. Someone is angry and yelling in a corridor above them. “That sounds like Filch,” says Harry. They run up the stairs to discover what is going on. Has there been another attack, they wonder?
They come to the corner of the corridor and listen. They can hear Filch. He sounds hysterical! “...these children are the worst! All I do is clean up their messes. Now this! The bathroom is flooded… water all over the corridor… I’ll be up all night cleaning this up! That’s it! I’m going to Dumbledore to complain!” They can hear Filch walking down the corridor in the other direction.
They look around the corner and see the water on the floor. The water is coming from Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom! The boys must investigate. They step through the large puddle of water and open the door to the bathroom. They can hear Myrtle moaning in her toilet stall. The floor of the bathroom is completely covered in water!
They get closer to her toilet stall and look inside. The source of the water is Moaning Myrtle’s toilet. And she is hiding inside the toilet! “Myrtle, are you alright?” asks Harry, concerned. “Who’s there?” she asks, crying loudly. “Are you going to throw more books at me?” Harry and Ron look at each other, confused. “Books?” asks Harry. “What do you mean, Myrtle?”
“Someone came in here and threw a book at me while I was in my toilet stall. The book fell into the toilet. I don’t deserve this kind of treatment!” She begins to cry and moan even louder. Harry builds up some courage and puts his hand in the toilet. He feels something at the bottom. It is blocking the water.
“Yuck, that’s disgusting,” says Ron. He makes a face. Harry pulls hard and out comes the book! It is a small thin book. Its cover is made of leather. “Be careful, Harry,” says Ron. “My father says that there are some magic books that can be dangerous!” Harry looks closely at the book. It is a diary! There is a date on the cover. The book is fifty years old.
He opens the book. On the first page he can see writing. There is a name in blurred ink: “T.M. Riddle”. “You know, Harry,” says Ron. “I think I know that name. T.M. Riddle won an award for special services at the school fifty years ago.” “How do you know all that?” asks Harry. “I saw his trophy in the trophy room,” continues Ron.
“Filch made me clean it about fifty times during detention. If you spend an hour cleaning a trophy for T.M. Riddle, you will remember the name.” Harry turns the pages in the book. There is no writing in the book. Not on a single page. “I guess he never wrote in this book,” says Harry, a little disappointed.
Harry turns the book over. He looks at the back cover. He reads the name of the publisher of the book. “I think Riddle was Muggle-born,” says Harry. “This book is from a Muggle store in London.” “Well, I think you can throw it away,” says Ron. “You can’t use a wet book like that. At least you solved the water problem for Filch.”
