The Reticulation, Part II

Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at the seven words Hermione had written for the longest time. Professor McGonagall, on the other hand, had apparently lost interest in what they were doing and had gone back to her desk.

"Wow, that part's really good," Ginny said suddenly, pointing at a blank part of the parchment. "I like how you brought about this...interesting conclusion. I really like it."

"It's not my best work," Hermione said modestly.

"Yeah, you're right," Ron said, "it completely sucks."

"Ron, this is supposed to be a good essay!" Hermione snapped. Ron rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded rather rude. Afraid that Ron or Hermione might mention what they were really doing if they got too angry at each other, Harry picked up Hermione's copy of Hogwarts: A History.

"Why don't you show us that interesting part you were going to show us last week?" he asked, handing her the book. Hermione thumbed through the pages until she finally reached the brief section that discussed the Chamber of Secrets.

The Legend of the Chamber of Secrets

The legend of the Chamber of Secrets has become legend. The ancient tale has been retold so many thousands and thousands of times that even the most learned are often unaware of all the original specifics.

According to the legend, Salazar Slytherin, after falling out with Godric Gryffindor over the issue of allowing Muggle-born students to attend, built a hidden chamber within the school that only his heir would be able to open. It is believed that this chamber contains a ferocious monster, which the heir alone can control and use to kill all Muggle-born students, as well as certain access to the Reticulation. (see Chapter 5 for more details on the Reticulation)

There have been many attempts to locate the Chamber, none of which have been successful, and two times where it is commonly believed that the Chamber has been opened, but information regarding these instances has been classified by the Ministry of Magic and the actual existence of the Chamber remains in question.

Hermione then took her piece of parchment again and wrote "Voldemort must have taken over the Reticulation when he found the Chamber of Secrets at school and somehow rigged it to place his essence in it if he ever died. Being the Reticulation would give him very limited powers and obvious disadvantages, but Voldemort fears death above all else, so he would still have considered it a preferable fate to death. He then created all his Horcruxes, but left this in place as a final safeguard in case his Horcruxes failed."

Harry stared it all this writing for a moment and then took the quill from Hermione to write "how can this help us?" Hermione then took the quill and wrote an none too encouraging reply: "it doesn't, but isn't it fascinating?" Harry grabbed the quill rather angrily and wrote "no."

Ginny, however, looked rather thoughtful. She got up and started pacing around the room, looking like she was getting an idea...