Tierra stopped in his tracks and stood there, his expression shifting as he stared at the diary in the fireplace.
At last, Tierra sighed and drew his wand, giving it a wave.
The diary flew out of the fireplace and drifted lightly onto the coffee table.
Tierra slowly moved his hand closer to the diary.
Ice-cold.
That was Tierra's first impression upon touching the diary.
Suddenly, an image flashed through Tierra's mind—
A tall, black-haired boy of about fifteen or sixteen, so thin he was almost skeletal, curled up within a blank expanse of light.
Tierra felt a sudden disturbance in his spiritual presence. A faint thread of magic, almost impossible to detect, flowed into the diary.
Fortunately, Tierra's control far surpassed that of an ordinary child. He immediately cut off the flow of magic.
But it was already too late. In the instant before Tierra pulled back his fingers, he saw the gaunt boy open his eyes.
The diary, which had been closed on the coffee table, flipped itself open to the first page without a breath of wind. A line of writing slowly appeared:
"Hello, my name is Tom Riddle. What's yours?"
Tierra had already retreated behind the sofa. Seeing the words appear in the book, he raised his wand even more nervously.
But Tierra eventually lowered his wand slowly, because he knew that unless he was willing to lose another finger, the magic he possessed now could not damage this diary in the slightest.
He picked up a quill someone had left on the table, dipped it in ink, and wrote in the diary:
"Hello, Tom. My name is Tierra."
"Hello, Tierra. Are you a young wizard at Hogwarts?" another line appeared in the diary.
"Yes," Tierra wrote.
"What year are you in?"
"First year," Tierra answered