Crimson writing shimmered with an eerie sheen beneath the firelight.
"Returned from death?"
Ian's gaze sharpened slightly.
Who hasn't? I just came back myself. That was the young wizard's instinctive thought. But jokes aside, the crooked writing on the wall still left him profoundly astonished.
Who would scribble something like this on Hogwarts' walls to scare people?
The answer was obvious.
Part of Voldemort's Horcrux was still out there. Other than his good brother Tom, no one else would do something like this. With a little thought, the young wizard could more or less guess what was happening.
What astonished Ian was that the words that should have read, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware," had instead become something that sounded like an acceptance speech.
"I... have returned from death?" Ian read the words on the wall before turning to the blond boy beside him. "I didn't expect you to still be such an edgelord."
Of course, he knew these words were unlikely to be Rirym's handiwork, but that did not stop him from teasing this somewhat mysterious boy, who always gave him a feeling that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Rirym was visibly stunned by Ian's words.
"I'm not some lingering remnant soul barely clinging to existence. I wouldn't write this sort of boastful nonsense from someone too unlucky to realize he's a fool." The blond boy shook his head with a laugh, his tone helpless as he responded.
That only made the young wizard even more astonished.
"You seem to know things I shouldn't possibly know." Ian raised a brow, sounding somewhat surprised as he once again sized up the blond boy before him.
Normal people would not make such a deduction.
Most would simply assume this was a prank. Even if