Harry blanched when he saw the ink drip, and hurried to wipe it up. But the ink was strangely absorbed by the diary.
Harry's thoughts on the complete Taiwanese novel any site for the fastest chapter updates.
After thinking for a while, Harry tentatively wrote in the diary, "Hello, my name is Harry Potter."
The words shimmered on the page, then were absorbed too. The next second, a new line appeared on the diary by itself, written in a completely different hand from Harry's.
"Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you find my diary?"
The new words were fainter, as though the ink had to be spread more thinly. Harry dipped his quill in more ink and continued chatting with the diary in writing.
"I found it in a toilet."
"..." The person in the diary seemed disgusted, but he still had a strong sense of professional courtesy and replied to Harry. "Fortunately, I recorded my memories in a way that would last longer than ink. I always knew there were people who wouldn't want this diary to be read."
"This could work!" Harry muttered. "Do you know a lot about Hogwarts' past?"
"Yes."
"Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets? The attacks have started again." Harry was so excited he nearly poked a hole through the page.
"I promised someone I wouldn't talk about it carelessly. But I can take you to see." The words vanished, and the diary seemed to flip rapidly through its pages before stopping at the page for June 13.
A dazzling golden light flashed. When Harry's vision returned, he found himself standing on a staircase in Hogwarts. At the landing, a handsome boy watched two caretakers carry down a stretcher covered by a white sheet. It looked as though someone had just been killed there. Soon—
"Are you Riddle?" Harry tried to step forward and greet him, but the other boy seemed unable to see him.
"Riddle." An old, familiar voice rang out. Harry looked up. It was Dumbledore, with far less beard than he had now. "Come here." Dumbledore beckoned to Riddle.
"Professor Dumbledore."
"It's not good to be wandering around so late, Tom."
"Professor, I thought I should see for myself whether the rumors were true." Riddle held his hands behind his back, looking like a student prefect reporting to a teacher.
"I'm afraid they are, Tom." Dumbledore sounded worried, just as he had on the night Colin was attacked.
"I have nowhere else to go. They aren't really going to close Hogwarts, are they, Professor?" Tom's voice trembled. He clearly cared deeply about Hogwarts.
"I understand, Tom, but Headmaster Dippet has no choice."
"If this can be resolved—I mean, if the culprit is caught—then perhaps..."
Dumbledore looked at Tom strangely. "Is there something you need to tell me?"
"No, sir."
"...Go to bed."
"Good night, Professor."
As though he'd expected it, Harry followed Tom. Sure enough, Tom didn't head back to the common room. They stopped outside a room.
A familiar voice came from inside. "Come in. Put it in the box, and I'll take you out."
As if certain of something, Tom pushed open the door.
"Good evening, Hagrid."
"Tom?"
"I have no choice but to report you, Hagrid. They're discussing closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop. I know you didn't mean to kill anyone, but the monster might. He really isn't suitable as a pet. I'm guessing you only wanted to let him out to stretch his legs."
"He didn't kill anyone!" Young Hagrid protested passionately, trying to defend the creature in the box.
"Move aside, Hagrid. The girl's parents are coming to Hogwarts tomorrow. We should at least kill the monster that killed her."
The wand in his hand burst into brilliant flames, which shot toward the box. A huge spider crawled out. Driven by the spell, it fled into the darkness. Harry had just started to approach when he felt someone tugging him from behind. The surroundings seemed to rush forward—no, he was rushing backward.
After a dizzying spin, Harry returned to where he'd been. The diary lay quietly in front of him. Just then, the other four returned from a day of searching.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron helped him up, looking at him with concern. Harry was drenched in sweat and trembling all over.
"Hagrid. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets."
The four of them: ("◇")?
Draco poured Harry a glass of water. Once he'd recovered a little, Harry began telling them about his strange adventure.
They fell silent in thought. If they hadn't known the truth beforehand, they might really have been misled. Bing Huan cautiously stuck a talisman onto the diary and sealed it away.
"First, we can be sure this guy is lying. So he must be the culprit—or someone working with Voldemort—who left the diary behind to focus our attention on Hagrid and waste our time, all to achieve his goal. After all, Hagrid doesn't have the brains for it."
They thought of Hagrid's guileless smile and his kindness toward them. "That's... true."
Harry frowned. "Then we're back to square one."
"Not necessarily."
Harry turned to Hermione. "Do you have another idea?"
Hermione lifted her chin and smiled. "What he said was definitely a lie. But he really was here fifty years ago, when this happened, and he was either the culprit or an accomplice. We can pretend we still don't know the truth and try to get more out of him. We might find out where the Chamber of Secrets is."
Ron asked, "How are we supposed to get him talking?"
Bing Huan: ⌓‿⌓
"Just humor the fool."
Bing Huan signaled for them to be quiet, opened the diary, and flicked a few drops of ink onto it. When the ink was absorbed, she feigned surprise and wrote, "Is someone in there? Where did the ink go?"
"My name is Tom Riddle. What's your name? Where did you find my diary?"
"My name is Nidie. I just got back from outside and was going to do my homework when I accidentally spilled ink on this notebook. There have been so many strange things happening at school lately. Now even diaries are talking."
"What happened?"
"People at school are saying the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. There have already been several attacks, and the victims were all petrified."
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened again?"
They all smiled in satisfaction. He'd taken the bait.
Bing Huan continued writing, "Was it opened before, too? How do you know?"
"Yes. I was a student here fifty years ago, when the Chamber was opened."
"Fifty years ago? So you're an upperclassman."
"Hahaha, no need to be so formal." The fellow seemed to like being treated with respect.
"Then do you know where the Chamber is, upperclassman? I want to go in and deal with the monster!"
"So brave. You must be a Gryffindor. But the monster in the Chamber isn't something a young wizard can handle. Things were different back then. A girl lost her life that time."
"She died?"
"Yes. When they found her, she was already lifeless in the bathroom."
No matter how many more questions they asked, the diary wouldn't reveal anything else. Bing Huan sealed it again. "Looks like the fool isn't willing to cooperate. He probably knows about Harry's connection to Voldemort. There was a clear difference in how he spoke to Harry and to us. Still, we did learn something."
"You mean the girl who was killed back then?"
"Not just that. I'm going to have someone outside the school look into what happened to Tom Riddle after he graduated."
There was a quiz the next day. Professor McGonagall wanted to see how everyone was doing so she could decide what to focus on during the final stretch of lessons.
Everyone was waiting outside the classroom. Hermione glanced at her hapless friend, who had been frowning the whole time. "What's wrong?"
"I have a bad feeling."
"It can't be that Draco failed the quiz, can it?" The four of them had all passed and come out, while Draco was still waiting inside.
"Mm, I'm not worried about that guy. I just feel like something bad is going to happen."
His premonition was right. When they returned to their dormitory to put away their books, Harry's bed and belongings looked as though they'd been hit by a cannonball. Everything was scattered across the floor. Every place where something could be hidden—drawers, pockets, and the like—had been pulled out and ransacked.
He and the others helped Harry tidy up, along with Dean Seamus, who had come in behind them. After checking everything, Harry found that none of his belongings were missing. Seamus and the others offered some words of comfort, then went out to eat.
The five of them gathered again in an empty classroom. "The diary was stolen. Someone searched my dormitory."
Hermione immediately narrowed down the suspects. "Only Gryffindors know the password. And the person must have sensed that the diary was there, rather than knowing which bed was yours. That's why they searched your things."
But that was all they had. They had no other clues to follow.
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