With the basilisk dealt with, the diary naturally had to be taken care of as well. This was much more convenient to handle than the basilisk.
First, Adam cast Shield Card's protection on Ginny, then had the conscious girl hand over the diary. Having been controlled by it before, Ginny clearly knew the diary was no good. Without hesitation, she handed it to Adam.
"Can you keep what happened with this diary a secret for me?"
Ginny's face was a little pale from fright, though perhaps the diary having absorbed some of her life force was also part of it.
"I don't want my brothers to worry, and Mrs. Norris..."
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
Through George and Fred, Adam had already established the image of a reliable big brother in Ginny's mind. At her words, he gave a smile befitting every Hufflepuff trait people could imagine and held out a honey-flavored sweet.
"Still, I recommend that you go see Madam Pomfrey. Just tell her the rumors about the Chamber of Secrets have been scaring you so badly that you can't sleep."
"Thank you. I will."
Ginny accepted the sweet and breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Adam.
"...What will you do with that diary?"
"Destroy it, of course. But it seems this thing can't be destroyed by ordinary methods, so I need to run some experiments."
"That's good... You have to be careful. Don't let it control you."
Ginny gave him several more reminders before leaving. But since Adam could help her resist the diary's control, she assumed nothing would go wrong, and she left feeling quite reassured.
"Hmm, let's see... Just how durable is this legendary Horcrux?"
Adam looked at the diary in his hand with a curious expression.
Unlike Harry and the others, who