After-school tutoring

The incantation for the Patronus Charm was not difficult, and Cyrus understood its principles perfectly well.

Tom Riddle had once tried to master this charm, too, but had ultimately failed. Cyrus had worked out all the theory, yet having never held a wand, he had no idea whether he could actually cast it.

It was not until the following evening that Cyrus finally received another message from Ginny.

"Good evening, Mr. Riddle-I nearly overslept this morning. Luckily, my roommate woke me up."

Cyrus picked up on the complaint in Ginny's words and immediately replied, "Nearly? So you weren't late. I imagine last night's little adventure was rather fun, wasn't it? Even if you had been late, it would have been worth it. Besides, I can teach you most of what you need to know, perhaps even better than your professors. I'm more patient, after all, and you get one-on-one tutoring."

"But I'd lose points. I don't want to be the one who lets Gryffindor down." Ginny blushed as she wrote those words. Then, as though something had occurred to her, she eagerly began writing again. "Would you like to know what happened after I went to the Trophy Room, Mr. Riddle?"

She was keeping him in suspense. After writing that sentence, she stopped and waited for her Mr. Riddle to respond.

"I'm all ears."

Ginny was not entirely satisfied with that answer, but she pursed her lips and began writing anyway:

"I nearly got caught by the caretaker, but Fred and George helped me hide. They have a secret-even when they can't see someone, they still know where that person is. And they know some secret passages, too. There's one by the One-Eyed Witch statue in the Third Floor Corridor. They told me to keep it secret, but I don't think telling you will hurt. Oh, Mr. Riddle, that one wasn't on the map you gave me."

The Marauder's Map?

As soon as Cyrus read that, he knew what the twins' secret was.

The Marauder's Map, created by the four Marauders led by Harry's father, could mark even Dumbledore's location as long as he was within the school. As magical objects went, it was remarkably sophisticated.

Cyrus was interested in the Marauder's Map as well, but after some thought, he realized it would be of little use to his plans. Besides, there were many places in Hogwarts that even the map could not display, such as the Room of Requirement and the Chamber of Secrets.

As for secret passages out of Hogwarts, he knew three from reading the original story-one beneath the Whomping Willow, one at the One-Eyed Witch statue on the third floor, and another behind a mirror on the fourth floor.

Those three routes were more than enough for his purposes.

"That's perfectly normal, Ginny. Hogwarts has as many secrets as you could ever want. Still, I doubt they could possibly know the secrets I know."

"Such as?" Ginny asked, almost challengingly.

"Some secret rooms, for instance-" Cyrus's words drew Ginny in as though they were enchanted.

"Secret rooms?"

"That's right!" Cyrus replied slowly. He had no intention of revealing the Chamber of Secrets just yet. In fact, there were plenty of other secret rooms in the castle besides that one. Tom Riddle had discovered many while searching for the Chamber of Secrets, though most had been empty or contained nothing but junk.

"As a magical castle with over a thousand years of history, Hogwarts actually has a great many hidden chambers. Most are empty rooms, but sometimes they're quite enough to serve as a temporary refuge."

He revealed the locations of several hidden rooms in quick succession, leaving Ginny astonished.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I thought discovering them for yourself would make for a better surprise. What do you think?"

Ginny nodded, then wrote in the Diary about what had happened in her classes that day. Since she had studied ahead, she had received quite a lot of praise,

earning Gryffindor several points and becoming something of a little Hermione. Her personality was not as sensitive or sharp as Hermione's, however, so rather than making people dislike her, she had made quite a few friends.

"Oh, Ron got a Howler from Mum this morning-it sounds like Dad got into trouble over what they did, too. Ron's always causing trouble. Fred and George are right: he's like a little boy who never grows up." Ginny had found no one to share this with during the day, so she could only pour out her frustrations to Cyrus. "And honestly, I felt a bit embarrassed, too. People kept asking me in class, 'Was that your brother who got the Howler this morning?'..."

She wrote unhappily, clearly feeling that Ron had embarrassed her.

In truth, though, Ron cared a great deal about Ginny. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Whomping Willow the previous night, he had still wanted to watch her Sorting despite his injuries. Unfortunately, the Sorting Ceremony had long since ended by then.

"That's what you don't understand, Little Ginny. Boys are all like that. Childish and immature."

"No! You're not like that!" Ginny protested.

"I'm not a little boy." Cyrus brought the subject to a close. "All right, let's begin tonight's tutoring. You shouldn't need to worry about Charms or Transfiguration this term, though you must still take care to practice often. What would you like to study next?"

"Dark Magic Defense-I borrowed Ron's textbook, but he gave me Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them along with it."

Last year's Dark Magic Defense textbook had been titled Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Defense, though Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also served as a supplementary text. Dark Magic Defense in the first three years focused almost entirely on dealing with dark creatures, which were themselves a subset of fantastic beasts.

Ginny had originally planned to use the secondhand Lockhart books she had paid so much for that year. Cyrus, however, had told her they were no better than wastepaper. Even reading them as fiction meant enduring Lockhart's narcissism, which permeated every page.

Ginny opened Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. After the forewords by Dumbledore and Newt, the book's first section posed the question, "What is a beast?" She saw that Ron had left a note beside it-"A really hairy thing with lots and lots of legs"-and immediately burst out laughing.

Clearly, that was not the correct answer, but it easily reminded her of Ron's fear of spiders.

Then she soon discovered more little sources of amusement left in the book.

For instance, after "Under the Ministry of Magic's classification system, the most dangerous creatures are marked ×××××," Ron had added, "Or anything Hagrid likes."

Ginny laughed herself silly. She knew Hagrid was the enormous man who had helped the first-years onto the boats across the lake. He had also brought Harry out of Knockturn Alley when Harry had wandered in there by mistake that summer. During the holidays, Ginny had heard Ron talk more than once about the three-headed dog and the dragon, all of which had been raised by that same Mr. Hagrid.

Then she discovered that Ron had added four more Xs after the five beside the Acromantula, turning it into an unprecedented nine-X fantastic beast. It showed just how terrified Ron was of spiders.

The other book, Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Defense, mentioned quite a few spells, such as the Knockback Jinx, the Bogey Jinx, Red Sparks, and Green Sparks, none of which were taught in Charms.

There were also spells such as Lumos and Nox, which were mentioned in the Standard Book of Spells as well.

Cyrus let Ginny read on her own, telling her to ask him anything she liked if she came across something she did not understand.

When it came to Dark Magic Defense, he could now be called a true master. There were probably very few past professors of the subject whose theoretical knowledge surpassed his. Dumbledore, of course, was most certainly not included in that comparison.