In the girls' dormitory at Hogwarts Castle, most of the candles had gone out, with only the small magic lamp by the bedside still lit, emitting a dim yellow glow.
Ginny Weasley was curled up in the corner of the bed, the blanket pulled up to her chin, with an old-looking diary lying on her lap.
Silver lettering slowly emerged on the paper. "... So, the author named Allen Wayne perfectly predicted everything that happened at Hogwarts starting in 1991?"
She stared at the line of silver lettering for a while and then nodded, though no one could see her nod.
"Yes."
She wrote it in her diary.
The ink-black writing disappeared as soon as it was finished, swallowed up completely by the paper, as if someone had sucked it away from the other side of the paper.
She continued in her diary, "Everything that happened in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone during Harry's first year at Hogwarts has happened."
" Professor Quirrell, the Philosopher's Stone, and that You-Know-Who..."
When she wrote " You-Know-Who," her pen paused subconsciously.
The silver lettering appeared almost the instant her pen left the paper:
"So, Ginny, can you tell me what happened in his latest book?"
Ginny bit her lower lip, thought for a moment, and then began to write.
Her handwriting was a bit messier than before; after all, summarizing the contents of an entire book is no easy task.
"The second book is called * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets *, and only the first half has been released so far."
"It describes what happened before Harry started his second year of high school: a House-elf named Dobby came to his house and warned him not to return to Hogwarts, saying that terrible things would happen at the school that year."
"Then Harry went back anyway. Because the Floo Network was blocked, he and Ron had to drive Mr. Weasley's flying car—my dad's car—to school."
She paused here, lightly tapping the paper twice with the tip of her pen.
She continued writing, "Later, strange things happened at school: Filch's cat was petrified, and someone wrote in blood on the wall that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened."
"The book also says that Harry can hear voices talking inside the walls, but no one else can."
That's all for the first half; the rest hasn't been released yet.
She wrote the last word, put the pen aside, and waited for the diary to respond.
This time, the silver lettering did not appear immediately as before.
The paper remained blank for several seconds, as if it were processing what she had written.
After a while, silver writing suddenly emerged from the paper, the strokes rapid and messy, completely different from the previous smooth and neat handwriting.
"It's exactly the same as reality?!"
Ginny was startled by the urgency conveyed in those words.
Just as she was about to pick up her pen again to answer, the dormitory door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
Ginny! You're still awake?
Three girls in bathrobes rushed in, chattering away. The one in the lead was named Amy.
She was holding a pillow in her arms and had a quill pen tucked in her hair, clearly having just returned from the common room.
Ginny's movements were so fast that even she was startled.
Almost reflexively, she closed her diary, shoved it under her pillow, and quickly pulled the blanket up to her chest, pretending to have just been woken up.
"Why are you so late?" she asked, her voice tinged with feigned sleepiness.
Amy threw her pillow on the bed and plopped down on the edge of Ginny's bed. "You'll never guess what we just heard in the lounge!"
"What?"
"The second part of ' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ' is coming out!" another girl exclaimed, her excitement practically overflowing from her eyes.
"This afternoon, the publisher on Oxford Street even put up posters on their walls, saying it will be officially released on November 15th!"
Ginny paused for a moment, then smiled with surprise, "Really?"
"It's true! Everyone in the common room is talking about it!" Amy waved her hand in the air. "Part 2! November 15th! Next Friday!"
"Then we'll know right away who's behind the cat being petrified?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah! I think about this every night before bed, and it keeps me awake."
The third girl climbed into her bed, pulled the covers over herself, and said, "If this book really describes what's going to happen next, then we won't have to live in fear every day."
Amy nodded vigorously. "Even though the school keeps saying it's okay, who isn't scared inside?"
"When Filch's cat was hanging there, so many people were so scared they couldn't sleep for days."
"Okay, okay, stop talking about it." The girl next to Amy shrank back. "Bringing this up so late at night is kind of scary."
"Then I won't say anything more." Amy stuck out her tongue. " Ginny, are you planning to go to the bookstore tomorrow?"
Ginny shook her head. "My mom won't let me go. But I can borrow it to watch after she's finished watching it."
"Then you'll have to wait in line after me," Amy said with a smile. "I'm waiting too."
The girls chatted for a while longer, then their voices gradually quieted down.
Before long, the sound of even breathing filled the dormitory.
After everyone's breathing had calmed down, Ginny carefully pulled the diary out from under the pillow again.
The moment her fingers touched the cover, the pages turned by themselves, as if an invisible hand was helping her turn the pages.
The silver lettering emerged from the depths of the page, fainter than before, but still clearly legible.
"What happened? You seem quite happy?"
Ginny looked at the words, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.
She picked up her pen and wrote quickly on the paper:
" Allen Wayne's ' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Part 2' is about to be officially released, I heard it's on November 15th."
"They'll definitely write down who caused Filch's cat to turn to stone, so we won't have to live in fear every day!"
When she finished writing this, she paused firmly on the last exclamation mark, clearly very pleased.
The silver lettering did not appear immediately.
Ginny waited and waited.
The paper is still blank.
She frowned, about to write something else to ask what was going on, when the line of silver text slowly emerged, slower than ever before.
"This is amazing..."
Ginny looked at those words and felt a little uncomfortable about the ellipsis, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.
She stared at the line of text for a few seconds, then closed the diary again, tucked it back under her pillow, and pulled the blanket over her shoulders.
The dormitory was quiet, with only the occasional sound of wind blowing through the window.
Gradually, Ginny drifted off to sleep.