A year ago, a magical accident had altered the lives of many.
Hodge Blackthorn, Mr. Wickham, Jamie, the Magician—even excluding the wave of patients rushed to St. Mungo's on the day of the incident—some destinies were permanently reshaped. And now, Ginny Weasley was among them.
Lying on his four-poster bed, Hodge pieced together the final fragment of the puzzle in his mind.
He tried to reconstruct Ginny's ordeal: over a year ago, she and Mrs. Weasley were in London—likely shopping in Diagon Alley or visiting Gringotts—when the magical accident struck. Ginny had collapsed on the spot and was rushed to St. Mungo's for treatment. By chance, she was placed in the bed next to Hodge's.
In the aftermath of the accident, some fortunate—or perhaps unfortunate—individuals unexpectedly gained memories that weren't their own.
Take Mr. Wickham, for instance. While hospitalized, he let slip something peculiar, which caught the attention of the Ministry of Magic investigators looking into the accident's cause. He was whisked away by Dolores Umbridge, who extracted a wealth of "explosive" information from him.
One name stood out: Sebastian Sallow.
As for Hodge himself, near the end of the last school year, he'd stumbled upon a fragment of what seemed to be Sebastian's past experiences in his mind. The details aligned perfectly—and, as a bonus, he'd acquired an ancient magic.
Ginny, however, was a different case altogether.
Her memories didn't come from the "present" or the "past" but from the "future." It was astonishing, yet there was no rule stating memories couldn't originate from the future. Hodge knew of the existence of Time-Turners, after all. His breath caught as a chilling thought struck him: what if the accident's origin lay in the future? What if memories from some future time had somehow bled into the past—into Hodge's present?
That might be Ginny's secret.
From what Hodge could tell, Ginny's memories were incomplete, missing crucial pieces. She didn't even know the location of the Chamber of Secrets or the basilisk, but she seemed to have glimpsed fragments of her future life—moments where she fought alongside Harry Potter. That's how she knew partial truths about the Horcruxes.
Hodge hadn't forgotten the strange dream he'd had: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and others were there, but they were older, more mature. Oddly, Hodge himself seemed to be cast as the villain, the one they were fighting against.
What if that dream was real?
What if it depicted a real event in the future? Did that mean the battle that erupted above St. Paul's Cathedral was the true starting point of everything? A magical explosion, triggered by some unknown cause, could have ripped away fragments of people's memories. A shiver ran down Hodge's spine as he realized something else: the magic capable of erasing memories was lying dormant in his mind, waiting for him to unravel it, drawing him step by step toward a predestined path.
But that didn't necessarily mean it was his future.
Another possibility dawned on him—one that might align with the normal timeline. It could involve Harry. Because of the fragment of Voldemort's soul attached to him, Harry occasionally glimpsed Voldemort's thoughts. That could explain Ginny's reference to a fifth Horcrux. In the dream, "Hodge" had been shrouded in black mist, resembling a Boggart's transformed state. But many dark wizards possessed similar abilities, so it didn't prove anything. On the optimistic side, perhaps Hodge had merely witnessed the battle from an opposing perspective.
If it wasn't Hodge, then in the limited pool of possibilities, it almost certainly pointed to Sebastian Sallow himself. Was he still alive? The thought made Hodge uneasy, a chill settling over him.
His heart grew cold, untouched by the warmth of the fireplace.
Sebastian Sallow could be lurking in the shadows, quietly amassing power for some grand scheme. Did it involve Hodge? Was he a key player—or, worse, as Hodge reluctantly considered, could he, at some point in the future, become a puppet controlled by Sebastian? The idea wasn't entirely implausible. After all, it had been ages since Sebastian's era. It would make sense for him to seek a younger body. Understandable, even.
Hodge shuddered.
He recalled a conversation in the Ravenclaw common room. He could tell Ginny wanted to confess everything, but that would mean admitting she knew parts of the future. Being a seer was no easy task, especially when it involved her and Harry. For now, Hodge decided it was best to keep things vague.
There was another reason: he didn't want to tip their hand.
After closely examining Ginny's actions with the diary Horcrux, Hodge had pieced together the identity of the mastermind behind the Chamber's opening—Peter Pettigrew. Who else could observe everything unnoticed, detect the diary's peculiarities, and seize it at the perfect moment? Pettigrew was an Animagus, capable of transforming into a rat.
It was likely Ginny's intense reaction to the diary that set off a butterfly effect.
Hodge theorized that the diary Horcrux was unique compared to the others. Voldemort seemed to have a particular attachment to his first Horcrux, especially since it was tied to memories and a diary as its vessel. This made the soul fragment within it far more active. Sensing danger, it might have acted on its own, using Pettigrew to escape.
The problem now was that Hodge had no idea where the diary Horcrux was hidden.
It could be tucked away in some obscure corner—perhaps in the Chamber of Secrets, where a petrified Moaning Myrtle wouldn't disturb it. Or maybe the Shrieking Shack, beneath the Whomping Willow, or even somewhere random: Hagrid's garden, a hidden cellar, a ceiling compartment. Hodge doubted that Pettigrew, who had evaded Death Eater retribution for over a decade as a rat, was particularly obsessive about order. So, confronting him directly wasn't an option yet.
Ideally, Hodge wanted to secure the diary first and then expose Pettigrew in a public setting, leaving no room for him to weasel out. Otherwise, they'd risk getting dragged into a media circus, with Rita Skeeter spinning tales of a "lone hero hiding for years to protect the Boy Who Lived."
With Cornelius Fudge in charge, Hodge had little faith the Ministry would side with the truth.
He had no concrete evidence yet, but verifying his theory would be simple enough with a certain item from Fred and George.
For now, Hodge chose to bide his time. He'd subtly hinted to Harry and the others that he knew something—pointing out, for instance, the unusual puddles of water in the corridors—and urged them to keep the Horcrux secret. After all, the "Heir of Slytherin" who opened the Chamber was still at Hogwarts.
As sleep overtook him, Hodge knew that by morning, rumors about the Chamber would be everywhere. The attack on the ghosts would dominate conversations for weeks. He was prepared for that, but at breakfast in the Great Hall, a headline in the newspaper made him choke on his food—
Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban.
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