Chapter 178 The Diary Thrown in the Bathroom
A few weeks later, after Christmas, students gradually returned to school, starting a new semester.
Harry and his friends had diligently investigated the three common rooms during this time, using a very simple and crude method: wearing the Invisibility Cloak and waiting for Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw students to open the common room doors for them.
Of course, the Gryffindor common room was their own territory, so investigating it wasn't as troublesome.
In addition, they also conducted a secret investigation into the twenty-three suspects based on the list Aaron provided, but they found nothing.
Fortunately, it seemed the Heir of Slytherin had laid low during this period, and no more attacks occurred.
"So, you really didn't find anything?" Aaron asked, walking down the corridor, looking thoughtfully at Ron, "What about Ginny? Are you sure you weren't biased?"
"She absolutely has no suspicion, I guarantee it with my character," Ron said seriously, "Every time I subtly brought up the Chamber of Secrets, she acted very scared, and once she even pushed me, her brother, down."
"Is that so? Then this is difficult.
I searched all the students in the school and only filtered out these twenty-three, but now the clues are broken again."
"We couldn't find any mechanisms in the common rooms either, so it's certain they're not connected to the Chamber of Secrets," Harry muttered, "The Principal's office can basically be ruled out, leaving only the Forbidden Forestand the Black Lake."
"There's one more location," Hermione looked at Aaron, "You should tell us by now!"
"No," Aaron refused without hesitation, "I'd rather investigate the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake first than go to that kind of place."
The three of them exchanged glances, surprised.
Could this last location be even more dangerous than the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake?
"Then can you ask the Heir from fifty years ago..." Harryhesitated for a moment, "He might have some clues."
"His clues are in the Forbidden Forest, not very valuable and extremely dangerous, I don't recommend you go," Aaron frowned slightly, and continued, "Maybe you didn't investigate carefully enough, or maybe I missed something important.
Our progress is currently stuck here; to move forward, we can only wait for the Heir to strike again."
"Hopefully not."
"I think so too, but the Heir might not be that kind," Aaron said, stepping onto the last stair, but as he took a step, he stepped into a puddle.
Hermione looked at the flooded half of the corridor in front of them, startled, and pointed to the door with an 'Out of Order' sign, "I think the common room might have a leak, it must be from Moaning Myrtle's place.
Shall we go check it out?"
Aaron paused, slowly stepping back, "You go! I'll wait here, I don't like dealing with that female ghost."
The three of them shrugged, picked up their robes, and waded through the water.
A few minutes later, Aaron heard Myrtle's shouting, and even through a dozen meters and a door, the sound was exceptionally clear.
When Harry and his friends came out, their shoes and socks were completely soaked.
"It was probably a prank, someone must have turned on all the taps," Hermione said.
"And this," Harry picked up a completely soaked, black-covered diary, "The date on it is fifty years ago, and the owner's name is Tom Riddle, nothing else is written."
"Let me see," Aaron took the diary from Harry's hand, then pulled out his wand, "Revelio!"
The diary had no reaction; not a single word appeared.
"Is there something wrong with this diary?" Harry asked, confused.
"It's inevitable," Aaron said with certainty, "The Chamber of Secrets was opened once fifty years ago, and today, fifty years later, a blank diary is thrown in an abandoned girls' lavatory.
How can this not be a coincidence? Perhaps this diary contains some secret!"
When Harry heard the word 'coincidence,' the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and he gave an awkward laugh, "Maybe it's just an ordinary diary!"
"Yeah! An ordinary student found a fifty-year-old diary, didn't want to bother writing anything in it, so they found an abandoned place and threw it away," Ron chimed in, "At least I would do that."
Aaron looked at the two, not quite believing them, and smiled meaningfully, "Then why didn't this student throw it in the rubbish bin, but instead went out of their way to throw it in Myrtle's lavatory?
And turn on all the taps? Isn't that redundant?"
"Uh..." Hermione said somewhat awkwardly, "They both were as suspicious as you before, which caused those misunderstandings."
"Don't talk to me about misunderstandings, that was clearly premeditated," Aaron said unhappily, "My cooperation with you now is completely out of necessity.
However, I do have a simple way to prove my guess."
As he finished speaking, Aaron tossed the diary into the air and quickly cast a Flame Charm.
Blazing flames shot from his wand, hitting the diary directly.
But to the surprise of the three, the diary, after being scorched by the intense fire, only emitted a few wisps of smoke and returned to its original state after a few seconds.
"Hmph!" Aaron sneered, "See? This is what you call actions speak louder than words."
Harry picked up the diary; the soaked parts had dried, and there was still not a single word inside, making it look like an old, ordinary diary.
However, he now believed Aaron; there was definitely a secret in this diary, and it was very likely related to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Aaron, do you have any way to unlock the secret inside?"
"You think too highly of me," Aaron shook his head, directly cutting off Harry's attempt to find a shortcut.
His method had just been used, but only yielded one accurate conclusion: the diary was protected by powerful magic and difficult to destroy.
Harry wasn't too disappointed; his green eyes looked at the only name on it, muttering, "Tom Riddle, we can start by investigating the name."
"Go for it, I'm rooting for you!" Aaron patted his shoulder, "I'm not very interested in the history from fifty years ago, because I know the Heir who was expelled.
However, according to the terms of our cooperation, if you uncover the secret inside, you must tell me unconditionally."
"Understood," Harry helplessly put the diary away... Days passed, and the Mandrakes became moody and taciturn, quickly leaving their childhood stage.
Once their pimples disappeared, they could be sliced and juiced to restore the petrified students, animals, and ghosts to their original state.
Although the attacks were still deeply ingrained in people's minds, no new incidents had occurred for so long that many students relaxed their guard, even treating the legend of the Chamber of Secrets as a story.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts Class teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, was the most boisterous.
When people were in a panic, he hid faster than anyone, but after the scare passed, he confidently guaranteed that no further problems would arise, acting as if he himself had stopped the Heir of Slytherin.
Since there were no other clues for a while, Aaron focused more on improving himself.
His skill in drawing advanced magic arrays became increasingly proficient with continuous practice, though Aaron dared not test his full strength, as accidentally demolishing the dormitory would be a huge problem.
His accumulation of magic points also barely reached two thousand, enough to acquire the magic of a clone—no, a Thought-Form.
But to be on the safe side, Aaron did not purchase it immediately.
After all, magic points could be directly converted into magic energy, elevating his strength to the level of a beginner Archmage, giving him greater confidence when facing danger.
On Valentine's Day, Harry, while trying to avoid a Valentine's Day card from Lockhart, accidentally knocked over his school bag in the corridor.
A bottle of ink shattered on the floor, staining the books in his school bag and Riddle's diary a bright red.
But when he returned to his dormitory, he found the diary was still clean.
Realizing that the diary might have absorbed the ink, he excitedly sat up from his bed and took a quill from his bedside table, dipping it in a drop of ink and letting it fall onto the diary.
The black ink spread quickly, but in less than a moment, it was completely absorbed by a blank page.
Seeing this, Harry couldn't help but smile; he felt as if he had discovered the diary's secret, and immediately wrote in the diary: "My name is Harry Potter."
The line of text flashed, and like the drop of ink, it seeped into the diary.
Soon, a line of text appeared on the blank page: 'Hello, Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle.'
Harry's eyes widened slightly, watching the gradually disappearing words, and it took him a few seconds to regain his composure.
"Do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry wrote, but before he lifted his quill, he thought of something else and added to the diary, "It would be even better if you knew the exact location of the Chamber of Secrets."
The writing slowly disappeared, and soon the diary responded: 'I know about the Chamber of Secrets, but I don't know the exact location.'
Harry was a little disappointed; he had hoped for a major discovery this time, but it seemed the help this diary could provide was limited.
With a feeling of regret, Harry wrote another line: "Can you tell me?"
The diary immediately responded: 'The situation that day was very complex, but you can enter my memory to see.'
Harry was a bit confused; entering someone else's memory, this diary didn't seem to have that kind of ability.
But before he could react, another line appeared in the diary: 'I will take you back fifty years.'
The writing disappeared, and the diary flipped pages rapidly as if blown by a strong wind, stopping on June 13th.
Harry carefully picked up the diary; a strong white light seeped from its middle, shining on him and drawing him into a realm of light and shadow.
When Harry opened his eyes again, he found himself in a grayscale world; although it was still Hogwarts, he and everything around him seemed out of place.
He could see everyone and clearly hear their voices, but others couldn't see him or touch him; his presence was even lower than air.
This memory of Riddle corresponded to the time fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Harryfollowed the young Tom Riddle and met the then PrincipalDippet.
From their conversation, he learned about Tom's background: a half-blood, Muggle father, Wizard mother; his mother died after giving birth to him, and he grew up in a Muggle orphanage.
Comparing silently in his mind, Harry was surprised to find that for the first time he felt qualified to pity someone else.
His parents were both Wizards, he was a pure-blood Wizard, and he inherited a fortune left by his parents.
Although it was mostly spent now, at least he didn't start with nothing.
He was also an orphan, but at least he had experienced the warmth of a family, deep paternal love, and great maternal love before he was one year old.
Although he couldn't remember that feeling of happiness very clearly, it undoubtedly existed.
He grew up with his aunt and uncle, and the feeling of being dependent on others was quite unpleasant.
Although he was not well-liked and was often bullied by his older cousin, compared to the orphanage fifty years ago where he was hungry, cold, and slept poorly, this was already considered human warmth.