Chapter 180 There is nothing wrong with this imagination
In an empty classroom, Harry called Aaron, Ron, and Hermione together and eagerly told them the secret of Tom Riddle's diary.
After he finished speaking, Hermione and Ron looked at Aaron in unison, "You knew all along that Hagrid was framed?"
"Obviously." Aaron spread his hands, "First, the current Hagrid is overly simple and kind. Fifty years ago, he was about our age, so it's impossible that he would let a monster kill people.
Secondly, Hagrid is a Giant. Even if Salazar Slytherin's judgment was poor, he would still choose a normal Wizard!
His heir would at least be a half-blood Wizard, not a half-blood Giant."
"Then what do you think Hagrid…?" Harry hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is there anything he didn't tell you?"
"Perhaps, but he doesn't know the location of the Chamber of Secrets, nor who the heir is." Aaron sighed with some regret, then looked at Harry, "Where is Riddle's diary?
If possible, I'd like to take a look into his memories too. Maybe I can find clues you missed."
"I'm afraid not." Harry gave a forced smile, "The magic on the diary might not be enough and needs time to recover."
"What a pity."
The few of them briefly discussed it and decided not to bother Hagrid for now.
Because the current situation was stable, and there hadn't been any attacks for a long time.
They also didn't need to reopen Hagrid's old wounds by asking him to help search for the possible Chamber of Secrets in the dangerous Forbidden Forest.
During the Easter holiday, second-year students began choosing their courses for third year.
Aaron looked at the timetable Professor Snape handed out and raised an eyebrow.
Besides the compulsory subjects that matched the second-year timetable, there were five elective courses: Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies.
After a brief thought, Aaron filled in his name for every course.
Care of Magical Creatures was very necessary to learn. After all, he was a Wizard, and if he didn't understand the habits, abilities, preferences, and weaknesses of those magical animals, he would inevitably suffer losses later on.
He had already encountered several magical animals in just these two school years: Unicorns, Centaurs, Cerberus, Trolls, Dragons, and Basilisks. It was clear that he would encounter even more in the future.
Aaron was also interested in Divination and Arithmancy. In this world, metaphysics was more convincing than science.
He had already experienced the benefits of Ancient Runesand Dragon language, so learning a new foreign language might come in handy later.
As for the last one, Muggle Studies, Aaron didn't care much for it. His understanding of Muggles was definitely among the top ten at Hogwarts.
But in life, it's good to have many skills. Since this course was on the timetable, it must have its value.
"Aaron, did you make a mistake?" Draco asked, puzzled, "If you choose all of them, you won't be able to attend all the classes."
"I know." Aaron said indifferently, "But that's for ordinary people. I'm someone who attended twenty-nine cram schools during the holidays. A mere five elective courses are really nothing."
"That's different.
Each elective course has a fixed time slot, and there are situations where two or even three classes are held at the same time. So, logically speaking, each student can choose a maximum of three elective courses."
"That's you guys." Aaron pointed to his eyes, "I'm very confident I can keep up with the progress of every class."
Draco was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly and shook his head, "Why am I even worrying! I forgot you have a photographic memory!"
Aaron shrugged. There was something he didn't say.
By next semester, he should have mastered the magic of thought projection. With his main body and a clone, there was no reason he couldn't handle a few elective courses.
"What courses did you sign up for?"
"I can't compare to you." Draco gave a self-deprecating smile, then pushed his timetable in front of Aaron, "I'm just an ordinary person, I can only learn in an ordinary way."
Aaron quickly scanned it: Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes.
"Not bad, quite standard, and self-aware."
"Many people choose this way. I bet no student in the whole school is like you."
"Perhaps!"
...The first Quidditch match of the semester was Gryffindorversus Hufflepuff. Wood insisted that the team train every day, not even sparing them on rainy days.
The high-intensity training made the Gryffindor team full of confidence, even believing they could compete with Slytherin, let alone the Hufflepuff team, who were originally weaker than them.
However, the day before the match, right after training, Harry saw a flustered Neville Longbottom, "Harry, I don't know who did it, but you'd better come and see for yourself."
Pushing open the dormitory door, Harry's good mood instantly vanished.
His trunk was open, clothes were strewn everywhere, drawers were pulled out, and all his belongings were dumped out. Even worse, his bedsheets and quilt hadn't escaped the damage, having been roughly torn off.
Anyone unaware would think he had been robbed, and of both valuables and dignity.
Ron walked in, and seeing the incredibly messy scene, his mouth also dropped open in shock, "What happened here?"
"I don't know." Harry said, smoothing out his bedsheets and quilt, and picking up the items from the floor one by one, putting them back into his trunk.
"It looks like someone was looking for something?"
Harry froze for a moment, then carefully checked his bedside table, realizing a black diary was missing. His heart sank.
"He's already found it. Tom Riddle's diary is gone."
"What?"
The two exchanged glances, then immediately left the dormitory and went to the common room, where they found Hermione engrossed in a book.
"Something's happened, Hermione." Harry said, slightly out of breath, "Riddle's diary has been stolen."
Hermione was surprised for a moment, then calmed down, "It must be someone from Gryffindor. Outsiders don't know our password, unless the culprit isn't a student.
I think we need to tell Aaron this news right away."
"It's already dark. We can't leave the common room.
Let's do it tomorrow. He should be at the Quidditch match."
Hearing this, Hermione and Ron also nodded.
The next day, after breakfast, Wood enthusiastically invited the Gryffindor team members to the changing room and briefly went over tactics on the blackboard.
"This time, we're going to play our style. Hufflepuff is no match.
We are stronger, faster, and smarter."
Approaching eleven o'clock, Harry also picked up his Nimbus 2000, changed into his red robes in the changing room, and was ready for action.
Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron found Aaron, who was sitting in the stands like everyone else, ready to enjoy the match, cradling a Dragon cub wrapped in a green scarf.
"It's really hard to find you." Ron walked over and said, "We have something urgent to tell you."
"You have new clues?"
"This… I don't know if it counts as a clue." Hermione said with a solemn expression, "It's Harry's, no, Tom Riddle's diary has been stolen."
Hearing this, Aaron immediately stood up, "What the… When?"
"It should have been yesterday, in Harry's dormitory."
"Stolen from the dormitory? Then the culprit must be from Gryffindor."
"I think so too."
"Think carefully, which Gryffindor knew Harry had such a diary?"
Hermione and Ron exchanged glances. They really didn't know.
Aaron saw their expressions and knew they couldn't be relied on, so he sighed and said exasperatedly, "Let's ask Harry later! Maybe our progress will have a certain breakthrough."
Hermione reacted, her face instantly paling, "Are you saying that the Gryffindor who stole the diary is problematic?"
"There's a very high possibility. No one would idly steal an ordinary diary, but a diary recording clues about the Chamber of Secrets from fifty years ago is different, especially for Hogwarts today." Aaron said meaningfully, "This person is most likely Salazar Slytherin's heir. He knows that the diary contains some things, but he can't decipher them himself, so…"
"So he wanted to destroy the diary." Hermione interjected, "That makes sense!
He might also have known that ordinary methods couldn't destroy it, so he threw it into Myrtle's bathroom, intending to flush it down the sewer and permanently bury the secret of the Chamber of Secrets, but he didn't succeed.
After that, he accidentally discovered that Harry had gotten the diary, and fearing that Harry would decipher the secret, he found an opportunity to steal it."
"Haha!" Ron laughed gleefully, "This heir is really pathetic. He doesn't know that there are no so-called clues in the diary, so he's destined to have wasted his efforts."
"Honestly, Ron, sometimes I really admire you." Aaron looked at him seriously and said, "Salazar Slytherin's heir, the culprit behind several attacks, is right here in Gryffindor. He can even easily sneak into Harry's dormitory and steal the diary without being noticed.
This ticking time bomb lives right beside you, and you can still laugh."
Ron's expression froze, and he involuntarily swallowed. It turns out they, Gryffindor, were the most dangerous ones!
Hermione's face was also quite grim. Gryffindor also had some pure-bloods, but she was Muggle-born and was probably already on the heir's hit list.
"I hope Harry can still remember who found this diary."
"Don't get your hopes up too soon." Aaron directly poured a bucket of cold water on Hermione's head, "All of this is just our speculation. Maybe there's another reason!"
"Even if the person who stole the diary isn't Salazar Slytherin's heir, they definitely have some connection to the heir." Hermione said with certainty.
"You make a lot of sense, but we have to find him first before we can draw conclusions." Midway through his sentence, Aaron suddenly heard something, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily, "This is bad."
"What's wrong?" Ron asked, puzzled.
Aaron pointed to Abe, who was on the floor in an alert stance, "He told me that after several months, Salazar Slytherin's heir has released the Basilisk again."