Time for the second arc to begin.

And yes, this one will be darker than the first. You can tell that by looking at the Warner Bros logos for each movie. Cool, huh?

If you've noticed anything about the Harry Potter books, they get darker as you read through them.

Chapter 14: The Die in Diary

Last year at Hogwarts, Professor Quirrell had been exposed as a dark wizard.

It was shocking news.

It seemed everyone had always suspected Snape was one, but he was innocent. Dumbledore had instructed him to keep an eye on Quirrell, however. He suspected something was up when he heard him crying about having failed somebody and how he was going to suffer the consequences.

Anyways, with Quirrell gone, many assumed that this year Hogwarts would be a completely safe place.

But one should never take peace for granted at Hogwarts.

As it turned out, a man named Lucius Malfoy was planning to bring death to the disgusting Muggle-born wizards (or as he referred to them as, mudbloods) that he believed were "plaguing" Hogwarts.

For you see, in the distant past, he happened to be a Death Eater.

Not just any Death Eater, but second-in-command to Lord Voldemort himself.

It was nostalgic, to say the very least. He felt like he was one of the most powerful men in the world back then.

And in a way, he still was.

But that was enough reminiscing about the First Wizarding War. It was time to focus on the present.

Lord Voldemort had entrusted him with his very own diary prior to his downfall.

He explained that it was enchanted so that it would awaken a monster that would put an end to the Muggle-borns once and for all.

Lucius Malfoy was of course all ears to the plan.

However, he was going to add his personal touch to his plan.

There was a man who he worked with known as Arthur Weasley.

And yes, he was the father of Ron Weasley. And Charlie Weasley. And Bill Weasley. And…you get the idea.

Why did Lucius hate Arthur so much? He was a pure blood, but he was also a revolting Muggle lover.

The fact that a man like Arthur could be so supportive of Muggle-born wizards was simply sickening to him.

So, he decided he was going to use the diary to ruin his life.

He knew that his daughter and youngest child Ginny was going to Hogwarts this year, so this was the perfect opportunity to strike.

He would place the diary inside her school supplies.

That way when the Chamber of Secrets opened and the deaths began, Arthur Weasley would be held responsible.

He would be accused of being a dark wizard, and then off to Azkaban he went.

It would serve him right for supporting the disgusting vermin known as Muggles.

Originally, he was going to place it in his son's school supplies.

But there was a problem with that. He needed a pretty good attorney to escape justice at the end of the First Wizarding War, when Voldemort disappeared.

Another piece of incriminating evidence like that and he would be locked up, wallowing in his own misery.

All the more reason to pin the blame on Arthur Weasley.

Perhaps, if he was lucky, he would get his revenge on the girl who lived as well. He knew that his son did not get along with Mary Potter. He had been writing hate mail to her over the summer.

It was a possibility.

But unbeknownst to Lucius, his house elf had overheard all those things.

"Oh no! I can't let this happen!" exclaimed Dobby.

Muggle-borns were going to die!

One thing was for sure, he was going to have to tell Mary Potter and tell her not to go back to Hogwarts. She could end up being one of the victims. And he knew that Mary didn't get along with Lucius's son either. So it seemed like a good possibility.

He was pretty sure she didn't want to be "The Girl Who Was Eaten Alive".

The only problem was that he did not know where she lived.

To his knowledge, she did not live among other wizards.

Fortunately, Lucius's son Malfoy answered that.

"Could you tell me where Mary lives again? It's embarrassing, but I forgot." asked Draco.

"She lives on 4 Privet Drive." explained Lucius.

He was tempted to destroy her house, but the Order of the Phoenix were already suspicious of him. Accusations of destroying a household would only increase their suspicions further.

"Thanks, dad!" exclaimed Draco, who was starting to write another letter.

Now that he knew where Mary lived, all Dobby had to do now was to make his way to her house and warn her what was going to happen.

He already knew where the Weasleys lived, so he could take the diary afterwards and bury it.

He would warn Mary first though, just in case.

And so he was on his way to 4 Privet Drive.

Currently, Mary was tossing the hate mail she received into the fireplace.

Now she knew how her uncle felt.

On the lighter side of things, the mail she received from Ron and Hermione was pretty nice.

Her uncle had insisted that she don't visit them though.

He didn't like wizards.

Likewise, her aunt insisted on her not flying around on a broom.

Mary explained that she needed to practice for Quidditch.

"Why do you want to play that? Do you want a Bludger to hit you in the face?" asked Petunia.

She knew that sport from Lily, who found it exciting.

"Well, technically no, but-"

"Put the broom away!" exclaimed Mary's aunt.

Mary sighed.

She decided to read the Daily Prophet.

Apparently, Nicolas Flamel and his wife had died.

Which was ironic, considering they had lived for hundreds of years.

They had destroyed the stone to prevent the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or so they said.

The Daily Prophet assured everyone that You-Know-Who would never, ever return.

"They can't handle the truth, can they?" asked Mary to herself.

They also said that Death was simply the next adventure.

"Where's the Grim Reaper taking them? Las Vegas?" questioned the girl.

That would be cool.

Suddenly, Vernon Dursley snatched the Daily Prophet from her hands.

"Mary, what did I tell you about reading magical newspapers?!" exclaimed Uncle Vernon.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon." answered Mary.

She had just wanted to learn more about the magical world…or what was going on recently, anyway.

"Read the normal newspaper like the rest of us!" demanded Vernon.

"But there's a naked guy on the front cover…" pointed out Mary. Seemed there was a streaking incident.

"Read it!" exclaimed the man.

Mary sighed.

Ever since she returned from Hogwarts, her family had been worried she would turn them into animals.

While she loved animals, she assured them she would never turn her adoptive family into them.

And besides, she already thought her cousin Dudley looked like a pig.

Though she wouldn't openly admit that.

Anyways, it was time for her to go to her room.

Her uncle and aunt were having very important people over.

And they didn't want her messing things up.

They promised her that if she stayed in her room, she would get a nice birthday cake.

It was about to be her twelfth birthday party.

That seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up, having a delicious birthday cake.

But she went to her room, she found someone waiting for her.

It was none other than Dobby.

She gasped.

"Hello. My name is Dobby. Dobby is pleased to meet you, Mary Potter." greeted the house-elf.

"Are you sure you should be breaking and entering into my house? I think my uncle has a shotgun." warned Mary.

Dobby's face turned white upon hearing that.

Outside, Aunt Petunia heard Mr. Mason ring the doorbell.

Though the prospect of a Muggle shooting him was unnerving, Dobby quickly remembered what he was there for.

"Dobby has a reason for it! Mary, you cannot return to Hogwarts! It's too dangerous for Mary to go back!" exclaimed the house elf.

"But if I don't go back to Hogwarts, the headmaster will think I'm playing hooky!" pointed out Mary.

Meanwhile, Petunia Dursley opened the door for Mr. Mason, the man who Vernon was hoping to get a big drill order from.

Vernon was the director of a big drilling company.

"Terrible things are going to happen! It's not safe at Hogwarts anymore! There's a monster in there!" warned the servant of Lucius Malfoy.

"Alright, but can I at least write a letter to Dumbledore explaining why I'm not coming back? I feel like he should know that." noted the girl who lived.

Dobby agreed to that.

Downstairs, Vernon was having a chat with Mr. Mason and his wife.

Suddenly, he received a letter.

It was addressed to him.

However, there had been a bit of a mix up in the mail.

Draco Malfoy had meant for the letter to go to Mary, but it had to gone to Vernon instead.

"Dear Vernon Dursley, you are a hopeless loser! You are such a loser, you put other losers to shame! You fail at life, and you'll never succeed! From Draco Malfoy." read the letter.

As soon as Vernon read the letter, his face turned red with rage.

He used a bunch of colorful language…which I can't tell you because I don't want to make this fanfic M rated.

Petunia was forced to cover Dudley's ears.

Mr. Mason and his wife were shocked, to say the very least.

Luckily, Mary was still allowed to keep Hedwig in her room.

Her aunt and uncle hadn't allowed her to keep a lot of things she had at Hogwarts, but her owl was a major exception to that. So she could use her to send mail.

But when she was about halfway done with writing the letter, something unexpected happened that made her drop her quill.

"Mary, are you talking to one of your wizard friends in there? You know how your aunt and I feel about having wizards in our house!" exclaimed Vernon, knocking on the door.

"Dobby's got to go! Remember what Dobby said!" exclaimed Dobby.

He apparated away.

"I guess that's how he got in." noted Mary.

She answered the door to her uncle.

"Well, have you been harboring one of your friends in there?" asked Vernon.

"Nope." answered the girl.

"Then who have you been talking to?" questioned the boy.

"My owl?" asked Mary.

"Weirdo." muttered Vernon underneath his breath.

Seemed this was a waste of time.

However, when he went downstairs, he discovered Mr. Mason and his wife were leaving.

"Where are you going? We haven't finished our business deal!" exclaimed Vernon.

"I'm sorry, but I can't negotiate with someone who uses such nasty language. Especially in front of their own son." explained Mr. Mason.

"Dudley was there to hear that?" asked Vernon.

Dudley nodded.

"I'm sorry, Dudley." apologized the man.

The two of them hugged each other.

"We can negotiate this again when you're more polite." said Mr. Mason.

The two of them left.

"Well, I might as well write back to that stupid boy who decided it was funny to insult me." remarked Vernon.

He demanded to borrow Mary's quill and some paper.

She explained that she hadn't finished the letter she was writing yet, but it seemed that he could hardly wait.

He sent the letter to Draco Malfoy through a friendly neighborhood owl, and the deed was done.

The owl seemingly returned moments later.

"That was fast." remarked Vernon Dursley.

However, upon closer inspection, it was not addressed to him, but to Mary Potter.

"Hey, Mary! You got something!" exclaimed the man.

He knew better than to try to hide mail from Mary now.

Mary sure hoped that it wasn't another letter from Draco.

Not that she was planning to write back to him, mind you. She knew better than to feed the troll. Especially ones that lived in mountains.

However, it was from the Ministry of Magic.

"The Ministry of Magic? This must be pretty important." noted Mary.

She decided to read the letter.

But she didn't like what she read.

"Uh-oh." remarked the girl.

Dear Mary Potter,

We have received evidence that you've been using apparition magic. You are not allowed to so without a license, for that carries the risk of splinching, which carries the risk of blood loss…and death.

In fact, at your age, you shouldn't be using at magic at all. Not without adult supervision. And especially not when you're in a neighborhood full of Muggles.

Since this is your first offense, we're only giving you a warning. But you won't be so easily forgiven a second time, assuming there is a second time.

Sincerely,

The Ministry of Magic

"That house elf set me up!" exclaimed Mary.

Well, it didn't seem like she did it on purpose.

Still, she figured she should go to the Ministry of Magic to clear things up. She didn't even know what apparition was up until now.

Perhaps they would understand.

However, when she showed Vernon the letter, he seemed surprisingly happy about it.

"Huh? You're not mad?" asked Mary.

She was glad he was taking this well.

"Dudley! Petunia! Mary can't use magic!" exclaimed Vernon.

"She can't?" asked Dudley.

Looked like he wouldn't be living his life as a warthog.

Petunia let out a sigh of relief.

Now that he knew Mary couldn't teleport to Hogwarts, he decided to bar up her window and lock her door.

"Are you trying to keep me safe from the monster living at Hogwarts?" asked Mary Potter.

"Huh? Oh yeah, there's a monster living at Hogwarts that will eat you if you go back." said Vernon Dursley, unaware that there actually was a monster.

"Thank you, Uncle Vernon! You're the best uncle ever!" exclaimed the girl.

Vernon pinched himself to see if he was there.

He was.

Meanwhile, Dobby was satisfied with a job well done.

However, he felt that the bars and the locked door were a bit overkill.

Next stop on the list was the Burrow, where the Weasleys lived.

But on his way there, he saw a flying car.

He figured he was seeing things.

But he remembered to stay focused.

No evil diary was going to make it to Hogwarts if he had anything to say about it.

You could count on that.

Oh no! Lucius Malfoy is planning something terrible!

Can he be stopped?

Well, he did make the mistake of announcing his plans while the book was focused on him.

And will Dobby's plan work instead?

You'll find out.