[A/N: WOW 65 favorites and 100 subscribers~! I'm glad that so many of you like it! To those who just subscribed to my story or 'favorite' my story, thank you all in the bottom of my heart! I'm glad that so many of you are still following me even though things in the story are progressing slowly. I have taken direct quotes from the movie and books, so credits to JK Rowling. As usual, the foreign languages in this story are translated from Google Translate so, please let me know if something seems off. If any of you have a fanfiction request, hit me up on PM! As always, please, comment, subscribe and favorite my story and stay tuned for the next chapter~!]
Chapter 10
December 20, Sunday
"Severus, report." Tom's voice echoed in the high ceiling chamber. The fire in the furnace seemed to be doing nothing to defeat the brisk coldness that seemed to match the flurries of snow falling outside. Severus stepped up to the steps, maskless, and got down on one knee with one hand over where his heart should be. "My apologies, my lord. THere has been another attack at the school two days ago and Dumbledore has the other professors working overnight to try to catch whoever has opened the chamber." He said lightly. Tom was silent as he absent-mindedly stroked Nagini's diamond-shaped head, his red eyes staring at Severus with no hint of malice in them.
"Who is it this time?" He asked curiously over the sound of contented hisses from Nagini. "A second-year Hufflepuff by the name Justin Fitch-Fletchly and the Gryffindor House ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, my lord." The chamber was silent again, only to be broken with the crack of the burning log and embers flying in the fireplace. "Princess." Tom hissed in Parseltongue to the smallest of the two figures sitting next to him in the throne. "Yes?" She hissed back. "Your number one task is to find my journal and the one who is being possessed by the seventeen-year-old me. Ask your friends to help you. It is imperative that we find this journal before Dumbledore does." He hissed, making everyone shiver at the eerie sounds. "Yes, father," Diana said softly.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
"Children!" The warden of the orphanage, Ms. Flapnook, called out pleasantly through the voice pipes that was connected to every room in the building. Hermione could instantly detect the sugariness behind that voice, her face screwed up in a scowl. Whenever this woman's voice sounded like that, that meant there were people with her who want to adopt. "I have people here who want to meet you here in the parlor room!" The warden continued to speak in that sweet voice. Thunderous footsteps could be heard leaving the numerous rooms of the orphanage, cheerful conversations filled the hallway as Hermione stepped out of her room to a sea of children making their way down to the main level to greet these people. The brunette held back a smirk as she followed after the kids. She knew who was down there to greet the kids. Daphne had sent her an owl a few days ago, saying that her parents had finalized everything with the family legal stuff and that they will be in the orphanage in a few days.
"Hey freak," Hermione winced when she felt something slam hard into her shoulder. Michael. "Where are you going, freak? You think any of these people are going to adopt a freak like you?" Michael said with a sneer, the kids with him snickering with delight as they walked past her, making sure to knock purposefully into her shoulder. Hermione clenched her fist as she suppressed the anger to just curse all of them for all eternity. Not right now, Hermione. Not right now. She thought. Hermione was the last person to arrive in the parlor room and briefly saw the Greengrass before some kid rudely blocked her way. She sent the kid a glare before moving to stand towards the corner where she could see better. Lady Greengrass was the only one who was sitting down while everyone else was standing around her. The warden cleared her throat, a cheerful smile on that annoying face. "Children, I want you to meet Mr. and Mrs, Greengrass. They are here with their two daughters, Daphne and Astoria. They are here to adopt one of you to expand their family. Isn't that wonderful?"
Hermione practically shuddered at how exaggerated that cheery voice sounded. Daphne noticed this and ducked her head towards the ground as she stopped herself from laughing. "I'm sure all of you are wondering, Mrs. Greengrass, what are you looking for in a child?" The warden asked. Lady Greengrass smiled as she briefly looked up at her husband before turning her attention back to the warden. "We are looking for someone who is bright, beautiful, loving, and get along with my daughters." The warden seemed pleased with that answer as she laughs while looking over at the crowd of kids. "I know a few children who fit your criteria. Would you like to talk to the children?" The warden asked, the children instantly got into their competitiveness to see who would reach the Greengrass first to make their impression.
"I would love to meet the children." Lady Greengrass said with a stunning smile. The children instantly raced over to her and started talking over each other to get her attention while Daphne and Astoria barely managed to come out of it unscathed as they ran over to their new sibling. "Mother and Father are just going with the flow. We'll be leaving soon anyway." Daphne said while Astoria just nodded in agreement. Lord Greengrass strolled over after barely a minute of being surrounded by boisterous children. "How can you possibly endure living with these people for all these years? All these constant nagging is giving me a headache." He said with a scowl, not even bothering with hiding how he truly feels about these muggles. He sighed heavily but gave his daughters a war smile, but to others, it didn't look like it.
"Why don't you two help your sister pack her things? We won't be here that much longer." The girls nodded and Hermione guided her sisters up to the rickety wooden stairs to her room. "How rude, they didn't even give you a decent room," Astoria said with a sniff, her eyebrow scrunched in a frown when she noticed a rat peeking out from a hole in the corner of the room. "Doesn't someone come and check the place, like every month?" Daphne asked while looking around as Hermione pulled out a suitcase from underneath her bed. "Oh they do but the warden always pays them handsomely before they even come into my room to inspect it." The brunette said as she grabbed her clothes off the hangers and started folding them into her suitcase.
The Greengrass sisters helped the brunette fold her clothes until all were in there. After stuffing her rather small collection of books, both muggle, and wizarding literature, the suitcase still ended up being light. Since Hermione didn't have any other possessions other then a worn out teddy bear, the girls were done rather quickly. "Fauna?" Daphne asked. A female house elf wearing a crisp white toga around its thin frame suddenly appeared in the room with a loud crack. "Young mistress Daphne called Fauna?" It said with a squeaky voice, sweeping down to a low bow. "Yes, Fauna. Will you please take my sister's suitcase to her new room? Start preparing lunch as well. We'll be home soon." The house elf bowed once more after taking a hold of Hermione's suitcase, and with another crack, it disappeared into thin air.
"Ah, there you girls are." Lord Greengrass said as he walked into the doorway, using his arm to lean against the wooden structure. "Are you three ready to leave?" He asked. "Yes, Father." The girls said in unison. Hermione thought she would be feeling odd for calling Lord Greengrass 'father', but the moment the Greengrass patriarch told her to call them 'mother' and 'father', she felt like it was meant to be. The girls walked with their father down to the main level to see the kids were still trying to catch Lady Greengrass' attention. "Love, I believe I found the perfect daughter for us." Lord Greengrass said over the obnoxious voices of the kids, quickly making the orphans to stop talking and stare up at him.
"Oh? Who is she?" Lady Greengrass said in a sweet voice, looking dainty and beautiful as ever in the midst of flustered. Lord Greengrass placed a warm hand on Hermione's shoulder, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Her name is Hermione." The orphans' eyes bulged when they realized it the 'freak' the guy was talking about. Lady Greengrass stood up with such grace, it would make the Queen of England jealous. "Oh, she is absolutely beautiful." She said smoothly while she practically glided towards Hermione and bent down to kiss her cheek before standing back up. "My husband and I would like to adopt her, Ms. Flapnook." She said while looking over to the warden, who looked like a fish out of the water with her mouth continuously opening and closing with no sound coming out.
"E-Excuse me?" The warden stuttered as she snapped her jaw shut, her cheeks flushed. Lady Greengrass raised a pale eyebrow before moving around to stand shoulder to shoulder with her husband while placing a gentle hand on Hermione's unoccupied shoulder. "We would like to adopt Hermione. I hope that is no problem." She said with slight coldness towards the end. "N-No, no of course not. Come with me to my office. Children, go play while I'm talking to the Greengrass. Lunch will be served shortly." A flushed Mrs. Flapnook said as she quickly left the room with the family following her close behind. Suddenly, the parlor room erupted with whines and groans as the family left, making Hermione smirk with delight. "Profitant de ta revanche, chère soeur?" (F) (Enjoying your revenge, dear sister?) Daphne asked in a soft voice, not caring if the warden heard her. Based on what Hermione said previously, she doesn't know any foreign language besides English.
Hermione simply grinned as the warden walked into her office. "You three stay out here, alright? We'll finish everything here soon and we'll be heading home." Lady Greengrass said with a smile before she and her husband followed Ms. Flapnook into her office, leaving the three girls alone in the hallway. "I finally get to leave this place for good," Hermione said with a wide grin on her face, letting out a sigh of relief. Daphne and Astoria laughed at their sister's antics. Their moment was short lived when numerous footsteps could be heard walking towards them. "I wouldn't be so sure of the 'freak'. These people are going to toss you back in here the moment they see how freakishly weird you are." Michael sneered, his arms folded across his chest which the other kids followed him.
Daphne and Astoria frowned as the girls turned to look at the group of kids, their hands on their hips. "I suggest you stop calling our sister a freak," Astoria said coldly, her baby blue eyes narrowed threateningly. "Or what, shorty? You're going to punch me?" Michael jeered before the kids cackled with delight. Daphne glared coldly as she moved to stand in front of Astoria. "No, my sisters won't be punching you, however, I will hurt you with this," Daphne said as she pulled out her wand from the pocket of her blue winter petty coat, causing the kids to gasp with fright and backed up a little with fear in their eyes. "Y-You're a freak too! S-She had a stick too!" Michael stuttered while pointing a shaky finger at both Hermione and Daphne. Daphne smirked coldly as she stepped closer to the kids who in turn took a step back, a mocking surprised look on her face.
"Oh, so my sister has shown you? Then you know what will happen if you make me angry, right?" Hermione stood back with Astoria, placing her hands on her shoulder, a satisfied smirk on her face when the kids quickly nodded in fear, their eyes flickered back and forth between the both of them. Without a moment later, the kids bolted out of the area as if there was a bomb and was about to explode at any moment. The door to the office swing op and Lord and Lady Greengrass stepped out with a look of satisfaction on their face followed by a pale looking Ms. Flapnook. "Come girls. We best be on our way. We have stayed here longer than necessary." Lady Greengrass said, her nose tilt up as she walked with her husband outside in the snow-covered ground.
December 25, Friday
"Oh, you both look wonderful!" Narcissa said excitedly when Diana and her family stepped through the Floo in the Malfoy manor and their house elf, Dobby took their cloak. The Malfoys were chosen to host this year's Christmas party and it certainly is a sight to behold. Diana was wearing a red high low round neck and laced cocktail dress with long sleeves and black half-inch peep-toed heels. Her hair was done in a topsy ponytail with a red ribbon keeping everything in place. The blonde matriarch glided effortlessly to them and gave them all kisses on the cheek while Lucius gave the women kisses on the back of their hand and the men firm handshakes.
"You certainly have outdone yourself, Cissa. Everything looks stunning!" Valentina said with admiration. Narcissa smiled beautifully at the compliment as she placed her hand on the crook on Lucious' arm. "Thank you, my dear. I wanted the night to be memorable." The adults chuckled at her comment. "Oh, Diana dear," Narcissa said as she turned her attention to her. "Draco and the others are waiting for you in his room. And Christopher, your friends are in the living room." Diana and Christopher excused themselves from the adults' presence and left their separate ways. She had been to the manor more times then she could count and knew every room at the back of her hand. Her heels echoed against the white marble tiled floor as she walked up the second flight of stairs.
She finally reached Draco's room after a few turns. She knocked on the dark wood surface to have it open after a few minutes. Everyone greeted her as she stepped inside. She didn't think Neville and Ginny would attend but she was proven wrong. "We heard about the third attack. What should we do?" Daphne said when Diana sat down and everyone sat in a circle around her. "Well, my father says we have to find the journal and the person possessed by his seventeen-year-old soul piece. The only thing is, it can be anyone." Diana said and the other's remained silent, unsure how to proceed next."Oh, how about this?" Hermione said with a hint of hope and excitement.
"I read somewhere about possession. You can tell if they have been possessed is if they look unwell or even better, pale skinned and bags under their eyes. They obviously won't be themselves so that won't be too hard to find." She stated. Diana found it annoying that she had to play a game of cat and mouse with this person. She sighed and nods. "We'll go with that since we don't have many options left. Ginny, you're in charge of the first years in your classes. The rest of us will have to keep our eyes opened and report to me whatever you find, no matter how little it seems." The other's nodded in understanding.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
"Les enfants, entrez! C'est l'heure du dîner!" (F) (Children, come inside! It's time for dinner!) Narcissa called out to them from the backyard door. The gang had decided to go outside into the fresh snow covered ground and an impromptu snowball fight ensued. They have trodden back inside the manor laughing, their cheeks red, their clothes and hair covered in snow dustings. Their clothes instantly dried the moment they passed through the threshold and Dobby quickly whisked their winter cloaks away. "Tebe bylo veselo, dorogaya?" (R) (Did you have fun, dear?) Valentina asked with a smile as Diana walked over to her, drawing out her wand to make minor adjustments to her hair to maintain its look.
"Da, devochki izbivali mal'chikov v bitve za snezhnyy shar." (R) (Yes, the girls pummeled the boys in a snowball fight.) Diana said with a smug smirk. "Hey, you guys cheated," Draco said with a mocking glare as Narcissa fussed a little with the collar of his crisp white shirt. Diana stuck her nose out as she folded her arms across her chest, a smile playing with her lips. "Not my fault you boys suck at tactics." The adults chuckled at their antics as they slowly made their way over to the dining room where the House-elves waited patiently for the guests to sit down at the table before serving the food.
December 28th, Monday
Diana looked up from the book she was reading when she heard a knock on the door of the library. The door opened and Tom peeked his head in. "Salazar want to talk to you." He said briefly and closed the door before hearing her response. Diana raised an eyebrow before standing up and placing her book down on the table. She left the library and made her way to a private room that was made just for Tom. For Christmas, her father received an empty picture with Salazar's name on the small plaque on the frame from the Malfoys. With this frame, Diana's ancestor can freely move from the portrait in Hogwarts to this new frame at any time.
Diana lightly knocked on the door of the private room and heard Tom call out from behind the door. She strolled into the room to see her father was sitting in a winged armchair, facing the painting and was seemingly in the middle of a conversation. "My apologies, Father." She said softly as she walked over to him after closing the door, bowing her head towards Salazar's painting once she stood next to her father's chair. "Sir." She said, seeing the painting nodded in acknowledgment. "My father said you wanted to talk to me?" Salazar smirked slightly as he sat back in the chair with him in the portrait. "Your father told me about the Chamber of Secrets being opened once again. Are you close in identifying who is being possessed by your father's soul fragment?"
Diana bowed her head and shook head. "No, sir. However, my friends and I are still searching." Salazar nodded, a look of content on his face. "Very well. However there something else I want to talk to you about." He said, his face turning serious. "What is it, sir?" Diana inquired. "Have you been told the story about me creating the Chamber of Secrets? About the creature hiding in the chamber?" Salazar asked. Diana raised an eyebrow at that questions but answered anyway, scowling as she talked. "Yes, sir. We were told that the chamber doesn't exist and that there was no creature hidden underneath the school." Salazar scoffed coldly and nodded his head slowly like he knew it was going to happen.
"Then do you know what is down there?" Salazar asked Diana after a few minutes of silence, leaning forward in his chair to look closely at her. Diana shook her head slightly. "I know that it is large from what my familiar has told me and is closely related to snakes from when I heard it from within the walls." She said truthfully. Salazar smirked, looking pleased as he leaned back in his chair. again "He is still going strong." He said, talking more to himself before turning his attention back to Diana. "Have you ever heard about the creature called the basilisk?." He said, catching her slightly off guard but answered none the less. Diana nodded her head and was about to say something when she realized what the portrait was saying. Her mouth hung slightly open for a brief moment before she snapped it closed to answer.
"You hid a basilisk in the dungeons of Hogwarts?" She asked as if she was reaffirming what she thought he was saying. Salazar and Tom chuckled at her reaction and the portrait nodded his head slightly. "Merlin, that basilisk must be enormous." Diana marveled to herself as an image of a hulking creature slithering around in the dark dampness of the dungeon.
January 3rd, Sunday
The door to the train compartment slides open and Blaise stepped in. Draco and Diana greeted him and talked about how the rest of their winter holidays went. A few minutes later, the rest of the gang came in, everyone relaying how their winter break went. The Hogwarts Express let out a loud whistle and started chugging away towards Hogwarts. "Oh, Diana. I got the potion from Professor Snape. Can you explain to me why I would need this?" Pansy asked with curiosity after a little bit while pulling out a small glass vial from her purse. Diana smirked as everyone turned their eyes on her. "On Christmas day, there was a little rat trying to break into our common room."
"A rat?" Draco said, puzzled at who this 'rat' is. Diana nodded, the smirk still on her face. "The Weasel. The rat that never dies." The gang let out an annoyed groan when she finally revealed who it was. "Please tell me Uncle Severus did something to him." Draco groaned out in exasperation. Daphne snorts at this. "Of course he did. Professor Snape wouldn't stand for someone sneaking into his House." She was right on that part. Severus was very protective of his students, even though it may not look like it. "Yeah but still haven't told me why I was given the potion," Pansy said, getting slightly annoyed that she wasn't getting a direct answer.
Diana smirked with delight. She spent the next couple of minutes to explain to the gang what her plan was. The gang had identical sadistic smirks on their faces once she was done explaining. "This is going to be so much fun," Blaise said with delight in his eyes. Pansy was the only one who was grumbling as she leaned against Neville, clearly unhappy about the plan. "Will you be ok with this, Ginny?" Hermione asked the red-haired girl, concern written all over her face. Ginny smirked and nods. "I'll definitely be ok especially after I see him get knocked down a peg." The gang chuckled, glad that she was ok with the plan. "But what about your mother?" Blaise then asked. It wasn't unusual for him to ask since he and Ginny are seen talking to each other since the start of the school year.
"Ron can tattle to my mother but he knows he is going to expose what he did and be in more trouble than me, so I'm not going to worry too much," Ginny said with a shrug of her shoulder. "Are you sure, the plan will work?" Draco then asked as he looked over at Diana. She smirked evilly. "Of course. All boys are fascinated by Quidditch, food, and women. Weasel is no exception." For the rest of the train ride, they broke off into smaller groups. One was playing wizarding chess, another was talking about Quidditch, another was talking about the latest trends in fashion. "We should change into our robes," Hermione stated as she snapped the book she was reading shut.
January 6th, Wednesday
"Ron, come on mate! We're going to be late for dinner!" Dean shouted as he, Ron, and Seamus ran towards the Great Hall. They were going to be the last ones coming. "Alright alright, wait up, will ya?" Ron brushed off his friend's urgency as they ran around the corner. The red-head suddenly came to a stop as his friends started to leave him behind. Something down the corridor had caught his eye. "Ron, what's wrong mate?" Seamus called back to him in a thick Irish accent once he and Dean noticed he was being left behind. "N-Nothing...you guys go ahead. I'll follow behind." He said, clearly distracted with something as he kept staring down the corridor.
"Are you...sure?" Dean asked, worried about the strange behavior of his friend. "Yeah yeah...I'll be ok." He said as he started walking down towards the corridor, towards the direction of whatever had caught his attention. "Oookkayy..." Seamus said, puzzled as he and Dean walked down the opposite direction of the red-head. Ron quickly walked around the corner to see the same gorgeous woman dressed in the Hogwarts uniform, standing in front of a door that was in the middle of the corridor. He didn't even say anything when the beauty turned around to look at him and a knowing smile appeared on her face. Ron's face turned bright red at how beautiful she looked. The unknown beauty waved for him to come over as she reached out to take hold of the doorknob.
Ron quickly staggered over, his eyes still staring at the beauty just as he saw her disappeared into the room. Ron's eyes were covered in darkness the moment the door swung shut behind him. He suddenly let out a loud pained grunt when something rammed into his stomach and fell down to his knees, groaning. "What the-" Something like two pairs of thick hands grabbed at his arms, making him yelp in fear as he was made to stay on his knees. "Well well well, looks like the Weasel is finally caught," Diana said in the dark, sounding very amused before she flicked her wand and the fireplace in the room suddenly sparked to life, illuminating everyone's face with a warm glow.
Diana was sitting in the middle of an elaborate couch with an evil smirk on her face, the rest of the gang sat next to her on the couch. "Je me sentais presque mal pour lui quand il a suivi Pansy ici." (F) (I almost felt bad for him when he followed Pansy in here.) Blaise said while shaking his head, a highly amused look in his eyes, "Ivanov! What the fuck?! You better not have done anything to her!" Ron hollered, his face turning red from shouting as he tried to stand back up but both Goyle and Crabbe kept him in the same position. The gang laughed, finding his comment highly hilarious, causing Ron's face to turn tomato red.
"You touch her and I'm going to kill you!" The red-head yelled as he tried harder to break from Crabbe and Goyle's grip. "Poor Weasel, you don't even realize you just been played." Diana shook her head like he was a failed experiment before making a beckoning motion towards a darkened corner with her hand. The gorgeous girl stepped out from the shadows, looking unharmed. "I must say, Professor Snape has done a wonderful job with this potion." She said as she looked down at her form. Draco rolled his eyes. "Change back, Pansy." He said as he tossed to her another small vial. The gorgeous girl pouted as she caught the vial in her hands, not wanting to change back just yet. Weasley looked at her with his mouth hanging open, looking the ever more stupid.
Pansy downed the contents in the vial in one go, the gang watched her shudder as her appearance change back to her original look like cascading water. "Ah, much better." She said as she peered into the mirror that was hanging on the wall, content to see her normal face peering back at her, not noticing the very unappealing gobsmacked look on the Weasel's face before it changed to anger. "You tricked me! I'm going to get you for this, you slimy Slytherins! Wait until I tell Professor Dumbledore this! He will have you kicked out for sure!" Diana didn't even react as the red-head spewed out nonsense. Now that was not a good sign. "Compared to what you were trying to do during winter break? I don't think so." She said coldly, not showing the amused expression anymore.
"That's right," Diana said when she saw the surprised look on Weasel's face and stood up from the couch. "I know all about your little attempt to sneak into our dorm. I wonder who is going to get into more trouble? Me or you?" Diana said, feigning curiosity as she watched Weasel squirmed on the spot. "How naive of you to think you can simply waltz into our dorm." Hermione sneered, her sisters nodding in agreement as they glared at him. Diana made a tiny nod towards Crabbe and Goyle, so subtle that nobody would have caught it. "Listen, you bitch! No one asked-" Weasel started shouting before he was suddenly caught off when a burly fist connected with his already-bruised stomach.
"Merlin, if only Neville were her, he wouldn't pass this moment up to lay a good one on Weasel." Theo could be heard saying over the low thuds of fists connecting with flesh and the whimpering groans. "Enough," Diana commanded after a little bit and the beatings suddenly stopped as quickly as it started, Crabbe and Goyle had to hold the Weasel by the back of his uniform in order to keep him from falling face first to the floor. The room was silent except for the occasional weak coughs and low groans from Weasley. Diana slowly walked over to the beaten figure, crouched down and gently cupped his chin to lift it up so she can see his face.
Her emerald eyes were cold as she took in every wince from every single breath he took. "Don't try to get into things you don't understand, Weasel." She said in a cold soft voice before she let go of his chin, watching his head dip forward like he has no muscles supporting his neck. She sighed softly, sounding almost disappointed that the fun was over as she stood up, dusting her hands off from invisible dirt. "Hermione, can you go bring Severus here? Tell him he was a Weasel to obliviate."
February 13th, Saturday
"Diana, I found the person," Ginny said the moment she sat down at the Slytherin's table during dinner, catching the gang's attention. "Who is it?" Diana said in a hushed voice as she and the gang leaned in towards Ginny. The red-head quickly looked around the table and behind her to make sure nobody was listening in before leaning in. "Do you see that girl at the Ravenclaw table with the straight brown hair, do the one who looks like she is going to plow face first into her food?" The gang looked up and turned their attention towards the Ravenclaw house table to see a little girl with straight brown hair that was pulled up into a ponytail, her eyes outlined with dark circles as she stared blankly at the food on her plate. She was swaying slightly in her seat as if she was refraining from face-planting into her food.
"Are you sure?" Theo asked, looking confused as he looked over at Ginny. "She looks like a normal kid who has gotten enough sleep the last few nights." Ginny pierced her lips as she gave him 'seriously' look before answering. "I'm sure of this. I'm in History of Magic with the Ravenclaws and I sometimes see her mumbling to nobody in particular. She always has a notebook in her hand and whenever someone touches, she goes into a panic and holds it in her arms." Diana frowned slightly as she stared carefully at the girl. "When did you notice her strange behavior?" She asked before turning her attention back to Ginny. The red-head paused for a moment before answering. "About a month ago." She stated.
"What?! Why did you wait so long to tell us this?!" Pansy whispered angrily as the gang stared at the red-head in disbelief. "Let her talk," Diana said in a voice that had no room for arguments, folding her arms on the table as the Great Hall waited patiently for the house elves to serve dinner. Ginny sent a glare towards Pansy before speaking, dipping her head down to look at her lap. "I'm sorry, Diana. I didn't tell you all about this girl because I wanted to make sure about it. I was thinking the same thing as Theo. I thought she was just a normal kid with a lack of sleep but her behavior got stranger. Her behavior when she freaked out when some kid touched that journal really cemented my suspicions."
Diana was silent as she carefully observed Ginny. She could tell she was sincere in her reasoning. "Alright, I forgive you. Just don't do it again." She said with a serious face as she looked at the red-head. Ginny smiled softly and nods. Daphne let out a soft sigh as dinner was finally served. "Now, we need to figure out how to get her away from that journal." The gang pulled a face when they realized that was going to harder then they thought.
February 14th, Sunday
Diana was completely blindsided by the pink and red floral decorations covering the walls of the Great Hall. The ceiling was spelled to constantly rain red rose petals and red paper hearts with white wings were fluttering around. Dwarves dressed as cupids, looking like an overgrown baby, strolled around with a basket in their hands, tossing even more red rose petals on the students and tables. "Good Merlin, my eyes have been scarred for life." Blaise groaned out, squeezing his eyes shut when he noticed a particular dwarf was wearing a cloth diaper that was a size too small, displaying his wrinkly ass. Theo burst out laughing at his friend's distress, causing the Italian to send a glare at the guy as the gang sat down at the Slytherin's house table.
"Hey guys, I heard Diana got her Valentine's message sang to her," Hermione said with an evil smirk on her face as she peered over at the said girl. Diana sent a glare at her friend and growled a little. "Don't you dare mention anything about that." The gang felt into laughter, causing Diana to turn bright red from embarrassment. "Hey, you have no idea how hard it was to not kill the dwarf!" She yelled with red cheeks, causing the gang to laugh even harder as they leaned against each other to prevent themselves from falling to the floor.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
"Hey sister, you have a confetti in your hair," Daphne said as she reached over to Hermione and pulled out a pink confetti from her brown locks. "How in the world is there still confetti on my clothes?!" Pansy groaned out in frustration as she plucked out more confettis from the folds of her clothes as the gang walked their way back towards the Slytherin dorm room. "I'm going to kill Lockhart," Diana said darkly as they trod along. They turned a corner and immediately stopped when their shoes landed into a thin layer of water. "What the..." Draco said, a deep frown on his face as they followed the water with their eyes, noticing that the entire empty corridor was completely covered in water.
"Eeeww..." Pansy said with a grimace in disgust as she treads lightly in the water. "Where do you think the water is coming from? Perhaps it's a busted pipe? Do you think its the basilisk?" Hermione implored as the gang stuck together as they light trudged down the water filled corridor. Diana frowned as she stared down the corridor before responding. "No. If it was a broken pipe, we would be hearing water gushing out and there would more water then this. There should be a bathroom close to here." She said as she leads the way down the corridor towards the direction of the bathroom. They turned another corner and see the entrance to the bathroom which had water coming from there.
"Aw shit, that must be the haunted bathroom I heard so much about," Daphne said in a hushed voice as the gang peeked over the wall to look at the bathroom. "Wait, what?" Pansy asked in a confused tone, her face marred with a frown as she looked back over her shoulder at the blonde. "There is supposedly a bathroom in this castle that is haunted by a girl that died in that same bathroom," Daphne said in a whisper, loud enough for everyone to hear. Diana smirked as she looked briefly over her shoulder. "Let's go." She moved away from the wall, not even bothering to see if everybody else followed her as she walked into the bathroom, grimacing as her shoes became wet from the water.
The entire bathroom floor was covered in water, without anything else wrong with the room. "Nothing looks wrong..." Draco stated with a little frown as he carefully looked around. "What are you guys doing here?" A high pitched girly voice said behind them. They all whipped around, their wands drawn at the ready, to see a pale girl with circular rimmed glasses floating a few feet above the ground, a muggy looking Ravenclaw house symbol on her robe. "Moaning Myrtle..." Daphne said in a whisper, sounding almost in awe at the sight. The ghostly figure whipped her head towards Daphne when she heard her name and floated over to her with a sneer on her face, catching the blond off guard. "Come to make fun of Moaning Myrtle? Go on, I bet it would be a laugh to throw stones at my head!"
"We are not here to do any of that, Myrtle," Diana said silkily, bringing the ghost's attention back towards her. "Oh? Then what are you-" The ghost was about to repeat what she asked in the very beginning when something caught her eye. She floated over to Diana, stopping only meters from her face. "Those eyes...look so familiar." Diana didn't waver as she stared into the ghost's eyes, noticing Draco move over to her at the corner of her eye, sticking an arm out to be a barrier between her and Moaning Myrtle as he glared at the ghostly figure. Moaning Myrtle didn't seem to notice Draco as she kept looking into Diana's eyes only to widen with realization.
The bathroom was filled with an annoying girly laughed that made Diana's stomach churn as the ghost girl did lazy somersaults in the air. She noticed the knowing glint in the ghost's eye and gave her a warning glare. "You know, don't you? You better not tell anybody else, do you understand?" Moaning Myrtle rolled her eyes as she rolled slightly to face her. "You mean Dumbledore? Relax. I saw how deceitful he was after I became a ghost." That brought a small comfort to Diana and she gave a small nod. Pansy, who was standing closest to a wall this entire time, rolled her eyes. "Come on, Diana. This ghost is wasting our time. She probably did something to the toilet or the sink and made the water overflow." She said, making an off-hand wave with her hand.
Moaning Myrtle puffed her cheeks at that comment as she placed her hands on her waist. "Hey, I didn't do this." She said pointing to the water covered bathroom floor. "Some girl with brown hair, a first-year Ravenclaw I think. She came in here with a journal and she tried flushing it down the toilet. In this stall." She said, pointing to an open stall close to the bathroom wall. Diana quickly walked over to the bathroom stall and sees a black journal floating in the toilet bowl. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, mentally cursing the girl before opening her eyes again. She used her wand to magically lift the journal out of the toilet bowl, grimacing in disgust as the water dripped from the soaked pages. She could hear Theo made puking sound at the sight. The moment she held the soaked journal in her hand, she felt a tingling feeling of strong magic seeping from it.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
"Can you guys leave me alone with a journal for a little bit? I will attempt to talk to my father's soul." Diana asked as she got into position on Draco's bed. Her friends had persuaded her to go into the boy's dorm, just in case if something were to happen to her and plus, there weren't any barriers to prevent the girls to enter the boy's dorm like there was one for the girl's dorm to prevent the boys to come in. The gang nodded and they left her to herself. She had Draco's inkwell and quill next to her as she stared at the journal briefly before opening it and flipping to the first page. The pages didn't show a single sign of water damage from earlier nor did it showed signs that it had ever been written on. She smirked slightly. Very typical of her father to not show any signs that he had been there.
She took a hold of the quill and dipped the tip into the well, carefully making sure that no ink dropped on the bed comforter before proceeding to write a single sentence on the page. "Father?" Diana watched as the message disappeared like the page soaked up the ink. She waited for what felt like hours until a familiar slanted handwriting appeared on the page. "Who is this? I'm not aware that I had a child." Diana quickly dipped the quill into the well and wrote a response. "You won't know this, but I'm your future. My name is Diana. I'm yours and Lily Evan's daughter." The message disappeared once again and she waited patiently for a response. As if her father's soul was in shock, it took longer for her to see another message appear.
"My daughter...I'm not sure if I should believe you. For all I know, you could be Dumbledore trying to play a trick on me." Diana refrained from rolling her eyes before scribbling another message. "I wish I can tell you everything that has happened but unfortunately, I can't do that here in Hogwarts. The walls and paintings have ears. There is a first-year girl who has been using this journal and she is currently being possessed by your soul. I recommend you stop what you are doing. Dumbledore is getting suspicious and he will soon discover you." Diana then got a response she was not thrilled about. "And miss the chance to hurt Dumbledore? A fortune teller has told my future not that long ago and if what she has told me is true, Lily is dead. Take this as a mission to make our future better."
"Wait, what?" Diana said out loud, feeling a slight panic feeling in her chest as she quickly wrote a sentence. "Wait, father!" She waited for a few minutes to see that the soul wasn't responding. "No!" In the process of panicking, she placed both of her hands on the now blank journal and her vision was suddenly blinded by a bright flash and everything turned black.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
"What happened...I don't know...the dorm shuddered..." Soft panicked murmurs woke Diana up from the darkness and her eyes fluttered open, feeling heavy. "Thank Gods, are you feeling alright?" Severus' voice greeted her as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. She was laying on a bed and the gang including Severus was surrounding her. "What...happened?" She asked, feeling a slight headache forming. "We should be asking you that," Draco said with a frown. "We felt the dorm shake and we came in here to see passed out on the bed." Diana frowned as she tried to recall what had happened when everything clicked. "Shit..." She cursed as she sat up and looked around her for the journal. Severus noticed what she was trying to look for and produced the journal from his robe pocket. "Are you looking for this?"
Without even saying thanking him, Diana ripped the journal from his hand and held it tightly in her hand, ignoring the concerned expressions on her friends' faces. As she expected, she couldn't feel any strong magic coming from the journal. "What is going on, Diana?" Hermione asked in a gentle voice as she reached over to lightly touch her shoulder as if in hopes of snapping her out of her thought. Instead of answering, Diana looked over at the brunette. "Mione, what is the last stage of a possession?" She asked, her face blank, catching Hermione off guard. The brunette quickly look at the others to notice that they were also curious and she cleared her throat before answering. "Well, the soul will leave the object they are in inhabiting once they have gained enough power, in this case, the journal, into the next object. Why?"
Diana let out a sigh as she silently dumped the journal onto the bed before answering. "My father's soul has left the journal and has found another home." The gang frowned at the rather vague answer before their eyes widened in recognition. "Oh fuck." They all said in unison.
*~*~*~*:*~*~*~*
The Ravenclaw first-year jolted awake and quickly sat up. Could it be? She quickly drew back the bed curtain with a sharp snap and the sight she saw cemented her thought. "Tom?" She said in a whisper, not wanting to wake her room-mates up. The figure in the armchair smiled at her, his red eyes standing out to her in the dark. "Yes, it's me, Cindy." Cindy's lower lip quivered as she climbed out of her bed. "I-I'm so sorry, Tom. I felt so guilty for leaving you in the toilet. I-I felt so empty and cold inside." Tom smiled softly as he reached over to gently cup her cheek. "It's alright now, Cindy. We can be together now." Cindy smiled at his words as she felt him go into her small body.