Professor McGonagall listened to them in silence without interrupting, looking at them from under half-glasses. Hermione spoke quickly, almost chattering and not letting a word get in, taking as much air into her chest as possible. In an empty classroom, her voice beat against the walls, flew to the ceiling, and beat with a shot against the stained-glass windows, gradually dissolving. All three of them stood behind her in silence, not daring to insert a word, watching the expression on the professor's face, which only kept silence and an attentive mask on her face. With every minute of Hermione's story, the professor's expression became more and more incomprehensible to them, but Ginny was able to catch the anxiety that quickly slipped through, and when Hermione said about Riddle's diary, which they could see in the reflection, the professor shuddered slightly, looking at Harry as if he were looking for something on his face. She got up from the table where she was checking students' homework and went to the window. It had been a thick, dense night outside the window for a long time. She looked at the scattering of glowing lanterns leading to the courtyard of the school, Hagrid's Hut, which she could see somewhere in the distance with a small dot and a completely moonless night. She was silent. She was silent for so long that the guys had already begun to worry about her, looking at each other in embarrassment. Finally, the professor turned on them and asked
"Are you sure you've seen Tom Riddle's diary?"
"Yes, Professor". Ginny nodded: "It was exactly his diary. I recognize it from a thousand notebooks."
She said the last words with a grin. Harry looked at her cautiously. He never wondered if Ginny had let go of what happened in her second year or if she was still being eaten up from the inside by the fact that she was possessed by Riddle and his memories. Harry never asked Ron, Hermione, or, of course, Ginny about it. He can't even imagine how he will ask this question to her.
"Miss Granger, you said that the diary looked brand new, as if Mr. Potter had never destroyed it." McGonagall paused, gathering her thoughts, and asked again. "Are you all sure that it was Tom Riddle's diary? Exactly the same as you could see in your second year."
"We saw it with our own eyes, Professor," Ron suddenly said in complete silence: "Exactly the same diary that Harry destroyed. It was it. No doubt about it. May picked it up, flipped through the pages and immediately disappeared as if the diary was a portal... That's probably what it is."
The Professor turned her gaze to him, paused for a while and said uncertainly, as if she had come to terms with something inside herself:
"Miss Granger has done an excellent job. But stealing from Professor Snape was still not worth it"
The words were given to her with difficulty and it was clear that she did not believe herself that she was praising students for preparing a potion that they were forbidden to brew.
"I think you should all go to Professor Dumbledore." she said.
Her voice still sounded uncertain, as if she was considering the correctness of her decision.
"Come on, I'll walk you to headmaster's office."
They looked at each other, not expecting to hear anything like this from the professor, because last time when they tried to say something suspicious, they were asked, as usual, not to get involved in adult business. They didn't quite understand why they should go to the headmaster, but they decided that it was also important for him to know about their evidence. Barely fitting five of them into the gargoyle, they found themselves in an office filled with soft yellow light and the usual creative mess. The professor was not there, which made them even more surprised. Professor McGonagall never allowed herself to escort students to the headmaster's office if he was not there. She went to a small cabinet on which piles of books were piled up and, with one movement of her hand, called all four of them over. On the bedside table lay Tom Riddle's burned diary; the pages were swollen with ink and water. All four barely restrained a sigh of surprise. The very diary that Harry destroyed was lying on the professor's bedside table, among other books. Dark, burnt, and filled with ink that contained all the memories and thoughts of the young Voldemort. They looked at it as if they had seen something that their mind, used to almost everything for six years, could not perceive in any way.
"How can this be possible?" Hermione could only say leaning forward a little as if she's wanting to touch the diary but immediately stopped herself.
"This can only mean that someone turned an ordinary notebook into Tom Riddle's diary and, after that, turned it into a portal." Ginny said it glumly. "We saw that May didn't check if the diary was real, she just grabbed it, being surprised."
"Miss Lawson was given an enchanted notebook on purpose." said the professor: "Knowing that she would surely want to pick it up and take a closer look since... Since she found out the truth."
"Could you tell me, Professor, that you knew the truth about her?" Harry's question was so unexpected for McGonagall that, at first, she didn't even understand what he was asking. Harry, on the contrary, was surprised that he could ask this question. The professor paused and then spoke slowly, choosing her words as if May was in the same room with them and could hear them."
"I found out a little earlier than everyone else. But no one should treat Miss Lawson any differently than the rest of the students."
They were silent for a while, continuing to stare at the burned pages of the diary and its pierced-through cover. The professor advised them to go to bed, and when they asked if she would inform the Order, she preferred to keep silent by looking at them with a look that meant that it was better not to start arguing. They returned to the Tower in complete silence under the supervision of the professor, who decided that these four would definitely decide to wander somewhere they shouldn't or go to save May where they think she is being held. When they went to their rooms under the same sensitive gaze of McGonagall and finally laid down in bed, Hermione, who had closed her eyes for a second, suddenly felt the mattress crumple a little under the weight of someone's body. She opened her eyes abruptly. Ginny was sitting on the edge of her bed.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after that." she confessed in a whisper."I'll let them know if the professor doesn't want to talk about it."
"Are you afraid?" Hermione whispered, sitting down on the bed and letting Ginny fit next to her. They never talked much.
"Me? I have nothing to be afraid of while I'm at school," Hermione could hear from her voice that she smiled. "I'm more afraid that May can be in the same state that I was when I was obsessed with the diary and him."
"I'm more afraid for May. I'm afraid it's all too complicated and hard, you know? "Ginny whispered after a bit of silence. "Tonks was telling some pretty scary things about May and her existence. Tonks said that May's uncontrolled magic could be deadly for her."
"Why? Wouldn't the school be able to teach her how to control her magic power?"
"The problem is that for May there is no such professor who could help her." Ginny whispered sadly. "Tonks said that May's magic is like a tornado, when our magic is a mountain river. The river flows in the direction it has been flowing for years and decades, tornadoes are uncontrollable and dangerous. And a tornado can also kill its owner."
"It turns out that this tornado may one day break out and destroy everything in its path?" Hermione guessed and Ginny just nodded, which Hermione could barely catch in the dark.
"I think that the Order is not afraid of him now and not what he can do, but of May. The Order is afraid that her unstable mental state may lead to this tornado and then they will have a wizard in front of them whose power will bring even Professor Dumbledore. Do you understand how dangerous this is?"
They were silent for a while in the dark, each thinking about their own. It was strange for Hermione to just talk to Ginny like that. She was used to them always being together with Ron and Harry, but they never talked much with Ginny. It was as if she were on her own, living her own life unrelated to theirs. All Hermione knew about Ginny was that she was a very popular girl at school and that many people would like to date her. Hermione knew that Ginny had long grown out of her obsession with Harry, and she was interested in him just as much as her brother's friend could interest
"You did a great job in training back then." Hermione suddenly said. "I think you could be the second Oliver Wood for the team."
"Huh, no, I don't think so." Ginny was smiling, judging by her voice. "Harry is a good team captain, but he lacks a little bit of toughness, so sometimes our training turns into a complete mess. By the way, what about you and Cormac?"
Ginny's question took Hermione by surprise and at first, she did not find what to answer, feeling how her ears began to burn. Involuntarily, she was glad that in the dark Ginny would not be able to see how her cheeks turned the color of Ginny's hair.
"Nothing." she said it as calmly as possible.
"Nothing?" Ginny was smiling, and Hermione felt like she was not at all satisfied with the answer and was eager to continue.
"Do you have any other ideas?"
"Are you trying to change the topic?" Ginny answered the question and decided not to put Hermione in an awkward position anymore. "I heard that Cormac would like to ask you out. He likes you. But due to the fact that you are constantly around Harry and Ron, he did not approach you. Actually, I've heard that he doesn't really understand why you spend so much time with the two of them if you're not dating either of them."
"In order to understand something at least, it would be nice to have an organ dealing with thought processes." Hermione snorted, at which Ginny giggled softly. "Is it so difficult for him to understand what friendship is?"
"He is one of those who believes that there is no friendship between a guy and a girl."
"I thought he liked May ever since he saw her on the Hogwarts Express this year, he hasn't taken his eyes off her." Hermione noticed, to which Ginny just shook her head, but Hermione couldn't see that.
"Hmm, you know, things are complicated with May. She lives in her own world. She is not interested enough in what is happening around her or what people think about her. May is liked by such a huge number of people that it makes me a little jealous of her, but the problem is that she doesn't see it at all. She doesn't pretend that she's not like everyone else and that people don't interest her, but she really doesn't notice anything. It seems she lives in her imaginary bubble and never goes out of it."
"You think so? May has always seemed to me the most down-to-earth person in the whole school." Hermione asked, and they were silent for a while because Lavender muttered something in her sleep and turned over on the other side.
"I know that for sure." Ginny shook her head. "Many people think that May is deliberately behaving like a touchy to attract attention and show off, but this is not the case. Do you know that in the fourth year, when our boys tried to invite us all to the ball, she refused everyone except the calm guy from Ravenclaw? I think his name is Justin."
Hermione nodded.
"Probably that day all four faculties learned his name for the first time." Ginny giggled softly. "The guys from Durmstrang tried to invite her, the Slytherins from the senior courses tried to invite her, but she chose Justin just because he dared to invite her while she was alone in the library in the very first day after the Ball was announced."
Ginny was silent for a while and said calmly.
"Everyone else thinks she's trying hard to copy you."
"What?!" Hermione barely refrained from whispering it rather than saying it out loud.
"Yeah. Many people think that May Lawson is a bad copy of Hermione Granger. And even more people think that you and her have something like a competition in which May constantly loses, which is why she is in such a hurry to answer questions during the lessons or do homework better than you."
"God, what nonsense is this! May and I have never held any competitions and all her grades are absolutely deserved!"
"Well, I know that, but many people in the four houses believe that she is a fake Hermione Granger and an unsuccessful attempt to become you."
"I've never heard more nonsense than now! I've known May since our first year and we've always been on good terms! There is no competition between us or, oh my God, enmity."
"Well, now you know a little more about her. May has no idea about this because she is not interested in what people think of her and just treats everyone well. You've heard that they're on pretty good terms with Astoria, right?"
"Do you mean, that girl from Slytherin that Pansy can't stand?" Hermione clarified to which Ginny nodded and added.
"Slytherin is not very similar in the opinions on different topics. Astoria is in one company; Pansy is in another. They are something like rivals, but they don't show it outside of their house. You know, Astoria's company would like to hang out with May."
"How do you know all this?"
"Well, I talk to different people and learn a lot of interesting things."
Hermione didn't say anything. She was too stunned by such rumors and would never have believed in her life that other faculties considered May a bad copy and a fake. She never thought badly of May at all and thought she was just her friend. But as much as Hermione didn't know about the general opinion about their friendship, she also didn't know how many people would like to be closer to May. Involuntarily, she thought that May attracted people like a magnet and quickly attracted them to her when she needed a little more time. Memories of those things and situations that she hadn't paid attention to before immediately appeared in her brain. She remembered how the Veelas wanted to get to know May better and how a cute Slytherin from the fifth year talked sweetly with her when they were at school yard and even helped her with homework while telling her about new tastes in a candy store in Hogsmeade. Hermione never paid attention to it because Harry and his new adventure bothered her more. But she also remembered how May helped them solve the mystery of the first and second tasks and that she hinted to Harry that he needed to figure out how to breathe underwater and even offered to turn Harry's head into the head of a fish, but it was too complicated magic for them. Was May unhappy inside herself, and did she really not notice the rumors? Hermione couldn't answer that question exactly.
She tossed and turned for a long time and could not sleep from these thoughts, but soon she was able to calm down. The morning turned out to be cloudy and rainy, and Hermione felt tired and sleepy and therefore lazily sipped juice from a cup without starting to eat. Ron and Harry were just as sleepy, but because of homework, which they both remembered at the last moment, they begged Hermione to let them copy. Unable to resist, she handed over her parchment with homework and both painstakingly copied it, trying to make the essay not look like what Hermione had.
"I know I don't say this often, but Hermione, you're just a queen." Ron said, almost finishing rewriting Hermione's work. "if I get at least a "acceptable" for this, I will be over the moon with happiness."
"I know." Hermione replied. "Has anyone seen Ginny?"
She looked around and suddenly saw Ginny walking quickly towards them, and judging by her face, she was very excited about something. She plopped down on the bench, and with one movement, the guys looked up from their homework, and Ginny leaned over to them and whispered:
"The Order is here! They want to talk to us about May after third period. Harry, you have to go and talk to Myrtle right now!"
"What for? i have already talked to her. I doubt if I can know something more." He didn't understand and Ginny whispered:
"You have to find out three things from her: first, did she flood the toilet? Don't look at me like this! Please, ask her again. She loves attention and she will try hard to recall anything from that day. The second is, has she seen May or anyone else besides her? and the third is what is Draco Malfoy doing there?"
"You should ask at least because today I found this note in my potions textbook."
She took out of her pocket a tiny piece of parchment that had been folded several times. There were only three words written on it: "A diary, a girl, a ghost."
"A diary and a girl and a ghost?" Ron asked involuntarily. "What does that even mean? Do you know whose handwriting this is?"
"No, but I think it was in my textbook for a reason. We go to potions together with Slytherin. Don't look there!"
Ginny shushed Harry when he tried to look at the Slytherin table.
"Whoever it was he gave us a hint and I'm sure you should ask Myrtle about everything again, but being more specific this time. Right now. We must inform the Order of all the possible guesses."
After the long moaning, Harry, agreeing with his friends that he still needed to finally talk to Myrtle again but being more specific, slowly walked to the fourth floor. His mind was empty, and he didn't know what to ask Myrtle. It was strange and unpleasant for him to ask directly about May or Malfoy. Myrtle might have thought something was wrong, but at the same time, his last attempt to find out about him through hints didn't work either. He stopped a few dozen steps from the entrance to the women's restroom, not daring to enter there. He didn't really want to talk to Myrtle, but Hermione was able to convince him that when Harry needed help with the dragon egg in the fourth year, it was Myrtle who told him what to do. Harry stubbornly reminded Hermione that it was Cedric who helped him, not Myrtle.
He took a deep breath, quickly walked a couple of meters, and opened the door to the women's toilet in the hope that Myrtle would not be there and he would fulfill his small duty to his friends. As luck would have it, the ghost floated in the air with its back to him, looking into a round stained-glass window letting in pale yellow light from the faded and cold sun.
The door suddenly slammed shut due to a draft, and Myrtle turned sharply at him, startled.
"Hello, Myrtle." Harry tried to sound as friendly as possible, even trying to smile at her. "How are you?"
"Oh, are you really worrying about me?" Myrtle tilted her head to the side, looking curiously into his face and leaned forward a little in the air.
"Yes, sure," he smiled as he came closer to her: "Could you help me?"
As Ginny asked him, Harry decided not to tell Myrtle right away what exactly he wanted from her and decided to start from afar. He was both amused and embarrassed by Ginny's instructions on how to properly talk to a ghost so that she would not immediately disappear into the toilet with tears.
Be as polite and courteous to her as possible. Myrtle likes to be treated like an expensive porcelain doll. When she was alive, this did not happen to her.
"And how can I help the famous Harry Potter? It is so sweet of you to come" she smiled broadly, leaning very close to him. If she had been alive, Harry would probably have recoiled from her, but right now he was trying to control himself.
"Oh, nothing special, I was just wondering, if you have you noticed anything strange here lately?" Harry asked, leaning his shoulder on one of the booths.
"What's strange for you? Also you have already asked me about it."
"Yep, I see, but I really, like really, need your help. Nobody except you can help me solving that puzzle...So, I am being repetitive right now, but, you know, maybe you saw that one Wednesday the toilet was flooded... Were you sad back then?"
"Fine, if you want to. Was the toilet flooded on Wednesday?" Myrtle repeated it after him and thought a little. Harry felt a slight irritation ripple through his body. He didn't want to try to persuade Myrtle to help for a long time, but he couldn't do anything else.
"When exactly was that?" she suddenly asked after a moment of thought.
"Six or seven weeks ago. At the beginning of the school year. Filch reported to the professors that there was almost a lake of warm water in the corridor."
"Oh, I remember something like that," Myrtle smiled. "But it definitely wasn't me. One of the mermaids in the lake had a birthday and I was invited to this party, so it definitely wasn't me."
"Really? Maybe you saw someone who came here before the toilet was flooded?" Harry continued to be polite and kept the conversation relaxed, as if he and Myrtle were old friends. The ghost frowned a little and was silent for a short time.
"Did someone come after all?" Harry asked, and Myrtle just sighed and leaned away from him a couple of meters, sitting on the edge of the sink.
"I don't want to tell you..." she paused
"Why? Is it something secret?"
"Um…Yes and no." Myrtle shook her head. "A boy comes here. He's upset and cries a lot, and he talks to me like I'm his closest friend. He is lonely and has no friends. He can't trust anyone."
"Oh, yes? This... It sounds very sad." Harry agreed, realizing that Myrtle was talking about Malfoy, but he didn't want to stray from the main goal. "Listen, Myrtle, did this boy bring any black leather notebooks here? Maybe he left it here on one of the toilet tanks?"
"What are you talking about?" Myrtle asked with a slight tilt of her head and added, "He never brought anything here. And he never left anything here. We usually just talk, and he comes in the evenings when everyone is going about their business after dinner. He says he needs to do something terrible."
"Terrible?" Harry pretended to be surprised, trying not to show Myrtle his curiosity. The girl just sighed and nodded
"Yes. He said he couldn't do it, that if he did, his life would be ruined. He is very scared, but he has no choice. He said it was his punishment."
"Really..." That's all Harry could say and repeated. "So, you didn't see anyone who could bring a black notebook?"
"I... I don't remember". Myrtle spoke slowly.
They stayed in silence for a short time and Harry, tired of standing, sat down next to Myrtle on the floor, folding his hands in his lap and waiting for the girl to tell him something else. Myrtle paused, and then began to float in the air as if Harry did not exist next to her.
Suddenly she stopped and abruptly moved towards him, which made Harry flinch, not expecting such a sudden movement.
"I remembered! A couple of days before my birthday invitation, I was sitting in this booth." She pointed her finger at the leftmost booth. "I was thinking about my own and didn't touch anyone. I was thinking about death, about life, about that bitch Hornby... In general, my usual business And suddenly someone slammed the door and entered. At first, I thought it was the same boy, but it was early in the morning, so I was surprised that he came. I wanted to go out to see who it was, but suddenly I heard someone swear. It was a grown woman's voice, so I decided it was a teacher's. I slightly leaned out of the booth and saw the little girl. She looked about twelve years old. But her voice sounded like she was already an adult! I was very surprised, but I didn't show my face to her and just quietly watched her. She pulled something out of her robe and put it on the drain tank, and then she scattered some powder. It was pale blue in color and very airy. Her entire robe was covered in this powder. It glistened in the sun. Then she closed the stall and poked her wand into it, bewitching the door."
"Did you hear what kind of spell it was?" Harry asked, feeling his heart beating faster, but Myrtle just shook her head.
"No, I didn't hear anything. She quickly left the same way she entered and I didn't see her again. I looked into the booth and there was some kind of notebook lying there."
"What house was the girl from?" Harry asked, getting up from the floor and opening the door of the stall where the diary supposedly lay. He squatted down, trying to see the pale blue powder. Myrtle just grunted and asked him from behind his back.
"You don't think that after all this weeks you'll see powder there, do you?"
"No, but maybe there's something else here." Harry replied and Myrtle continued.
"As for your question, this girl was from Hufflepuff. But I didn't see her face, it was covered"
"Wait! What?!" Harry turned around at her, barely able to keep his feet.
"Well, yep. She was from Hufflepuff." Myrtle shrugged her shoulders.
"Did you get anything wrong? Are you sure?" Harry didn't believe in it, standing up to his full height. He didn't quite believe that the girl could be from Hufflepuff. He would love to think about Slytherin.
"There was a badger on her badge. Of course, I did not mix up anything and I was not mistaken." Myrtle snorted, frowning. "Do you think I don't distinguish houses from each other? Or do you think that Slytherin is pure evil and all the strangest things in school happen because of them? A very hasty decision."
"You were killed by a guy from Slytherin." Harry noticed, to which Myrtle just laughed and replied
"I was bullied by a girl from Ravenclaw and it was because of her that I locked myself in here and cried. Do you know anything more humiliating than sitting in this booth for six years and crying over that bitch Hornby?"
"I agree, it sounds terrible."
Harry agreed, knowing that Myrtle loves pity towards her, and Harry did not want to leave the toilet after arguing with Myrtle. He looked again at the floor of the booth where May had disappeared, trying to put all the evidence together, but it was a complete mess. Finally, he said.
"Thank you, Myrtle. You've been very helpful."
"You are welcome. It would be cool if you come in more often like that boy." she smiled at him for the first time during the whole conversation.
Harry smiled tightly and left the toilet, hoping that he would no longer have to talk to Myrtle. He hurried to class. He decided to save the details of the conversation until he met with the members of the Order, and therefore all four of them held classes in silence. The only thing Harry shared in a whisper, while no one could hear them, was that Malfoy had really been assigned some kind of task and he had to do something terrible.
The friends barely sat until the end of the third period and rushed to an empty classroom on the fifth floor as fast as they could. The classroom was spacious and bright, and the first person to greet them was Tonks. Today her hair was bright crimson with blue streaks, she was wearing dark jeans and high lace-up boots, and her robe was black, from under which a white T-shirt and a green shirt peeked out over it. Lupin looked a little better than usual; at least he didn't have the usual bruises and bags under his eyes. Even his clothes looked less shabby and worn. He smiled warmly at them.
"Kingsley asked me to tell you that he can't come. That's why Tonks and I are here."
"You look just awesome!" All Ginny could say looking at Tonks.
"Thanks." she smiled broadly at her and said "Judging by the way you ran into the classroom you have something really important to tell us."
They took turns retelling everything they had found out over these long five weeks, and Harry told them about today's conversation with Myrtle in great detail. With each of their words, Tonks and Lupin's faces took on an increasingly strange expression, and at the end, Hermione was able to notice what an anxious look Tonks threw at Lupin. Tonks sat down on the table, resting her hands on its lid, listening attentively to Hermione's thoughtful retelling of the potion they brewed and what exactly they could see in its reflection.
"Judging by your faces, we are waiting for a large-scale shit." Harry summed it up and Ron just grunted in agreement.
"It's not just a large-scale one..." Tonks said nothing with a grimace, not paying attention to swearing.
"What should we expect?" Ron asked, looking closely at Lupin, to which he shook his head and said:
"If I could have known, we would have been preparing for this already."
"But you knew about the Ministry!" Harry disagreed and to which Lupin only smiled sympathetically at him, and Tonks chuckled.
"It was simple. I don't believe what I'm saying, but it was easy. But here... Here we can neither know, nor assert, nor assume anything." Tonks said, biting the inside of her cheek out of concern.
"Maybe then you should tell us everything?" Hermione suggested. "Maybe it would be worth telling everything then. Absolutely everything. We want to help. If you tell us about everything that the Order is so worried about, then it will be easier for us to help you."
Lupin had just opened his mouth to assure Hermione that they were not really worried and they had already helped a lot, when Ron said, standing up for Hermione.
"Hermione's right. We are not children. Our entire childhood was left in the fourth year after Cedric's death. Also, I would never have believed that a man with such a position and responsibilities as Kingsley would pay so much attention to May. He didn't pay much attention to Harry, and he keeps the situation with May under too strong control. Besides, you can't just walk around the school and look for evidence because no one will help you, and the Death Eaters would know everything after the first second you stepped in the school's corridors. Also, if you assume that there is a traitor, then no one will definitely help you, and everything will only get worse. Harry said that Malfoy was entrusted with some kind of important task, but plus that, the diary was tossed by a girl from Hufflepuff. Neither you nor we believe in this. We want to know what you know about May and what we need to know. Even if the truth is too scary to tell, you have to do it right now."
In Hermione's eyes, Ginny could see the respect for Ron's steadfastness and confidence, but also some tenderness. He openly supported her and even tried to put pressure on Tonks and Lupin. They were both silent. Lupin paced the room with his hands in his pockets, and Tonks was silent, looking at her feet. Everyone understood that they were gathering their thoughts to say something important.
"You're right… You're right." Tonks suddenly said softly, causing Lupin to suddenly stop looking at her. "It wouldn't be fair to keep quiet. You are her friends and you should know. Don't look like that, please, Remus."
She turned her gaze to Lupin and looked at him pleadingly.
"I know they're still the same kids for you in the third year that you were a teacher for, but Ron is right. They've grown up. Do you want to know what is wrong with May and why we behave as if tomorrow is the end of the world?"
They nodded small and fast. Tonks took a deep breath and exchanged glances with Lupin, who froze staring intently at Tonks.
"I think you already know part of the story from Ginny, but this is only a quarter of what I could say back then. The problem is that... No, not a problem." Tonks paused, choosing a word, and when she couldn't find the right one, she continued. "There is a very high probability that May will not survive."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked quietly.
"She means that May is almost 100 percent likely to die." Lupin answered for Tonks. "May has no chance. From the moment she was born, she was destined for a different fate. She shouldn't have been born and lived like she did all that time. She was just supposed to become a receptacle of great power, and that's all. Now this power is devouring her and slowly destroying her because May is not able to hold all this magic."
"But... But you said that her mother..." that's all Ginny could say and added. "That's not true, is it? After all, you can help her, right? You said she was able to undo the curse and May is no longer in danger!"
Tonks shook her head sadly and Lupin said softly.
"We thought she was able to change it. At least that's how it seemed. But she told us that she couldn't bring back the curse completely. May's mother made the decision at the last moment. You can't just destroy an ancient magical ritual because, at the very last moment, you changed your mind.."
"You either let what you previously agreed to happen, or you don't let it happen from the very beginning." Tonks added: "Nobody can play with ancient rituals that are related to blood's magic like it is a toy or something."
"What? She... Did she agree?" Harry was stunned and looked from Lupin to Tonks.
"Yes." Tonks said softly, looking away. "May's mother agreed at first. She knew everything, but at the last moment she decided to save her child. Nobody knows what happened. That's why he came to Italy this summer. He had known about it from the very beginning. May be they have tried to make an agreement."
"But... Why? How could she do this to May?!" Hermione could only squeeze it out of herself.
"She is megalomaniac too. Yeah, it is not as hard and deep as he is, but she wanted power too. She would like to be the girlfriend or wife of the greatest wizard in the entire magical world. And they agreed together that May would be just a way for them to double their magic. More precisely, for the Dark Lord. They are both grown-up, strong, and trained wizards." Tonks said. "Their body and mind would be able to bear it all, but May is a little girl who was not trained to cope with powerful magic. He knows that May will die, and apparently that's why he ordered him to guard her. When May dies, all her power will return to him. The ritual will work the way it was supposed to."
"How can it be stopped?" asked Harry and Tonks just shook her head.
"It can't be stopped. Only if May does somehow learn how to control this magic, but for this she needs to be taught from childhood. No one here at school can handle it right now; otherwise, all professors should be focused only on one student to make it work."
"Professor Dumbledore could teach her."
"Professor Dumbledore is constantly away now." Lupin noticed. "But you're right, Harry, he was almost the only one who could help her without getting too much unwanted attention. When we realized that, she was already gone. You say that some girl from Hufflepuff planted a diary, but I assume that it was an adult wizard using a Polyjuice potion."
"Moreover, Myrtle said that she heard the voice of an adult woman in the body of a little girl."
"It could have been Bellatrix Lestrange." Ginny suggested. "I don't think it would be difficult for her to get into the school, given that her nephew is here with some important task."
"Good point." Tonks agreed. "But for this, Bella had to be very quiet and not attract attention. I doubt she would have missed the opportunity to have fun."
"For the sake of her master's daughter, she could try to sneak into the school." Ron disagreed, folding his arms across his chest.
"But at the same time, it seems to me that Bellatrix's candidacy is too obvious." Ron added. "Listen, could May's mother have planted this diary for her? She could have known about almost everything related to Riddle and about the diary, too. She could enchant any notebook so that no spells would work on it and turn it into a portal. If she once wanted power, then she is unlikely to miss the opportunity now, and if she has already saved May once, then she can try to do it again, but only in her own style."
They looked at him in surprise at once.
"Ron, that's brilliant." Hermione said it involuntarily. "It sounds so clear that there is nothing to add to this guess. You're absolutely right! Bellatrix is too obvious for this case. Plus, it would hardly be possible to miss the Death Eater, who suddenly decided to take a walk around the school. The school is protected by the order; she will not dare to enter here. But May's mom is neither an ally nor an enemy."
Tonks and Lupin only exchanged glances and Tonks smiled admiringly at Ron. I t was obvious that she liked his idea and agreed with it. Lupin scratched his beard thoughtfully and said slowly.
"This is a delightfully good point of view. At least because May's mom was planning to visit her daughter and get to know her. Has May been in touch with any Hufflepuff girls lately?"
Friends involuntarily turned to Ginny and she just shook her head.
"All I know is that May was hanging out with Astoria and Alicia and the Patil twins not so long ago."
"Who are Astoria and Alicia?" Tonks asked and Ginny said.
"Astoria is a girl from Slytherin, and Alicia is a girl from Ravenclaw. She's on the Quidditch team. One of the Patil twins is also studying at Ravenclaw. There is no one from Hufflepuff among May's friends."
"So, we need to ask these girls if they know anything else about May and her friends. Lupin suggested. If Mei was on good terms with them, then they must know something else."
"Fine." Ginny nodded and turning to friends, she said. "Then I'll go to Astoria, and you go to the Patil twins and Alicia."
The guys nodded and were about to leave when Hermione asked, turning to Tonks.
"Do you think this diary took her to a place that only May's mother would know about?"
"Probably. We need to get May back as soon as possible and start training her just to save her life." Tonks nodded and Hermione was about to say something but felt Harry tug on her sleeve.
They knew they needed to act quickly. They didn't have time to think about how to talk to all the girls individually, so Ginny said she'd go out into the yard to look for Astoria. She didn't want all four of them to ask Astoria about May because that might attract unwanted attention from Slytherin. The yard was full of students. The rain had already stopped, and the sun was shining brightly and still warm. Among the students, she noticed a pair of green robes and took a closer look. Astoria was sitting surrounded by her friends with an open textbook on her lap. Her hair was pulled up by a rhinestone hair claw, and it sparkled brightly in the sun. Ginny confidently approached her, and Astoria immediately looked up at her, smiling gently at her.
"Hi. Can I talk to you alone?" Ginny asked, smiling at her.
"Sure." she nodded, closing the herbology book. "Something happened? You can talk in front of everyone, I have no secrets."
"This is about May." Ginny leaned slightly toward Astoria so that no one could overhear them.
"Oh! I also wanted to talk about her," Astoria nodded and waved in the direction of a girl with long blond hair who was sitting not far from her: "Emilia said that May had disappeared somewhere and never showed up at school."
"Oh. So that's right," Ginny nodded. "Tell me, please, have you ever heard of May talking to anyone from Hufflepuff? With some girl, maybe"
"No." Astoria shook her head and thought for a while, and then said: "No, I am one hundred percent sure about it. May hung out with me, the Patil twins, Alicia and, well, with you, your brother, Granger and Potter. I've never seen anyone else near her. Did something serious happen?"
"Uh... It's a long time to explain." Ginny shook her head and said. "Thank you, Astoria. You've been very helpful."
"By what? Wait!" She didn't understand, but Ginny was already on her way to school, leaving Astoria surprised and with the feeling that Ginny couldn't just ask about May.
They met in the same classroom where Lupin and Tonks were waiting for them, who by this time had found themselves a cup of tea and cookies. Tonks was sitting on the windowsill, holding a cup of tea in her hands, and Lupin was pacing the room unable to be calm. When the guys entered, he turned sharply at them.
"Well, have you found out anything?" he asked and Harry said.
"No. Nobody knows any girl from Hufflepuff. Moreover, Hufflepuffs said that May rarely visited them and they know her, but no one from their house hung out with May. The faculty boy of the Hufflepuff knows about almost everyone at the house and he said that May wasn't even close to anybody."
"Then there's only one thing left," Tonks said, setting her cup of tea aside and jumping off the windowsill. "We need to find May's mother and ask about everything. I think, Ron was right and it was her."
"We can help look for her." Harry offered the same one to which Lupin shook his head and replied.
"You have already done a lot for us, but you need to go to class. If we find something, we'll tell you."
They barely suppressed a groan, but the faces of Lupin and Tonks were so unwilling to bicker that they only sighed, agreed to this offer, and went to the next lesson. These were potions, and Harry immediately thought that this was not the most convenient place to discuss everything. He was even more worried that the scar had not hurt for several months, and therefore he made the assumption that May's mother had even killed Voldemort, and he himself would not mind finding out where his holy grail was with all the power that he wanted.