Michael Brown

I woke up relaxed and full of energy.

"What a beautiful morning!" I declared, leisurely getting out of my bed and stretching my entire body. Opening of Chamber of Secrets filled me with a certain happiness, allowing me to get a good rest for the first time in years. After all, it was hard not to feel joy, as I finally got confirmation that Tom was safe and ready to bring positive change to the entire wizarding world! Even better, he was somehow even able to recruit a person sympathetic to our cause, something I should have expected from a natural leader like Tom!

Now the only thing left for me to do was to reunite with Tom and start working towards the betterment of the world!

Ready to begin my day I cast scourgify on myself, removing any dirt clinging to me after the night. It was unfortunately necessary to do that, as my new place of residence was quite messy and I hadn't gotten around cleaning it yet.

I was currently spending my nights in a relatively unknown part of the Hogwarts castle known as the Undercroft. It was a huge chamber full of various boxes and discarded items, located behind the clock in the defence tower. It wasn't exactly adequate as a living space, with all the webs and broken pieces of furniture, but I wasn't really in the position to complain. It was hidden from the view, had a lot of space and was still safer than living in the Room of Requirement.

I mean, sure, there were some risks involved, like the fact that it was connected to the forgotten laboratory of the dark witch, whose plan was to remove all negative emotions from the entire world, but they were negligible. The portal to that place was currently inactive and it was still better than living in the room that would actively invade your mind and grant you your greatest desire on the silver platter, no question asked. It was suspicious as fuck, not to mention it was constantly shilled in the Harry Potter series as some sort of amazing plot device, so going there was an unacceptable risk in my opinion. It was safer to just stick to the Undercroft.

To be honest, the fact that I was able to remember it at all was solid proof that I wasn't actually reincarnated. More than a decade without any contact with the Harry Potter series and I was somehow able to remember all these small details about the series? The Undercroft? Dumbledore's backstory? Rita Skeeter being an animagus? No, there was no way I would be able to remember all that stuff on my own. It was more probable that these memories were forced into my brain by someone or something, though I still didn't know the identity of these people or the purpose of such actions. Well, it's not like it mattered at the moment. My creators would eventually reveal myself and it's not like I would be able to learn more at the moment. It was better to just relax and enjoy my day, taking joy in knowing that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

After dressing up I left Undercroft, using the secret entrance. After making sure no one was observing me, I started walking towards my next destination with a smile on my face.

As I was walking through the corridors, a wide grin still on my face, I noticed that I was the only one in a jubilant mood. Most of the students were actually quite subdued, whispering among each other and giving me odd looks. I was certain it was because of Dumbledore's machinations, as he was most likely trying to convince everyone that the opening of Chamber of Secrets was bad news. Well, everyone would soon learn that Tom Riddle, the heir of Slytherin, was a benevolent liberator and Dumbledore was full of shit, changing their perception of the Chamber, so it wasn't worrying me.

After a few minutes of walking, I found my destination. I was standing in front of the girls' bathroom on the second floor, where I would potentially find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. After making sure I found the right place, I entered it, ready to start my investigation.

Unsurprisingly the bathroom looked exactly like in the movies, with worn out stalls, cracked tiles and a marble sink in the middle of the room, with all of the mirrors broken. That particular sink was actually quite important for my investigation, so I started walking towards it, intending to have a closer look. However, before I was able to reach it, I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! What are you doing here? It's a girls' bathroom!" A girl's voice came from behind one of the stalls, tone reprimanding. After a second a glowing head phased through the stall's door, followed by the rest of the body.

It was Moaning Myrtle, a reason why this bathroom was in such a sorry state. She looked just like in the movies, with an old woman's face and Hogwarts robe on her translucent body. She was currently looking at me with a frown on her face, most likely wondering why I was in her bathroom.

"Ah, I'm so sorry. I didn't notice!" I exclaimed, trying to sound as convincing as possible. I didn't know what her role in the whole plot was yet, as her being not petrified meant she was working for either Tom or Dumbledore, so it was better to play safe for now. I looked ostentatiously around the bathroom, pretending to be surprised by its state "It just didn't even look like it was being used by anyone. Don't students use this place?"

"You know, for some reason they really don't. I don't even know why! The only people who come here are bullies, who just want to make fun of me! What did I do to deserve it? You know I died at this very stall? But people don't care about that, they just want to bully me!" Myrtle declared, her voice raising with every passing second. Knowing it wouldn't be wise to let her wind up, I snapped my fingers, stopping her in her tracks.

"So no students came to this bathroom for a while?" I inquired, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. I doubted I would learn anything useful, especially if Myrtle was Dumbledore's spy, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"No! Can you imagine?! They prefer to just ignore me, like they ignored me during my life! I am certainly considering haunting them all" She exclaimed, her voice angry.

"Well, I came, if it counts for something" I replied, making her look at me with newfound attention. Knowing I wouldn't be able to investigate the site with her observing me, I continued "If you want, you can tell me about your death"

"Really?! I-I mean, I can, if you are this interested" Myrtle said with a smile, before looking at the ceiling, seemingly absorbed by her own story "You see, it all started when that meanie Olive Hornby…"

I tuned Myrtle out, deciding to use this opportunity to approach the sink, hoping to find some clue about the Diary's owner's identity. Contrary to my expectations I didn't find anything, like marks created by the opening of the chamber or Tom's diary, patiently waiting for me on the surface of the sink. I however found a very familiar snake ornament on one of the taps. While it was good to have the confirmation that it was the place leading to the Chamber, in my opinion Tom's ancestor made it a little too obvious. With such a visible sign, a walking propaganda machine, known as Harry Potter, could just waltz into the bathroom and find the entrance.

As I obviously couldn't just leave such an obvious sign in the plain view, I quietly took out Kenny and cast a fire-making spell, learnt during one of Charms classes, on the copper tap, using a small jet of flame to melt the snake ornament. It took a while, as the spell wasn't very powerful, but eventually the snake started to melt, unable to withstand the temperature generated by the spell. Soon the ornament vanished, with its melted remains on the side of the tap as the only sign of its previous presence. After my job was done, I turned around, only to see that Myrtle was still engrossed in her tale, unaware of my actions.

Though it was quite regrettable that I wasn't able to learn anything about Diary's current owner, at least I was able to cover Tom's tracks. I mean, wouldn't it be embarrassing if Harry Potter were to open the chamber just by noticing a small snake on the side of the tap? Knowing I wouldn't be able to find anything else, I turned to the girl's ghost, who was still speaking about her death.

"It was very interesting, Myrtle!" I exclaimed, making her focus on me again. Myrtle blinked, apparently quite absorbed in her own story, before looking at me "Do you mind if I visit you again? We can talk more then"

"Of course! You can come anytime! I still have so much to tell!" She replied instantly, quite excited about my proposition. Well, I intended to visit the bathroom once a while to find Tom's owner, mostly at night, so it was nice to have some cover story.

With nothing else to do, I left the bathroom. I was about to call the mission a success when I collided with someone, right next to the bathroom's entrance.

"Oi! Watch it, bloke!" That person shouted, making me raise my eyes. Upon noticing a red hair, as well as an iconic look and voice, I came to the conclusion I collided with Ronald Weasley himself. I didn't really know how to react to that, especially as I could see Harry Potter and Hermione Granger standing right behind him. Harry was looking at me with a curious gaze, apparently not recognizing me, but Hermione was giving me a heated look, most likely remembering our journey to Hogwarts. What were they doing here? Did they follow me? "Aren't you going to say anything? What were you even doing in the girls' bathroom?"

My mind started working at full speed. I couldn't really just tell them I was looking for Tom, so I had to give them some excuse. What would I do in the abandoned girls' bathroom? The first thought that came into my mind was Polyjuice brewing, though it probably wouldn't be wise to tell them that. My second thought was also useless, as I doubted any of them would know what heroin even was. Then came a third thought, much more adequate than the previous ones.

"I, eh, soiled my pants, so I needed a place to clean myself" I responded with a straight face, hoping they wouldn't notice me sweat. They looked at me with shock and disgust in their eyes, which probably meant my plan was working. I decided to press my advantage to retreat. I coughed into my hand, not looking any of them in the eye "…excuse me"

I started walking away. Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly moved away from my path, allowing me to leave undisturbed. After I turned around the corner and stopped feeling their shocked gaze on my back, I gave a sigh of relief.

Mission successful.