Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I was hoping to get this out sooner so I could start working on the next chapter and get it out either by the end of the month or beginning of the next one but uh, guess that's not happening anymore. Hahaha. Anyways, as you guys can tell we now have an official chapter total for this fic which means we only have three more chapters after this before this installment is officially wrapped up! Hooray! Now I'm not gonna hold you up any longer so jump right into the chapter and I hope you enjoy it!
Like always, I enjoy any comments, except for those that are just full of negativity and not constructive at all. Just give me something to work with instead of just "It's bad." I also appreciate any positive constructive criticism since I'm always looking to improve my writing and storytelling capabilities.
Thanks for reading this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.
Disclaimer: I still do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by the books or movies, and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the books or movies.
Warning: No beta, we die like Stingbulbs.
Chapter 12: The Valentine's Day That Shan't Be Recalled
XXXXXX
It had been a couple weeks since Seth's return to Hogwarts and he was in the midst of his nine hundred and ninety ninth attempt to destroy the diary.
When the totally legally procured hydrochloric acid failed to eat through the black leather cover of the notebook, he let out a cry of frustration that was quickly followed up with a pained shout as his chest seemed to squeeze in response to the abuse he was putting the diary through.
With a pair of tongs, he picked the diary up and dumped it into a nearby bucket he'd prepared and waited for the acid to neutralize.
He breathed out a sigh of relief when the pain faded away and glared at the unassuming book. It seemed that no matter what he did, the diary refused to be destroyed and it, in turn, would do its best to retaliate against him for each destruction attempt he put it through.
He, of course, refused to write in it again, not wanting to make himself more susceptible to its magic and Yeshe's charm helped in making sure he held to that resolve. However, he could feel the charm's effectiveness was fading fast. The magical backlash of each destruction attempt was slowly but surely chipping away at the shield the charm provided.
If he kept going the way he was, sooner or later, he was going to fall to the diary's magic again which was a big no-no now.
But what else could he do except keep trying? He had Yeshe's warning about involving others to consider. Even though he knew Luna could help, he wanted to keep her as a last resort, as a 'if everything else fails and he's this close to falling under the diary's influence again then he'll seek her out' last resort.
As he was pondering what he could try for the one thousandth attempt, his head suddenly throbbed and he gasped in both surprise and pain. He grasped at his head as something smacked harshly against his mental walls, trying to force its way through. He tried to hold strong but eventually, a voice could be heard speaking to him in his mind.
"Hello again Seth," said an unfamiliar voice that oozed with the sort of charm you would find from the smart, good looking, and overachieving high school class president.
Seth scowled, immediately knowing who that voice belonged to. "Tom! How?"
"Oh my dear little shadow charmer, you have yet to truly realize the extent of the connection between us," Tom crowed, highly amused.
"Get the hell out of my head you little leech!" Seth angrily demanded.
Tom tsked at him in disappointment. "Now, now, is that any way to speak to a dear friend?"
"Dear friend my ass. I can't believe I got tricked by you and your stupid silver tongue."
"How was it trickery when everything I said was the truth?"
Seth scoffed. "Yeah sure. You're no better than the Mirror of Erised. You just spout shallow platitudes like slapping a tiny band-aid over a stab wound. I can't wait to destroy you."
"Destroy me?" Tom said as if the very idea was both ludicrous and amusing, "Now why on earth would you do that? I've been ever so helpful and now you wish to betray me like this?"
"Oh go suck a lemon!" Seth snapped back, "I'm going to make sure you never spill your poisoned lies into anyone else's ear ever again."
Tom chuckled. "I certainly wish you good luck on that. After all, it's much too late for you and soon your soul will be ripe for the taking."
And with that, Tom's presence faded from his mind and the throbbing in his head lessened until it eventually disappeared completely.
However, the encounter left Seth shaken. It seemed he'd finally reached the point of needing to go straight to his last resort no matter how much he wished he didn't have to.
The very next day, Seth pulled Luna aside and told her everything - the argument with Kendra, the diary, Tom, Yeshe's warning, anything and everything he could think of. Luna carefully listened to what he had to say with a grave expression. When he finished speaking with a request for her help, she simply smiled at him.
"Of course. You need only have asked Seth."
He beamed, greatly relieved. "Great! Do you have a plan? Cause I'm running so low on them that it's not even funny."
She nodded thoughtfully. "Yes. I suggest you give the diary to me."
That startled him something awful. "But-"
"I will be safe from the diary's influence," Luna assured him, "While the blessing of the hobgoblin opened my sight, it also granted me a sort of immunity against magical influence. I'll be able to hold strong against the diary."
"If you're sure…" Seth said, still uncertain.
She nodded firmly. "I am. It's best we separate you from the diary as soon as possible and figure out other ways to destroy it without you coming into contact with it."
She held her hands out and he forced himself to give her the diary, his own hands shaking the entire time. When she took the diary and tucked it away in her bag, he sighed in relief at the dulling of the connection between him and the diary.
"Thanks Luna."
She hummed. "No need to thank me Seth. You're my friend in the know and that's something precious to have."
"True that."
Then the two went their separate ways, Seth to the library for research and Luna to hide the diary.
As Luna wandered around the castle, wondering where she could hide the diary, she spotted the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and was hit with a brilliant idea. She slipped inside, making sure to stay quiet in her movements as Myrtle wailed away in her stall. She hid the diary behind one of the broken toilets, making sure to angle it in such a way that even should someone enter, they wouldn't be able to spot it.
Once satisfied, she left the bathroom, pleased by her choice of hiding spot and completely unaware of the fact that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco had chosen to use the bathroom as their base of operations for their investigation.
XXXXXX
While Seth was busy with Operation 'Destroy the Evil Talking Diary,' Harry, Hermione, and Ron were focused on their investigation of the Chamber of Secrets with the unexpected addition of Draco Malfoy of all people.
Though none of them liked it, they could begrudgingly agree that Draco was an unexpected asset to their cause. However, he insisted that they never divulge his participation to Seth which was fine with them considering they'd yet to inform him of their progress from winter break.
This was because ever since the holidays ended, the quartet had yet to truly reconvene beyond small talk during meals and classes as Seth would always disappear before any of them could catch him. They had no clue what he was doing or where he was going whenever he had a moment of spare time. However, they could clearly see he was doing much better health wise so they all decided unless he sought them out, they would keep quiet about the investigation so as to not potentially interfere with his improvement of health.
Presently, Harry and Ron were walking through the corridor after another Transfiguration lesson that ended with a wacky disaster where all the thimbles on McGonagall's desk turned into flying beetles courtesy of Ron's still defunct wand.
"You really need to get that wand replaced," Harry said, "McGonagall looked really mad this time. I think her patience is starting to run out."
"What do you think I've been writing to mum about? The weather?" Ron glumly said.
Harry patted Ron consolingly on the back, not noticing someone walking past until he accidentally bumped shoulders with them.
"I'm so s-" Then he realized that person was Draco and his expression soured. "Oh. It's you."
Draco's expression was equally as sour. "You have something to say, Potter?"
Harry had a lot of things he wanted to say. He and the others were still sore about how Draco essentially blackmailed his way into their investigation but before he could say anything, the boys heard someone shouting down the corridor.
"That's Filch," Harry realized.
The boys exchanged looks and hurried down the corridor.
"You don't think someone else's been attacked?" Ron worriedly asked.
"Can't have. Not without alerting the rest of the school," Draco said as if trying to convince himself.
The boys reached the end of the corridor and paused, out of sight, as they listened to Filch rant and rave almost hysterically.
"-even more work for me! Mopping all night like I haven't got enough to do. No! This is the last straw! I'm going to Dumbledore!"
The boys listened as Filch stormed off and once they heard the sound of a distant door slam shut, dared to poke their heads around the corner. It struck them immediately that they were back at the scene of Mrs. Norris' petrification. The message was still shining brightly on the wall in blood red letters. However, this time they could see a great flood of water coming from under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch was no longer there yelling, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing loudly from within.
"Now what's up with her?" Ron asked.
He and Harry walked over to the bathroom door but Draco stopped them. "Hang on! That's a girl's bathroom. There's even someone crying in there. We can't go in!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "It's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She's a ghost if that wasn't clear. Hermione said none of the girls go in there because of her."
"We've also been using it as our meeting place for the investigation," Harry added, "Hermione brewed the polyjuice potion in there."
Draco still didn't look convinced. "But-"
Harry sighed in irritation. "Look Malfoy, as long as we're quick about it, no one will notice us going in or out."
Draco's resolve was beginning to crumble. "That's…"
"Don't you want to know what happened here? It could be connected to the chamber," Harry goaded him.
Draco was clearly still torn about it but finally gave in. "Argh! Fine! Let's go."
The boys carefully stepped through the water to the bathroom door and entered. When they were inside, they could hear Myrtle crying louder and harder than ever before. She seemed to be hiding in her usual stall though it was hard to tell as it was completely dark due to the candles being extinguished by the water that left the walls and floors soaked.
"Lumos," Draco commanded. A light shone from the end of his wand and Harry and Ron nodded their thanks.
The boys made their way over to Myrtle.
"What's wrong, Myrtle?" Harry asked, loud enough to be heard through her wailing.
Myrtle paused long enough to respond, "Nothing you'll care about," before going back to wailing.
"Is she always like this?" Draco whispered to the others.
"Why'd you think she's called Moaning Myrtle?" Ron whispered back.
Myrtle stopped her wailing to glare at them. "I see you've added another boy to whisper behind my back. Oh! Why couldn't Seth have come instead of you lot? Then at least I know I won't have to worry about him whispering rude things about me."
Harry shrugged apologetically. "Sorry Myrtle. Seth's been busy with something," he said unapologetically.
"Yeah, we actually haven't been able to hang out with him for a while," Ron said.
"Well at least it's not just me then," Myrtle said in a taunting manner, "How does it feel knowing your friend doesn't want to be around you? Hmmm?"
Harry and Ron shared confused looks at her poor attempt at taunting considering they genuinely hadn't been able to spend time with Seth because he seemed busy with something just like they were.
"It's nice to meet you, Myrtle. I am Draco Malfoy," Draco politely introduced himself to try and save the conversation.
Myrtle scoffed. "At least one of you remembered your manners even if you are a Malfoy."
"You know the Malfoys?" Draco asked in surprise.
She gave him a look as if he were stupid. "Of course I know. I'm dead, not stupid. Now hurry up and tell me what you want so you can leave me alone."
"We saw that the bathroom was floored pretty badly," Harry said.
"Nothing that I would care about. It's not as if water can bother me anyways," Myrtle sarcastically remarked.
"But you know how it happened right?" Harry asked.
Myrtle scowled. "All I know is something blocked the pipes so badly that water started gushing out like that stupid fountain in the courtyard I was always being shoved into," she snapped at them irritably, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to be left alone. Now!"
Her shout made the boys shrink and the door to her stall closed with a bang.
"Great going Potter. You made her mad," Draco sarcastically remarked.
"How is that my fault?" Harry squawked indignantly.
"What should we do now?" Ron asked.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Look around obviously. Let's see if we can find anything and be quick about it. The water's starting to seep into my shoes."
Harry gave a mocking bow. "Yes, your highness."
The boys split up and started searching the bathroom for clues but found nothing until Harry spotted a small, thin book with a shabby black leather cover under the sink.
"I found something!" He called out to the others. He picked up the book just as the other boys joined him.
"What is that?" Draco asked.
"Dunno," Harry said, giving it a once over, "Looks like a notebook." He then went to open it but Ron stopped him.
"Are you mad? It could be dangerous!"
Harry looked at him in disbelief. "Come off it. How could it be dangerous?"
"You'd be surprised," Draco unexpectedly responded, "There are plenty of books and innocuous objects that carry deadly curses."
Ron vehemently nodded in agreement. "I heard my dad talk about some of the things he's confiscated. Lamps that burn your eyes out, quills that use your blood as ink, a book that you could never stop reading so you had to wander around with your nose in it trying to do everything one handed-"
"Alright, I get it," Harry interrupted, "But we still won't find out what this is unless we take a look."
Without further ado, he opened the book despite Ron and Draco's protests and found the pages within to be completely blank. Nothing happened as he flipped through it looking for something, anything, so Ron and Draco calmed down. Eventually, Harry reached the end where there was a small inscription of the year 1943 and the name T.M. Riddle.
Ron and Draco both squinted at it.
"Hang on, I know that name," Ron said, tapping his chin in thought until he remembered, "That's right! It was on a special services award plaque for the school for that year."
"How on earth do you know that?" Harry asked in astonishment.
Ron scowled as an unpleasant memory came up. "Because Filch made me polish it fifty times in detention. If you'd wiped a name for an hour, you'd remember it too," he said resentfully.
"I feel as if I've heard that name somewhere else besides the trophy room," Draco said, frowning as he tried to remember but kept coming up short, "Not sure where though…"
"Well whoever he is, he never wrote in it," Harry said, flipping through the pages again, "Look. Just empty pages upon empty pages."
"I wonder why it was here in this bathroom though? It wasn't here before, right?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head. "Not that I remember."
"We should take it back with us," Draco suggested, "Even if it's blank, someone was trying to hide it for a reason."
Harry agreed, pocketing it. Then the three boys quickly left the bathroom before anyone could walk by.
XXXXXX
The trio later show the diary to Hermione who became really insistent on doing whatever she could to uncover whatever secrets the small leather bound notebook was hiding. She tried every revealing spell she knew and furiously scrubbed at the paper's surface with a magic eraser meant to reveal invisible ink.
Harry and Ron just looked at her strangely when nothing happened with each attempt.
"Er, Hermione," Harry tentatively interjected as she was in the midst of shaking the diary furiously as if her movements would be able to shake some secrets loose, "I don't think the diary's hiding anything."
"Yeah. Riddle probably just got a diary for Christmas and couldn't be bothered to fill it in," Ron agreed.
"But then why would someone try to hide it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?" Hermione countered with a very good point. Why would someone hide some old diary in Myrtle's bathroom if it wasn't hiding something?
"Maybe someone accidentally bought it, thinking it was something else, and got embarrassed when they realized it was actually some bloke's empty diary?" Ron suggested.
She gave him an unimpressed look and he sighed. "Look, why are you so sure it's hiding something?"
Harry nodded eagerly in agreement. Now Draco was the one looking at them unimpressed.
"Really? You haven't figured it out yet?" He asked snobbishly.
"And you have?" Harry asked defensively.
Draco scoffed and turned to Ron. "Weasley, when did Riddle get that special service award?"
Ron was taken aback by the sudden question and had to scramble through his memories for an answer. "Uh, I think it was 1943?"
"And the last time the chamber was opened was 1932. My father said so," Draco stated matter of fact.
"Yeah? And? What about it?" Ron asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
Hermione gave a frustrated sigh. "Honestly Ron, that must mean the two are connected! Perhaps Riddle got the award because he caught the culprit behind the incident!"
"Or at least, the culprit everyone was quick to believe was behind the incident considering the chamber's apparently open again," Draco corrected her.
"Yes, that," she agreed without missing a beat or being angry at his correction.
It took a moment before it registered in Harry and Ron's minds. "Oh," they both said dumbly.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, oh. And if we add in the fact that someone was trying to hide or maybe even dispose of the diary, that must mean there's something hidden in its pages that might reveal information about what happened in 1943."
"Exactly!" Hermione eagerly said, "Maybe it could tell us where the chamber is, how to open it, what sort of creature lives in it, the person who was accused of being the culprit, and so on!" She glared down at the still empty diary. "But we'd only be able to find all that out if we knew what sort of magic is being used to hide that information."
Draco hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe the key might be with Slytherin?"
Hermione looked at him in question. "Did you find something?"
He nodded. "It's nothing concrete though. I found a diary from a student from the founding years of Hogwarts who mentioned Salazar Slytherin speaking about creating a special chamber in the halls of the school but there's no confirmation on whether it was created or not and where it could be if it was."
She pursed her lips in thought at the newfound knowledge. "Interesting. If a student knew about the chamber and it was meant to be built somewhere in the halls of the school instead of secluded in secret, does that mean its true purpose wasn't to house a monster?"
He shrugged. "Who could say? Salazar Slytherin was considered the most secretive of the Founders for a reason."
Ron snorted. "And look where that landed him. The villain of every story in the school."
"Still, at least we've learned something new even without the diary," Harry said, pointing out the silver lining.
"Right," Hermione agreed, "Maybe we can keep looking into that connection, see if there are any other accounts of a special chamber. Until then, Harry, would you mind holding onto the diary since you found it and all? Maybe keep trying different things to see if it'll react in some way."
Harry nodded and tucked the diary back into his pocket.
After that, the newly formed quartet decided to stop by the trophy room just to see if there were any more clues they could glean about T.M. Riddle.
They learned that his name was actually Tom Marvolo Riddle, he was a halfblood in Slytherin, was Prefect and then Head Boy, had a medal for magical merit, and had done a special service for the school that got him an award but there was no mention anywhere of what that special service could be.
Hermione sighed in disappointment. "I wish it at least had some sort of detail about why he got the award."
"Good thing it didn't else it'd be even bigger and I'd still be polishing it," Ron said, shuddering in horror at the thought.
"I'm surprised we've never heard of him," Draco remarked with a frown, "Looking at all these awards, it seems like he was the sort of student to either effortlessly earn them all or was competitive enough to nab as many as he could."
"Sounds like an overachiever," Harry noted.
Ron grimaced. "Sounds more like Percy."
"Either way, there isn't anything more we can learn from here. Let's go to the library," Hermione suggested.
The quartet then left the room but Draco and Harry lingered a bit, staring at the special service award where Tom's name sat front and center on the golden plaque. There was something about that name that continued to nag at the two boys though for completely different reasons.
Either way, staring wasn't going to suddenly reveal any answers so the two turned away and rushed to catch up to Hermione who was now nagging Ron for his comment about overachieving meaning you were like Percy.
XXXXXX
In the beginning of February, the sun was beginning to shine weakly on Hogwarts again, both literally and figuratively. Inside the school, the mood grew more hopeful. There had been no more attacks and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the mandrakes were becoming moody and secretive meaning that they were fast leaving childhood and would soon be ready for harvesting once their acne cleared up.
"Maybe the heir's lost their nerve?" Harry suggested when the subject was brought up one day during breakfast, "It's got to be getting riskier and riskier to open the chamber now that everyone's alert and suspicious."
"Maybe the monster's gone back to hibernation for a few more decades?" Ron said jokingly.
Hermione rolled her eyes as the two snickered but Seth frowned.
"Yeah, maybe…" he said listlessly.
"You alright Seth?" Hermione asked in concern.
He nodded. "I am, promise. I reconciled with my sister over the holidays so there's that. Really, I'm just a bit tired from playing catch up on everything I missed or forgot before the holidays. Gotta start preparing for exams and all."
Hermione nodded understandingly and thankfully dropped the issue much to his relief.
He and Luna were still brainstorming ways to destroy the diary and so far, all they were able to come up with was the use of a powerful magical artifact (which they had no access to), a tooth or claw from an XXXXX Class magical creature (which they wouldn't be able to get without setting off so many red flags), or fiendfyre (which would be highly caustic and destructive if they didn't have solid control over which as 11 and 12 year old kids they definitely wouldn't be able to de-aged experience or not).
But Seth was also reaching the breaking point in his desperation threshold so he and Luna decided that they would go with the fiendfyre option. They were now in the midst of searching for a place where they could safely cast the spell without alerting anyone of the fire that would spread.
On the bright side though, the lack of exposure to the diary meant that Seth was able to maintain control over himself even though he could still feel the connection between him and the diary. This also meant that there were no more attacks much to his relief. The staff and students began to go about their days again without fear and suspicion, eager to forget the terror and paranoia the attacks had caused.
However, there were some who refused to let it go, albeit in different ways.
There were students like Ernie who believed that the monster stopped attacking only because Harry had given himself away during the dueling club incident. Harry chose to resolutely ignore those students.
Then there was Professor Lockhart who believed that he himself had made the attacks stop.
He could be heard bragging about the feat each day, boasting about how the chamber would be locked for good this time because the culprit knew it was only a matter of time before Lockhart caught them. He said it was sensible for them to stop before he unleashed the full extent of justice upon them.
Seth couldn't help but snort in amusement when he heard that, imagining for a quick moment what would've happened on the non existent chance that Lockhart managed to figure out who the culprit truly was before quickly shoving that thought away.
However, Lockhart didn't just leave it at boasting about his so-called feat. No, he began speaking about a morale booster he was going to organize and remained secretive about despite much questioning from students who were still enamored by him.
On the day of February 14, otherwise known as Valentine's Day, they got their answer.
The Great Hall looked as if someone ate every single Valentine decoration and threw it all up into one obnoxiously pink mess. The walls were covered with large pink flowers and pink heart shaped confetti fell from a pink cloud ceiling. There were pink balloon centerpieces every three feet on each table and there were large pink heart banners hanging above the staff table.
Most everyone was annoyed or disgusted by the obnoxious display but there were still some who giggled and blushed, especially when looking towards Lockhart who winked and smiled with his pearly whites while wearing obnoxiously pink robes to match the decorations. The professors were all stone faced as they tried to maintain their composure in the face of such an outrageous display.
Lockhart stepped up to address all the students with a wide smile. "Happy Valentine's Day! And may I thank the forty-six and still counting people who have so far sent me cards. I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all as a sorely needed morale booster."
"The only thing that's 'sorely needed' is a call to the fashion police," Seth quietly stated with a grin.
Harry, Seamus, and Dean snickered while Ron and Neville nodded solemnly in agreement. The girls pointedly ignored them.
"But that's not all," Lockhart continued, "I've got one more surprise in store for you!"
He clapped his hands and through the doors of the entrance hall, a dozen surly looking dwarfs dressed up like cupid abominations came marching in.
"These are my friendly card carrying cupids!" He said, beaming, "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! Even the ones that some of you may be too scared to give to the source of your admiration."
Upon that announcement, many students paled. Seth curiously noted that Ginny looked as if she were going to be sick.
Surprisingly, Percy was the one to object to that. "This is an unethical invasion of student privacy professor!"
But Lockhart waved off his sound objection. "Nonsense! I am merely giving everyone the push they need to achieve love on this auspicious day! And the fun doesn't stop there! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion as well! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a love potion?"
"But aren't love potions illegal?" Neville quietly asked.
Angelina frowned, sharing concerned looks with Katie and Alicia. "Not necessarily but it's still considered poor form to give someone love potion even as a prank."
"And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about entrancing enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog," Lockhart jovially suggested.
"Isn't it unethical to charm someone into liking you?" Dean asked.
The Weasley twins frowned and nodded in unison.
"It is," George said.
"Even we wouldn't do something like that for a prank," Fred continued.
"No sire. That's just crossing a line," George concluded.
Percy dropped his head onto the table with a groan. "Honestly, what on earth is Professor Lockhart thinking promoting such questionable behavior?"
Meanwhile, Flitwick buried his face into his hands, torn between screaming and crying. And Snape looked as though the first person to ask him for a love potion would be force-fed poison.
Ron looked to the girls with a pleading expression. "Please tell me none of you are part of the forty six and counting who sent him cards?"
Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati at least had the decency to look sheepish. Ginny gave them all an unimpressed look.
From then on, all day long, the dwarves would barge into classes to deliver valentines much to the annoyance of the professors and the embarrassment of the students.
It was late afternoon and the second year Gryffindors were walking to Charms when one of the dwarves went looking for Harry
"Oi! You! Harry Potter!" The dwarf shouted as he elbowed his way through the crowd.
Harry paled at the sight of the dwarf and looked to the others in a panic, hoping for assistance. However, they all took a wide step back away from him so as to not get caught in the crossfire. He looked at them all in betrayal and frantically glanced around the corridor for a way to escape but one end was blocked by a mass migration of students and the other end was where the dwarf was coming from.
In one of the classrooms nearby, the first year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, which included Ginny and Luna, were all eying him curiously because of his strange behavior.
Harry decided to take his chance with the crowd and went to book it out of there but was stopped by the dwarf who managed to reach him just in time to block his way.
The dwarf glared threateningly at him. "I've got a valentine to deliver to Harry Potter in person."
Ginny blanched at that with Luna patting her sympathetically on the back while Harry flushed hotly in embarrassment.
"Not here at least, please," he hissed at the dwarf.
"No can do," the dwarf gruffly denied, "Now stay still." He grabbed Harry's bag to stop him from running.
"Let me go!" Harry shouted as he tugged back.
The two opposing forces of 12 year old and dwarf were enough to split Harry's bag apart with a loud ripping sound. All of the contents within spilled onto the floor and an inkbottle smashed into pieces, splashing black ink over everything.
Seamus and Dean hissed in sympathy at the mess.
"Tough luck, mate," Seamus said.
Harry scowled. "Oh shut up you traitor."
Seamus cackled. Neville, Ron, and Hermione went to help Harry pick everything up.
"Don't worry Harry. I know a spell to help clean up those ink stains," Hermione reassured him.
He sighed and nodded gratefully. "Thanks Hermione."
The dwarf cleared his throat pointedly, reminding everyone he was still there, and Harry groaned when he realized what was about to happen. Off to the side, Ginny's face was slowly reddening much to her fellow first years', barring Luna, confusion.
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the dark lord!
From Ginny Weasley"
The reactions were immediate.
The first year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws all started whispering like a granny gossip circle. Ginny buried her red face into her hands, completely mortified. Luna patted her consolingly on the back.
"It was a good first attempt at a valentine, Ginny," Luna said, "I particularly liked how you used unconventional words such as toad and blackboard as comparisons for his hair and eyes."
"Please shut up, Luna," Ginny moaned.
Seamus and Dean were doing their best not to laugh. Neville was eying the unwilling victims sympathetically. Lavender and Parvati cooed in adoration. Hermione was busy removing ink stains, not caring for the spectacle before her. Ron was absolutely stunned, his mouth gaping wide open as he tried to process what just happened. Harry looked as if he was torn between being flattered and wanting to disappear off the face of the earth.
And Seth, Seth wasn't even paying attention to what was going on because his gaze was trained on the small black notebook that had been scattered with the rest of Harry's belongings. He could feel himself trembling as the protection charm Yeshe placed began weakening again and a familiar presence lingered outside the mental walls of his mind.
The dwarf nodded to himself for completing his job and left the scene of chaos behind.
Hermione slapped Harry on the arm, startling him out of his conflicted daze. She hissed at him. "Well? Answer her!'
"Er…right," Harry awkwardly said. He looked to Ginny who refused to look up from where her face was still buried in her hands. He got up and walked over to her only to stand there awkwardly.
Luna smiled serenely at him. "It's okay, Harry. Just speak from the heart. I promise Ginny won't take offense to your true opinion."
Ginny raised her head up in a flash to glare at the Ravenclaw. "Luna!" Then she realized Harry was right in front of her and flushed a shade of red even darker than her hair.
"Er…Ginny…" Harry awkwardly began.
"Y-Yes, Harry?" She awkwardly replied.
"I'm um, I'm flattered, really. But um, we're still kids, yeah? So I'll have to say no," Harry tried to say as gently as possible.
She nodded meekly, looking close to tears.
"For now at least," he hastily added, not wanting the young girl to burst into tears because of him, "Um, maybe when you're a fifth year at least and still feel the same we'll see?"
She looked at him in surprise. "Oh! Um…thank you, Harry," she stammered.
"Here are your things Harry," Hermione said, interrupting the moment as she thrust Harry's bag at him, "I only managed to remove the ink from your textbooks so far and I repaired the tear on your bag. Your parchments' a lost cause so you can borrow some of mine."
"Thanks Hermione," he said, turning away from Ginny to take his things back which allowed Ginny and Luna a quick view of the small black diary amongst his belongings.
"Right. Shall we go to class?" Harry eagerly suggested, wanting to forget what just happened already.
"Absolutely," Neville said, just as eager to leave the drama behind.
Seamus grinned. "Thanks for the show though mate!"
Harry scowled and shoved at him. "Oh shut up you."
The second years went into the classroom with Ron glaring at Harry and threatening certain death to his best friend if he dared to date his little sister while Harry protested that they're too young to be dating but that didn't matter to Ron because it was still his little sister.
Seth locked eyes with Luna as he passed her before looking away. Luna frowned, not liking the strange glint she saw in his gaze.
"Hey Luna?" Ginny tentatively broached, "Wasn't that?"
"Yes. It was," Luna responded in a surprisingly curt fashion.
Ginny's embarrassment from before was quickly replaced with concern. "What do we do?"
Luna grimaced. "Whatever we can to make sure he can't get his hands on that diary again."
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Seth was thankfully distracted from thoughts of the diary due to needing to run interference with Hermione against a snarling Ron who looked as if he wanted to hex Harry. This forced Harry to seat himself on the opposite end of the Gryffindor side of the classroom so that nobody ran the risk of puking slugs.
While sifting through his things, Harry noticed that amongst the items Hermione hadn't managed to clean, the diary was the only one that looked as if it hadn't had an inkbottle smashed over it. Before he could examine it any further, Flitwick called for their attention and he put his bag away to focus on class.
XXXXXX
Harry went to bed before anyone else in the dorm that night. Even before Seth who'd been strangely insistent on talking with him about something but had ended up being pulled away by Ginny to meet up with Luna in the library.
He also wanted to avoid the Weasley brothers as Ron still looked as if he wanted to hex him with the twins not too far behind. He narrowly avoided a private conversation with Percy who looked as if someone made him suck a lemon when news about Ginny's valentine reached his ears.
Harry sat on his bed with the curtains drawn around him for privacy and pulled the diary out of his bag. He flicked through the blank pages where not a single one of them held any trace of black ink. He then pulled out a new inkbottle from his bedside cabinet, dipped his quill into it, and dropped a blot of ink onto the first page of the diary.
He watched in anticipation as the drop of ink sat on the page before it disappeared into the paper. Excited by the reaction, he dipped his quill again and wrote, 'Hello. My name is Harry Potter.'
The words sat on the page for a moment before sinking in and disappearing. For a moment, nothing happened and Harry wondered if he was mad for writing to a diary like it was a person. Then words appeared on the page in response and he grinned.
'Hello Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. May I ask how you came across my diary?'
Harry practically vibrated in excitement. 'Hello Tom. I found it hidden in a girl's bathroom that got flooded.'
'Pardon? A boy's diary in a girl's bathroom?'
Harry almost laughed from how flabbergasted the words sounded despite not being spoken.
'Yes. We don't know why it was hidden there but one of my friends assumed it was because you might hold knowledge of something terrible that happened years ago.'
For a moment, the diary didn't respond. Then a response slowly appeared.
'Your friend assumes correctly, Harry. This diary holds memories of terrible things, things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, things that I was forced to help cover up.'
'There are terrible things happening at Hogwarts right now! Did the terrible things you know about have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets?'
Harry eagerly waited for the diary to respond with bated breath and wasn't disappointed when a whole paragraph slowly appeared.
'I do indeed know of the Chamber of Secrets. Back in my day, they spoke of it as a legend with no trace of its existence. But that was soon revealed to be a lie. In my fifth year, the chamber was opened and an unknown monster attacked several students, eventually killing one. As a prefect, I did my best to assist the professors and managed to come across a potential suspect. However, given the nature of the attacks and the suspect in question, I was unsure about my conclusions and wished to investigate further to find solid, irrefutable proof. Unfortunately, the Ministry placed much pressure on Headmaster Dippet so the suspect was apprehended and expelled. The attacks soon stopped, allowing for the logical conclusion that the suspect was the true culprit. I did not believe that to be so. However Headmaster Dippet forbade me from investigating further. Instead he offered the story that the student died in a freak accident and gave me a shiny plaque for my troubles and a warning to keep my mouth shut. But I knew one day it would happen again. That the monster still lived on and the one who used its power was not yet imprisoned.'
'The attacks are happening again and no one seems to know who's behind them!' Harry urgently wrote. 'Even if the suspect you caught is not the true culprit, it might give us a clue that could help us. Who was it?'
'I can show you. You don't have to take my word for it. I can take you inside my memory of that day. That is, after all, the purpose of this diary.'
Harry hesitated. What did Tom mean by taking him inside of his memory?
He peeked out of his curtains, looking around the dorm nervously but none of the others had returned yet so he quickly shuffled away, securing the curtains again. He looked down at the diary where Tom's response was still clear on the page.
After a moment longer of thinking, he took up his quill and wrote two letters.
'OK.'
And scene! Gosh was this chapter a bit of a doozy to write. As you can see, not much has changed in the scope of the canon timeline of events except for certain details to better match the events to my story or just to address things that I felt like needed addressing. Like the how Valentine's Day thing with Lockhart was just weird as hell, especially the parts where he was boasting about the love potion and enchantment charms. Those are both sketch as hell and I'd feel like there'd definitely be morality issues brought up.
I also adjusted the dwarf interaction because I wanted to get a head start on the canon relationship between Harry and Ginny because it was just so underdeveloped that was it really any surprise when we read the epilogue of the seventh that everyone was shocked to see Harry and Ginny were together? Like aside from mention of a crush in second year and then some brief appearances scattered throughout the later books, I don't think anyone really saw that one coming, and if you did you're a liar, so I wanted to start developing that relationship just like I'm doing with Ron and Hermione because that definitely deserved more screentime and development as well.
The next chapter's probably gonna take a while to come out because I will be changing quite a few things in the course of events between now and when we finally get to the Chamber of Secrets so please be patient with me. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I will see y'all in the next one. Until then!