Chapter 122: Hello, Riddle

It wasn't yet time for term to begin, but Hogwarts had somehow become bustling all at once.

"It's all because of what you said in the paper." Hermione set the book in her hand down on the table. "All these people are gathered outside the common room door, waiting to watch you destroy the Chamber."

"Did I say today?" Silven thought carefully for a moment. "If I remember correctly, tomorrow is the last day of the holiday, and the day everyone takes the train back to school."

"Yes, you're not wrong, but the paper also said you'd resolve the matter before the students returned." Hermione pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and spread it on the table.

"Tomorrow evening the students will all be back, which clearly doesn't fit that point."

"No wonder." Silven nodded in sudden realization.

"I'd suggest you not go out today." Harry raised his head from the chessboard as well.

"We can go find Professor McGonagall for you." Hermione said. "She must have a way to put an end to this farce."

"It's fine, no need to go find a professor." Silven glanced again at the parchment in his hand and narrowed his eyes. "Besides, I don't think this is any kind of farce."

"Exactly. This is the most important moment before the opening."

At that moment, Fred and George walked in from outside, each holding a large crate in his arms.

"Where did you two go?" Ron asked. "What's in the crates?"

"Of course it's the props we specially prepared for destroying the Chamber!" Fred said, opening the crate in front of everyone.

Inside were all Filibuster fireworks; from the packaging they appeared to be the Water-Activated Blossom series — a kind of firework that needs water to ignite, and which lands on a person feeling as wet as water.

The crate George was holding contained Dragon-Breath fireworks; once lit, this kind of firework is as spectacular as dragon flame, and is the best choice for livening up the atmosphere.

"You two…" Hermione looked at them. "You're not planning to use these to fake destroying the Chamber, are you?"

"Brilliant idea, right?" Fred winked. "We thought about it for ages before coming up with it."

"And it cost nearly all our Galleons." George said with a smile. "By tonight, they'll be appearing in every corner of the castle!"

"The Astronomy Tower…"

"The corner towers…"

"And the Great Hall — who says the Chamber can't be hidden in the Great Hall?"

Fred and George's eyes grew brighter and brighter. What a wonderful opportunity — to set off fireworks in the castle openly and legitimately. Right then they felt that Silven, who had come up with the idea of destroying the Chamber, was simply a genius.

"You can't do this." Percy ran out from the dormitory. "You're plainly breaking school rules. I will…"

"We're clearly helping the school eliminate a potential danger." Fred looked at him and said in all seriousness, "You're a prefect — surely you're not going to try to stop us?"

"But your fireworks…"

"What fireworks? These are secret weapons against the monster in the Chamber!" George said with a grin. "Maybe that monster is afraid of fireworks?"

Percy certainly couldn't out-argue the two of them. His face flushed red with anger. "I — I'm going to tell Mum!"

"Give it a rest, Boggart." Fred said with a laugh. "Mum couldn't care less about this stuff."

"By the way, you must really like the nickname 'Boggart', otherwise you wouldn't still be wearing it at the feast."

Percy's face turned even redder, but the others couldn't help laughing.

They recalled the Christmas feast a few days earlier, when Percy's prefect badge had been tampered with — the word on it had been changed to "Boggart" — and Percy had kept wearing it, only noticing several days later.

The common room was instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Still, Silven took Harry's advice and didn't leave the common room all day; at lunchtime the others brought him beef sandwiches and fried pork cutlets.

By the afternoon, there were even more people in the castle. Several names on the Marauder's Map overlapped one another, and Silven had to look carefully before he could find the one name he wanted to see.

Harry came to find him twice; the second time he brought a bulging parcel.

By evening, there were even more students on the eighth floor.

When the portrait of the Fat Lady was pushed open from inside, everyone's gaze turned that way — including that of a beetle crawling in a corner.

The patterns around that beetle's eyes were very peculiar, just like the frames of a pair of spectacles.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by a loud explosion, a lion flashing with red light ran out of the common room, leapt into the air, and then transformed into dozens or hundreds of small golden birds.

"In the tower!" someone came running over shouting. "There are two fire dragons in the tower — I saw them breathing flames!"

Then Fred and George, in full battle gear, charged out on broomsticks, letting out excited cries at the same time.

"Come on!"

"Have a taste of this!"

……

The people around instinctively followed them, running toward the tower.

Soon, the castle fell quiet once more.

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the castle, in some remote corridor, the candles on both sides flickered, casting a long slanting shadow.

Someone had come, but the other party hadn't approached — only glanced from afar, as if searching for someone.

But term hadn't started yet, and the students who had come back early out of curiosity had all followed the Weasley twins to the tower, so this place was naturally empty — not a single person.

"Heh heh… just as I thought." That person let out a snicker and prepared to leave.

But just as he turned around, the air behind him suddenly rippled, and then a person appeared out of thin air in front of him — along with a wand pointed at his head.

"Silven Ollivander, you…"

"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy." Silven said with a smile, his wand lifting slightly. "Incarcifous!"

Ropes shot out from the tip of the wand, swiftly wrapping around Draco Malfoy; the ropes hung down from the ceiling like a spider's web, binding him mid-air so he couldn't move.

"What are you doing!" Malfoy struggled violently. "Let me down at once, or I'll tell Professor Snape!"

"Go right ahead." Silven didn't care in the slightest. "But you'll have to wait — he's at the Astronomy Tower right now, and doesn't have time to deal with such a trivial matter."

He walked up to Malfoy and kept tapping his robes with his wand, from the left pocket to the right.

"Ah, found it."

Ignoring Malfoy's violent struggles, Silven thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out a battered, tattered black diary.

"Give it back!" Malfoy visibly panicked, roaring furiously and struggling desperately, but the ropes only tightened.

"That's my diary, give it back!" Malfoy was still shouting loudly, trying to attract the professor's attention this way.

But Silven's next words made him shut his mouth instantly.

"What diary of yours? Isn't this Tom Riddle's diary?"

Malfoy's shouting stopped short, looking just like a rooster with its neck being wrung.

"H-how do you know, no, that's not right. Who is Tom Riddle? I don't know him, put me down!"

"Whether you admit it or not doesn't matter. What matters is, I found it." Silven shook the diary in his hand.

I've been wondering the whole time who took this diary. I never expected it to be you.

"That's just an ordinary diary, I bought it in Knockturn Alley." Malfoy was still trying to struggle.

"Stop pretending." Silven smiled. "That article in the Daily Prophet was written for the person actually holding the diary. You heard I was going to destroy the Chamber with the Headmaster, and you panicked, didn't you?

"So you came back to the school early to confirm whether this was true."

"I came to… to watch the excitement." Malfoy said stubbornly: "Besides, I'm not the only one who came."

"But the only one who came to the second floor was you, and you came seven times today." Silven said, "How do you explain that?"

"I-I… I came to the library."

"Oh, I never knew Mr. Malfoy liked reading so much." Silven let out a cold laugh. "But you never went to the library at all, not even past the door."

"How do you know I didn't go?"

"I really do know." Silven sized him up from head to toe. "Not only do I know you didn't go to the library, I also know everything you've done before."

Silven's expression suddenly changed. He flicked his wand sharply, moving the rope suspending Malfoy to the outside of the railing, and with a flick of his wrist, drew out another wand.

"Diffindo!"

The ropes on Malfoy's body snapped one after another, leaving only the last one barely holding his left foot.

All of this happened so fast. Before Malfoy could react, he was already hanging upside down in mid-air.

This position was far more uncomfortable than being tied up, and directly below him was the ground floor of the entrance hall. If he fell…

Malfoy didn't dare to think further, and his face immediately went deathly pale.

"You actually dared to let the Basilisk come kill me!" Silven pointed his wand at him. "If I let you fall from here now, we'll call it even.

"But don't worry, this is only the second floor. Even if you fall, it'll be nothing serious — at most you'll just need another bottle of Skele-Gro."

Silven raised his wand, pointing it at the last rope.

"Diffin—"

"I didn't!" Malfoy was truly terrified, blurting out: "It was Tom Riddle, he's the one who wanted to kill you, not me!"

"Oh, now you admit it." Silven lowered his wand. "Tell me, why did he want to do this?"

"He said you killed him…" Malfoy said, trembling.

"Huh?" Silven never expected Malfoy to say that, and froze on the spot.

"I'm only twelve years old this year. Killing someone who died fifty years ago — do you think that makes sense?"

"I… he said so… put me down…"

Silven ignored him, took out a quill directly, and at the same time flipped open the diary in his hand…

This thing really is a wreck. Only half of it is usable; the other half is filthy, as if someone had used it as a rag and scrubbed it hard on muddy ground right after the rain.

Is a diary supposed to be like this?

Whatever… as long as the other half still works, it's fine.

(End of this chapter)