52 Chapter-52: Secret Diary

To all fellow Indian... Happy Holi

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With the new term starting, Neville and his gang found themselves going back to their usual routines. The Ronan's warning was still fresh in their mind. With the attack on Ronan, they were sure that the heir was among the people who stayed behind for the Christmas Eve holidays. But they had no idea who that person could be. Ronan had told him that maybe the culprit was using Imperius Curse to make someone else do their bidding, but it was a long shot.

To investigate anything suspicious, they would form a group and keep an eye on the students who stayed behind. Although it didnt turn out to be as fruitful as they hoped it to be, it was better than anything…

That day all four of them were coming from the Library. Hermione had taken on the task of finding out more about Basilisks and she was sure that Ronan was right, "It makes sense," She spoke, "Remember Hargrid was complaining to us that someone killed his roasters? The heir knew that the snake could only be harmed by roasters, which Hagrid had. So they killed all of them,"

Harry then asked, "But Hermione, you said that this snake is at least fifty feet in length. How a snake of that size has been going around the school killing people?"

Hermione nodded, "I thought about it as well. And I realized that the answer was before us… Pipes. The castle is full of a network of pipes, a snake could easily through them and get anywhere it needed throughout the castle,"

Ron then added, "Seem far-fetched to me,"

Neville also nodded, agreeing with Ron, "Yeah, it is hard to believe that a 50 feet tall snake is going around the castle, and nobody had even seen a silhouette of it,"

"But it fits so well in the narrative," Hermione insisted.

Harry was about to say something when they all heard a yell, "MERLIN'S BEARD!"

Ron asked, "What was that?"

"Maybe someone else had been attacked," Harry added. With that, all four of them started running toward the noise. And then they found themselves in a second-floor corridor where they found Mrs. Norris. Peeking through the corridor's wall they saw Filch mopping the floor, which was once again filled with water.

"… even more work for me! Mopping all night.. like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore…" Then the old man threw the mop and went his way. A few seconds later they then heard a distant door slam.

A great flood of water stretched over half the corridor, and it looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch had stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing off the bathroom walls.

"Now what's up with her?" said Ron

"Let's go and see," said Harry. Neville then turned towards them, "Do we really have to?" No one paid attention to Neville's protest, so they all entered the bathroom holding their robes over their ankles.

They stepped through the great wash of water to the door bearing its out-of-order sign and entered. Moaning Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before. She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet. It was dark in the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

"What's up, Myrtle?" said Harry.

"Who's that?" Myrtle in a miserable teary voice, "Come to throw something else at me?"

Harry came closer to her and said, "Why would I throw something at you?"

"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already flooded floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me. . . ."

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you," said Ron, reasonably. "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?"

Little did they know, Ron asked the wrong thing. Myrtle puffed herself up and shrieked, "Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head! Well, ha, ha, ha! What a lovely game, it would be!"

Harry ignored her antics, and asked with a sweet voice, "Who threw it at you, anyway?"

"I don't know. . . . I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head," said Myrtle, glaring at them. "It's over there, it got washed out. . . ."

They all went to look under the sink, where Myrtle was pointing. A small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom. Neville was the first one to step forward to pick it up, but Ron suddenly flung out an arm to hold him back.

"What?" asked Neville.

"Are you crazy?" said Ron. "It could be dangerous."

Dangerous?" said Harry, laughing. "Come on, how could it be dangerous?"

"You'd be surprised," said Ron, "Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated… Dad's told me about some… there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed. And…"

Hermione also chimed in, "He is right Neville. We should not open an unknown book like this. What if something bad happens?"

Neville waved his hand, "Dont worry about it, nothing will happen," He then opened the book, it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old. He opened it eagerly. On the first page, he could just make out the name "T. M. Riddle" in smudged ink.

When Ron heard the diary's owner's name, Ron exclaimed, "Hang on!" he said and took the book from him, "I know that name… T.M Riddle… This is the bloke who got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago,"

"How on earth do you know that?" Hermione asked in amazement.

"Remember my detention with Filch?" Ron said bitterly, "This award was the one on which I burped slugs all over. If you have to wipe the slime off a name for an hour, you would remember it as well," Neville then hesitantly took the book back and looked through it. It was fully empty, there was not even a smudge of proof about, whether the book was ever used in its life.

"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" Harry asked curiously.

Neville then said, "This book was bought from Vauxhall Road, London from the address on the back,"

"He must have been a muggle-born," Hermione said. "It is a pretty famous muggle shopping district…"

"It is not useful at all, is it?" Ron asked thoughtfully, "Better throw it away and let go, I dont want to get in trouble with Filch,"

They all turned around, but little did anyone know that Neville quietly pocketed the book…

***

By the time February came along, Neville was convinced that something was up with the book. He had spent considerable time researching the diary, but couldnt find anything though. Hermione also used some of her knowledge and tried to see through the secrets of the diary. But none of her spells or charms worked.

But that evening, when he, Harry, and Ron were working on their potion assignment, Hermione barged into the common room and sat down beside them.

"What happened?" Harry asked, seeing how fast she came.

"Well, I have been thinking about the diary," Hermione said, "And then it hit me. You said that the diary is about 50 years old right?"

Neville nodded, she then continued, "And you said that Riddle received a special prize of some sort, 50 years ago," Ron nodded, "And we know that the Chamber of Secrets was opened 50 years ago. We think that maybe Riddle was the person that caught the heir during the time."

"Who are we?" Ron asked. Realization hit the boy, "You have been speaking to Ronan!"

Hermione looked guilty at first, but then she relented, "Well yeah… He has a knack for things like these… And you have to admit he had given some valuable insights on the matter already."

They nodded, but Ron relented, "He might be smart.. But I still… He doesn't give me good vibes, okay, I think that we should still be wary of him,"

Harry then put his hands on Ron's shoulder, "You need to chill mate. He is not the enemy. And he has proven many times that he is a good guy, he is just.. Stuck in a bad place,"

Neville also nodded, "Although I used to agree with you in the past," he said to Ron, "But Harry and Hermione are right. There is no particular we have to no to trust the man,"

It seemed that Ron's mind still didn't change about Ronan, so they didnt push it further. Harry then asked, "So is there something special about the diary?"

Neville simply shrugged, "Dont know mate. It is still empty, as the day we had found it. Me and Hermione tried most of the rudimentary spell to reveal its secrets, but nothing worked,"

Hermione then added, "Ronan believed that maybe this diary contained some sort of secret,"

"That's a brilliant theory!" said Ron, "With just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary."

"I know that," Hermione snapped, "But Ronan wanted to have a crack at the diary. So I told him that he could have the diary tomorrow.. But we have to be discreet when making the exchange."

Hermione then leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone, "Ronan thinks that if somehow the real culprit finds out about the diary, and this thing is really the key to ending this chamber's business once and for all… They would try to steal the diary…"

No one saw anything wrong with giving the diary to Ronan, so no one complained about it. But inwardly Neville felt uneasy about the situation…

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