113: Chapter 113 The Diary is Lost

"Move! Don't touch my things!"

When Ginny's voice exploded in the hallway, classes on the second floor had just ended for the afternoon.

Ravenclaw students were carrying books toward the stairs, a group of Hufflepuff students were taking a detour led by their prefect, and the Gryffindor first-years were huddled against the wall.

Ginny stood at the corner, one strap of her satchel broken, with textbooks, quills, and parchment scattered everywhere.

A senior Slytherin student kicked an ink bottle away and laughed, "Are you afraid someone will steal things from the Weasley Family? Who would want old textbooks?"

Ginny crouched down to pick up her books, but her hand lunged first for a black diary.

The diary fell open on the stone floor, revealing a line of names on the inside cover.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Allen Potter walked up from the stairs and stopped three paces away.

Draco, who had been walking beside him, saw Ginny and the diary, and his face immediately darkened.

Nott closed his book behind them, his pen tip already pressed against the edge of his notebook.

Ginny's hand pressed down on the diary, her fingertips trembling.

She looked up and saw Allen Potter, the color draining from her face as she immediately dragged the diary into her arms.

The movement was so hurried that a copy of History of Magic next to her was knocked into a puddle, its pages soaking up the water and curling.

Before Draco could speak, Allen Potter reached out, picked up the History of Magic from the floor, shook off the water, and said, "Your book."

Ginny looked at him as if she were looking at a snake blocking the door, "I don't need your help."

"Then pick it up faster." Allen Potter placed the book at her feet, "The patrolling Professor will be here soon."

Filch's footsteps could be heard from the other end of the corridor.

The senior student who had just kicked the ink bottle immediately stepped back, still trying to save face, "The Weasley girl fell on her own."

Draco looked at him, "If you leave now, you can still leave the retelling of your stupidity to someone else."

The person recognized Draco and, though looking dissatisfied, did not press the issue further and left with his companions.

Zabini passed by, casually blocking the view of the few students watching.

Nott crouched down, picked up two pieces of parchment, and handed them to Ginny, his fingers avoiding her satchel.

"You're missing a bottle of ink," Nott said.

Ginny snatched the parchment, "I don't need it."

Hermione came down the stairs, her hair still showing residue from the Hospital Wing potions, her cat ears gone, but her face paler than usual.

She caught sight of the black diary in Ginny's arms and stopped, "Ginny, are you okay?"

Ginny clutched her satchel tighter, "I'm fine."

Harry followed behind Hermione, his gaze falling on the diary.

The scar on his forehead suddenly stung, and he instinctively pressed his hand against it.

Ron saw his sister in such a disheveled state and immediately rushed over, "Who did this?"

Draco took half a step back, "Don't look at me, I just arrived."

Ron didn't believe him, "Every time something happens, you 'just arrived'."

Allen Potter picked up the last quill and placed it by the steps, "Your sister's books are about to be soaked through. Keep arguing, and Filch will take everyone to see Snape."

Ron wanted to retort, but Hermione pulled Ginny up first, "Let's go. Ginny, you need to change your clothes, and your satchel needs to be dried off."

Ginny shoved the diary into the deepest part of her satchel, and when she looked up, her eyes were guarded, "Don't follow me."

She bypassed Hermione and ran toward Gryffindor Tower, clutching her satchel.

Harry wanted to chase after her but was held back by Hermione.

Ron stood in place, his face full of anxiety and annoyance, "What on earth has been wrong with her lately?"

Hermione stared in the direction Ginny had left, her voice very low, "I will find out."

Allen Potter passed by her, hearing these words, but did not stop.

He merely twirled his wand inside his sleeve, and his Spatial Perception swept over the stone slab where the diary had landed like a fine needle.

The residue was clear. It was no ordinary Dark Arts book.

Inside the diary was an independent fragment of a soul, thin, cold, and hungry, swimming along the pages.

That thing retracted into the depths when Ginny's hand touched the cover, like a bug that knew how to play dead.

Inside his Portable Space, the cracked pocket watch next to the ebony box lit up.

The snake, Void, raised the front half of its body, its silver pupils locked onto the spot where Allen Potter's perception had swept.

Peter, inside the cage, silently slammed against the bars, his face pressed against the space wall, his lips moving frantically.

After returning to the Dungeon, Allen Potter finally lifted the silencing spell on Peter.

Peter hissed, "That's it! The thing the Master gave to the Malfoy Family! Don't touch it, don't write in it, don't drip blood on it. It eats people, and it mimics people."

Draco stood nearby, and upon hearing the words "Malfoy Family," his shoulders stiffened, "Explain yourself, what do you mean by 'gave to the Malfoy Family'?"

Peter looked at Draco, his face contorted into a fawning, survivalist expression, "I only heard a little. The Master had several very important things that he gave to his trusted followers to keep."

"Bellatrix once scolded Lucius when she was drunk, saying he was acting all dignified while holding onto old things bestowed by the Master."

"I didn't dare to ask at the time."

Draco's face turned pale, "The old thing is that diary?"

Allen Potter said, "Highly likely."

Draco took a step back and bumped into the bedpost, "Father shoved Lord Voldemort's things into the hands of the Weasley Family's daughter?"

Zabini sat by the window, tapping his cup with his fingertips, "If this is discovered, the Malfoy Family will look very bad."

Nott was writing faster than usual, "If Dumbledore can prove the origin of the diary, Lucius will lose his moral standing on the Board of Governors."

"But he probably assumes no one will trace where the book came from."

Draco looked at Allen Potter, "You guessed it long ago?"

Allen Potter spread out a piece of parchment and wrote next to "Ginny": "Black diary, Tom Marvolo Riddle, independent soul fragment."

After the ink settled, he replied, "The chaos at Flourish and Blotts, the Weasley Family's cauldron, Lucius's hand, Ginny's enrollment. The line is too straight."

Draco gripped the edge of the table, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"If I told you, you would have written to ask your father."

"I wouldn't!"

Allen Potter glanced at him.

Draco opened his mouth, then swallowed his words.

He knew that if it were the beginning of the summer holidays, he really would have written that letter.

He might even have started it with "I've discovered something important," waiting for Lucius to praise him for being clever.

Pansy stood at the door, her face pale, "Will the Weasley girl die?"

Allen Potter circled the entry about the diary, "Tom needs her alive to open the door."

"The diary will drain her life force, but it won't drain her dry immediately."

"Immediately." Pansy seized on the word, "What about after that?"

"Once it can leave the paper, Ginny will be of no value."

No one in the dormitory spoke.

Crabbe and Goyle stood in the corner, not even holding their cookie jar.

Draco looked at the name on the parchment as if looking at a sentence from his family.

Nott spoke first, "Granger also saw the cover just now."

"She will look up the name."

"She won't find much," Allen Potter put down his quill, "Tom Riddle won a special contribution award fifty years ago; his name is in the school's trophy room."

"If she connects the diary, fifty years ago, and Myrtle, her progress will be very fast."

Zabini asked, "Should we make her go faster?"

Allen Potter shook his head, "Too fast will alert Tom."

"The diary will change hosts, or make Ginny throw it away."

"We need to confirm how it controls her, and confirm the Basilisk's patrol route."

Draco looked up, "You still want to wait?"

Allen Potter looked at him, "Do you want to rush into the Gryffindor girls' dormitory to snatch the diary?"

Draco was stumped, but his anger had not subsided, "Then at least tell Snape."

"And the source?" Allen Potter threw the old question back, "Are you going to say your father gave it away?"

Draco's face looked even worse.

Allen Potter re-applied the silencing spell on Peter and added another layer of spatial lines outside the cage.

Peter retreated into the corner, clutching his head with both hands.

Void swam onto the parchment, its tail tip pressing down on the words "soul fragment."

Allen Potter said in a low voice, "The nature is similar to Quirrell's possession, but the host has been changed to a diary, the consciousness is younger, and the methods are more patient."

Nott heard this and immediately wrote it down, "Is it related to the one from last year?"

"The same person, different fragments."

Zabini's teacup paused at his lips, "How many pieces can one person split their soul into?"

The air in the dormitory felt heavy.

Draco looked at Allen Potter, and for the first time, real fear appeared in his eyes—even the pressure brought by Lucius could not overshadow this question.

Allen Potter folded up the parchment, "Dark Arts can turn people into garbage."

"Lord Voldemort just did it more thoroughly."

At night, in Gryffindor Tower, Ginny sat by her bed, pressing the black diary against her knees.

There were still ink stains on her fingers, and the wet textbooks from her satchel were tossed aside.

The pages of the diary automatically flipped to a blank space, and ink marks floated up.

You almost lost me today.

Ginny bit her lip, her hand trembling violently as she wrote, "I'm scared. Someone saw your name."

They don't understand you.

They will only blame you.

Harry will too.

Ginny paused, her eyes reddening, "Harry won't."

The paper was quiet for a moment, then new words slowly emerged.

Then let him prove it. Let him come find the entrance. Let him hear the voice in the walls. Let everyone see who the snake will answer to.

Ginny gripped the pen, and the ink marks on her wrist slowly deepened.

Outside the window, a low slithering sound came from within the walls.

She looked up toward the second floor, her eyes going blank for a moment, before she lowered her head and continued to write.

In the Dungeon, Allen Potter sat by his bed with the parchment on his knees.

He added a line after "diary."

Soul fragment, active, already alerted. Do not seize for now.

Draco spoke from behind his bed curtains, "If that thing really came from my family, how will you deal with it?"

Allen Potter put the parchment into his Portable Space, "Deal with it first, then deal with the person who paved the way for it."

Draco was silent for a long time, "Including my father?"

Allen Potter closed his eyes, "It depends on which side he places himself on."