A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

“Then could you ask the heir from fifty years ago…” Harry hesitated for a moment, “He might have some clues.”

"His clue is in the Forbidden Forest, but it's not very valuable and is extremely dangerous. I don't recommend you go." Aaron frowned slightly and continued, "Perhaps your investigation wasn't thorough enough, or perhaps I missed something important."

Our progress is currently stuck here. To advance further, we can only wait for the heir to make their next move.

"better not."

“I think so too, but the heir may not be so kind.” Aaron said as he walked up the last step, but stepped into a puddle as soon as he took a step.

Hermione stared in disbelief at the flooded corridor, then pointed to the door with a malfunction sign. "I think it's the common room that's leaking, probably the place where Moaning Myrtle is."

"Shall we go take a look?"

Aaron paused for a moment, then slowly took a step back. "You guys go ahead! I'll wait here. I don't like dealing with that female ghost."

The three shrugged, lifted their robes, and waded through the puddles.

A few minutes later, Aaron heard Myrtle's cursing, and even though it was more than ten meters away and there was a door, the sound was very clear.

When Harry and the others came out, their shoes and socks were completely soaked.

"It's probably a prank; someone must have turned on all the taps," Hermione said.

“And this.” Harry picked up a completely soaked black-covered diary. “The date is fifty years ago, the owner’s name is Tom Riddle, and nothing else is written on it.”

"Let me see." Aaron took the diary from Harry, then drew his wand. "Show yourself!"

The diary remained unresponsive; not a single word was revealed.

"Is there something wrong with this diary?" Harry asked, puzzled.

“That’s inevitable,” Aaron said with certainty. “The secret room was opened once fifty years ago, and today, fifty years later, a blank diary has been thrown into an abandoned girls’ washroom.”

This doesn't seem like a coincidence at all! Perhaps this diary holds some secret!

Upon hearing the word "coincidence," Harry's lips twitched slightly, and he awkwardly chuckled, "Maybe it's just an ordinary diary!"

“Yeah! An ordinary student finds a diary from fifty years ago, doesn’t want to bother writing anything in it, so he just throws it away in some abandoned place,” Ron chimed in. “At least I would do that.”

Aaron, seeing that the two didn't quite believe him, smiled meaningfully, "Then why didn't this student throw it in the trash can, but instead went to the trouble of throwing it in Myrtle's washroom?"

"Why not just turn on all the faucets? Isn't that unnecessary?"

"Um..." Hermione said somewhat awkwardly, "The two of them were just as suspicious as you were, which caused all those misunderstandings."

"Don't give me any misunderstandings. It was clearly premeditated," Aaron said unhappily. "My cooperation with you now is entirely out of necessity."

However, I do have a simple way to prove my guess.

As soon as he finished speaking, Aaron threw the diary into the air and quickly cast a fire spell.

A burst of flame shot out from the wand and struck the diary squarely.

To the three's surprise, the diary, after being scorched by the fire, only emitted a few wisps of smoke and returned to normal after a few seconds.

"Hmph!" Aaron sneered. "See? This is what they call facts speaking louder than words."

Harry picked up the diary. The wet parts had dried completely, and there wasn't a single word inside. It looked like an ordinary, old diary.

However, at this moment he believed Aaron's words. There was definitely a secret in this diary, and it was very likely related to the secret room.

"Aaron, do you have any way to crack the secret inside?"

“You overestimate me.” Aaron shook his head, cutting off Harry’s attempt to take a shortcut.

He had already tried his method, but only came to one accurate conclusion: the diary was protected by powerful magic and was difficult to destroy.

Harry wasn't too disappointed. His green eyes stared at the single name on the list, and he murmured, "Tom Riddle. We can start by looking up the name."

"Go for it, I believe in you!" Aaron patted him on the shoulder. "I'm not very interested in the history from fifty years ago because I know that disgraced heir."

However, according to our cooperation terms, if you crack the secret inside, you must tell me unconditionally.

"Okay." Harry reluctantly put the diary away.

......

As time passed, the mandrake became unpredictable and taciturn, rapidly fading from its youthful appearance.

Once their pimples disappear, they can be sliced ​​and boiled into a juice to restore the petrified students, animals, and ghosts to their original state.

Although the attack incident is still deeply ingrained in people's minds, the fact that it hasn't happened again for so long has made many students less vigilant, and they even treat the legend of the locked room as just a story.

Gilderoy Lockhart, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was the most enthusiastic dancer.

When everyone was in a panic, he hid faster than anyone else. But once the storm had passed, he confidently assured everyone that no more problems would arise, making it seem as if he had stopped the Slytherin successor.

Since there were no other clues at the moment, Aaron focused more on improving himself.

With constant practice, Aaron became increasingly skilled at drawing advanced magic circles, but he dared not test his full power, lest he accidentally demolish the dormitory and cause a huge mess.

My magic points have barely reached two thousand, enough to take down the clone—no, I mean the thought form spell.

However, just in case, Aaron did not buy it immediately.

After all, magic points can be directly converted into magic energy, elevating one's strength to the level of a beginner-level mage, giving one greater confidence when facing danger.

On Valentine's Day, Harry accidentally knocked over his schoolbag in the hallway while trying to avoid the Valentine's Day card Lockhart was giving him.

A bottle of ink shattered on the floor, staining the books in Riddle's schoolbag and his diary bright red.

But when he returned to his dormitory, he found that the diary was still clean.

Realizing that the diary might have absorbed ink, he excitedly sat up in bed, took a quill pen from the bedside table, dipped it in ink, and dripped a drop onto the diary.

The black ink spread rapidly, but was absorbed completely by a blank sheet of paper in no time.

Upon seeing this, Harry couldn't help but smile. He felt as if he had discovered the secret of the diary, and immediately wrote in the diary: "My name is Harry Potter."

The words flickered, like a drop of ink, seeping into the diary.

A moment later, a line of text appeared on the blank page: 'Hello, Harry Potter, my name is Tom Riddle.'

Harry opened his eyes slightly, staring at the words that were gradually disappearing, and it took him a few seconds to come back to his senses.

“Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?” Harry wrote, but before he could even pick up his pen, he thought of something else and added to his journal, “It would be even better if you could tell me the exact location of the Chamber.”

The writing slowly disappeared, and soon the diary responded: 'I know about the locked room, but I don't know its exact location.'

Harry was somewhat disappointed. He had thought he would make a major discovery this time, but it seemed that the diary could only offer limited help.

With a heavy heart, Harry wrote another line: "Can you tell me?"

The diary responded immediately: 'The situation that day was complicated, but you can look into my memory.'

Harry was a little confused. Entering someone else's memories, this diary didn't seem to have that kind of ability at all.

But before he could react, another line appeared in the diary: 'I'm taking you back fifty years.'

The writing disappeared, and the diary pages flipped rapidly as if blown by a strong wind, stopping at June 13th.

Harry carefully picked up the diary, and a strong white light seeped out from the center, shining on him and drawing him into a world of light and shadow.

When Harry opened his eyes again, he found himself in a gray world. Although it was still Hogwarts, he felt out of place with everything around him.

He can see everyone and hear their voices clearly, but others cannot see or touch him; his presence is even less noticeable than air.

Riddle's memory corresponds to the time fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and Harry met the then-headmaster Deeppert with a young Tom Riddle.

From their conversation, he learned about Tom's background: he was a mixed-blood, his father was a Muggle, his mother was a wizard, and his mother died after giving birth to him. He grew up in a Muggle orphanage.

After silently comparing things in his mind, Harry was surprised to find that for the first time, he was qualified to sympathize with others.

His parents were both wizards, he was a pure-blood wizard, and he inherited a fortune from his parents.

Although it's almost all spent now, at least it's not like starting with just one bowl.

He also lost both his parents, but at least he experienced the warmth of family, deep paternal love, and great maternal love before he was one year old.

Although he couldn't quite remember the feeling of happiness, it was undoubtedly there.

He grew up in his aunt and uncle's house, and the feeling of being a dependent was quite unpleasant.

Although they were not well-liked and were often bullied by their older cousin, compared to the orphanages fifty years ago where people were hungry, cold, and had poor sleep, this was already considered a warm place.

Chapter 179 They sold him out without a trace.

When Riddle and Dippet's conversation touched on the attack, Harry had to put aside his meager sympathy and listen intently, afraid of missing any details.

But after hearing this, Harry's eyes twitched slightly, and a bitter smile appeared on his lips.

At that time, a little girl died, and for safety reasons, the Ministry of Magic planned to close Hogwarts. At that time, Tom would have to leave the school and return to the orphanage.

His current situation is not much better than Riddle's back then. If another attack occurs, history may repeat itself. Once Hogwarts closes, he will have to go back to his uncle's house and continue his miserable life.

Unless, as Riddle suggested, the murderer who opened the locked room is caught, all of this is put to an end, and the school's safety is guaranteed.

Unfortunately, Riddle never mentioned who the successor to the secret chamber was.

After leaving the headmaster's office, Harry continued to follow Riddle and noticed that his expression gradually changed from hesitation to determination, as if he had made up his mind.

At that moment, Dumbledore from fifty years ago suddenly appeared on Riddle's usual route, saying, "It's not good to be out so late, Tom."

“I had to see the principal, sir.”

"Alright, go to bed now. It's best not to wander around the hallways these days." Dumbledore stared at Riddle for a few seconds, then said goodnight and went up a flight of stairs.

Riddle turned a corner and quickened his pace after making sure no one was around.

Harry followed him through the dark corridor until they stopped in front of a door.

Riddle drew his wand and roughly opened the door. "Good evening, Hagrid. I have to denounce you."

I know you didn't kill intentionally, but..."

“No, you don’t understand.” As young Hagrid spoke, he used his giant body to block a wooden crate behind him.

“The girl who died, her parents will be here tomorrow.” Riddle pointed his wand at Hagrid. “Hogwarts must ensure that whoever killed their daughter is brought to justice.”

“No, it’s not that. Aragog has never killed anyone, never,” Hagrid explained urgently.

"You can't keep monsters as pets!"

Get out of the way!

"No!"