The person is at Hogwarts, but the system is in Middle-earth!

Hermione covered her face and let out a desperate sob. The sound didn't sound human; it sounded more like a wounded little animal.

Her eyes turned into vertical yellow pupils, and a pair of long, pointed ears sprouted from the top of her head, twitching with her emotions. Worse still, a furry black tail was sticking out from under her robe, swaying uneasily and making soft thuds as it hit the sheets.

"Look at me!" Myrtle shrieked gleefully, somersaulting in the air as if she had finally found someone even more miserable than herself. "Look at me! This is absolutely amazing!"

"This is the price." Lowe stood there, gazing intently at Hermione, his face devoid of any mockery, but instead filled with solemn respect.

"What's the price?" Ron stared at Hermione's tail in horror, instinctively touching his own backside. "Will she always be like this? I mean... what if she can only eat rats from now on?"

"This is the curse of the skin-changing people, and also the trial of the druids." Rowe stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and looked at Hermione at the same time.

[Target Status Updated: Wild Form]

[Race: Catman/Kajite]

[Attribute Modifications: Agility +5, Night Vision Max, Charisma +10 (for certain Furry-obsessed players), Social Skills -20]

[Passive Skill: Immune to falls from heights; has an uncontrollable urge to pounce on moving objects]

"Hermione," Lowe's voice was gentle and solemn, "do not be ashamed. In the far east, or in the deserts of Elsville, the cat-people are agile and noble warriors. What a noble spirit of sacrifice you showed by sacrificing your human form to infiltrate the enemy camp. You are a hero who fought for intelligence."

Hermione peeked at him through her fingers, her yellow eyes brimming with tears. "What are you talking about? I just grabbed the wrong hair! It's Millison's cat fur! Compound Herbal Potion wasn't supposed to be used for this!"

"The process isn't important, the result is." Lowe pulled a wooden comb from his pocket. "Here, let me tidy you up. As a ranger, I know how to soothe the soul of a beast. Do you need some...moon sugar? Or catnip?"

He tentatively reached out, wanting to comb the hair on Hermione's ear.

"Don't touch me!" Hermione screamed, slashing back with her claws.

"hiss--"

Luo Wei nimbly jumped back, looked at the three torn marks on his sleeve, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent reaction speed," he praised. "It seems your agility attribute has indeed improved significantly. Even orc berserkers would be wary of this attack speed."

...

Madam Pomfrey wasn't too surprised by Hermione's appearance; after all, it was common for students at Hogwarts to transform themselves into various strange things. However, she sternly criticized their tinkering with such a dangerous potion. She drew the curtains around the bed, preventing anyone from seeing Hermione's furry face.

"It will take a few days to recover," Madam Pomfrey said sternly to Harry and Rowe, holding a vial of purple-smoking potion. "Stop standing there like idiots, go back to sleep! If I find out you're still out at night..."

When I walked out of the school hospital, the corridor was empty, and the moonlight shone on the stone slabs.

"Do you think she'll really be alright?" Harry asked worriedly. "I mean, what if she doesn't turn back..."

"Then she'll be Hogwarts' only fighting druid," Rowe shrugged. "But I'll protect her. Even if she only eats cat food from now on, I'll catch the best mice for her in the Forbidden Forest. But I think Madam Pomfrey's medical skills are probably a bit better than Elrond's in Rivendell."

......

January has arrived, and Hogwarts is covered in thick snow every day, making it the perfect time for a long nap.

The school hospital, in a corner.

"Open your mouth." Rowe held a half-cooked tuna sandwich specially provided by the kitchen house-elf.

"I won't eat it!" Hermione Granger, or rather, the Gryffindor know-it-all currently in her "half-cat form," angrily turned her head to the side.

As she moved, her pointed ears, which had emerged from her messy hair, twitched, and her long black tail slapped restlessly against the sheets.

[Target Status Updated: Wild Form]

[Race Determination: Druid/Shapeshifter]

[Current Stage: Wild Heart - Fusion Level 85%]

[WARNING: The target is emotionally unstable and may bite.]

"This is to maintain your stamina, warrior," Rowe patiently advised, maintaining the solemnity expected of a comrade. "In this form, your metabolic rate is three times that of a normal person. You need high protein. Especially fish, which helps maintain the sharpness of your night vision."

"I'm not a warrior! I'm not practicing any druidic training!" Hermione screamed in frustration, but when Rowe brought the sandwich to her nose, her nose twitched involuntarily, and her yellow vertical pupils widened instantly.

It smells so good!

Her biological instinct made her swallow hard.

"See, the body tells a story." Rowe nodded in satisfaction, taking the opportunity to stuff the sandwich into her hand. "Eat it. In the Elsville desert, the Cargit caravan used this to cross the storms."

Hermione glared at him angrily, but still grabbed the sandwich and started eating it quickly, almost tearing at it. Clearly, the Polyjuice Potion's side effects weren't just cosmetic.

Harry and Ron, sitting next to him, tried hard to suppress their laughter, their faces turning bright red.

"Don't laugh, Sam, Pippin." Rowe turned and gave them a stern look. "This is the price paid for intelligence. Hermione Granger sacrificed her human form to infiltrate Slytherin's lair; her spirit is comparable to infiltrating Mordor alone. We should pay her the utmost respect, not laugh at her beard."

"I didn't laugh at her beard!" Ron finally couldn't hold back, letting out a grotesque laugh like a deflated balloon. "But I swear, she had barbs on her tongue when she drank the pumpkin juice!"

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione hissed, her words muffled. In the past, that would have been intimidating, but now, coupled with her twitching ears, it only made her seem…

"It's kind of cute," Harry commented honestly.

"That's 'wild charm'," Lo Wei corrected.

The system interface displayed a notification: "Hermione's Charisma stat has increased by 10 points in this form. Especially when facing a specific faction (Fantastic Beasts enthusiasts)."

One evening, as Rowe was passing by the second-floor corridor, he discovered that the floor was covered in water.

The water flowed from Madam Myrtle's washroom, overflowing the corridor like a small river.

"It's Myrtle again." Lowe frowned, drawing his frying pan from his waist. "Water attack? Is the Slytherin monster a giant octopus? Or... is this a reappearance of the 'Deadly Swamp'?"

He waded into the bathroom, where Harry and Ron arrived. They saw Rowe standing at the door, looking wary.

Madam Peach was hiding in a cubicle, sobbing uncontrollably. Her cries echoed between the tiled walls, deafeningly loud.

"What's wrong, Myrtle?" Harry asked loudly, trying to drown out her sobs.

"Someone's throwing things at me!" Myrtle screamed, her half-transparent head popping out of the toilet. "I'm already dead, and someone's still throwing books at me! Who cares about the feelings of an ugly monster who died in a toilet! I just wanted to die in peace for a while!"

"Who threw that?" Rowe looked around warily, holding his frying pan to his chest. "That was a long-range physical attack. Is there a sniper here?"

"Right there!" Myrtle pointed to the bottom of the sink.

Luo Wei followed her hand and looked down.

On the damp floor lay a small notebook with a black cover. It looked ordinary, like the kind of old diary you could buy for two siestas at a Diagon Alley secondhand bookstore, even the cover was worn.

However, when Luo Wei's gaze fell upon it, the system interface instantly exploded with a burst of red light.

[WARNING: High-risk magical item detected]

[Item Name: Whispers of the Dark Lord / TM Riddle's Journal]

[Type: Soul Container/Curse Carrier/Meme Contamination Source]

[Danger Level: SSS]

[Attributes: Indestructible, Bewitching, Soul Devouring]

"Don't touch it!" Rowe yelled, his voice so loud it startled Ron. He even instinctively shoved Harry back.

"What's wrong?" Harry staggered, grabbing the sink for support. "It's just a diary."

“This isn’t just a diary, Harry.” Rowe stared intently at the black cover. “Look at the water around it…it’s avoiding it. That’s a sign of evil; even the elements of nature are repelling it.”

Indeed, despite the water on the ground, the diary remained perfectly dry, as if protected by an invisible force field.

"So what should we do?" Ron swallowed hard. "Call the professor?"

"No, the professors might be seduced by it, just like Saruman was seduced by the Sphere of Knowledge." Lowe shook his head. "It must be handled by someone of strong will."

"Pick it up with something." Rowe took the frying pan off his back and carefully touched the edge of the diary with the end of the spatula.

Rowe took a deep breath, covered his hand with his sleeve, quickly picked it up, and then immediately—threw it into Harry's arms.

"Here you go," Rowe said, his movements so quick it was as if he were passing the buck.

"Huh? Why me?" Harry caught it in a fluster, almost dropping it on the ground.

"You are the chosen one," Rowe said matter-of-factly, taking two steps back to maintain a safe distance. "These cursed artifacts usually possess a kind of bewitching power. Although my willpower is strong, I'm afraid I might be unable to resist throwing it into Mount Doom. But you... you have a natural resistance to dark magic. You are Frodo, Harry. You are the Ringbearer."

"The Ring-Bearer? Here we go again, Rowe." Harry sighed helplessly, but he still opened his diary.

The first page had a vague name written on it: TM Riddle.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Harry said. "That name sounds familiar. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."

"Perhaps it's a dead necromancer, or some sealed dark lord." Luo Wei leaned closer for a look, keeping a ready-to-run stance. The pages were completely blank, without even a speck of ink.

"No words? That's even more suspicious." Rowe narrowed his eyes. "Be careful, Harry. Some books are traps. If you write on them, they might suck your soul away, or turn you into a punctuation mark in the book."

"Don't scare me." Harry closed the diary. "But this could be a clue. Fifty years ago... if Riddle was a student fifty years ago, he might know about the Chamber of Secrets. This might be the only breakthrough."

"Then investigate." Lowe nodded, his expression grave. "But be careful. If this diary starts talking to you, or tries to teach you some 'powerful ability'... remember, flush it down the toilet immediately. Never wear it... I mean, don't believe it."

[System Settlement]

[Quest Complete: Slytherin's Secret (Phase One)]

[Reward: Master of Disguise Lv1]

[Obtained key item: Riddle's Diary (Unidentified/Extremely Dangerous)]

Rowe watched Harry stuff the diary into his pocket, a gesture that reminded him of Bilbo putting the ring in his vest pocket. A vague unease crept into his heart, as if a giant eye was watching them from the void.

"This is the One Ring," he said to himself. "It will seek its master, it will corrupt hearts through temptation. And we... we are playing with fire. Hopefully, Harry's protagonist aura can withstand this dark force."