Attack

Waking up the next morning, Pro felt a bit groggy. It felt as if part of his life force was drained away, but it wasn't enough to make him sick or weak. Recalling what he did yesterday night, Pro's face blanched. Peeking at the diary on Harry's drawer, Pro vigilantly got dressed before swiftly bolting out of the dorms.

Escaping with no problems, Pro finally breathed a sigh of relief as he cursed himself, "Oh my god, what the heck did I do yesterday? Why the hell would I be so reckless to provoke that powerful evil lord?!"

Honestly, Pro was a bit afraid. His ideal situation of a school life was stability. He already failed to avoid tangling with the trouble-making trio, but now he even dare to provoke the dark lord.

"Seriously, what has gotten into me yesterday? It was like I was possessed or something? Maybe this is the diary's power? Is it to cause the reader to become reckless ... or draw out their inner desire? No, my inner desire can't be a reckless fool like that ... right?"

Pro mumbled to himself with a muddled mind, but he eventually calmed down and sighed in melancholy.

"Well, I already drew its aggro. I can only deal with the consequences when they come. For now, I still need to continue grinding. My grades must also keep up so that I have a chance at getting the time-turner."

With a calm mentality, Pro returned to his daily grinding at Hogwarts. After a couple of months of hard work, most of the books in the restricted section had already been drained of XP. The remaining books weren't something he could borrow even with Lockhart's permission slip and some of the books were too dangerous to grind.

So, Pro gradually began to return to grinding the books in the general library. Although he had already leeched most of the XP from these books, there were still plenty of books that still had a minuscule amount of XP leftover. Before, he had moved on from these books because he had better books to grind with. Now, even a tiny mosquito leg is still meat.

"After I completely bottom out all the remaining magic XP, I can begin to move on to other subjects. Runes, alchemy, divination, and more. Maybe these categories may possibly unlock new skills for me to grind, but that will have to wait until next year when I have time."

Time flies by just like when one plays a game. It didn't take long for Valentine's day to arrive. Of course, Pro had taken a day off from his grinding to plan a special date with Hermione. They enjoyed their sweet time together, outside of the commotion of the school.

On the other hand, Lockhart also prepared a special gift for the school. Besides the lurid pink themed decorations, ugly dwarfs wearing cupid wings were also under Lockhart's command. Pro's mouth twitched when he saw them, and he was glad that he didn't end up getting any Valentine's card.

Of course, this isn't to say he isn't popular with his looks. It's just that everyone seemed to know that he's a couple with Hermione already, and they knew to hold back. There were also no jealous girls or scheming girls that try to be the third party yet. So, Pro was safe ... for now.

Perhaps only the innocent Harry and Ron still couldn't tell the truth. Even when they saw Pro and Hermione hold hands multiple times, they still couldn't get the hint. Or maybe they did know, but refused to accept it.

Well, poor Harry had the worst day of his life due to Ginny's gift. Honestly, these cards prepared by Lockhart didn't seem to be confidential at all. Why would anyone shy bother to use it? Isn't it just asking for a beating?

The next day, Harry broke the news to the group about the secrets of the diary. Well, it wasn't the true secret. It was the pot that was buckled on innocent Hagrid's head.

Then, it was already time for deciding the class schedule for the third year. As Pro made the decision to select all the classes, he couldn't help but sigh, "It's already another year of grinding, and I still couldn't change much. Hopefully next year will give me a big enough boost to break the net and escape."

"Still, the time that I will make my final struggle is coming. I already planned multiple escape routes and re-run the possible events in my mind. Hopefully, I will be able to save her. On the other hand, if I am chosen as the target instead, then I will have no worries. After all, nothing can sneak up on me as long as I have my mini-map."

On the day that his dorm was searched through by Ginny, Pro could only silently help clean up the mess. Although he could easily intervene and block Ginny from taking the diary, Pro knew that Dumbledore will always be watching. Even if he somehow manages to succeed, he might end up with being wiped by another memory charm.

"If only I had a way to destroy the diary, I could just end this all. But I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, I couldn't find the fiendfyre spell in the library no matter how hard I tried. That's simply unreasonable."

As Pro plopped himself down next to Hermione in the common room, Hermione looked over at him with eyes full of curiosity. Feeling her stare, Pro looked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You know who did it don't you?" Hermione suddenly said in a serious tone.

"What?"

"I mean, you know who stole the diary. Following this guess, you should also know who is behind the attacks," Hermione continued as she reached out to grasp Pro's hand.

Pro stared back silently and didn't answer. Hermione frowned before she muttered, "So, you can't tell me. Why can't you tell me? If you can just tell the professors, or the headmaster, won't everything be solved?"

Pro sighed before he replied, "It's just like the first year ... everything is a test for him."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock for a bit before an angry pout appeared on her face, "Unbelievable. That's totally barbaric. To put students in danger just for a test, how could-"

"Shh-" Pro shushed her and shook his head, "Just pretend not to know. Remember to stay by myself these couple of days."

"Stay by your side?" Hermione said in a soft voice as a tiny frown appeared on her face.

It didn't take long before she trembled as if realizing something. She then looked at Pro with worried eyes as her grip tightened, "So, I'm next?"

Grasping her soft hand, Pro gave them a rub. He firmly looked into Hermione's eyes as he stated, "I won't let anything happen to you. Believe me."

Hermione stared back at him as her worries faded away. A smile appeared on her face as she nodded, "Mmm."

As the two's eyes intertwined, a magnetic force seemed to drag them closer as the positives and negatives of their relationship began to mix together ...

"Blimey, what are you two doing?" a discordant voice suddenly interrupted them.

Hermione bounced back a bit with a blush on her face. Pro licked his lip before he turned to glare at his 'good' friend, Ron.

"Nothing, Ron. I'm just having a deep conversation with Hermione that we don't want others to overhear," Pro calmly stated.

"What could you two be talking about? Did you two figure out who broke into the dorm? Maybe you found out something about the Chamber of Secrets? Blimey, I really hope that whatever it is, it isn't a spider."

"Don't worry, it isn't. We'll tell you if we find anything," Pro calmly replied as he played with the blushing Hermione's hand.

"I just hope whatever it is, it won't affect the Quidditch game. Harry's been practicing really hard for that. It'll be a shame if it gets canceled," Ron mumbled as he walked away.

Watching Ron walk away, Pro couldn't help but comment, "Heh, it'll be a real shame indeed."

From small daily interactions such as these, Pro had noticed that Ron's intuition is pretty spot on. It made Pro wonder why Ron didn't have any talent in divination. Or maybe he did, but he hid it. The more Pro got along with Ron, the more Pro felt that something was off about him.

"Honestly, none of the three in the trouble-making trio are simple people," Pro mumbled to himself before turning his attention back to Hermione to discuss further plans.

The day of the Quidditch match swiftly arrived. Unfortunately, Pro knew that it was destined that there would be no results. As Pro held onto Hermione's hand as they followed Harry and Ron out to get their Quidditch supply, Hermione suddenly stiffened in place.

Pro could also felt his mind become groggy for a moment before it quickly recovered. Before Pro could think about what's wrong, he heard Harry's sudden exclamation about the voice.

Moments later, Hermione trembled and exclaimed in excitement, "Harry! I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"

Pro then felt Hermione's hand try to slip out of his hands, but he held on tight. Failing to pull away, Hermione simply tugged Pro along frantically, as if she was possessed. Frowning, Pro ran behind her to avoid having a tug-a-war with her hand.

On the way to the library, Pro constantly tried to persuade Hermione to calm down, "Hermione! Stop! Something's wrong! Listen to me! Wake up!"

However, Hermione didn't listen. She seemed to be trapped in her own thoughts! Glancing at the mini-map, Pro saw a yellow dot traversing through the walls and converging towards their destination, the library!

"Sh*t!" Pro cursed and knew that he couldn't delay any further.

Ignoring Hermione's struggles, Pro forcefully tugged her hand and pulled her into his embrace. Hermione frantically tried to struggle out of Pro's hand as if she was possessed. Pro stared at her with a worried face. A slap will do the trick, but he can't bear to hurt her. It didn't take long before he locked onto her small, pink lips.

The temptation was too much. His head bowed down. He could feel the softness of the other side. As he dug deeper, he felt the girl in his embrace stiffen before she gradually calmed down. Her hands then reached out to hug him back as the two enjoyed the bliss.

Pro didn't know if the power in fairy tales would work, but at least it worked this time, maybe with the help of plot armor. As the two separated, a string of saliva still formed a connection between the two. Pro couldn't resist the temptation and bent down once more, gobbling up the string and having another taste.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Huh? Is that the FBI breaking through his door now? Or could it be ... something else? A girl's sudden scream echoed in the corridor before falling silent. Pro's heart lurched as the two separated. Pro awakened from his bliss and his mind refocused on his current situation. Hopefully, his intervention hasn't caused a death by accident, but Pro didn't have time to care.

As he peeked at his mini-map, he locked onto the assailant on the mini-map, and it was heading his way!

"Hermione, we got to go! It's coming for us!"

"What-?"

Pro tugged the confused Hermione and bolted down the opposite direction, away from the incoming yellow dot. As if sensing its prey's escape, the yellow dot actually sped up!

Hisssss!

Accompanied by the sound of something rough scraping the ground as it moved, Pro could hear the chilly hiss echoing in the corridor from behind them! Before Hermione could look back, Pro yelled, "Don't look back!"

Dragging the pale Hermione, Pro dashed forward, turned the corner, and ran down the corridor as planned. Behind him, he could hear the sound of obstacles being smashed and knocked over as the assailant continued to chase them. Resisting the urge to look back, Pro gritted his teeth and focused on escaping.

Will they manage to escape? Or will he find himself waking up in the hospital after being de-petrified? Or worst ... will this be the end of the story?