Chapter 46: Tom Riddle's Diary

The three of them ran up the stairs and headed for the closet where Crabbe and Goyle were and threw their shoes at them and ran up the stairs in their socks until they reached the girls' bathroom on the third floor.

Then they saw Ron standing there.

"Ron, what are you doing here?" asked Hermione in surprise.

Ron replied to Hermione, "Madam Pomfrey said I could leave and suggested I join the Christmas party, but I wanted to see you first."

"So, have you seen anything?" asked Ivan excitedly, Justin had been attacked and the Chamber of Secrets had been opened during the time they had been out of the girls' bathroom.

Ron stammered, "I just got here, when you guys came back, how did the plan go?"

"Everything went fine, we even beat up Malfoy, but when we came out of Snape's office we saw that Justin was petrified. He was lying in front of the big mirror in the dungeon" Harry said, shaking his head dejectedly.

"Another attack? Wasn't it Malfoy....?" gasped Ron, looking more frightened than the three of them.

Harry shook his head, saying, "He was with us in the Slytherin common room when the attack happened. But it wasn't a complete waste of time, we got an important clue from him."

Harry, Ron and Hermione whispered to each other, when Ivan saw a tattered black book under a broken mirror behind Ron.

His body froze for a moment, his pupils dilated, and he clenched his hands.

God, that's Tom Riddle's diary, Ivan thought to himself.

He had been looking for it for half a year at school, but now it suddenly appeared in front of him just when he was getting nowhere.

Ivan stepped forward and tried to grab it, but Ron suddenly reached out to stop him.

"Ivan, don't touch him, it could be dangerous!" said Ron, who was pale and scared.

Harry, who also saw what was in the sink, asked, "What's wrong? Don't be ridiculous, how can a book be dangerous?"

"My father told me that some of the books confiscated by the Ministry of Magic would burn your eyes out and there are also books that once you pick them up you can't stop reading them and so on," Ron said as he looked at the paper.

"Well, I see what you mean," Ivan said as he stepped around Ron and tried to pick up the diary.

Ron shouted, but when he saw that three were looking at him in surprise, he lowered his voice and said, "No, you don't understand! Believe me Ivan, it's dangerous, so let's not touch it."

"Being careful is an excellent trait, but we have to read it to know what it is, don't we?" said Ivan as he took the diary.

As soon as he opened it, he could be sure that it was indeed Tom Riddle's diary.

He opened it and saw a name written in it: 'Tom Riddle'.

Hermione said with a frown, "Tom Riddle, who is that? I've never heard of anyone by that name at Hogwarts, but I feel like I've seen him before."

"Tom Riddle won the special award for service to the school fifty years ago," Ivan whispered.

"I remember reading it before, but it didn't say why he won it," Hermione said.

"Anything is possible, maybe he saved thirty owls or rescued a teacher from a giant squid, why don't we throw this thing away? it looks dirty," whispered Ron.

"Fifty years ago was the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Maybe this diary has something to do with it," Ivan said as he carefully studied the diary in his hand.

Harry said as he hurriedly picked up the diary and looked at it, "Really let me see! There's not a single word written in it!"

He flipped the diary back and saw that it was from a Muggle store called Vauxhall Road in London.

Harry said thoughtfully, "He must have been born in of Muggles, that's why he bought the diary there."

"Well, it's not much use to us anyway, if you ask me, we'd better leave it here," Ron said hastily.

"No, I think Ivan is right, think about it, since Riddle went to school here fifty years ago, he shouldn't be at Hogwarts anymore, but why is his diary here and who threw it away?" said Hermione while squinting her eyes, which made her look like Professor McGonagall.

Then Hermione continued, "We know from Malfoy that the person who opened the chamber last time was expelled and Tom Riddle won a special contribution to the school at the same time, so could he have won it for catching the Slytherin heir? Your diary is our best bet for us to find out the things we want to know. The man who orchestrated these attacks wouldn't want this journal hanging around, would he?"

"Excellent reasoning, but he didn't write anything in his journal," Ron said, wrinkling his nose.

"Maybe he wrote with invisible ink!" said Hermione as she pulled out her wand and uttered the phrase, "Aparecium."

But nothing happened, Hermione wasn't discouraged, she pulled out a bright red eraser.

"It's a magic eraser I got in Diagon Alley," Hermione said as she used it on the first few pages, dated January 1, but nothing happened.

"Anything else? This Riddle, maybe he didn't spend time writing things in it," said Ron

"But....," said Hermione, as she wasn't about to give up.

"I have a strange familiarity with this Riddle, he seems like a long forgotten friend of mine, but this must be ridiculous, I certainly didn't have any friends before I came to Hogwarts, let alone this Riddle, who is someone from fifty years ago," said Harry.

Ron said to Harry, "That's your mind playing tricks on you, so let's leave it here and go to the Christmas party instead of staying in a girls' bathroom with a tattered diary that has nothing written in it."

"There must be something hidden in it that we haven't figured out yet," Ivan said as he took the diary away.

"Well, since everyone thinks so, I have an idea, Ivan, give it to me and I'll mail it to my father, who is an expert at handling these things," said Ron as he lowered his voice

"No, Ron! I think I'd better hold on to it, as I recently saw a potion in a book that can make it reveal its secrets," Ivan said as he shook his head and put the diary in his bag

I didn't know if it was an illusion or just the dim candlelight in the bathroom, but Ron's face seemed to get paler.