Chapter 116 : The Vanishing Diary

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"Probably what I did." Harry nodded once. Severus had already mentioned, a day after their talk on the snake he was hearing, that the Chamber had been opened once before, fifty years ago and that Hagrid had shouldered the blame, being expelled and having his wand snapped. Dumbledore never believed it of course, having hired Hagrid as the Gamekeeper of the school. And anyone who ever met Hagrid could testify that, his liking to dangerous creatures -which probably got him to this whole mess in the first place- put aside, he had a heart of gold.

Severus had also found out that there had been a death at the time, that almost foreced the school to close; it was still unclear as to who the girl that had died -because it was a girl- was, as Albus and Minerva who had been at school at the time had came to an agreement not to talk about it. But Hagrid was caught by a prefect called T. M. Riddle. The Headmaster always seemed to lose the twinkle in his eyes when he spoke of the incident.

"And who was that Riddle character?" Harry asked, carefully weighting the broomstick in making.

"All I could find about him was that he was a Head Boy, he got an award for capturing Hagrid and a Medal of Magical Merit." Severus pointed out. "After that he seems to have dropped out the face of the earth. Albus knows something, as usual, but he's not sharing, also as usual may I add." Harry nodded once and looked pensively at the different twigs on the floor.

"He must have been a proper git if he blamed Hagrid for the attacks." Harry stated, making Severus chuckle in agreement. "Birch or oak?"

"Excuse me?" Severus asked confused.

"Sorry, I meant for the tail of the broomstick." Harry clarified.

"Oh. No idea; does it make a difference?"

"A great one, trust me." Harry stated pondering on his choices.

"Then go with your instinct."

"Birch it is." Harry stated picking up some of the twigs in front of him.

"You're doing some progress with it." The potions master observed.

"Well, the actual design, once you get the calculations out of the way, is the easy part. It's the spellwork afterwards that's difficult." Severus just rolled his eyes; of course Harry would think broomstick design was easy. He had raised a genius. It was the first of February when Hermione left the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey having released her a day after she had stopped coughing out hairballs.

The school was as quiet as it could be with two petrified students, the mandrakes were growing perfectly and Lockhart had gone far too long without doing something stupid. But Harry didn't dwell on that much. It was a book that had captured his interest. That, in itself, wasn't unusual; it was the book that made the difference.

It wasn't something extravagant; just a simple diary, that looked too old to be his brother's. But it was Adrian who was carrying it around and he seemed to be focused on it lately. And it wasn't until the fourteenth of February, and the terrible fiasco that was Lockhart's Valentine extravaganza, that Harry paid the book any special attention. Adrian had just received a music Valentine -Harry imagined it was the Weasley twins' idea- and the commotion that was caused somehow ended with the hazel eyed Potter twin's bag torn and red ink staining all of his books. And even if Harry saw the diary getting covered in ink, there wasn't even a stain on it as Adrian picked it up.

Pushing plotting revenge on Lockhart aside, mixing up a quick potion to slip at him at any given occurrence, Harry focused his attention on the diary. But so did his brother, and since that night, he never left it from his sight, always coming to check up on it during breaks.

"It's frustrating!" Harry exclaimed one night a few days before Easter holidays. The days had gone by fast and the only exciting thing he did was chose his second form for the animagus transformation. It was a Falco Peregrinus or a Peregrine Falcon; the world's fastest bird of prey whose kind was widespread enough to not raise many eyebrows if seen. Severus had wholeheartedly agreed with the suggestion and was in the process of procuring any documents he could find on it.

"Don't you think you've been focusing far too much on that diary?" Severus asked, copying some notes down for his Wolfesbane potion; he was getting closer by the day, having almost perfected the recipe with the exception of the stabilising element he aimed for.

"So does Adrian."

"Ever considered it might actually be his diary?" The potions master deadpanned. "It would make sense if he didn't want anyone to read it."

"Adrian isn't the type that keeps a diary." Harry countered, absentmindedly adding some runes on a sigil he was designing.

"You never know, Harry." But the green eyed Wizard was proved right when, one day, after returning from Quiddich practice, Adrian found his trunk open and the diary missing. Riddle's diary, Harry had heard Ron calling it.

"I heard him loud and clear, I swear!" Harry exclaimed.

"I believe you, Harry." Severus stated, deep in thought, as the young Gryffindor paced the floor of his office.

"All this time it was there, right under my nose!" The boy exclaimed. "And now what?"

"You know what this means, right?" Severus asked solemnly, trying to form his response. "Someone didn't want whatever was written inside that diary to be known."

"And only Gryffindors know the passwords to the Common Room."

"Exactly." The potions master agreed. Things had just become that much more confusing.

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