Chapter 47

The halls of Hogwarts were quiet now, the final class bells having rung not long ago. Most students were tucked away in their common rooms or wandering the corridors. Tony, Sirius and Johnny were heading towards the tower to meet Harry before leaving the castle.

As they reached, Tony had stopped mid-step, his sensors pinging a strange energy signature. There, lying innocently against the stone wall near a classroom door, was a small black notebook.

He narrowed his eyes behind the Iron Man mask. "Uh… am I seeing things, or is that sketchy little diary glowing faintly?"

Sirius smirked. "What, is the mighty Tony Stark scared of a book?"

Tony turned his helmet slightly. "Only if it tries to bite me."

Sirius eyes lit up, Oh he can't wait to show him the library then, As much as he hated going there expect for the exams, Restricted books has spells, He can't wait to see his reaction then. It be funny to see a book screaming at Tony and him screaming back.

Johnny instantly pulled out his wand sensing something and muttered, "Homenum Revelio… No, wait. It's—something else."

The air shimmered faintly around the diary.

Johnny's expression hardened. "That's a cursed item."

Tony stepped back slightly as Johnny flicked his wand and cast a levitation charm. "Wingardium Leviosa." The notebook rose into the air, unmoving and ominous.

Sirius frowned now, too. "Where the hell would something like this come from?"

"I don't like it," Remus muttered. "It feels wrong." His wolf instincts were terrifying, he can tell something is off about that innocent looking notebook.

They didn't waste time. Johnny carefully floated the cursed diary as they moved through the halls. Their path took them past startled students and curious ghosts before they reached the stone gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's Office.

To their surprise, Professors Flitwick and Snape were already there, apparently just leaving after a staff meeting.

"Professors!" Remus called out, rushing forward. "We found something. A dark artifact, I think."

Flitwick's eyebrows shot up. "What kind of artifact?"

Snape's usual sneer faltered when he saw the black book floating unnaturally behind them and looks curious.

Tony tells him. "Picked it up outside one of the classrooms. My sensors picked up some weird magical signature."

"It's dangerous," Johnny said. "Not cursed like the usual traps—something deeper."

"Wait" Sirius eyes wide. "You are sensitive of magic?"

Johnny shrugs. "More like alerted... And I did some shady works, I am not your ordinary freelance bodyguard"

Flitwick stepped closer, wand out, eyes narrowing. But it was Snape who went still.

He had only glanced at the diary once seeing the familiar name on it before going rigid.

His face drained of all color. No, He remembers this dairy! Lucius shown him, how Dark Lord entrusted him this Dairy, he doesn't know what this little notebook is about but Dark lord told him no matter what, the notebook can never fall into anyone's hand.

Sirius, Remus, and even Flitwick noticed.

"Snape?" Remus asked, slowly.

Tony looked between them all. "Okay,What's up, man? Don't make me do 20 question game here"

Snape's voice came out low and stiff. "That… is Tom Riddle's diary."

The name hung in the air like a bomb.

Sirius blinked. "Who?"

Johnny tilted his head. "Tom Riddle?"

Snape turned to them, his voice clipped. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. The Dark Lord's real name. Before he became Voldemort."

Silence fell.

Flitwick dropped the spell he had been preparing. "That… can't be."

Tony looked at the diary again with newfound caution. "So, you're telling me this creepy notebook is basically a magical nuke from Dark Lord Junior?" The same little shit, that killed his baby brother parents?

Snape didn't respond. He was still staring at the diary, his jaw clenched.

Johnny carefully floated the diary onto a pedestal in the hallway and then cast a containment charm.

"We need Amelia," Sirius said at once.

"I'll call her," Tony said, already opening the communicator on his gauntlet. "This thing's not staying in a school filled with children."

Remus ran a hand through his hair. "Tom Riddle… I remember that name. I saw it on an award plaque in the trophy room once. He got a 'Special Services to the School' award."

"That's because he framed Hagrid," Snape said tightly. "The Chamber of Secrets incident."

Sirius growled under his breath. "Damn it. And to think this thing was just lying there—"

"Which begs the question," Tony said grimly. "Who dropped it?"

As they turned to make their way inside the Headmaster's office with the diary safely levitating between protective charms, no one noticed a pair of wide, terrified eyes peeking from behind a tapestry down the corridor.

Ginny Weasley quickly turned and ran, heart pounding.

———

It didn't take long for Amelia Bones to arrive.

She stormed through the gates of Hogwarts flanked by two trained Aurors, she head towards the headmaster office which took her half an hour.

"Where is it?" she asked sharply the moment she stepped inside. "I just left and came back? What trouble you brew now, Tony?"

Tony dumbfounded point at himself. "Me?! I did no shit!" He points at the innocent looking dairy floating. "There! Look, In containment" gesturing toward the enchanted pedestal where the diary hovered, sealed inside three layers of protective spells cast by Johnny and Flitwick.

Amelia studied the black leather book closely, not touching it. She used her wand, the ward were down so she can check it, She frowns.

"Confirmed cursed object," Johnny tells her. "It radiates the same signature as dark possession spells—only stronger."

"Again, How?" Sirius stare at Johnny. "You gotta throw me a bone, man!"

Johnny grin. "Later"

Snape, arms crossed, still looked unsettled. "It's Tom Riddle's diary."

"Riddle?"

"Yes," Snape confirmed grimly. "Voldemort"

Amelia stared at the diary again, her expression unreadable. "I'll be taking this into Department custody" Then she looks at Snape. "How long did you knew Voldemort's identity?"

Snape grimace. "Not too long, In fact, It was Headmaster who revealed his true name... I only knew him as Voldemort..."

Amelia was done, Sirius and Remus just closed their eyes, The staff stare at Headmaster while Tony and Johnny snorted. Of course, he knew. Now, Tony understands this guy's character very well.

Nonetheless, At this moment, That Dairy was main object, They will speak with him later. Johnny stares at the dairy then looks at Amelia. "Just be careful. I scanned it too—it's emitting a low-level neural pulse. Someone's trying to communicate through it."

Dumbledore stares at the dairy with caution gaze, What could possibly this dairy be about? What intention?

Suddenly, the calm shattered.

A ghost—Nearly Headless Nick—flew straight through the door with a wail. "An attack! Another student! She's been petrified in the second-floor corridor!"

"What?!" Amelia snapped, spinning around.

All at once, the room exploded into motion. Amelia shout at her Aurors to follow. Dumbledore and the staff surged out of the office behind her.

Remus and Johnny ran down the stairs, wands out. Sirius cursed and sprinted after them.

Tony glanced back at the diary one last time before turning. "JARVIS, keep scanning it. I'll be back."

He turned and bolted after the others, armored feet clanging against the stone steps.

The Headmaster's Office was left temporarily unguarded. Only a few of the enchanted portraits hung silently, watching.

Until—

CRACK!

A blinding BANG! echoed inside the room, flooding it with a pulse of white light.

Portraits screamed in protest as white-hot brightness seared the air, magic flickering and sputtering around the diary containment.

From the corridor, a small, hooded figure burst into the room wearing tinted goggles—one of Fred and George's custom flash protection gear, stolen from Ron's trunk.

Ginny Weasley.

Her hands trembled, but her eyes were blank. Empty.

She moved fast, almost too fast for a child, and waved her wand to suppress the weakened containment field. Another flash bang clattered to the ground behind her, erupting in a second burst of white light to fully blind and disorient any magical watchers.

The diary dropped slightly in its levitation field.

She snatched it.

Tears streamed down her face beneath the goggles, but her grip was iron.

Tom said she had to. Tom would fix everything. No more fear. No more guilt.

She turned and ran.

By the time the last of the magical security shimmered back into place and the portraits began shouting warnings—Ginny was already gone.

The diary was gone.

And the true horror had only just begun.