Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

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Hermione was frightened throughout the end of Christmas Holidays and into the new semester. Harry suggested to her that Barty is probably doing these little appearances and disappearances to frightened her out of Hogwarts. She also was trying to understand what Harry and Ron had informed her about what Malfoy mentioned about her. It was now making some sense why Barty was now determined to stop her from staying. 

The three were walking around the hallways, getting to and from classes, trying to figure out what they were going to do next. 

"I was so sure it was Malfoy!" Ron said, disappointed. 

"Do we have any other leads of who it may be?" Hermione asked. 

"Nothing," Harry stated to her. Hermione was about to speak when she stepped into something causing a loud splash. She gazed down to find she was standing in about a foot or so of water. Hermione could hear Moaning Myrtle's wails from the bathroom. 

"Now what's up with her?" Ron asked as Hermione was hurrying over towards the bathroom to find out. They walked in to find it all filled with tons of water while Moaning Myrtle was crying and floating in the air till she caught a glimpse of them. 

"Who's that? Come to throw something else at me?" Myrtle asked them. 

"No, why would anyone throw something at you?" Hermione asked Myrtle, who sobbed loudly. 

"I don't know... Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me..." 

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you," said Ron, "I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?" 

Myrtle suddenly came diving towards them as she was face to face and shrieked, "Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head!" 

"Who threw it at you?" Hermione asked Myrtle, trying to calm her down. Myrtle sobbed as she turned to face Hermione. 

"I don't know... I was just sitting in one of the stalls when suddenly it fell right through the top of my head." Myrtle stated to them before pointing in the other direction, "It's over there." 

Hermione walked around the sink where she found a small, thin shabby black covered book. Hermione walked over to it and reached down to grabbed hold of it when Ron suddenly screamed...

"Are you crazy? It could be dangerous!" 

"Dangerous? Come off it, how could it be dangerous?" Harry asked. 

"You'd be surprised! Some of the books the Ministry's confiscated-- Dad's told me-- there was one that burned your eyes out. And everyone who read Sonnets of a Sorcerer spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch had a book that you could never stop reading! You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed." 

"But we won't find out unless we. look at it," Hermione advised them. She picked it up from the floor, flipping it around to find the name of "T. M. Riddle". 

"Hang on," Ron said as he peered over her shoulder, "I know that name... T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago." 

"How do you know that?" Harry asked. 

"Because Filch had me polish his shield about fifty times! It was the one I burped slugs all over." Ron explained to them. Hermione fumbled with the pages carefully. Everyone was completely blank. 

"He never wrote in it?" Hermione pointed out. 

"Why would someone want to flush it away?" Ron asked while Hermione opened the back cover of the book to find the variety store on Vauxhall Road, London. 

"He must be a muggle-born. He bought this from Vauxhall Road." Hermione pointed out while she proceeded to dry it off on her robes. Throughout the day, they were trying to figure out the diary's secret. Hermione thought it was invisible ink but turned out false. Hermione didn't know why but she felt there was something about this diary that is important. After all, T. M. Riddle had been around the same time as the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. They even when searching to T. M. Riddle and learned he was a Head Boy which Ron had made a joke that it Riddle sounded just like Percy. 

Hermione wasn't feeling the greatest when February fourteenth show up. Lockhart had decorated the Great Hall with large, lurid pink flowers with heart-shaped confetti falling from a pale blue ceiling as the three of them hurried over to the Gryffindor Table. At the teacher's table, you could see Lockhart with matching robes, waving like fool while the other teachers looked at him like he had lost his mind. 

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted to everyone, "Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all and it doesn't end here!" 

At the clap of his hand, a dozen dwarfs came marching into the Great Hall wearing golden wings and carrying harps. 

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart beamed, "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!" 

All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines to the annoyance of the teachers. In the late afternoon, one of the dwarfs had caught up with Harry. 

"Oy! You! Harry Potter!" It shouted as it headed towards Harry. Hermione watched as Harry proceeded to run away as the dwarfs screamed the singing the valentines.

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, his hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord."  

Hermione soon watched as Harry ran into her, his stuff dropping as his ink stained a little of her bag. 

"Sorry, Hermione." Harry told her, nervously. 

"Oy! Hermione Granger?" the dwarf asked. Before Hermione could even agree that it was her, the dwarf began singing an eerie tune. 

"Eyes as fierce as a tigers, hair as wild as Devil's Snare, wears a mask of bravery and fight, but will she stay sane and whole once the truth divides her life?"  

Hermione's eyes widened as her heart was beating within her chest. Harry grabbed hold of the Dwarf and began shaking it violently. 

"Who wrote that? Who gave you that poem to tell Hermione?" Harry asked the dwarf. 

"I don't know! I was just told to just tell her. He didn't give me a name or anything." The dwarf said before nipping Harry's hand and scurrying off down the hall. Hermione and Harry shared a look at each other that silently told them that they needed to figure this thing out before it was too late.