Child of Hogwarts: Part I

Chapter Twenty-Two - 13 June, 1943

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

13 June, 1943

Hermione was released from hospital wing near the end of the month, fur-free and very happy to be back to lessons. Harry and Ron christened her first night back in the tower by showing her Riddle's diary. They hadn't had any luck themselves in trying to discover what was so special about the book, but they thought Hermione might have some new ideas.

Like Harry, Hermione was very intrigued to learn that Tom Riddle had received a Special Award, particularly because it coincided with when they knew the Chamber of Secrets had last been opened. Ron, who remained sceptical and thought Harry ought to chuck the book, was a little less certain. And Harry had to admit that he had a point, after Hermione had tried a series of revealing spells, and even a magic revealing rubber, with no luck. But, for whatever reason, Harry found he could not bin the diary. Instead, he slipped it into his school bag and got in the habit of flipping through it periodically – between lessons or late at night in bed.

Several weeks later, Harry ran up to the dormitory at the end of the day in a very foul disposition, cursing Lockhart and his ridiculous Valentine's scheme. He was already in a temper against the Defence professor who, quite apart from teaching them absolutely no practical Defence, had also developed a nasty habit of forcing Harry to help him with 'demonstrations' of particularly dramatic scenes from his books. Both Ron and Harry railed against the wizard at every opportunity, though Hermione simply refused to accept their criticism of Lockhart. She and Ron had got into a serious row on the subject on St. Valentine's Day morning, when Lockhart – in what Harry considered his most despicable act yet – had announced his scheme to 'boast morale' with a Valentine's-themed school 'treat.'

Thanks to Harry's personal singing 'cupid,' he was now the laughing stock of the school, Ginny Weasley was highly embarrassed, and Malfoy thought Harry kept a personal diary and would no doubt be on the lookout for any opportunity to snatch it from him. And to top it, Harry now had to try and salvage his books and the hastily-repaired bag.

He threw his satchel roughly onto the floor, picking out his things one by one. Everything was drenched in scarlet ink.

'Tergeo!' he muttered, pointing his wand over and over as he removed each item, trying to siphon off the mess. But when he came to the little black diary, he paused, considering it.

The ink which had covered every inch of his school things was completely absent from the old diary. The cover and pages were as pristine as they had been that morning.

Curious, Harry sat back against the headboard with the little book in hand. He flipped through the pages. Not a single scarlet drop.

Harry bent over and pulled out an inkwell and quill. He dipped the tip of the quill into the pot, and let a drop fall onto the first page of the book. It shone for a moment, then faded into the page – leaving the parchment blank once more. Harry flipped to the next page. There was no trace whatsoever of ink there, either.

Growing excited, Harry refilled his quill and scratched out a sentence.

My name is Harry Potter.

Like before, the ink shone for a moment, and then something drew it away, fading into the page. Harry waited in high anticipation, but nothing seemed to happen. His momentary excitement diminished, and he made to close the diary again.

But he stopped.

Very slowly, in the same blue ink he'd written in, words came back from the diary.