A few Slytherin students sitting by the fire just stared at Goyle and Crabbe beating up Malfoy.
"God, what are you doing?" asked a surprised fifth-year student
"I'm fed up with him!" shouted Evan
"Yeah, me too," answered Harry loudly
The two people were enraged, Evan kicked Malfoy again, all of a sudden, they leaped out of the Slytherin common room and ran towards the third-floor bathroom.
"Evan, that was great! Make sure no one is around" grinned Harry, "That was the best Christmas present I've ever had in my life, beating Malfoy up on Christmas day."
"The look on Malfoy's face, I wished I could have taken a picture and put it in the newspaper," said Evan
"But we were a little too impulsive," said Harry when the excitement subsided
From making the Polyjuice potion to turning into Slytherin students and beating up Malfoy, everything is a serious violation of the school's rules. If we are caught, we are bound to be expelled.
"Don't worry, nobody knows we did it." said Evan, "in the eyes of others, it was Crabbe and Goyle, that beat up Malfoy."
"As long as we act normal, we should be good…."
Harry suddenly stopped and said, "wait we can't go back yet, Hermione is still in Snape's office."
"I almost forgot; we need to find a way to rescue her."
The two quietly snuck to Snape's office door, they listened but there was no sound inside.
"I can't hear anything," said Evan softly
"Maybe we can cause a commotion to lead Snape out," said Harry
As soon as his voice fell, he saw that they were changing back.
Their time was up the two where gradually changing back to themselves.
It was horrible, and worse still, Hermione was still in Snape's office.
Thinking about Hermine transforming back into herself under Snape's cold gaze, was horrible to think about.
"No, there is no time!!" said Evan as he kicked the door open
They then saw Snape sitting at his desk with a frightening grin on his face and a potion vial in front of him.
Hermione sat opposite of him; she was as pale as the moon.
"Crabbe, Goyle, what are you doing here?" Snape looked at them with a horrifying frown.
"Professor, something big has happened! It is Draco someone has attacked him in the common room, he is lying on the ground covered in blood, and we don't know what to do," shouted Evan
"Yes, you should go and take a look," said Harry hastily
"Attacked?! You two idiots, why didn't you send him to the school hospital."
"We…." Evan paused, he then panicked and said, "we weren't sure if it had anything to do with the previous two attacks,"
Because of the dim light in the office, Snape didn't notice that Evan's face didn't look like the usual Crabbe.
"You wait here, watch her until I come back." Snape drew his wand and ran towards Slytherin's common room.
"Let's Go!" said Harry and Evan when they saw Snape disappear, Evan and Harry grabbed Hermione and ran.
"Thank you!" said Hermione as she breathed a sigh of relief, "He threatened to give me Veritaserum if I didn't tell him the truth."
"Veritaserum?"
"Yes" nodded Hermione, "But he didn't do so, he certainly guessed who I was so he was just waiting for the effects of the Polyjuice potion to wear off. But thanks to you bursting in at that time, the effects didn't wear off yet."
"We better hurry back to the third floor's bathroom."
Harry felt that his feet were becoming smaller so his shoes were now too big and he now had to pick up his clothes when he ran.
He then seemed to stumble over something and fell heavily to the ground.
Evan and Hermione stopped, and by the dim candlelight, they could see what Harry had tripped over.
The two people were amazed.
"It was Justin, he's been attacked…." Hermione put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
In front of them, lay Justin on the floor, he was stiff with a horrified expression. What lay in front of him were the shattered remains of the big mirror, the pieces of glass covered Justin's whole body.
Harry stood up and he noticed Justin Petrified on the ground.
Harry looked at each other in a hurry, he had a terrified face with a strange red tint.
The three have now completely changed back now.
This was the worst-case scenario; the third attack has happened and they were the first to arrive at the scene again.
What would people say if they were seen by them?
Think about it, Justin had a conflict with Harry at the Duel Club recently, and there are rumours going around that Harry was going to attack him and now he is petrified right in front of him. In particular, they are now wearing Slytherin's uniform, so if people saw this, they would truly think Harry was the heir.
But Evan wasn't sure if Snape wouldn't welcome them.
"Leave him, let's go," said Evan eagerly.
"We can't just leave him here; we have to find someone to help."
"Don't be stupid, Hermione, if we are present can you prove that Harry isn't the heir? Especially since we are wearing Slytherin's uniform, how do we explain it to others, we just took some Polyjuice potion and beat up Malfoy, that's all."
"Now it is Christmas, he may not be found for a while." hesitated Hermione.
"Don't worry, Snape will rush back soon, and he'll send Justin to the school hospital," said Harry
"But..."
"Don't worry, we need to change back to our clothes if you want to help him."
After Evan finished, Evan took her hand and started running again.
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The three people dashed up the stairs and went to the closet that Crabbe and Goyle were in and threw the shoes in it. They left and rushed to the third floor while only wearing socks.
They then saw Ron.
"Ron what are you doing here?" asked Hermione who was surprised.
"Madam Pomfrey said I could leave and she suggested that I should join the Christmas party but I wanted to see you first."
"Then what did you see?" asked Evan eagerly, Justin had been attacked when they weren't in the bathroom.
"I just came in, when you came back." stuttered Ron, "How did the plan go?"
"Everything went well, we even beat up Malfoy but when we were leaving Snape's office, we saw that Justin had been petrified. He was lying in front of the big mirror in the dungeon," said Harry while being dejected.
"Another attack?!" gasped Ron, he looked more frightened than the three of them, "Was it not Malfoy...."
"My guess would be no," said Harry, "He was with us in Slytherin's common room when the attack happened" Harry shook his head, "But it wasn't a complete waste of time, we got an important clue from him."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione whispered amongst each other while Evan saw a ragged black book underneath a cracked mirror behind Ron.
His heart suddenly tightened, his pupils dilated, and he clenched his hands.
God this is Tom Riddle's diary!
He had been looking for it for half a year at school but now it suddenly appears in front of him just as he was getting nowhere.
Evan stepped forward and tried to pick it up but Ron suddenly stretched out his hand to stop him.
"Evan don't touch it!" said Ron who looked pale and frightened.
"What is it?" asked Harry who also saw what was in the sink, "Don't be silly, a book can't be dangerous."
"There are countless books that are dangerous!" said Ron while he looked at the diary, "My father told me that some of the books confiscated by the Ministry of Magic would burn your eyes and there are also books that once you pick them up you can never put them down and so on."
"Well I understand what you mean," said Evan while trying to pick up the diary.
"No, you don't understand!" shouted Ron while the other three looked at him in surprise, he then lowered his voice, "Believe me, Evan, 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 Evan as he took the diary.
As soon as he opened it, he could be sure if it is really Tom Riddle's diary.
He opened it and saw a name written in it 'Tom Riddle'
"Tom Riddle, who is that? I never heard of anyone by that name at Hogwarts but I feel like I have seen it somewhere before."
"Tom Riddle won the special award for service to the school fifty years ago," whispered Evan.
"I remember, I read about it before but it didn't say why he won it," said Hermione
"Anything is possible, maybe he saved thirty owls or rescued a teacher from a giant squid," whispered Ron, "Why don't we just throw this thing away, it looks dirty,"
"Fifty years ago, was the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, perhaps this diary has something to do with it," said Evan as he carefully studied the diary in his hand.
"Really let me see!" said Harry as he hastily took the diary and looked through it, "There isn't a single word written in it,"
He turned the diary to the back and saw that it was from a Muggle shop called Vauxhall Road in London.
"He must have been a muggle-born," he mused, "So he bought diary's from there."
"Well it isn't very useful to us anyway," said Ron hurriedly, "Let's just leave it here,"
"No I think Evan is right," said Hermione as she narrowed her eyes which made her look like Professor McGonagall, "Think about it since Riddle went to school here fifty years ago, he must not be at Hogwarts anymore but why is the diary here and who threw it away?"
"We know from Malfoy 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 heir? His 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 diary to wander around would he?"
"Excellent reasoning," said Ron while slightly cringing, "But he didn't write anything in his diary."
"Maybe he wrote in invisible ink!" said Hermione as she pulled out her wand and uttered the phrase, "Aparecium"
But nothing happened, Hermione wasn't discouraged though, she then pulled out a bright red eraser.
"It a magical eraser that I got in Diagon Alley." she then rubbed in on the first page's date January 1st but nothing happened.
"Anything else"
"This Riddle," said Ron, "Maybe he just didn't spend time writing things in it."
"But…." Hermione was unwilling to give up
"I feel like he was a friend of mine that I forgot about, it must seem absurd since I never had a friend before I came to Hogwarts and this Tom Riddle is a person who went to Hogwarts fifty years ago," said Harry
"That is just your mind playing tricks on you so let's just leave it here and go to the Christmas party instead of staying in a girl's bathroom with a ragged diary that has nothing written in it."
"There must be something hidden in it that we haven't discovered yet," said Evan as he took the diary back.
"Well since you all think so, I have an idea," said Ron as he lowered his voice, "Evan, give it to me, and I'll mail it to my father who is an expert in dealing with this stuff,"
"No, Ron!" said Evan as he shook his head and put the diary in his bag, "I think it is better for me to hold on to it since I recently saw a potion in a book that may make it reveal its secrets."
I don't know if it's an illusion or just the dim candlelight in the bathroom but Ron's face seemed to become paler.