"Your eyes are as beautiful as a salamander's, and your hair looks like oiled silk. Pfft, John, this is a terrible love letter."
Malfoy finally couldn't hold back his laughter, and John shot him an annoyed glare.
"Let me throw it away for you. It might be one of those damn Weasley pranks."
Malfoy took it upon himself to dispose of John's love letter, but John snatched it back with a huff, "Forget it, I'll keep it."
He folded the letter, What if it was really sent by a girl? It would be too hurtful to throw it away casually.
Malfoy smoothed his hair and looked over at Harry, deliberately saying loudly, "Look, our savior also got a love letter."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
Harry was struggling as one of the dwarfs clung to his knees, refusing to let go. He had no choice but to listen to the dwarf perform.
His green eyes were described as pickled toads, which was just as bad as John's salamander eyes.
This made John suspect that the Weasley twins were behind the prank.
Leaving the Great Hall, John found Lockhart and gave him a task.
"Aren't you fond of writing books? Then write one for me!"
He ordered Lockhart to write a book titled Swinging the Sword at Hogwarts, so he wouldn't have to watch Lockhart causing trouble any longer.
Unlocking the Gryffindor's Secret Chamber, the Felix Felicis potion was nearing completion.
With the last ingredient added, the potion became as clear as water.
Carefully using a dropper, John placed the Felix Felicis into a glass bottle shaped like a water bulb. After months of preparation, the final yield was just a small amount.
Sealing the bottle, John finally exhaled in relief.
The Felix Felicis was crystal clear, with the flickering candlelight reflecting off its surface.
John murmured softly, "Now the trip to the Chamber is secured."
He wrapped a protective charm string around the bottle's neck to make a pendant, deciding not to store it in his small pouch.
The Felix Felicis was too valuable; he needed to keep it close.
He wore the pendant around his neck, tucking it safely inside his shirt.
John then made his way to the second-floor girls' bathroom.
Apart from him, no one knew the entrance to the Chamber was there.
After scanning the room to ensure no one had been around, he snapped his fingers.
|"Badge, come."|
The badge, hidden behind the mirror, flew over. John caught it, and as his left hand brushed over it, the stars on the badge turned pale blue.
"The snake hasn't come out, and apart from Moaning Myrtle, only Harry and his friends have been here."
After a moment of contemplation, John put the badge into his pocket.
He then approached the broken toilet and politely knocked on it.
"Hi, Moaning Myrtle, I need your help with something."
Moaning Myrtle floated out of the toilet, her voice sharp and angry as she said, "Moaning Myrtle, Moaning Myrtle, can't you stop bullying Moaning Myrtle!"
"Well, if you're willing to help me, I'd be happy to give you a gift."
John shrugged. As a person trained by his mother to attend her various parties, he knew how to handle social situations.
Upon hearing about a gift, Moaning Myrtle stopped crying and floated around John a few times.
"You know I'm a ghost, right?"
She thought John was trying to deceive her, as ghosts couldn't receive gifts.
Ghosts retain the state they were in one second before death, like Nearly Headless Nick, whose head was nearly severed but still had a small connection, preventing him from fully joining the Headless team.
Seeing that she didn't believe him, John didn't waste any more words. He raised his wand and pointed it at Moaning Myrtle.
"What are you doing!" Moaning Myrtle screamed, darting around in panic.
"Shh, quiet."
John motioned for her to be silent, then smiled lightly and said, "This is my gift to you."
"Mutatio est anima forma"
As the incantation was spoken, a stream of white smoke emerged from John's wand, enveloping Moaning Myrtle.
He reached into his small bag and pulled out a feathered hairpin, gripping it in his right hand.
The hairpin quickly disappeared from his hand, and in Moaning Myrtle's hand, the feathered hairpin began to materialize.
"How is this possible?"
Moaning Myrtle touched the hairpin in disbelief, the feel of the feathers in her hand exactly as it had been when she was alive.
"A simple spell, a conversion of material between life and death. Wizards who refuse death become ghosts. In the magical world, there are beings that walk between the living and the dead, and I've just borrowed their methods."
John spoke casually, but the process was actually extremely difficult.
The hairpin was made from a Thestral feather, and with the added Hogwarts engraving, it allowed the hairpin to exist in a ghostly state within Hogwarts.
In the book Moste Potente Potions, there were some spells related to souls; this was just an experiment.
John's ultimate goal with ghost-related spells was to transform the ordinary deceased into ghosts.
Strictly speaking, this could be considered dark magic.
Manipulating life and death—any who dabbles in such will bear great sin.
John opened his palm, and the hairpin crumbled into a handful of ashes that slipped through his fingers.
He smiled and said, "Now, will you help me?"
"Of course!"
Moaning Myrtle was overjoyed, darting around the room.
John pointed to the faucet marked with a serpent symbol and said, "I need you to go down this pipe and take a look."
Last time, John had jumped down, but without opening the entrance this time, he had to rely on Moaning Myrtle's ability to move freely through barriers.
Ghosts can visit places they walked in life, and fortunately, the Slytherin Chamber was built into Hogwarts.
John could use the ghost spell to temporarily grant Myrtle the freedom to explore.
At this moment, John felt immense gratitude towards the creators of the Marauder's Map.
Thanks to the Marauder's Map, John was able to connect with the magical engravings of Hogwarts.
"Yeah! Don't worry!"
Moaning Myrtle descended through the faucet pipe, phasing through the tunnels all the way to the bottom.
After some time, about fifteen minutes later, John heard a noise coming from the toilet.
He looked over and saw Moaning Myrtle emerging from the toilet, looking confused.
"How did I get back here?"
Moaning Myrtle seemed dazed. John realized that the ghost spell had worn off, and he waved his hand, saying, "Umm, seems my spell expired. It pulled you back to the starting point."
"That's a shame. I saw a wall with two intertwined serpents on it."
Myrtle, still savoring the rare freedom she had experienced, lamented, "That wall had magic on it, and I couldn't pass through."
'A wall? That must be the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.'
Gleaning this bit of information, John thanked Moaning Myrtle.
After leaving the girls' bathroom, John muttered to himself, "It seems I can't do this without Harry. He's the key; I need him."
It seems without Parseltongue, he wouldn't be able to enter the Slytherin Chamber, even if he reached its entrance.
John decided to seek Harry's cooperation.
However, as he said this, he didn't notice that someone nearby had overheard his words.
...
Harry's scar throbbed with pain, and a voice echoed in his mind.
"He's the key; I need him."
A vision flashed before his eyes: John, with a dark and brooding expression, walking out of the girls' bathroom, muttering to himself.
After this vision, Harry found himself in the Trophy Room.
A golden medal bearing the name "Riddle" appeared before him.
Harry felt dazed, only snapping back to reality after Hermione called his name several times.
"I told you, Harry needs to rest," Ron said, thinking Harry was simply exhausted.
The Transfiguration homework was overwhelming, leaving them barely able to breathe.
Hermione was displeased. She thought, with so little homework, it felt like an insult. If the Slytherins saw this, they'd think Gryffindors couldn't handle it.
"Ten more assignments, one for each of us!" she thought defiantly.
"Ron, you're right. I do need to rest," Harry suddenly said.
He stood up and walked out.
His behavior was strange, and Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, each seeing the confusion in the other's eyes.
"What's wrong with Harry?" Hermione asked.
...
On the first floor, John encountered Gemma Farley, who brought up the diary.
"I couldn't find an old magical diary. I've searched everywhere."
"Alright, thank you anyway. If another little wizard had gotten hold of it, that would have been disastrous."
Gemma Farley had been quite helpful in searching for the diary, so John wasn't going to be too hard on her.
After she left, John sighed and muttered to himself, "Tom Riddle, where are you hiding? Stop playing games."
Voldemort was like a worm in the gutter—though not dangerous at the moment, he was still incredibly annoying.
With that, John headed back to the Slytherin dungeon. After he was gone, Harry appeared from around the corner of the staircase.
He stared at John's retreating figure, recalling the golden medal he had seen.
"John seems really wary of this Riddle. But why?"
Harry felt he was close to uncovering the truth and made his way to the Trophy Room, as he had seen in his vision.
There, he found Riddle's medal, and in the corner, there was a diary.
It seemed as though a diary had been waiting for him for a long time.
_________
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