Three Objects, Three Secrets
Harry remained sitting on his bed, staring at the parchment.
"HARRY POTTER, WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS?"
The words continued slowly appearing and fading across the old surface.
Harry looked toward the other beds.
Most of his roommates still hadn't returned, and Percy was somewhere in the castle, probably doing something that would end up costing Gryffindor points.
So, for once, he had some peace and quiet to examine this object.
He looked back at the parchment.
"My intentions?" he murmured thoughtfully as he stared at the words written there.
Almost immediately, the words Sirius had told him at the beginning of the school year came back to his mind.
"Right..." he murmured before looking back at the parchment and, without thinking too much about it, pulling out his wand and gently placing it against the paper.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry said clearly.
The moment Harry finished saying those words, the parchment in his hands began to change, its previous question disappearing before an introduction appeared in ink.
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs present the Marauder's Map."
Harry's eyes widened as he recognized those names, and he unfolded the parchment completely. Almost immediately, an enormous number of lines began spreading across its surface, slowly forming what appeared to be the layout of a castle.
And not just any castle, but Hogwarts itself.
Harry remained completely still for several seconds as his eyes followed those lines. He recognized the staircases, the classrooms, the Great Hall, and even some places he'd walked through hundreds of times.
And that wasn't all.
Names were written everywhere. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them, though at this hour most seemed to be gathered inside the common rooms and dormitories, while only a few dots of ink were still moving through the castle corridors.
Percy, for example, had sneaked down to the kitchens with Tyson to keep him company and enjoy some late-night snacks. Ron was being cornered by his brothers in the Gryffindor common room, and Harry could even make out huge clusters of names packed together inside the other Houses.
"This...!"
Harry shot to his feet in surprise, bumping into the bedside table and knocking everything across it. The ink bottle tipped over, spilling directly across the diary and the green key.
"Ah!"
Harry quickly pulled the map away before the ink could reach it and picked up the bottle without worrying too much about everything else he'd knocked over.
He looked back at the parchment with interest.
"This is amazing."
The map showed everyone's position in real time and even revealed secret passages Harry had never seen before.
His attention returned to the introduction written across the top of the map.
Moony.
Wormtail.
Padfoot.
And finally, his eyes stopped on the last name.
Prongs.
He knew perfectly well who that belonged to.
For several seconds, he ran his fingers over those letters, imagining his father, Sirius, and the other two creating something like this while they were students at Hogwarts. Probably to get themselves into trouble, knowing the stories Sirius usually told him.
Harry couldn't help forming a small smile.
"I should tell Percy my dad gave me more help with this than his own dad did on his quest," Harry said, unable to keep a hint of mischief from his voice.
Then he finally noticed that T. M. Riddle's book and the green key had been soaked in the spilled ink.
"Oh, damn," Harry said as he realized his only clues might have been ruined.
He picked up the key, staining his fingers as he looked for somewhere to clean it, while at the same time grabbing the diary.
But when he picked up Riddle's diary, Harry stopped.
The ink had disappeared.
He frowned and turned the book over in his hands, searching for any stain on the cover.
Nothing.
"What...?"
He was sure a good amount had spilled directly onto it.
He quickly opened the diary.
The pages were still completely blank. They didn't even seem wet.
Harry ran a finger over one of them before looking back at the spilled ink on the table.
"Hmm?"
And, as if wanting to test what had happened to the ink, he took advantage of the fact that the key was still covered in it and used the tip of the serpent's head to write a few words across the diary:
"My name is Harry Potter."
He waited only a few seconds, and almost immediately, the ink disappeared before his eyes.
Harry leaned over the diary at once.
"Oh..."
That definitely wasn't normal.
His attention returned to the ink-stained key. This time, instead of using only the serpent's head, Harry pressed the entire object against the paper like some kind of stamp.
But the moment he lifted the key from the paper, he stared at the mark it had left behind.
It was strange.
An enormous number of tiny lines crossed over one another inside the outline of the serpent, far too orderly to be simple ink stains.
Harry was about to lean closer to examine them when they began to disappear.
And then other words appeared in their place.
"Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did my diary come into your possession?"
The letters remained still on the page, as if they were actually waiting for Harry to answer.
Harry froze for several seconds, and his brain seemed to short-circuit.
His eyes moved from the diary to the key.
"Okay, you wait a moment," he said to Riddle's diary before rummaging through his things for another piece of parchment, which he placed on the bedside table.
Using the key like a stamp again, he let it leave its mark on the blank paper. Then he turned the object over and pressed the other side down as well, leaving a second mark a few inches away.
Harry studied both drawings for several seconds.
They looked different, but some lines ended exactly where others seemed to begin.
"Wait..."
He picked up the parchment and carefully folded it until both marks lined up.
Harry went still.
The lines fit together.
"This is..."
He brought the paper closer to his face.
It looked like an enormous number of intersecting paths.
"A maze of tunnels?"
Harry turned the paper one way and then the other.
He had no idea where those paths began or what place they represented, but it was obvious they weren't just decorative drawings.
Some routes ended in small symbols, while others seemed to continue beyond the edge of the mark.
The problem was that the map was too small and seemed to be missing pieces.
His gaze dropped to the key in his hand.
"Another map?" Harry said as he looked more closely at the marks the key had left on the paper.
Then he remembered the whisper he'd been hearing for days every time he held the strange key.
"Find the door..."
Harry slowly lowered his gaze toward the drawing.
If this really was a map, then maybe the key had never expected him to find some random door.
Maybe it had been trying to show him the way to it this entire time.
"That would've been pretty useful to know earlier," Harry muttered at the key.
After a few seconds of surprise, his eyes returned to Tom Riddle's diary, which seemed to be waiting for an answer, since its question was still there.
Harry grabbed a nearby quill and used what ink was still left in the bottle to write in the diary again.
"We found it in a bathroom. Someone tried to throw it down the toilet."
He waited impatiently, his gaze shifting from the Marauder's Map to the drawing created by the key.
Luckily, the answer didn't take long to appear.
"Fortunately, I recorded my memories in something more lasting than ink. I always knew there would be people who wouldn't want my diary to be read. After all, this diary bears witness to terrible things. Things that were hidden. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Harry stared at those words for several seconds.
Then he looked at the Marauder's Map spread across the bed.
Then at the drawing created by the key.
And finally, at the diary.
Three objects.
Three secrets.
And, for some reason, he'd discovered all three practically at the same time.
Harry narrowed his eyes slightly.
Too easy.
A small chill ran down his spine.
Harry knew his own luck far too well.
"I think... I'd better find Percy."
Harry was already about to get up when he stopped.
He looked at the map.
"Right..."
He opened it again and quickly searched for his brother's name.
Percy Jackson was still in the kitchens with Tyson.
Harry let out a small sigh.
"Of course."
He quickly put away the diary, grabbed the map, and didn't forget the key, slipping it into his pocket before leaving the dormitory to look for Percy.
If he was suddenly having this much luck, it probably meant something was about to go terribly wrong.
And if there was anyone at Hogwarts whose luck was almost as disastrous as his own...
It was his brother.