"Ginny, have you encountered anything strange recently?" Ron asked worriedly.
Ginny was also very scared at this moment, so she no longer concealed it.
"There's a diary."
"What diary?"
"A black diary. When I write in it, it responds to me. I found it very interesting, so I often chatted with it."
Ron and Harry exchanged glances.
Sister, how dare you touch such a creepy thing?
"And then?"
"Then I started having some strange dreams."
"In my dreams, I walked around the school, but I don't remember what I was doing."
"Sometimes I would wake up and find bloodstains on my hands, but I don't know where they came from."
Harry was almost certain that the diary was behind it.
"Ginny, where is that diary now?"
Ginny also said, with a lingering fear,
"I put it in the drawer of my bedside table."
The three immediately ran towards Gryffindor Tower.
Upon returning to the common room, Ginny hastily ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.
Harry and Ron waited anxiously below.
A few minutes later, Ginny came downstairs, her face terrifyingly pale.
"It's gone."
Her voice trembled.
"The diary is gone."
Ron and Harry exchanged a look.
This was big trouble now.
That dangerous Dark Arts item might have moved elsewhere.
Early the next morning.
Charlie was leisurely eating breakfast, with a large plate of bacon and fried eggs in front of him.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked over.
"Charlie," Harry said, sitting down next to him.
"Something happened last night that we need to tell you about."
Charlie put down his fork and looked at the three.
"What is it? Judging by your expressions, it can't be good news."
Harry told Charlie in detail about what happened last night.
After listening, Charlie's expression became serious.
With that thing now missing, the danger level was even higher than when it was with Ginny.
At least with Ginny, precautions could be taken.
Hermione's face was also solemn; she had just heard about this from Harry and Ron.
Hermione was silent for a moment before speaking: "We should tell the Professors."
Ron hesitated a little.
"But... if we tell the Professor, will Ginny be expelled?"
"After all, she was the one who brought that thing into the school."
Charlie shook his head.
"Ron, Ginny didn't know; she's also a victim."
"And right now, the most important thing is to find that thing."
"If we don't report it in time, even we might be affected."
Harry also nodded in agreement.
"Charlie is right; the Professor should know about this."
Ron took a deep breath and finally nodded.
"Alright, let's go find Professor McGonagall."
...The stone door of the Slytherin common room slowly opened.
Goyle and Crabbe walked out, ready to go to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Goyle yawned as he walked, not paying attention to where he was going.
Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught sight of a black object.
"This is..."
Tom was extremely excited inside the diary.
Finally, a Slytherin student had found him!
And one who looked not very bright; such people were the easiest to trick.
Tom had already begun to devise how to tempt this simple-minded brute.
But then, Goyle walked up to the diary and kicked it away.
"What is this piece of junk? It's dirty and old. Who threw it here?"
The diary slid far across the floor and hit the corner.
"Come on, let's go to the Great Hall quickly; the freshly fried bacon smells good."
Crabbe didn't even glance at it, and the two strode quickly towards the Great Hall.
Tom in the corner was so angry he almost exploded on the spot.
These two idiots!
Tom wished he could jump out of the diary right away and give those two Trolls an Avada Kedavra.
The diary was kicked into the corner, making it even harder for passing little snakes to see it.
And those who did see it were generally not interested in it.
Most Slytherins were pure-blood and came from wealthy families.
How could they be interested in something lying on the ground that no one wanted?
Once such an atmosphere formed, even those who might have been interested would not pick it up.
Because they would be ridiculed by those who saw them.
In Slytherin, being ridiculed was a very terrifying thing.
Time slowly passed.
After Potion Class in the afternoon, Draco Malfoy walked at the front of the line.
Goyle and Crabbe followed behind him, the two big boys panting.
"Professor Snape seems to be in a bad mood today," Goyle said foolishly.
Crabbe wanted to say that Professor Snape seemed to be in a bad mood every day, but he didn't dare.
"Because we lost our Quidditch practice yesterday," Draco snorted coldly.
"Just wait, with me joining, the Quidditch Cup will definitely be ours."
Goyle asked doubtfully, "Weren't you there yesterday?"
Draco gritted his teeth: "What do you know! I just joined yesterday and didn't coordinate well with my teammates."
"Oh."
Goyle lowered his head sullenly, then caught sight of the diary that had been kicked away in the morning.
"That broken diary is still there."
Draco followed his gaze.
A black cover, simple binding; it looked unremarkable.
But Draco's pupils slightly contracted.
This diary... He remembered the safe in his father's study.
Inside were several Dark Arts items, including an identical black diary.
His father had warned him that those things were very dangerous and he should never touch them.
But now, an almost identical diary lay here.
Draco's heart rate quickened.
"Draco?" Crabbe looked at him in confusion.
Draco didn't answer and walked straight to the corner.
He certainly didn't need to care if others would ridicule him.
The House of Malfoy was one of the biggest powers in Slytherin; who would dare to mock him?
Draco bent down and picked up the diary.
The cover felt smooth, but there was a strange warmth to it.
It wasn't the feel of ordinary leather, but more like... the skin of a living thing.
He opened the first page.
There was nothing on the blank parchment.
Draco frowned and continued to flip through. Every page was blank, without any text or patterns.
Just as he was about to close the diary, a line of text suddenly appeared on the first page:
"Hello."
Draco's hand trembled violently, almost dropping the diary.
The handwriting was dark green, with smooth, elegant strokes, possessing a classical aesthetic.
But even more eerie was that these words appeared out of thin air, with no one writing them.
Draco immediately closed the diary and clutched it tightly to his chest.
His eyes gleamed with a complex light.
Excitement, fear, curiosity, and a hint of imperceptible greed.
This was definitely no ordinary diary.
-------------------------------
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