Regarding the Horcruxes, I need to find the one here. I can't believe Helena told Tom Riddle where the diadem had been. I wonder if she told him because I didn't know the diadem's significance to our family, but if she had it, Mom should have told him. After all, that diadem is given to the heir if she's a girl, or to the wife of the heir—at least that's what Grandma told me.
I think I'll have to sort through the things in that room of the Room of Requirement since I don't remember exactly where the diadem was hidden, but I think it was near the Vanishing Wardrobe... that's another thing I have to take care of.
Ugh, there are so many things I want to do... I'd like to find the diadem before going to the goblins and see if they have a way to remove the Horcrux without destroying the diadem. If they can't, I'll have to use Amaterasu's fire or the basilisk poison dagger to destroy it, even if I lose the diadem in the process.
***
A week passed very quickly. In this time, I managed to get closer to Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Neville. I don't know if it was my imagination, but I felt that Ron's behavior was a little strange. He always seemed annoyed when he talked to Harry or when Neville and Harry spent any time together. It was almost as if he didn't want Harry to make another friend. I also don't understand what Hermione saw in him to fall in love with him, since he was always making her angry or ignoring her when she tried to make a suggestion. It was almost as if they needed to force him to study a little, and whenever he could, he prevented Harry from studying for his exams.
This morning the same thing happened with the newspaper. I have no idea how the people at the Daily Prophet managed it, but somehow they found out that the Ravenclaw family had returned to England, and now they seem to be trying to find out who or how many members have appeared. I just hope they give me some time to get things in order before I have to act like a proper heir. I just hope the meetings I have to attend as heir aren't as boring as the ones I used to go to with Grandma, and that I won't have to use my potion and poison detector ring. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to make a detector bracelet since I'm not a big fan of rings.
This week it was good that I was able to make progress with Potions. It was somewhat interesting to spend some time with Professor Snape; when he's alone he's not as unfriendly as he seemed in the films. I think he's only like that when Harry is present, because the times I brewed Potions in his classroom while he was grading exams he wasn't rude or sarcastic. Or perhaps it was because they'd finally received the notification that, as the Heir of Ravenclaw and the only Ravenclaw left, I'm officially the owner of Hogwarts and have every right to hire or fire professors.
I really would have loved to see Dumbledore's face when he received that letter, as the expression he had when he asked me about it was very interesting to see. It was as if he couldn't believe that a young woman like me had taken away his rights to the castle. Speaking of Hogwarts, there's also the Board of Governors, which was founded when Aunt Helga died to ensure that the headmasters properly and impartially oversee the students' education. Although recently it seems that some of those board members have taken liberties that aren't part of their responsibilities, acting almost like they own the school. I suppose they also received notification that the Board of Governors is no longer effective since the heir to the castle has reappeared.
***
Today is the last day of the Hogsmeade visit. Only Neville, Hermione, and Ron are supposed to go, since Harry isn't allowed. So I stayed behind to keep him company, or at least that's what the teachers thought. We had planned to use a secret passage to go with them. It was kind of funny to see their faces when I told them I knew a way to get to Hogsmeade directly from the castle, not through Honeydukes. Since we weren't old enough to go into the Three Broomsticks yet, we agreed to meet at Honeydukes, and from there they would show me the interesting places.
Once the boys left, I took Harry's hand and led him back to the castle. I have to admit I did it on purpose, since I liked seeing him blush whenever I was close to him. It was also cute when he got nervous and started talking really fast. As we went up the stairs, I said,
"I'm going to show you a special room in the castle, and from there we'll go to Hogsmeade."
Today I had no clones in the Room of Requirement, so I was able to open a room without any problems. This time I asked for a simple one with just a bookshelf and an armchair. Once we entered, the door disappeared behind us, and I said,
"Welcome to the Room of Requirement. This is a special room that can become whatever you need. You just need to have a clear thought about what you want, and the room will provide it for you."
"Really?... That's incredible, I didn't know about this place... it's not on the map..."
"What map?"
"Oh!... It's a map my dad and his friends made that shows the whole castle and everyone in it."
"That sounds great, I wish I had one of those to keep Mom from catching me and getting punished."
"I can't imagine you getting punished."
"Haha... it's almost become normal to see me punished in Mom's office or my study since I learned to walk... I'll tell you the story another time... Did you bring the invisibility cloak you mentioned earlier?"
"Yes, I have it here in my backpack, I assure you it can cover both of us."
"Okay, now you have to promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to show you."
"I promise."
Seeing Harry pull the cloak out of his backpack and look at me curiously about what I was about to show him made me want to see his face clearly when he saw my clone. So I stood in front of him, looked him straight in the eye, and summoned a shadow clone.
Once the puff of smoke cleared, I could see Harry's face go from confusion to surprise at seeing two of me in front of him.
"So... what do you think?"
"Wow! Is it an illusion?"
"No, it's as real as I am. It's a special magic from my family that allows me to create a copy of myself. When the copy disappears, I acquire all its memories. That's how I've been studying."
"Awesome!"
Harry was surprised again when I told him that the room could create a door to Hogsmeade as long as the destination was clearly known, and that the door would remain as long as someone else was still in the room. That was the reason I had summoned a clone. I let Harry think about the destination I wanted the door to lead to, which turned out to be the Shrieking Shack.
Once the door appeared, we went through it and walked for a minute or two down the corridor until we came out on the first floor of the house. Then I approached Harry, and he covered us both with the cloak. To make sure the cloak covered us both properly, we had to walk as close together as possible.
I really enjoyed myself because every time I spoke, I was practically whispering in his ear, and Harry blushed. When I watched the Harry Potter movies, I never would have imagined that one day I could be this close to Harry, much less meet him. I don't know if this is thanks to D for separating me from my family or if this was always his plan. And although I still miss my family a lot, I feel better when I'm near Harry and when I talk to Hermione. They've both helped me a lot to adjust to this time, and they've also cheered me up a lot, even if they do it unconsciously. And I have to say that in this short time, I've really come to appreciate them.
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