𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 ━━ harry potter

chapter twenty-three

"Oooh, it might have hidden powers," smiled Hermione enthusiastically, taking the diary and looking at it closely.

They were sitting together in their common room, after the girl was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing.

"If it has, it's hiding them very well," said Ron, who thought they were being ridiculous. "Maybe it's shy. I don't know why you don't chuck it, Harry."

"I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it," muttered Harry. "I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts either."

"Could've been anything," said Ron. "Maybe he got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would've done everyone a favor..."

The same expression of realisation appeared on Harry, Hermione and Ben's faces. Ron stared at them, waiting for someone to explain whatever was going on.

"What?"

"Remember what Malfoy said?" began Ben nervously.

"That the Chamber of Secrets was opened for the first time fifty years ago," Harry reminded him, as the redhead nodded.

"Yeah..."

Hermione tapped the diary excitedly. "And this is fifty years old..."

"So?"

"Oh, Ron, wake up!" the girl snapped her fingers in front of his face, causing him to give a small jump back in his seat. "We know the person who opened the Chamber last time was expelled fifty years ago. We know T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago. Well, what if Riddle got his special award for catching the Heir of Slytherin? His diary would probably tell us everything; where the Chamber is, and how to open it, and what sort of creature lives in it. The person who's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want that lying around, would they? "

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione," said Ron, "with just one tiny little flaw. There's nothing written in his diary."

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Gilderoy Lockhart thought it would be a wonderful idea to boost the school's morale, in order to wash out the memories of what had happened the term before, while Madam Pomfrey kept taking care of the Mandrakes until they were ready to bring the petrified back.

Hermione thought it was a brilliant suggestion, while Harry, Ron and Ben were quite scared of what the professor was thinking about.

Yet, nothing that they had imagined equaled what Lockhart had set up at breakfast time on February fourteenth.

The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. There was a disgustingly strong smell of flowers that made it hard to breathe.

Hermione was captivated by his idea's "beauty and charm", while Ron's reaction bordered on sheer horror, leaving him looking almost sick. Ben, however, was fighting with all his might to suppress his laughter, almost choking in the process.

"What's going on?" asked Harry, appearing behind Hermione in the Gryffindor table. Wood had made them practice the night before, and he arrived quite late to the dormitory, so he overslept a bit.

"It's Saint Valentine's day," explained Ben, as Ron seemed to be unable to speak. The redhead pointed to the teacher's table, where Lockhart stood with a bright smile, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations.