Chapter 31: A Strange Item
"Phew..."
Lying on the bed in her room, Lyra felt a small sense of relief.
The Ministry business was completely over. She no longer had to worry about Dumbledore bursting in on her for that.
Which meant... she could finally, truly rest. Oh, right. She meant she could truly start preparing for Lord Grindelwald's plan.
But where to begin?
Lyra was just about to ponder the future of the Zauberpartei when she accidentally remembered what the end of the summer holidays meant.
She was about to go to Hogwarts as a professor. Which meant... every day would be just as hectic as working with the Ministry.
Lyra did not think teaching students would be an enjoyable experience... Facing so many children, who were probably just like Miss Lovegood... she definitely couldn't do it!
But she had already promised Dumbledore. If she backed out now, he would definitely be angry. He might even send that giant, Hagrid, to eat her, or turn her into a teacup with his wand.
Lyra stared worriedly at the ceiling. Being prepared for danger was a good quality, but Miss Hamilton was more accustomed to thinking about everything in the worst possible way.
Oh, well. Thinking about it won't solve the problem. There are still thirty days until school starts. The Lyra of thirty days from now can worry about it. The Miss Hamilton of right now is going to relax.
After comforting herself, Lyra slowly sat up and took out her magical storage book.
For her, the best way to relax was to study Magic Formations. Even though the Ministry job hadn't led her to any valuable formation-based items—Dumbledore was less useful than Miss Lovegood, who at least...
Wait...
What is this?
Lyra pulled a small notebook from the page where she kept various miscellaneous items.
Is this mine? It looks so dirty and tattered... Who put their old account book in here?
Lyra carefully held the notebook, placing it on the table.
Is this some kind of prank?
Lyra frowned, her blue eyes full of confusion.
She gently opened the cover and saw a name on the title page.
Tom Marvolo Riddle...
Who's that?
Lyra had never heard of this person, not now and not fifty years ago. So why was his notebook here? Should she hand it over to the Ministry?
Lyra had no desire to collect dirty, empty notebooks. Especially one with nothing written inside.
But wait.
As Lyra flipped through the diary, she suddenly realized something. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
This wasn't an ordinary diary!
This was a notebook filled with engraved Magic Formations!
That's right, filled! Lyra was astonished to find that every single page of this notebook was engraved with formations. And...
This is an Energy Storage Formation, this is a Spatial Formation... What is this formation?
And this one!
Lyra's hands, holding the book, were trembling slightly. Her pointed ears twitched with excitement.
This book actually contained formations beyond the ten she knew. These were unknown, unseen formations!
Well, Lyra would like to state that she now has a hobby of collecting tattered, empty diaries. As for returning it to the Ministry... please. Those Ministry Aurors wouldn't understand the value of this thing. Besides, this Mr. Riddle didn't write anything in it, did he? It wouldn't hurt to return it after she'd finished studying it.
With that in mind, Lyra rubbed her hands together and pulled out her wand.
She flicked it, and all the formations in the entire diary lit up. Following the blue, glowing lines, she began to search for the Ancient Runes at the center of the new formations.
If she could recognize the Ancient Runes, she might be able to guess their purpose.
With this hope, Lyra carefully examined the incredibly complex formations on each page. The results made her ecstatic. The Ancient Runes were all types she had never seen before.
This proved one thing: the value of this diary was skyrocketing!
Lyra now wanted to hug Dumbledore and kiss him! (Of course, she still had to defeat him afterward!) But regardless, thank you, Mr. Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts. Your work allowed her to obtain this diary.
Even if she had no idea how she got it!
But Lyra didn't care. Right now, she just wanted to dive into this diary and study it.
And she did exactly that.
As her observation deepened, she began to notice some interesting things.
Two specific formations appeared on every single page. This meant that every page had the effects of both formations. So, what were these effects?
Lyra was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly patted her own face. Miss Hamilton, you are such an idiot... This is a diary! Why don't you just write something and find out?
Lyra waved her wand, summoned her quill, and, after dipping it in ink, wrote a sentence on the first page.
"For the Greater Good." Her handwriting wasn't good; it was more like a child's, and from years of high-speed note-taking, it was exceptionally messy.
But as the words settled on the page, they grew fainter... and then... vanished.
Oh, no... Is this some kind of evil contract? Lyra suddenly realized she might have been too hasty. Did I just sign a contract with some dark creature? Will it start draining my life force to make me serve it? I think I saw a plot like this in one of Mr. Lockhart's books.
What did Mr. Lockhart do to fight it?
Was it a dazzling smile or a bottle of Occamy egg yolk shampoo? I'm not very good at smiling... but Occamy egg yolk shampoo is so expensive...
Lyra's mind drifted off to strange places. But the diary had quietly begun to change.
"Who are you?"
Faint words floated to the surface of the page. Lyra stared, baffled.
The... the diary is talking? Or am I talking to someone far away?
Lyra pressed her lips together and quickly picked up her quill.
Don't misunderstand—she wasn't in a hurry to write back. She quickly copied the Ancient Rune she had just seen onto a separate piece of parchment.
Could the function of this rune be... communication?
She'd heard that the Magical Congress in America had some kind of magical item that allowed long-distance communication. It required two pieces of paper linked by a Magic Formation.
Could this rune symbolize long-distance communication? Looking closely, the rune on the other formation is extremely similar... It seems... these two runes are a corresponding pair!
In just a few minutes, Lyra had discovered two brand-new Ancient Runes and their meanings. And the diary was full of more.
This was an absolute treasure trove.
While Lyra was busy studying the runes, several more sentences floated up on the diary.
"Are you still there?"
"Hello?"
"I am Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"Who are you?"
"Ah..." Lyra felt a flicker of nervousness as she watched the words appear.
But then she reminded herself that the other party was probably just a notebook... and she relaxed.