Time rewound to before the end of the feast.
When Draco regained consciousness, his mind was still hazy.
He blinked blankly, finding himself standing in the corridor on the second floor.
The sight before him instantly sobered him up—Filch's cat was hanging on the wall, its body stiff as a stone.
On the wall, a large line of text was written in vivid red liquid: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.
The heir?
Draco's heart pounded.
As a scion of the Pure-blood Family, he naturally knew the legend of the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets.
That was Salazar Slytherin's biggest secret, only accessible to the true heir.
And now, the Chamber was open.
The words on the wall clearly stated 'the heir'.
It was him!
It must be him!
Draco suppressed the urge to laugh out loud.
He, Draco Malfoy, had been chosen by Slytherin!
Footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Draco immediately became alert and quickly hid behind a nearby stone pillar.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked over, stopping right below the cat.
Immediately after, students from the Great Hall poured out.
Screams, discussions, and Filch's wailing all reached Draco's ears.
He hid in the shadows, watching everything that unfolded.
Draco was excited, but also a little scared.
He knew he couldn't return to the students now.
If anyone saw him alone, he would definitely be suspected.
The crowd slowly dispersed.
Draco quietly followed at the very end of the Slytherin procession, trying not to attract attention... Charlie and Ernie greeted each other, then Charlie cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself.
His figure instantly became transparent, blending into the surroundings.
Charlie headed towards the Slytherin common room.
If the heir was attacking Muggles, he couldn't just sit idly by.
Charlie didn't believe he had any Pure-blood lineage.
As an orphan, no one could vouch for his bloodline.
If this was truly Draco's doing, he was likely not back in his dormitory yet.
Going to the entrance now to wait might allow him to catch him.
Even if he guessed wrong, there was no loss.
Charlie's speed alone was much faster than an entire house of students.
He arrived at the entrance of the Slytherin common room first, hiding in the shadows.
Under the Disillusionment Charm, no one could spot him.
Slytherin students arrived one after another.
"Pure-blood."
The Prefect said the password, and the stone door slowly opened.
Charlie silently memorized the password.
The students filed in, and soon all were inside.
But Draco was not among the crowd.
Charlie narrowed his eyes, continuing to wait.
A few minutes later, faint footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Draco's figure appeared.
He walked very cautiously, constantly looking back, afraid of being discovered.
Charlie dispelled the Disillusionment Charm and stepped out of the shadows.
"Young Master Malfoy, where are you off to?"
Draco jumped in fright, almost crying out.
When he saw it was Charlie, his face instantly turned ashen.
"Charlie... you, why are you here?" Draco stammered.
Charlie stepped forward, his gaze fixed on him.
"What happened tonight, was it your doing?"
Draco froze for a moment, then quickly reacted.
He tried to compose himself, lifting his chin.
"It wasn't me." he said.
"Though I wish it were."
Charlie sneered.
"You weren't in the Great Hall tonight, so how do you know what I'm talking about?"
Draco's face instantly stiffened.
Oh no!
He had exposed himself!
Charlie's eyes grew colder.
Draco gritted his teeth, throwing caution to the wind.
"So what if it was me!" he shouted, feigning bravery.
"I am Slytherin's heir now, I'm not afraid of you!"
Charlie narrowed his eyes.
Someone's gotten a bit too confident.
A minute later, Draco's face was swollen like a pig's head, his eyes clear, as he handed over the black diary.
"Big brother, you know me."
"How could I be the heir? It was all this diary that made me do it."
Tom from the diary:... Charlie examined the diary; it seemed to be as Harry had described, so he took the diary.
Draco clutched his face, his mouth swollen like a sausage, panting with a's-s-s' sound.
He staggered to the wall.
"Pure-blood."
The wall was unresponsive.
Draco was stunned.
"Pure-blood!" He raised his voice, but the wall remained motionless.
"Damn it!" Draco gritted his teeth, kicking the wall hard.
It was all that cursed diary's fault!
It even said to catch up to Charlie; I'll believe you when pigs fly!
Beaten to a pulp, and now he couldn't even get back to his dormitory... Charlie returned to the Hufflepuff dormitory.
Ernie was sitting on his bed and immediately came over when he saw Charlie enter.
"Where were you just now?"
Charlie didn't answer immediately.
He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the tables, chairs, and benches in the dormitory.
"Vera Verto"
The tables, chairs, and wardrobe all floated up, transforming into shields, forming a circle around Charlie, Ernie, and Justin.
Ernie watched, dumbfounded.
"What are you doing?"
Charlie then cast several layers of Protego on each of the three of them.
Only then did Charlie pull out the black diary from his robes.
Seeing Charlie's vigilance, Ernie and Justin also hid behind him, asking no more questions.
Charlie conjured a vine, wrapped it around the diary, and opened it from a distance.
The diary lay quietly on the ground.
Tom's heart surged with anger; everything he had done before was once again in vain.
A few seconds later, dark green script appeared on the paper.
"Hello, my name is Tom Riddle."
Ernie and Justin exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
Charlie manipulated the vine, writing in the diary.
"Was what happened tonight your doing?"
The writing was quickly absorbed.
New words emerged.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Charlie sneered.
"Do you know Ginny?"
"Yes." Tom replied.
"But she has some misunderstandings about me."
Charlie narrowed his eyes.
"What exactly are you?"
"I am just a diary." Tom's handwriting remained elegant.
"It contains a lot of knowledge."
Charlie stopped wasting words.
This diary was clearly not being honest.
He manipulated the vine to tightly wrap the diary, then walked towards the direction of the bathroom.
The diary sensed something was wrong, and the writing on it suddenly became dense.
"I can help you become stronger, gain knowledge, gain glory!"
"I can help you, I know many secrets, secrets about Hogwarts!"
But Charlie didn't even look at it, continuing towards the bathroom.
The writing on the diary began to become messy.
"Wait..."
"Where are you going?"
"Wait!"
"Calm down!"
"No!!!"
-------------------------------
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