"You've got to be kidding me." Thalia stared in the Great Hall, her mouth hanging open in disgust. The entire place looked like Aphrodite had a little too much nectar to drink. The walls were covered in large and overly blooming flowers. Heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling, drifting down over everything. Pink velvet drapes hung around the windows, and the candles suspended in mid-air glowed a merry pink color, more flowers bunched at the bottom of them.
"What— what—" Percy seemed at a loss for words. Nico had backed up out of the Hall, as if it was a contagious disease that had taken over Hogwarts.
"What's going on?" Annabeth finally asked, her eyes darting around in disbelief, as they sat down next to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had recovered from her... furry incident. In response to Annabeth's question, Ron pointed to the teacher's table, too disgusted to speak. Lockhart stood in his seat, arms spread and beaming like he had just cured child slavery.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" he shouted. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all, and it doesn't end here!"
"Make it stop!" Thalia groaned, banging her head on the table amidst the heart-shaped confetti.
Lockhart clapped his hands and in marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs in diapers with golden wings and harps. "My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart beamed. "And the fun doesn't stop even here—" "I wish it did," Annabeth grumbled, "—I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Enchanting Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"
Jason glanced at the potions teacher, whose eyes were flickering dangerously, as if the first person who asked for a love potion would be force-fed poison.
"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six," Annabeth said, grimacing. Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule.
>>>•O•<<<
"Oi, you! 'Arry Potter!" Jason stopped and turned down the hall, where one of the grumpy 'angels' was hurrying after them, his legs entangled in the diaper. "I'ave got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person."
"Not here," Harry hissed, looking around quickly for witnesses, which unfortunately seemed to include the entire majority of Hogwarts in their one corridor.
"Let me go!" harry and the dwarf were now playing tug-of-war with his bag.
Riiiip
The bag split in two, books, quills, and ink smashing over one another.
"Right." The dwarf jumped atop Harry while he was trying to gather his supplies. Jason turned away and saw Malfoy smirking at them, Piper amongst the Slytherins. Her face was twisted in disgust. Jason hoped it was at all the love themed stuff around Hogwarts.
"Here's your singing valentine!" The dwarf announced, plucking his harp.
His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard
I wish he was mine, he's really divine
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.
Jason stared at the dwarf, who was looking pleased as he sprang up and twiddled with his harp, running down the hall. Harry's face was bright red, laughing in embarrassment while simultaneously trying to curl up into a fetal position discreetly.
"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago—" Percy Weasley bustled down the hall, trying to disperse the amount of students that had crowded around. "And you, Malfoy—"
Jason looked back at Malfoy, who had stopped to snatch up an odd looking book. With a start, Jason realized it was a diary.
"What's this?" Malfoy sneered. "What's Potter's written in this?"
"Give it back, Malfoy," Piper said quietly, but her voice rang melodiously through the halls. Jason had the sudden urge to drop on his knees and offer up his book bag as a sacrifice to her.
Charmspeak, he realized.
Malfoy glanced at her before thrusting the book back to Harry, who was looking at Piper, bewildered. Jason snorted angrily, thinking back on his doubts about Piper's intentions.
"Alright! Get to class!" Percy Weasley sharply pushed them in the direction of Charms, shooting Malfoy a glare. Malfoy sneered as the first years finally dispersed from the hallway, shouting after Ginny Weasley: "I don't think Potter liked your valentine, much!"
"C'mon, let's go." Jason stooped to help Harry pick up the rest of his things before bustling into the Charms room. He looked in Harry's hands at the diary again, the lettering engraved into the cover. Then he noticed the scarlet ink dripping onto his own hands from the ink bottles smashing over them, and glanced back at the diary. It was completely dry.
"Hey, Harry?" Nico noticed it too. "Your... uh... diary—"
Harry glanced down at the book in his hands. "It's not my diary," he said defensively.
"Okay, fine. The diary isn't wet. Wasn't it in your bag when the ink spilled?"
Harry looked down oddly at the diary. "You're right," he said as they entered Professor Flitwick's classroom. "I wonder why."
>>>•Nico POV•<<<
Harry was acting oddly before he went to bed, unnaturally early, still gripping the diary in one hand. Nico hesitated, before following him up to the boy's dormitories, keeping in the shadows. The voices of Fred and George faded, starting another round of His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.
There was a creak as Harry flopped on his four-poster, flipping through the pages of his diary. Nico slipped behind the curtains, unsure of why he was being so secretive.
Harry dipped his quill in some ink before dotting it on the paper in a little frowny-face. Nico watched in rapt attention, sure something would happen. And something did. The ink soaked straight through the paper, leaving no trace of it whatsoever.
Harry gasped at the same time as Nico, which was lucky. Harry dipped his quill into ink again, scribbling some words in the scarlet ink. They too, disappeared, before Nico could read them. Not that he could anyways, he was reading upside-down in Harry's handwriting, with dyslexia. He didn't even try to read it.
Then something happened again.
Words rose out of the page again, shining in the same scarlet ink as all the Gryffindor's. A more tidy scrawl this time, like Jason's writing. Except it wasn't Jason's hand.
Harry leaned forward again, scribbling something down. Again, the words sunk down, and again, more rose. They seemed to be having a conversation, whoever was on the other side of the book. Another sentence came and went, then an entire paragraph rose to the pages. Harry jammed the quill into the ink bottle, nearly tipping it over. Back and forth, they conversed, until Harry hesitated, his quill hovering above the page. Then scratched down two simple letters, even Nico could read them.
OK.
The hairs on the back of Nico's neck stood up, something was happening. Something bad. Then the pages of the diary began to turn themselves, and it began to glow. Nico could see it happening as if in slow motion- Harry began to lean forward his image being sucked into the pages as they stopped on one specific date- he was about to fall into the book- Nico leapt from the shadows of the curtain and thrust a hand out onto Harry's shoulder- just as he plummeted into the book, taking Nico with him.
For a moment, Nico felt as if he was spinning in space, if space was golden. Then everything rightened itself and Nico realized he was back in Hogwarts with Harry, in the middle of the headmaster's office. Harry blinked to focus, then turned to Nico.
"What're you doing here?" He sounded slightly miffed.
Nico held his gaze. "You're not yourself" he said simply. "I went up to the boys dormitories and saw you, with the diary glowing around you. What do you think I was supposed to do?"
Harry huffed before noticing the old man behind the desk. "I'm sorry we bothered you" he stammered.
The man did not respond.
"We'll leave now?" Harry raised his voice. The man simply sighed and stood up, walking right past them to the curtains.
Harry turned to Nico, a bewildered expression on his face. Nico realized this was exactly how Hazel described her flashbacks.
"He can't hear us, Harry" Nico said. "This is a memory, isn't it?"
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Enter" The old man said.
A boy of about sixteen entered. "You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?"
"Ah, Riddle" Professor Dippet said. "Sit down. I've just been reading the letter you sent me."
"Oh" Riddle said nervously.
"My dear boy," Professor Dippet said kindly. "I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?"
"No" Riddle said immediately, speaking with absolute certainty. "I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that- to that-"
"You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?"
"Yes, sir." Riddle looked down in embarrassment.
"You are muggle born?"
"Half blood. Muggle father, witch mother. My mother died when I was born, sir."
Dipped clucked his tongue sympathetically. "The thing is, Tom" he sighed, "special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances..."
"You mean all the attacks, sir?" Riddle leaned forward, and Nico's stomach twisted at the sight of Hazel lying on the ground, her eyes unseeing. Harry unconscious moved forward.
"Precisely. My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... that poor little girl... You will be far safer at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the- er- source of all this unpleasantness..."
Riddle's eyes widened a fraction. "Sir, if the person was caught- if it all stopped-"
"what do you mean?" Dipped leaned forward eagerly. "Riddle, do you know something about all these attacks?"
"No, sir" Riddle said quickly. Too quickly.
Dippet sank back, looking disappointed. "You may leave, Tom."
Harry glanced at Nico before following Tom out the door. Tom. The name rang a bell. Tom Riddle? Nico pressed his fingers to his temples, but he couldn't recall where he'd heard it before.
"Where is he going?" Harry jolted Nico from his thoughts. They hurried down the corridor and turned the corner-
"What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?" Nico gaped at the figure in front of them. It was none other than a fifty-years younger Albus- er, Dumbledore.
"I had to see the headmaster, sir" Riddle said without hesitation.
"Well, hurry off to bed. Best not to roam the corridors these days. Not since..." Albus sighed heavily before turning and striding off. Riddle watched him walk until he couldn't be seen, then hurried down the dungeons again. Into the potions room.
"Potions?" Nico looked around, disgruntled. From the cautious way Tom was moving, you'd think he was leading you into a secret room or something.
They waited. And waited. And waited.
"Is something going to happen?" Harry whispered, forgetting they were nonexistent in the world they were currently in. As if on cue, there was a low creak, then someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.
"C'mon, gotta get yeh outta here... C'mon now... in the box..."
Nico jerked back. The voice sounded extremely familiar. Exactly like-
"Evening, Rubeus" Riddle said suddenly, pushing the door open all the way. A large boy jumped and slammed something shut. "What're you doing here, Tom?"
Riddle stepped closer. "It's all over" he said, slightly menacingly. "I'm turning you in, Rubeus. They're closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop."
"What d'yeh-"
"I don't suppose you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for excercise and-"
"It never killed no one!" The large boy backed against a closed closet door, probably what he'd slammed shut before. "It wasn't him! He wouldn'! He'd never!"
"Stand aside" Riddle warned, pulling out his wand. "The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed the girl is slaughtered."
The wand exploded with a dark blue light, hitting the door with such force that it knocked the boy aside across the room. And out of it came-
Nico froze, forcing his bile down his throat, but Harry had no such control. He let out a scream that made Nico step back. It was large, hairy, gleaming red eyes and razor sharp pincers-
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" The large boy threw himself on Tom again, gripping the wand as Tom fired a spell after the creature, which had escaped. Then the scene whirled and darkness closed in, it felt like they were falling- and suddenly Nico found himself on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, Harry on top of him. He rolled over, pushing Harry off, and stood up, scowling. Harry lay on the ground with a shocked expression on his face.
"It was Hagrid" Harry said numbly. "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."