Tom Marvolo Riddle — a name long forgotten by people. Now everyone calls him the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, or Voldemort.
Eda first noticed this name in the school's honor display room, where it appeared on the plaque for the Special Services to the School Award.
One of Eda's obsessions was to win that award, so she went to find the list of past recipients to see if it could give her some inspiration. At the same time, she also looked through Hogwarts' student registers, hoping to find what they had in common.
The long student lists did nothing to dampen Eda's enthusiasm.
It was during this process that she realized no student with the surname Twist had ever appeared at the school. Eda found no one connected to her own name. She concluded that her parents, who had abandoned her, must have been Muggles.
Back to Tom Riddle: he was born at the end of 1926 and spent his childhood in Wool's Orphanage in London. In September 1938, Tom Riddle entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the Sorting Hat placed him into Slytherin.
For an orphan to be sorted into Slytherin was indeed unusual, which also proved Tom Riddle's uniqueness.
From the orphanage, enrolling at twelve, becoming Head Boy, winning the Special Services to the School Award, earning the Order of Merlin — Tom Riddle was practically the model of an inspirational orphan who turned his life around.
His story gave Eda a strong sense of identification.
Such a handsome young man, once hailed as someone destined to become the youngest Minister for Magic, whom everyone expected to lead the British wizarding world into glory — yet years after graduation, he shed his old self and became the infamous Dark Lord, ruling the British Isles with terror and bloodshed.
The countless crimes committed by him and his followers make it difficult to recall the graceful youth he once was, the outstanding student Tom Riddle.
Also coming from an orphanage, also enrolling at twelve years old — would she too one day become Head Girl, win the Special Services to the School Award? With such a strong sense of identification, Eda couldn't help but start dreaming.
Well… alright, as she was now, Eda was nowhere near comparable to Tom Riddle at the same age. The gap was far too wide — she wasn't even a prefect. Although becoming Head Girl didn't strictly require being a prefect first, most of the time the position was chosen from among them.
From the Gaunts, to Tom Riddle, then to Voldemort — another question rose in Eda's heart: last school year, Voldemort had already appeared at Hogwarts, so why wasn't the Chamber of Secrets opened then?
Since Voldemort had already left the school, why was it that the Chamber was opened only this year, right before Halloween?
Did the thing have some sort of delay or timer function?
If it wasn't Voldemort who opened the Chamber, then who could it have been?
At this point, the trail of clues broke off again. Both lines of evidence in front of her had led to dead ends, and the information Eda had managed to gather was pitifully little.
If she wanted to continue investigating, she would probably have to adjust her thinking and change direction.
During the time Eda was so absorbed in the library that she couldn't pull herself away, the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was held as scheduled.
Although Slytherin had the Nimbus 2001s sponsored by their wealthy backers, the more skillful Gryffindor team still managed to secure a victory without too much danger, once again trampling their old rivals underfoot.
As for why it was said to be "without too much danger" — that was because, in the middle of the game, one of the Bludgers suddenly went out of control. It kept chasing Harry as if it bore him a mortal grudge. From the looks of it, it wouldn't rest until it had smashed him into a pile of dust with every bone in his body broken.
In the end, Harry lived up to Wood's saying — "either catch the Golden Snitch, or die on the pitch." At the cost of one arm, Harry successfully caught the Snitch and ended the match.
Originally, that should have been the end of it: send Harry to the hospital wing, then catch the person who had tampered with the Bludger. But of course, things had to go wrong.
The great, magical Gilderoy Lockhart once again stepped forward.
He insisted on using a simple spell to heal Harry, to show the students his ability. Although every single cell in Harry's body was screaming in protest, how could an injured boy resist the predatory persistence of Lockhart?
The result was obvious: Lockhart failed to cure Harry's broken bone, but he did solve the problem at its root. He simply vanished the bones in Harry's arm. Without bones, naturally there could be no fracture. Lockhart's interpretation of "healing a broken bone" was, in its way, truly inspired.
Harry's arm now looked like a thick, flesh-colored rubber glove. Unfortunately, this world had no One Piece and no Devil Fruits, otherwise Harry could have cosplayed as the Straw Hat boy, Luffy. A… dream crossover.
That very night after the match, the Chamber of Secrets was opened once again, and the monster inside struck again.
This time, the victim was no longer someone's pet, but a Gryffindor student — Colin Creevey.
It was only on Monday morning that the students learned that first-year Colin Creevey had been petrified. The news that he was lying in the hospital wing like a dead person spread through the school at once.
Immediately, rumors swirled everywhere, and everyone grew suspicious of one another. The first-years now always traveled in tightly packed groups of three to five, as if terrified that if they acted alone, they would be the next target.
Colin Creevey's background also drew attention. His parents were both Muggles — which meant he was one of the enemies of the "Heir," one of the "unworthy to learn magic."
Now, all Muggle-born students were extremely frightened, living in constant fear, not daring to go anywhere alone.
Meanwhile, a portion of the pure-blood fanatics in Slytherin were practically celebrating, just short of popping champagne in their lake-view rooms.
The students, behind the teachers' backs, were noisily trading amulets, charms, and all sorts of trinkets to protect themselves. This practice quickly swept through the school.
Even giant, stinking green onions had buyers. Even a smelly old insole — as long as you claimed it could ward off evil, there would be plenty of students eager to buy it.
Exploiting the students' fear, many "self-sacrificing" swindlers had sprung up in the school lately, selling their so-called "amulets" at high prices to those in need, raking in a fortune. Not only did they feel no pangs of conscience, but they even received the buyers' heartfelt gratitude.
Speaking of which, Eda did have some impression of this Colin — a boy who always carried a camera around everywhere. He had even taken a picture of her once, though the developed photo was later coaxed and scared out of his hands by the twins.
Colin was a fanatical admirer of Harry Potter, no less so than Ginny. And since he and Ginny were classmates, if the two of them were to set up a "Harry Potter Global Fan Club" together, Eda wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.
According to Professor McGonagall, Colin had been attacked on his way to the hospital wing. Naturally, he was going there to visit the injured Harry, since when he was found petrified, besides his ever-present camera, he had been carrying a large bunch of grapes.
One of the main pillars of the Harry Potter Global Fan Club had fallen, now lying in the hospital wing like the living dead. The other pillar couldn't hold on either — Ginny was deeply saddened by what had happened to Colin.
The twins tried all sorts of ways to cheer up their little sister, but their efforts only made Ginny more upset and irritable, backfiring completely.
It seemed that Hogwarts and Ginny's fate simply clashed. From the very start of her school year, Ginny had always looked troubled and burdened with worries. After the two attacks, she became even gloomier, moving around listlessly every day.
She also constantly avoided Eda, leaving Eda unable to find a chance to talk to her or show concern, no matter how much she wanted to.
The successive attacks also made Eda's investigation more urgent. No one knew which would come first — tomorrow or an accident.
What if, while she was out, she accidentally ran into old monkey Slytherin's pet?
Dying before even getting started — that was something Eda absolutely did not want to happen to herself.
But since the clues she had were already broken off, she needed to change direction in order to continue her investigation. So, Eda set her sights on the crime scenes.
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