Tom Riddle opened his awareness to the outside world again, and the sight that greeted him terrified him on the spot.
His true form, the diary, was clamped in the jaws of one of the three heads of the Fiendfyre serpent. Those sharp fangs radiating intense heat were only lightly gripping the diary's cover.
What terrifying control.
At such close range, even Tom Riddle's soul inside the diary could feel the mad, scorching aura of the flames, yet the diary itself remained completely unharmed.
That meant the Fiendfyre, even in its fully formed state, was under absolute control.
Who exactly was this Hufflepuff student? How could he do something even Tom Riddle at the height of his power had never managed?
At that moment, Tom Riddle had no choice but to take this Hufflepuff student, whom he had initially dismissed, seriously. But along with that came worry. He was now genuinely afraid this Hufflepuff might snap and burn him to ashes.
The other boy really did have that ability. The problem was that Tom Riddle no longer even had the ability to say something nice and beg for mercy.
The diary had been shut. If Leonard did not open it to look inside, he had no way to actively communicate with the outside world.
The thought made the diary tremble wildly, trying to draw Leonard's attention.
Leonard naturally noticed the abnormal movement. With a cold laugh, he tossed the pen in his hand outward.
A flaming arm suddenly grew out of the Fiendfyre and caught the pen. At the same time, the serpent head holding the diary turned into another hand and opened it.
Under Leonard's absolute control, the Fiendfyre picked up the pen and wrote a line in the diary.
"You have one last chance."
That scene stunned Tom Riddle inside the diary into silence. Was this really something a human wizard could do? Use Fiendfyre to hold a pen and write?
What kind of joke was this?
It was like placing a lit match on a spiderweb. Could anyone really control the flame so perfectly that it would not burn the web?
Tom Riddle fell into deep self-doubt. He even started wondering whether being trapped in the diary for too long had made him hallucinate.
Leonard raised a brow when the diary failed to react, then controlled the Fiendfyre to write again.
"You've got quite the backbone. Fine then. Die."
The moment the words were written, the Fiendfyre erupted with terrifying heat. The magic-devouring flames instantly caught one corner of the diary and set it alight.
And yet even as the diary burned, the pen beside it remained completely unharmed in the Fiendfyre's grasp.
That was the extent of Leonard's control over Fiendfyre. He could make different parts of the same flame display completely different temperatures.
Fiendfyre fed on magic and devoured everything in its path. As a Horcrux, Tom Riddle's diary was saturated with magic, and in front of Fiendfyre it was like a pocket of methane. The instant it was lit, it caught.
There was no such thing as being immune to magic or impossible to destroy. If Leonard wanted it burned, then it would burn.
Leonard watched the diary catch fire in an instant without the slightest ripple of emotion. He even had the spare attention to wonder what he should have for dinner.
It was not as if he absolutely needed Tom Riddle's diary to enter the Chamber of Secrets. This was simply the easiest method, and the one least likely to attract suspicion.
Leonard knew where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was, and he knew the command word as well. The only problem was that he could not speak Parseltongue.
The diary's only real value was convenience. With it, he would not need to rely on anyone else. Without it, things would just be a little more troublesome.
For example, he could use the Imperius Curse on Harry Potter and make him open the Chamber, or simply find the pipe route the basilisk used in the original story and reach the Chamber that way.
But both of those alternatives were troublesome, and the first had a major flaw. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, was far too conspicuous. Bringing him to the Chamber would make Leonard a much easier target, and they might be spotted before even getting there.
Still, if Tom Riddle refused to cooperate, those two methods could serve as backups.
While Leonard had already thought through what to do after burning the diary, Tom Riddle suddenly felt death closing in and panicked.
The diary and his soul were one. The instant the diary caught fire, Tom Riddle felt the agony of being burned alive.
He hurriedly wrote in the diary, "I surrender! Stop the Fiendfyre! I'm willing to help you!"
If it had been anyone else, once Fiendfyre started burning, even the caster would not have dared guarantee they could put it out.
But Leonard was clearly not normal.
The moment he saw the writing appear on the burning diary, Leonard gave a cold laugh and withdrew the Fiendfyre.
The flames that had been on the verge of devouring the diary instantly turned into a heatless arm, lifting the diary and presenting it before Leonard.
Looking at the blackened cover and scorched pages, Leonard had the Fiendfyre write again.
"If you were going to cooperate, you could've done it from the start. Why bother suffering like that?"
The diary was silent for a moment before words slowly appeared.
"Bring that person back. I'll pass the method to open the Chamber of Secrets to him."
Tom Riddle had accepted reality. He realized that in front of Leonard, he had no room to resist at all. The leverage he thought he held could not protect him. This Hufflepuff was a complete lunatic who would unleash Fiendfyre the moment he disagreed with someone.
Damn it. Even when Tom Riddle himself had been that age, he had not been this crazy.
"Hah. If you'd cooperated earlier, none of this would have been necessary. What a waste of time," Leonard muttered to himself, turning to Peter Pettigrew to make him do it again.
But what he saw was Peter Pettigrew collapsed in a puddle of his own urine, having passed out at some point.
"What a useless waste," Leonard cursed under his breath, then cast the Awakening Charm on Peter Pettigrew in disgust.
The cold magic jolted Peter Pettigrew's brain and woke him instantly. The first thing he did upon regaining consciousness was let out a pig-like scream.
"No... don't come over here! Don't burn me to death!" Peter Pettigrew screamed.
Who knew what kind of nightmare he had while unconscious. He looked practically insane now.
Then again, he probably was not far from insanity. Having part of his soul devoured by Tom Riddle and then suffering such a fright, it would be strange if he did not break under the double blow.
"Stop screaming, you piece of trash. Get over here."
Leonard's icy voice, strengthened by the Imperius Curse, had an immediate effect, instantly dragging Peter Pettigrew out of his panic.
The madness in Peter Pettigrew's eyes gradually faded. He looked at Leonard with dull, unfocused eyes, as though he still was not entirely clear-headed.
But under the Imperius Curse, that hardly mattered.
"Yes, Master," he replied blankly, then stood up and walked toward the diary.