"What?!" Hermione Granger jumped to her feet, hands on her hips, glaring at the dejected Harry. "You lost it?"
"And my rat, Scabbers!" Ron cried from the side.
"Keep your voice down, Hermione. Percy is watching you." They were in the Gryffindor common room, and Harry nervously glanced around at the students, afraid that the nosy Gryffindor prefect would hear something amiss and come over to give him a piece of his mind.
Hermione quickly lowered her voice and asked anxiously, "How could it be lost?"
"I also want to know, why would anyone want to steal Scabbers..." Ron said in despair.
Harry said with a grim face, "Our dormitory has been ransacked."
"But—only Gryffindors could steal it—no one else knows our password..." Hermione said belatedly.
"Absolutely right," Harry said. This was one of the reasons for his inner turmoil; he suspected there was a mole in Gryffindor.
"I still cannot believe that anyone in Gryffindor would want to do this to my rat," Ron murmured.
"Oh! Shut up, Ron! It might just have slipped out to forage for food. You know, it is a rat; foraging is their instinct!" Hermione raised her voice, unable to contain herself any longer. "The diary is more important!"
Her voice was a bit loud, and Ginny Weasley, who was sitting not far away with her back to them, seemed to have heard her shouting. She secretly turned around and glanced at them, then frowned with a look of panic and continued to do her homework.
Ron nodded with a sullen face, muttering resentfully under his breath, "You lot do not care about my rat at all."
"You must tell Dumbledore right away, Harry, this is no joke," Hermione said.
"Hermione, do you think Dumbledore will believe me without evidence? Many students at school believe I am the rightful heir to Slytherin. I have heard all the rumours! No matter what I say, it is just sophistry to them," Harry said, frustrated. "I am more worried about Hagrid. Talking about the diary inevitably brings up his past. I do not want him to get involved."
"This is not just about Hagrid anymore. If what Hagrid says is true, then Tom Riddle is Voldemort, the diary is a trap, and the opening of the Chamber of Secrets was very likely Voldemort's doing!" Hermione said sharply.
"All right. You do not have to be as serious as Draco," Harry surrendered. "I will go find Dumbledore as soon as possible."
Hermione was satisfied only after receiving Harry's assurance. During Potions class on Thursday afternoon, she ran to Draco to partner with him, and whilst grinding the ingredients, she whispered the devastating news that the diary had been stolen.
"Stolen?" Draco asked suspiciously, eyeing the white flesh. "The timing is too coincidental. You were just about to hand it over to Dumbledore, and someone stole it?"
"That is right," Hermione said. "We suspect it was done by someone inside Gryffindor."
"How is your research on those lists coming along?" Draco suddenly asked.
"I have identified a few suspects. Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, Zacharias Smith of Hufflepuff, Graham Montague and Theodore Nott of your house... They were all punished by Filch shortly before Mrs Norris's Petrification, all expressed a bias towards pure-blood theory, and all mocked or scorned Colin's fangirling to varying degrees," Hermione said cautiously. "However, if we cross-reference this with the events in the diary, they are all ruled out—none of them are Gryffindors."
"What about Gryffindor?" Draco asked. "How many suspects are there?"
"Cormac McLaggen, an older Gryffindor boy," Hermione said, pursing her lips. "Neither Harry nor Ron like him. He always acts so smug, bossing everyone around in the Gryffindor common room, and constantly bragging about his family background. He has been punished by Mr Filch before, he has mocked Colin in the common room, and he divides people into different classes."
"Oh, I know that surname," Draco said in a matter-of-fact tone. "His uncle has some influence in the Ministry of Magic. People like that are usually quite arrogant."
"The problem is, at the same time Mrs Norris had her accident, he was feasting at the Gryffindor table, my roommate Lavender told me. That night, he sat across from her, ate a whole roast chicken, and even licked the bones clean. She said that for some reason, the action seemed a bit disgusting, so it stuck with her..." Hermione carefully poured the ground herbs into the cauldron. "I feel like we need to rethink our research methods."
"Are you sure you have not missed anything?" Draco's mind raced. "Do not just limit yourself to the days before Mrs Norris's incident. For example, the Weasley twins already knew Filch was a Squib. There are probably many more upperclassmen who know this."
"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked in surprise.
Draco told her about how his twin brother had tricked Filch by fabricating a Kwikspell correspondence course.
"Oh my goodness, in that case, we have to rethink everything!" Hermione exclaimed anxiously, like a cat with its fur standing on end. "It could be someone who knows Mr Filch's background and has a long-standing grudge against him! How many people at Hogwarts do not have a grudge against Mr Filch? In Gryffindor, almost everyone has been punished by him! How are we going to investigate this?"
"At least we can rule out you, Harry, and Ron." Draco looked at her, stuffed some lacewing flies into the bottom of the cauldron, and chuckled. "See, three people have been eliminated in a second."
"This is not funny at all!" Hermione glared at him, picking up some dried nettles to process. "I have to talk to them one by one, even subtly trying to find out what is going on! Talking to people is much harder than reading a whole thick book!"
"I suspect not everyone thinks that way; plenty of people would find talking easier than reading. You have to learn to leverage the strengths of those around you and take a holistic approach, instead of trying to do everything yourself," Draco advised. "Give Harry and Ron some tasks, let Ron think about things other than that rat, and do not let Harry keep thinking about his diary all the time..."
"That makes sense. I will get them some work done. But Harry said he was going to see Professor Dumbledore, but we have not seen him yet," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Professor Dumbledore has not been at the staff table these past two days. Even Professor McGonagall is complaining that she has not had a chance to catch him."
"Not surprising. I have heard that people from the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors are visiting Dumbledore frequently. Probably because of the Chamber of Secrets," Draco said.
Even if Harry and his friends did not make a fuss, the old fogies in the Ministry of Magic and the Board remembered: someone dug up a fifty-year-old case, pointing the finger directly at Hagrid.
Draco has received a letter from his father, Lucius. The letter says that Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, under pressure, is discussing with his staff whether to transfer Hagrid, who has a criminal record, to Azkaban.
Despite Lucius's reluctance, despite Narcissa's urging—Draco wrote several letters to his mother outlining the tense situation at the school and the serious consequences of the Malfoys' deep involvement with the Chamber of Secrets—to remain quiet and not stir up trouble, the other members of the Board of Governors were already buzzing with discussion about the tragic Petrification incident at Hogwarts.
Someone must be found to take responsibility for the series of mishaps at Hogwarts.
Hagrid, the powerless and insignificant gamekeeper, seemed like the perfect scapegoat to appease public anger.
Meanwhile, the real mastermind behind the locked room—Lucius Malfoy—felt that everything was fine as long as no one traced it back to him, and was busy being surprised that Draco knew that "the diary came from the Malfoy family."
Lucius never intended to involve his son in this matter. He never spoke much to his son about it, lest his son arouse suspicion by knowing too much.
He had no idea how Draco knew so much inside information.
What surprised him most was that Draco also knew that the diary was connected to the Dark Lord. He had not told anyone this much of a secret—not even Narcissa knew before.
"This is indeed a souvenir from the Dark Lord era. As for its specific function, I am not entirely sure, only that it is a dangerous Dark magical artefact, somewhat related to the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts. Given the Ministry of Magic's frequent raids, I had to find a more suitable place for it through some means. Let us not discuss this further; that is all I have to say," Lucius wrote in a letter to his son.
At this critical juncture, the stubborn patriarch of the Malfoy family still clung to his mystique, stubbornly refusing to let go of his innermost thoughts. Draco sighed, feeling utterly helpless.
He had hoped his father would tell him how the diary ended up at Hogwarts, thus providing clues about the successor to the Chamber of Secrets. But Lucius was tight-lipped about his methods and refused to reveal how he had hidden the crucial diary at Hogwarts.
My father was always like this; as long as the fire did not affect him, he would always act as if it were none of his business. He lacked compassion and empathy for others. He did not think it was something to reflect on that someone had to be made a scapegoat for him; instead, he was smug about his cleverness in escaping the law.
He even thought the diary was no big deal, and was actually quite pleased with himself for getting rid of a troublesome person.
Draco sighed inwardly.
Father! Your cleverness has backfired, has it not?
Hogwarts is definitely not a suitable place to store Dark Lord memorabilia!
It is likely that the Dark Lord thought the same thing, which is why he later flew into a rage at Lucius.
It seemed that the diary was very important to the Dark Lord, after all, it contained his thoughts. Draco regretted it somewhat; he should have asked for the diary earlier, instead of acting as if he wanted to avoid suspicion.
It seems every man in the Malfoy family has to make a fool of himself when faced with this diary. Draco sighed.
Now, the diary containing the Dark Lord's thoughts has been stolen. It may be retrieved by a student who previously possessed it, or it may be lurking in the shadows, trying to bewitch the next innocent student.
"Hermione, be careful when you are gathering information," he said to the girl stirring the potion. "Do not alert them or let them know your true intentions."
"Are you worried I will be Petrified again?" She wrinkled her nose. "If your reason is my Muggle origins..."
"I do not think that way," Draco said. "But I cannot guarantee the killer did not."
"All right, that is true," she said nonchalantly. "But have you considered this? If it is the Dark Lord's diary that is behind this, I think Harry would be the one facing the most danger. They are the real adversaries, are they not?"
"No. We cannot let our guard down now." Draco, thinking of his past life, was still uneasy. "Although nothing has happened for two months, I think this is just the calm before the storm. The criminals will definitely strike again. You and Harry, you are both in extreme danger."