Friday night, in the Headmaster's office.
"Good evening, Professor," Tom ascended the spiral staircase.
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Dumbledore stared intently at him and asked, "Miss Weasley?"
"It's me, Riddle. Fifty years have passed, Professor. Do you still remember me?" Tom said.
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Dumbledore sarcastically replied, "You've returned again, and this time you brought a hostage. I must admit, I'm impressed."
Tom blinked his eyes. "I often bother you?"
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Dumbledore found him particularly shameless. "What do you want this time? To kill this girl and drive Harry's friends away?"
If Ginny Weasley died under his supervision at Hogwarts, would anyone dare to be Harry's friend anymore?
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Tom stared cautiously at Dumbledore and said, "Harry? I don't understand what relation he has with me."
Did Ginny mention him?
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Dumbledore felt somewhat surprised. Was this another plot?
"Then why did you target Ginny instead of someone else?" Dumbledore asked.
Tom said, "Ask Malfoy. He forced me into this girl's cauldron."
"How did he force you?" Dumbledore inquired.
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Tom intended to take out the diary from his pocket, but Dumbledore immediately pointed his wand at him.
"Don't move, raise your hands," he commanded, and Tom reluctantly complied.
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"There's a diary in my pocket. I've split my soul, and I've resided in it since I was seventeen," Tom said and thought to himself, "It seemed that his future self had caused a lot of resentment."
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Dumbledore summoned both his wand and the diary from Tom's body. He sensed that the dark magic within the diary was indeed complex.
"Now, leave Ginny," he ordered.
Tom sighed, "I came here just to tell you that Basilisk is dead. I thought you'd want to know. Seek revenge against myself in the future. Goodbye."
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Feeling a bit sorrowful, but knowing that his future self had become an outcast, his words seemed superfluous.
He closed his eyes, and Ginny's body collapsed.
Dumbledore levitated her and examined her with magic.
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Ultimately, he chose not to modify Ginny's memory because the "threads" of Tom within her mind were too entangled. If he erased Tom, Ginny wouldn't be able to understand many of her own actions.
Dumbledore didn't want Ginny to panic, but he couldn't provide her with a clear explanation for the time being. He summoned a house-elf to safely return her to her room.
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Saturday morning, Nurmengard Prison.
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"What do you think?" Dumbledore handed the diary to the person at the other end of the table.
They were both behind bars, Grindelwald no longer the picture of elegance, with disheveled hair.
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Grindelwald's pale hand picked up the diary and flipped to Tom's name.
"Poor boy," he said with an indifferent tone, but his hands kept turning the pages.
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Blank pages, filled with words and intriguing links in the eyes of the most powerful dark wizard. "Do you mind if I borrow it for a few days?" he asked.
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Dumbledore pursed his lips. "Was it you who taught him about splitting the soul?" he suspected.
Grindelwald clicked his tongue. "I wish I did. One of me marries you, while the other goes on to rule the world."
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Dumbledore rolled his eyes. "So how old is the one inside?"
Grindelwald playfully asked, "Why is that important? Do you have a soft spot for him?"
He saw through Dumbledore's mind.
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Dumbledore coldly replied, "He's useful to me."
Grindelwald said, "To groom your savior? I've heard about the Philosopher's Stone and such."
"That's none of your business," Dumbledore retorted.
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Grindelwald leaned forward and asked, "Are you angry? Angry at me for corrupting Tom?"
Dumbledore squinted his eyes. "Since when?"
Grindelwald shrugged. "Who knows? I have too many followers."
Dumbledore stood up angrily and gestured for him to return the diary.
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Grindelwald raised an eyebrow. "You're too hard on him. If you let him choose, he'd probably prefer to stay with me."
Dumbledore asked, "What do you know about him?"
Grindelwald said, "I know what this kid wants. It's just a real home. A place where he can stay."
Dumbledore doubted, "Did you surrender because you knew he would take your place?"
Grindelwald smiled. "Without Voldemort, there will be others. This world is already rotten."
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Dumbledore stood there, staring at him in silence.
They remained silent for a long time.
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Grindelwald suddenly said, "Tom wants to talk to you."
He held the diary in his hands, closed his eyes, and Tom opened his eyes.
Tom asked, "Professor, so I become the Dark Lord in the future?"
Dumbledore frowned. "Are you proud of yourself now?"
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Tom said, "I just want to add that I'm most likely not the only Horcrux. A person can create a maximum of seven."
Dumbledore asked, "How did you do it?"
Tom said, "I learned it in the Chamber of Slytherin."
Dumbledore further asked, "When did you start betraying me?"
Tom answered coldly, "I'm just your student, not your army. You don't have the right to command me to do anything I don't want to."
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Dumbledore asked again, "What did Gellert tell you?"
Tom took a deep breath and said, "He said he missed you and asked me to deliver an engagement ring to you..."
Dumbledore blinked. "An engagement ring?"
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Tom's face became strange. "Um... Mr. Grindelwald didn't let me say anything else."
Tom closed his eyes, and Grindelwald opened his eyes. "The boy is lying. I only... cough cough... I discovered that the gem inherited in his mother's family is the Resurrection Stone, so... you know, I almost couldn't bear to use it to coax him. But... but he got it wrong!"
He blushed with frustration.
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Dumbledore's face looked awkward. "What exactly did you say to him?"
Grindelwald countered, "You're the one who said it, right? Otherwise, how could he have misunderstood?"
Albus said, "Give me back the diary."
Gellert said, "He said really prefers me now."
Albus said, "I didn't hear that."
Gellert said, "You still have to find six more. It doesn't matter if you give this one to me, right?"
Albus said, "Stop joking. They must be trying to open the Chamber of Secrets. It's a good opportunity for Harry to practice."
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Grindelwald supported his chin with one hand. "Tell me more." He was truly interested.
Dumbledore sighed, feeling sympathy for him.
Grindelwald had been imprisoned for too long.
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So they talked about Harry Potter for the rest of the morning.
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"Tom couldn't possibly be 'you know who'," Ginny said to Luna in the library.
They opened the 1945 yearbook and discussed it in a small corner.
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Luna said, "But that person was also Parseltongue, a descendant of Slytherin."
Ginny said, "I'm not sure if Tom was joking with me back then. Maybe he was just teasing me? And if he is that person, why would he keep protecting me instead of using my body to assassinate Harry?"
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Ricky said, "Why don't we go ask Hagrid, Dumbledore, or Professor McGonagall?"
They searched for people they knew in the yearbook.
Luna said, "If Tom is indeed 'you know who', they would ask us how we found out."
Ricky said, "We can just say we were curious."
Ginny said, "They might think we had contact with dark wizards privately."
She was a bit worried if Tom was indeed...
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Luna said, "Or we can ask any of the ghosts. I think they might have some impression."
Ricky said, "Ghosts wouldn't know what students do after graduation, right?"
Luna muttered to herself, "Should we ask the Bloody Baron from Slytherin or the Gray Lady?"
Ginny sighed and said, "Let's just go ask Moaning Myrtle. She was the victim of the Chamber of Secrets incident."
She had read about it in the newspaper on Thursday.
Ginny prepared herself for the worst possible truth.
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They went to the second-floor girls' bathroom.
Myrtle was furious as soon as she saw Ginny. "What are you doing here?"
Ginny was perplexed.
Luna spoke directly, "Did you see Tom Riddle yesterday?"
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Myrtle frowned. "What are you talking about? Why are you constantly targeting me?"
Risky asked, "What did Ginny do to you yesterday?"
Myrtle was angry. "So you sent her to play an adventure with me? Tell me your name!"
She misunderstood their intentions as confirmation of Ginny's task complete.
Ginny could only say, "I really don't know what I did yesterday..."
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Upon hearing her "pretending to be ignorant," Myrtle became so angry that she rushed into the toilet, splashing them with water.
Then the toilet turned into a fountain, flooding the floor.
They had no choice but to leave temporarily.
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As first-year students, they hadn't learned the Drying Charm yet, and they knew that Myrtle's toilet water wasn't dirty because no one would go there to use the restroom.
So they decided to go back outside, take off their wet clothes and socks, and let them be sundry.
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"Oh, you guys are disgusting!" Stephanie said.
It was her, along with Daisy, Ken, and Colin who happened to "pass by."
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The weather was sunny today, and many people came out for picnics by the lake.
Ginny and her friends had already walked to a more secluded corner.
Stephanie saw them looking disheveled and embarrassed from a distance, so she intentionally approached them.
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Ken sarcastically said, "Don't do such things at school, okay?"
He looked at their bare feet and Ricky, who had half of his shirt undone, implied something.
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Even the usually timid Colin had a change of heart. "Hey! Stop saying things like that."
When he first started school, he was just jealous of Ginny because he was so curious about Harry Potter.
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Daisy also gathered her courage and said, "Let's leave, Stephanie. This isn't funny."
She felt that Ginny was indeed arrogant because she always kept things to herself and went her own way. But...
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Ken continued, "It doesn't matter if these pure-blood families have more 'interactions.' They're all relatives anyway."
Ricky rushed up and punched him.
Ginny and Luna also pulled out their wands.
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Stephanie cursed Luna first, but Ginny blocked the curse, and it rebounded, hitting Daisy instead.
"Daisy!" Colin nervously shouted as Daisy fainted.
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Ken and Ricky were still fighting each other, with Ricky being at a disadvantage.
Luna said, "I'll go call a teacher!"
She ran off because she didn't like facing violence.
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Ginny blocked the path for Luna to escape and confronted Stephanie.
Ginny asked, "Why did you target me from the beginning?" She was certain it wasn't her imagination.
Stephanie said, "It's because you looked down on us from the start."
Ginny asked, "Why aren't you in Slytherin? Are your parents both Muggle-born?"
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Stephanie was angry and said with a troubled expression, "You scum. You pure blood rely on connections and get away with breaking rules. Who can compete with you on a fairground?"
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Everyone says that Hufflepuff takes in the worst students, but Ginny didn't think so.
At least the people in Hufflepuff were humble and honest enough.
If a person has nothing but "courage," what distinguishes them from a thug?
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Ginny initially didn't plan to attack. She only wanted to defend herself.
But Ricky was being beaten badly, and the sound indicated that even his bones were broken. Ken kept pressing him and hitting him.
So Ginny couldn't help but point her wand at Ken and said, "Stupefy!"
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Ken was blasted away and fell unconscious on the grass.
Stephanie took the opportunity and pushed Ginny with her hands.
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Ginny fell backward, hitting the back of her head on a sharp rock.
Colin saw blood flowing from her head, staining the grass with a vivid red colour.
He couldn't help but scream in fear, "Y...you killed her!"
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Stephanie also retreated in fear, saying, "She fell on her own."
She continued to lie to herself.
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Meanwhile, in Hagrid's cabin.
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"Your sister...she doesn't seem to fit in well," Hagrid mentioned to Ron.
He had promised not to reveal the incident that night, but he still worried about her.
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Hermione added, "The first-year students have been talking behind her back."
Harry didn't interject, but his expression showed concern.
They looked at Ron.
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Ron shrugged and said, "She told us not to interfere. What else can I do?"
Harry asked, "What exactly are the first-year students saying about her?"
Ron replied, "Percy said she had an arrogant attitude and that we should advise her to change."
He rolled his eyes, "Then Fred said to him, 'Not until you learn to change it yourself'?"
Hermione and Harry laughed.
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Hagrid still frowned, "It seems like she's trying too hard to have some friends, you know? It might be those troublemaking kids who might encourage her to do some bad things."
It sounded like he was speaking from experience.
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Ron retorted, "Are you saying we've led Hermione astray? You even raised a dragon last year!"
Hagrid loudly coughed to change the subject.
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Harry gently said, "I don't think she's arrogant."
Whether it was the Dursleys or when Severus Snape insulted him, he never took it to heart.
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That afternoon, Dumbledore returned and quickly made his way to the hospital wing after hearing Professor McGonagall's report.
"How is she?" he asked Madam Pomfrey as he pushed open the door.
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Madam Pomfrey shook her head.
Daisy's injuries were the least severe, and Ricky's injuries were okay.
Only Ginny hadn't woken up. Her nerves were damaged, and she had become a vegetative state.
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Dumbledore examined her brain and saw that her consciousness was still active but unable to connect with her body.
In the magical world, for injuries like this, it would be up to the family to decide whether to euthanize or not.
They needed to inform the Weasley couple...
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Dumbledore closed his eyes and said, "May I try a surgical procedure? It's an experimental magic."
Everyone gained a bit of confidence upon hearing Dumbledore's words and followed his instructions to leave the room.
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"Ginny, I know you can hear me," Dumbledore said.
The light orb representing Ginny's consciousness flickered.
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Dumbledore continued, "I took away your diary because I didn't realize how severe your social situation was."
The orb representing her consciousness flickered twice.
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Dumbledore asked, "Tom's magic can control your body and communicate with your consciousness. Do you trust him?"
He didn't have a more sophisticated method to connect her nerves.
The orb of light slowly flickered.
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Dumbledore said, "If you refuse euthanasia, your parents won't be able to afford the hospital fees. You'll have to stay home and be cared for your whole life. Do you understand?"
The orb flickered once.
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Dumbledore said, "If there are any new methods in the future that can restore control of your body to you, I promise I'll bring you back."
This time, the orb flickered with a clear affirmation.
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At that moment, when the Weasley parents rushed in, they saw Ginny sitting up and quietly answering Madam Pomfrey's questions.
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"Oh, Ginny!" Molly gave Tom the biggest hug of his life.
Arthur stood behind, wiping away tears, and said, "Merlin! Ginny, let's go home right away. Are you feeling alright? I'm sorry I didn't listen to Percy's words. I should have known!"
Ginny retorted in Tom's mind, "Percy? Forget about Percy! I don't want to go home!"
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Tom glanced at Dumbledore discreetly and told the Weasleys, "I'm fine. The Headmaster has expelled them all. Other students witnessed it this time. Nobody will bully me anymore."
Molly frowned and immediately placed her hand on Ginny's forehead, "Are you delirious?"
Their daughter seemed strange, but they couldn't quite put a finger on it.
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Arthur added, "Dad will find a way to support you. Don't worry, alright?"
He feared that his responsible daughter was pushing herself too hard.
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Tom hesitated and lowered his eyes, "I...I have many friends here. Truly, I don't want to go home."
In his heart, he thought, "If I go home with them now, I will definitely not be able to hide everything!"
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Dumbledore had seen enough of Tom's predicament and offered reassurance, "Ginny bravely protected two classmates. We all saw it and know she's an exceptional child."
Molly shook her head, "Ginny isn't that strong."
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Professor McGonagall, who was standing nearby, also chimed in, "Ginny has always been top of the class."
Under the persuasion of everyone, the Weasleys decided to return home.
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Professor McGonagall initially wanted to inform Ginny's brothers to come visit her.
But Tom said, "Really, there's no need. I'm tired. Thank you, Professor McGonagall."
Madam Pomfrey also said, "I think she can be discharged tomorrow. It's truly miraculous."
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She wanted to discuss this magical healing technique with Dumbledore, so he led her back to his office.
Professor McGonagall felt a bit apologetic and said to Tom, "I'll believe in you from now on."
Tom lowered his head and replied, "Thank you, Professor."
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After everyone dispersed,
Ginny asked Tom in her mind, "Where did you go?"
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Tom replied in his mind, "Dumbledore took me to visit Grindelwald."
Ginny exclaimed, "What? Don't play tricks on me again!"
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Tom sighed and told Ginny everything about himself.
