On Christmas night, the hustle and bustle returned to silence, and the night enveloped Hogwarts Castle like a curtain.
In the ancient runes’ office, Felix habitually opened the diary and talked to the young Dark Lord inside.
For the past two days, he had been trying to guide him to talk about Salazar Slytherin, but had been tugged away from the subject.
Tonight, Felix decided to take a different tactic, he needed to carefully lay a trap for the young Dark Lord to step in himself.
To do this, he re-read a lot of psychological books.
“Something rather sensational happened today.” Felix wrote.
“What is it?” Diary asked with interest, he had been rather distressed lately with how this shrewd professor would lock him up after every exchange, which had left him completely out of touch with outside information.
“The attack on the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets has been reported, there is a lot of buzz, and there are proposals to disband Slytherin House and strip Salazar Slytherin of all honour.”
Felix felt like a large spider, carefully weaving a cobweb.
Immediately a string of long, flying scribbles surfaced on the diary, “Ridiculous statements, simply ridiculous! Who is it? Is it Dumbledore! He has always had a prejudice against wizards from Slytherin.”
Felix hooked the corners of his mouth as he wrote, full of mischief, “Not him, but a woman named Rita Skeeter, who has always been known for making up rumours about famous people.”
The name “Rita Skeeter” flashed on the diary, looking messy and hideous – a name that he seemed to be trying to hold on to.
Inside the diary, the young Tom Riddle is indeed furious, and he can’t help but wonder, has the current state of the wizarding world reached this level of filth?
After a long time, the diary followed up: “And then what? The Ministry of Magic will certainly not agree to such an absurd proposal!”
“Of course not, but this incident has caused widespread discussion at Hogwarts, and quite a few minor wizards have commented on Salazar Slytherin – well, one could say extremely negatively.”
The diary couldn’t help but write, “Salazar Slytherin is the greatest of the Big Four! Yet later generations have only shallowly judged him by his appearance, desperately trying to discredit him!”
Felix thought of the huge face in the Chamber of Secrets: an old, monkey-like face with a long, sparse beard that trailed almost all the way down to the hem of his robes.
You know that is a Slytherin statue carved out by himself, do not exclude the possibility of self-glorification.
He could not imagine what the real Slytherin looked like, especially when he was always surrounded by a variety of snakes spitting long creepy noises.
Felix said relatively “objectively”, “This is very illustrative. You know, people always reject things they don’t understand in their hearts, like the Slytherin parseltongue.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Felix Hap, your opinion is quite insightful.” The diary quipped.
Felix humbly explained, “I’ve read part of the Ravenclaw manuscript, and I can imagine the rippling times just through the mere descriptions.” He wrote emotionally, “Four of the most gifted male and female wizards came together to usher in a new era of magic.”
The diary echoed him, “That is indeed a history to remember.” His wording regained its calmness.
But then, Felix deliberately commented, “I just don’t understand why Salazar Slytherin suddenly fell out with the other three, is it really a difference of philosophy? You know at that time, pure-blood ideology are not popular.”
“And he also secretly built the Chamber of Secrets, leaving horrible monsters in it. I think -” Felix wrote verbatim, “he is personally destroying his own heart and soul, which is typical of the dark wizard’s way of doing things.”
Tom the Diary couldn’t resist countering him, “Maybe his chamber wasn’t used to remove muggle wizards.”
“Or else how, Tom? I should remind you that many of the Slytherin researches were bloody and brutal, and it affected his character.”
Tom Riddle continued to refute: “But he also uncovered the fog of truth for those who came after him. Just look at his objects of research, goblins, giants, dwarves, horsemen … His findings were enough to propel the wizard as a group to supremacy! At a mere, insignificant price.”
“Tom, you’re a crazy admirer of his?” Felix wrote.
“No, of course not … merely partially identified, wizards and humanoid creatures are different concepts, aren’t they?” The diary tried its best to sound more objective, “Besides any judgment out of context of that era is hypocritical and silly, the moral standards of wizards in that era were completely different from now.”
“You have a point.” Felix wrote, “But it is my understanding that these precious magical resources have not been passed down, and it is unknown whether they are ‘great’ or not.”
“That is indeed the ‘greatest’ result.” Diary, the young Dark Lord, is clearly on top of his game as he tried to convince Felix.
“How do you know?” Felix gave a winning smile.
“I’m just guessing. …”
“Don’t lie to me, Tom! You know more about Salazar Slytherin than I thought, and you’re being overly defensive about him.” Felix began to close the net. “It makes me wonder if you were the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets? Are you the true Slytherin heir!”
He wrote word by word, with a force that seemed to cut through the paper, “I need an explanation, or I’ll just have to hand you over to Dumbledore.”
In the diary, Tom Riddle felt tense, he hated the feeling of “being seen through”.
After a long silence, a line of text appeared on the diary, “You think so? Do you think I lied to you? I thought – we had a solid friendship.”
Felix wrote calmly, “That’s why I gave you the chance to explain.”
From the perspective of the Dark Lord, as long as he didn’t reveal the truth about the Horcrux, everything is up for discussion.
The diary replied quickly and scribbled: “Of course it’s not me, I’m a Muggleborn, remember? I have nothing to do with Slytherin.”
Felix remained silent as he did not reply with any text, applying a little pressure.
Tom Riddle in the diary couldn’t hold it any longer, he wrote again, “But … I have to admit that I did come across a strange encounter while I was at school, and yes, I got part of the advanced knowledge of magic.”
“It was from Salazar Slytherin?” Felix asked, holding his breath.
“-I guess so,” Diary replied briefly.
“Tell me, Tom, where did you put it?”
The diary fell silent, and the young Dark Lord became quite torn. He had a mind to refuse, but this professor is too perceptive, and he got cornered, and if he denied it, he would surely be taken as the murderer who opened the secret room-though he was.
He hated his powerlessness more and more, and tried desperately to get out of this predicament, which drove the proud man to the verge of madness.
But soon he replied in a courteous, calm tone, “There’s a rather magical room on the seventh floor of the castle …”
———-
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