The red-haired little girl was hunched over the table, her quill pen scribbling on a blank notebook.
After retrieving this unfamiliar notebook from her cauldron and examining it for a long time, Ginny was convinced it was just a blank book with someone else's name on it.
Yet, inexplicably, a peculiar intuition urged her to start writing on the empty pages.
[Hello, I am Ginny Weasley.]
As the ink formed words, the black marks that composed the complete sentence slowly sank into the blank paper, and then, different black letters and words gradually emerged on the white page.
[Hello, I am Tom Riddle.]
"Hello... I am... Tom Riddle?" Seeing the notebook respond, Ginny was instantly excited, but then, fearing someone might notice, she glanced around. Her roommates were already in bed, dreaming away. The little girl relaxed and quietly read the words on the page, one by one.
[This is my diary. How did you find it?]
[In my memory, it's been a long, long time since I've written in this diary.]
The diary's contents quickly vanished again, and new writing began to form on the page.
[I'm not sure either. Somehow, your diary appeared in my cauldron...] Ginny wrote.
[...Oh... I see.]
[...You say you found me in your cauldron?]
[Are you a wizard too?]
Clearly delighted to have someone to chat with, Ginny's quill danced across the diary's pages.
[Yes! I'm a witch, and I just started at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year!]
Ginny wrote happily, resting her chin on her hand as she awaited Tom's reply.
[You're a student at Hogwarts too?]
[Oh, what a coincidence, I am also a student at Hogwarts, though if I'm not mistaken, the real me should have already graduated from there.]
[Can you tell me what year it is now?]
The writing appeared again, and Ginny was evidently thrilled by everything the diary said. She hadn't expected Tom to be a senior she had never met.
This connection through Hogwarts instantly made Ginny feel a kinship with Tom Riddle.
[Senior, it's 1992.]
...
After a short while, just as Ginny was getting anxious, thinking this magical diary might have stopped working, the writing appeared again.
[No need to be so formal, just call me Tom. If you keep being so distant, I'll be quite sad.]
Tom's reply made Ginny feel both comforted and familiar, and the little girl sensed a playful, teasing tone in his words. Her previous worries forgotten, she giggled softly.
Tom-senpai seems like such a humorous and charming person.
Not long after, as Ginny pondered how to reply to Tom, the diary's content changed.
[Sigh... I didn't expect so many years to have passed... But it doesn't matter now. I haven't communicated with anyone for a long, long time. Even though I'm just a diary imbued with its owner's personality, I still feel lonely.]
[Can you chat with me? I'm so eager to know about the outside world.]
[And, I want to be friends with you. See, this is a friendship that transcends time. Just thinking about it feels so romantic!]
Ginny's cheeks flushed, though whether from happiness or something else was unclear. She continued to write her response in the diary.
[Of course, but I'm not sure what you want to know.]
[You must feel very lonely, not having talked to anyone for so many years, right?]
[I'll tell you everything you want to know, one by one!]
[After all, we're good friends!]
The ink was absorbed, and new writing emerged.
[Yes! We are friends! Friends should share with each other!]
[So, over the next period, I'll be relying on you...]
[...After all...]
[...There are so many... so many things I want to know...]
...
[Tom, today I saw that boy I told you about before.]
[Oh... it's... it's... it's the one I like...]
[Ugh! You know who, it's Harry, Harry Potter!]
[The boy who defeated the Dark Lord, the one called the Savior.]
[Sigh, he's now hanging out with my youngest brother, they're good friends... I hope Ron doesn't lead him astray.]
[...Eh, eh, eh, did I approach him? Oh... I'm too shy...]
[...You say you also want to know more about Harry?]
[Uh... Tom, you wouldn't...]
[Oh, oh, oh, sorry, I thought... hehe, my bad, you just admire Harry too...]
[Then I'll tell you more about Harry!]
...
[Tom, I've been feeling unwell lately. Am I catching a cold?]
[I feel like I can never get enough sleep, and my mind is foggy in the mornings, lacking energy...]
[Plus, some very, very scary things have been happening at Hogwarts lately. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Tom, do you know about this?]
[...Well, it seems you don't know either...]
[Can I keep you with me? I feel safer with you around.]
[Oh, oh, what am I saying! It's not like that!]
[Ugh!]
...
[Tom, I've noticed some strange things happening to me recently!]
[Sometimes, for no reason, I suddenly black out, and when I wake up, I'm not where I was before!]
[And my clothes get dirty, wrinkled, sometimes even with bloodstains, and a few times I've found feathers on me! Why is that!]
[Waaah... I'm so scared...]
...
[Tom, can you help me?]
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