Mysterious Journey
Chapter 844 Hermione Isolated
In 1942, fifth-year Hogwarts student Tom learned that he was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and discovered the Chamber of Secrets. He successfully found the entrance to the Chamber and opened it using Parseltongue. After that, Riddle ordered the basilisk in the Chamber to attack Muggle-born students at the school, in order to eliminate those whom he considered unworthy of learning magic.
Eventually, one of the Muggle-borns, a Ravenclaw girl named Myrtle Warren, was killed by the basilisk.
And Tom Riddle used this murder to inject a piece of his soul into the diary, making it his first Horcrux, and framing third-year Gryffindor student Rubeus Hagrid for the crime.
It wasn't until last semester, when Peter Pettigrew "accidentally" revealed Voldemort's real name during the trial, that this history was re-examined, and Rubeus Hagrid became the first hero to stand against Voldemort—naturally, as the long-sealed truth was gradually revealed, Tom Riddle became the most terrifying student in Hogwarts history.
What made Dumbledore even more gratified was that people were slowly changing their fear of the name "Voldemort."
You see, as the most common name in mainland Europe, there are far too many people in this world named Tom, even pets in many families, such as cats and dogs, are usually named Tom.
Admittedly, people are still a little afraid of the magical name "Voldemort."
But what if it's Tom? Tom Riddle?
Oh, that's okay then.
And for Aileen, perhaps Voldemort in his prime is a dangerous guy worth treating with caution.
But Tom Riddle, a mere student, even if he is a prefect, even if he once controlled the basilisk, murdered a student, and escaped suspicion through clumsy framing...compared to Aileen's glorious history last year—
What is this worthless trash?!
"After finishing the Transfiguration homework, there's still Astronomy homework..."
Aileen glanced at the homework that Tom Riddle had imitated her handwriting on parchment, and poked the diary that had stopped to rest with a quill, ruthlessly adding a paragraph.
"This is the first time, and I hope it's the last time—I've already provided you with the weekly schedule. You're a smart diary, you should learn to draw inferences, check for omissions and make up for deficiencies, instead of being like a troll, needing me to remind you every time what you should do and what you shouldn't do...understand?"
"Yes, I'll do it right away—"
After a moment of silence, the diary slowly revealed these words.
Tear—
Before Tom Riddle could finish writing the neat words, Aileen suddenly raised her eyebrows, pinched the diary pages with both hands, and ruthlessly tore a huge crack, leaving only the last strand of paper connected.
In the relevant experiments of the previous week, she initially tested the physical properties of this magic diary.
Even if Voldemort attached protective magic to this notebook, it was still extremely limited. In addition to the "strong absorption" paper effect, in terms of toughness and ductility, it could only barely reach the strength of leather at best.
In other words, not to mention the forceful cutting of knives, even a slightly stronger tear would cause the paper to be damaged.
The only unique thing might be that even if it is completely separated and torn into pieces, as long as the remains are placed together in the center of the diary, Tom Riddle's remnant soul will repair it completely in less than one night.
"?"
Aileen picked up her pen and drew a question mark on the diary.
The next moment, Tom Riddle immediately wrote an answer in the few remaining blank spaces.
"Yes, Master! I'll make it up right away, Master!"
His handwriting became messy and scribbled, as if he couldn't wait to write everything down in an instant—the fifth-year wizard's soul fragment trapped in the diary knew clearly that once he angered that witch, terrible things could happen.
"There won't be a next time, Tom, you're a smart person."
Aileen's lips curled up slightly, and she released the precarious page in her hand and wrote in the blank space.
It has to be admitted that Dolores Umbridge's obedience education is quite effective. Combined with a few little PUA skills, even Tom Riddle in the diary didn't last long and completely gave up resistance in less than a week.
Or perhaps, she overestimated the resilience of that remnant soul in the diary.
After all, no matter what, Tom Riddle in the fifth grade is just a slightly scheming little boy—in terms of combat power, he would even be knocked down by an immature Acromantula, unable to defeat Hagrid with pure physical stats; in terms of personal character and pursuit, he is just a problem orphan who has just mastered the opening method of the Chamber of Secrets and hopes to spend the summer vacation at Hogwarts.
Since signing the magic contract under the coercion of a group of terrifying demon king-level wizards, Tom has almost resigned himself to his fate.
In fact, compared to assisting Nicolas Flamel, that devil, as an experimental material to carry out experiments, it is obviously much better to concentrate on helping that little witch complete Hogwarts homework—at least, at this time, he is still half a person.
Aileen stared at the parchment that was gradually revealing words in front of her, froze for a few seconds, and then shrugged helplessly.
Although bullying Voldemort's remnant soul could give her a lot of joy at the beginning, as time went on, the pleasure that could be obtained from this kind of trampling on a small account became less and less, especially when the other party was more cowardly than she wrote.
"You write first, remember to include Herbology and History of Magic too..."
She took out a stack of parchment from her schoolbag and stuffed them into the page gaps of the diary one by one.
Logically speaking, the writing function of Tom Riddle's diary is limited to itself, but if a layer of parchment is covered on top of its pages, it is also possible for words to appear on it—the only problem is that Tom Riddle, as the writer, must be extra serious and careful, and must write in mirrored reverse letters instead of the normal way.
Hogwarts professors are not fools, if the flaws are too obvious, then you have to copy sentences.
No matter how special her status is at Hogwarts, Aileen is still a student after all, and it is too arrogant to publicly not hand in homework. Even Dumbledore and Grindelwald would most likely not tolerate her on this point.
She wasted too much time during the day, and if she doesn't think of a way, she will most likely have to spend this weekend doing homework.
Aileen glanced at the closed diary that was automatically coding words and stuffed it into her schoolbag.
"Kids, I'm free—come, come, I'll teach you a brand new game."
"You finished your homework? So fast!"
Hermione put down her book, turned her head and looked at Aileen, who was moving her wrists, and asked in surprise.
"Well, I took some time to write a little bit during the day, it's okay..."
Aileen explained casually without batting an eye, anyway, writing one letter is writing.
This is just like creating a "New Microsoft Word Document" can also be called coding. In the magic world, writing down the topic and letting the homework book learn to do the homework itself is also a very reasonable thing, isn't it?
"What about the others, haven't they finished playing chess yet? How's the battle going..."
Aileen rubbed her wrists, pretending to have sore wrists, and quickly changed the subject.
"I don't know, anyway, there's nothing to see—"
Hermione turned her body slightly and pointed her chin towards a corner of the room.
In the corner not far from her, there was also a blurred light curtain, as if it was a mosaic screen, except for three vaguely visible figures and occasional conversations between the girls, nothing could be seen clearly.
Hermione puffed out her cheeks and muttered in a low voice, a little unhappy.
"Well, those lousy chess players kicked me out in order to be fair—"
In the light curtain, Luna and Danilova frowned and seriously pondered the chessboard in front of them, while Hannah acted as the referee.
In order not to disturb Aileen's homework and to avoid a certain talkative calculating machine, Luna simply used her not-so-proficient "Binary Regression Architecture Transformation Magic" to create a small space to serve as their temporary chess room.
Compared to the noisy, clamorous Gryffindor common room, Hermione has recently preferred to stay with Aileen, especially on weekends.
Not to mention that Hannah and Aileen's rooms are double dorms, which are relatively quiet and comfortable.
More importantly, it is not only close to the Hogwarts kitchen and the Great Hall, and has separate desks, bookshelves, and dressing rooms, but Aileen's dorm is also equipped with a separate prefect-level luxury bathroom.
"Oh, so they don't know what we're saying or doing now?"
Aileen looked at the illusion barrier set by Luna and nodded thoughtfully—the difficulty of this magic, in the initial stage, mainly lies in imagination, after all, concepts such as sound and light are still too abstract for them.
And from the current situation, Luna Lovegood's talent in this area far exceeded her expectations.
Of course, this is not the most important thing at this time...
Aileen glanced at Hermione, who was sitting alone on the big bed in the bedroom, looking at textbooks, and couldn't help frowning heavily.
"Almost...wait, what do you want to do?!"
"Miss Granger, you should remember what I said when you threatened me in Potions class before..."
Aileen casually untied the cumbersome robe and threw it on the carpet, her eyes flashing with dangerous light.
She is quite a vengeful Dark Lord, even if Hermione later colluded with her and openly slacked off in Potions class, and Professor Slughorn also became one of her tools, this could not erase the little beaver's traitorous behavior.
"You're retaliating, right, lousy chess player—"
Hermione looked at Aileen calmly, closed her textbook, without any expression of fear.
"You didn't say anything in Potions class. You only expressed your dissatisfaction when I didn't allow your fifteenth take-back and exposed your plan to move the pieces randomly to cheat, and then you released harsh words out of shame."
"...No! How could I hold a grudge because of this matter!"
Aileen laughed dryly, her little bangs bounced angrily.
As the Goblin Queen of Gringotts, the third generation Dark Lord...how could she hold a grudge because of the fact that every time she secretly slacks off and plays chess during class these days, no matter what kind of chess, she is invariably beaten by Hermione in various fancy ways.
"Hehe—"
Hermione stared at the guilty little bangs and raised her eyebrows proudly.
Anyway, Luna, Hannah, and Aileen had already been ashamed and angry once just now, and now even if there is an extra "first victim" Aileen Kaslana, it doesn't make any difference to Hermione Granger.
"You—"
Aileen climbed onto the bed, looked at the calculating machine with a stubborn look, and sighed helplessly.
"Alas, Hermione, sometimes you can actually give way a little bit. I mean, you don't have to be so serious about everything—Hannah and the others are already a little careless. If you are too strong, you won't be able to find someone to play chess with later..."
"Why, aren't you always like this?"
Hermione retorted quickly, taking advantage of Aileen's inattention, she suddenly rolled over forcefully.
"Since you can do so many things, then I can learn slowly and try slowly too—"
"We're different...You shouldn't take me as your goal...um..."
Aileen scratched her cheeks with a headache. She knew that the problem was here.
Due to the lack of the long period of isolation in the original book, and the precipitation of friendship at the critical moment of life and death, Hermione in this world line does not know how to restrain her edges, but desperately chases an unattainable goal.
As time goes by, discordant notes finally begin to appear.
Perhaps when Aileen is around, everyone can still play and make noise happily as usual.
But as long as a situation like today appears, Hermione will subconsciously seek dominance, trying to replace Aileen as the focus of the crowd, or more precisely, a convincing authority figure—such as tonight.
Compared to the other little witches, Hermione Granger's desire to win is still too strong.
If Luna, Hannah, and even Danilova and Aileen each have their own future goals and directions, then in Aileen's opinion, the goal Hermione has set for herself may be too harsh.
As a native little witch, she can never become another Aileen.
This has nothing to do with talent or effort. Aileen knows this very well, but she can't find a good way to explain it.
Aileen lay on the soft pillow, looked at Hermione's bright eyes, and thought for a while and said.
"Um, Hermione, listen to me..."
Pop.
Just then, a sound like a soap bubble bursting came from the room.
"Phew, finally won, Luna, you're so amazing—"
After a hard battle, Danilova, who had finally won the final victory, stretched out her back and her eyes fell on the warm big bed in the distance, on the two senior sisters who were tangled up and down, and was slightly stunned.
"Uh—"