[HP]Aluet

After the Christmas dinner, I inadvertently saw Professor Dumbledore and another person talking in the distance, and walked up the spiral staircase leading to the eighth floor together.

However, this look still gave me a very weird feeling.The figure of that person looks familiar.

Although I was just skeptical, I thought about it and followed up.When they reached the eighth floor, the two of them had long since disappeared, probably going to the principal's office.The door of the office was ajar and not closed. I looked in through the crack of the door. The crack of the door was too narrow to be sure, but the vague side face really resembled Mr. Kande.

Could it be him?

"...Only you can help me, Albus."

Can't hear clearly, but this voice...is similar.

"I can't stop him." Dumbledore sighed.

"It's time to end it." Dippet's voice seemed helpless.

"I can't do it," said Dumbledore. "Let the school be more secure, Headmaster. I said... I can't do anything unless he sets foot here, I can't break the covenant... Go find Newt." , he will help you, I have told him."

Can't understand what they're saying at all.I walked away from the door, hesitant to wait until they were done talking and take another peek to see if it was Kander.

I was pacing up and down the corridor when suddenly a glossy door appeared in the wall next to me.

I'm sure it's not my hallucination, this place was originally just an empty wall.

"Aisley?"

I turned my head, Riddle had just come up from downstairs.

"Why are you here?" Everything about Hogsmeade is still vivid in my memory, I feel my face is burning again, and I dare not look directly at him.

"Report to the principal about the work of the prefects this month." He turned his eyes to the door behind me and frowned, "Why don't I remember that there is a room here?"

"I don't know, I just walked back and forth a few times, and suddenly appeared..."

"Then why don't you go in and have a look?" He smiled and stepped forward to touch the door.

"Are you sure?" I still feel a little flustered by the door that suddenly appeared for no apparent reason.

"That's it." The door of the principal's office opened, and the three of them spoke a few last words at the door.

Riddle withdrew his hand: "I'll go first."

I responded and ran to the corner of the stairs.When I turned around, the door was gone again.When I was dazed, Professor Dumbledore had already walked to the stairs and saw me, and the person who looked like Mr. Kander had disappeared.

"Oh, Ashley. What's the matter?" he asked gently.

I hesitated to ask, after all, it's really not good to eavesdrop - although I didn't understand it either.But I couldn't help but opened my mouth: "Professor, may I ask... do you know Mr. Kande?"

"Kander?" He blinked, searching for the name in his mind, and finally shook his head, "What's the matter, Ashley?"

I froze for a few seconds.

I didn't expect this to be the answer.Even if the one just now wasn't Kander, he was still in the same class as Professor Dumbledore.

"Nothing, Professor," I said.

"It's getting late, go back quickly." He patted my shoulder and went downstairs.

I still can't figure out why.

Could it be that the friendship is too little to forget?After all, Mr. Kande didn't have to lie to me.

This doubt has always remained in my heart, and I have not deliberated on it.

After the Christmas holiday, everyone returned to their daily study life.It was very late when I came out of the library that day, and almost all the students were in the lounge.

When I went down to the second floor and walked through the corridor, there were several boys whispering in the passing women's bathroom.

Am I right?

When I stopped and listened carefully, the voice was so weak that it almost disappeared, and I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I said when will my curious problem be corrected.While feeling emotional, I put the illusion spell on the outer robe and put it on, then walked in quietly and hid in the corner.

I actually saw a few acquaintances.

Malfoy, Mulciber, Avery, and Riddle.

Riddle said something unintelligible in Parseltongue towards the sink, and I was surprised to see the sink move away to reveal a pipe.

He seemed to have frowned intentionally or unintentionally, and glanced in my direction.

I lowered my head to confirm that I was still invisible.

Suddenly, the door of the next doorway opened a crack, which startled me.

There were other people in the laundry room.I leaned on the door with my shoulder and blocked it again. There was a cautious and suspicious voice from inside, but I didn't try to push the door hard again.

It's a pity that this little movement still caught their attention.Malfoy was the quickest to react, casting a revealing spell in my direction so quickly that I didn't have time to do anything.

Several people looked at me unexpectedly, Malfoy frowned, and raised his wand at me again without hesitation.

I was somewhat at a loss, and I froze in place, not knowing what to do, but Riddle quickly reached out and pressed Malfoy's wand down. "It's not necessary."

"Why? Isn't this a custom? And she must have been eavesdropping here for a long time!" Malfoy looked very dissatisfied, but had to put down his wand.

Riddle's eyes drifted away from me dimly, and his face was not very good-looking.

I took a deep breath and ran out of the bathroom.

"In case she goes out and tells the professor..."

My heart was still pounding, and whispering voices behind me reached my ears, and the last thing I heard was Riddle's impatient sentence——

"will not."

call……

Can't tell what it feels like.

I can also realize that he has something to hide from me, whether it was or is, always has been.It's just that I didn't expect to find out in this way-even though I don't know what they are doing, I still feel a little uneasy.

I thought there would be nothing between us since that trip to Hogsmeade, but it turns out... sometimes, I really feel like I don't know him at all.I don't know if going on like this is perpetuating a mistake.

I didn't go back to the lounge, I ran out in one breath and stopped by the Black Lake.

I took a deep breath, sat on the wooden chair next to me, stared at the sparkling water on the lake, and the picture just now flashed in my mind uninterruptedly.

A few minutes later, while I was still in a trance, a shadow surrounded me.

"Still thinking about what happened just now?"

I turned my head and looked at Riddle who was sitting next to me in a numb manner.

"Malfoy is... more impulsive." His voice sounded peaceful. "We stumbled across a secret room and wanted to see what's in it. If the professors knew that I was on patrol as a prefect... you You know, it's not very easy to explain."

I felt inexplicably cold: "I won't tell the professor, it's not a big deal."

"I know you won't." He looked very serious, "I just don't want you to feel... I have a secret from you."

My heart skipped a beat, and all sense of loss dissipated in an instant.

I still shouldn't distrust him.

"I feel like you've changed a lot, Riddle." I said with a smile.It's so gentle that I don't get used to it, but... I still enjoy the way I am now.

"is it?"

"Yeah, don't you feel it yourself?"

"Maybe..." There was a smile in his eyes again, "So, which one do you like more, the current me or the former me?"

His voice floated in the air along with the light wind, and the thick mist rolled up on the lake, and my thoughts immersed in it were lost.

"Now..."

He chuckled lightly, the smile was still warm and thin, and I still couldn't see what kind of emotion was hidden in his eyes, but I suddenly felt that I seemed to have overlooked some strange things.

"Okay. From then on, I will always be like this in front of you."

When my brain was still in a mechanical state, I didn't even notice that he took my hand, put a light kiss on the back of my hand, and then got up and left the lake.

There was a slight itchiness in the warm touch, and it was rare that it didn't dissipate in the non-stop wind.

……

"Should you go to watch the night?" I glanced at my watch and sighed heavily, "It's already this time..."

"What?" He straightened his tie and was ready to leave the lounge.

"It's okay, I wanted to go to the library." I looked at today's history of magic outline and felt a little headache.Actually... It's not impossible to sneak to the library, I'm already familiar with such things.Thinking of this, Riddle took the outline in front of me while I was in a trance, glanced at it, took the quill from my hand, and bent down to fill in the blanks that I didn't write.

""Alchemy Compound" was created in 1447, not 1446." He corrected three wrong questions for me, and then returned the pen to me again, "Okay. Don't go out so late, if you are killed by other prefects or The professor saw that the points were deducted, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"Okay..." I watched him go out, then packed up my things and went back to the dormitory.

I huddled under the quilt, and when I turned over, I was hurt by the hard object under my neck. I frowned and pulled the necklace out of the pajamas.The ripples caused by the giant squid churning the water of the lake gave off layers of surging shimmer that shone in through the cracks in the curtains.

There is a rough feeling of friction on the fingers.I didn't notice it before, but the glass beads are still engraved with textures, and... it seems to be very regular.Unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything clearly.I turned my head and took a look at Brst's bed. Her back was facing me, and there were bursts of even breathing.

"Luminescence." I was completely covered in the quilt, and the light from the tip of the wand illuminated the glass bead, and I finally saw the inconspicuous pattern clearly.I quickly stopped casting the spell, and my head popped out of the bed, my wand back under the pillow.

I don't know exactly what this pattern means, but...why does it look so familiar?I seem to have seen it somewhere...

I opened my eyes and thought about it, and finally remembered - when Riddle was writing notes, I saw the pattern drawn in his notebook. I couldn't remember if it was exactly the same, but it was really similar.How about asking him tomorrow?

I also remembered the black-covered book that appeared quite frequently in his hands. At that time, he also recorded it against that book. Why don't I go and see it myself.

I turned my head again to confirm that Bosde was still sleeping, got out of bed, put on the "invisibility cloak" and slipped out quietly.

The time period for the prefects to patrol has passed, and it is still safe to go out now unless you are unlucky and bump into the professor.

"The cutting-edge black magic revealed..." I frowned and looked at the title of the book.Can't figure out why he's interested in black magic...

I didn't pay much attention to it, but I still wanted to find out what this necklace was.

I flipped through it for a long time, and finally found a page with this strange pattern drawn on it.

"Soul storage?" I looked at those difficult terms in a daze, and turned a page back, roughly scanning through the densely packed text.

Horcrux... I silently said this word that I had never heard before.

But what does this glass bead have to do with the Horcrux? My soul is not in it, and I don't know how to seal it up. The book doesn't explain it in detail, it only generalizes the concept.Even if I knew, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done it.

Dark magic... nothing good.

I'm afraid this necklace is not a good thing, but I still trust Mr. Kande.

If I don't care about it, nothing will happen. I'll ask Mr. Kande later.

Losing interest, I put the book back on the shelf, hurried out of the library, took the usual shortcut down to the second floor, and walked through the deserted hallway to find the stairs behind the fourth portrait.

I don't know if my nerves are too sensitive, but the sound of water dripping from the pipes is much clearer than usual today.Suddenly there was a frightening atmosphere in the dark and silent corridor.

"Hs...hs..."

As I walked, I felt more and more that something was wrong.It was not so much a dripping sound as it was the sound of something moving in the water, rubbing against the pipes.

Coincidentally, this time I have been out longer than before, and the Disillusionment Charm has expired.The most terrible thing is that the voice seems to be getting closer to me... I was nervous about casting the spell again, but just as I took out the wand, a hand grabbed me from behind, and I was so scared I almost screamed, but my mouth was covered in time, and I was dragged directly to the classroom next to me.

"Don't be afraid, it's me." Riddle's voice whispered in my ear, "I told you not to come out, why didn't you listen?"

I don't know if he was angry, because his tone was too calm, but I think he was probably not happy.I couldn't help but feel a little regretful, I sneaked out to the restricted area, but there was nothing useful to gain, and this kind of incident happened, I might as well just lie in the dormitory, and I probably fell asleep at this time.

"I……"

He didn't want me to answer, he glanced out through the crack of the door, and then turned back to face me: "Wait a while."

"So... what's that?" I asked cautiously.

"..." He leaned against the door, "I don't know."

"Do you want to tell the professor?" I was a little scared when I thought of the weird voice just now.

"I'll tell you, just pretend nothing happened." He said indifferently, tilting his head to the side, as if he was listening to the movement outside, and continued talking after a while, "—otherwise everyone would Knew you were running around during curfew."

"I know." I pursed my lips, "...it won't happen next time." Violating school rules again and again...it's too much.If it wasn't for him these two encounters, I don't know how many points I would have deducted from Slytherin.And he's still a prefect... I'm really seriously not cooperating with his work.

"Okay." His voice was as gentle as ever, "Hey, go back quickly."