armyinform Chapter 283: Come on, Tom, Let’s Hurt Each Other!
Chapter 283: Come on, Tom, Let’s Hurt Each Other!
After meeting Lucius in the courtyard, the group's mood was noticeably affected. They returned to the castle in silence and went straight back to the common room.
The next day, Ron still hadn’t been discharged from the hospital wing. However, according to someone from Slytherin, Malfoy had apparently been taken away by his father, most likely to St. Mungo's.
Kyle didn’t give it much thought; he had more pressing matters to attend to that day. After breakfast, Fred and George were taken off by Wood for Quidditch training, while Kyle headed to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.
He spent the morning transferring all the Mooncalves and some of the plants there into his suitcase. However, he left plants with slower growth cycles, like the Venomous Tentacula, undisturbed.
The seeds for these plants had been given to him by the Ministry of Magic as compensation the previous year. It had only been a year, and they were still in the budding stage. The unique qualities of the Room of Requirement allowed them to grow better. There was plenty of time to tend to them in the future—no need to rush.
After transferring the last Mooncalf, Kyle returned to the small hut at the suitcase's entrance. Instead of leaving, he pulled a box out from under his bed. Seeing Lucius Malfoy yesterday had reminded him that he hadn’t checked the diary since Fawkes's last visit. He wondered what had happened to Riddle in the meantime.
Kyle took out the dragon's blood he had bought in Diagon Alley, poured it into an empty inkwell, and diluted it with a bit of water. Dragon's blood was expensive, so he wanted to use it sparingly. After setting everything up, he finally opened the diary.
Soon, faint words appeared on the page.
Kyle wrote back in red ink.
The words were quickly absorbed into the page. After a few seconds, more words appeared.
Kyle wrote.
These words appeared much clearer than before. Kyle nodded to himself. As long as it worked, he wasn’t going to complain.
With the "Riddle Answer Machine" back online, Kyle resumed asking questions about magical writing techniques. However, Riddle seemed distracted, his thoughts circling around something Kyle had mentioned earlier.
Who was this person capable of effortlessly defeating an enemy that even Dumbledore had struggled with? And the dark wizard Kyle had referred to with such familiarity—Riddle felt certain it could only be him, his future self. After all, an enemy who could pose a challenge for Dumbledore had to be him. No one else would be worthy.
He was desperate to know more—the reason for his failure, and what events had led to it.
After answering Kyle's questions with patience, Riddle could no longer hold back.
Kyle looked up from the pile of symbols and runes, glanced at the diary, and scribbled down a reply:
Riddle replied.
Kyle wrote back,
Kyle’s gaze shifted back to the parchment with the latest set of formulas he’d just written down. He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table. Although the arrangement appeared normal, looking just like the previous examples, he noticed that two of the symbols seemed familiar.
He recalled reading in Nicolas Flamel’s alchemy book that the symbols for “light” and “impact” must not be directly connected—they required a buffer between them. Failing to do so would create a 90% chance that the alchemical item would explode upon activation.
Was Riddle doing this on purpose? Or was it just a mistake?
Kyle hesitated, deciding not to say anything about it. Pointing it out would be useless; Riddle could easily claim he’d simply been distracted. And if Riddle knew Kyle had read about alchemy, he would likely become even more careful when setting traps, which would make things far more complicated in the future.
Kyle sighed, lightly scratching the parchment. He took a clip to scoop some nutrients for the Venomous Tentacula from a nearby iron bucket, tossed it into the inkwell, and stirred it. Dipping his quill in the new “ink,” he wrote:
Riddle’s handwriting appeared, clearer now than before.
Kyle replied.
Riddle’s response was hasty and scrawled messily across the page, letters blending together.
This time, Riddle didn’t respond. After a long pause, a new line appeared in the diary.
Kyle replied.
The diary remained silent again, much longer this time.
...
With that, Kyle pasted a newspaper clipping he had prepared onto the diary’s page.
Ten minutes passed…
This time, the diary remained entirely unresponsive. It was as if it had fallen completely silent, as if something inside it had finally broken.