Part 11

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The prince looked thoughtfully at the notebook. The result of Ginny Weasley's interrogation had only confirmed his fears. Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, didn't seem to have much imagination. Mephistopheles was sure he wasn't the first to make the analogy with names.

So the diary is a Horcrux. And it looks like poor Ginny was the magical donor. Which begs the question. What to do with the information. We need to turn it to our advantage, but what about Ginny? Theoretically - it would be possible to reverse the effects of the magical influence, but Mephistopheles did not want to mess with the redhead. Leaving her lying tied up in their secret room for now, Mephistopheles went to Hermione. Having intercepted her in the library, Mephistopheles took the girl to an abandoned classroom on the 5th floor and having cast a spell against wiretapping began to tell her:

- So here goes. Little Ginny found this diary in her things at the beginning of the year. Apparently she started writing in it about all her experiences. And when she mentioned Harry Potter, the diary responded. They began to correspond and it seems the parasite began to absorb her magic little by little. It had seized control a week before the first attack. Forced the girl to release the Basilisk and kill the cat. Sounds like it was just a routine check. And then he gradually went on a rampage and yesterday we interrupted a rather large attack: he was about to let Basilisk into the transfiguration classroom in the middle of class.

- And what about Professor McGonagall? Wasn't he afraid of a backlash?

- Hermie, McGonagall is more of a scientist than a militant, and yes, she couldn't have seriously harmed Basilisk. Next on the plan, Ginny was to order the snake to hide in one of the corridors. What she would do next, Ginny didn't know, but I suspect an attempt on the Headmaster's life - his office isn't far from that corridor.

- What are we going to do? We can't just leave things as they are, can we? - Hermione was puzzled. - By the way, Harry, our adventures with you are getting more and more dangerous, and if they find out about us, what then? - The girl was really frightened by this question.

- I propose a blood oath about not telling each other's secrets, is that okay with you? We can't tell others about our secrets and affairs without the other's consent.

- Okay, I agree, when do we do the ceremony?

- I think right now, there's no reason to delay.

The boy and the girl held hands and looked into each other's eyes. They recited their vows. The golden threads wrapped around their wrists and went out. Now their secrets are only their secrets.

- So, our actions... I think we should stay out of Ginny's way. No, we'll take the diary, it's valuable, but we need a scapegoat.

- And how will her actions be explained? - Hermione asked businesslike.

- The curse of Merblano Morrow. It causes the darkest corners of the soul to open up and swallow the light side. The foulest, cruelest, creepiest thoughts make a person act immediately. A lust for murder, for violence. And what's interesting is that if this curse is discovered, it will most likely fall on my fellow students from my senior year. After all, to cast it requires knowledge that isn't taught in school, but that purebloods can possess.

Hermione chuckled gloatingly. The girl didn't like Ginny, and here was a great opportunity to get rid of her. And Hermione was willing to take part in it.

- But who would put a curse on her?

- Hermey, have you forgotten? We have one obedient pet.

- But, if Malfoy gets cracked, we lose a servant, who am I going to practice spells on, Harry? - Hermione pouted her lips resentfully.

- 'Hermie, don't forget who Draco's father is. I'm sure he'll pull his son out of an arsehole of any depth.

That was the end of their decision. Hermione went to their secret room and Harry headed after Draco. Intercepting the one outside Snape's office, without listening to any objections, led him behind him. When they entered the room, they found Hermione lying on the bed and a horribly swearing Ginny hanging upside down.

- Herm, enough fun, it's time for action.

- What are you guys up to? - Malfoy asked nervously. He was used to Potter and Granger's antics by now, but now it was going to come down to killing a student. He wouldn't be forgiven for that.

- We need your talents, Malfoy," Hermione moved fluidly to the floor and walked over to Draco, taking him by the throat, "if you have them, of course.

Draco looked at the sophomore with horror and doom. He dreaded to think of the times when this maiden would grow up. What would happen to him?

- Anyway Draco, you will now curse Ginny with the Merblano Morrow curse. Here's the structure of the curse. - Mephistopheles held out a written parchment. Draco began to read the text and look at the drawings. It wasn't difficult, but Malfoy quickly worked out exactly what the pair were up to.

- Are you trying to hide the real culprit? Who is he? And why do you want him? - Draco was genuinely frightened.

- This is none of your business Malfoy!" Hermione shouted. - Do as you're told!

Malfoy flinched and started to say words in Latin. Dark purple rays flew out of his wand and soaked into Ginny's body. She twitched in her chains and mumbled through the gag. The curse was slowly seeping into her soul: fear was replaced by rage, pain by pleasure, the desire to inflict it on others. The girl's body twisted and she passed out.

Mephistopheles stepped in. Carefully, he began to erase memory after memory, cleaning up Ginny's memory, cutting out certain moments and completely erasing the memory of the last couple of days. He couldn't resist putting a mental bookmark on his crush on Draco. That would convince the investigators who the culprit was. The next thing to do was to take Ginny down the corridor and dump her there, which Malfoy did on Hermione's orders.

***

It was recess when a Basilisk literally flew into the Great Hall and started rampaging around the room. Luckily, there weren't many students in the room, and almost everyone instantly scurried away to the teachers' table. Dumbledore jumped up from his seat and raised his wand. Only Flitwick was next to him, which made things a little more difficult.

- Protego Maxima," the half-goblin immediately separated the children with a magical shield and now, in order to break through to the students, the Basilisk had to deal with them first. Just then, Ginny Weasley entered the hall. Her gaze expressed pure hatred, her robes were splattered with blood, and there were screams and cries coming from the corridor. The girl waved her hand and the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut.

- Kill them all," Vasilisk ordered, and the serpent began to get into a fighting stance. Its body tensed like a spring and Basilisk made a throw. His head smashed through the wall where Dumbledore had been standing a second ago. The Headmaster made an intricate movement with his wand and a black bandage was placed over Basilisk's eyes, while the half-goblin turned the table and chairs around him into lumps of tar-like substance. At a flick of Flitwick's wand, the tar clumps clung to the snake, causing it to flail from side to side, trying to get rid of the viscous stuff. Ginny stood right in the middle of the hall and laughed. It looked kind of creepy, but then one of the older students bypassed the professor's shield and launched a Stupefy at the redhead from the back. The girl was thrown to the floor, and Basilisk was distracted by the noise. The professors, acting simultaneously, fell the serpent to the floor and pressed down with a press of magic.

The Headmaster didn't use any spells, but simply prevented the snake from rising, holding it down with naked strength. The walls of the Great Hall were covered in frost and the power acted like a dementor on the students - most of the students were seeing power of this magnitude for the first time.

The doors of the Great Hall were blown off their hinges and a squad of obscurantists flew into the hall and immediately began pouring spells on the Basilisk. As tough as the serpent's skin was, he was exhausted, but he couldn't fight back much, and the bandage was squeezing his eyes shut. Professor Flitwick waited for the right moment and threw a long goblin-made dagger straight into the monster's mouth. The Basilisk dropped dead.

- Damn it, Dumbledore! What the hell is going on here? - Barty Crouch, who had come in behind the squad, began to ask angrily.

- My boy..." Dumbledore began.

- I'm not your boy, Headmaster! - Crouch retorted angrily and walked over to the emotionless Ginny Weasley. - There's the culprit," Barty summarised.

- 'By Merlin, Barty, she must be bewitched.

- I don't know anything, Headmaster. Get her to the Aurorate now! - A couple of subordinates quickly dragged the girl away.

- We'll let you know the results of the interrogation," Crouch said and left the Great Hall. Dumbledore sank tiredly into his chair. The situation was out of control and the Headmaster didn't like it.

***

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin drawing room.

Mephistopheles was sitting on his bed. Things were shaping up just right. Ginny had successfully attempted an assassination attempt on the Headmaster and now Dumbledore would have no one to worry about. This could be used, to pull off a small ritual on the grounds of Hogwarts, and the gloom wardens who were snooping around the castle with their search spells would only confuse the trail.

The prince began preparations for the ritual. He had to do it in the Chamber of Secrets, which he got through without any problems, because he knew the snake language. There, on the floor of the room, he began to draw an octagram. After spending more than three hours with it, almost 300 symbols, Mephistopheles went to get Hermione and found her in the library.

- Hermie, let's go, there's something to do.

When he led her into the secret room, he was deafened for a couple of seconds by the girl's joyful squealing. She began to run around the room, noting all the details, trying to cover everything at once, and finally noticed the drawing on the floor.

- What's the ritual? You want to do it while the Headmaster is away, don't you? - Hermione caught up quickly as always.

- Yeah, that's where the Philosopher's Stone came in handy. Come here. - Mephistopheles stood in the centre of the drawing, placing Hermione beside him. In the centre of one of the symbols lay the Philosopher's Stone.

- You see, Hermione, the magical core of a wizard cannot release more than 50% of magic at a time, otherwise the wizard will become a squib. This ritual will allow us not to increase the magical core, but to create a reserve core. I'm a bit inaccurate, we won't have 2 cores, but the main core won't increase either. Nevertheless, we will be able to spend up to 75% of magic in 1 fight, without the risk of losing it. - Mephistopheles activated the ritual and a wave of magic swept through the castle. Mrakobors were knocked off their feet, plaster broke in some places, armour fell in the corridor. And then, another wave came through, making the old castle shake and make it look a little newer.

Harry and Hermione lay in the centre of the octagram. From the sudden surge of magic, the magical channels began to leak 3 times as much mana, which in itself was far from painless. Hermione was sobbing quietly, Mephistopheles was just trying to start moving.

- Herm, are you alright," forcing himself to speak was definitely easier than moving.

- Why does it hurt so much? - Hermione moaned, not even trying to get to her feet.

- Well, what did you want? We basically rocked the magical muscles, and without pain... there would be no progress.

- How long have we been here? I seem to have lost track of time.

- I'd say five to seven hours, no more.

Mephistopheles struggled to get up and took Hermione in his arms. There was an inconspicuous door not far from the wall, behind which was the founder's bedroom. Laying Hermione down on the bed, Mephistopheles lay down next to her and dozed off....

***

The school was in a fever. The whole school soon knew the real version of events. The Weasleys were walking around as if they were drowning in water and trying to stick together. It wasn't long before the twins had been caught outside the toilet and beaten badly. Ron was also being harassed, and a couple of times it came to a fight. Percy had been dumped by his girlfriend, and the other Heads had boycotted the redhead.

It wasn't long before word reached the students from the hospital. One of the students turned out to be the son of the head healer and shared the information he had learnt from his father. Ginny had been cursed with a dark curse that revealed the darkest sides of her personality. No one else knew more, and it was unlikely the healer could tell much.

Malfoy walked around, looking around nervously. Potter and Granger had disappeared somewhere, and what had happened to Ginny was frightening. He was going to be blamed. He thought he could hint to his father about the incident without saying anything specific, and then the oath wouldn't make him pay. So he did. He sent a letter in which he admitted in hints that he had bewitched Ginny as a joke and what it had led to. He couldn't rat out his masters, but his father would have to guess.

Walking down the corridor and heading from the owlery to the dungeons, Malfoy met Potter, who was walking slowly towards him. He was wobbly, and the Slytherin looked like a corpse by the colour of his skin. Without paying attention to him, Mephistopheles walked past him and headed for Gryffindor tower. He needed to see what was wrong with the diary. It was time to pay Tom Riddle a visit.