Chapter 268: Long time no see, Tom (Edited)

"Harry!" Ron rushed up from behind, grabbed his friend by the collar, lowered his voice and asked with a playful expression, "What's wrong with you lately?"

"What, what's wrong?"

Harry looked away with a guilty conscience.

"What have you been doing, spying on Ginny lately?"

Ron grinned like a fox that had stolen a chicken, Harry's level of surveillance was so bad that almost every Gryffindor student, not to mention Ron, had noticed something unusual about Harry lately, and even Ginny knew all about it.

Especially now that it was the Easter vacations and there were no classes, Harry was hanging around Ginny so much that it was obvious even to someone as slow as Neville.

Ron was glad that his best friend was becoming his brother-in-law, and not just him, but Percy and the twins as well.

Not only because of Harry's relationship with his family, and the prestigious title, but also because they knew that Ginny had always looked up to Harry.

"I suggest you go straight to Ginny and confess to her, she's been talking about you since before you came to Hogwarts" Ron kept insisting, "If you go and confess to her, you will definitely succeed."

He then looked around as if he were a thief, then put his palm next to his mouth and leaned close to Harry's ear and said mysteriously, "And here's a secret, that card you got for Valentine's Day was actually from Ginny, Fred found out from Ginny's flatmate Shirley."

Harry, who had looked embarrassed, blanched.

No wonder the twins had been singing that song in front of him and Ginny for a while now, and Snape had deducted fifty points from both of them for it....

I have to say, Ginny's writing skills could use some work.

Shaking his head and pushing those thoughts aside, Harry waved his hands and incoherently explained, "No, you've got it wrong, I don't like Ginny, no, I still like her, just not as much."

As Ron's best friend, Harry had always treated Ginny like a sister and the subject of romance had never been considered.

"You don't like Ginny, so what are you doing looking at her day after day?"

Ron frowned, even though Harry was a dear friend and brother, Ron wouldn't leave him alone if he hurt his sister's feelings.

"Uh..."

Harry couldn't say anything about Voldemort controlling Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets at that moment, even if Ron was Ginny's brother, so he was stuck for a moment, stumbling over what excuse to make.

"In short, you've misunderstood, I don't have that kind of idea about Ginny."

Not coming up with a reasonable explanation, Harry didn't bother to explain.

Ron looked at Harry with a frown, suspecting that he was embarrassed and that was why he wouldn't admit it.... He took Harry's flushed face as a reaction to his shyness.

But Harry's serious look didn't seem to be lying.

Ron's head hurt a little now.

He had only intended to provoke his friend with a few words, but it turned out that things weren't exactly what he had imagined... and he couldn't meddle too much in such emotional matters, even as Ginny's own brother.

Ron didn't want to think about it, but he tightened his arm around Harry's neck and threatened, "I don't care what you think, but don't make Ginny sad, or I won't let you go!"

Harry could only show a bitter smile, he had no idea how it had come to this, He felt that if the vigilance continued, the misunderstanding would get worse....

He didn't know if Professor Dumbledore and the others had caught Voldemort or not.

The next day, Harry abandoned the mission, probably because he found that his surveillance had been too thorough, so that Voldemort, who was hiding somewhere, would not find out.

On the other hand, Fish would go to Dumbledore's office to talk to Riddle from time to time, as planned.

Due to Fish's catlike and vicious nature, Riddle found it very difficult to get him to feel negative emotions, not to mention that the little cat was ready for it.

So after a few tries, Riddle had given up on drawing power from Fish, and now he just wanted to get rid of the troublesome wizard before Mrs. Norris woke up.

So he pinned his hope on the "search for clues from the Chamber of Secrets."

Then Riddle started luring Fish into dangerous things, like....

Convincing him to go into the Forbidden Forest, the territory of some dangerous creatures, to find clues....

Then Fish informed him that the places he mentioned were all Fish's good friends. The cat had been there countless times, and there were no clues to the Chamber of Secrets there at all.

Voldemort was not discouraged, as he was prepared for this.

After all, Fish's strength was enough to defeat the basilisk and the Acromantulas, and the fact that he had learned from Ginny that his future self had fought Fish in the Forbidden Forest proved that Fish was capable of moving through the Forbidden Forest.

He just didn't expect that, with the exception of unicorns, the other magical creatures without good tempers wouldn't harm Fish.

Had he not been so pressed for time, Voldemort would have wanted to get his hands on Fish's power.

His first plan had failed, but no matter, he had other plans.

So Riddle encouraged Fish to approach the Boxing Willow....

As a result, Fish told him that there was a passage under the Boxing Willow, but it led to an abandoned cottage in Hogsmeade village, and that the monster from the Chamber of Secrets was not there.

He also told Riddle about the time Ron and Harry had hit the Boxing Willow with their car earlier in the term and had treated it.

Riddle was even more impressed by Fish's power, and also by the fact that he could get away with it.

But no matter, he had a trick up his sleeve.

Since animals and plants would not harm Fish easily, he would seek out the dark artifacts to take care of the little wizard.

Without giving up, Riddle again suggested to Fish that he could sneak into the Forbidden Zone and look at some books that might contain clues to the Chamber of Secrets, but, of course, the books he mentioned were so dangerous that one could get hurt or even die.

But the kitten refused....

Because he didn't like to read.

Voldemort was about to go mad for Fish.

At that moment, Dumbledore came to add fuel to the fire by asking Fish to reveal to Voldemort that the mandrake was about to ripen.

The kitten made no secret that his enthusiasm for seeking out the Chamber of Secrets was fading fast...and that he would be asking Norris for information on the Chamber of Secrets monster anyway.

Under these circumstances, Voldemort finally made an unwise decision.

He began to carefully induce Fish to search for and touch the relics of the Four Founders, for it was his plan to collect them and turn them into Horcruxes.

If his plan was successful, he would have the opportunity to join the other Horcruxes and take control of Fish.

Riddle was confident that he could obtain the relics of the Four Founders, but the key was whether they were kept at Hogwarts.

It was highly unlikely, but at that point, Riddle had no choice but to try.

He had hexed it so stealthily that even if he was discovered, Fish, with his big personality, probably wouldn't care, and would only hit the diary at most.

As Riddle was thinking this, a strange, but memorable, writing appeared in the diary: [Long time no see, Tom].

[Dumbledore!]