Forty-nine years

After learning that it was a dark artifact, Barnaby handled it with much more care. He didn't even touch it, instead, he placed it in a leather bag to take it with him and try to understand how it had ended up there.

A teacher would have handed the black diary over to the headmaster, but Barnaby knew that if he did that, he could forget about knowing how the matter would continue and would probably be isolated from any updates.

Perhaps the next day, Dumbledore would pretend he had no idea which diary Barnaby was talking about; it wouldn't be the first time he had used this tactic…

It didn't take long for Barnaby to discover that the artifact communicated through writing that would vanish, only to return with a response. After making sure that the fragment of the soul could neither see around nor affect him, he tricked it into believing he was a first-year Ravenclaw student to extract information from it.

"Is your name Tom Riddle?"

Barnaby could swear he had heard that name from his father when he was a child, usually when his father had drunk a little too much at the Three Broomsticks. But since he wasn't sure, he searched and reviewed the year of his graduation with the help of Frieren among the documents in the library, where copies were often kept so students could see their parents' notable achievements from their youth.

It was somewhat similar to the trophy room, but in paper form and with some enchanted pictures.

"A graduate from forty-nine years ago?" Barnaby was surprised by his findings. "No wonder my father mentioned him; it's from the same era when he was expelled from the castle for being suspicious."

But the point that caught his attention was, at that age, had he already separated a piece of his soul using dark magic?

It seemed much more likely that Myrtle's death was related to this student than to his father.

"Barnaby," Frieren called out, shaking a rolled-up parchment in her hand. "I think you'll be interested in what I found. According to this record, Tom Riddle returned to Hogwarts a few years later to try and become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher but was flatly rejected by Dumbledore. The reasons: unknown."

"Why do you think this is interesting?" Barnaby doubted. "Many people apply each year for different subjects, but in the end, they can only hope someone retires; one more doesn't make a difference."

"Hmm-hmm," Frieren raised her chin and put on a "I'm amazing, and you know it" smile while pulling another teaching record from the shelf she was reviewing. "The point is that his rejection coincides with the appearance of the curse on the same position. Look at this, no one has taught that subject for even a whole year since then. And as you told me…"

"It was Voldemort who cursed the position years ago," Barnaby continued, making the connection. "Then, Voldemort's real name is actually Tom Riddle?!"

Did he have Voldemort's diary in his hands?

Well, that confirms it; that guy was definitely the true culprit of everything and was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets then but incriminated someone else to escape the blame.

And it was very likely that the black diary was the reason the chamber reopened, but he still didn't know how that dark artifact had ended up at the school.

"Hmm? Frieren, is this correct?" Barnaby pointed to a specific piece of information about Tom Riddle on the parchment.

"Let's see… Yes, it's legitimate," Frieren confirmed with a glance, ensuring there were no alterations to the original document. "Although there are no details about his family, Tom Riddle's invitation letter confirms he was a half-blood brought from an orphanage."

"And so many people followed him while he was promoting pure-blood superiority…" Barnaby had to hold back from bursting into incredulous laughter. "Didn't the Death Eaters of that time even do a basic background check on their leader?"

"Maybe they tried sending someone, but Voldemort made sure they never returned, which dissuaded them," Frieren suggested while making copies of the documents and handing them to Barnaby in a folder. "From what I've read about this guy, he didn't have much charisma. Instead, he used a false background, some money, fear, and cruelty as his means. But seeing his trajectory and actions, his methods were pretty pathetic. He seems more like a child throwing a tantrum with power than a true 'dark lord' as they liked to call him."

Barnaby took the folder and after thanking Frieren for her help, returned to the cabin while pondering these new discoveries, but realized that the door was open and dented as if someone had attacked it with a blunt spell.

"Barnaby!" Calcifer warned him as soon as he saw him. "A student covered in a large cloak broke into the cabin and took that black diary a few minutes ago. I couldn't see them, but by their height and figure, it's definitely someone from third year or younger!"

"Damn it! They really picked the worst time," Barnaby cursed under his breath.

He had sent Sanshi for some herbs he needed in the Forbidden Forest, and there was no one else in the cabin but Calcifer, who couldn't act against intruders and could only pretend to be an ordinary fire while monitoring the thief's actions.

"Did they take anything else?" he asked, worried about his belongings.

"No," Calcifer denied. "It seems they knew exactly what they wanted! They broke in and after seeing the diary on the table, grabbed it, put it in their cloak, and ran back without caring about anything else."

"I see," said Barnaby while fixing the door with magic.

It seems whoever it was realized something was wrong with the black diary and tried to flush it down the toilet in the second-floor bathroom.

Was this person scared of the consequences and wanted to get rid of everything to escape unscathed?

Maybe they thought that if everything disappeared, people would forget, and they could hide it forever. After all, the victims could be cured.

It's really as Calcifer said, that's the mentality of a child. So, it's definitely someone in their first or second year at most. It was also more likely to be a female student than a male one, considering the place where they wanted to destroy the diary, but that's not really exclusive.

Maybe it was a male student and they just wanted to divert attention from themselves.

It's possible that when he was tracking the Polyjuice Potion, he realized it was nearby and hid, watching as the diary was taken. Later, he monitored them and when he confirmed they went to the castle, he took the opportunity to break into the cabin and retrieve it.

"But, if they know something was wrong with the diary, why would they want to retrieve it?" Barnaby pondered as he sat on the couch, feeling that something didn't add up. "Wait, maybe they didn't really want to retrieve it? At least, not of their own free will. That person could be controlled by the diary somehow or was afraid something might happen to me if I interacted with the dark artifact."

In any case, the problem was that the diary had returned to the castle and Barnaby didn't know what would happen next.

"The only positive thing is that now I know what creature is responsible," he consoled himself as he got up to grab a handful of rock cakes to eat.

If there was one thing the heirs of Slytherin loved, it was snakes.

And it just so happened that there was a type of snake capable of great longevity and had a way of petrifying people, if not killing them outright.

A basilisk.

It also explained why someone would commit a massacre in their chicken coop.