HP/LOTM: Hogwart's Mind Dragon

As the Polyjuice Potion wore off, Harry and Ron quickly reverted to their original forms. They jogged back to the second-floor girls' bathroom.

"Hermione!" they called, knocking on her stall door. "We have so much to tell you!"

"Go away!" a muffled, choked voice replied.

Moaning Myrtle's ghostly head popped out from the stall door. "You should go and see," she wailed. "It's truly awful!"

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked, preparing to push the door open.

"She might not be," a pleasant boy's voice said from behind them.

"Ah!" Harry and Ron yelped, startled. They spun around to see two figures standing in the shadows. It was Aiden and Arsesi.

"Aiden? Arsesi?" Harry asked, confused.

"I seem to have found someone in trouble," Aiden said with a calm smile, "so I brought a helper along." He gestured to Arsesi, who was holding a large, dark cloak. She walked into Hermione's stall and wrapped it around her.

"Wait," Hermione's voice came from within the cloak, full of disbelief and accusation. "Did you know all along that I would drink Polyjuice Potion with cat hair in it?"

"I was the one who found out," Arsesi explained, giving Aiden, who was holding up his monocle and taking pictures, a swift kick. "I saw you taking Millicent Bulstrode's hair at the feast. When I got back to the common room, I saw Millicent with her cat. I guessed you must have taken the cat's hair by mistake, so I notified Aiden."

"Ahem," Aiden coughed, hiding his monocle. "Well, it's just a mistaken transformation. It's not a big problem. Madam Pomfrey can fix it. Let's take Hermione to the Hospital Wing." He took out his wand and cast a Disillusionment Charm on Hermione.

Ron looked at Aiden expectantly. "What about us?" he asked.

"My dear brother," Aiden said with a deadpan expression, "why do you need to be invisible? You don't have cat fur growing on your face."

The group took Hermione to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey lifted the cloak and sighed heavily at the sight of a huge, furry cat head.

"Oh, you naughty young wizards," she reprimanded, her hands on her hips. "Why can't you just listen to the warnings in the textbooks? You are already the twentieth student I've treated for adding animal hair to a Polyjuice Potion since I started working here." Hermione lowered her head in shame. Seeing her like this, Madam Pomfrey didn't make things too difficult. She took out a bottle of potion and poured it down Hermione's throat. "This is a recovery potion I developed for just such situations. The remaining Polyjuice Potion in your body will be... ejected... in the form of hairballs. You'll recover after."

The scene was about to get rather unpleasant, so Aiden and Arsesi quickly left the Hospital Wing. As they were walking back to their dormitories, the curfew bell suddenly rang.

"Looks like we're going to break the rules," Aiden said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, a good opportunity to wander around this mysterious castle," Arsesi suggested with a grin.

Aiden pulled her into a shared blind spot in their consciousness, and they began to wander aimlessly through the moonlit corridors of Hogwarts. But the peace was soon broken by the sight of a young wizard clutching a black notebook, hurrying down the hall. His anxious energy attracted the attention of the two invisible observers, who found something fun to watch and began to follow.

The hurried wizard didn't notice them trailing behind him as he anxiously made his way to the second-floor girls' bathroom. The dim light illuminated his face. It was Ernie Macmillan.

"You're not my friend, Tom," Ernie whispered to the diary, his voice shaking. "I can feel you controlling me. Why are you making me spread so many rumors about Harry?" The diary trembled slightly in his hands, as if responding to him.

In their conscious blind spot, two spectators were casually chatting.

"Oh, are Gryffindor's students so pitiful now that they have to be friends with a notebook?" Arsesi whispered, thoroughly enjoying the drama.

"Such things are rare," Aiden replied. "And did you see that notebook?"

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, confused. "Isn't it just an old diary?"

"No," Aiden said, his voice dropping. "That is Lord Voldemort's secret to immortality. An evil, Dark Arts item." He told her the truth about Horcruxes.

"You mean... Vol... Lord Voldemort?" Arsesi still couldn't say the name smoothly. A deep, instinctual fear seemed to rise up whenever she tried.

"Even you can't say his name directly?" Aiden asked, a little curious.

"I just... I feel a sudden fear when I try," she frowned.

"That's very interesting," Aiden mused, stroking his chin. "If I can ever catch him, I'll have to study that particular charm."

Inside the bathroom, Ernie's solo performance was coming to an end. "No!" he cried. "I can't go on like this anymore! I want to break up with you, Tom!" He raised the black diary and threw it hard onto the floor. Then he turned and ran out of the bathroom, leaving only the two invisible spectators behind.

Aiden stepped forward and picked up the diary, opening it to take a look. "It doesn't seem to be anything special," Arsesi commented.

"That's because you're still viewing it from a realistic perspective," Aiden replied. In his eyes, from the perspective of the sea of consciousness, the diary was not a book but a roiling island of flowing magma. Dark, sulfurous smoke rose from it instead of dream bubbles, and the tormented souls of the unjustly dead could be seen roaring within.

"It's still just a diary," Aiden said, closing the cover. 'Who in their right mind writes in a diary?' he muttered to himself.

'Who would write their innermost thoughts in a diary?' the System echoed in his mind.

'Can something be called an innermost thought if it's written down?' Aiden smirked.

[Despicable.]

'Hmph.'

"What's wrong with you?" Arsesi asked, snapping him out of his internal conversation. "Why are you suddenly laughing to yourself?"

"No, it's nothing," Aiden said, placing the diary back on the floor. "Let's just leave this here. Don't touch it. It's very dangerous."

"Okay, I know," she said, winking at him. "Why are you as long-winded as my father? And besides, we're both educated. We don't believe in things that can control your mind." She cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself and left the bathroom.

"Professor," Aiden said to the empty room after Arsesi had gone. "Come out."

"Good evening, Mr. Prewett," a stern voice replied. Professor McGonagall walked out from behind one of the stalls.

Aiden was stunned for a moment. "Ahem, it's you, Professor McGonagall. I thought it was the headmaster. Well, you go ahead. I'm going back to bed." He prepared to turn and run.

"Stop, Mr. Prewett," she commanded. "This time, as an exception, I will not deduct points. But you will tell me what this is. And why Albus told me to keep an eye on any student who might get it." She looked at him sternly, hoping to break through his defenses, but it was no use.

"Didn't the headmaster tell you?" Aiden asked, genuinely curious.

"Him? He's mysterious all day long, pretending to be some kind of wise old sage. Do you know that I've been handling the actual school affairs for all these years, and also—oh, no, I've lost my composure. Let's talk about this notebook." She had just opened the floodgates of her frustration, but her good breeding made her instantly hold it back and bring the topic back on track.

"This," Aiden said simply, "is one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes."

"You-Know-Who?!" Professor McGonagall was first shocked, then confused. "A Horcrux? The name sounds vaguely familiar."

"It's an evil piece of magic," Aiden reminded her. "It splits the soul through murder to achieve a form of resurrection."

"I remember," she breathed, her face pale with horror. "Albus... he... how could he put such a dangerous thing in the school?" She was about to pick up the diary and go to the Headmaster's Office to vent years of accumulated frustration. "Wait, Mr. Prewett," she said, her sharp eyes fixing on him. "How do you have such a detailed understanding of this?"

"Well," Aiden said, pointing to his eyes, "you know the Prewett family once fought against him."

Professor McGonagall nodded slowly, accepting the explanation, and let Aiden leave.

(End of Chapter)

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