Chapter 171 - 170 — The Diary Is Lost

Chapter 171: Chapter 170 — The Diary Is Lost

# Chapter 170 — The Diary Is Lost

The news that Vesey’s potion had been successfully developed spread throughout almost the entire wizarding world.

Because of the vampire attack that had occurred earlier, many people already knew who Vesey was.

Back then, however, she had entered the public consciousness as a heroic figure who had been willing to sacrifice herself.

Now, she had become a genius in potion-making.

In fact, even calling her a potion genius seemed insufficient. None of the current potion masters had managed to create a potion like this at such a young age.

And with the potion’s appearance, the threat posed by vampires had immediately diminished. From then on, wizards would no longer need to fear being bitten by vampires, who could finally become ordinary members of society.

The vampires themselves celebrated the birth of the potion.

They could now walk openly among other people, savour their favourite foods, and kiss the people they loved.

Given Vesey’s contributions, everyone began speculating about what kind of medal she would receive.

Most people believed she would undoubtedly be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. However, according to insiders, the current Minister of Magic, Piers Thicknesse, intended to award Vesey only the Order of Merlin, Second Class.

Apparently, he believed her achievements weren’t yet sufficient to justify the highest honour.

Of course, these were merely rumours.

Piers Thicknesse denied them during an interview with the *Daily Prophet*.

He said that he greatly admired girls like Vesey and even expressed his hope that she would work at the Ministry of Magic after graduation.

When asked about Vesey’s specific reward, he remained vague, explaining that the matter still needed to be discussed and that the relevant parties would have to sit down together to reach an agreement.

This prompted further speculation.

Many people suspected that Thicknesse wanted Vesey to declare her allegiance.

If she openly sided with the Ministry of Magic, she would receive the Order of Merlin, First Class. If she continued to stand with Dumbledore, she might not receive that honour.

In reality, however, none of this had much to do with Vesey.

Life at Hogwarts remained peaceful, and Dumbledore had blocked all attempts to conduct interviews on school grounds.

He refused to allow reporters into the castle.

Nevertheless, Vesey still received written interview requests asking whether she intended to join the Ministry of Magic after graduation.

She pretended not to understand what they were getting at and handed everything over to Dumbledore.

She simply said that she would follow Harry wherever he went because she wanted to stay with her brother.

What a joke.

Was she supposed to follow the same path as Piers Thicknesse and become another expendable pawn?

Dumbledore made no comment on her statement. However, from that day onward, not a single interview request reached Vesey’s hands.

During the Easter holidays, the second-year students were given a new task.

They had to choose their courses for third year.

Although Vesey was somewhat reluctant to exhaust herself, she also wanted to get her hands on Time-Turner. After gritting her teeth, she simply followed Hermione’s example and signed up for every available course.

Harry and Ron were deeply impressed by both Vesey and Hermione.

Hermione herself was rather pleased, too.

Only Snape looked helpless when he saw Vesey’s course selection form.

"You don’t need to push yourself so hard. Take it easy. You’re already doing very well."

Vesey knew that Snape was worried she was studying so relentlessly because she wanted to become stronger.

She sighed inwardly.

If she hadn’t been planning to use Time-Turner, why would she have worked so hard?

But, in the end, she wasn’t really working that hard at all.

She didn’t need to spend every day buried in books. Once she’d finished her homework, she could spend the rest of her time playing to her heart’s content.

Harry and the others took much longer to finish their assignments because they didn’t understand many of the questions.

Vesey, on the other hand, understood practically everything. Whether it was applying what she’d learned to new problems, drawing conclusions from examples, or writing essays, she could finish everything quickly as long as she worked fast.

Hermione and the others were constantly astonished by Vesey’s speed.

Hermione, in particular, began studying even harder because of it.

In her eyes, Vesey was already a genius, yet she still worked so diligently. Hermione felt that, given her own abilities, she had even more reason to put in extra effort.

As for Harry and Ron, they simply picked a few new courses at random.

They believed that no matter which subjects they chose, Vesey would be there to help them.

Unless Vesey herself dropped a course.

But if she did, that subject must be particularly terrible.

In that case, they would drop it too.

Percy was somewhat dissatisfied with their careless attitude.

He earnestly advised them to choose their courses according to their future career plans and to focus on subjects they were good at.

Harry could only smile bitterly at that.

The problem was that the only thing he considered himself good at was Quidditch.

Unfortunately, Hogwarts didn’t offer it as a separate academic subject.

What a tragic situation.

Speaking of Quidditch, Gryffindor’s next match was against Hufflepuff.

Wood insisted that the team attend training every evening.

After Harry’s success in the previous match, everyone had tremendous confidence in him.

Harry himself felt that he’d never been so certain of winning a match in his entire life.

On Saturday, after happily returning to the common room, Harry ran into a visibly anxious Neville.

"Harry, I don’t know who did it, but when I came in, I found..."

Neville pointed toward the dormitory.

Harry immediately had a bad feeling.

He hurried inside.

Something had happened. Or rather...

When he reached the dormitory and saw the mess, with everything tossed about, he immediately understood what the intruder had been searching for.

It was the diary he’d found.

There could be no other explanation.

After putting his belongings back in order, Harry became even more certain.

He’d been busy training over the past few days, so he’d left the diary in the dormitory.

Now it was gone.

"Except for Vesey, only Gryffindors know the password to our common room. That means it must have been one of our own!"

Harry told Ron and Hermione what had happened.

Hermione calmly agreed with his reasoning.

Harry and Ron thought so too.

What they couldn’t figure out was who had stolen the diary, or why.

Did that person also want to discover the secret of opening the Chamber of Secrets? Or were they trying to destroy the diary?

The following morning, after breakfast, Vesey went to find Harry.

As a devoted little sister, she naturally wanted to cheer her brother on before his Quidditch match.

That was how she learned that Harry had lost the diary.

"I’m not worried if someone wants to destroy it. What worries me is this: what might they do if they discover what the diary really is?"

Harry had no answer.

He repeatedly scrutinised his fellow Gryffindors, casting suspicious glances at everyone. He desperately wanted to identify the culprit immediately.

"Forget it. Let’s play Quidditch first. We can deal with this after the match!"

Ron reminded him.

Harry could only nod.

The four of them then left the Great Hall together.

As they passed through a particular corridor, Harry heard that familiar voice again.

"Tear you apart... Kill you..."

"Brother, did you hear that?"

Vesey was the first to ask.

Harry looked at her in surprise.

Vesey’s expression turned solemn.

"I think I might know what that thing is!"

Harry and the others nearly jumped out of their skins.

She knew what it was?

Their expressions were so comical that Vesey almost burst out laughing.

But she managed to hold it back.

After all, this was a serious matter.

In a grave voice, she said, "Brother, have you forgotten what language we can speak?"

"Parseltongue!" Hermione blurted out.