the Gambler

Today's weather is gray, and there is a torrential rain outside the window. Harry and Ron Hermione have just returned from Hagrid's place, so naturally they didn't bring Tom with them. To be honest, Harry has been a little slack in monitoring each other since the last incident. The task, Tom, was horrible, and no matter how gentle and considerate he was afterward, it couldn't erase the boy's unpleasant memories.

Harry tossed his hair, water splashed everywhere, and his trousers were also covered with muddy water, leaving mud marks on the clean floor.Mrs. Norris's yellow eyes rested on them, looking particularly smug, a haughty attitude that ended when it set its gaze on Harry.The cat seemed to recognize that the other party was one of the culprits that caused it to be petrified. It let out a miserable scream, turned around and ran to the depths of the corridor.Hermione eyed Harry suspiciously, who shrugged.

Harry found an abandoned classroom, took out the Marauder's Map from his pocket, and the three huddled together to find the name on it.Tom's figure seems to have disappeared from the castle. There are only two possibilities: one is that Tom really went out, and the other is that Tom stays in a place that is not marked on the map.

"It's impossible for him to get out? I mean he doesn't know the existence of the secret passage." Hermione looked at Harry expectantly, she was a little panicked, Tom has been haunting their nightmares, especially when Harry told She Tom nearly strangled himself later.

"I don't know, maybe we should go find them separately." Harry frowned. They had at least three places to look at now, and he didn't know how many places were not marked on the map.The secret passage under the Hogwarts castle, the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor, and the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, thinking of the last one made his heart pound with nervousness.Finding Tom in the Chamber of Secrets would not be a happy thing.Harry gave instructions to his friends: "Ron goes to the secret passage, Hermione goes to the Room of Requirement, and I go to the secret chamber."

"Are you sure you want to go to the Chamber of Secrets by yourself?" Hermione looked at Harry worriedly, "We can accompany you, it's too dangerous to be alone!"

"I don't think Tom would approve of me taking the two of you together." Harry grabbed the gold coin for DA contact in his hand, "Can you change the spell on it so that we can notify each other when we find Tom? Of course The good thing is that Garen, the only three of us, reacted."

Hermione drew her wand, her face serious, and there was a flash of white light, and the coin didn't seem to change, but Harry knew the magic had worked.Hermione said: "I think the idea of ​​selective communication is very good, just like the walkie-talkie is also divided into one-to-one and many-to-one functions, maybe I should consider changing everyone's gold coins, I have a hunch DA The army will still be active one day."

"I think so too." Harry replied firmly. After Dumbledore left, the safety of Hogwarts was greatly reduced. In any case, he had to find a way to bypass Umbridge's surveillance and start over again. Organizing DA activities can also be regarded as preparations for the upcoming battle.

Harry pushed open the door of the girls' bathroom. The mess inside was just as messy as he remembered. He could hear Myrtle crying from the innermost compartment. Harry cleared his throat on purpose. The sound was very loud. It was about to stop, but Myrtle didn't float to the boy's eyes as expected.Harry walked around the light yellow water stains on the ground, reached out and opened the mottled compartment door.Myrtle was sitting on the toilet, her eyes wide open as usual, but Harry felt something was wrong.

"Are you alright?"

Myrtle let out a mournful sob, and Harry saw her writhing as if trying to break free of something.But myrtle is a ghost, isn't it?It has no entity, so it should be impossible to trap ghosts?This was just normal thinking, Harry hadn't read as much as Hermione, and he wasn't sure if magic could trap ghosts in one place.

"Did something happen to you? Someone did this to you?" Harry asked cautiously, which only made Myrtle's cries louder, and he frowned. "Can I help you?"

Myrtle nodded hesitantly. Harry tried a few incantations in succession to no effect. He looked at the ghost in embarrassment: "I don't know what spell that man cast on you, maybe you can only find the solution if you know the spell." way, do you remember what he read?"

"Like a snake." Myrtle cried, and Harry's heart beat so violently that it was about to burst out of his chest. It was Tom, it was Tom who cast a curse on Myrtle, maybe he should follow Hermione's advice, he Now I feel like I can't move forward.damn it!Much safer here with Myrtle.

"Can you say Listop with that hiss?" Myrtle said suddenly, and Harry, bewildered by the question, nodded in bewilderment at the other's expectant gaze, flicked his wand, and Using Parseltongue still doesn't work.

"Maybe Parseltongue has a special way to break the spell, and it's not directly translated from Latin." Harry frowned, "Myrtle, has Tom gone into the Chamber of Secrets?" Looking at the ghost and nodding, Harry apologized Say, "I need to find him, you know he's dangerous, Dumbledore put me on surveillance duty, I hope you'll help me keep this a secret. Last but not least, I'm sorry I can't solve your problem, I Will try to persuade Tom as much as possible."

Harry slid down the dark tunnel to the pile of bones. He raised his wand, and the green fluorescent light illuminated the entire space. He walked carefully to the place leading to the secret room. There was no trace of Tom.Harry narrowed his eyes, and Myrtle said firmly that Tom was still down there. Could there be another passage here?He tried to say the word open in Parseltongue, and there was nothing in the empty environment.Harry decided to wait here for ten minutes and go straight back if he didn't see Tom.

It didn't take long for the boy to hear the sound of the stone statue spinning. He turned his eyes to the direction of the sound source, and there was a half-person-high hole at the position of Slytherin's eyeballs. Tom got out of it, and noticed the standing Harry next to the basilisk.His eyes turned cold instantly, and the wand in his hand emitted a red light, heading straight for Harry's chest. The latter hid behind the basilisk, and the huge impact made him realize that no matter what spell Riddle used , it must be powerful, and with the idea of ​​hurting Harry.It might even be the thought of killing himself, Harry couldn't help mocking himself, now it was Riddle and not Tom.

"I've been thinking, why did you know my name when we first met? Our age difference and discord made it impossible for you to recognize me when I was younger," Tom's voice was getting closer, Harry knew The boy was slowly approaching him, "Because you said that you killed the basilisk, I did some research and found that there are many reports about you that I am very interested in."

Harry swallowed.

"Oh, dear Harry, I don't mean the Daily Prophet stuff about your private life, in fact I was surprised to find that the year you first appeared in the paper happened to be the last year the paper was missing, which is true. Coincidentally. So I have a bold guess, you may have a lot to do with me in the future, and this is what Dumbledore tried to hide."

"I don't know what you're implying," Harry said, and he could hear Tom say another spell, and a red light flashed past his ear, and a puff of black smoke ignited on the ground not far away.Harry clutched his wand tightly to his chest, big beads of sweat forming on his brow.This time was different from the last confrontation with Tom in the diary. Riddle really existed, and he didn't have any tools on hand that could indirectly destroy the other party.

"Don't try to feed me your flawed lies." The temperature in Tom's voice dropped several degrees, and Harry shivered involuntarily. He saw through the puddles on the ground that Tom was slowly walking towards his hiding place. .Harry moved in the opposite direction under the cover of the basilisk corpse.

"Come out. Not so brave, Potter?" Tom's provocation was exactly the same as Voldemort's in the cemetery. The handsome boy in Harry's mind was instantly replaced by a terrifying snake face, as if someone had ripped off his last sanity. Harry jumped out of hiding, and a 'petrified everything' hit Tom beside him.

Tom burst out laughing. "Dumbledore taught you to use such a simple spell on me? Should I feel insulted?"

"Shut up!" Harry dodged Tom's curse, lowered his body and threw himself at the opponent, who quickly raised the barrier, and the tip of the wand flashed another red light.Harry was throwing an 'obstacle' towards the barrier, using the recoil of the shield to stop himself, leaning back to avoid the spell's attack.As soon as his back touched the ground, Harry quickly rolled his body and hid aside. Sure enough, the stone slab was shattered by the spell at the place where it should have landed, and the sharp debris scraped across Harry's cheek, leaving a bloodstain.Harry waved his wand at the waterway next to him, and a huge curtain of water was between them. He cast a freezing spell to turn the liquid into a solid wall, while Tom cast a burning spell towards the ice wall, and the dragon slowly drilled into it. Through the ice wall, the air is filled with scorching water vapor.

The red light quickly penetrated through the mist, Harry hid behind the basilisk again, and waited for about 3 minutes, neither of them moved until the mist slowly dissipated and the entire field of vision became clear again.Tom walked slowly to the other side of the basilisk.

"Why don't you come out, Potter? Don't you want to know what I found?"

Harry didn't speak, he was very nervous now, the spells Tom cast just now were obviously black spells.

"I know what I am, I've read all the papers for 50 years, there's no Tom, there's no Marvolo, there's no Riddle, there's no Voldemort, it's like I don't exist, it's funny and indirect Confirmed my suspicions." Tom smiled and threw a stack of newspapers over the basilisk corpse in front of Harry, but the boy made no move to pick them up.

"I'm not going to kill you, not yet," Tom continued.

"Do you think I will believe you?" Harry's anger had already begun to overflow his chest. He slowly got up and walked in front of Tom. Sure enough, the other party's wand was also pointed at him. Never disconnected.

Tom's eyes were as cold as diamonds, as if they were about to slit Harry's skin: "We are not on the same side, dear savior. That is the truth that Dumbledore tried so hard to hide. But no, that is not the ultimate truth."

"So what?" said Harry, "You want to kill me now to make a point?"

Tom burst out laughing. "No, I said I wouldn't kill you now."

"That's not what you did just now." Harry narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what tricks the other party was playing.

"I think you are wonderful, like an unsolved mystery that fascinates me." Tom said, "Besides, this is a problem between me and you in the future, not me now. If you can't escape the curse just now , Your existence itself has no value."

"I'm not funny at all, and don't you think Enigma is more suitable for your name-Riddle?" Harry retorted. "Besides, my worth is not determined by you."

Tom dismissed the dissatisfaction caused by mentioning his surname indifferently, and showed Harry a charming smile, but there was no smile in his eyes: "You are my soul mate, so naturally I am the most qualified to decide. Besides, Really interesting people deny it, especially if they have secrets to protect." His eyes were as cold as vipers, "What are you hiding, Harry?"

ha!Now it's Harry again?The green-eyed boy snorted coldly in his heart.

"I have nothing to hide." Harry tried to maintain a calm expression, and the corners of his mouth twitched at Tom's hint.

The handsome boy who didn't bite the hook at all let out a melodious laugh. He leaned over to Harry's ear with his wands pressed against each other, and said in the sweet tone of a lover's love: "Oh, don't worry, dear Harry, I'll slowly pry your pretty little head open."