Chapter 16. The Locked Diary
A deathly silence fell over the dorm room, everyone frozen in shock.
I shook out my hand, it throbbed from the force I had used to punch Sawyer.
Talking about Sawyer, the bastard was out cold on the ground.
It would add up that Wizards were physically incompetent, especially rich spoiled Wizards like Sawyer.
No one said anything to me and I returned the favor.
I just calmly got on my bed and drew the drapes again.
That was immensely satisfying.
I knew that using violence was only going to escalate things for me but I didn't particularly care, I could do whatever I wanted now.
For the past two weeks, I'd been living the life of someone else, but not anymore.
I got comfortable on my bed and I pulled out my stat board again.
=========
[Audric Albeline]
<SP: 435>
<Health: 97/100>
+ Physical Stats
[Strength: 70/100]
[Stamina: 65/100]
[Speed: 60/100]
+ Non-Physical Stats
[Magical Power: 70/100]
- Sub-stats
[Charms: 80/100]
[Dark Charms: 50/100]
[Knowledge: 89/100]
- Sub-stats
[Intelligence: 70/100]
[Information: 90/100]
+ Skills
[Animagus - -]
<Locked> this feature can be unlocked with 500 SP
[Legilimency - -]
<Locked> this feature can be unlocked with 500 SP
[Bloodline Magic - -]
<Locked> this feature can be unlocked with 2000 SP
=========
All my spell practice on the Hogwarts Express had paid off because my MP had improved as well as its substats.
Dark Charms hadn't budged an inch though but that was fine, I had enough time to study and practice it.
That was unexpected, wasn't it?
I was impartial when it came to power, every kind of power was useful as long as you could control it.
I would work as hard on my Dark Charms stat as I did on Charms, I wasn't leaving a loophole for the bad guys to get me with.
'Besides, power is subjective'.
Good magic could be used for evil, and vice versa.
I still had to gather more information.
I wanted to get to the top of the Wizarding world but to do that I had to make a plan.
Good plans were impossible to map out without the proper information provided.
It might have come in handy if the system downloaded the previous occupants' memories into my brain but the more time I spent living this new life, the more I doubted it.
The previous occupant clearly had a lot of information withheld from him. He was just a sad dude who was hated even by those he moved with.
His memories coming with his emotions would have been a hindrance as well.
I already had enough limitations, I didn't want more.
Whatever information I needed, I would have to get it myself.
Talking about information, there was still the locked diary.
I didn't care about the rest of my dorm mates, nor was I concerned about what they were doing.
I got down from my bed to grab the diary, the noise outside had completely died down.
It seemed like Sawyer had recovered because I could see him lying on his bed with Blythe and Crawley hovering over him.
Everyone else had retired to their beds, lights out couldn't be that far behind.
I got out the diary and got on my bed again.
I had thought of an idea on how to open it. By using the Unlocking Spell 'Alohomora'.
I lifted the diary and waved my wand at it.
"Alohomora!"
It was quiet enough for me to hear the lock clicking open.
"Heck yeah!" I whispered to myself.
I had been half-expecting it to not work but I guess I got lucky.
It was already dim enough in the dorm room and I had closed up the drapes on my four-poster bed, I could barely see.
There was a spell for that too, Magic came in real handy.
I just started using it a couple of hours ago but I couldn't imagine how I survived without it before.
"Lumos!" I chanted, using the wand-lighting spell.
The tip of my wand emitted a white light bright enough for me to comfortably read the words on the first page of the diary.
It started without preamble…
- - - - - 'September 1st 1993'
I'm going to Hogwarts today. Echo is coming with me.
Mother is sad again today and Amalia refused to let me sit with her on the train.
Father said he'll lock me up in the dungeons if I fail my first year.
There was a ruckus on the train and a dementor was coming in my direction but Hazel pulled me out of the way.
Hazel is very pretty, she was so kind and smelled nice… - - - - -
The rest of the page was filled up with Hazel. It was all Hazel this, Hazel that.
I made a face, it added up that he would become obsessed with the first person that showed him just a little bit of kindness.
But it was a little over the top even for an obsession, his family had only gotten one line each but the rest of the page was filled with paragraphs on paragraphs of Hazel.
I found out after scanning the rest of the page… I wasn't about to read through a little boy's private thoughts.
Well, I already was but I could spare him some pride by looking away from the places he professed love endlessly.
Apparently, she left him right after helping him get back to his compartment. They didn't even spend up to five minutes together.
I flipped to the next page, hoping to find even a little bit more useful information.
- - - - - 'September 2nd 1993'
Sawyer is still mean, Blythe and Crawley are ugly idiots but they are strong.
Sawyer says I have to do what he says. If I don't, he makes Blythe and Crawley hold me down and punches me in the side where no one sees.
No one talks to me, they all try to trip me in the hallways and never want to partner up with me in class. - - - - -
I was relieved that there was no mention of Hazel but I had been too quick to celebrate.
The rest of the page was all about Hazel once again.
The previous occupant was kind of creepy, he stalked the poor girl, constantly sneakily staring at her.
I flipped to the next page.
- - - - - ' November 1st 1993'
Now the diary had jumped two whole months.
Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts and we all had to sleep in the Great Hall.
Sawyer, Blythe, and Crawley talk constantly about how Sirius broke out of Azkaban.
I could see Hazel from where our sleeping bags were, she was with that weasel Witter… - - - - -
It seemed like there was a new character, Witter.
If I could make a guess, I would say Witter was the dude sitting beside Hazel back at the Start of Term feast.
Now I was starting to understand why the only person that had rung a bell was Hazel.
Even the system couldn't stop the memories and a little of the emotion he felt for her from getting to me.
Again, I was grateful I didn't get the memories from the previous owner because it would have definitely impaired my judgment.
Dealing with Hazel would be slightly difficult because I couldn't help but be biased when it came to her.
I flipped through the rest of the diary which was inconsistent and untrustworthy.
It didn't seem like the previous occupant even cared about what was going on around him.
As the diary progressed through the years, it showed how his relationship with his parents worsened.
He was also stuck in a hate-dependent relationship with Sawyer and his goons.
Hazel still didn't notice him and his grades were almost sinking.
Hell, he was just like me but ten times worse, I'm honestly surprised that he wasn't suicidal.
His family wasn't directly involved with the Death Eaters or maybe they just hid it well because other than a further decline in their reputations, they weren't directly involved in any of the battles.
They were clearly rooting for Voldemort though and if he had won, they would have joined the new regime without thinking twice.
It would explain why no one felt remorse for him and what had happened to his family.
Unfortunately, that piece of crumpled-up paper that had fallen out of the diary was the only page that showed any sort of direct information concerning the Death Eaters that survived after Voldemort went down.
It had been ripped from a page in the diary and no doubt crumpled up when he found out that his father had failed the mission.
I could picture how it had gone down, I doubted that Osmond Albeline would directly tell his son about something as important as the mission so he must have overheard it.
And then he had written down what little he heard.
Definitely, if his father was going to climb up the ladder of power, it was easy to hope that his relationship with his father would improve after that happened.
He could also get some leverage over Sawyer, it sounded like a sweet deal indeed.
It was also really sad.
His dad most likely took out his rage on him which made him rip out that page and crumple it in anguish.
Then mere days later they were all ambushed and brutally killed off.
Well, well, I was given quite the backstory.