31 October 1992, Hogwarts
His encounter with Riddle had really rattled him, but he needed to steel himself and continue his investigation. After all, the man had thrown the gauntlet, and Harry hadn't had a challenge in a long time. For all his reservations, the Potter knew one thing for certain. This year is definitely not going to be boring.
It was Samhain and Riddle still hasn't done anything so far. And yet Harry knew that things were going to start heating up soon. After all, using an important date like today to make his 'debut' was in the older boy's wheelhouse. Plus, the symbolism would make that date attractive. While people would be celebrating Voldemort's presumed death, his younger self would start his crusade, whatever that might be.
Harry couldn't stop him, not now at least. The fact that Riddle had promised only to petrify students, while probably true, didn't reassure him at all. After all, the boy had made mistakes before, and poor Myrtle was the one who paid the price.
Sure, the Potter scion remade him runic stone out of stubbornness. He put it exactly in the same place and he knew that Riddle would check first. However, instead of using it as a detection method, he used it as a trap instead. Instead of it just sending a pulse to Harry whenever it moved, it was also connected to another hidden rune stone. Harry had dug a small hole in the floor of the bathroom, where he hid his second stone. The stone near the entrance would send a continuous magical signal to the second one, and the moment someone interrupts the signal between the two stones, they would both send a message to Harry. Harry also added a small marking potion that's mixed with water and that would spread throughout the bathroom the moment the stone is moved, or the signal is interrupted. This would allow Harry to track whoever was involved.
He wasn't expecting much if he was perfectly honest. These traps were impressive in design, especially because of the resistance to detection. Most detection charms focus on effects that can impact the user, so this solution would take many people by surprise.
But Tom Riddle wasn't just anyone and that was the issue.
Outside of this, Harry still hadn't been able to finish the Basilisk glare resistant goggles. He was still stuck on the durability of the lenses, and it looked like he was either going to need to use some kind of diamond lenses, or just treat the glass alchemically somehow. And he was still wary of practising Alchemy without someone actively teaching him since the consequences tended to be wild and permanent.
However, the good news was that the ice magic was going well, and so was his exploration of his magical crest. He had started to instinctively understand magical circles without spending hours studying them. He still couldn't create anything on command, but he could understand the magical circles in his crest as if he was going through a catalogue of sorts. He was still stuck to the telekinetic family of spells, the crest deeming him to not be worthy enough to have access to anything else, but it was more than enough to occupy him now.
Still, it wouldn't be enough to fight a Basilisk. Not even close. And without making sure that every outcome was covered, Harry wasn't prepared to put himself in danger needlessly. And so, Harry spent his days in the Room of Requirements trying to figure out what to do. Of course, he had asked the room to get him to the chamber of secrets, and it didn't work. He asked the room about ways to kill a basilisk, and nothing of it as well. For all the idealism that came with the room, it had a lot of limitations.
And so, Harry spent his time preparing for the inevitable attack but finding little to nothing that could stop Riddle reliably. The fact that the man was controlling many people in the castle meant that he didn't need to use the Diary's victim to do his dirty work. He also could use them as hostages easily, so outing him to the public could be an issue.
As for today, he needed to be vigilant and ready for anything to happen. He wasn't going to be suicidal and go after the Basilisk on a hunch. But that didn't mean that Harry couldn't do anything. The house detector in the common rooms, the Great Hall, and the library were still up and running, so that was an advantage.
Harry was attending the Halloween Feast and was discreetly looking at his suspects in the Great Hall. Every single name on his list was in the Great Hall, talking animatedly in their respective tables. Even the entire faculty was there, even Filch who was playing with his stupid cat. The decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner.
Finally, the chatter of conversations as the headmaster rose from his large seat among his fellow professors.
"Happy Halloween. Now, while I can drone on and on about this special day, you don't want to hear an old man ramble all night. So, to keep things brief, dig in."
.....
Want to read ahead by more than 60 chapters. Then join my p@treon Right Now.
Link: p*atreon.com/BookReaderBoy (Remove the *)
Also Free members get 2 advanced chapters for Free as well.