Hogwarts Card System Chapter 170

Chapter 170: You Little Brat, You Led the Monsters Here?!

“What do you mean, ‘it’s you’?” Jerry asked.

His friends also looked at Ron, who was crying with snot and tears, utterly bewildered.

Ron grimaced, his face contorted in a sob, looking like he was about to cry himself into a fit: “I’m the Heir of the Chamber! I opened the Chamber of Secrets! I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Ah~~~”

His friends froze in place as if collectively struck by the Full Body-Bind Curse, exchanging glances. For a moment, no one knew what to say.

Harley kept winking at the others: Is Ron scared silly by the spiders? I knew I shouldn’t have let him come! He’s talking nonsense from fright! Should I punch him unconscious? They say falling asleep in this situation helps with his condition!

Jerry: He probably ate too many chicken drumsticks and got his mind muddled.

Neville: Slytherin’s Heir? Opened the Chamber? Impossible, absolutely impossible! I’m a Parselmouth, and I haven’t even said anything, so why are you so eager to take the blame?!

Hermione: Ted, quickly cast a Stunning Spell on Ron! We need to take him to a doctor immediately!

Ted: …Could it really be this kid?

Ron was unlucky. He was hunched over the steering wheel, crying so hard he was almost convulsing, yet no one went up to comfort him—everyone was still in a daze.

After crying for a long time, he realized it wasn’t helping. He slowly stopped, then began to recount what had happened, in fits and starts.

The story had to start from last summer, just before school began, at the bookstore.

Didn’t Diagon Alley have that monster incident that made it into the newspaper?

That day, Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy showed their children how two mature wizards fought. The Weasley children even played dirty.

It was one day after that incident that Ginny discovered she had bought an extra second-hand notebook.

Ron happened to need a notebook. Although it was a second-hand item from decades ago, it was blank and still usable, so he took it for himself.

Nothing much happened at first. Ron just recorded his daily activities, like a diary? Not really. With Ron’s vocabulary and patience, he could write at most twenty words a day, no more.

There was nothing unusual at home, but things changed once he got to school.

That was the night Ron crashed the flying car into the Whomping Willow, and the next morning, he received a Howler from his mother in front of everyone.

Ron wrote a lot in the notebook that night. It was when he felt most frustrated, ashamed, sad, and regretful.

Ron also confessed: “I thought at the time that I wasn’t the only one who drove the flying car, and I secretly resented you all. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Neville, I’m sorry, Harley, I’m sorry, Jerry. Please forgive me, forgive this idiot! Ah~~~” He started crying again.

If they were still in the Forbidden Forest, Ron’s howls would have attracted wolves.

After writing a large amount of text that night, the words in the diary changed the next day, turning into comforting words!

Ron was surprised but didn’t think much of it. He began writing more in the diary, and gradually “awakened” the magic within the book—or so Senior Tom in the diary said.

But Ted guessed that in the Weasley household, the diary had been playing dead, fearing discovery, until Ron showed a mental weakness, at which point it finally decided to begin its infiltration.

Senior Tom was knowledgeable, brilliant, and empathetic. He also spoke nicely, and Ron liked him very much~

Ron confided many of his worries to him and sought his advice, whether it was about interpersonal relationships or magical problems.

Ron also admitted that he had once been jealous of Ted, jealous of how everyone loved and admired him, jealous of his every shining moment, jealous that he could make money~

As Ron spoke, he gave himself two swift, powerful punches. These punches were as quick as lightning and full of force, showing some of Harley’s style, indicating that he had improved.

Ted and the others quickly stopped his self-harming act of atonement, urging him to continue his story.

As Ron trusted Senior Tom more and more, he gradually distanced himself from his friends, and his health also began to decline, showing signs of sub-health.

Jerry said, “I knew it! I always felt you were a bit weak during that time, and I thought it was because you weren’t participating in morning exercises. Oh, I get it now! Later, you suddenly became studious. Was that also influenced by that Senior Tom? That awful name, it doesn’t sound like anything good!”

Ron bowed his head in shame. His grades had indeed improved by leaps and bounds during that period. Not only did he no longer need to copy homework, but he also earned extra points in class.

As time passed, Ron trusted and relied on Senior Tom more and more. Senior Tom was also so understanding, even actively advising Ron to improve his relationships with his friends.

This action directly dispelled Ron’s only remaining bit of caution, and even stirred a slight rebellion in Ron, making him distance himself from his friends even more.

You have to say, the sixteen-year-old Voldemort in his fifth year already had some grasp of young wizards’ psychology. At least, little kids like Ron were no match for him and were played like puppets.

What truly made Ron break down was when he found a letter from his mother among the fan mail for Lockhart.

Ron: My mom is a Lockhart fan?!

Then the Chamber of Secrets opened, and Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, was found petrified and hanging upside down.

That Halloween, Ron had originally agreed to dress up as a giant chicken drumstick and cheese with Jerry.

But Ron forgot something, which was actually the diary, so he went back to get it. The time he was gone wasn’t long.

Ron suspected that he might have opened the Chamber during that time.

Because he later found red dye under his fingernails, but he couldn’t remember when he had touched such a thing.

He hadn’t paid attention to it at the time.

But later, there were several times when he couldn’t remember certain periods at all. One time, he even “woke up” outside the castle early in the morning, with quite a bit of chicken feathers on him!

He thought he was sleepwalking!

Then, at breakfast, his old owl bumped into him, and the matter was forgotten.

Ron started to feel something was wrong after Christmas.

After all, he wasn’t a little girl like Ginny, who was away from home for the first time. He had been through many things with Ted and the others.

After losing his memory several times and appearing in strange places, and then someone getting hurt, he couldn’t help but have some thoughts.

Could it be such a coincidence every time?

So, after New Year’s, he threw away the diary!

He was unsettled at the time, mainly scared. Scared that he really was the Heir of the Chamber, that he had opened the Chamber and hurt people.

He still held onto a bit of wishful thinking, believing that what if only the diary was problematic, and the Chamber had nothing to do with him? It was understandable, after all, he was just a 12-year-old kid.

Everyone has tried to shirk responsibility at some point.

It’s just that later, with the right mindset, most people gain the courage to take responsibility and develop a sense of responsibility.

Ron thought that if the diary was gone, everything would be fine. The Chamber wouldn’t open again, no one else would get hurt, and those who had been petrified would recover once the Mandrakes matured.

However, he never expected that the diary would be picked up by Neville.

It was also during that time that his mental state had just begun to ease. Plus, Neville suddenly learned that the Heir fifty years ago was Hagrid, which threw him into disarray, causing him to hide the diary without letting anyone see it, so Ron never found out.

When he discovered that Neville had picked up the diary and was even chatting happily with Senior Tom, he was completely stunned!

That day, Jerry said that Neville was studying diligently like Ron, getting up early to study, which was when Ron discovered the diary.

Ron was hiding under the covers at the time, wishing he could die!

“If I had been brave enough then to just say everything, none of this would have happened! Dumbledore and Hagrid wouldn’t have been implicated and expelled! It’s all my fault! I’m a coward, a chicken!”

Ron’s tears streamed down his face, truly unstoppable.

Ted quickly comforted him: “Ron, don’t cry. Don’t say it’s just you, even I probably couldn’t have done better. Who knew something like this would happen? Don’t blame yourself, you’re telling us now, aren’t you? It’s not too late to tell us now!”

Jerry also nodded along: “Yes, yes, yes! Ron, hurry up and continue!”

Ron couldn’t even cry his heart out properly, so he had no choice but to continue with what happened next.

Ron ultimately couldn’t bring himself to face the situation of having opened the Chamber of Secrets and potentially being sent to Azkaban. So he chose another method—stealing the diary.

That time, the Gryffindor dormitory was indeed not burglarized by Ginny; it was Ron.

However, the difference was that after Ron stole the diary back, he threw it away again. He had tried to destroy it but couldn’t. So he could only discard it.

This time, Ron was smarter. He threw it somewhere Neville and the others couldn’t find it!

The girls’ bathroom! Especially that abandoned girls’ bathroom! Even the girls didn’t go there!

Ron: I’ll just throw it directly into the toilet. I don’t believe anyone can pick it out then?!

After that, it was indeed calm for a long time, but victims still appeared, this time Lavender, a Gryffindor student.

Ron immediately went to the bathroom to look, and sure enough, the diary was gone.

Then came the recent cancellation of the Quidditch match, with two victims appearing at once.

By then, Ron was terrified, only knowing to cower like a quail, awaiting the final judgment.

Until today, after experiencing this even greater surprise and battle, he once again got into this flying car, just like at the beginning of the school year when everything first happened…

He finally mustered the courage to tell everything.

(End of Chapter)