Vid hid in the corner, watching the figure pacing back and forth in front of the Room of Requirement.
Ryan Smith, the Ilvermorny Champion who had already been eliminated—if he remembered correctly, Ryan's performance in the Chamber of Secret had been pretty decent, but his coordination with his teammate was terrible, he kept getting dragged down, and in the end he barely got to show any of his strength before Vid knocked him out with the Stunning Spell.
Right now Ryan was clutching a Dragon Skin Pocket in one hand, the other pressed to his ear, voice low as he spoke to someone.
...
"Stop rushing me!"
Ryan Smith gritted his teeth, beads of sweat seeping from his forehead. His gaze flitted nervously toward the nearby tapestry as he said:
"I've already tried three times, this damn door just won't open! Are you sure you didn't remember the place wrong?"
A cold voice sounded by his ear: [Of course I didn't remember wrong. It's possible that every time you came before, someone just happened to already be inside.]
"This Chamber of Secret only allows one person inside at a time?"
Ryan looked at the empty stretch of wall, his tone on edge: "Didn't you say no one but you knew about this place?"
The other end of the Communication Pea went silent for a moment.
The person on the other end didn't deny the guess that "only one person can be in there at a time," because back when he'd still been at school, it was indeed only ever him who could come and go from the Room of Requirement. He was sure not even Dumbledore knew this secret.
But so much time had passed that he no longer expected Hogwarts to have only one student who'd discovered this secret.
So his voice cooled as he shot back: [Are you questioning me? Questioning the selfless guide who's helping you?]
"No… no… I'm not…" Ryan realized his tone had been a bit offensive and hurried to explain: "I just… I'm just worried I'll miss my chance again this time…"
[Then—hurry up.] The other said: [You've wasted too much time already.]
"I know, but sneaking into this place is a nightmare." Ryan couldn't help explaining: "The entrance to the Headmaster's Office is right nearby, Dumbledore could show up at any moment."
As he spoke he kept glancing warily back along the corridor, feeling as if a pair of eyes were fixed on his back.
[Relax. Before the ball ends, Dumbledore won't abandon his guests to come back to his office. Tonight is your best chance!]
The voice soothed him with forced patience, then turned harsh again: [Focus! Otherwise the Chamber of Secret will never open to you!]
"Got it!"
Ryan said. He pushed down his worry and fear and started pacing up and down the corridor, muttering to himself as he walked:
"I need a place to hide something… I need a place to hide something… I need a place to hide something…"
After he'd gone back and forth three times, a tall door finally surfaced on the blank wall.
Ryan was overjoyed and shouted, "It appeared!"
[Keep your voice down!] the other side scolded. [Do you want to attract everyone over here?]
Ryan hastily checked both ends of the corridor again—still empty. He whipped his head around and saw Silly Barnabas on the tapestry getting his head thumped on by a Troll with a club, then even twisting around to look at him.
He couldn't help laughing. "So it's you, you idiot, staring at me."
The other side: […]
He couldn't be bothered to ask what Ryan was talking about and just urged him once more to hurry up.
Then Ryan pulled the door open and stepped into the Room of Requirement—and froze.
"I remember you said… the old furniture and years of accumulated junk here were piled up like mountains, looked like a small town?"
He shut the door to the Chamber of Secret behind him, scalp prickling as he spoke.
[Yes.] the other said. [Next, just follow my directions and you'll find Ravenclaw's Diadem. First you need to find a Troll specimen…]
Ryan swallowed.
But this place… was much emptier than the man had described! And nowhere near as big as he'd made it sound.
The supposedly mountain-high heaps of stuff were now just scattered odds and ends. Piled all together they probably couldn't even fill a regular classroom.
He also didn't see any Troll specimen.
Something that huge—if it were really still in this Chamber of Secret—he'd be able to spot at a glance from the doorway, especially now that the room had become so empty.
But there was nothing.
Oh… just not here…
Ryan thought sluggishly. He actually had seen a Troll specimen before—but not in this Chamber of Secret, it had been in the Maze.
The Maze was Hogwarts' most entertaining large-scale live-action game, and there wasn't a single visiting student who wasn't interested in it. Professor Fontaine had even said that once they went back, they'd build a similar game arena at Ilvermorny.
After all, Ilvermorny was a school founded in imitation of Hogwarts. No one would feel embarrassed about continuing to copy their way of training students' casting abilities.
Anyway, once when Ryan had gone to play the Maze game, a reeking Troll had given him one hell of a scare—he'd nearly thought he was done for, only to find out afterwards that it was just a specimen enchanted with Magic to be unusually nimble.
He relayed all of this to the person on the other end of the Communication Pea, and, unsurprisingly, the man stayed silent for a full thirty seconds before finally erupting in fury:
[How dare they? Those idiots at Hogwarts actually cleared out everything from the Chamber of Secret? Including my Diadem?]
Ryan corrected him. "To be precise, that's Ravenclaw's Diadem. And you promised you'd let me have it."
—How exactly is the Diadem "yours"?
Even in his anger, the man on the other end caught the implication. He couldn't even be bothered to get mad about it; he was just baffled—why had he picked this guy again?
Oh… right, because he was the only one who'd fallen for his manipulation.
The man who called himself "the guide" and was in truth Voldemort drew in a deep breath, tamped down his rage, and did his best to keep his usual tone as he said: [Yes, you'll get it. But first, you have to locate where the Diadem is now.]
"Right… that's true…"
Ryan stared at the messy piles of junk in the Chamber of Secret, his vision going dark for a second. His body froze for a moment, then he finally bent down and started searching carefully.
Vid, hidden nearby: […]
—So he's just going to start rummaging through the trash? Not even going to try the Summoning Charm?
Of course, the Summoning Charm wouldn't find the Diadem either, and people generally defaulted to the idea that this kind of ancient, powerful artifact would resist being summoned.
Seeing Ryan follow the other's directions and search along a particular route, Vid quietly slipped to another corner, drew his Magic Wand, and tapped it on an old, battered Cauldron.
The Cauldron silently transformed into an ancient, dim-looking Diadem.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting to see when Ryan would manage to find it.
Watching the figure painstakingly rummaging through a wooden chest, Vid slouched lazily against the wall to rest.