Chapter 56 - A Plan Undone! (Patreon)

{Rigel's room, Slytherin Dorm, Hogwarts}

{4th Sep 1991}

{3rd Person POV}

...

'You're telling me the plot of the first, the second, and the third book are happening simultaneously???' Rigel screamed in his thoughts as he walked back and forth, his mind going through the possible changes that could happen.

'I'm nowhere near ready to deal with a Basilisk... what even was its weakness, the rooster's crowing? And I'm supposed to fight it?' Rigel thought. The odd confidence and Narcissa's plan slowly made sense to him, during the first day Draco was provoking him without any reason.

'His aim would likely be to drag me into a duel where he could use the snake summoning charm forcing me to reveal that I'm a Parselmouth since outside intervention would make it seem like I lost...' Rigel thought, the liner progression of that story would end with him getting labeled as the heir of Slytherin and when the first student dies or something, he would be hauled off to Azkaban because the Malfoy would already have trashed his reputation and made it seem like he's the next Dark Lord.

'Still, it is a little early, and it's a good thing that I caught on to the plan. I haven't heard any whispers from behind the walls so whoever has the diary hasn't started yet... I need to have a conversation with Myrtle and ask for her help...' Rigel finished his short Plan B, though right now he had a unique opportunity to deal with this situation.

He turned to Narcissa and looked into her eyes, the expression of shock that she had initially displayed was gone, hidden behind an impassive face.

"Who did you give the diary to?" Rigel asked. Her face twitched but she showed him a believable confused look.

"What diary? Don't change the topic I'm talking to you about a deal to avoid Azkaban." Narcissa spoke as she slowly stood up. When Rigel had pushed her she had landed on his bed.

"You can go if you want to play games, I don't have time for this shit," Rigel spoke as he shrugged.

"~Mischefss Managedsss~" Rigel whispered in Parseltongue and the door opened. His blunt refusal changed her attitude as she looked at the door and then turned to him.

"How do you know about the Diary?" Narcissa asked, her stance was a little guarded now, the conversation was totally going in the unplanned territory.

"Of course, I know about the fucking Diary, Voldemort gave it to Lucius for safekeeping, the same way he gave a locket to my father." Rigel twisted the story a little, "What I don't understand was were you two thinking, the Diary is the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets that Slytherin himself left behind, and you two simply gave it away?" His statements were mixed with Half-truths and Narcissa seemed to believe him.

Her eyes went unfocused for a bit before she looked at Rigel. The mystery surrounding the boy was increasing but it didn't help her scenario, Lucius had dealt with the Diary and hadn't told her anything in the name of plausible deniability.

'That doesn't explain everything though if the Dark Lord gave another item to Regulus for safekeeping that means he shouldn't know about the Diary the same way Lucius doesn't know about the Locket.' Narcissa thought, although she could tell that Rigel wasn't lying but that also meant he wasn't telling her the whole truth.

'I get everything but the genuine fear that he felt doesn't make sense, he doesn't know the horror of Azkaban to show that genuine emotion...' Narcissa continued her analysis. The mana sense didn't make her an empath but she could feel strong emotions somewhat in a crocked sense of way. Mana reacts to strong emotions so she can sometimes deduce basic emotions like anger happiness satisfaction and fear.

"How do you know that the Diary is connected to the Chamber of Secrets," Narcissa spoke, her question was aimed at the crux of knowledge that he should in no way have. Rigel looked at her and ignored her, he started walking again and started speaking about something completely different.

"I know you would fight back but I never realized you would do something that's just dumb. Do you both husband and wife think that the Dark Lord is dead, that you could just throw away the diary he specifically mentioned to never reveal to anyone?" Rigel's question was sharp and for a moment color left Narcissa's face.

Her mouth opened but no words came out as the scenario began to sink in, she then shook her head and retorted, "The Dark Lord died that night."

"Really, are you really really sure, that Dark Lord didn't have some escape plan when he went to attack the Potters? Then how about the Dark Mark, is the squiggly tattoo on your husband's arm gone? Is he free from the mark of Slavery?" Rigel retorted right back. He knew Narcissa didn't have answers to his questions because of what limited foreknowledge he had left. With the way things are changing, he wasn't sure how long this advantage would last.

"I don't really care about any deal you speak of, as far as I can see your plan would never work. You know that the Diary could bring destruction inside Hogwarts but you don't know what creature resides inside there, once I gather some evidence I can simply absolve myself of any involvement with the attacks." Rigel shrugged it would be pretty easy since he had an eavesdropper on the conversation.

"You can go, I don't really think you have anything to offer." Rigel pointed at the door and waited. He was waiting for Naricssa to offer the information about who they planted the Diary on and then they could begin negotiating, but the blond witch simply picked up the invisibility cloak and walked out of the room.

~Thud~

With a soft thud, the door slammed shut, and he turned to look at the wardrobe. Rita walked out of the door with her eyes wide, the question that was on the tip of her tongue was blurted out, "The Dark Lord is alive?"

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