Chapter 39 Dumbledore

There were already many people waiting for them in Professor McGonagall's office, including Dumbledore and the Weasley family who had just returned to Hogwarts.

When they entered the office, the atmosphere inside was filled with bleak silence. Suddenly, a scream came from the fireplace - "Ginny!"

It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting before the fire, crying. Now she jumped up, followed by Mr. Weasley, who both threw their arms around their precious daughter. Harry looked past them and into the room. He saw Professor Dumbledore, smiling, standing in front of the mantelpiece.

"Who can explain what happened?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.

Xie Lin smiled slightly and said calmly: "Professor, it's like this. I happened to bump into Miss Weasley walking into the long-abandoned girls' bathroom on the third floor. At that time, her behavior was obviously weird and intuitive. Tell me something is wrong - Miss Weasley may be controlled by some kind of dark magic that I don't understand. Out of concern for her, I quietly followed Miss Weasley into the bathroom, but I didn't expect it. It’s an incredible scene—”

"Miss Weasley said something to the pipe that I didn't understand. It sounded a bit like snake language but I'm not sure. Then the entire pool disappeared, revealing a pipe entrance that could accommodate a person. To be honest. , I was a little scared at the time, and being reckless is not my Slytherin style. My first thought was to leave immediately and report the matter to Professor Snape."

"Mr. Malfoy, you really should do this! You are just a student and you should not venture into an unknown place that may be dangerous. But can you tell me why you didn't do this later?" Professor McGonagall did. I am a little confused about Xie Lin's response. Xie Lin has always been a mature, sensible, rational and stable student. This kind of reckless operation seems like something only Gryffindor would do.

"Professor, that's because I'm worried that if I leave, the entrance will disappear, and I don't know how to make the entrance reappear. If it delays, Miss Weasley may be in danger - Professor, you know , because of my Malfoy status, I have some disagreements with the Weasley family, but when I think about the possibility that a classmate who is younger than me may die because of my inaction, I feel that I cannot Not saving her would make me feel uneasy, so I immediately decided to follow her into the water pipe."

After listening to Xie Lin's explanation, Professor McGonagall's lips seemed to be less pursed, and his eyes seemed to be less severe. "Although your response was reckless, it was indeed excusable. Let's not talk about your behavior now. , what happened after you entered the water pipe channel?"

Dumbledore looked at Sherrin with sharp eyes, but chose to remain silent. Mr. Weasley also showed a slightly embarrassed expression after recognizing Sherrin as Lucius's son.

Xie Lin ignored everyone's reaction and continued: "Perhaps the great Slytherin is blessing me - after all, I am also a Slytherin, and there is a huge but unbelievably old basilisk inside."

He paused and said: "Fortunately, the basilisk is still sleeping. I know that the basilisk's weakness lies in its brain. I used the transformation technique to create a sharp awl-shaped boulder on the ceiling. Then he controlled it and smashed it hard between the two eyes of the basilisk, successfully killing it. At this time, a ghost-like spirit emerged from Ginny. He called himself Tom Riddle. He didn't seem to know. He had good intentions and asked me many questions..."

"I could see that he actually emerged from a diary in Ginny's arms. For safety reasons, I used a summoning spell to grab the diary before he could react and threw it into the basilisk. I didn't expect him to disappear so suddenly. I carried Miss Weasley out of the secret room, and then met Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley in the bathroom."

Next it was Harry's turn to talk about his experience. He spoke for about ten minutes. Everyone listened very attentively and the room was completely silent. When he heard that Ron got backlash for trying to cast a spell on Sherrin who was holding Ginny in his arms, Mr. Weasley's whole face turned red, and Mrs. Weasley cast an apologetic look at Sherrin.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore said suddenly, "is how Voldemort controlled Miss Weasley. According to my sources, he is currently hiding in the Albanian forest!"

"What?" Mrs. Weasley said in shock, "Mysterious man? Controlling Ginny? But Ginny didn't... Ginny didn't... did she?"

"Professor," Schelling interrupted politely, carefully using his wand to take out a soaked diary from the container in his arms, "I guess this has something to do with this diary. There may be something hidden in it. Unknown evil magic."

"It's amazing," Dumbledore said softly. "He is probably the most outstanding student that Hogwarts has ever produced." He turned to face Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, both of whom looked very confused.

"Few people know that Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him in person at Hogwarts fifty years ago. He disappeared after leaving school... traveled around, got deeper and deeper into the quagmire of dark magic, mixed with the most evil dark wizards in the wizarding world, and after many dangerous magical transformations, he finally reappeared as Voldemort - at that time, people could hardly recognize him. Almost no one connected Voldemort with the smart and handsome boy student union president of the year."

"But Ginny," Mrs. Weasley asked, "What is the relationship between Ginny and him?"

"His diary... diary!" Ginny sobbed, "I have been writing in it. For a whole year, he kept writing back to me..."

"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley was stunned and said, "Didn't I teach you? What have I always told you? Never believe anything that can think independently unless you see clearly that it hides its mind in Where. Why didn't you show the diary to me or your mother? A suspicious thing like that, obviously full of dark magic! "

"I, I don't know," Ginny was still crying sadly, "I found it in a book my mother gave me. I, I thought someone put it there and forgot..."

"Miss Weasley should go to the hospital ward at once," Dumbledore interrupted without hesitation, "This is a painful ordeal for her, and the school will not punish her. Many wizards older and more resourceful than her have been deceived by Voldemort." He strode to the door, opened it, and looked down at Ginny kindly. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She was just distributing mandrake resurrection potions - I dare say that the victims of the basilisk may wake up at any time. "

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed behind, still looking very shocked. After Professor McGonagall left, Dumbledore smiled and gave Harry some extra points, praising Harry's decisiveness and courage.

Just as Harry was about to leave the office, the door was suddenly slammed open and bounced against the wall behind him.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, looking furious, with a house elf with bandages wrapped all over his body under his arm. It was Dobby. Lucius rushed into the room and almost knocked Harry over. Dobby followed behind in panic, hunched over, staring at the seam on the back of his master's robe, with a look of desperate and helpless fear on his face.

"Good!" Lucius stared at Dumbledore with cold eyes, "You are back. The board of directors suspended you, but you still returned to Hogwarts on your own initiative."

"Oh, it's like this, Lucius," Dumbledore said with a calm smile, "Today, the other eleven directors have contacted me. They heard that Arthur Wesley's daughter had an accident, and they all hope that I will come here immediately. They seem to think that after all, I am the most suitable for this job. They also told me some strange stories. Some of them seem to think that you have threatened that if they don't agree to suspend my position, you will curse their families."

Lucius's face is paler than usual, but his eyes are still spewing anger. "So-did you stop those attacks?" He asked sarcastically, "Did you catch the murderer?"

"We caught it." Dumbledore smiled and answered him.

"Oh?" Lucius asked sharply, "Who is it?"

"It's the same person as last time, Lucius," Dumbledore said, "but Voldemort is acting through another person this time. With his diary." He watched Mr. Malfoy's reaction closely. Harry, however, looked at Dobby. The house elf's behavior was very strange. His two tennis-ball-sized eyes stared at Harry meaningfully while he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hit his head hard with his fist.

Harry suddenly understood with a flash of inspiration. "Mr. Malfoy, don't you want to know how Ginny got this diary?"

"Humph!" Lucius looked at Harry with disgust, "My time is very precious, and I have no interest in paying attention to how a stupid girl got a ridiculous diary."

"Because you gave it to her," Harry said, "In Flourish and Blotts, you picked up her Transfiguration textbook and secretly stuffed the diary in it, right?"

Lucius clenched his pale hands into fists, and then loosened them. He said hoarsely, "Is there any evidence?"

"Oh, no one can provide evidence," Dumbledore said, looking at Harry with a smile, "Now Riddle has disappeared from the book. In addition, Lucius, I want to give you a piece of advice, don't distribute Voldemort's old things from his school days. If these things fall into the hands of innocent people again, at least Arthur Weasley will be able to find out that they came from you..."

Lucius stood there for a moment, veins popping out at the corners of his eyes, and suddenly turned his head and glared at Sherin angrily, "What about you? Why are you here?"

Sherin shrugged and said indifferently: "Dear father, I happened to meet Harry and the others when I was practicing magic alone, and helped them a little, and then followed by the way."

Lucius's face was gloomy. Just as he was about to scold him, he glanced at Dumbledore, snorted coldly to express his dissatisfaction, and turned around to call Dobby to leave. He turned the door, Dobby ran over in a hurry, and Mr. Malfoy kicked him out. They could hear Dobby's screams of pain gradually fading away along the corridor. Harry stood there staring at the diary, frowning and thinking hard for a moment.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said hurriedly, "Excuse me, can I return this diary to Mr. Malfoy?"

"Of course, Harry!" Dumbledore said calmly, picked up the wand and tapped the diary lightly. The snake venom on the diary disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye. Harry grabbed the diary and rushed out of the office.

In a blink of an eye, only Shaylin and Dumbledore were left in the office. For a moment, the atmosphere was quiet and a little awkward. "Well... Professor, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave. You know, I still have to review for the final exam!"

"Don't leave yet. In fact, I have something to say to you. First of all, I must thank you for rescuing Miss Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets." Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "Except for Riddle, I haven't seen a young wizard as good as you for a long time. Seeing you seems to remind me of an old friend."

Although the other party said it easily, Xie Lin was secretly alert in his heart. He knew Dumbledore's dark history. The old friend he mentioned probably refers to Grindelwald, which is not a happy evaluation. And the last meeting between the two was not friendly.

"You flatter me, Professor!" Sherin said modestly, "I just worked harder and was a little bit lucky. I was really lucky to get out of the Chamber alive this time."

"No, it's not that simple. I have been paying attention to you for a long time before today. Whether it's your performance in the Dueling Club or the duel between Slytherin factions, you have shown strength far beyond that of a second-year student. I heard from Severus about the declaration you made in the Slytherin Common Room, which I found very thought-provoking. Like my old friend, you have a vision that ordinary people don't have, and...ambition."