Malfoy Rise at Hogwarts

Chapter 39 Dumbledore
There are already many people waiting for them in Professor McGonagall's office, including Dumbledore and the Weasley family who have just returned to Hogwarts.

When they stepped into the office, the atmosphere inside was maintaining a bleak silence.Suddenly, there was a scream from the fireplace—"Ginny!"

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

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

Xie Lin smiled slightly and said generously: "The professor is like this. On the third floor, I just hit Miss Wesli and walked into the girl with a long time of abandoned. At that time, her behavior was obviously weird. I intuitively told me that this was wrong -Miss Wesli was likely to be controlled by a black magic I didn't know. Out of worry about her, I quietly followed her quietly. Miss Wesli entered the cleaner, but I did not expect to see an incredible scene- "

"Miss Weasley said something into the water pipe that I couldn't understand. The voice was a bit like snake language but I'm not sure. Then the entire pool disappeared, revealing a water pipe entrance that could accommodate a person to get in. To be honest, I was a little scared at the time, and recklessness is not my Slytherin style. My first thought was to leave immediately and report it to Professor Snape."

"Mr. Malfoy, you really should do this! You are just a student, and you shouldn't venture into an unknown place that may be dangerous. But can you tell me why you didn't do it later?" Professor McGonagall was indeed a little puzzled by Schelling's response. Schelling has always been a mature, sensible, rational and stable student. No matter how you look at it, this kind of reckless operation looks like something only Gryffindors would do.

"Professor, that's because I'm worried that if I leave, that entrance will disappear, and I don't know how to make that entrance reappear. If it is delayed, Miss Weasley may be in danger—Professor, you know that because of my Malfoy status, I and the Weasley family are somewhat at odds, but when I think that a classmate who is younger than me may die because of my inaction, I don't think I can do nothing. Drilled into that pipe behind her."

After listening to Schelling's explanation, Professor McGonagall's lips seemed to be less tight, and his eyes seemed less severe, "Although your response was reckless, it is indeed understandable. Let's not talk about your behavior now. What happened after you entered the water pipe passage?"

Dumbledore looked at Schelling with piercing eyes, but chose to remain silent.After Mr. Weasley recognized that Schelling was the son of Lucius, he also showed a slightly embarrassed expression.

Schelling ignored everyone's reactions and continued: "Maybe the great Slytherin is protecting me—after all, I am also a Slytherin. 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 transfiguration technique to create a sharp awl-shaped boulder on the ceiling, and then manipulated it to smash into the basilisk's eyes, successfully killing it. At this time, a ghost-like spirit body emerged from Ginny. He called himself Tom Riddle. He seemed to have malicious intentions and asked me many questions..."

"I could see that he actually emerged from a diary in Ginny's arms. To be safe, I snatched the diary with a Summoning Charm before he could react, and threw it into the basilisk's venom. I didn't expect him to disappear so suddenly. I carried Miss Weasley out of the secret room, and then ran into Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley in the bathroom."

Then it was Harry's turn to tell his story. He talked for about 10 minutes. Everyone listened intently, and the room was completely silent.When he heard that Ron was backlashed because he tried to cast a spell on Schelling, who was holding Ginny in his hands, Mr. Weasley blushed, and Mrs. Weasley gave Schelling an apologetic look.

"I'm most interested," Dumbledore said suddenly, "how did Voldemort control Miss Weasley? According to my sources, he is currently hiding in the Albanian forest!"

"What?" Mrs. Weasley said in amazement. "You-Know-Who? Controlled Ginny? But Ginny wasn't... Ginny didn't... did she?"

"Professor," Schelling interjected politely, and carefully took a soaked diary out of the container in his arms with his wand. "I guess this must have something to do with this diary. There may be some unknown evil magic hidden in it."

"Remarkable," said Dumbledore softly. "He's probably the best student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned to face the Weasleys, both of whom looked very confused.

"Very few people know that Voldemort used to be called Tom Riddle. I taught him at Hogwarts 50 years ago. He disappeared after leaving school... wandering, sinking deeper and deeper in the mire of dark magic, mingling with the most evil dark wizards in the wizarding world, undergoing many dangerous magical transformations, and finally reappearing as Voldemort-by then people It is difficult to recognize him. Almost no one connects Voldemort with the bright, handsome boy head of the year."

"But Ginny," asked Mrs. Weasley, "what has Ginny got to do with him?"

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

"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, dumbfounded. "Haven't I taught you? What have I been telling you? Never trust anything that thinks for itself, unless you've seen where it hides its mind. Why didn't you show me or your mother the diary? Something suspicious like that, obviously full of dark magic!"

"I-I don't know," Ginny was still weeping bitterly, "I found it in a book my mother gave me. I-I thought someone had it in there and forgot..."

"Miss Weasley should go to the school hospital immediately," Dumbledore interjected involuntarily. "This is a painful ordeal for her, and the school will not punish her. Many wizards who are older and more resourceful than her have been deceived by Voldemort." He strode to the door, opened it, and lowered his head to give Ginny a benevolent wink. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is not asleep. She was just distributing the Mandrake resurrection potion—dare I say, the Basilisk's." Victims could wake up at any moment."

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, followed by Mr. Weasley, still looking very shocked.After Professor McGonagall also left, Dumbledore added some points to Harry with a smile, and specifically praised Harry for his decisiveness and bravery.

Just as Harry was about to leave the office, the door was slammed open and bounced against the wall behind.Lucius Malfoy was standing there, looking furious, with a bandaged house-elf under his arm, it was Dobby.Lucius dashed into the room, nearly knocking Harry over his head.Dobby followed in panic, hunched over, staring at the back seam of his master's robes with a look of helpless terror on his face.

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

"Oh, that's right, Lucius," said Dumbledore, smiling calmly. "Today, the other eleven directors have all contacted me. They heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had an accident, and they all wanted me to come here immediately. They seemed to think that, after a long time, I was the most suitable for the job. They also told me some strange stories. Some of them seemed to think that you once threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend my duties."

Lucius' face was paler than usual, but his eyes were still burning with anger. "So—did you prevent those attacks?" he asked sarcastically. "Did you catch the killer?"

"We've got it," Dumbledore answered him, smiling.

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

"It's the same man as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore, "but Voldemort worked through a different man this time. With his diary." He watched Mr. Malfoy's reaction closely.Harry, on the other hand, looked at Dobby.The house-elf was behaving very oddly.While staring at Harry meaningfully with his two tennis-ball-sized eyes, he kept pointing to the diary and then to Mr. Malfoy before hitting himself on the head with his fist.

A light flashed in Harry's mind, and he suddenly understood. "Mr. Malfoy, don't you want to know how Ginny got this diary?"

"Hmph!" Lucius looked at Harry in disgust, "My time is very precious, and I'm not interested in paying attention to how a stupid girl got a ridiculous diary."

"Because you gave it to her," said Harry. "You picked up her Transfiguration book at Lichen Books and slid the diary in there, didn't you?"

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

"Oh, no one can provide evidence," said Dumbledore, looking at Harry with a smile. "Now Riddle has disappeared from the book. Besides, Lucius, I would like to give you a piece of advice, stop distributing old things from Voldemort's student days. If these things fall into innocent hands again, at least Arthur Weasley will be able to find out that they came from you..."

Lucius stood in a daze for a moment, with bulging veins in the corners of his eyes, he suddenly turned his head and glared at Schelling angrily, "What about you? Why are you here?"

Schelling shrugged his shoulders and said indifferently: "Dear Father, I happened to meet Harry and the others when I was practicing magic alone, and I helped them a little favor, and then came along."

Lucius' face was gloomy, and when he was about to reprimand severely, he glanced at Dumbledore, expressed his dissatisfaction with a cold snort, turned around and asked Dobby to leave.He twisted open the door, and Dobby ran over in a hurry, and Mr. Malfoy kicked him out the door.They could hear Dobby's screams of pain fading down the corridor.Harry stood there staring at the diary, frowning and thinking hard for a moment.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said hastily, "may I return this diary to Mr Malfoy, please?"

"Of course, Harry!" Dumbledore said calmly, picked up his wand and tapped lightly on the diary, 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 Schelling and Dumbledore were left in the office, and the atmosphere was a little awkwardly quiet for a while. "That...professor, if there is nothing else, I will leave too. You know, I still have to study for the final exam!"

"Don't rush away. In fact, I have something to tell you. First of all, I must thank you for rescuing Miss Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets." Dumbledore's eyes shone brightly. "Except for Riddle, I haven't seen such an excellent little wizard like 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 vigilant.He knew Dumbledore's black history, and the old friend he was talking about probably meant Grindelwald, which was not a happy evaluation.And the last time the two met was anything but friendly.

"You are too much, Professor!" Xie Lin said modestly, "I just worked harder, and I was a little bit lucky. I was really lucky to be able to come out of the secret room this time."

"No, it's not that simple. Before today, I've been paying attention to you for a long time. Whether it's your performance in the dueling club or the duel between Slytherin factions, you have shown strength far beyond what a second-year student should be. I heard from Severus your declaration in the Slytherin lounge, and I find it very thought-provoking. Like my old friend, you have a vision that ordinary people don't have, and... ambition."

(End of this chapter)