Chapter 34.
In Professor McGonagall's office, several people were already waiting for them, including Dumbledore, who had just returned to Hogwarts, and the Weasley family.
When they entered the office, the atmosphere was one of somber silence. Suddenly, a scream came from beside the fireplace—"Ginny!"
It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting by the fire crying. She jumped up suddenly, followed by Mr. Weasley, and they both reached out their arms to embrace their precious daughter. Harry's gaze passed over them into the room. He saw Professor Dumbledore smiling, standing in front of the fireplace.
"Can someone explain what exactly happened?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.
Soren smiled slightly and said calmly, "Professor, it's like this: I happened to run into Miss Weasley on the third floor as she was entering that long-abandoned girls' washroom. Her behaviour seemed quite odd, and my intuition told me something was wrong—Miss Weasley was likely being controlled by a dark magic I didn't understand. Out of concern for her, I quietly followed her into the washroom, and to my surprise, I witnessed something unbelievable—"
"Miss Weasley spoke some words to the faucet that I couldn't understand; the voice sounded a bit like Parseltongue, but I couldn't be sure. Then the entire sink disappeared, revealing a pipe entrance large enough for a person to crawl into. To be honest, I was a bit scared, and recklessness is not the Slytherin way. My first thought was to leave immediately and report this to Professor Snape."
"Mr. Malfoy, you really should have done that! You are just a student and shouldn't recklessly enter a potentially dangerous unknown place. But you can tell me why you didn't do that later?" Professor McGonagall was indeed a bit puzzled by Soren's response; Soren had always been a mature, sensible, and rational student, and such reckless behaviour seemed like something only a Gryffindor would do.
"Professor, that's because I was worried that if I left, the entrance would disappear, and I didn't know how to make it reappear. If I delayed, Miss Weasley might be in danger—Professor, you know that, because of my Malfoy identity, I don't get along well with the Weasley family. But when I thought about a classmate even younger than me possibly perishing because of my inaction, I felt I couldn't stand by and do nothing; that would haunt my conscience forever. So I immediately decided to follow her and dive into that pipe."
After hearing Soren's explanation, Professor McGonagall seemed to relax her lips a bit, and her gaze appeared less severe. "Your response was reckless, but it is indeed understandable. Let's set aside your behaviour for now; what happened after you entered the pipe?"
Dumbledore looked intently at Soren but chose to remain silent. Mr. Weasley showed a slightly awkward expression upon recognising Soren as Lucius's son.
Ignoring the reactions of others, Soren continued, "Perhaps the great Slytherin was watching over me—after all, I am also a Slytherin. Inside, there was a gigantic, ancient basilisk."
He paused and said, "Fortunately, the basilisk was still asleep. I knew its weakness was in its brain, so I transformed a sharp, conical boulder on the ceiling and controlled it to smash right between the basilisk's eyes, successfully killing it. At that moment, a ghostly figure emerged from Ginny; he called himself Tom Riddle and seemed to have ill intentions, asking me many questions..."
"I could tell that he actually emerged from a diary that Ginny had. For safety's sake, before he could react, I used a summoning charm to grab the diary and threw it into the basilisk's venom. Unexpectedly, he suddenly disappeared. I carried Miss Weasley out of the chamber and then ran into Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley in the bathroom."
Next, it was Harry's turn to recount his experience. He spoke for about ten minutes, and everyone listened attentively; the room was silent. When they heard that Ron had suffered a backlash for trying to cast a spell on Soren, who was holding Ginny, Mr. Weasley's face turned completely red, while Mrs. Weasley shot Soren an apologetic glance.
"What I'm most interested in," Dumbledore suddenly interjected, "is how Voldemort managed to control Miss Weasley. According to my sources, he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania!"
"What?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed in shock, "The Dark Lord? Controlled Ginny? But Ginny isn't... Ginny didn't... did she?"
"Professor," Soren politely interjected, carefully using his wand to pull out a thoroughly soaked diary from a container in his robes, "I suspect this should be related to this diary; it may contain some unknown dark magic."
"Remarkable," Dumbledore said softly, "he could be considered the most outstanding student in Hogwarts history." He turned to face the Weasley couple, both of whom looked very confused.
"Few people know that Voldemort was once named Tom Riddle. Fifty years ago, at Hogwarts, I personally taught him. After he left school, he vanished... traveling far and wide, sinking deeper into the mire of dark magic, mingling with the most evil dark wizards, and after several dangerous magical transformations, he re-emerged as Voldemort—by then, people could hardly recognise him. Almost no one linked Voldemort to that clever, handsome student council president from back then."
"But Ginny," Mrs. Weasley asked, "what does Ginny have to do with him?"
"His diary!" Ginny sobbed, "I wrote in it all year, and he kept writing back to me..."
"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed, dumbfounded, "Didn't I teach you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself, unless you can see where it keeps its brain. Why didn't you show that diary to me or your mother? Such a suspicious thing, obviously full of dark magic!"
"I—I don't know," Ginny cried sorrowfully, "I found it in a book my mom gave me. I—I thought someone had left it there and forgotten about it..."
"Miss Weasley should go to the hospital wing immediately," Dumbledore interjected firmly, "This is a painful ordeal for her, and the school will not punish her. Many wizards older and more cunning than she has been deceived by Voldemort." He strode to the door, opened it, and kindly winked at Ginny, "You will find Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She was just distributing the Mandrake restorative potion—I daresay, the victims of the basilisk could wake up at any moment."
Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, with Mr. Weasley following behind, still looking greatly affected. After Professor McGonagall left as well, Dumbledore smiled and awarded some points to Harry, specifically praising his decisiveness and bravery.
Just as Harry was about to leave the office, the door was suddenly slammed open, hitting the wall behind it.
Lucius Malfoy stood there, seething with anger, clutching a house-elf wrapped in bandages under his arm—it was Dobby. Lucius stormed into the room, nearly knocking Harry over. Dobby hurried in behind him, hunched over, staring at the seam of his master's robes with a face full of desperate fear.
"Ah!" Lucius's cold eyes fixed on Dumbledore, "You're back. The board has suspended your position, yet you still take it upon yourself to return to Hogwarts."
"Oh, is that so, Lucius," Dumbledore said with a calm smile, "Today, the other eleven board members contacted me. They heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter was in an accident and all wished for me to come here immediately. They seem to think that after all this, I am still the most suitable person for the job. They also told me some strange stories. Some of them seem to believe that you threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend my position."
Lucius's face was paler than usual, but his eyes still blazed with fury. "So—did you stop those attacks?" he sneered, "Did you catch the culprit?"
"We did," Dumbledore replied with a smile.
"Oh?" Lucius asked sharply, "Who?"
"It was the same person as last time, Lucius," Dumbledore said, "However, Voldemort was operating through another person this time. With his diary." He watched Mr. Malfoy's reaction closely. Meanwhile, Harry looked at Dobby. The house-elf was acting very strangely. His large, tennis ball-sized eyes were meaningfully fixed on Harry, pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then he pounded his own head with his fist.
A light bulb went off in Harry's mind, and he suddenly understood. "Mr. Malfoy, don't you want to know how Ginny got that diary?"
"Hmph!" Lucius sneered at Harry, "My time is very valuable; I have no interest in how a silly girl got a ridiculous diary."
"Because you gave it to her," Harry said, "At Borgin and Burkes, you picked up her Transfiguration textbook and secretly stuffed the diary inside, didn't you?"
Lucius's pale hands clenched into fists and then relaxed. He rasped, "Do you have any evidence?"
"Oh, no one can provide evidence now," Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry, "Now that Riddle has vanished from the diary. Besides, Lucius, I have a piece of advice for you: don't distribute Voldemort's old school things anymore. If such things fall into the hands of the innocent again, at least Arthur Weasley will surely be able to trace them back to you..."
Lucius stood frozen for a moment, veins bulging at his temples, then suddenly turned his head and glared angrily at Soren, "What about you? Why are you here?"
Soren shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Dear father, I happened to run into Harry and the others while practicing magic alone, helped them a bit, and then came along."
Lucius's expression darkened, and just as he was about to scold harshly, he glanced at Dumbledore, snorted in dissatisfaction, and turned to call for Dobby to leave. He opened the door, and Dobby hurried over, only to be kicked out by Mr. Malfoy. They could hear Dobby's painful screams gradually fading down the corridor. Harry, however, stood there, staring intently at the diary, frowning in deep thought for a moment.
"Professor Dumbledore!" he said hurriedly, "May I return this diary to Mr. Malfoy?"
"Of course, Harry!" Dumbledore said calmly, lightly tapping the diary with his wand. The snake venom on the diary disappeared at a visible speed, and Harry grabbed the diary and rushed out of the office.
In the blink of an eye, only Soren and Dumbledore remained in the office, and for a moment, the atmosphere became a bit awkwardly quiet. "Um... Professor, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave. You know, I still need to study for my final exams!"
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. In fact, I have something to say to you as well. First, I must thank you for rescuing Miss Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets." Dumbledore's eyes sparkled, "Aside from Riddle, I haven't seen a young wizard as talented as you in a long time. Seeing you reminds me of an old friend."
Though the other party spoke lightly, Soren remained secretly vigilant. He knew Dumbledore's dark history, and the old friend he mentioned was probably Grindelwald, which was not a pleasant assessment. Moreover, their last meeting could hardly be called friendly.
"You flatter me, Professor!" Soren said modestly, "I just work a bit harder and have some luck. It was truly a stroke of luck to come out alive from the Chamber."
"No, it's not that simple. Before today, I had been paying attention to you for a long time. Whether it was your performance in the dueling club or during the duels between the Slytherin factions, you displayed a strength far beyond what a second-year student should possess. I heard from Severus about the declaration you made in the Slytherin common room, and I found it very thought-provoking. You, like my old friend, possess a vision that is uncommon and... ambition."
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