From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 185 Ivy's Strategy

"Very good paper, Hermione." Ivy sighed and rolled up Hermione's paper on Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets and the monster within it.

"You have done what all the headmasters and many powerful wizards could not do, finding the secret room hidden in the castle." It seems that the best way to stimulate Hermione's potential is to give her homework, just like Gauss solved the "ruler and compass construction of a regular 2000-gon" that had troubled mathematicians for years in just one night. At that time, he only thought it was an after-school homework.

"But Professor Lockhart..." Hermione bit her lip, "He has clearly already given the monster in the Chamber of Secrets to..."

"People can lie, Hermione. But facts can't." Ivy was a little distressed. He didn't want to expose the Chamber of Secrets so early. Although it was a good thing to let Hagrid clear his name, there was no place to put the basilisk inside. Letting it sleep in the Chamber of Secrets was the best solution.

Now that Hermione had handed him the paper, he could no longer play dumb. He had to at least solve the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk before Dumbledore discovered it through the portraits scattered throughout the castle.

This is why Ivy chose to teach Cassandra in the bell tower, as there are the fewest portraits in the castle.

"I don't believe it..." Hermione shook her head with tears in her eyes. Her messy hair seemed to become listless. "Professor Lockhart is so powerful..."

The furthest distance in the world is longing, which can make people blind. The adventurer Lockhart in Hermione's mind is not the real Lockhart, but an image born out of novels and the fantasy of a little girl, and was imposed by Hermione on the liar Lockhart.

In fact, Hermione had already noticed that something was wrong with Lockhart, but her brain convinced herself to selectively ignore the evidence.

Now that more pointed facts have been exposed, Hermione has discovered that Lockhart's words and deeds are totally untenable. On one hand, there is her own speculation based on facts, and on the other hand, there is the idol she admires.
"I suggest you calm down and think about it, Hermione." Ivy comforted her. He wanted to calm the little witch, at least until he dealt with everything in the Chamber of Secrets. "When will Lockhart ask for this paper?"

"I told him I would give it to him after the Christmas holidays..." Hermione stammered.

"There's still plenty of time," Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. Plenty of time meant he didn't have to risk using other methods, such as erasing the little witch's memory. "You should get some fresh air and have a good snowball fight with your friends. Oftentimes, worries will flow away with the sweat."

"But..." Hermione wanted to refute. She was a bit of a nerd, as if it was a blasphemy not to spend every minute reading in Hogwarts. What's more, she even used reading as a pastime. Ivy would at least feed the magical animals and go to the Forbidden Forest to eat some big melons to relieve stress.

"No buts. Rest is for better progress. The road of magic is long. Those who never stop will eventually die halfway. You should learn to allocate time reasonably." Ivy rolled the parchment into a tube and tapped Hermione's furry head. "I will hand this paper to Lockhart for you after Christmas. During this time, don't think about the Chamber of Secrets anymore."

Hermione stared at Ivy's face with her brown eyes for a long time before she looked away and said in a weak voice, "Okay... I get it."

Watching Hermione turn away in despair, Ivy said softly, "Cassandra, today's teaching ends here. I have other things to do."

"What a naive, green thing..." Cassandra whispered, "She must have a happy family."

"If I remember correctly, you are the same age." Ivy glanced at Cassandra and laughed softly.

----

Dumbledore's office remained the same. The old headmasters hanging on the wall were still snoring, and the silverware was spewing steam and smoke all the time. Ivy always suspected that it was a magic humidifier, but was humidification really necessary in such terrible weather in the UK?

Fox on the branch has completely turned into a bald chicken, and it seems that he is only seconds away from nirvana.

As Ivy passed by it, he heard a hissing sound as if someone's neck was being strangled.

"Welcome, Ivy." The old wizard with white beard sat in his chair, seeming very surprised by Ivy's sudden visit.

Before Ivy could say hello, Fox, the bald chicken perched on a branch, caught fire.

With a scream like its last breath, the phoenix turned into a ball of fire, then burst into a bright light, and then turned into a handful of ashes and fell to the ground.

"It's been half a year since it started to shed its feathers?" Ivy looked closely at the chick that had just emerged from the ashes. It was wrinkled and as ugly as the old bird.

"Yes. It's been half a year now, ever since it started to shed its feathers during your summer vacation." Dumbledore waved his large, bony hands, helped the little bird Fawkes build a nest, and then placed it in place.

"Does it take so long for the Phoenix to be reborn every time?" Ivy moved a chair for himself, sat down and asked.

"Not necessarily. This time it has dragged on for too long and doesn't seem as firm as usual." Dumbledore placed a plate of candies on the table. They were Muggle candies that would not move. "Try Keith's new product. His life is so sweet now!"

Keith was a Muggle candy shop owner that Dumbledore met last year. Ivy had met him once before, but he didn't expect that they had any business dealings.

Ivy picked up a candy that looked like an orange segment and put it in his mouth, then explained his purpose: "I found the secret room."

Dumbledore stopped the candy he hadn't put into his mouth, his eyes flashing with surprise: "Are you sure, Ivy? This is very important."

"Take a look at this." Ivy placed Hermione's paper on the table. "It's about Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets and the monster inside it."

Without a word, Dumbledore unfolded the parchment and examined it carefully.

"Hmm... I understand now." Dumbledore relaxed, as if a mystery that had troubled him for a long time was finally solved. "It turns out that the bathroom where Myrtle died is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets... She died because she stared into the eyes of the basilisk..."

"It is not easy for Miss Granger to discover this." Dumbledore laughed. "Why did she write this paper?"

"I guess Lockhart was preparing for his new book, so he found three students to do free work for him," Ivy replied. "Haha..." Dumbledore's white beard trembled, "I didn't expect he would actually help find the Chamber of Secrets. Originally, I just wanted him to be a bad example to the students, to let them know what they shouldn't be like. Fate is really interesting, isn't it?"

"You invited a liar to be a professor at Hogwarts. You didn't have much good intentions from the beginning." Ivy said sarcastically, "First, you fool around for a year, and then send Lockhart to Azkaban, and then find the next unlucky person?"

"You misunderstood me, Ivy." Dumbledore showed a sly smile on his face, "I do intend to expose his tricks, but I will only hand him over to the Ministry of Magic. After all, his behavior can be regarded as an abuse of magic!"

"However, if Professor Victor is willing to return to his loyal Hogwarts, I may consider dismissing him immediately." Dumbledore put his fingers together and extended an invitation to Ivy.

"Forget it. I'm not interested in teaching a bunch of energetic brats." Ivy rolled her eyes. "If the truth about Myrtle's death is revealed, it will not only declare Hagrid's innocence, but also lead to another incident."

Dumbledore leaned forward slightly, in a listening posture.

"Voldemort used Myrtle's death to split a piece of her soul and created his first Horcrux, a diary." Ivy placed the volume on the table.

This artifact, made using fragments of Voldemort's soul, has lost all its effects and will not be restored until a hundred years later, so there is no text on it except the signature "Tom Riddle" written on the first page.

"What on earth is this..." Dumbledore turned the title page and the name of Voldemort's student immediately came into view. "It's amazing... You destroyed the soul fragments in the Horcrux without harming the carrier?"

"I didn't destroy it, I used it up." Ivy said the story he had prepared long ago. Although it was full of loopholes, he didn't intend to keep it from Dumbledore. He just needed to have a similar story. "If all the Horcruxes were destroyed, Voldemort would be trapped in the middle, unable to move forward, nor could he retreat and become a ghost. He found the worst way for himself."

"I have been shocked too many times today..." Dumbledore shook his head. "I am a little confused as to whether this is a dream or... I thought Voldemort was a very difficult guy to deal with. My past experience has told me so. But now... Tom's arrangements are almost useless..."

"By the way, Ivy, where did it come from?" Dumbledore suddenly came to his senses.

"Lucius gave it to me as an investment and as a token of trust," Ivy said calmly. "He can't become a Death Eater again. By studying the Dark Mark on his arm, I found that our Potions professor seemed to..."

"Your sharpness is astonishing..." Dumbledore said with a wry smile, "But regarding Severus, please give me some time... I have too many things to digest today... I am just an old man, and my brain is not as good as before..."

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to worry for a while." Ivy tapped his fingers on the table. With the sound of dong, the teapot poured a cup of tea for each of them. "There is also the secret room and the basilisk inside."

"Oh - spare me." Dumbledore groaned. The wise old wizard was indeed feeling tired.

Ivy's strategy was exactly this, pouring all the useful information in front of Dumbledore, leaving him no time to distinguish which ones were the most important. Even if Dumbledore could use magic to review this memory again, the impact of multiple heavy bombs would undoubtedly affect his judgment.

It was painful enough to search for clues about Voldemort in the memories provided by different witnesses, let alone this conversation with such a high density of information.

Dumbledore is not like Ivy who can use the 2nd level spell Mechanized Mind to maintain absolute concentration. The old man's energy is not as good as before.

Even if he really took apart the conversation bit by bit and noticed what Ivy wanted to hide, then Ivy's goal would have been achieved.

Just as Dumbledore hired Lockhart to fool the entire school for a year, Ivy also used various secrets to fool Dumbledore.

As long as Dumbledore doesn't express any objection during this period, the probability of him repeating his old tune later will be smaller, not to mention that Ivy will be even more powerful by then.

"The Chamber of Secrets is opened by Parseltongue. I guess the legend of the Chamber of Secrets that has been circulating in Hogwarts is a trick of the Gaunt family. Maybe they were also involved in the renovation of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets." Ivy smiled and continued, "For a thousand years, no headmaster has been able to find the existence of the Chamber of Secrets, but the internal facilities of Hogwarts have been replaced several times. At least, we now have flush toilets."

Dumbledore no longer spoke, but just kept drinking tea. It was obvious that he was engaged in intensive mental activity.

"Shall we go? Principal, the basilisk in the secret room is still waiting." Ivy smiled maliciously and stood up from his chair.

"You really have no respect for the elderly," Dumbledore complained, standing up as well.

----

Standing in the dark hall of the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore sighed: "All of this is a masterpiece of magic... I really don't know how Slytherin did it... The great four giants, the predecessors of Hogwarts..."

"What surprises me even more is that you actually learned Parseltongue?" Coming to the statue of Salazar Slytherin, Dumbledore looked at Ivy behind him.

"I told you, I can talk to all animals." Ivy didn't intend to explain, and read the code in Parseltongue, "Speak to me, Slytherin - the greatest of the four giants of Hogwarts."

The statue's mouth opened, turning into a dark entrance. Ivy stood beside it and gestured for someone to come in.

Dumbledore sighed wordlessly and slid down the pipe.

"Parseltongue can put the basilisk into a state similar to hibernation. That's why Myrtle was the only one who died under its stare in the past thousand years." Looking at the sleeping basilisk in the underground palace, Ivy explained softly, "It has lived in the dark underground for a thousand years, feeding on the rats in the castle all day long, and was used as a killing tool. It's really pitiful."

Dumbledore looked up at the basilisk's green scales and said, "I understand you... but it is a threat to the students in the castle."

"As long as I'm here, it won't be a threat." Ivy smiled. "I'll find a good place for it, and I'll also find a way to make its gaze no longer lethal, but all this will take time. I'll be responsible for keeping an eye on it until Voldemort comes back."

(End of this chapter)