The sickly, iron-fisted beauty in Harry Potter

"Did he hide the original, or did he send it to Hogwarts in some other way?"

As he said this, Qiu Zhanghe subconsciously glanced at Luna.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she gestured to Dolly, asking if it was appropriate to let Luna know everything.

After all, Cho Chang had spent a year with Dolly and Hermione, and they had become close friends.

While they were chatting, Dolly told Cho Chang what had happened without any hesitation, even though Cho Chang couldn't usually go through these things with Dolly and Hermione.

But Luna... she's only just met a few people, is it really okay to completely trust her?

Moreover, this is not just a matter of trust, but also a matter of security.

Dolly's strength is undeniable. Although Hermione didn't have many opportunities to use her powers, Hermione's spellcasting skills, except for the Transfiguration healing spell, were superior to Dolly's.

Luna is a little witch who has only recently picked up a wand.

Luna clearly realized something and stood up, intending to leave.

But Dolly grabbed her wrist and said, "Sit down, I believe you."

Luna struggled for a moment, and only after realizing she couldn't break free did she sit down again.

Then, looking seriously at Hermione and Cho Chang, he said, "I will keep this a secret. I swear in Merlin's name."

Luna's words made Qiu Zhang feel somewhat ashamed.

She quickly waved her hand and said, "No, Luna, it's not that I don't trust you, I'm just worried that you might be in danger."

"You might not know, but Dolly last semester... Could you tell her?"

Dolly thought for a moment and nodded.

Luna stared wide-eyed with curiosity.

Luna already knew quite a bit about Dolly.

The opportunity for Luna and Ginny to become friends even came when Luna heard Ginny recount exclusive information about Dolly, relayed by Ron.

But Ron's so-called exclusive information was nothing more than snippets of information he'd gleaned from Harry.

A significant portion of Dolly's true experiences were concealed by Dumbledore and the entire Hogwarts organization in order not to interfere with Harry's adventures.

Now that a year has passed, Dolly has basically stopped caring about it.

But to Luna, it was still a thrilling, even heartbreaking and painful experience.

Luna couldn't help but look at Dolly again and again, gazing at Dolly's slender figure and imagining how this girl could kill a giant with such arms.

"In short, you may be in danger, but it's not too late to back out now."

"That's the Chamber of Secrets, Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, and it even has magical creatures that can kill people."

Hermione also spoke up to persuade Luna, partly because she was genuinely concerned for Luna's safety.

On the other hand... although Luna seemed harmless, she and Qiu Zhang had a vague feeling for each other.

Their trio is about to become a quartet if she and Qiu Zhang don't step up their game soon.

However, Luna was clearly unaware of this and was still immersed in her friendship with Dolly.

The more her friends considered her feelings at this moment, the less Luna felt she could back down.

So she swore to Merlin again that she would not tell anyone the information and that she would be careful.

Seeing Luna's increasingly serious expression, Hermione and Cho Chang exchanged a glance, knowing that their efforts had backfired.

The two of them had no choice but to give up and tacitly agree that Luna could participate.

However, Hermione was still determined.

Unless Dolly brings it up, try to keep Dolly and Luna away from each other as much as possible.

Dolly felt that the little girl with silver eyes in front of her, although she looked harmless, was surprisingly attractive to her... Hmm, why did she use the word "attractive"?

"Alright, Hermione, Cho."

Dolly spoke last, saying, "Since Luna is willing to get involved, we can't just stop her, can we?"

"And as you probably know, Luna doesn't really have many friends. Befriending her can also prevent her from being targeted."

As Dolly spoke, she glanced at Hermione, who pouted. She knew Dolly was referring to Hermione, who should deeply understand her experience in first grade.

Hermione was completely speechless.

If it weren't for Dolly, she would most likely have been targeted by her classmates in first grade.

Moreover, Hermione felt she was more popular than Luna, at least she could talk to others under the guise of learning and exchanging ideas, while Luna always seemed out of place.

"Most importantly, Luna is the only one of the four of us who was born in the magical world. Many things that we don't know are the most common knowledge to Luna."

"Luna, what do you think about this? If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me."

Dolly gave Luna the opportunity to speak, and at the same time, she had some expectations for Luna.

After all, Luna's presence around the three of them now is almost entirely Dolly's wishful thinking.

If Luna can offer any other insights, then that would truly prove her worth.

164 Duel Club

After hearing Dolly's words, Hermione and Cho Chang looked at Luna with skepticism.

Although Dolly's words seemed to make a lot of sense, could Luna really make a judgment that was more in line with the understanding of the magical world than the three of them?

After all, Luna is only a first-year student, and in their eyes, she is still a little kid, while they are already mature second and third-year witches.

Luna was a little nervous, but she quickly calmed down because she realized that the question Dolly had given her was actually very simple.

Although Luna is young, she is very intelligent, and may be considered by others to lack common sense, and she has an eccentric personality.

She was more aware than most of the realities of the lower classes in the magical world because she was born into that class.

Another thing is her father's constant dissent; he receives submissions from various wizards every day.

Although most of them are worthless, or even completely fabricated, they in a sense better reflect the current state of the wizarding world, which even the Ministry of Magic is unwilling to acknowledge.

By combining these experiences with Dolly's current problem, Luna instantly had an idea.

"I think Lucius is unlikely to do something so dangerous."

"He is a notoriously cunning wizard, and one of the most influential among pure-blood wizards."

"If the diary is a burden to him, then what Lucius should do is to get rid of it as soon as possible."

"In fact, his decision to throw the diary into Hogwarts was already unlike anything he would make."

"Why didn't he sell the diary to a merchant who specializes in dealing with dark magic items?"

Hermione and Luna exchanged a glance, a hint of confusion in their eyes.

Are there really businessmen like this?

The answer is obviously yes, but these kinds of guys are active in Knockturn Alley, not Diagon Alley.

This place is home to many skilled wizards who use black magic, including those who secretly commit crimes using black magic.

If you are an adult wizard, you can get a lot of unorthodox but useful things from here.

But if an underage wizard comes here, he might accidentally become a commodity, since wizards are magical creatures, aren't they?

Hermione and Cho Chang clearly knew nothing about the truth of Knockout Alley; at most, they only knew the name.

Luna, on the other hand, even went shopping in Knockturn Alley with her father—something that Luna's father, Xenophilius, was clearly not entirely normal to do.

"So Lucius had his own purpose: to open the secret chamber, let the monster inside kill the students, and then use his position as a school board member to force Dumbledore to leave."

"After Hogwarts changed its headmaster, it became much easier for Lucius and the Ministry of Magic to interfere with Hogwarts."

Dolly succinctly summarized Lucius's logic, and at this point there was no need to hide any more important details.

Of course, Dolly still didn't reveal that Lucius was actually a Death Eater and did these things for Voldemort.

The more Dolly cooperates with Dumbledore, the more she will keep everything about Voldemort a secret. Otherwise, knowing too much might not be something Dumbledore will like.

"So, Lucius didn't touch the diary, and Lockhart didn't have the ability to touch the diary."

"Could it be Dobby, the house-elf?"

Hermione offered her own theory, but Luna immediately dismissed it.

"House-elves can't do that unless they're dead."

Hermione and Cho Chang looked at Luna in confusion. Luna patiently explained, "If Dobby were to rebel against his master, he would kill himself first."

“Since you see that Dobby is still alive, it means that he has not yet rebelled against Lucius.”

Hermione gestured with her lips, clearly wanting to discuss the issue of loyalty among house-elves.

Dolly immediately stopped her, not wanting Hermione, who was so young, to discuss such topics, as it would only make Hermione look like a saint.

Dolly doesn't think that being a saint is bad. After all, there's a big difference between a saint who strives for a certain moral concept and a saintly hypocrite who forces others to strive for their own moral ideals.

However, the issue of house-elves also involves the economic foundation and political structure of the magical world, which Hermione cannot understand at the moment.

So Dolly said, "Since Luna has never heard of house-elves betraying their masters, this one must be true."

"So we can conclude that someone swapped the real diary with Lockhart before us, right?"

Several people nodded in unison; this was the most appropriate conclusion.

But here's the question: who inside Hogwarts would do something like this?

After thinking for a long time, no conclusion could be reached.

If Harry and the others were here, they would definitely be trying to guess who Snape is.

However, Dolly and the others didn't have a too bad impression of Snape. Although his personal hygiene and attitude towards students were really not commendable, at least on the bottom line, a few of them felt that Snape could be trusted.

"I can't figure it out."

Finally, Dolly announced that the discussion was over for the night.

"Dumbledore has gone to Lockhart; let's see what he concludes."

"If he can't find any clues either, then it's not a problem we can solve."