Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

"Who is that, Dobby? Who opened the secret room? Who opened it last time?"

"Dobby can't say, sir, Dobby can't say, Dobby absolutely can't say!" the elf shrieked. "Go home, Harry Potter, go home!"

“I’m not going anywhere!” Harry said irritably. “One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and if the Chamber of Secrets is opened, she’ll be the first one to get in—”

“Harry Potter is willing to risk his life for his friends!” Dobby groaned, both sad and happy. “How noble! How brave! But he must save himself, he must, Harry Potter absolutely cannot—”

Dobby suddenly froze, his two bat-like ears twitching. Harry heard it too. Footsteps came from the hallway outside.

“Dobby has to go!” the house-elf gasped, terrified. A loud popping sound followed, and Harry’s fist suddenly went limp, leaving only air inside. He slumped back onto the bed, his eyes fixed on the dark doorway of the hospital room, the footsteps growing ever closer.

Immediately afterward, Dumbledore backed into the ward. He was wearing a long woolen dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of a sculpture-like object in both hands. A second later, Professor McGonagall appeared, holding the object by its feet. Together they placed it on the bed.

“Go and call Madam Pomfrey,” Dumbledore whispered. Professor McGonagall hurried past Harry’s bedside and out. Harry lay motionless, pretending to be asleep. He heard someone speaking urgently, then Professor McGonagall rushed back in, followed closely by Madam Pomfrey, who was wearing a jacket over her pajamas. Harry heard a gasp.

"What's going on?" Madam Pomfrey asked Dumbledore in a low voice as she bent down to examine the statue.

“Another attack,” Dumbledore said. “McGold found him on the stairs.”

“He also had a bunch of grapes next to him,” Professor McGonagall said. “We guessed he was trying to sneak over here to see Potter.”

Harry's stomach clenched violently. He slowly and carefully lifted himself a few inches so he could see the statue on the bed. Moonlight shone on his stunned face.

It was Colin Crevy. His eyes were wide open, and he held his camera out to his chest.

"Petrified?" Ms. Pomfrey asked in a low voice.

“Yes,” Professor McGonagall said, “it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it… Who knows what might have happened if Albus hadn’t happened to come downstairs to get some hot chocolate…”

The three men stared intently at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and took the camera from Colin's stiff fingers.

"Could he have taken pictures of the attackers?" Professor McGonagall asked anxiously.

Dumbledore did not answer. He pried open the back cover of the camera.

“My goodness!” Ms. Pomfrey exclaimed.

A hissing sound of heat escaped from the camera. Even Harry, three beds away, could smell the pungent odor of burning plastic.

“It’s melted,” Ms. Pomfrey said in surprise, “It’s completely melted…”

“What does this mean, Albus?” Professor McGonagall pressed.

“This means,” Dumbledore said, “that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again.”

Ms. Pomfrey covered her mouth with her hand. Professor McGonagall stared blankly at Dumbledore.

"But Albus...you must know...who?"

“The problem isn’t who,” Dumbledore said, his gaze fixed on Colin, “the problem is, how…”

Harry could see the expression on Professor McGonagall's face in the shadows and knew that she, like him, had not understood Dumbledore's words.

Chapter 26 Rescue in the Opposite Direction

"How did Ginny Weasley open the Chamber of Secrets? She couldn't possibly be Slytherin's heir." Dumbledore pondered this after returning to his office.

While in the school infirmary, McGonagall thought he might know who opened the Chamber of Secrets. In fact, Dumbledore did know—he had previously suspected Draco Malfoy due to Ginny's misleading remarks, but during this attack, someone had already revealed the true culprit's identity.

As the principal, he had too many informants within the school.

And this informant wasn't even human, but—

-

Is it a portrait?

Last night, Cyrus had just petrified Colin when Dumbledore arrived. He figured that even if Dumbledore already knew Ginny's secret, it was impossible for him to be aware of his every move.

Dumbledore said he just happened to come downstairs to get hot chocolate, but how many coincidences are there in this world?

He quickly realized where the problem lay—the portraits in the castle couldn't simply be considered decorations; they had their own thoughts and served Dumbledore. When Dumbledore wanted to know some clues about the castle, he only needed to ask them, or they would proactively inform him, and Dumbledore would have everything he needed to know.

But before this, Cyrus had overlooked this point, and it could even be said that Riddle had overlooked it as well.

Tom Riddle killed Myrtle the first time he released the Basilisk without even leaving the bathroom. He usually kept the Basilisk moving within the pipes, so the portraits didn't see him. Cyrus's first attack also took place at the bathroom door, thus again escaping the portraits' watchful eyes. However, during his second attack, he allowed the Basilisk to roam freely in the corridor, revealing his location.

“At least, the location of the secret room hasn’t been exposed yet,” Cyrus muttered to himself.

Every time he went to the secret chamber, he would cast a disillusionment spell on himself just in case, and there were no paintings in the bathroom.

Moreover, Cyrus wasn't too bothered that Dumbledore knew some of his information.

“Making him think he has everything under control will actually be to his advantage,” Cyrus thought.

Dumbledore would likely subjectively believe that Tom Riddle was the one who stirred up this storm. Under this premise, he would certainly want to see if the two prophesied figures, or rather, Harry Potter, the enemy Voldemort personally chose for himself, could shine once again.

As for himself, as the principal, all he needs to do for now is ensure the safety of the students.

What a pity—

“The prophecy is no longer relevant, because the soul within the diary no longer belongs to Tom Riddle,” Cyrus laughed.

This was the outcome Dumbledore could never have imagined. When he carefully followed Cyrus's plan and waited for Harry Potter to complete the test again, he discovered that the boss prepared for him this semester was gone. That was truly interesting.

Cyrus got out of bed, and after petrifying Colin, he went back to sleep. This made Ginny look much better, though she was still a little pale, and her body temperature was a little lower than normal.

This was a sign that Ginny's life force was fading, but instead of returning his body to Ginny, he went to the Gryffindor common room after washing up.

Hermione was already sitting on the sofa reading a book.

It was that book, "Powerful Potions".

"You're up really early."

"It's rare that I've borrowed the book," Hermione said, looking up. "Ron isn't up yet."

Before she could finish speaking, a red-haired man hurriedly jumped out.

"Phew—you're all up? Sorry, it's a bit late," Ron said quickly.

Hermione slammed her book shut and whispered, "Let's go."

The three of them immediately went outside together.

"Where are you going?" Percy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, looking at Ron with a suspicious expression.

“Why don’t you go out for a walk?” Ron retorted, not to be outdone.

"I just hope you don't go into the women's restroom, especially not with Ginny!" Percy said sternly, clearly displeased with Ron's disrespectful attitude. Last time, he caught Ron wandering around the third-floor restroom.

Ron retorted, his face flushed.

"What does this have to do with you? Besides—I don't think there's anything wrong with Ginny going to the women's restroom."

This left Percy speechless.

A dozen minutes later, in a cubicle in Myrtle's washroom, Cyrus saw the compound potion for the first time.

"It looks disgusting..."

“It’s not fully formed yet. The two-horned horn and the skin of the black African tree snake can only be stolen from Snape’s office.” Hermione said as she stirred the thick, greenish stuff—which looked like shredded leaves mixed with black mud—and tossed the two-eared grass into the cauldron.

"And we also need some hair or nails from a Slytherin student, which is easy to obtain."

A short while later, Harry, whose bones had been healing all night, emerged from the school hospital. He wandered around for a while before finally remembering the restrooms when he ran into Percy, so he rushed over immediately. He wasn't surprised to see Ginny there, after all, he was the one who let slip the secret yesterday.

So he couldn't wait to tell the story of what happened last night.

“Colin was petrified. He came to see me…” Harry said, his face full of guilt.

“We already know,” Hermione said. They had just met Professor McGonagall on their way here, and she had heard Professor Flitwick talking about it.

Although Ron didn't particularly like Colin, he couldn't help feeling angry at this moment: "We'd better get Malfoy to confess as soon as possible. He's been sullen ever since the Quidditch match, and he's taking it out on Colin."

After a brief moment of anger, they rallied, after all, Colin could still be saved.

"Oh, and there's one more thing," Harry said, repeating Dobby's story. This further convinced them that Malfoy was the murderer.

“Lucius Malfoy must have opened the secret chamber when he was in school here, and now he’s teaching dear Draco to do the same. It’s quite obvious. But I really hope Dobby told you what kind of monster was locked inside. I just don’t understand how it could sneak around the school without anyone noticing.”

“Maybe it can make itself invisible,” Hermione said, poking some leeches into the bottom of the cauldron. “Or it can disguise itself—turn into armor or something. I’ve read about chameleon ghouls in books…”

Seeing this, Cyrus also lent a hand, pouring some dead grasshoppers onto the leeches.

Then Harry went on to tell Dobby about how he had harmed him.

“So Dobby wouldn’t let us on the train and broke your arm…” Ron shook his head. “You know what, Harry? If he had kept trying to save you, he would have killed you.”

“First Lockhart, then Dobby, you’re really having a run of bad luck,” Cyrus said.

Chapter 27 Invisibility Cloak

News of Colin Creeve's attack and his current hospital state only broke on Monday morning.

As a result, all the young wizards in the school suddenly felt insecure and dared not act alone.

During this time, everyone secretly exchanged amulets, talismans, and other protective items, keeping it a secret from the teachers. This practice quickly became popular throughout the school, and Neville Longbottom bought a stinking green onion, a sharp amethyst, and a rotting newt tail.

As a result, the common room always had a lingering stench, which even Cyrus couldn't stand.

“Navi, you don’t need these things. You’re a pureblood, you won’t be attacked.” Cyrus fanned his nose, trying to let in some fresh air.

“But he attacked Filch first, as everyone knows. I was practically a dud,” he said fearfully.