Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

Dumbledore immediately went into the school infirmary, and the other professors quickly followed. Ms. Pomfrey was bending over, taking something from Penelope's hand.

—A small mirror.

Dumbledore immediately guessed how Penelope had escaped from the Basilisk.

However, he was unaware of the attack.

After Cyrus discovered that the portrait in the castle was Dumbledore's spy, he naturally refused to repeat the same mistake. He no longer allowed the basilisk to move in the corridors, but instead kept it inside the pipes, only letting it out at the moment of attack. And Cyrus himself became even better hidden.

“This is the fourth attack on Albus, and three students have been injured.” McGonagall looked worried. “I’m afraid this can’t be contained. What’s the school board saying?”

“There’s been no response yet.” Dumbledore shook his head. He had initially thought the Board of Governors might be planning to close Hogwarts, but that hadn’t happened. Perhaps no real murder had occurred yet, or perhaps someone felt it wasn’t the right time?

"That would be perfect, but we still need to find the murderer."

“We will find her, Minerva,” Dumbledore said softly. His face was almost expressionless, making it difficult to discern his true thoughts.

“That’s right, we’ll find it! As long as I do it myself!” Lockhart seized the opportunity and jumped out immediately, revealing his signature smile.

McGonagall immediately showed a look of disgust.

To be honest, under normal circumstances, even if she disliked Lockhart, she would never have been so rude. But now, with the situation so serious, Lockhart's dismissive attitude was simply annoying.

Ultimately, he's still the same Gilderoy Lockhart.

It's still Lockhart, the same Lockhart who, in order to attract attention, modified Death Eaters during the war years to create "resurrections of the skeletons," launching his own name into the air to create panic!

"If I remember correctly, you were making a big fuss about the Heir being driven away two weeks ago?" Snape appeared behind Lockhart at some point, sneering.

Then, ignoring Lockhart's reaction, he went straight to Dumbledore's side and whispered, "Ginny Weasley didn't go anywhere this morning. She stayed with Poot and the others. But—there's something I need to tell you—"

His voice lowered even further. In the end, he barely spoke, instead meeting Dumbledore's gaze directly.

'Ginny Weasley has lost something?'

This information immediately made things clearer for Dumbledore.

After he noticed something was wrong with Ginny, he told Snape to keep a close eye on her. Now it seems that Voldemort may have noticed the surveillance and therefore took the initiative to leave Ginny Weasley's side, instead taking control of the other young wizards.

And that missing item—it must be the Horcrux left behind by Voldemort!

'You left too many openings, Tom.'

Dumbledore couldn't help but think.

The question, however, is what exactly is that missing item.

Snape simply shook his head. Legilimency wasn't an omniscient spell. Ginny and the others' memories had been altered by Cyrus, and they couldn't recall losing anything. Snape naturally couldn't know the answer either.

It seems that the other party is still very cautious.

Dumbledore held the mirror he had taken from Penelope and pondered for a moment.

Fifty years ago, Tom Riddle took Myrtle's life without hesitation—it was actually an accident—and now, from Mrs. Lorris to Penelope, not a single life has died at the hands of that monster.

Stagnant water, a camera, a ghost, and a mirror in the bathroom...

Everything seemed like a coincidence, but he knew that such coincidences were impossible in this world. The only possibility was that Tom didn't want anyone to die.

Dumbledore certainly didn't believe Tom Riddle had repented or developed compassion. The only explanation was that he didn't want the school to close. Fifty years ago, Dumbledore could understand why he didn't want the school to close. But what was he yearning for now?

What was it about this school that attracted him?

Dumbledore thought for a moment and then had the answer.

—Harry Potter!

That's right!

If there's anything that would interest Tom Riddle, it's probably only Harry Potter!

When he—that Horcrux—somehow learned from Ginny Weasley that Harry Potter had defeated the Man of Varian, he...

The soul within the Horcrux, completely unaware of this, would surely wonder what kind of magic a baby possesses that could defeat Lord Voldemort.

He will approach that child.

The thought flashed through Dumbledore's mind. And as he pondered it, he became increasingly certain that it would happen.

From the very first attack, the perpetrators consistently framed Harry for the attack. On Halloween night, Harry, who happened to be absent from the party, was the victim of the first attack; the second victim was Colin Creevey, who took numerous embarrassing photos of Harry; and the third was Justin, whom Harry was caught red-handed by Filch.

All the evidence points to Harry. Tom Riddle must be trying to get Harry involved in the scandal and guide him to investigate the Chamber of Secrets and the Heirs.

Only in this way can they finally meet alone.

And this is exactly what Dumbledore wanted.

'He knows what I want.'

Dumbledore quickly realized this was a game of strategy. Tom Riddle was using the student's life to blackmail him, trying to eliminate him as a threat and confront the little boy.

If I'm not mistaken, it probably won't be long before I have to leave Hogwarts because of some things.

However, Dumbledore wasn't actually too worried.

Tom believed he could win because his opponent was just a second-year wizard.

But Dumbledore thought he was underestimating Harry.

Chapter 55 You are quite nice

The next morning, after news of Penelope Crival's attack spread throughout Hogwarts, the young wizards all thought Harry Potter must have gone mad.

"At first he only attacked those who opposed him, but now he's targeting all wizards from the Muggle world!" Ernie Macmillan told everyone he knew with an air of conviction. He was almost certain Harry was the murderer and had even fabricated a story about Harry directing the monster to attack others.

They also questioned why the professors didn't expel Harry.

"It's as if he saw it with his own eyes." Ron rolled his eyes, feeling indignant on Harry's behalf.

“I feel like almost all the rumors came from Ernie McMillan.” During his Charms class, Cyrus deliberately slipped away from Malfoy’s two henchmen and arrived a little late.

With no other seats available, he could only sit behind Harry and Ron, in a row with Hermione.

He deliberately wore an expression of disgust on his face to make others think he wasn't entirely willing. But behind her back, he was whispering to Hermione. Hermione blushed, remembering the "Mr. Riddle" she had seen in the Pensieve not long ago.

"I'm asking you, when did you start possessing Ginny's body?" Hermione asked softly, her head lowered and her face flushed.

"The first time I possessed someone was not long after the start of the semester last year. During the Quidditch match last semester, after Colin Crevey was petrified, I was in control almost the entire time until Christmas. What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing..."

But Hermione's face was even redder than before. Cyrus, sitting next to her, could feel her heat.

She changed the subject, nudged Harry sitting in front of her with a quill, and then tossed him a note.

"What should we do? Maybe we should go find Hagrid and get to the bottom of this."

“But Hagrid couldn’t possibly know who opened the Chamber of Secrets this time,” Harry replied reluctantly.

Asking him to confront Hagrid was worse than killing him! He couldn't help but recall the last time Justin was attacked. Back then, Professor Dumbledore had taken him to the Headmaster's office, and Hagrid had rushed in to speak up for him.

'Hagrid trusts me so much, yet I doubt him—'

“At least we can find out what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is!” Hermione said immediately.

Like Harry, Cyrus was also unwilling to go to Hagrid.

Keep in mind that his current identity is "Riddle," the one who framed Hagrid and had him imprisoned. The truth of what happened back then, and Voldemort's true identity, are known to few, perhaps not even to Hagrid himself.

But if two people just bump into each other like that, it's definitely not going to be a pleasant encounter.

He has to stop Hermione.

“Let’s wait and see.” He reached out and stopped the note. “There might be other ways. I’m sure the professors won’t stand idly by. Hagrid didn’t commit those crimes on purpose. It would be too cruel to reopen his wounds now.”

Harry looked at Cyrus with emotion: "Mr. Riddle, I didn't expect you to be such a nice person!"

Hermione still felt this wasn't right: "But what if someone else—"

“If anyone else is killed, we’ll go find Hagrid!” Cyrus said forcefully. “We’ll get everything straight!”

-

“What if someone else gets killed? We have to find Dumbledore!” Fred and George rarely disagreed. “We need to get everything straight!”

“But that would completely expose our secret,” George said, frowning.

“It’s no different from being completely exposed now,” Fred said. “Think about it, that successor stole the Marauder’s Map, do you really expect him to give it back after he’s used it? Now there’s another victim, and a prefect no less. Look how scared Percy has been these past few days! We have to do something!”

George didn't say anything, but the scales in his heart had already begun to tip.

Fred is right.

If the heir takes their map and attacks the young wizards indiscriminately within the castle, then escapes, they'll be no different from accomplices. And the chances of getting the Marauder's Map back will be virtually zero.

In that case, what difference does it make whether the secret has been exposed or not?

“Think about it, if the clues we provide are helpful, maybe we’ll become the heroes who catch the heir!” Fred suddenly said. “You know Ron and his team are also looking for the killer? If we beat them to it, he’ll be furious!”

Upon hearing this, George immediately smiled knowingly.

They were happier than to see their younger brother work hard for so long only to achieve nothing.

“I can already picture his dejected face.” George nudged Fred on the shoulder, and the two of them headed toward Professor McGonagall’s office.

"Professor! We have important information about the successor that we would like to report to Headmaster Dumbledore!"