Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

Especially Malfoy!

When Cyrus returned the body to him, he also slightly altered his memories. He doesn't notice anything amiss now, but if he carefully recalls his experiences over the past few months, he'll find that he has no relevant memories at all; all he has is a fog of confusion.

He was completely oblivious to anything amiss, swaggering around the school as if he had just been appointed president of the boys' student council.

Furthermore, he had reunited with his old friends Gorkcrab, and he was quite pleased that Dumbledore had been expelled from the school. However, he didn't actually dislike Dumbledore or doubt his abilities; it was simply because his father was the one who facilitated this, which made him very proud.

When Cyrus returned from get out of class today, he saw Ron storming into the common room, and Harry and their roommate Andy were comforting him.

"Alright, Ron—don't bother with people like that." Andy patted Ron on the back. He himself was a wizard from the Muggle world, so he naturally disliked the Malfoys. But he wasn't as impulsive as Ron.

"If you two hadn't stopped me, I would have punched him a few times, killed him with my bare hands without even needing a wand." Ron still regrets it now.

Seeing how angry he was, Cyrus immediately went over and asked, "What's wrong?"

“It’s Malfoy—” Harry said helplessly, “You know how much of a jerk he is, I even miss the old you…” He only got halfway through his sentence before Andy thought Harry was referring to Cyrus beating up Slytherin at the club.

“He said the next Mudblood to be attacked would definitely die, and that it was a shame it wasn’t Hermione!” Ron said angrily. “If I were the Heir, I would kill that little bastard first!”

"He was even being sarcastic with Snape." Seamus overheard their conversation, leaned in, gagged, and mimicked Malfoy, repeating his words in a affected, high-pitched voice:

“I knew all along that Father would drive Dumbledore away. Sir, why don’t you apply for the position of Headmaster?”

Cyrus watched his performance and felt a little nauseous. But Seamus didn't stop; he turned and imitated Snape, flicking non-existent hair:

“Oh dear, Malfoy, Professor Dumbledore has only been temporarily suspended by the Board of Directors. I dare say he’ll be back among us soon.” He switched back and forth between the two roles.

“Yes, that’s right, sir. If you apply for this position, I suspect my father will vote for you. I’ll tell him you’re the best teacher here, sir…”

Seamus looked even more disgusted than Cyrus, shaking his head with a look of utter disgust: "You have no idea how smug Snape was? I bet you've never seen him so happy in your life."

Snape was indeed somewhat smug, as he did harbor some resentment towards Dumbledore. However, it wouldn't be accurate to say he was overly happy.

What good would it do Dumbledore to be driven out? On the contrary, what if Voldemort were the successor? Snape only wanted Voldemort dead—

Even if it wasn't Voldemort, if the attacks continued, the school would have to close. Where could he go then? He could only return to that filthy Spider's End Alley.

What happiness could he possibly find there?

In that place that gave him his dark past...

At least he has one thing in common with that boy named Harry Potter: they both consider Hogwarts their real home.

Then they all gave Malfoy a piece of their minds. Another Hufflepuff student also displeased Ron, but compared to Lockhart, it was nothing.

“You know what that guy said? He insisted that Hagrid was the murderer!” Ron said. “I think Harry was about to smash him with a book, and so was I.”

“We’ve all misunderstood Hagrid,” Cyrus said regretfully.

Andy and Seymour left shortly afterward. Even on such a day, the school did not announce the cancellation of the exams, and they planned to review first in order to avoid getting too bad grades.

"If Hermione knew about this, she would be heartbroken. She probably wouldn't want to miss any exams," Cyrus joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m quite the opposite,” Ron said, fixing his gaze on Cyrus. “You are, Ri…?”

Cyrus nodded, and Ron suddenly beamed with joy:

"I have an idea!"

"I'll let you possess my body, and then you'll help me take the exam, how about that?"

"Don't even think about it." Cyrus rolled his eyes. Ron really didn't disappoint when it came to taking shortcuts. "Exams are to test how much knowledge you've actually acquired. You shouldn't try to avoid them."

“You sound just like Hermione,” Ron said disappointedly, but soon they brought up their discovery in Herbology class with Cyrus.

“Mr. Riddle,” Harry said in a low voice, “do you remember what Hagrid said before? ‘If anyone is looking for something, they just need to follow the spider and they will find the right direction.’”

“He saw the spider head towards the Forbidden Forest, though I think it might not be the Forbidden Forest, maybe it’s not that far,” Ron said, almost as if praying.

Spiders alone were enough to give him trouble, let alone having to go to the Forbidden Forest!

But when he thought of the Slytherin successor, and of Hermione who had been petrified, he didn't want to back down. At least he knew Harry would never give up.

"Then let's make our move tonight!"

Cyrus couldn't wait any longer.

Going back to work, waah! Why are weekends so short?

Chapter 72 The Contract Magic of the Marauder's Map

Waiting for the night to fall silent is not so easy.

Fred and George seemed to be the only ones in Gryffindor who still had energy. The two of them kept Harry and Ron playing Thunderbolt cards until almost midnight.

To be honest, if Cyrus had known they were going to pull this stunt, he would have gone to sleep for a few hours first, otherwise he wouldn't be so bored.

Fred, thinking he was Ginny, offered words of comfort:

“Don’t worry too much, Ginny. We can only do our best,” Fred said as he played his cards.

“Yes, and what’s done is done. We’ve already told Dumbledore, and I’m sure he’ll find a way,” George said.

The twins' words were like a bucket of cold water poured on the drowsy Cyrus, instantly waking him up.

Judging from their words, it seems they know about his diary and have even told Dumbledore.

Didn't Ginny say that only Harry and the others knew about it?

Cyrus's heart sank as if bound by a heavy boulder.

Even though things have come to this point, whether Dumbledore knows the diary is his true form is no longer of much importance. The other party has already been expelled from Hogwarts, and if the plan goes smoothly, only Fawkes will ultimately help Harry fight the Basilisk.

However, Cyrus was unwilling to expose his weaknesses to Dumbledore.

That's Dumbledore!

Dumbledore even meticulously planned his own death!

In the original books, Voldemort was completely orchestrated by him. The moment he learned that Voldemort planned to create six Horcruxes, he already guessed what they were and, following Voldemort's intuition, found the locations of two hidden Horcruxes. Even his trip to the cave was so coincidentally accompanied by Harry.

He knew Voldemort would seek the Elder Wand, knew Voldemort would send Snape to kill him, knew Voldemort would kill Snape, and also knew that when Voldemort learned that all the other Horcruxes had been destroyed, he would definitely keep Nagini by his side...

Dumbledore had considered everything. If he hadn't made a few mistakes, Cyrus would have thought that Dumbledore had the script just like him!

“Didn’t Ginny get her lost thing back?” Ron played a card, then sighed. “But Dumbledore has already left Hogwarts…”

He had simply forgotten that what Ginny lost was related to Riddle, but he couldn't remember exactly what it was.

"You found them?" Fred and George exchanged a surprised glance, so happy that they dropped all the cards in their hands.

"Hey, what are you doing? I was about to win—" Ron looked at the cheating twins in disbelief and shouted angrily.

But Fred and George ignored him and excitedly grabbed Cyrus's shoulders.

“Now the heirs will be helpless! Without a map, they'll have a hard time seizing opportunities,” Fred said.

map?

After all that talk, it turns out Fred and George were referring to the Marauder's Map.

Cyrus breathed a sigh of relief. Whether Dumbledore knew about the Marauder's Map or not didn't matter much to him. The map, this magical item, could only be used to its full potential when it was in his possession.

Moreover, its production process is quite extraordinary. Cyrus himself studied it for a period of time and believed that the map's effectiveness relied on the existence of Hogwarts itself, a huge magical castle.

Sirius Black's grandfather was once the headmaster of Hogwarts, so perhaps the raiders consulted some of that information when creating their props. This forced everyone who entered Hogwarts to sign a magical contract.

In the magical world, magical contracts are very difficult to break.

For example, the Charm of Loyalty: as long as the spell is still in effect, even Voldemort cannot find the place where it is hidden.

Dumbledore possesses the Elder Wand, which might allow him to break this contract, but he would at least need the map first; otherwise, no matter how powerful his magic is, he would have nowhere to use it.

“Lend me the map for a few more days,” Cyrus said to Fred and George.

"What kind of map is it? Why are you being so mysterious?" Ron had no time to think about the Thunder Explosion Card anymore and asked with a face full of curiosity.

"nothing!"

"Don't interfere in our affairs!"

Fred and George immediately said that they didn't want Ron to know about it. They knew their younger brother's personality better than anyone else; if he knew the Marauder's Map was useful, he would definitely pester them for it.

"Ginny, you're not allowed to tell either," Fred and George said, and then immediately left.

Seeing this, Ron immediately turned his gaze to Cyrus, his face full of curiosity.

“I can’t say, I promised them.” Cyrus naturally didn’t want anyone else to know about the map.

“But they told Ginny to keep it a secret, not you.” Ron discovered this loophole; Mr. Riddle and Ginny were not the same person.

However, Cyrus shook his head: "It makes no difference. I promised them. And keeping secrets is very important, Ron. If one day you also reveal my secrets, I'm afraid I'll be destroyed by someone else very soon."

"Ok."

Harry finished tidying up the cards, checked the time, and said, "How about we leave as soon as the bells ring? I think everyone will be fast asleep by then."

"So be it."

“I’ll go get the Invisibility Cloak.” Harry strode up the stairs. A moment later, he came down carrying something in his hand. “Three people, it might be a bit crowded, but I think it’s dark outside, no one should notice our feet sticking out.”

"Forget it, I'll just use the Disillusionment Charm; it'll be safer that way." Cyrus didn't want to squeeze in with them this time.

The journey through the castle was arduous, requiring them to do everything in their power to avoid the teachers. These days, the professors had been taking turns patrolling the castle, and since Dumbledore's departure, they were all extremely tense. Even Snape was filled with worry.

Finally, they reached the foyer, slipped behind the locks of the two oak doors, squeezed through the cracks, trying not to make a creaking sound, and came to the moonlit ground.