My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 219, Section 216: Tom: The fault isn't mine, it's the world's.

If we use Hogwarts Castle as a directional marker, the Black Lake is located at the main entrance of the castle, but in the context of the entire school, it should be considered part of the school's back garden.

There is a large lawn between Black Lake and the castle. First-year flying lessons were held here, and it is also the main place for the young wizards in the castle to go out.

This small clearing by Black Lake was where Lynn, Cedric, and Ian often gathered at school.

The most comfortable thing about this place is that in summer, the cool lake water naturally regulates the surrounding temperature, giving people who lie on the lawn chatting a feeling of enjoying a spring breeze.

"It's a shame you haven't been taking classes at Hogwarts lately. The new Professor Lockhart's classes are really interesting. Anyway, I've been here for four years, and this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class is the best I've ever had," Cedric boasted to Lynn about the school's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Lynn's hair was gently lifted by the breeze. It was already early autumn, and although even a little physical activity would still produce annoying sweat, lying quietly on the lawn only made one appreciate the days of September more.

"Is it really that good? I heard Umaru complaining to me that the professor assigned a lot of homework." Lynn squinted, outwardly expressing doubt, but actually wanting to hear Cedric continue to speak well of him.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with assigning a lot of homework. In the past, professors assigned very little homework, and after I finished it, I would even have a sense of emptiness, like 'that's all.' Now, Professor Lockhart assigns homework until 8 p.m. at most, and then I can still have some time to daydream before going to bed."

It seems I haven't assigned enough homework; I even have time to daydream before bed.

"I'm different. You guys even have the luxury of daydreaming before bed. I'm busy like a spinning top every day, constantly turning without ever stopping," Lynn sighed.

Today he did have a rare opportunity to chat and boast with Cedric and the others, but even so, during this rare break, he was still thinking about the Basilisk's disappearance.

This thing is like a time bomb. If you don't find it and cut the fuse, who knows where and when it will explode.

"If you're short on time, I can give you an idea," Ian said.

Lynn didn't pay much attention to the idea he mentioned: "Is it about making good use of my spare time? To be honest, I don't have any spare time at all, or rather, even when I do have spare time, I'm busy with other things."

"No, that's not what I meant," Ian explained to him.

"I overheard some high-achieving upperclassmen talking in the Ravenclaw common room. They sometimes take a lot of classes after entering their third year, but these classes conflict with each other in terms of time. So they apply to Professor Flitwick, the Head of my House, for a magical device called a Time-Turner. It's said that this thing can make them rewind time. I think if you applied to Professor Snape with your grades, he should approve a Time-Turner for you."

After he finished speaking, Lynn was stunned.

He then suddenly scrambled to his feet from the grass, a look of surprise on his face, and looked down at Ian earnestly.

"Thank you, Ian. Your idea was very helpful. I'll cook for you all myself when I get back after I've finished my business."

After saying that, he hurriedly left the lawn. Cedric and Ian watched his departing figure, exchanged a glance, and shrugged. They didn't understand what kind of help Lynn would receive from something he had just mentioned casually.

Lynn returned to the castle and went straight to the principal's office without lingering for a moment.

He had indeed forgotten about the Time-Turner, a bug-level device. It's no wonder Lynn didn't remember; after appearing once in the third book, it was completely destroyed in the battle of the Hall of Prophecy. So, if Ian hadn't reminded him, he might not have remembered it until next year when Hermione asked Professor McGonagall for the Time-Turner.

If he could turn back time to before the secret room was opened and before the basilisk disappeared, he could catch the person who took the basilisk away before him!

"Has Professor Dumbledore returned yet?" The stone monster in front of the headmaster's office was still as ugly as ever, but you can't expect a stone to be beautiful.

Hearing Lynn's question, the stone monster made way for him and replied in a muffled voice, "He just got back not long ago, and hasn't even had a chance to eat a bite of his favorite pile of cockroaches yet."

Lynn pushed open the door and walked into the headmaster's office. When he came in, Dumbledore was putting a "cockroach" into his mouth.

"I'd barely sat down in my chair for ten seconds before you came to see me." He smiled, enjoying the burst of candy in his mouth, as Lynn walked in. "I heard from the Sorting Hat that you've been to my office many times these past few days, even grabbing the tip of its hat and trying to pull something out of its belly?"

"Yes, Professor, I read a legend in a book in the library that Gryffindor once had a sword that was left in the world, and this hat was also left by Gryffindor. I wanted to see if the sword was hidden in his hat." Lynn sat down opposite Dumbledore and gave his well-prepared reason.

"You guessed right, Gryffindor's sword is indeed hidden in the Sorting Hat." Dumbledore didn't mince words. "Many people could pull the sword from that hat if they had the courage, but not a Slytherin student."

"Because they don't like each other?"

"They used to be best friends, but unfortunately, they parted ways completely due to differences in their teaching philosophies."

Lynn's purpose in coming here was not to discuss Hogwarts history with Dumbledore; after a brief chat, he got straight to the point.

"I heard that outstanding third-grade students can apply to the school for something called a time converter?"

Dumbledore blinked. "Yes, but to be precise, this requires an application to the Ministry of Magic. Excellent students want to use more time to study, so of course we should try to find a way for them."

"Professor, I should qualify as an outstanding student, right? Besides, I'm both a student and a professor at Hogwarts, so I really don't have enough time."

Dumbledore didn't agree immediately. He tapped his fingers lightly on the surface of his desk and looked intently at Lynn.

"Lynn, you don't need to hide it from me anymore. I know you need the Time-Turner not just because you don't have enough time. You don't always have to bear things alone. I know everything you do is for this school, but don't forget, I'm still the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Lynn fell silent.

Whenever he wanted to get involved in the original story, he liked to keep his plans hidden and work alone.

This wasn't because he distrusted others, but rather out of the instinct of a time traveler.

He always subconsciously tried to conceal what would happen in the future because he knew it was completely unfounded. If someone were to seriously investigate his many deeds since arriving at Hogwarts, they would find that he always inexplicably knew some secrets that others did not, and predicted events that were about to happen but had not yet occurred.

Even prophets who are born with the ability to predict the future cannot make such accurate predictions.

After all, divination is just one type of magic, and it cannot be omniscient or omnipotent.

But Lynn felt he no longer needed to hide the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk from Dumbledore; he had a pretext to know about it. Besides, Dumbledore was absolutely right—he was the Headmaster of Hogwarts, after all. Having his help would certainly be much easier than Lynn searching for clues alone.

After thinking it through, Lynn looked at Dumbledore with a serious expression and took Tom's diary out of his pocket.

"Professor, you must have heard of the legend of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."

"Salazar Slytherin, one of the original four founders, clashed with the other three over teaching philosophies. He believed that Hogwarts should only admit pure-blood students. However, this was opposed by the other three founders. In the end, he left the school he helped establish in anger and left a secret room in the castle, vowing that one day his successor would open the secret room, release the terrible monster inside, and carry out a holy cleansing of Hogwarts, killing all the non-pure-blood wizards."

Dumbledore began by recounting the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, adding in a joking tone, "When I was still at Hogwarts, this legend was already circulating in the school. However, our Professor of the History of Magic, Professor Binns, never believed it to be true, and after thousands of years, the Chamber of Secrets has never been opened, so no one believes it to be true."

“But it’s real, Professor,” Lynn said with certainty. “Not only is it real, it’s been opened before.”

Lynn tapped the diary on the table, attracting Dumbledore's attention, and opened it.

"The person who opened the secret room was none other than your misguided student, Tom Riddle."

The diary seemed to recognize the white-haired old man before it, who was none other than Albus Dumbledore, the man who had guided him into the magical world and was once his Transfiguration professor.

A large blot of thick black ink suddenly appeared on the slightly yellowed pages of the diary, and then disappeared immediately.

It's obvious that Tom in the diary was scared!

"This is Tom's diary from his fifth year at Hogwarts. He used an evil dark spell to seal a part of his soul inside, a soul containing his memories from before fifth year. During the summer vacation, Malfoy's father secretly put this diary into Ginny Weasley's textbook, but because Ginny and I later swapped textbooks, this diary ended up in my hands."

Before coming to Hogwarts, I always kept him and Little Tom together. Later, Little Tom reported to me that this diary was tempting him to open the door to the Chamber of Secrets, release the Basilisk inside, kill me, and carry out a purge of Hogwarts.

According to this diary, I found the secret room and wanted to deal with the basilisk inside beforehand. But unexpectedly, the secret room was still there, but the basilisk had disappeared. According to Tom in the diary, the basilisk couldn't have left the secret room on its own without anyone giving the order. Someone must have opened the secret room before me and taken the basilisk away!

Lynn recounted his discoveries to Dumbledore, except for a slight concealment regarding the origins of the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk; everything else was the truth.

After listening to Lynn's story, Dumbledore pondered for a long time before slowly speaking.

"I remember something that happened when I was still teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts. A girl died at the school, causing a huge panic throughout the entire school. At the time, Professor Deppet, the headmaster of Hogwarts, had no idea how the girl died. The Ministry of Magic even decided to close Hogwarts for a time. In the end, Tom exposed Hagrid, saying that it was his pet, a giant spider, that did it. This led to Hagrid being expelled from the school, and Tom received a commendation from the school, thus ending the incident."

I had my suspicions about him back then; he always seemed to be wandering around the castle at night, but I had no proof and didn't know how he managed it, so I just let it go. But now it seems that the student death incident was actually Tom Riddle releasing the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets and then framing Hagrid for it?

When Dumbledore said these words, his eyes were not on Lynn, but were fixed on the diary.

As he spoke, black ink spots would occasionally appear on the old pages of the diary.

Tom's emotions are fluctuating a lot right now.

Dumbledore stared at the diary, a look of regret that never usually appeared in his blue eyes. He shook his head and sighed, "What vicious magic. To achieve immortality, to avoid death, to split one's own soul, and to sacrifice the lives of innocents. It was from the moment you discovered the Horcruxes that you began to walk down that irreversible dark path, Tom."

Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Tom in the diary suddenly became even more agitated.

Black ink appeared on the blank paper, quickly forming messy letters.

"What do you know! From the day you took me from the orphanage, you've been full of suspicion and resistance towards me! You used magic to intimidate me to make me obey! At Hogwarts, you never trusted me no matter what I did! What led me down this dark path? What makes you think I'm wrong! My path has never been dark! What I'm pursuing is the future the wizarding world truly needs! Not yours! Dumbledore! Yours!"

I suddenly have some things to do today, so I'll just post today's update first. I'll make up for the extra chapters I missed yesterday due to the tips from the leader, tomorrow and the day after.

(End of this chapter)