Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 32 Notebook

Dumbledore watched all this calmly, and only after Dobby had cried for a while did he step forward. "Dobby, that's your name, isn't it?"

"Dumbledore!" Dobby stopped crying, his big eyes still brimming with tears, but he seemed happy to see Dumbledore. "They say you are the greatest wizard, even the Dark Lord is afraid of you."

"Oh, that's just too much praise. Don't take it to heart." Dumbledore smiled gently. "Dobby, I know you're a loyal house-elf. But loyalty sometimes has multiple meanings."

"Dobby, for example, if your master asked you to kill him, would you do it?"

"No, no! Of course not! Dobby would never hurt his master!"

"Even if his order is for you to kill him, it's the same?"

"Yes, yes..."

"Look, loyalty can take different directions and choices. Dobby, you can blindly follow your master's orders, but you can also choose to do what is better for him."

"Now is the time to choose, Dobby. Will you choose the action that is better for your master?"

"Dobby will! Dobby will make his master better!"

"Very well, Dobby, then please answer this gentleman's question truthfully."

As expected of the principal.

Dumbledore never disappoints.

Murphy suppressed his growing admiration for the headmaster and brought the house-elf back to the witness stand.

Then he asked, "Dobby, you're a house-elf of the Malfoy family, right?"

"Yes, Dobby is."

"The Malfoys have a cellar, and it's full of wine and some strange items, right?"

"Yes, yes, how did you know...?"

"Can you describe them?"

"Okay, Dobby, that's fine. There are large wooden barrels filled with red wine, the host said that wine is for entertaining the lower classes, and there are also some glass bottles, that wine is for entertaining distinguished guests..."

"Uh, I didn't mean the alcohol, I meant those strange items on the shelves. Could you describe them?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Those things are all in glass boxes, and the owner won't let us touch them, saying they're precious treasures. But Dobby thinks they're dangerous. Once, a goblin crawled into the cellar, knocked over a glass box, and a glove inside touched it, and then 'bang!' Dobby spent the whole day cleaning them up."

"Very good, Dobby," Murphy said, picking up the notebook. "Have you seen this before?"

Dobby looked at it for a while, then nodded. "I've seen it before. This is Master's treasure. But..."

"Okay, Dobby, thank you."

After Murphy finished speaking, he put on a glove for his left hand as well, then opened the notebook and showed it to everyone.

"Look everyone, this notebook is currently blank."

"In fact, without knowing the specific method, it's impossible to see the contents of this notebook, isn't it, Lucius?"

But Lucius's mouth was sealed shut by magic, so he couldn't answer him at all.

"However, with a few methods, it can be restored to its original state."

As he spoke, Murphy asked one of the judges to bring him a lit alcohol lamp, and then heated the notebook on it for a while.

Sure enough, writing began to appear on the blank page.

Murphy handed the notebook to the judge, who placed it on a tray for the wizards to read.

There were several diary entries written in the notebook.

The first entry is like a travelogue, recording the diary's author's experience of exploring an ancient magical ruin.

The second entry is a rambling piece of nonsense. The diarist seems to be mentally unstable, but it contains distinctive phrases such as "I have transcended death."

The third entry is the core of the diary, which surprisingly records the names of those who sought refuge with him, including Barty Crouch Jr., Antonin Dolokhov, Bellatrix, Rodolphs, and others who had already been captured and imprisoned in Azkaban, as well as the names of many others who had not yet been captured, such as Goyle, Crabbe, Karkaroff, Walton McNeil, and Avery.

The name Lucius Malfoy was mentioned.

Moreover, it is quite clear that Lucius was also a favorite of the Dark Lord, as his name was mentioned more times in the diary than all the others combined.

Finally, there is a fourth diary entry, which records the future ownership of this notebook.

It reads: "I will leave this notebook to Lucius, so that it may come in handy if things go wrong. I will write down what he needs to do should anything unacceptable happen. My most loyal servant should be able to shoulder this responsibility. I will return again whenever I can!"

Finally, the fifth diary entry was clearly torn out, and some magical symbols could still be vaguely seen from the corners, which was obviously an explanation of a spell or magic ritual.

The wizards in crimson robes whispered among themselves: if what was recorded in this notebook was true, then not only Lucius, but many more Death Eaters in hiding would be brought to justice!

Even more terrifying is that Murphy Darkholm's accusations might be true, and Lucius Malfoy might really be resurrecting Voldemort!

"Lucius! Is everything written in this notebook true?!" a wizard on the judge's bench couldn't help but ask.

Dumbledore broke the silence spell on Lucius, who immediately cried out, "No! It's not real! It's fake! Forged! This isn't his diary! It's fake!"

Lucius was initially terrified, but after hearing the wizards' discussion, he was somewhat bewildered.

That can't be right! The diary the Dark Lord gave him was from his youth, a time when Lucius wasn't even born yet, let alone following Voldemort! How could the names of Death Eaters be recorded in that notebook?!

Then, considering Murphy's method of making the writing in the diary appear by heating it with fire—although Lucius never found a way to make the diary appear, and didn't know if this method was correct, wasn't heating it with fire too hasty?

"Shameless liar! Lies! It's all slander! This isn't the Dark Lord's diary! Dark... cough," Lucius nearly blurted out the diary's true nature in his excitement, but thankfully he stopped himself in time, correcting himself, "I've never been a Death Eater! This is blatant defamation!"

He glared at Murphy: "You're the dark wizard! You broke into my house! Otherwise, how could you know everything in the cellar so well?! You burned my house down, killed my friends, and almost killed me and my family!"

"Your Honors! Professor Dumbledore! I am charging Murphy Darkholme with violating the International Law of Wizardry Secrecy by selling potions to Muggles!"

The judges on the bench looked at Murphy again, and a murmur arose, filling the entire courtroom with a buzz of conversation.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Dumbledore finally shouted twice before everyone quieted down. He took the tray of the notebook, studied it carefully for a while, and then suddenly poked the notebook with a finger.

"Watch out!" many people warned.

But the terrifying dark magic he had anticipated did not appear. Dumbledore picked up a piece of paper from the notebook, crumpled it a few times, and then picked it up and casually flipped through it.

After a long pause, Dumbledore put the notebook down again, looked at Murphy, and asked, "Where did you get this notebook?"

(End of this chapter)