A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Elsewhere at Hogwarts, many young wizards were sharing their opinions about the shocking events of the day.

What Harry was most concerned about was what had happened to the two ghosts.

At this moment, the trio, led by the prefect, returned to the Gryffindor common room with the main group. The little lions, who had been whispering amongst themselves, suddenly erupted into tremendous enthusiasm, nearly lifting the ceiling off the building.

Hermione winked at Harry and Ron, who chose a long sofa with partitions and red curtains and sat down. On the other side of the partitions were several Gryffindor prefects.

They were also discussing what had just happened.

“It’s the ghost’s salvation!” Percy said with absolute certainty. “I’ve seen similar descriptions in books; it’s an extremely rare occurrence.”

A fifth-grade girl said doubtfully, "I think I've heard it mentioned at home, but isn't that a fairy tale?"

"Haha, have you heard the story of 'The Disappearance of Barney the Ghost'?" It was the voice of a male witch.

On one side of the partition, Hermione mouthed: 'You've heard this story before?'

Ron shook his head.

The discussion continues

The female prefect said, "I always thought it was fake, but I never expected it to actually appear in front of me today."

"Tell me, what happened?"

What exactly is the relationship between Ms. Grey and the Blood Man Barrow?

"Could they be a couple?"

“Oh, no, Ms. Gray used the word ‘forgiveness’.”

"Did you hear that? It's too far away, I couldn't hear you clearly. Professor McGonagall won't let us get close!"

"I saw the shape of her lips when she spoke..."

“Then he’d be an enemy. To be honest, I think that’s more likely, like he murdered Ms. Grey…”

A new, excited female voice appeared, “Could it be… that Blood Man Barrow was an assassin who killed many people and was eventually put on trial, but before he died, he was still thinking about fighting back… and so he became a ghost.” She laid out a lot of inner monologues, and then ended dramatically.

Harry and his two friends moved to a secluded corner.

“What do you think?” Harry asked.

“Apart from the information about the ghost’s self-redemption, everything else is unreliable,” Ron said. “Especially that girl with the somewhat shrill voice, who keeps trying to frame the truth as a love-hate relationship.”

“They overlooked Professor Hyp, the one who summoned the Bloody Barrow,” Harry speculated. “Hermione, what do you think?”

“I also think it has something to do with Professor Hyp. He looked a little sad, and I know he’s friends with Ms. Grey,” Hermione said, sharing what she knew.

The discussion in Gryffindor was not the most heated; of the four houses, Ravenclaw reacted the most.

Although Ms. Grey always gave the impression of being arrogant, she was not stingy in giving guidance to young wizards, especially to students from her own school.

Her departure saddened the eaglets.

……

In the evening, Felix left the school and went to London's old town.

He walked along a dark road into a cemetery, where the guards ignored him.

About three or four minutes later, Felix stood in front of a tombstone.

Chapter 136 Story

On the black marble, the white inscriptions are more easily discernible in the dim light, and they seem to gleam in the darkness.

Locke Irwin

生于1966年12月12日，卒于1980年5月3日

She cared for 12 colleagues during the flu outbreak, but unfortunately contracted the disease and died.

“Lock Evan…” Felix murmured, recalling the time when he was nine years old, lying on his sickbed, at his weakest, and someone taking care of him.

Three days before his recovery, Evan disappeared. He begged the dean to tell him, but all he received was a heavy sigh.

That was the first time he had a profound understanding of death.

Felix stood quietly before the tombstone, like a silent statue, and after about an hour, he disappeared.

At 8 p.m., Felix returned to his office. Earlier, he had used his Guardian to notify his assistant that the weekend's spellbook tutoring was canceled.

After a brief preparation, he knocked on the principal's office door.

The room was very dim. Dumbledore looked up from his desk and looked at Felix through his half-moon spectacles. "Felix...please have a seat. It's a bit dark in the office."

He picked up something that looked like a silver lighter, pressed it a few times, and balls of light flew out of it, instantly brightening the office.

"What is this?" Felix asked with interest.

"This little gadget I made myself, I call it a light shut-off device, that can absorb and release light," Dumbledore said.

Felix sat opposite him, taking out his diary and a brand-new crown.

Dumbledore's gaze immediately fell on the crown. He stood up abruptly, bent down, and examined it closely. "This is... if I'm not mistaken..."

“That’s right, the Ravenclaw lady’s crown.”

Dumbledore looked at Felix and noticed his choice of the word 'lady,' which few people would use.

He quickly recalled the fact that his principal's authority had been temporarily borrowed, and the speculation that popped into his mind made him somewhat horrified, but he quickly ruled out this possibility.

His gaze shifted to the diary, an item that was less eye-catching; it looked tattered and had a hole in the middle.

But Dumbledore stared at it longer, his fingers tracing the broken edge. "A powerful Fiendfyre curse," he frowned, but didn't rush to comment. For a moment, his deep blue eyes widened. "I see, that's it..."

After a long while, he finally looked away from it. Dumbledore said softly, "I'm really surprised. I thought nothing could surprise an old man like me. It seems your story will open my eyes."

Felix began to recount his 'experience,' starting from a very, very long time ago, "On the night the Chamber of Secrets ended, Draco Malfoy found me. He seemed terrified, but very astute, and brought me an evil dark magic item..." He nodded to the diary on the table.

He said he suspected that the diary was related to the opening of the secret room, so he tried to talk to it, but there was no response.

“This is not quite in line with Mr. Malfoy’s experience. I plan to observe for a while and have set up strict magical protection for it.”

Dumbledore crossed his arms and rested them under his chin, listening quietly.

“It wasn’t until the dueling class that I discovered the barrier I had set up had been broken. I rushed back and found a house-elf named Dobby. I used a potion on him and unexpectedly learned the truth about the locked room incident,” Felix said.

"so"

"The diary was Voldemort's keepsake. For uncertain reasons, he gave it to Lucius Malfoy, who then hid it in the book of Ginny Weasley, the youngest daughter of the Weasleys, through an unexpected encounter in front of Flourish and Blotts."

Dumbledore sighed. "It matches some of my guesses. As far as I know, the Ministry of Magic searched several pure-blood families during that period, ostensibly to investigate dark magic items. Lucius was probably in a hurry to get rid of this trouble."

“Dobby was incredibly grateful to Potter. He went against his master’s orders and did everything he could to protect Potter, even though…” Felix smiled slightly, “it may have bothered Potter himself.”

"Ah, such pure emotions often surpass our imagination," Dumbledore remarked.

"In short, I realized the danger and prepared to destroy the diary, but conventional magic was completely ineffective, so I used Fiendfire," Felix said frankly, without hiding the fact that he used dark magic.

Dumbledore didn't say much: "Perhaps...this is indeed a good method."

Next, Felix explained that while investigating the locked room, he had inadvertently discovered a mysterious room. "I found its magic very interesting and planned to study it in my spare time."

"On the eighth floor of the castle, on the tapestry where the troll beats Barnabas?" Dumbledore repeated, a thoughtful expression on his face. He smiled and said, "Your words have cleared up a long-standing question for me."

"You know about it too?" Felix asked knowingly. He couldn't very well say that he had used you to test you in all sorts of strange ways, could he?

"Oh, that was a wonderful experience, but perhaps I underestimated its usefulness at the time..."

Felix didn't press further. He nodded and then brought up the matter of the two ghosts. He and Barrow had known each other since school and had overheard their conversation.

He said somewhat shamefully, "Initially, I had ulterior motives. I saw the manuscript left by Ms. Ravenclaw in the library and became curious about that era a thousand years ago. I deliberately befriended Helena."

Dumbledore comforted him, saying, "When I was young, I also had utilitarian purposes and deliberately befriended many famous wizards."

“Thank you, Dumbledore,” Felix said. “I also had another thought at the time: as a friend of Barrow, I hoped to ease Helena’s resentment towards him.”

“But as I got to know her better, I found Helena to be a very wonderful woman. It was a very pleasant conversation, and I really enjoyed the process.” Felix’s voice lowered.

Next, Felix reduced the amount of description he gave Helena, not wanting to mention her name amidst a pile of lies.

"...I realized that the Room of Requirement might be a secret room left by Ravenclaw. I took her inside and saw the memories left by Rowena Ravenclaw from a thousand years ago."

Dumbledore stopped stroking his silver beard and listened intently, not wanting to miss a single word.

"...Lady Rowena Ravenclaw discovered the crown and said that it contained an evil spirit, and that the magic was said to have originated from a notorious dark wizard of ancient Greece, the vile Herpo."

Dumbledore's face was solemn as he uttered a single word: "Hordeal."

“That’s right, it’s this magic. I thought of the diary and gave it to Ms. Ravenclaw. After her confirmation, the diary is also one of the Horcruxes.”

“Very perceptive, Felix,” Dumbledore said.

"Later, Lady Ravenclaw used the immense magic of Hogwarts to destroy it, and before her mission was complete, she remade the crown."

Felix finished telling the story.

Chapter 137 Two Memories

The office was completely silent.

The exquisite silverware on the corner of the table spun, emitting wisps of smoke and making a "tick-tock" sound.

“Your testimony is very useful, Felix,” Dumbledore said, his eyes, beneath thick silver brows, fixed thoughtfully on the diary. “He is more insane than I thought.”

You mean Voldemort?

“I prefer to call him Tom, Tom Riddle, which is his real name. He never shied away from it when he was in school, and the professors never called him by his surname ‘Riddle,’ but rather called him Tom affectionately,” Dumbledore explained.

Felix thought to himself, "It seems Voldemort had a much better life than me when he was in school."

"Is it because he created more than one Horcrux?" Felix asked.

“That’s right, Felix. This magic is more evil than you imagine; it grants immortality by splitting the soul—”

“Headmaster Dumbledore, I’m not interested in that,” Felix interrupted him. “Do you have any other questions?”

Dumbledore blinked and smiled with satisfaction: "Felix, you understand the importance of restraint better than I did when I was younger... I do have one more question."

He placed his hands on the table, saying, "I want to know more about what happened when the Horcruxes were destroyed."

Felix had anticipated this, and coincidentally, he also had two things he wanted Dumbledore to know. So he turned around and looked at the black cabinet behind him. "Why don't you see for yourself, Dumbledore?"