A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but Dobby continued, "Never thought... this is something Dobby has always dreamed of..."

Dobby loosened his fingers, and a magnificent button lay quietly on his slender palm.

“Master, no, Lucius Malfoy gave Dobby a button that he had ripped off himself… He angrily made Dobby leave Malfoy Manor forever.”

"So you're free, and don't belong to anyone?" Harry said.

“Yes, Dobby is a free elf now.” Dobby blinked his big eyes. “All thanks to you, the great Harry Potter, for defeating Draco Malfoy on the pitch!”

Harry sensed the impermanence of life; his victory over Slytherin could have such a profound impact on Dobby.

“I didn’t expect that either, and of course, I’m honored,” Harry said modestly. “By the way, Dobby, you shouldn’t be bound by your identity now, right? I have a lot of questions for you.”

"Speak freely, and I will do my utmost."

"So, is the Chamber of Secrets really Lucius Malfoy's conspiracy?" Harry asked, bringing up the question the three of them had been discussing during the day.

“That’s right, he brought the Dark Lord’s relic: a cursed diary to Hogwarts through Ginny Weasley.”

"Wait! Ginny?"

"...Yes, at Flourish and Blotts."

A sudden realization struck Harry, and he said with certainty, "He fought with Mr. Weasley, and I remember he picked up Ginny's textbook and mocked her mercilessly! Lucius must have secretly slipped the diary in there, didn't he?"

“Absolutely right, Mr. Potter,” Dobby said, bowing.

"So you stopped me from returning to school and attacked me on the sports field because of that relic, because it opened the secret room?"

Dobby lowered his head and said softly, "You're right. Dobby overheard Malfoy's words, Mr. Potter. You don't know how dark life was for house-elves during the Dark Lord's reign. It's actually much better now than it was back then..."

Harry has a hard time imagining what life was like for house-elves back then.

He comforted him, saying, "You've finally gotten over your hardships, haven't you?" But Harry suddenly remembered something and almost jumped up. He said in a trembling voice, "Then now, is that diary still in Ginny's hands?"

"Will she be in danger?"

Dobby whispered, “No, the diary passed through the hands of three people. First it was Miss Weasley, then somehow it ended up with Draco Malfoy, and finally, it fell into the hands of the equally great Mr. Felix Heap.”

“Professor Hyp?” Potter was dumbfounded.

“Yes, but Mr. Hyp realized the evil of the diary, and he destroyed it, completely destroyed it! Right before Dobby’s eyes…”

Harry felt like his brain wasn't working properly. The series of explosive news tonight left him bewildered, and he wore a blank expression.

……

Early the next morning.

"You mean, the root of all this is Lucius Malfoy? He hid the diary in Ginny's textbook, and Ginny was controlled to open the secret chamber, releasing the basilisk and causing Mrs. Lorris and Crevy to be petrified! Then the diary ended up in Malfoy's hands, my God, he really brought this on himself! But the most outrageous thing is that Professor Hyp has now destroyed the diary!"

Ron had never spoken so much in one go before, and he gulped down several large mouthfuls of pumpkin juice.

“That’s it.” Harry nodded, a thought flashing through his mind, and recounted his experience of unexpectedly encountering Draco while rescuing Justin. “He seemed a bit dazed, but I didn’t have time to think about it at the time. So much happened afterward that I completely put that suspicion out of my mind.”

"My God, Professor Hyp didn't let a word slip!" Ron said, his tone a mix of complaint and admiration.

Hermione drifted into reminiscence, adding, "When I was in the hospital, remember? Professor Hyp warned me that the danger was over and we shouldn't investigate any further. I think he got his hands on the diary around that time, and maybe he destroyed it."

“And,” the little witch counted on her fingers, “Professor Hyp must have told Dumbledore, and Dumbledore probably told your parents, Ron.” She added somewhat dejectedly, “Although he didn’t tell us.”

“Cool~ I didn’t know the adults did so many things behind our backs,” Ron said.

"What are Dobby's plans now?" Hermione asked.

“I don’t know yet. I guess he might be visiting a friend?” Harry said uncertainly.

Ron quickly finished his breakfast and left in a hurry.

"Where are you going, Ron?"

"I need to ask Ginny. It suddenly occurred to me, what if the diary has some effect on her?"

You're right!

……

Through Ginny's stammering description, they learned more information.

"You left your diary in the abandoned bathroom?" Harry asked, staring into Ginny's eyes in surprise.

Ginny lowered her head shyly, a bright blush on her face: "Yes, Fred and George gave a lot of scary examples back then, and I realized it was inappropriate."

“That makes perfect sense! Malfoy was following us, but we quickly moved the potions. He missed us, but found the diary instead,” Harry said.

He broke out in a cold sweat. The blurry shadow he had seen must have been Ginny's lost diary, but he didn't have time to look closely because he had found Malfoy.

If he finds the diary and controls him, and gets caught on the way to open the secret room, he will have no way to defend himself. You know, he was misunderstood by everyone because of his parsnip-like accent back then.

“Ginny, are you feeling unwell?” Ron asked.

Ginny shook her head. "I took Luna's advice and went to the school hospital. Apart from being a little weak, I had no other problems. Mrs. Pomfrey gave me two bottles of medicine, and I recovered quickly."

"Oh, and she also mentioned that a boy had similar symptoms..."

The three looked at each other and said in unison, "Draco Malfoy!"

They spent almost half a Sunday piecing together the complete truth.

From Lucius's revenge, to Ginny being controlled to open the Chamber of Secrets and causing two attacks, to her throwing away the diary after discovering something amiss, only to have it picked up by Draco Malfoy, to Draco being caught by Harry while opening the Chamber and rescuing Justin, followed by their heroic feat of venturing into the Chamber and killing the Basilisk. Afterwards, the diary fell into Professor Hyp's hands and was completely destroyed, bringing the Chamber of Secrets incident to a definitive close.

"It's strange, Professor Hyp has such a strong presence in this whole thing."

"This shows that he really found out the whole truth."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat lazily by the Black Lake, feeling a sense of exhilaration as if they had finally solved a mystery that had been lingering in their minds for a long time.

They also felt relieved and focused on preparing for the exam.

January has passed quickly, and the rainy season has arrived along with the exam season.

Chapter 154 Exam

Early June.

Felix was awakened by the sound of raindrops hitting the window. Outside, the sky was gray and gloomy. A dazzling bolt of lightning flashed across the greenhouse, followed by a series of low, rumbling claps of thunder.

The final exams have been going on for three days, but the Ancient Magic Runes class is scheduled in the middle to later part of all the subjects, so for him, today is the first day of the final exams.

Fortunately, the ancient runes he taught were an elective course. Excluding the fifth and seventh grades who were preparing for the wizarding exams, he only needed to proctor the remaining three grades.

All the required course professors had to spend more time outsmarting the young wizards, and Belby, who was in charge of Defense Against the Dark Arts, complained to him more than once.

"There are always students who take chances. Can you imagine? During the pre-exam check, I found a dozen quill pens used for cheating!"

Felix specifically consulted Professor Flitwick about this issue, and he told Felix, "You can prepare anti-cheating quills for all students, which will save a lot of effort."

He readily accepted the suggestion.

In the ancient spellbook classroom, the long rows of seats have been replaced with individual desks and chairs. Felix waved his wand, causing a large number of test papers and quills to land precisely on the small tables in front of the fourth-grade students.

"I must remind you that the exam papers and quills have been enchanted with anti-cheating measures, and the consequences of cheating are very serious."

The exam began, and Felix wandered around the aisle between the seats, announcing the time every half hour.

By the time he reminded them a second time, some students had already finished the exam.

“Very well, Mr. Andrews, you can choose to continue the examination or go out for some fresh air.”

……

Having finished proctoring the fourth-grade exams, Felix graded the less than one hundred papers that same day.

"A total of 7 O's and 22 E's, which is very good compared to previous years."

The former represents excellent, and the latter represents good.

"And there's also the bonus for practical experience with magical puppets, so maybe I'll break my best score in ancient runes class in the last decade or so," Felix thought happily, a feeling that was reflected in his beaming smile during the following exams.

Finally, at the end of the first week of June, the final exams were over. Students in other grades were completely liberated. A few young wizards who were worried about their grades might still be anxious for a couple of days, but most of them had already let loose and had a great time.

The school was filled with laughter and joy. Only the fifth and seventh graders were still preparing for their wizarding exams.

They were extremely anxious, and Felix, as a professor, confiscated all sorts of bizarre gadgets.

“Miss Seldon, can you tell me where you got this onion-scented amulet?”

Pete Selton was on the verge of tears, sobbing and remaining silent.

"Okay, I won't deduct points this time. Drink some euphoria; you're too depressed."

After drinking the euphoric potion, Seldon looked radiant and much more cheerful. She thanked the professor happily and left with light steps.

Felix was pleased with his approach, but he soon discovered that more and more people were heading to the school hospital, with large numbers of fifth and seventh graders telling Mrs. Pomfrey that they were feeling down and needed a boost of energy.

“Our stock is clearly running low, Professor Hyp. And there’s been some substandard euphoria going around the school; I’ve had seven or eight students laughing non-stop,” Mrs. Pomfrey complained.

Besides the euphoric potion, the happiness charm has a similar effect, and this spell is only for third-year students, making it a very simple spell for students preparing for their wizarding exams.

But finally, the Wizarding Level Exams arrived, right after the final exam results were announced.

One day in mid-June, Felix saw several very old wizards at the school: an ugly man with a tumor, a short, fat witch, a balding wizard wearing glasses, and of course, Gershilda Marchbane, the head of the Wizarding Examination Board.

Marchban was a small, hunchbacked witch with a face covered in wrinkles, like spiderwebs. But she was in excellent spirits and had a loud voice. She was the examiner who proctored Felix's Transfiguration and Charms exams in both OWLs and NEWTS.

Incredibly, she had also been one of Headmaster Dumbledore's examiners. She was the oldest wizard Felix had ever met who was still active in the wizarding world.

“Oh, Felix, is that you? It’s nice to see you at school.” The diminutive Machiban called out from a distance, with Professor McGonagall beside her.

“Professor Marchban, it’s been a long time.” Felix subtly pointed his wand at himself, amplifying his voice.

“It hasn’t been long. Time always flies. It feels like just yesterday that I proctored Dumbledore’s exam,” said March Bennet, who was a little hard of hearing. “I’ll never forget it! It was an honor to proctor his exam.”

Machiban, engrossed in conversation, looked at Felix: "You too, though you really amaze me with your knowledge of Charms. I heard you're a Muggle expert now? Do you teach Muggle Studies?"

“It’s ancient runes, Professor Machiban. This is my area of ​​research.”

Machiban listened intently, then said loudly, "I hope you don't neglect your study of magic, especially spells, with their incredible power!"

Felix smiled and nodded, then, as her attention shifted elsewhere, he turned to the balding wizard and said, “Long time no see, Tofody. I just saw Ogden…”

“He mentioned it to me, at a medal-awarding ceremony at the Ministry of Magic, didn’t he?” Toford said.

This was also one of Felix's former examiners, though the two had little contact during their school years. Felix visited him after graduation; Toford was an expert in ancient runes, also a theorist, but he provided Felix with considerable assistance.

"Yes, he looks much better."