HP: Azkaban's Outstanding Graduate

Large tears rolled down her cheeks without warning, leaving cold marks on her slightly reddened face.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I'm so sorry..." Her voice was broken and filled with desperate sobs, and her shoulders trembled uncontrollably.

Sagles sighed softly, his eyes showing no blame, only a hint of helplessness.

He drew his wand and swiftly tapped it in front of Ginny—an extremely soft, warm golden halo instantly swept over her body, carrying a strange, serene power.

The little witch's sobs stopped abruptly, as if an invisible dam had held back her surging tears, leaving only glistening droplets clinging to her eyelashes.

She blinked blankly, looking at the professor with lingering fear.

"I've heard that lately you've been diligently bringing small dried fish or milk from the auditorium and secretly placing them in the corner where Mrs. Lorris often passes by? Although that proud lady never seems to appreciate it?"

Sagres's voice remained steady.

Ginny nodded in shame, tears welling up in her eyes again as she had just stopped crying.

“Don’t worry, Miss Weasley,” Sagrais’s voice carried a convincingly reassuring quality, “for now, this matter remains a secret.”

He leaned down slightly, gazing at her gently. "And it seems to me that you have learned a heavy and profound lesson from this terrible experience, am I right?"

“Professor…” Ginny’s voice was weak, “You mean…you…you won’t expose me?”

Hope ignited cautiously in her eyes.

“Of course not,” Sagras said firmly. “You were just a student who was bewitched and manipulated by a powerful dark magic artifact. And thankfully, it didn’t cause any irreparable damage—no innocent life was lost because of it…except for those roosters, of course.”

He looked directly into Ginny's eyes, as if trying to see into the depths of her soul. "The source of all this is that evil diary, not your true self."

"I'm sorry, Professor..."

Ginny's tears fell again, but this time they were mixed with a sense of relief and gratitude. "I...I was so scared...Professor Lockhart...he must have been hurt because of that diary...I'm so sorry..."

She expressed her belated apology incoherently, both for herself and seemingly for the unfortunate professor.

“Miss Weasley,” Sagrais said with an unquestionable impartiality, “it is not uncommon for students, especially young students, to be seduced by dark magic or objects. One of Hogwarts’ duties is to teach you to recognize and resist these dangers.”

His voice suddenly turned cold, revealing a hint of sternness, "But professors are completely different. A qualified professor who lacks the ability to discern this level of danger and allows himself to be easily manipulated is not worthy of standing on the podium; otherwise, he will only cause endless harm and fail to live up to the title of 'professor'!"

Ginny looked at him, puzzled, seemingly not understanding why he had suddenly turned his attention to Lockhart.

“So, relax,” Sagres’ tone softened again, as if soothing a frightened fledgling, “Although what you did while under the control of the diary was not right, thankfully the outcome was controllable. As for what happened to Professor Lockhart afterward…”

He shook his head slightly, with a hint of barely perceptible sarcasm. "That's not your fault. To be honest, if that diary had fallen into the hands of any other professor besides him—whether it was Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, or Professor Snape—this crisis would have been nipped in the bud long ago."

“So…Professor,” Ginny mustered her last bit of courage and asked the question that had tormented her day and night, “I…I won’t be expelled? I…I won’t be imprisoned in Azkaban?”

“Of course not,” Sagrais said with certainty, “but Miss Weasley, you need to tell me where that diary originally came from.”

Chapter 106 The Diary and the Little Elf

“The diary… it was there when school started, tucked inside one of my books.” Her voice trailed off as she said this, almost burying her head in her chest.

"My books... are all bought from secondhand bookstores, so..."

Sagres nodded thoughtfully. "Flourish and Blotts, the used bookstore?"

“Yes, Professor…”

He fell into deep thought; this was illogical. Back when he was a student, Flourish and Blotts had experienced an incident where a student bought a book on dark magic. Since then, they had implemented extremely strict magical testing procedures on every secondhand book they put on the shelves to ensure no dangerous items were mixed in.

A diary capable of carrying powerful dark magic could not possibly escape those tests easily.

Are you sure you bought it from a bookstore? Did anyone handle your book during that time?

The little witch shook her head. "No..."

Then she added uncertainly, "I think probably not... Dad and Mr. Malfoy had a fight that day, so I remember it very clearly..."

The little witch stopped abruptly, her expression freezing instantly.

Sagles raised an eyebrow. "Remember something, Miss Weasley?"

The little witch said blankly, "I remember... I remember after the fight, Mr. Malfoy shoved my old textbook, 'Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration,' into my arms... and... and said something sarcastic in a particularly cold tone."

"Oh? What did he say?"

He said, 'Take it, little girl. This is the best gift your father could give you after working overtime to seize other people's property.'"

Sagles nodded slowly. "Very good, Miss Weasley..."

His tone returned to its previous calmness, carrying a reassuring strength: "You don't need to worry about anything else. Just focus on enjoying your studies and life at Hogwarts."

"Thank you... thank you, Professor..."

"You're welcome. I'll keep this a secret for you, don't worry."

Ginny nodded gratefully.

“I think we need to speed things up…” Sagres glanced at the entrance to the auditorium. “Hagrid should be sending over the other fir trees soon.”

The little witch nodded quickly and was about to reach for a string of colorful balls when a dreamlike, ethereal voice joined in: "Hi, need any help?"

Ginny Weasley looked up at the sound and saw two first-year Ravenclaw girls approaching.

The girl who spoke had long, light golden hair, and her pale silver eyes seemed to be shrouded in a thin mist. Around her neck hung a necklace made of strangely colored bottle stoppers and sequins, and standing beside her was a quiet and shy girl.

“Of course!” Sagres replied calmly, looking at the two Ravenclaw students. “The more people there are, the more joy there will be at Christmas.”

“We’re asking Ginny, Professor Greengrass.”

Sagles's expression froze.

“Hello, my name is Luna, Luna Lovegood,” the girl with the necklace said, gesturing to her companion and introducing her to the red-haired girl in a relaxed and natural tone. “This is Astoria.”

"Hello, my name is Ginny, Ginny Weasley."

Looking at her two new friends, Ginny felt her tense nerves relax a little.

Luna tilted her head, carefully examining Ginny's fiery red hair: "Yes, I know your name. You have very beautiful red hair, like burning maple syrup in the sunlight."

Ginny was a little embarrassed by this unique compliment.

She looked at the quiet blonde girl beside her: "You are... Professor Greengrass's cousin, right?"

Astoria's fair cheeks immediately flushed slightly, and with a hint of shyness, she nodded gently: "Yes... Hello, Miss Weasley."

……

……

Tomorrow is Christmas, and just like last year, Harry has chosen to stay at school.

Similarly, the Weasley children didn't go home either. Harry could almost imagine how fun this Christmas would be—perhaps he'd wake up to find his bedside piled high with presents.

Thinking this, he closed his eyes, anticipating. Just then, he felt something land on his blanket with a "plop".

Harry was startled. The gift had arrived so quickly? He opened his eyes—a small, thin figure appeared on his bed, staring with two large, tennis ball-sized eyes.

It's that house-elf! The one I saw at the Dursleys' house; the one that got him locked up for a week!

"It's you again!" Harry said in a low voice, his anger flaring instantly. "What do you want?"

Dobby peered at Harry in the darkness, a large tear rolling down his long, pointed nose. “Harry Potter is back at school,” he said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “Dobby…Dobby warned Harry Potter so many times. Sir, why didn’t you heed Dobby’s warnings? Harry Potter missed the train, why didn’t he…why didn’t he go home?”

"How did you know I missed the train?" Harry suddenly realized, his voice rising with shock and anger, almost waking Ron. "You did it?!"

He grabbed the elf's tattered pillowcase. "You almost got me expelled from Hogwarts, do you know that?"

“Yes…yes,” Dobby flinched, but there was a strange sense of relief in his voice, “but Harry Potter still came. Even…even that crazy Wandering Ball couldn’t stop you…”

"The Wandering Ball?" Harry sat bolt upright in bed, wide awake. "You did that too? You tried to kill me? It broke my arm!"

"No! I didn't mean to kill you!" Dobby screamed in terror, then quickly covered his mouth and shook his head frantically. "Dobby would never hurt Harry Potter! Dobby just thought that if Harry Potter was hurt, he would leave Hogwarts obediently... Dobby just wanted to save you! After all, such a terrible thing happened at Hogwarts... Fortunately, it's all resolved now, and Harry Potter is safe..." he murmured, as if trying to comfort himself.

"You want to save me?" Harry's voice was filled with unbelievable sarcasm. "Your way of 'saving' people is quite unique! You almost killed me!"

"Waaah... Dobby... Dobby is so sorry, Harry Potter..." The little elf sobbed sadly, tears falling like broken beads onto Harry's blanket. "Harry Potter blaming Dobby... is... is right..."

Watching Dobby's thin body tremble violently from crying, and listening to his suppressed, desperate sobs, Harry's anger dissipated like a punctured balloon, replaced by a complex and indescribable feeling.

“Don’t cry,” Harry’s voice softened involuntarily. “The danger you just mentioned… was it the Chamber of Secrets?”

Dobby, the house-elf, nodded vigorously, slapping his cheek with his big ears.

"That's all in the past. Professor Greengrass has already dealt with the monster in the secret room."

“But the person behind it all… the mastermind… he’s still here!” Dobby’s voice was barely audible, filled with fear. “He’s just… just hiding for now…”

“Dobby,” Harry’s heart sank, and he leaned forward, “what do you know? You know who’s behind this, don’t you?”

“Dobby can’t say! Dobby… Dobby shouldn’t even have sneaked into Hogwarts!” the house-elf cried, tearing at his large, bat-like ears with both hands. “Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! House-elf… House-elf can’t speak ill of their master…”

"Stop! Dobby, stop right now!" Harry hurriedly reached out to stop him, his voice even lower, "Why are you doing this?"

“Dobby must punish himself…” the elf sobbed, his body trembling violently, “A house-elf… cannot speak ill of his master…”

"But you didn't say anything bad about anyone."

"You can't even think about it!" Dobby let out a sharp sob. "Even the thought is a sin!"

Before he could finish speaking, Dobby raised his thin, bony hand again and slapped himself hard across the face. The crisp, loud sound exploded in the quiet dormitory, like a whip cracking through the air.

On the bed next to him, Ron muttered something in his sleep and shifted restlessly.

"Dobby has to go!" The elf looked alarmed at Ron's bed, then turned to Harry, his tennis ball-sized eyes filled with lingering warning. "Harry Potter... be careful! The eyes of the mastermind... have never left... Dobby... Dobby has to go!"

As soon as the last word was uttered, Dobby's small figure seemed to be swallowed by darkness, vanishing instantly from beside Harry's bed.

Ron smacked his lips, turned over, and his deep snores resumed.

Chapter 107 Day Arrives

As Christmas decorations quietly covered Hogwarts Castle, the bustling campus quickly fell silent.

Most of the students were taken back to their warm homes by their worried parents, leaving the huge castle empty and desolate, with only a few figures remaining.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, these three second-year students who are always accompanied by trouble, remain in this ancient castle, becoming one of the few decorations in the otherwise quiet holiday season.

Harry and Ron were the only ones left in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory; everyone else had gone home for Christmas.