Chapter 75: The Deceiver
Chapter 75: The Deceiver
It took about twenty minutes for the diary to recount a tale of a "youthful hero and unexpected fortune."
During his time at school, he had stumbled upon the eighth-floor room of the castle. It was a vast storage room filled with treasures accumulated by Hogwarts young wizards over the centuries.
"I later found out that this mysterious room is known as the Room of Requirement", the diary wrote. "I obtained that information from here—possibly hidden by a young wizard before me."
Felix’s lips curled into a smile as he wrote in the diary, "So, you didn’t discover the Chamber of Secrets, but another hidden room? You found Slytherin’s research materials in the Room of Requirement?"
The diary quickly responded with a few words, "That’s right."
Felix tapped his fingers on the table, thinking for a moment before writing, "Are those research materials still in the Room of Requirement? You didn’t take them with you?"
"I believe—this is Hogwarts’ property. Before I graduated, I placed them behind a large cabinet with a bubbled, acid-splashed surface. It’s easy to find. I remember there was a five-legged creature emitting a foul odor inside the cabinet. Next to it was an ugly statue of a wizard", the diary wrote.
Felix pursed his lips, doing his best not to laugh out loud.
Interesting, truly fascinating.
Their conversation was like a complex game, filled with lies and misdirection, and it all came down to who was more skilled.
Before this, Felix had never expected to get any information about the Chamber of Secrets from the diary. That was too unrealistic, almost equivalent to Tom Riddle exposing his identity as the Heir of the Chamber.
His goal today was to see if he could get a hint about one or two off-campus research material hiding places. That was one possibility, but the more likely scenario was that Tom Riddle had already destroyed all the materials—something Felix hoped wasn’t the case.
Fortunately, the diary had directly told him about the room on the eighth floor.
All his efforts had not been in vain.
However, Felix had a hunch that if the diary chose to tell him, it meant the materials weren’t important—certainly not to the Dark Lord.
Still, he replied with a cheerful tone, "Thank you, Tom. I’ll go and verify it. If I misunderstood you, I’ll apologize."
"I hope so", the diary replied calmly.
Felix wrote with a touch of regret, "People don’t know how Salazar Slytherin’s research could have ushered in a glorious era. That’s why he has always been seen as the evil figure of dark wizards, Tom. You’ve done the right thing."
The diary didn’t respond, but the soul of Tom Riddle inside it was nearly boiling with anger.
Felix added, "Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor are like two extremes. Godric Gryffindor is much more positively regarded, known for his fairness, bravery, and justice..."
The diary’s response was dismissive, "That’s just a facade." It posed a sharp question, "Felix Hep, do you think Salazar Slytherin caused more deaths, or did more lives fall to the wands and swords of Gryffindor?"
Felix’s expression froze.
The diary seemed to have anticipated his reaction, and a bold line of text appeared on the page, the words dripping with sarcasm, "Yes, yes, history is always distorted—Gryffindor was a butcher. More wizards died by his hand than by the combined efforts of the other three founders."
In the final moments of their conversation, the diary made no effort to hide its malice toward Gryffindor, "With a sword in one hand and a wand in the other, stepping over a field of corpses, he earned the title of the greatest duelist of his time—this is Godric Gryffindor!"
...
Felix closed the diary, his expression becoming inscrutable.
"Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor." He softly repeated the names of these former close friends.
Felix certainly didn't believe that Diary was telling the whole truth, but he also didn't think Diary was lying through his teeth. From the tone and choice of words, there was a degree of credibility.
"I need a guide, preferably someone who was there at the time." Felix suddenly thought of a name.
The Grey Lady.
This beautiful but usually very proud ghost of Ravenclaw House had another name—Helena Ravenclaw.
She was the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts—a secret Felix had learned by chance from Baron Blood.
The love and hate entanglement between these two could fill a cheap romance novel.
Felix pondered. Despite being a generation younger, she belonged to the same era as the four founders of Hogwarts and must know many secrets from the early days of the school.
On the other side, Harry Potter was tossing and turning in his dorm bed.
The information he had coerced from Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger's accidental ingestion of Polyjuice Potion with cat hair had kept him from sleeping.
Past midnight, Harry Potter dozed off, but he suddenly felt something stepping on his stomach, making it hard to breathe.
He opened his eyes to see a house-elf with bat-like ears and tennis ball-sized green eyes.
"Dobby!"
Harry Potter whispered in alarm, glancing around to see that the other roommates were still sound asleep.
...
The next day, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley arrived early at the hospital wing to visit Hermione Granger.
Last night, they had taken Polyjuice Potion to try to get information from Draco Malfoy—they had long suspected that Draco Malfoy was the one who had opened the Chamber of Secrets.
But things went wrong. Hermione Granger's transformation object, Millicent, had a cat, and she mistakenly used cat hair instead of Millicent's hair in the potion, resulting in severe consequences.
Her face was covered in black fur, her eyes turned yellow, and two long, pointed ears protruded from her hair.
When Harry Potter and Ron Weasley entered the ward, she was pleading with Madam Pomfrey to put a curtain around her bed.
"Did you get any leads last night?" she asked in a low voice, trying not to be overheard by Madam Pomfrey.
"No", Harry Potter said dejectedly.
"I'm sure it's Draco Malfoy", Ron Weasley said. "He didn't tell the truth. When we asked him about the Chamber of Secrets, he got angry and warned us to shut up or else. Right, Harry Potter?"
"What happened?" Hermione Granger asked, intrigued.
Ron Weasley explained, "We pretended to be really admiring him—hard to do, considering Crabbe and Goyle are usually so dim. We asked if he knew anything, and he jumped up, warning us to shut up or else. I found that odd."
Hermione Granger sighed, her long ears drooping.
Harry Potter looked around and whispered, "I did have a bit of a lead. Dobby the house-elf came to me again, around midnight last night..."
"Last night?" Ron Weasley asked.
"Yeah, you were asleep", Harry Potter shrugged.
"Harry Potter", Ron Weasley frowned, sounding knowledgeable, "I need to remind you that house-elves are extremely loyal servants. Their obedience to their masters is almost ingrained. I've never seen one act the way you described—"
He couldn't think of an appropriate description.
Harry Potter said, "He is indeed peculiar, but I think he respects me, yes, respects. He told me that danger still hangs over Hogwarts."
"Then what?" Ron Weasley's interest was piqued.
"Then he started banging his head against the railings..." Harry Potter said, quite exasperated.
(End of Chapter)
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