Chapter 127: Those Loyal to Dumbledore (Patreon)

“The greatest wizard?”

Vader let out a disdainful laugh.

“Even Dean Griffin wouldn’t dare claim to be the greatest wizard in existence. Where do you get that confidence?”

“He—he has every right to be confident,” Lockhart said tremblingly. “There are still plenty of people in the wizarding world who don’t dare speak his name.”

“That’s because they fear him, not because they respect him.”

“If that’s the case, then you’re the Heir of Salazar Slytherin?”

Ron’s face had gone pale.

“Why did you hurt my sister? How did she end up like this?”

“It has to do with my diary. For months, she opened her heart to me and told me all her secrets, troubles, and sorrows.”

“Her brothers teasing her, being forced to wear hand-me-down robes and use second-hand textbooks, and her feelings about the famous Harry Potter.”

“I patiently listened to all her troubles, answered her questions, and comforted her. I became the confidant she could tell anything to.”

“First gain her trust, then make her dependent on you, and finally gradually take control of her mind.”

There was a hint of anger in Vader’s voice.

“How despicable.”

“So that’s how you controlled Ginny?”

Harry stared at him furiously.

“You made her open the Chamber of Secrets. You made her attack Muggle-born wizards and Filch’s cat.”

“More or less.”

Riddle smiled lightly.

“I’m very good at persuading people. She didn’t know what she was doing. She was simply under my influence.”

“After a long time, she finally realized that something was wrong.”

“The diary’s power frightened her. She threw it into that bathroom, and then…”

Riddle’s expression twisted, his eyes filled with rage and hatred.

“The one who found it was a cunning Ravenclaw named Jerry Tomasi.”

“That damned bastard had already planned to hand me over to Dumbledore from the moment I wrote my first sentence.”

“I had to exchange a huge amount of precious magical knowledge just to make him abandon that terrible idea. But he never trusted me. I couldn’t find the slightest weakness in him.”

“Until one day, I grew tired of being treated like a tool and began testing his limits.”

“I thought he would bargain with me for more knowledge. I had even prepared myself for a negotiation.”

“But he didn’t.”

“He immediately exposed my greatest secret and told me that Gilderoy Lockhart, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, had told him.”

“I—I didn’t! That’s slander! He’s framing me!”

Lockhart stumbled over his words.

“I don’t know anything about this! Believe me! You have to believe me!”

Riddle gave him a look of disgust.

The fact that he had actually been frightened by such a useless fool was a profound humiliation.

“He told me he would hand the diary over to Gilderoy Lockhart to have it destroyed.”

“But he never expected you to find it in the library.”

“Heh.”

“This adventure may be far more interesting—and far more ridiculous—than I expected.”

Vader turned toward Harry. There was a hint of disdain in his expression, but more than that, there was frustration at Harry’s failure to live up to expectations.

“Jerry Tomasi deliberately left the diary in the library. He deliberately allowed you to find it so he could use you—or rather, Dumbledore’s power through you—to destroy it.”

“But instead of handing this self-aware diary over to Dumbledore, you chose to keep it for yourselves and slowly uncover its secrets.”

“That’s what led to everything that happened afterward.”

“To be honest, I’m beginning to wonder whether Dean Griffin chose the wrong person.”

“Are you really going to become the Fool in the future?”

“Thanks. I’m just as unconvinced as you are.”

“Regardless, the diary ending up in your hands was wonderful news for me.”

“I wanted to meet you more than anyone, Harry Potter.”

“Why?”

Harry tried his best to keep his voice calm.

“Because I’m the Boy Who Lived?”

“Can you think of another reason?”

Riddle stared intently at the lightning-shaped scar on Harry’s forehead.

“How could a baby, without any remarkable magical power, defeat the greatest wizard who ever lived?”

“Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard.”

Harry blurted it out without hesitation.

“Pure hero worship.”

Vader shook his head helplessly.

“I drove Dumbledore out of this castle with nothing but my memories.”

“He definitely wouldn’t leave as long as there are still people here who remain loyal to him.”

At that moment, Vader suddenly sensed something.

He looked up toward the ceiling.

“Something is coming.”

“The Basilisk?”

Ron asked nervously.

“It should…”

“Probably not…”

Before he could finish, an ethereal cry echoed from above.

A ball of flame appeared in midair.

A crimson phoenix flew out of it.

Fawkes.

Vader raised an eyebrow.

The last time he had seen it, it had still been nothing more than a newly hatched chick. Yet only a few months had passed, and it had already grown almost as large as a peacock.

The phoenix flew straight toward Harry and dropped a battered object from its claws at his feet.

Harry hurriedly unfolded it, but was immediately confused.

It was a filthy, wrinkled hat that looked as though it hadn’t been washed in hundreds of years.

“The Sorting Hat?”

Ron swallowed.

“Did Dumbledore send the wrong thing?”

“Dumbledore sent this to the person loyal to him?”

Riddle couldn’t help laughing.

“A singing bird and an old hat.”

“Enough of that. Back to the point, Harry.”

“Tell me how you survived.”

“Why were you left with nothing more than a scar while Voldemort’s power was destroyed?”

“My mother died to save me.”

Harry’s voice was stiff.

“I think I’ve heard Dean Griffin mention something about that.”

Vader fell into thought.

“Wholehearted, unconditional love can produce an incredibly powerful form of magic.”

“So that’s it.”

Riddle’s expression became vicious.

“Your mother sacrificed her life to protect you.”

“And here I thought there was something special about you.”

“After all, we’re remarkably similar.”

“Half-bloods. Orphans. Raised by Muggles. We may even share the same ancestor—Salazar Slytherin.”

“But when all is said and done, you simply escaped me through luck.”

“You won’t be so lucky this time.”

Riddle looked toward the face of the Slytherin statue and opened his mouth, hissing in Parseltongue.

“This time, I should be summoning the Basilisk.”

“Children, I think we should run.”

Lockhart gave an awkward laugh and prepared to flee.

“If you think you can outrun a giant snake more than ten meters long, be my guest.”

Lockhart suddenly felt as though his legs had become extremely heavy.

He wanted to move, but he couldn’t.

“Then do something!”

Ron anxiously said,

“Didn’t your dean send you here to help Harry deal with this crisis?”