The next day, Katie was transferred to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries.
In fact, by this time, the news of her being cursed had already spread throughout the school, but no one knew the specific details. Except for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Linny, it seemed that no one knew that Katie herself was not the intended target of the necklace.
"Oh, Malfoy of course knows."
Harry said to Ron and Hermione, but received no response. Every time Harry mentioned "Malfoy is a Death Eater", Hermione and Ron could only continue to play dumb.
Of course Malfoy was a Death Eater. Hermione knew this very well, but facts were facts. If no one believed it, it would be useless no matter how true it was.
Dumbledore was nowhere to be found.
Harry even doubted whether he would be able to make it back on Monday night to teach him. This question troubled him for a few days. On the other hand, Hermione began to answer fewer questions with Jon. After all, Jon was also very busy. He could spare some time to meet her because he had something to do in the school recently, and these few days, the matter was beginning to come to an end.
Hogg, which was the school's castle, and the Magic Net's integration was coming to an end.
This was obviously more important.
Because he did not receive any notice of cancellation, Harry still appeared outside Dumbledore's office at eight o 'clock in the evening.
He gently knocked on the door, and thankfully, there was a voice inside inviting him in.
Dumbledore sat there, looking very tired. His hand was as black and dry as before, but he had a smile on his face and gestured for Harry to sit down.
The meditation basin was once again on the table, and specks of silver light were projected on the ceiling.
"You were very busy while I was away," Dumbledore said, "You saw what happened to Katie with your own eyes."
"Yes, sir, I saw it with my own eyes. How is she?"
"Not good, but she was relatively lucky.
It seems that only a small piece of her skin touched the necklace, because there was a small hole in her glove.
If she had worn the necklace around her neck or just picked it up with her bare hand, she would have died, perhaps on the spot.
Fortunately, Professor Snape had a way to stop the spread of the curse — "
"Why him?" Harry immediately asked, reacting reflexively to Snape's words. "Why not Madam Pomfrey?"
"How rude."
A soft voice came from a portrait on the wall. Phineas Nigellus Black, the great-great-grandfather of Sirius, who seemed to have fallen asleep on his arm, looked up. "Back then, I wouldn't allow a student to raise objections to the management of the Hogwarts."
"Yes, thank you, Phineas."
Dumbledore said calmly, then explained to Harry, "Snape is much more knowledgeable about black magic than Madame Pomfrey.
Furthermore, the staff at the St. Mungo Magic Hospital are reporting to me every hour. I believe that Katie will be able to fully recover soon. "
"Where did you go this weekend, sir?"
Harry asked. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he was going for broke. Phineas Nigellus, apparently thinking that Harry had gone too far, hissed softly.
"I don't want to talk about it now," said Dumbledore. "But I will tell you when the time is right."
After all, there was no clue yet, and it was not so easy to deal with these things, so Dumbledore obviously would not choose to say it directly.
"Will you?"
"Yes, I think so."
As Dumbledore spoke, he took out a new bottle of silver-white memory from his robe, poked it with his wand, and pulled out the cork.
"Sir," Harry said hesitantly, "I saw Mundungus in Hogsmeade."
"Ah, yes, I know. Actually, I've found that Mundungus doesn't take your inheritance seriously, and often steals it."
Dumbledore frowned slightly and said, "Ever since you spoke to him outside the Three Brooms Bar, he has gone into hiding. I think he doesn't dare to see me, but don't worry, he won't steal anything left behind by Sirius anymore. "
"That despicable old bastard dared to steal the Blakes' ancestral relic?"
Phineas Nigellus said angrily, and then strode out of the picture frame, no doubt to visit his portrait at 12 Grimmauld Square.
"Professor."
After a short pause, Harry carefully probed, "Did Professor McGonagall tell you what I said to her after Katie was injured? It's about Draco Malfoy … "
"Yes, she told me about your suspicions."
"Then —"
"I want to conduct a thorough and detailed investigation of anyone who is a suspect in Katie's accident."
Dumbledore did not take this matter to heart, and just said perfunctorily, "But, Harry, what I care about now is our class."
Harry was a little annoyed at this.
If their class was so important, why was there such a long time between the first and second classes?
However, he did not say anything more about Draco Malfoy, but watched as Dumbledore poured the new memories into the meditation basin, and then picked up the stone basin with his slender hands and gently turned it.
"I'm sure you remember the early days of Voldemort.
The handsome Muggle we talked about last time — Tom Riddle, who abandoned his witch wife Merope and returned to his old home in Little Hangerton.
Merope was alone in London, pregnant with the child who would one day be Voldemort. "
"How do you know she's in London, sir?"
"Because of the evidence provided by Carrack Takus Bork."
"What a coincidence," said Dumbledore. "The shop he helped found was the one that sold the necklace we were talking about."
He swirled the contents of the meditation basin like a gold-digger sifting for gold, as Harry had seen him do before.
A figure of a small old man emerged from the constantly rotating silver-white objects. He slowly rotated in the meditation basin. He was as pale as a ghost, but he had more texture than a ghost. His hair was very thick, completely covering his eyes.
"We got it under very special circumstances. A young witch brought it to us just before Christmas. That was many years ago, in fact.
She said she was in need of money, which was quite obvious, for she was in rags and haggard … and pregnant.
She said the locket used to belong to Slytherin.
Well, we hear that all the time.
But when I looked closely, there was the mark of Slytherin on the locket, and after a few simple spells, I knew the truth.
That thing was simply priceless.
The woman didn't seem to know how much it was worth, and she was satisfied with ten garons. That was the best deal we've ever made! "
Dumbledore shook the meditation basin with extraordinary force, and Carrack Takus was back where he had been, sinking into the whirling memories.
"He only gave her ten garons?"
"Carrack Takus is not a generous person."
Dumbledore said calmly. "So we know that Merope was in need of money in the late stages of her pregnancy, alone in London, and had to sell the only thing of value she had — the locket, which was also a precious family heirloom of Marvolo."
"But she could cast spells! She could get herself food and everything through magic, couldn't she? "
"Maybe she could.
But I think — I'm guessing again, but I believe I'm right — I think Merope stopped using magic after her husband abandoned her.
She probably didn't want to be a witch anymore. Of course, there's another possibility. Her unrequited love and the despair it brought greatly weakened her.
That kind of thing will happen … Anyway, you'll see in a moment, Merope wouldn't even raise her wand to save her own life. "
"She wouldn't even want to live for her son?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and looked at Harry in surprise.
"Could it be that you feel sympathy for Voldemort?"
"No," Harry said hurriedly. "But Merope had a choice, didn't she, unlike my mother —"
"Your mother had a choice too."
Dumbledore said gently. "It's just that she chose to face it bravely, to protect you, and Merope Liddell chose to die.
Even though she had a son who needed her, don't blame her, Harry.
Long suffering made her very fragile, and she never had your mother's courage.
Alright, now please stand up … "
"Where are we going?"
"This time, we're going into my memory.
I think you'll find it not only vivid in detail, but also unmistakable. "
Harry bent over the meditation basin, his face plunging into the cold memory, and then he fell into the darkness again … After a few seconds, his feet touched solid ground, and he opened his eyes to find himself and Dumbledore standing in a busy old-fashioned street in London.
"That's me."
Dumbledore said cheerfully, pointing to a tall figure who was crossing the road in front of a horse-drawn milk cart.
Young Albus Dumbledore's long hair and beard were russet, and his fine burgundy velvet suit attracted many curious glances as he strode along the pavement on this side of the road.
"That's a lovely suit, sir," Harry blurted.
Harry blurted out without thinking, and Dumbledore just laughed softly.
They followed the young Dumbledore at a distance, and at last passed through a large iron gate into a bare courtyard.
Behind the courtyard was a square, gloomy building surrounded by high railings. He went up the steps leading to the front door and knocked. After a moment, a scruffy girl in an apron opened the door.
"Good afternoon. I have an appointment with a Mrs Cole. She's the housekeeper here, I think?"
"Oh?"
The girl looked puzzled. She looked sharply at Dumbledore's strange outfit. "Hmm … wait … Mrs Cole!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
