Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

——Even if he is a portrait, he may need a quiet place...

Sirius thought so and suddenly felt a little empty in his heart.

Dumbledore came back, looking no different than before.

"Professor..." Harry asked with courage, "Who was that just now..."

"It's just Tom's way of confusing people," Dumbledore said calmly. "I have to say, he is really good at stirring up trouble."

Somehow, the originally slow-witted Harry suddenly realized that he shouldn't ask any more questions.

"The locket has been destroyed. I'm sure Regulus in the other world would feel some comfort if he knew this."

Dumbledore finally smiled gently and said, "Take the children back first - there may still be some Inferi that have not been cleared out of this place."

"Yes, Professor."

Sirius and Lupin responded obediently, as if they were students still studying.

"Let's go!"

Sirius took Harry in his arms and led him out of the cave.

They had to leave the cave first before they could Apparate back home.

"Vader, let's go too," Lupin said, extending his hand.

"You go first." Wade said, "I still have something to say to Professor Dumbledore."

Lupin glanced at him, and seeing that Dumbledore had no intention of objecting, he nodded and said, "Okay."

He picked up Kreacher, who was still crying on the ground, and left the cave as well.

Dumbledore took off his glasses, rubbed his brow, and made some guesses about why Wade stayed.

"Ved, do you want to ask about the spell just now? I understand your eagerness to learn, but this is still too dangerous for you... Although it is not considered black magic, it is much more dangerous than the Fiery Curse..."

He might be in a bad mood and was subconsciously being a little talkative.

"Professor." Wade interrupted him and said softly, "That thing... I have another one in my hand."

"what?"

Dumbledore didn't react for a moment.

Wade didn't explain immediately. He looked at the other person, knowing that the principal would understand soon.

Sure enough, after a while, Dumbledore knew what Wade was talking about. He slowly opened his eyes, and his deep blue eyes showed an extremely complicated expression for a moment.

It's not just shock, nor surprise...

Countless indistinguishable emotions seemed to tear off their disguises in an instant and emerge, reflecting the green light in the cave. They were so complicated that Wade even felt a chill.

He subconsciously wanted to step back, but as his feet moved slightly, Wade controlled himself not to retreat.

He held his breath and looked directly at the other person.

After a few breaths, Dumbledore finally whispered, "Do you have... any other Horcruxes?"

"It's incredible, isn't it?" Wade said with a casual smile, "But I do."

Chapter 284 Diary

After hearing what Wade said, Dumbledore said after a long while: "Do you want it to be destroyed as well?"

"I think this should be decided by you." Wade said: "This Horcrux is very special... I have actually been hesitating about how to deal with it."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then said, "...Well, let me see."

"Of course I wouldn't carry something this important with me," Wade said. "To avoid any accidents, I left it at school."

"In the dormitory?" Dumbledore frowned slightly: "This is not a safe option. The Horcrux is likely to lure students or house-elves to help it escape."

"It's not a dormitory, it's the Room of Requirement, on the eighth floor of the castle." Wade said, "Do you remember? I found the Ravenclaw diadem there, which was also made into a Horcrux by Voldemort."

The last time Wade had a frank conversation with Dumbledore was in this cave, on a boat leading to the center of the Black Lake.

He mentioned the process of finding the Diadem in the Room of Requirement, but at that time, with Voldemort's other Horcrux in sight, Dumbledore did not ask too many questions.

Wade believed that Dumbledore would not forget such a thing after hearing it. But after that, the headmaster did not get to the bottom of it.

In the past, Wade felt that this kind of mutual respect and distance made people feel more at ease and trustworthy. There was no need to bring up the Horcruxes that had been disposed of.

But at this moment, he felt... maybe Dumbledore didn't want to use more extreme means to pursue the matter, he just had restraint and patience that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

"Ah... that's a smart idea."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, as if he had come out of some emotion.

He said casually, "If it's in the Room of Requirement, then no one can find it easily except you... This may be the safest place in the world..."

He thought about the time when Voldemort went to the school to look for a job, the time when the Horcrux, the Coronet, had been hidden in Hogwarts for decades, and the time when he accidentally discovered the Room of Requirement.

"Voldemort realized this very quickly, but I never thought of it... I was still complacent about my understanding of the school... Ralph was right, I was so arrogant..."

—Ralph?

Wade felt that the name was somewhat familiar, as if someone had mentioned it to him before.

After thinking carefully for a while, he finally remembered.

——McGee mentioned it.

He said it was the oldest house-elf in the school, much older even than Dumbledore.

The lifespan of a house-elf can reach more than 200 years. In ancient wizarding families, a house-elf often serves several generations, and they also hold the most secrets in the family.

Wade waited for a moment, until Dumbledore finished his self-reflection, and then asked, "Then let's go back to school? I'll find the Horcrux for you."

Dumbledore did not object.

He took hold of Vader's arm as Fawkes landed on Dumbledore's shoulder.

There was a flash of fire, and they appeared on the eighth floor of the castle.

The portrait of silly Barnabas was right next to it, still being hit on the head with sticks by the trolls in ballet skirts, looking silly.

Wade walked back and forth in the corridor three times, and a familiar door emerged from the wall. He turned to Dumbledore and said, "Professor, please wait a moment."

"Okay." Dumbledore waited patiently.

Videla opened the door, went in, and after closing the door, he let out a long breath.

He took off the pencil case from his waist and threw it to the ground. In the blink of an eye, the pencil case turned into a suitcase.

Wade opened the box and found the magic shielding box. After opening it, he saw the black notebook lying quietly inside.

This is Tom Riddle's diary.

The Horcrux...has actually always been with Vader.

Even when he was in class, he carried the bag with him in the form of a schoolbag; when he turned into a peregrine falcon, he held the pencil case in his claws.

Even though the diary had been quiet, and even though Wade had locked it in a shielding box, there was no way Wade would allow this damn thing to live in the same house with his parents.

Leaving it at school, where someone might find it and take it? That was out of the question.

The reason why he said that just now was actually because the atmosphere in the cave... or perhaps some kind of repressed emotion of Dumbledore... made Wade feel uneasy.

But returning to the familiar environment of the school, not only did Wade relax, he could also clearly sense that Dumbledore quickly turned back into the elder he was familiar with.

Thinking of the cold hand that had just grabbed him, Wade couldn't help but sigh softly.

The death of Ariana - Dumbledore's sister - is still a hurdle that Dumbledore cannot get over even though it has been a hundred years.

Wade closed the box with a click, turned it back into a pencil case and stuffed it into his pocket, then walked out of the Room of Requirement with the box in his hand.

"Professor, this is the Horcrux I was talking about. It's the last one I can find," said Wade.

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment before taking the box. When he opened it and saw the diary inside, he was slightly stunned.

"This is Tom Riddle's diary."

Wade explained: "At the beginning of the second year, I saw Lucius Malfoy put it into Ginny Weasley's cauldron during the chaos, so I took the opportunity to get it."

"This is a thoughtful diary, and it tries to communicate with me. But I have always kept it in the box and never taken it out."

Vader did not explain why he did this.

Since Dumbledore understood that he was a wizard with similar predictive abilities, wasn't it reasonable for him to foresee the danger of Voldemort's diary?

Dumbledore took the diary, stared at the tattered black cover intently, and opened to the first page, on which was written Tom Marvolo Riddle.

In the principal's hands, the diary looked very well behaved and ordinary, as if there was no strange magic on it.

But Dumbledore seemed to see something of interest, and his eyes scanned the blank paper.

It was a long time before he closed the diary.

"Thank you, Wade." Dumbledore bowed his head and said gently: "This diary may be the first Horcrux made by Voldemort... I think it will tell us a lot of useful things..."

"I'm glad it helps you." Wade said, "But I hope that after you finish your research, you won't use the fire spell you used just now to destroy it. Instead, you can use the basilisk's fangs to leave it with an 'intact body'. This diary may have other uses..."

He lowered his voice and spoke a few words softly.

Dumbledore looked surprised, then smiled.

Chapter 285 Shopping

After Fawkes sent Wade away, Dumbledore sat in his office with Tom Riddle's diary under his palm.

At this moment, this notebook was no different from any other diary in a Muggle store. It looked ordinary, but Dumbledore could sense the evil power of the Horcrux from it.

The locket is already Voldemort's more mature work, capable of seeing through the weaknesses and darkness in people's hearts, but there is actually very little "information" left on it by its owner.

But the diary is different. When Voldemort made it, his technology was not so sophisticated, and he might have left too many "thoughts" in it.

But Dumbledore had no interest in exploring for the time being. He just stared at the diary unconsciously, and what flashed through his mind was still the phantom formed on the locket.

Ariana...