The days at Hogwarts

The Lockhart incident came to an end for the time being. They all knew what happened in the Chamber of Secrets afterwards, and Harry did not repeat it.

Only Sprout was unwilling to give in. The professor of herbology made the sound of the mandrake root screaming in his heart: I don't know, I don't know!

But no one cared about the invisible professor of Herbology. She could only recall Professor Flitwick's story, hoping to ask Filius to explain it in detail several times later.

"That's Voldemort, that's a thousand-year-old basilisk! How...how dare you...how dare you..." Professor McGonagall muttered. When she thought of the scene of the basilisk biting through Harry's arm, the blood in her body kept rushing up and she felt dizzy.

Although she knew that everything was within Dumbledore's plan and that neither of them would be harmed, Professor McGonagall still couldn't help but worry.

Returning to the school infirmary from the secret room, she was still worried about the safety of the two and forced herself not to criticize them. Only now did she feel relieved and could teach the little guys a lesson without any worries.

No one dared to offend the deputy headmaster's authority. Even the headmaster Dumbledore had to avoid him, for fear that Minerva would notice him and scold him as well, and then the headmaster's authority would be lost.

"...No matter what, you should not act on your own! Prepare the Polyjuice Potion and enter the Slytherin common room in disguise! You..." Speaking of this, Professor McGonagall even felt a toothache. Are young wizards nowadays so troublesome?

When Professor McGonagall calmed down, Sprout asked in a low voice: "That's the famous You-Know-Who. I mean, why can two little wizards defeat him so easily?"

"My dear Pomona, a sensible person like you can just call him by his name. The You-Know-Who-Who-Is-Who-Is-Who is all nonsense. I have been trying to persuade everyone to call him by his real name: Voldemort."

Although Dumbledore said this to Sprout, he had been paying attention to Harry's reaction. Seeing that he did not show any fear at all, Dumbledore's smile became even more satisfied.

"So, why is God - I mean Voldemort - so weak?" Sprout shuddered.

"He has died once, and now he is just a broken ghost. I dare say that any adult wizard is capable of making him suffer. I think this is also the reason why he dare not look for those Death Eaters - his loyal servants."

Dumbledore opened a box of Beebe Multi-Flavour Beans and distributed them to everyone. Several professors waved their heads and refused. Only Harry and Ron took the candies and put them into their mouths happily.

He looked at Harry with deep expectations in his eyes: "Like I said, fear can never conquer the human heart. Love is the greatest power."

Everything was cleared up, and the professors had to return to their respective posts. Professor McGonagall had to deal with many letters from parents and clarify the truth to them. Professor Flitwick was clamoring to go back to decorate the Christmas Hall, and Sprout was going to the Chamber of Secrets to make up for the regret of missing the scene.

Although Ron shouted that he was not injured and did not want to be hospitalized, under the double intimidation of Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall, he silently swallowed his protest.

"Loren, I want to talk to you." As Dumbledore left, he called away someone who was addicted to petting a cat.

Loren thought the principal wanted to know more details, but the silence along the way showed that this was not the case.

In the principal's office, the silverware on the table was spinning, emitting small puffs of white smoke, and Fox's head was pecking at it, sleepily resting on the gold-studded perch.

The walls were covered with portraits of former principals. The footsteps of the two men shattered their snoring bubbles, and the old principals woke up and cast scrutinizing glances at them.

"Ha, it's this kid again!" Principal Blake laughed heartily.

Dumbledore took off his cloak, hung it on the perch, and sat down behind the desk. When he was about to speak, he heard the voice of old Headmaster Black, and a few wrinkles appeared on his forehead. He turned around and waved his wand, turning over the portraits of all the headmasters to prevent them from making jokes like last time.

The atmosphere became a little more relaxed after Principal Blake made a fuss.

"Lockhart's appearance in the Chamber of Secrets seems to be your arrangement." A calm voice echoed in the office.

Dumbledore's eyes were gloomy. He was not against punishing bad guys, but this method of killing someone with a borrowed knife was too dark. It involved almost everyone, including Lockhart, Voldemort, and even Harry and Ron.

He gathered the other professors in the principal's office for a meeting. If he hadn't noticed that there was a trace of magic left by Ron on Lockhart, he would have been fooled into thinking that Lockhart appeared in the Chamber of Secrets because Ron couldn't find the other professors.

Even though he had nearly a hundred years of experience and had witnessed countless vicious villains, the almost perfect event planned by the young Loren still made the white-bearded old wizard feel cold.

Loren hummed softly. "He wrote a lot of information about Grandpa Bates in his manuscript, and also said that he would visit another best-selling author at Christmas. I can't let him spread this information."

Dumbledore had vaguely guessed this reason, and Loren's words confirmed it again, which made him feel better. At least it showed that Loren cared about family affection: "How did you do it?"

"Remember the unicorn horn? I used it to repair an ancient mirror, which can shine into people's consciousness. Lockhart is eager for fame and fortune, and is self-righteous. I used these characteristics to create an illusion. When Lockhart encounters something related to the Chamber of Secrets, he will actively participate in it driven by fame and fortune."

Loren gritted his teeth and finished his words without stuttering. Let Dumbledore scold him if he wanted to, he didn't regret it anyway.

It turned out that it wasn't the Imperius Curse... Dumbledore felt more relieved, but another question popped up: "Just let him take the initiative to participate?"

Loren blinked. "What else?"

Dumbledore's inner thoughts were extremely complicated, so was it Lockhart's own idea that he would take the initiative to rush forward and attack Voldemort without knowing his own limitations?

The old principal with white beard looked at the black-haired and black-eyed child in front of him. He had many good qualities, but also many dangerous traits.

Dumbledore was amazed by the child's extraordinary talent, but also felt troubled by it.

Be it magic or wisdom, Loren did not take everyone into account with a thorough mind, but just exerted subtle influence under the influence of some kind of intuition, so that everything followed a specific trajectory and led to the result he wanted.

Dumbledore sighed. He sincerely hoped that the child would grow up healthily and become a kind and powerful person.

He pinched his brows tiredly, took out a large stack of papers from the drawer and handed them to Loren: "All of Lockhart's manuscripts are here, you can take them and deal with them."

Loren's face lit up with delight, and he quietly raised his eyes and glanced at Dumbledore. So... is this matter over?

"Thank you, Principal Dumbledore!" Loren happily picked up the manuscript and was about to leave the principal's office.

When I was about to reach the door, I suddenly heard Dumbledore's old voice:

"When Madam Pomfrey takes Lockhart to St. Mungo's Infirmary, you go with them and come back to tell me the result."

Chapter 214: Voldemort's Night Visit

After throwing Lockhart's manuscript into the fireplace and burning it to ashes, Loren returned to the school infirmary with a large bag of things.

Madam Pomfrey glared at him with disdain, but let him in because he had saved her.

Loren distributed the snacks and candies in the package to Harry and Ron, including chocolate frogs, licorice wands... and mainly Bibi Every Flavour Beans, because they were both edible and fun to play with, and could help them pass the time in the ward.

Ron, biting a chocolate frog in his mouth, asked curiously, "What happened to Hermione's Polyjuice Potion?"

Harry was also very curious and waited quietly for the answer.

"Don't say it!" The girl's annoyed voice came from the cubicle.

Loren couldn't help laughing, so he waved his hand and didn't continue the topic, then walked into the compartment with the package.

Sensing the sound of the curtain being pulled, Hermione lifted the quilt to cover her cat's body. In a hurry, the tail fell outside. She tried to control her body and let the tail retract by itself, but the slender cat tail was not obedient at all. Not only did it not retract into the quilt, it was also shaking.

Hermione quickly stretched out her furry paws and scooped up the disobedient tail.

Loren chuckled softly, without making any weird remarks. He took out the books and notebooks from the package and neatly stacked them on the bedside: "I didn't take notes on all the courses in the Transfiguration Club. I will definitely come to visit you during the Christmas holidays. Are you going to keep hiding from me?"

"No need to rub it." A soft, muffled voice came from under the quilt.

"So are you going to watch me fail the exam? Are you going to learn Animagus alone?" Loren said pretending to be sad.

"Anyway, I won't let you do it. Who told you not to take notes?"

"I've already seen it, why are you hiding from me?"

The quilt was visibly stiff for a moment, and then the girl's angry voice rang out: "Don't say that!"

Loren tried every possible means to provoke Hermione's anger, but after being hit by a few cat punches, she finally calmed down and smiled as she counted whether there were any books left out.

The school infirmary gradually quieted down. After a day of ups and downs, Harry and Ron's moods gradually calmed down. Thinking back on what happened in the past few months, they slowly figured out that something was wrong.

Ron was lying on the bed, looking at the light on the ceiling, and suddenly said, "Do you think there's something wrong with the basilisk? Fifty years ago, it killed Myrtle as soon as it left the bathroom, but this time it lurked in the school for several months and didn't even kill a cat."

He spoke more and more excitedly, waving his hands. "Although there are coincidences every time, Mrs. Norris saw the basilisk through the reflection on the water, Colin saw the basilisk through the camera, Justin saw the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick, this-"

Ron couldn't describe what this strange feeling was. He gestured to try to make Harry understand his thoughts: "This is too coincidental, isn't it? If it happened only once, I might believe it, but this happened three times in a row..."

Loren stroked his fingers on the book and curled his lips. If he hadn't been tricked by Dumbledore, why would he test the basilisk's eyesight regularly?

However, thanks to the monthly duel practice with the basilisk, he has accumulated a lot of experience in the duel application of Transfiguration. If he encounters a large magical animal like the basilisk again, it will be much easier to deal with it.

It's just a pity that Fox had blinded the basilisk's eyes. He had wanted to collect some of the gray magic in the snake's eyes that had the ability to petrify.

Harry sat up, also full of doubts. "And there's Crabbe's abnormality. Remember, Malfoy repeatedly reminded Goyle to stay away from Crabbe. The young wizards in Slytherin had already noticed that something was wrong with him. Even Seamus got the news. I don't believe the professors didn't notice him."

"We received a note this morning. Dumbledore hinted that we could seek help from the centaurs, and there was also the sudden appearance of Fawkes and the sword of Gryffindor."

Harry thought of his experiences in the Forbidden Forest and the Chamber of Secrets today, and half-doubtedly guessed, "Dumbledore is not completely ignorant of what we are doing. He seems to be encouraging and helping us, and teaching us many useful things in ways we don't know. Just like last semester, he deliberately let me face Voldemort."

"I think it makes sense for Dumbledore to do this. After all, it was you who caused Voldemort's defeat." Loren helped Dumbledore explain, "Because of the existence of the Horcrux, Voldemort will not die. At some point in the future, he will definitely come back. Think about it, who would he want to deal with the most after he comes back?"

The cat's ears covered with yellow fur poked out from under the quilt, shaking as it eavesdropped on the voices of people outside.

Harry pointed at himself in disbelief: "But, but, isn't Dumbledore Voldemort's greatest enemy?"

Ron looked at him and blinked: "This doesn't conflict with dealing with you, does it? You are the person Voldemort hates the most."

Harry felt his throat tighten and felt a heavy pressure: "That's why Dumbledore indulged our actions. He wanted to train us to fight Voldemort."

Hermione hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't help it. She poked her head out from under the quilt, glared at Loren angrily, and joined the discussion.

She remembered the gift she had received from using the sword and asked, "Harry, do you feel your strength has increased?"

Harry clenched his fist and tried it, feeling it carefully, and replied disappointedly: "It seems to be the same as before, there is no feeling."

"How could this happen? I was hoping to find a chance to use the sword in the future." Ron was equally disappointed.

"Perhaps I haven't found the courage in my heart yet. Dumbledore said that only those who are truly recognized by Gryffindor will receive gifts."

Harry was quite open-minded and did not dwell on the gains and losses of this power. However, he also had doubts in his heart. He dared to attack Voldemort and swing his sword at the basilisk, but this could not be recognized by Gryffindor. Then what was the courage in his heart...

, probably when you have the courage to face death... Loren's eyes were meaningful as he looked in Harry's direction through the curtain.

"Anyway, Seamus will regret missing out on this great adventure—" Ron's excited voice paused, and he suddenly remembered something, "Oh, the professors didn't even mention how many extra points they would give us, that's the basilisk and Voldemort!"

"Don't forget, we've violated more than a hundred school rules. If we take it seriously, we might get even more deductions," Hermione retorted.

A few of them laughed for a while, and finally hoped that the professors would not link this incident with the division of the college.

It was almost time to turn off the lights. Madam Pomfrey walked in swiftly from outside, stepped into the compartment, gave Hermione a bottle of grass-flavored potion, and drove Loren away.

"Hurry back to the dormitory. Even during the holidays, the school does not allow night outings!"

The potion was so unpalatable that Hermione stuck out her tongue. She looked at Loren's back thoughtfully as he left.

Not long after the school started, she saw Malfoy talk to Loren alone. What did they talk about at that time? Did they mention the Chamber of Secrets... Did they mention Crabbe... And did they know about Voldemort...

There was also the weekend when she and Loren went to visit Hagrid and happened to see Dumbledore doing alchemical experiments on the eyes of a baby acromantula in the cabin.

Dumbledore had deliberately sent her away. What would they say...

After the basilisk attacked the Muggle wizards, Loren never showed any worry. He was always calm and mysterious...

Many doubts slowly emerged in Hermione's mind. Although she didn't know the truth of the matter, she vaguely grasped the context behind the incident.

However, she would not force Loren to say anything he did not want to say, and she believed in Loren unconditionally.

It was already late when Loren returned to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was empty, with only the remaining red embers in the fireplace.

Seamus and Neville went home, Harry and Ron were in hospital, and he was the only one left in the empty dormitory. After washing and changing into pajamas, Loren lay peacefully on the four-poster bed.

Just as he was about to enter the book of fantasy, a strong magical power suddenly broke into the dormitory through the window.

Loren immediately noticed something was wrong and pointed his wand at this unexpected guest - Voldemort.

Voldemort's ghost was more solid than when he was in the Chamber of Secrets, like a dark cloud in the night sky, with gray mist constantly escaping from him.

The ghost moved back and forth in the air, making no attempt to get close to him.

"Voldemort, what do you want to do?" Loren asked sharply.

A constantly floating, explosive red light floats on the tip of the staff, and surging magic power continues to accumulate, ready to be unleashed.

A flat snake face emerged from the dark cloud-like ghost, with a wide open mouth and a thin, forked tongue vaguely visible. There was no nose, and there were two narrow slits where the eyes should have been, through which a creepy light shone.

"A wise man of the times, a descendant of Morgan, Mr. Loren Morgan, I have long heard of your name." A hoarse voice came from the ghost, his tone was humble and polite, even a little intimate, "Although you must know me, I still want to take the liberty to introduce myself, Voldemort - that is, me, the heir of Slytherin, the forerunner on the road to immortality..."

Feeling the spell on the wand ready to be cast, Voldemort chuckled and said, "No need to be so cautious, and no need to be so alert. Don't be prejudiced against me because of worldly rumors. Besides, I am so weak now, am I not?"

Noticing the impatience in Loren's eyes and the fact that he was about to cast a spell, Voldemort quickened his speech: "You can't kill me. Instead of wasting time and energy fighting with me, just listen to me and we can both feel more relaxed."

Thinking that this thing would not stop until it achieved its goal and might even follow him to his house, Loren temporarily stopped accumulating magic and said, "Let's get to the point. All those clichéd solicitations can be skipped."

Being willing to listen to him, half the battle is already won… Voldemort’s flat snake face showed a chilling smile: “You know, even though house-elves are mean, dirty, and disgusting, they have one admirable virtue – loyalty.”

Loren's brows knitted together: "Get to the point!"

"Ha ha ha ha - extreme torture will break the blockade of the Oblivion Charm. The Oblivion Charm you cast on the house-elf was lifted when I broke its fingers one by one."

Loren frowned slightly, this was something he had not expected.

Extremely painful torture and severe emotional fluctuations can break through the forgetfulness spell. This is the knowledge he learned when he first started learning, but he thought that such extreme cases were too rare and never took it to heart.

But he ignored the existence of house-elves. As slaves, it was common for house-elves to suffer extreme torture.

But it doesn't matter. The basilisk issue has been resolved, he has obtained the information from the house-elf's memory, and there is no loss even if the forgetfulness spell is broken.

"You're thinking, it's just a house-elf, it doesn't matter, right?" Voldemort's hoarse and unpleasant voice sounded again, "But Dumbledore must not agree with your approach, the Memory Charm, Legilimency, manipulating people's minds... That old guy advocated the magic of love and regarded these as evil acts. Do you want to know why?"

Loren looked at him calmly. Although Dumbledore did not agree with his approach, he did not create a rift between him and him. The relationship between the two was not something that Voldemort could sow.

"Think about it. Why did Dumbledore always preach that love is the greatest power? Why did the four founders of Hogwarts all have distinct characteristics: courage, wisdom, kindness, and honor..." The hoarse and harsh voice was bewitching. "These questions are related to the magic hidden deep in the soul and human heart. It is more powerful than ancient magic."

"What's it got to do with me?" Loren said unmoved.