Chapter 236: The Ravenclaw Diadem
Dylan glanced at the trembling Peeves, a corner of his mouth twitching. Was he really a devil for Peeves to be so terrified of him?
"Of course I have something to ask of you."
"Oh, you're too kind. It's my honor to do anything for you," Peeves said in a voice as sincere as he could muster, while shrinking his neck.
What cruel spell is this human going to experiment on me with now?
Dylan couldn't help himself. "Didn't I set you free? I didn't trap you in my world forever. I'd settle for you not being grateful, but why are you so afraid? It's not like I'm going to capture you."
Peeves was stunned, not expecting Dylan to say that. He paused, then tugged at the hem of his clothes. "Uh, Master Dylan, I'm not afraid of you. It's just... you are to me like a male lion leading a pride, and I'm just a little antelope that could be gobbled up at any moment. This is reverence, reverence."
Dylan rolled his eyes, too lazy to care about the poltergeist. He considered himself to be very ruthlessly... friendly towards Peeves. But it seemed the poltergeist wasn't buying it. Well, if he wasn't, he wasn't. It didn't really matter what Peeves thought of him anyway. He was only thinking about the other's feelings because of his own kind heart.
"Sigh, I'm just too kind," Dylan sighed, holding his hand to his forehead.
"Master Dylan, what is it that you would like me to help you with?" Peeves cautiously looked at Dylan.
"It's very simple. Come with me to the Room of Requirement and find the Ravenclaw Diadem for me from that pile of junk."
Dylan waved his hand and turned to walk towards the Room of Requirement.
Peeves looked aghast. "The Ravenclaw Diadem? How do you know where to find that?"
Dylan stopped, turned around, and narrowed his eyes at Peeves.
Peeves immediately covered his mouth and laughed awkwardly. "I was just talking too much. Let's go, my most noble Master~"
Dylan's eyelids twitched. "Don't ever call me by that cringey title again."
Peeves immediately saluted. "I promise you!"
Dylan turned back. "Alright, keep your voice down. If you wake up Filch, I won't help you."
Peeves, however, raised his head and puffed out his chest. "I'm not afraid of him! He's a Squib; he can't do anything to me!"
"Oh? Is that so?" Dylan raised an eyebrow, looking at him sideways. "What if he goes and tells Old Dumbledore? You don't care about that either?"
"Old Dumbledore?" Peeves was taken aback. "You mean Dumbledore?"
"Who else?"
Peeves giggled. "Hahaha~ This is the first time I've ever heard a student dare to give Headmaster Dumbledore a nickname. Everyone says he's a great wizard!"
"Being great and having a nickname aren't mutually exclusive." Dylan shrugged. "Haven't you heard Dumbledore's other nickname, 'The Old Bee'?"
"Of course I have! There's not much in this school I don't know!" Peeves said proudly. "Albus's brother was here at Hogwarts before, but they had a huge fight that day!"
Peeves paused and added, "Of course, I think it was more of Aberforth yelling at Albus on his own. Oh, I saw them. He was red in the face and his neck was all thick. It was so comical."
As he walked, Dylan glanced at Peeves. "You certainly know a lot."
Peeves had chatted with Dylan a bit and knew that he wouldn't be captured for an experiment, so he relaxed considerably. He giggled. "Except for you, Master Dylan. In my eyes, you are the most amazing. And I know nothing about you. You're an even more mysterious wizard than Albus."
And a young wizard at that! Peeves secretly observed Dylan's reaction as he spoke.
But the latter just smiled faintly. "You're a good judge of character."
Peeves' expression froze. He forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Ah, I'm so happy to get your approval."
Dylan didn't care if the poltergeist was genuinely happy or not. He had already led him to the entrance of the Room of Requirement.
"Let's go."
Dylan's fingertips hooked onto a transparent corner of Peeves' cloak, and he led the troublemaker inside. The ghost floated sullenly in the air, his usual arrogant and chaotic aura completely gone. Dylan sensed that he was a bit reluctant to enter this place.
"What are you waiting for? Get in!" Dylan tugged on him.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
As they entered the room, the door vanished. Then, the warm yellow magical candlesticks lit up on their own. The wool carpet muffled Dylan's footsteps. He had already arranged this place to be a comfortable private space for himself. An automatically turning book stand floated beside a velvet lounge chair.
A copper teapot in the corner bubbled and smelled of jasmine tea.
He walked straight to the wall where he remembered the secret door was, closed his eyes, and focused. "Take me to the place where the Ravenclaw Diadem is hidden. I want to find the relic of Ravenclaw."
The wall instantly shifted, reorganizing like quicksand, and then revealed a narrow door covered in mildew. A rotting smell immediately wafted out. Dylan frowned. This was why he hadn't gone to get the diadem himself before. But this time was different; he didn't have to be the one to find it.
Dylan took a step back and pushed Peeves forward. "Go in and find all the valuable things with gems."
A smile appeared on Dylan's face.
"What if I can't find it?"
"Then you won't be coming out."
Peeves shrank his shoulders. The familiar feeling seemed to be back. His transparent cloak trembled slightly.
"I understand." He floated dejectedly into the storage room.
Dylan peeked in. The ceiling inside was so high he couldn't see the top. Cobwebs hung like tattered curtains. Faded bookshelves were toppled over in the messy room. Broken pieces of mirrors, rusted armor, and harps with broken strings were piled up chaotically. In the distance, a small pumpkin carriage was lying on its side, covered in vines, which seemed to be a model.
After confirming that Peeves had started searching, Dylan returned to the outer room. He leaned back lazily on the lounge chair and took a book, Advanced Potion-Making, from the floating book stand. He gently tapped a page to turn it. As he read, he kept an ear out for the sounds from the storage room. The occasional sound of turning pages and the rustle of Peeves searching for things intertwined. The entire Room of Requirement was quiet and orderly.
On the other side, Peeves reluctantly floated into the storage room. As soon as he got in, his head was caught in a hanging cobweb. He shook his head vigorously, flicking the cobwebs onto the floor. Looking at the storage room, Peeves wanted to cry.
"I, Peeves, not only have been caught and controlled by a little wizard who hasn't even grown hair yet, but now I have to be his laborer! If the Bloody Baron finds out, he'll laugh me to death!"
He slowly floated past a row of fallen bookshelves, running his fingers over the dusty spines, quickly kicking up a cloud of choking dust.
"The Ravenclaw Diadem is here? Good heavens, how could I not know about this?" He mumbled to himself. "Is that little wizard telling the truth? Maybe he just wants to play a prank on me."
"Even if it is here, what if a mouse has already taken it to use as a chew toy? Maybe it's sitting in a mouse hole right now, covered in mouse droppings! How am I supposed to find it?"
Saying that, he grabbed a broken book and tossed it out. The pages scattered all over the floor.
Dylan's voice floated from outside the doorway. "Stop throwing things. Find it properly!"
Peeves shivered and quickly covered his mouth, looking back. He didn't see the little human wizard. But he still raised his voice and replied, "I know!"
Dylan didn't reply. Peeves didn't know if Dylan had heard what he'd said, so he didn't dare to mumble anymore. He could only obediently act as a laborer.
But he didn't keep up the act for long. As he passed a pile of rusty armor, he couldn't resist.
With a clatter, he drilled into a suit of armor, making the helmet ring loudly.
Peeves' voice rang out. "Anyone home? The great Peeves is here for a bed check!"
When no one answered, he came out and kicked the armor's leg guards. "Stop pretending. I know you're just a pile of scrap metal! The diadem my great master is looking for wouldn't be hidden in your stomach! I'll have my master take you apart and sell you as scrap metal!"
Then he began to aimlessly look for it. He stopped beside the pumpkin carriage in the corner. Peeves circled the carriage twice and reached out to poke the broken shaft.
"What's this junk car still doing here? It should have been thrown out long ago!" Peeves pouted. "Maybe the diadem is underneath, all flattened like a pancake."
He pushed the carriage hard, but it didn't move. Instead, it kicked up a large cloud of dust, making him cough.
"Cough, cough... What kind of a place is this? There's more dust here than on Filch's broom!" He flew directly through it but found no sign of the diadem.
He searched for a long time without finding it. Peeves was starting to get impatient. He kicked at the junk on the floor and quietly, quietly, complained.
"This little wizard really knows how to give me trouble! This shack is so big, and the junk is piled up like a mountain. How am I supposed to find a tiny diadem? I think he's doing this on purpose! When I find it, I'll put a toad in his pillow for sure!"
After he finished, Peeves quickly looked behind him. Nothing happened. He breathed a sigh of relief.
But as soon as he turned around, a streak of light flew toward him from the distance. Peeves felt the area around him suddenly become much brighter. While he was confused, he turned to see a spell flying toward him at high speed!
"Mama!" Peeves tried to run, but it was too late.
The light shot straight at his butt.
"Hiss!" Peeves hissed in pain, only to inhale a mouthful of dust. "Cough, cough, cough!"
He held his butt, a look of injustice on his face. "I'm sorry, I'll search properly right now!"
Before he could finish, Peeves' sharp eyes saw a faint blue light flash by. It immediately caught his attention.
"What's that?" He grimaced and floated closer, finding that the blue light came from an old wardrobe covered in vines.
"What good thing could be in there? It's not a glowing giant spider, is it? I don't like those ugly creatures."
He cautiously pushed the vines aside, and the wardrobe door opened with a groan. The Ravenclaw Diadem lay silently inside. It was a silver tiara shaped like an eagle with spread wings, and it was set with blue sapphires. Although it was covered in a thick layer of dust, its brilliance was still not hidden.
"Finally! I thought I'd be looking until next year!" Peeves' eyes lit up. He didn't expect to have a breakthrough after searching for so long; he found the diadem all at once.
"I didn't expect that little wizard... I mean, I didn't expect my most noble, perfect, and kind master to be telling the truth! The Ravenclaw Diadem really is here!"
He grabbed the diadem and dangled it in the air. The diadem didn't react at all. After fiddling with it for a while, Peeves still didn't understand it.
"This thing is nothing special. If I had to choose, I'd still prefer my stink bombs." He carefully examined the diadem and suddenly noticed the eagle crest engraved on it. He couldn't help but complain. "This eagle looks so weird. Its eyes are smaller than mine. No wonder someone stole it."
Holding the diadem, Peeves slowly floated back, still mumbling. "Next time this happens, I'm not doing it, unless... unless my kind and benevolent master gives me ten boxes of stink bombs as payment!"
When Peeves left the storage room and returned to Dylan, Dylan said without looking up from his book, "Did you find it? That was pretty fast."
Peeves: "..."
This is fast? I feel like I've been in there for a year! Easy for him to say!
He complained to himself, his feelings hurt. Then he forced a smile and said, "Of course. With your encouragement, I wouldn't dare to be lazy."
"Hmm, hand it over." Dylan nodded, finished the last bit of the page, and put down his book, holding out his hand to Peeves.
Peeves quickly handed the diadem to Dylan. "Here you go, Master."
Dylan took the diadem but didn't look at it immediately. Instead, he looked back at Peeves.
"What about the other things I asked you to find?"
"Uh? Other things? What other things?" Peeves was stunned.
Dylan narrowed his eyes. "Did I not tell you to get all the valuable things, and things with gems on them, for me?"
Peeves' eyes widened. "Ah! That." He quickly looked from side to side, then laughed ingratiatingly.
"Master, I wasn't thinking. I figured the diadem was the most important thing for you to get your hands on, so I focused all my energy on finding it. I was going to bring the diadem to you first, and then I was going to collect the other treasures for you slowly."
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