Chapter 186. Dumbledore Still There
Harry took the little vial out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione casually.
Hermione accepted it and peered at it for several seconds.
"Mm… no mistake."
After a moment, she said with certainty, "As far as I know, only one thing would take on this peculiar state—"
"Don't keep us in suspense," Ron said, a sausage speared on his fork. "What on earth is it?"
Lowering her voice, Hermione leaned in toward the two of them. "It's a memory that's been extracted."
Harry and Ron exchanged a look.
"So we went to all that trouble last night just to get one of Lockhart's memories?" Ron curled his lip and took a bite of sausage.
"Isn't it marvellous?" Hermione's eyes were shining. "I never knew you could pull memories out of your head before—I really want to try…"
Though Hermione was excited, Harry instantly lost interest in the vial in front of him.
He had no desire to see anything in Lockhart's memory, nor did he want to delve into it further.
What if it turned out to be something indecent?
Harry couldn't help a shudder of disgust.
"So what do we do?" Ron looked at the vial. "Should we put it back before Lockhart notices?"
Harry grimaced.
Taking it had been easy; putting it back would be much harder.
Lockhart's office was covered in portraits—all eyes and ears for him.
Only when the portraits were asleep could Harry sneak the vial back to its place.
Just then, Hermione gave the vial a little shake and asked doubtfully, "Aren't you even curious what's inside?"
Harry and Ron shook their heads at once, as if trying to shake the thought clean out of their minds.
"All right," Hermione sighed. "Let me think of a way. We'll put it back."
At that moment, a gentle voice sounded behind her. "Hermione, what's that? May I have a look?"
The three of them whirled round and found that Professor Wesson had appeared behind them at some point, eyeing the little vial in Hermione's hand with interest.
"P—Professor," Hermione stammered, nearly dropping the vial.
"Oh, no need to panic."
Professor Wesson smiled, took the vial gently from Hermione, and turned it between his fingers before his eyes.
"A memory, is it?" he said, watching the vial as he spoke to them. "Sorry to have overheard you—stolen from Professor Lockhart—how interesting."
The three of them froze on the spot, stiff as boards.
Accident or not, taking someone else's things without permission was not a good business—still less when that thing was a memory.
"It was an accident, sir," Harry blurted, his ears turning red. "We were just about to return it to Lockhart—"
"Oh, I'm not scolding you," Professor Wesson said with a small smile. He then pocketed the vial of Lockhart's memory. "I'll return it to Professor Lockhart for you. He shouldn't be angry."
Harry finally let out a breath.
Then something struck him, and he said quickly, "Sir, about last night—"
"I already know," Professor Wesson nodded, cutting Harry off. "You did nothing wrong—Professor McGonagall organised a large-scale sweep last night. We found signs of the Basilisk's movements in an abandoned classroom, though we didn't get much out of it…"
"Right."
Harry answered a little dejectedly. It looked like this would go on for quite a while.
But he now understood that his Parseltongue was the key to finding the Basilisk.
Hermione suddenly spoke up. "Professor, if memories can be extracted… could I pull out my own to have a look?"
Professor Wesson raised his brows and smiled. "In theory, yes. But I advise you not to, Hermione."
He gave the memory vial in his hand a slight shake and went on, "Extracting memories requires extremely precise magical control. The slightest slip can cause permanent damage. In fact, there aren't many witches or wizards who can manage it. If you want to learn, I'd suggest waiting at least until your fifth year."
"Then who's good at this kind of magic?" Hermione asked, curious.
"Professor Dumbledore, or—" Wesson paused. "All right, Professor Dumbledore. He's probably good at everything—after all, he's Dumbledore."
Wesson had almost said Lockhart by reflex, but that clearly wouldn't do.
"What a pity," Hermione said, disappointed.
Their Headmaster was busy at the best of times; now that Dumbledore had been suspended, there was no chance to ask him anything.
Finally, Professor Wesson warned Hermione very seriously, "I'll say it again: don't try it on your own—unless you want to turn yourself into a fool."
Professor Wesson soon left the Great Hall.
Harry seemed to think of something and said to the other two, "If extracting memories is that difficult, how did Lockhart manage it? We all know he's got no real skill."
Ron replied idly, "Maybe that's the price of extracting memories."
With Lockhart's memory in hand, Professor Wesson hurried toward the Headmaster's office. What he needed now was a Pensieve.
He was curious to see what was inside.
If it were someone else's memory, he might have had scruples.
But—Lockhart.
He had none at all.
To be honest, under normal circumstances people didn't extract their memories.
Unless, like Dumbledore, they were getting on in years, or they wanted to forget something—then they might choose to pull out certain memories.
From another angle, that meant the memory Lockhart had extracted must be very important to him. What kind of memory was important?
Professor Wesson already had a preliminary guess.
Soon he arrived at the Headmaster's office.
Another problem presented itself.
He didn't know the password to the office; and now that Dumbledore had lost his position as Headmaster, he didn't even know if the password was still one of those sweets he liked.
Wesson stood before the statue and was just about to try a password when the statue suddenly slid aside.
"Huh? No password today?"
Puzzled, Wesson stepped into the Headmaster's office.
He climbed the staircase and pushed the door open—and to his surprise, a familiar figure was standing by the window, lightly stroking Fawkes's feathers with his fingertips.
"Ah, welcome." Dumbledore turned and greeted him with a smile.
Wesson blinked, then inclined his head slightly. "Professor, what are you doing here? I thought you'd already—"
At Wesson's words, Dumbledore smiled mischievously. "Shh—I'm here to feed Fawkes—he'll have to go keep watch over the Chamber of Secrets later."
"So there's no password on the Headmaster's office today?" Wesson asked casually.
"Ah, there still is," Dumbledore said, stepping closer and fixing his eyes on him. "Do you remember what I told you—only when everyone has betrayed me will I truly have left this place."
Wesson felt a flicker of doubt.
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