"Walk up the stairs—but why walk up the stairs?"
"I shouldn't care about that, eighth floor, I need to go to the eighth floor."
"Rooster, blood, right, it's resurrection, resurrection."
"Blood, eighth floor, resurrection?"
"The tapestry on the eighth floor, who am I?"
"Walk around? Why walk around?"
Countless conflicting thoughts floated in Ginny's mind. She couldn't even distinguish who she was or what she was supposed to do—she just felt like she should be familiar with these things, but in reality, she wasn't at all.
After wandering aimlessly around the eighth floor, she grew a little tired of her current actions.
But a voice kept telling her that she should continue.
A door appeared on the wall as she was struggling, and she subconsciously walked in, then steadily proceeded forward at the suggestion of the voice in her mind.
"Get it, it's your most beloved treasure, do as you did in the past, just as you picked it up in the past, pick up your most beloved treasure."
Yes, that's mine, discovered since the beginning of the school year, the most precious treasure in this world. I used various methods to gain revelations from it, mastering precious knowledge that others couldn't even imagine.
It started from the beginning of the school year, I've secretly walked this path countless times, haven't I?
Ginny smiled and picked up the tattered diadem—it was originally worn on the head of an old wizard statue, looking very fitting, as if the three items combined wouldn't sell for a single Sickle.
'My most precious treasure, is it just this piece of junk?'
The girl's sense of disdain suddenly flared up. She found it hard to imagine why she would happily wear such a shabby thing on her head.
But the memory in her mind told her that this was her most precious treasure, more precious than her eyeballs.
'I think I've been here once? No, many times?'
The headache prevented her from thinking further, and she immediately put the tormenting object on her head.
The cool touch made her feel as if she had immersed her body in seawater in summer—no, it should be immersing her body in a hot spring in winter, a disjointed feeling, but it didn't cause her any discomfort.
"How dare you! How dare I?"
The voices in her mind seemed to be arguing, but as the tattered diadem on her head emitted a gentle warmth, the later voice quieted down.
'It seems like a spell I cast? No—I've touched it many times, but how could I bear to?'
Confused memories started again, but the voice in her mind appeared in time.
"You should escape, take your most precious treasure, and secretly leave this school."
'Yes, right, take the secret passage, the one no one knows about.'
"What am I doing?"
Another voice rang out from the depths of her heart, it was her own voice.
"Isn't the other voice furious? Doesn't he want to kill Filch? Didn't he bring me here once?"
"No, I've been here many times, I found it on the first day of school—"
The chaotic memories made Ginny feel like her head was going to split open. A sudden burning sensation from the diadem suppressed the voice that had emerged from her heart.
'Yes, it's time to go, it's time to go!'
She stood up and took the diadem off her head—this was a difficult act, like pulling someone out of their warm bed in winter.
With a hint of reluctance, she clutched the diadem and rushed out the door. The secret passage was very, very close, as long as—
"Stupefy!"
…
"Stupefy!"
Several spells, almost simultaneous, hit her as the sound rang out—
'Finally quiet…'
This was Ginny's last thought before she fainted.
—
"Caught, caught!"
The person hiding in the shadows jumped out.
"How about that, I told you, if there's a secret passage or a Chamber of Secrets, there must be prominent landmarks around, otherwise there's no way to find it."
"Oh, come on, it was clearly the twins who found the hanging ornament on the floor here, and then thought this place fit the secret passage environment, so they staked it out."
"What I said is also correct, Weasley, don't you agree?"
The one who was refuted turned around in annoyance, looking at the one with the biggest credit in this search.
However, the Weasley brothers were silent. They looked at each other, their faces full of surprise.
"Is there a problem?"
Before the questioner could finish speaking, someone who couldn't hold back had already run over to look at the person who had been knocked down—"Heavens, a first-year, the Weasleys' sister!"
'Did we catch the wrong person?'
Such a thought surfaced in most people's minds—many had guessed that someone with enough free time to commit such a major crime must be one of the seventh-years who were about to graduate, but for a first-year to have tricked them for so long was truly unacceptable.
"It shouldn't be her, right?"
Finally, someone raised the question, but it was met with clear opposition.
"Of course it's her! My little sister—we never discovered that Chamber of Secrets!"
Fred said with a rather proud tone.
"Should we hand her over to the professors?"
"Of course, otherwise what have we been working so hard for? Just killing two chickens, a half-month detention will do, it'll be like an early first lesson for Gryffindor."
George's matter-of-fact answer was met with cheers and whistles from the crowd.
—
In the office, William was giving orders to the prefects summoned by the portrait—he clearly understood that investigating Mr. Filch was less of a priority than apprehending the suspect.
"Prefects, pair up, stand front and back, do not separate casually. Although Miss Weasley is only a first-year student, her spell-casting skills are almost at graduate level. Although it's currently unclear whether this is due to talent or some other reason, I hope you do not underestimate her just because she is a first-year."
"Each seventh-year prefect is to recommend two capable students. I will inform them to cooperate in the search operation. Upon locating Miss Weasley, immediately use a Stunning Spell or a Petrificus Totalus spell or similar magic to restrain her. Her control magic might even easily incapacitate an adult wizard like myself, so you must be vigilant…"
Such orders made the prefects involuntarily turn their gaze towards the Gryffindor side—Percy looked utterly bewildered.
'Miss Weasley? My sister? Incapacitate an adult wizard?'
Because the professor's remarks were too alarming, he even forgot to question why Ginny was being searched for.
Just as he was mustering the courage to ask a question, there was a knock on the office door.
"Professor! It's us!"
Noisy shouts came from outside the door, but Percy clearly heard the voices of his two brothers who brought shame to the family.
"We caught the culprit! It's Ginny!"
The twins' joyful voices came from outside the door.
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