Chapter 40: Ravenclaws's Diadem
It was as if a city made of junk had been stuffed into Hogwarts Castle.
In this enormous room, the eye was met with all sorts of strange and curious things everywhere. For example, a troll specimen over three meters tall, a cursed doll with blurry blood-red characters, but mostly, it was prank items from various eras that were not allowed at Hogwarts. There were also some things that had caused great misfortune to certain people in the past.
Ezio spotted a suit of armor, the same kind commonly seen in the corridors, but this one had been completely dismantled. It was clearly the work of some audacious individual with excessive curiosity but without the skill to put it back together.
A ball of light from the Wand-Lighting Charm flew from the tip of his wand. The soft white light illuminated a corner of this massive city of junk. Ezio waved his wand casually, and the annoying, thick dust was swept away, with clutter blocking the path moved to the side.
"The diadem should be on the head of some statue," Ezio recalled from his intelligence. He remembered the main plot points quite clearly, but some of the details were fuzzy. However, as long as he had a general direction, he had a place to start looking.
The super-perception of his Eagle Vision ensured that no clue would escape his eyes. In just a few minutes, a bust of a pockmarked wizard placed on top of a cabinet caught his attention.
'To the great inventor of the Entrail-Expelling Curse, thank you for curing my lifelong constipation!'
A small bronze plaque was inscribed with this short sentence. This pockmarked wizard must have been the inventor of the curse.
On his head was an old wig, and on top of the wig, an ancient but exquisite diadem was placed. The diadem was inlaid with many gems, the one in the center a clear aquamarine.
Ezio, wearing his dragon-hide gloves, gently broke off the statue's head. He had no intention of touching the diadem with his bare hands. Dumbledore's rash act of putting on the Resurrection Stone ring, which had been made into a Horcrux, was a lesson learned. Ezio had no desire to test Voldemort's achievements in curse magic.
The diadem seemed to possess a subtle magical power. As Ezio approached it, a voice seemed to speak, urging him to put it on, as if doing so would grant him world-shattering wisdom.
Ezio saw a line of small words on the inside of the diadem:
'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.'
This sentence was also engraved in the Ravenclaw common room, becoming the philosophy that the little Ravenclaw eagles believed in. But they didn't know that this sentence was not spoken by Ravenclaw herself, but was left by the goblins who had forged the diadem in order to please the four Hogwarts founders.
In a chat with the Sorting Hat, it had told Ezio that Rowena Ravenclaw herself was actually trapped by her wisdom. Her overly intelligent mind was too great a burden, and she needed to use other means to alleviate the immense pressure it brought her. Perhaps it was precisely the theft of this diadem that made it difficult for her to bear the increasingly severe mental strain, to the point that after the diadem was stolen by her daughter, she fell gravely ill and soon passed away.
As the daughter of Ravenclaw, the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, did not inherit her mother's wisdom. Perhaps because she couldn't stand the way others compared them, she had done a foolish thing to satisfy her own vanity.
"Perhaps I shouldn't use Fiendfyre. This thing destroys matter. If I do that, the diadem can't be saved." After finding the diadem, Ezio hesitated slightly. There were not many substances that could destroy a Horcrux. The core of a Horcrux is the soul fragment preserved within it, and the vast majority of magic cannot touch the soul.
But as it happened, Ezio knew of a few spells that might be able to touch the soul. However, as he had no way of capturing a ghost or Peeves to test the magic before, he couldn't conduct a practical test. The arrival of the Horcrux solved this problem for him. Because not even Dumbledore would stop Ezio from dealing with a Horcrux. What was this, if not executing justice? As long as you were fighting Voldemort, you were executing justice.
The Headmaster's office was also on the seventh floor. After leaving the Room of Requirement, Ezio walked towards the gargoyle.
"Raspberry Jam."
Ezio spoke the password. The statue leaped to one side, revealing the griffin-shaped spiral staircase behind it. Ezio knocked on the door of the Headmaster's office.
"Come in," Dumbledore's gentle voice sounded from behind the door.
"Ah, it's you, Ezio." Dumbledore looked up slightly, but his gaze immediately fixed on the bust of the Entrail-Expelling Curse inventor that Ezio was holding. "Is this Ravenclaw's Diadem?"
Although it was a question, Dumbledore's tone was one of certainty, because this diadem was identical to the one worn by the statue of Ravenclaw in the Ravenclaw common room.
"To be precise, it is Ravenclaw's Diadem, which has been made into a Horcrux."
"I was just thinking of going to the Room of Requirement to find some inspiration today. Clearly, I found something more interesting than inspiration." Ezio gently placed the bust on the desk and recited the words engraved inside the diadem: "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
"So, my clever student, did you find it with your own wise mind?" With Ravenclaw's Diadem placed before him, Dumbledore's voice became much more pleasant.
"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, Professor. Although I did some psychological analysis of Voldemort, due to the lack of information, I couldn't find any particularly useful clues. Although my Slytherin classmates provided me with a lot of information, unfortunately, it is some of their parents who are familiar with Voldemort, and it's clear their parents wouldn't tell them too much about it."
"I just have a pair of eyes that can observe things in minute detail. I have been to the Ravenclaw common room and have seen what the diadem looks like. Then I accidentally saw something similar, and so I found it."
"At first, I thought it was a replica. After all, that room is filled with the treasures hidden by Hogwarts students from all eras. It wouldn't be surprising if someone tried to make a replica. But I believe this one is real."
"Do you hear any whispers? It was trying to entice me to wear it. And diadems don't speak."
"So there must be some magic in it, or something else. I smelled a conspiracy."
"Combined with my recent research into magic and runes, I determined that this diadem was not the work of a wizard. Since it is a goblin creation, the possibility of it being genuine is even higher. What's more, I know how to make a Horcrux, so it's only natural that I would recognize it, isn't it?"
Dumbledore looked at Ezio deeply. He was a very powerful Legilimens; very few people could lie in front of him. But Ezio, like those who had mastered Occlumency, was unreadable. His long-maintained state of Assassin's Focus allowed him to discard all distracting thoughts.
"You are very interested in Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked softly after a moment of silence.
"He's a rather interesting prey, worthy of my attention. After all, I've honed my skills for so long; they have to be put to use somewhere, right? Otherwise, wouldn't all the suffering have been for nothing?" Ezio laughed, his face full of ease. "Of course, if someone is willing to pay for Voldemort's death, I would be very happy to accept the employment. Even if the reward is meager, it's still a reward, isn't it?"
"An interesting idea." Dumbledore understood Ezio's words. This was the second time Ezio had said this, but he didn't pay it much mind.
*****
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