Chapter 65 Dumbledore Appears
Myrtle plunged headfirst into the toilet, splashing water everywhere, then leaped out and floated in mid-air.
Being able to communicate with the boy who had survived seemed to excite her greatly.
However, Basil suspected that she was more concerned about Harry being alive and a good-looking boy.
He glanced at Myrtle with disdain.
Although he knew that the toilet she was in hadn't been used for decades, he still felt uneasy.
It was like he could see every corner of Hogwarts but never looked into the sewers.
Meanwhile, Harry stood rooted to the spot.
A sense of shame lingered in his heart.
The last time this happened was when he knew his father wasn't a good person.
Now, his ancestor didn't seem to be a good person either.
It was Salazar Slytherin!
This bloodline must have come from his father; his mother was Muggle-born.
No wonder his father was so bad.
No wonder the Sorting Hat said Slytherin would lead him to success.
He suddenly felt incredibly dirty!
He glanced instinctively at the faucet.
The flickering candlelight illuminated the serpent carving, making it seem almost alive.
A strange impulse surged within him. "Open it," he cried
, clutching his throat. He hadn't heard those words, but rather a strange hissing sound.
A minute earlier, Dumbledore, who had instantly grasped Harry's thoughts, had drawn his wand and tapped the Mirror of Erised,
sending it floating back to the room.
He was about to appear and comfort Harry.
But then he heard Parseltongue.
It wasn't that Dumbledore was arrogant, but he truly understood over a hundred languages, including troll
languages , and Parseltongue.
He immediately understood Harry's Parseltongue: "Open it."
Then, the faucet emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly.
Next, the pool began to move.
The entire pool sank and disappeared from their sight.
In its place stood a very thick water pipe, large enough for a person to crawl through.
"What is this?" Harry murmured.
"This must be the secret passage," Myrtle suggested.
"Do you want to go down? If you die, you're welcome to share this toilet with me." Her face turned silvery-white with embarrassment.
"I don't think I'll die," Harry rolled his eyes.
This was probably the secret passage Basil had mentioned.
Basil had definitely been here before, and considering that Myrtle was the only victim all these years, it probably wasn't very dangerous.
"I don't think so either,"
a third voice rang out.
Harry felt as if his insides had frozen solid.
He quickly looked behind him.
It was Albus Dumbledore.
"Professor!" Myrtle screamed, plunging headfirst into the toilet and never coming out again.
Only the gurgling of water remained.
"I—I, this is the girls' restroom, sir," Harry stammered, managing to squeeze out the words.
"Yes, this is the girls' washroom," Dumbledore said.
Harry saw the smile on his face and breathed a sigh of relief.
Looks like he wouldn't get points deducted!
As for why the headmaster was in the girls' washroom, Dumbledore was the headmaster; he could go wherever he wanted.
It wasn't his place as a student.
"So," Dumbledore said, taking a step forward to the drainpipe, "this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin. Is that why you're here today?"
"You just now?" Harry was certain Dumbledore hadn't been in this room before.
This was his confidence as the youngest Seeker, stemming from his keen observation skills.
"I don't necessarily need an invisibility cloak to be invisible," Dumbledore said gently. "Don't worry about losing points; it's holiday time, and this invisibility cloak is what I returned to you."
"You know my father?" Harry was about to ask more about his father, but the next second, he thought of Basil.
"So, the diary Basil received was also returned to him by you."
At the same time, he secretly wondered if Dumbledore had some kind of estate management job; how come both of their fathers entrusted their belongings to Dumbledore before they died?
"How so?" Dumbledore's expression turned serious.
Every time he heard this boy's name, nothing good happened.
Harry began to talk about the diary and the note.
Underneath the white leather cover of the diary was a tattered black cover.
Finally, he mentioned that he came here because Basil said there was a secret passage in this bathroom.
"It seems we have to go down and take a look," Dumbledore said calmly.
Beneath his calm exterior, a turbulent storm raged within him.
He knew who had killed Myrtle, and he knew that Riddle had once possessed a black-covered diary.
It had simply vanished one day.
This diary might be a Horcrux.
How it ended up in Basil's possession might be related to the Malfoy family. The only one
with a grudge against this boy and the ability to possess it was Lucius Malfoy.
As a family favored by Voldemort, being granted a Horcrux for safekeeping was perfectly normal.
But the fact that Lucius Malfoy dared to use this precious item as a murder weapon to kill a boy suggested
that Voldemort hadn't told him the truth about the diary.
A bad premonition crept into his heart; this nonchalant attitude suggested Voldemort possessed far more Horcruxes than he imagined.
"Now?" Harry asked, somewhat puzzled.
Especially after Dumbledore finished speaking, he paused for a moment,
his body hunched over.
"Now." Dumbledore stepped forward and jumped into the pipe first.
The boy was a great wizard; he shouldn't be fooled by a Horcrux.
But he still wanted to check.
Harry folded his Invisibility Cloak and placed it aside.
He then slowly crawled into the pipe, let go, and slid down.
But the next second, Harry regretted it.
He couldn't see Dumbledore at all.
The pipe was not only dark but also sticky, winding and twisting, with a steep slope.
It was also very long, and the air became more and more humid as he went down, feeling like he was going to be miles below the school—at the bottom of the lake.
His bottom felt like it wasn't even his own anymore as he was being jostled around.
After about ten minutes, the pipe began to level out.
Then he fell down and landed on a soft mat.
He stood up and realized that the mat was an air mat, probably conjured by Dumbledore's magic.
It was a dark stone tunnel, the ground very damp, making a clattering sound when you walked on it, and large enough for a person to stand inside.
Dumbledore wasn't here.
But the fluorescent light ahead must have been released by Dumbledore.
He followed the light, stepping on many small animal bones along the way.
After rounding a bend, Harry stood frozen in place.
Dumbledore was crouching there, a ball of light floating above his head.
His body was perfectly clean, without a trace of the grime from the tunnel.
However, this wasn't the main reason for Harry's stunned silence.
Beside Dumbledore, the silhouette of a colossal creature lay motionless on the other side of the tunnel.
"Is this the monster from the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin? Killed by Dumbledore?" Harry wondered to himself.
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(End of Chapter)