Chapter 713: The Dark Lord’s Motives Although this trip seemed to have yielded no important information, it had in fact revealed enough details and clues.At least at brea |
When Hermione climbed out of the secret passage, her face flushed, she realized it was already dark... No, wait. They had somehow arrived somewhere they could see the entire sky.
The moon. The stars.
To be precise, they seemed to be on top of some tower.
Unlike the Astronomy Tower, this was the highest tower of Ravenclaw House, so under normal circumstances, no other students would come up here.
In fact, most Ravenclaw students might not even know this place existed...
“Where are we?”
“Ravenclaw Tower.”
The one who appeared alongside Hermione was, of course, our Draco Malfoy.
Unlike Hermione, who had frozen at the sight of the beautiful view, Draco immediately looked around, taking in and confirming their surroundings.
More precisely, it looked like someone’s residence, or perhaps a building used to store something...
“Whoa~ Is this the place?”
Pansy hopped over to Draco’s side and looked around curiously.
Compared with Draco and Hermione, Pansy really was exactly as Hermione had described. She looked as if she had come here purely to sightsee, purely to have fun.
There was not the slightest hint of nervousness on her face.
“That’s right. The person we’re looking for is inside.”
“Seriously? They’ve stayed in there from morning until night without moving?”
“They’re ghosts, after all. They don’t need to eat or use the bathroom like we do...”
“So, shall we go in?”
“Wait a moment. I’ll check whether there’s anyone else nearby.”
Draco reached out to stop Hermione, then took out the Marauder’s Map again to check.
Only after making sure there was no fourth person here did Draco hand the map to Pansy, who was standing beside him and clearly wanted a look.
That indulgent gesture earned him a sideways glare from Hermione.
Just as Draco and the others were about to knock, a translucent shadow suddenly passed through the stone door and appeared before them.
No one but a ghost could have done that.
In other words, this ghost was likely the very person Draco and the others had come to find...
...
The ghost who had suddenly appeared came straight up to Draco and the others.
It was clear that she must have been a beautiful witch in life.
Judging by her appearance alone, aside from her slender figure, the first things anyone would notice about this ghostly lady were her waist-length hair and the long robe trailing across the floor.
Yet despite her lovely appearance, she carried herself with great arrogance and looked down on everything around her.
Especially when she looked at Draco’s group, her expression was one of complete superiority.
More precisely, she had no intention of acknowledging Draco and the others at all. She treated them as though they were nothing but air...
Pansy and Hermione, who had not expected this, both showed displeasure.
Hermione took the initiative and stepped forward. “Grey Lady?”
Surprisingly, because of Hermione’s words, Helena Ravenclaw stopped.
But she did not speak. She merely nodded.
“You’re Ravenclaw’s ghost?”
“Correct.” The Grey Lady’s tone was not warm in the slightest, nor did she seem at all curious about how they had appeared here.
At the same time, her attitude made it perfectly clear that she was keeping them at a distance.
But Hermione had no intention of giving up so easily...
“We need your help. Perhaps you know the whereabouts of the missing Ravenclaw’s Diadem?”
The instant Hermione said that, Draco and the others clearly saw the Grey Lady’s lips twist into a cold sneer.
“I’m afraid I cannot help you.”
“Wait! You may not understand how serious this is...”
“You are not the first student to covet the Diadem. Generation after generation of students have pestered me over it.”
If her earlier expression had merely been a cold sneer, then the look she now cast at Draco and the others was one of pure contempt.
It was as if she had already seen through them, as if they were nothing more than petty thieves trying to get their hands on Ravenclaw’s Diadem...
“You!”
“Let me handle this, Hermione.”
Draco reached out to stop the somewhat agitated Hermione, then stepped forward and stood before the Grey Lady.
Unlike Hermione, Draco did not immediately ask the questions he had prepared. Instead, he first gave her an old-fashioned ancient wizard’s salute.
Faced with Draco’s gesture, the Grey Lady, who had been so arrogant only moments earlier, immediately composed her expression and returned a similar salute...
It was obvious that the Grey Lady’s attitude had softened at once.
“I know you, Mr. Malfoy of Slytherin.”
“Yes. It is a great honor, Madam Helena Ravenclaw.”
“.......”
Perhaps it was just Hermione’s imagination, but she felt that the Grey Lady seemed a little less transparent now, as if Draco’s words had struck a nerve.
She had the feeling that the Grey Lady was not willing to acknowledge that identity...
...
Helena Ravenclaw was no stranger to Draco Malfoy, the wizard who had recently caused no small amount of trouble.
More precisely, there was hardly anything in Hogwarts that escaped her notice.
Despite the arrogant, indifferent front she had put on in front of Draco and the others, she had in fact seen everything long ago.
Even their arrival had been within her expectations.
In some ways, Helena Ravenclaw was rather like Dumbledore, quietly watching from the sidelines as events unfolded...
As for Helena Ravenclaw knowing about him, Draco did not think it was mere polite conversation.
“You know about me?”
Helena Ravenclaw floated expressionlessly in front of Draco...
“That’s right. When you rode that dragon, I saw you from this tower.”
“When you fought that diary, I was in the Chamber of Secrets too.”
“The battle with the Thunderbird, and even your recent break-in at the professor’s office. I know all of it perfectly well.”
“......”
“......”
This sudden confession made Draco frown deeply. He had never expected that everything he had done over the years had been witnessed by a ghost.
Even if this ghost did indeed bear the great Ravenclaw name, it was still difficult for Draco to accept all at once.
As if noticing the grim look on Draco’s face, Helena Ravenclaw said calmly, “Ever since that incident, no one has been able to deceive me about anything that happens within Hogwarts. But that is all.”
Those words explained both that she was not as all-knowing and all-powerful as he might have imagined, and that she had no intention of spreading anything about Draco.
Understanding the meaning hidden in her words, Draco’s expression eased slightly. At the same time, he realized he had underestimated these ghosts.
Or rather, the ghosts who had been able to remain were not as simple as most people imagined...
But what exactly was that incident?
...
While Draco fell silent in thought, Hermione, standing nearby, refused to give up and continued asking the question that had just been interrupted.
“We’re trying to defeat the Dark Lord. If you care about everything in Hogwarts, then you have to tell us everything you know about the Diadem.”
“Although the Diadem grants wisdom, I doubt it can help you defeat the one who calls himself the Dark...”
“I’m not interested in wearing it myself. It’s just...”
At that point, Hermione suddenly did not know how to continue.
Was she supposed to say that her mother’s heirloom had been turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort?
Just as Hermione hesitated, Helena Ravenclaw suddenly spoke in a low voice, her tone faint and distant.
“I stole the Diadem from my mother.”
“You... what did you say you did?”
“I stole the Diadem. I wanted to become wiser and more renowned than my mother... so I fled with it.”
Although they did not know which of Hermione’s words had struck a nerve, Draco and the others were not foolish enough to interrupt her.
Helena Ravenclaw’s translucent body flickered in and out of sight...
“They say my mother never admitted the Diadem was missing. She kept pretending it was still there. She even hid the loss from the other founders of Hogwarts, and hid my terrible betrayal as well.”
Helena Ravenclaw’s voice had no rise or fall at all, yet Draco and the others still seemed to hear a trace of bitterness and pain in it.
“Later, my mother fell ill. Gravely ill. Although I had done something unfilial and treacherous, she still desperately wanted to see me one last time. She sent a man to find me, a man who had loved me for a very long time, though I had rejected him. My mother knew he would not give up until he found me...”
“He found the forest where I was hiding. I refused to go back with him, and he flew into a rage. Baron had always been short-tempered. He hated me for rejecting him and envied my freedom, so he stabbed me to death.”
“Baron... you mean?!”
“Bloody Baron, yes. After he came to his senses, he was overcome with remorse. He picked up the weapon that had taken my life and killed himself. So many centuries have passed, and to atone for his sins, he still wears shackles to this day... Of course, he deserves it.”
Hermione, who had never expected to hear such a hidden secret, blinked curiously.
“Then what about the Diadem you stole?”
“At the time, I heard Baron stumbling through the forest toward me, so I hid it. It remained there afterward... hidden inside a hollow tree.”
“A hollow tree? What kind of tree? Do you still remember where it was?”
“In a forest in Albania. A very desolate place. I thought it was beyond my mother’s reach.”
Albania?!
Hearing that place name, Draco felt a terrible premonition. He stared hard at Helena Ravenclaw in front of him.
“You... you’ve told this story to someone before, haven’t you?”
Though he had not held out much hope, unfortunately, Helena Ravenclaw still nodded under Draco and the others’ disappointed gazes...
“I... I didn’t know... He... was very charming. He seemed... very understanding... sympathetic.”
“......”
There was no need to ask who Helena Ravenclaw was talking about.
It was certainly the young Voldemort.
At that time, he had learned the Diadem’s hiding place from Helena Ravenclaw, then turned it into a Horcrux.
And judging from Helena Ravenclaw’s remorseful expression, she had likely guessed the outcome afterward.
Perhaps it was precisely this chain of mistakes that made Helena Ravenclaw stop trusting anyone.
That also explained why she had treated Draco and the others with that attitude earlier...
...
Although this trip seemed to have yielded no important information, it had in fact revealed enough details and clues.
At least at breakfast in the dining hall the next day, Pansy and the others did not see even a trace of disappointment on Draco’s face.
Astoria, who had not gone with them the night before, quietly glanced at Draco’s expression, then nudged Hermione’s arm with her elbow, her face full of curiosity.
That little gesture was clearly urging Hermione to hurry up and tell her everything that had happened yesterday.
Hermione had no intention of refusing. Rather, she had been eager to share the information she had discovered...
“We already knew the Dark Lord was very good at manipulating people, but I never thought even someone like her could be deceived, and be completely helpless against him.”
“True... Thinking about it now, Professor Horace having that sort of experience doesn’t seem strange at all.”
“From the way you two are talking, that lady really was involved with the Dark Lord?”
“If everything the Grey Lady said is true, then yes, it really does have something to do with the Dark Lord.”
Hermione took a bite of her sweet pastry, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster’s, and nodded without hesitation.
After all, Voldemort had indeed coaxed the whereabouts of Ravenclaw's Diadem out of the Grey Lady.
Presumably, after that, Voldemort went to that distant forest and brought back the hidden Diadem...
At the same time, something else gave Draco serious reason to be suspicious.
Many years later, that forest in Albania became the perfect refuge for Voldemort to hide in while waiting for his resurrection.
It was also during that period that Voldemort encountered Quirrell in that Albanian forest...
...
Setting down her empty cup, Hermione looked at Draco, who was staring out the window at the snowy scenery.
With a serious expression, Hermione lowered her voice and said what she was thinking. “The problem now is that once Ravenclaw's Diadem became a Horcrux, it definitely wouldn’t have stayed inside that hollow tree... Draco, in that case, we still don’t know where Ravenclaw's Diadem is.”
Although they had obtained plenty of useful information from the Grey Lady, and had even learned that Voldemort had indeed intended to turn Ravenclaw's Diadem into a Horcrux, the most important question, where it had gone, remained unresolved.
Unless Helena Ravenclaw was still hiding something from them...
Just as Hermione thought Draco had no answer, Draco finally turned his head at an unhurried pace.
“Barring any surprises, it should be inside the castle.”
“Hm?!”
“I believe Ravenclaw's Diadem was hidden by him at Hogwarts.”
“This... Draco, you seem very sure.”
“Mm.”
Seeing that there was no hesitation at all in Draco’s expression or tone, Hermione blinked in confusion.
“Why? If it were me, I’d definitely hide it somewhere far more secret.”
It was not that Hogwarts was not secretive enough, but hiding something right under Dumbledore’s nose was certainly no easy task.
Besides, generation after generation of students had tried to find Ravenclaw's Diadem, and every one of them had failed. That was enough to prove the Diadem was not in Ravenclaw House, or even anywhere in Hogwarts.
So why was Draco so certain...
After a brief pause, Draco lightly tapped his fingertips against the armrest.
“What do you think the Dark Lord’s motive was for applying to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?”
“Motive?”
“You mean... this has something to do with that?”
“Exactly. If the real reason the Dark Lord wanted to become a professor at Hogwarts was that he wanted to take something out of Hogwarts, then could that thing be... something he hid in the castle back then?”
Hermione opened her mouth, ready to refute him, but then closed it again.
Pansy, meanwhile, looked blankly back and forth between them, while Astoria, who had been the first to bring up the topic, frowned as she considered the possibility.
Although it was impossible to know what the girls were thinking at that moment, Draco’s guess was clearly not without reason...
“Think about it. Back then, the Dark Lord was still a student. He had no power and no influence. The place he chose to hide something would have had to be somewhere familiar to him, and somewhere extremely safe.”
“If it were me...”
Safe and familiar.
If it were Pansy, she would certainly have other answers, and far more options.
But for Hermione, who had been born into a Muggle family, there really were not many other choices.
By comparison, Voldemort, a half-blood abandoned in a Muggle orphanage, had been in an even worse position...
“There’s only one answer, isn’t there?”
“The Prefect’s Room... or rather, Hogwarts.”
“Exactly.”
Although Draco seemed to have figured something out, the problem was that this brought everything right back to where they had started...