135: Chapter 135 Passersby

"Why?"

Harry's voice was pressed into the sound of water in the Chamber of Secrets, more stubborn than before. He held Ginny up, his face stained with ash and Basilisk blood, but his eyes were fixed on Allen.

Allen tucked the diary fragments into the Spatial Thin Layer. "Because it's troublesome."

"You say it's troublesome every time. It was troublesome last year, and it's troublesome this year too. But you clearly saved people!"

"Saving people and going up to receive an award are two different things."

"Can't you just be normal for once?"

"No."

Harry was blocked by these two words, his chest heaving several times.

Ginny tugged on his sleeve. "Harry, let's get out first."

"But he's going to disappear again!"

"I'm still here," Allen said.

"You won't be in a second!"

Harry almost roared. After roaring, he was stunned himself. He had no brothers growing up, and only learned he had a cousin after coming to the wizarding world. But this cousin always hid in the shadows, saving him, scolding him, using him, and then cutting off all explanations cleanly.

This was more uncomfortable than an enemy.

Allen glanced at him. "If you get any louder, Ron will hear."

Harry immediately shut his mouth, his face turning red from holding it in.

Ron's voice came from the direction of the cave-in. "Harry! Is someone talking over there?"

Harry froze.

Allen raised his hand, and a Spatial Displacement landed gently in front of Harry's lips. Just as Harry was about to respond, the exit position was shifted by half an inch, and his voice immediately turned into an indistinct mumble, like he had swallowed half a piece of toffee.

"Mmph mmph mmph?"

Ginny's eyes widened, and she almost forgot to cry.

Harry covered his mouth, glaring at Allen.

Allen withdrew his hand. "Learn to be quiet."

"What did you do to my mouth?"

After Harry's voice returned to normal, his first sentence was filled with fire.

"Positional displacement."

"You can shift a mouth too?"

"Anything that can move can be shifted."

Ginny lowered her head and coughed, as if wanting to laugh but not daring to. She had just returned from the brink of death, and her emotions were in chaos, but this scene was absurd enough to let her catch her breath.

Harry's ears turned red with anger. "Don't use this kind of thing on me again."

"Depends on your behavior."

"You really are annoying."

"You thought so last year too, but you forgot later."

Harry stopped abruptly.

This sentence dragged the night of the Philosopher's Stone back before his eyes. He wanted to ask, he wanted to scold, but Ginny was leaning on him and could fall at any moment, Ron was still calling from outside, and the Chamber of Secrets was not a place for arguing.

Allen bypassed the Basilisk corpse and walked to the side of its head. He used space to lift another intact fang, and took some residual tissue pecked out by Fawkes from near the Basilisk's eye socket, sealing them all into a stone tube.

Harry frowned as he watched. "What are you taking those for?"

"Research."

"It almost killed us!"

"That's why it's worth researching."

"Allen!"

"Yelling won't help."

Fawkes landed on the Basilisk's corpse, staring at the stone tube in Allen's hand. The Phoenix did not stop him, but its feathers puffed up slightly; it clearly didn't like the Basilisk remains being taken away.

Allen looked at it. "I won't touch the eyes."

Fawkes let out a cry.

"The fangs and scales."

Another cry.

"At most, a little blood."

The Phoenix raised its wings.

Allen paused for half a second. "Fine, no blood."

Harry looked dumbfounded. "Are you bargaining with Fawkes?"

"It's more reasonable than you."

Harry was almost angered into laughing.

Ginny sat down against a stone pillar, her voice faint. "Harry, I want to leave."

Harry immediately regained his focus. "Yes, yes, let's go first."

Fawkes flew onto his shoulder, signaling him to grab its tail feathers. Harry helped Ginny up and looked back at Allen.

"One last time, come with us."

"No."

"Dumbledore will find out."

"Let him find out."

"Snape will investigate too."

"He's always investigating."

"Then what exactly are you afraid of?"

Allen put the diary remains into the temporary sealing layer and looked up at Harry. "I'm afraid of stupid people complicating simple things."

Harry gritted his teeth. "You're talking directly about me."

"As long as you understand."

On the other side of the cave-in, the stones were finally pushed aside to create a gap. Ron squeezed through, covered in dust, and saw Harry, Ginny, the Basilisk corpse, and the empty water surface in the direction of Allen.

He didn't actually see Allen.

Allen had retreated into the Spatial Folding before Ron squeezed in, leaving only the shallowest of fluctuations. Harry could see him because Allen hadn't completely covered himself. Ron could only see the water surface ripple.

"Harry! Ginny!" Ron rushed over, almost tripping. "You're alive! By Merlin, this snake is huge! Lockhart's brain is broken; he's asking me if he should take a photo with a rock."

Harry supported Ginny. "Ron, take her out first."

Ron's eyes were red, and he nodded repeatedly. "Yes, out, let's get out quickly. Why is she so cold? Ginny, look at me, I'm Ron, your most annoying brother, remember?"

Ginny cried. "Ron..."

Ron was flustered, not knowing whether to hug or support her, finally draping his own robe over her shoulders. "It's okay, it's okay. Harry killed the Basilisk, right? You killed it?"

Harry looked toward where Allen was hiding.

Inside the Spatial Folding, Allen raised a finger and pressed it down gently.

Harry swallowed his words. "Yeah."

Ron's eyes widened. "You really killed it? With what?"

Harry raised the sword. "It fell out of the Sorting Hat."

Ron opened his mouth, and after a long time, he squeezed out, "I knew you could do something this crazy."

Ginny whispered, "And the diary..."

Harry immediately continued, "Tom Riddle's diary. Destroyed with a Basilisk fang."

Ron's face went pale. "The diary? The one you were always writing in, Ginny?"

Ginny nodded while crying.

Ron's face turned from white to red, then from red to green. "I'm going to kill the bastard who sold it to you."

Harry looked toward Allen's hiding spot.

Allen didn't make a sound.

Fawkes spread its tail feathers, signaling for them to grab on. Ron supported Ginny with one hand and grabbed Gilderoy Lockhart's collar with the other. Lockhart was dragged over from the edge of the cave-in, his hair full of dust, still smiling.

"A wonderful place, did I ever write about it in my books? Of course, the book signing can be arranged here."

Ron said angrily, "Shut up, Professor!"

Lockhart nodded immediately. "Good idea, young man, keeping quiet is an art."

Harry was almost angered to the point of rolling his eyes.

Fawkes's tail feathers lit up, and they prepared to leave. Harry looked at Allen at the last moment.

"Will you come back?"

Allen stood in the Spatial Folding, his figure visible only to Harry.

"Depends on the situation."

"Is that an answer?"

"It counts."

"I'm still going to ask about that thing last year."

"You can ask."

"Will you answer?"

"Depends on my mood."

Harry gritted his teeth. "You really are the most annoying person I've ever met."

Allen looked at him. "Be annoying after you survive."

Fawkes shrieked, a swirl of fire engulfed them, and Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Gilderoy Lockhart disappeared from the Chamber of Secrets.

The water surface returned to silence.

Allen stepped out of the Spatial Folding.

He didn't leave immediately, but turned to look at the statue of Salazar. The gold pattern on the north side of the Portable Space was still attached to the outer seal of the Chamber of Secrets, like a remnant of an ancient contract. The voice of the family crest came from the depths.

[Chamber of Secrets high-risk source cleared. Eastern waterway monitoring verification complete. Branch key position record updated.]

Allen frowned. "Don't update the Castle's master file."

[Attempting isolation. Hogwarts living barrier has recorded partial fluctuations.]

"Delete it."

[Insufficient permission. Can be shifted.]

"Shift it."

The gold pattern contracted, and twelve knuts heated up simultaneously throughout the Chamber of Secrets. Allen dismantled the spatial traces of his appearance into three parts: one stuffed into the residue of the Parseltongue door opening, one into the fluctuations carried away by Fawkes's flames, and one pressed into the magical turbulence caused by Gilderoy Lockhart's Memory Charm.

"Let Dumbledore see a mess."

[Shifted.]

Inside the Portable Space, Peter was briefly un-silenced. He lay on the edge of the cage, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "You destroyed the master's Horcrux. You really destroyed it. The master will go mad, he will turn all the Death Eaters out to find you!"

Allen looked at him through the space. "You're very afraid?"

"Of course I'm afraid! You don't understand! The diary was one of the first things he split off; he values it very much!"

"That's why the value is high."

Peter was stunned. "What?"

"The more he values it, the more profitable it is to destroy it."

Peter's lips trembled, as if wanting to curse but not daring to.

The Void swam to the front of the cage, and with a stare from its silver eyes, Peter immediately shrank back.

Allen placed the diary remains on the other side of the ebony box, not letting it get close to the cracked pocket watch. The fang stone tube was sealed separately, and the Basilisk scales were also wrapped by the Spatial Thin Layer.

"Quite a harvest."

He counted them in a low voice. "Horcrux remains, Basilisk fangs, Chamber of Secrets outer key position verification, Tom's life extraction model, Lucius's leverage."

The cracked pocket watch pulsed with a soft blue light.

Allen looked at it. "You want it too?"

The pocket watch made no sound.

"Wait until third year."

He closed the entrance to the space, turned, and walked toward the stone door of the Chamber of Secrets. The Basilisk corpse lay across the water, and the statue of Salazar looked down in silence, as if witnessing a cleanup fifty years overdue.

Allen raised his wand, and a thin spatial slit opened.

Before leaving, he looked back at the spot where Ginny had fallen.

"Harry plays the hero, the Weasley Family pays the debt, Dumbledore gets reinstated, Lucius gets beaten."

He paused.

"I'm going to sleep."

In the next second, only the sound of water remained in the Chamber of Secrets.

At the same time, outside the Second Floor Girls Lavatory, Fawkes brought Harry and the others rushing out of the pipe. Ron dragged Gilderoy Lockhart and fell to the ground, Ginny was supported by Harry, and Myrtle flew into mid-air, screaming.

"It's you again! And you brought a living person back!"

Ron panted, "She was already a living person!"

When McGonagall and Snape arrived, Harry was supporting Ginny, holding the Gryffindor sword in his hand, with the black-covered diary remains pierced by a fang at his feet.

Snape's gaze fell on the diary first, then on Harry's face.

"Potter."

Harry's back tightened.

McGonagall stepped forward to support Ginny. "Miss Weasley needs the Hospital Wing. Immediately."

Snape stared at Harry. "Explain."

Harry looked at him, remembering Allen's words.

Cry, faint, don't explain too much.

Ginny was very cooperative. She looked up, saw the Professor, tears welled up, her body went limp, and she fainted directly into McGonagall's arms.

Ron screamed in fear.

Harry gripped his wand tightly, his mind filled only with Allen's warning.

Don't put my name in any sentence.

So he pointed to the diary.

"It's Tom Riddle."