136: Chapter 136 Washing Away the Shadow

"What are you going to do to Ginny?"

Harry supported Ginny, the sword in his hand still dripping. Just before he was about to be taken away by Fawkes, he had been intercepted by Allen using Spatial Displacement, nearly crashing back into the stone pillar.

Allen stood in front of him, his blackthorn wand pointing at Ginny's forehead.

"Let her go back alive."

Harry immediately raised his wand. "Don't touch her mind."

Ginny leaned against the stone pillar, her face frighteningly pale. Hearing the word 'mind,' her fingers gripped Harry's sleeve, tears hanging on her chin.

"Harry, I'm scared."

"I'm scared too." Harry gritted his teeth. "So he can't do anything reckless."

Allen looked at him. "Do you intend to let her go up with her memories intact? Tell McGonagall that there's a Potter cousin in the Chamber of Secrets who uses Spatial Magic, killed Tom, took the diary remains, and is planning to hide the Basilisk fangs?"

Harry felt a lump in his throat, and the tip of his sword dropped half an inch.

"I don't have to tell her."

"If you don't, she will. She's been under control for months; her memories will be severely fragmented when she wakes up. A couple of casual questions from a Professor, and she'll spill the most glaring parts."

Ginny's body shuddered. She looked down at her soaked school robes, her voice weak. "Will I get Mom and Dad killed?"

"Lucius will try." Allen crouched down, his wand tip an inch from her forehead. "So don't give him any extra knives."

Harry became anxious. "You always turn everything into a transaction."

"Because transactions are controllable."

"Are human lives controllable too?"

Allen didn't answer. He raised his hand, and five knuts slid from his sleeve, forming a semi-circle around the top of Ginny's head. The water surface vibrated slightly, and a thin silver layer spread from her forehead, pressing into the edges of her memories like a sheet of transparent paper.

Ginny gasped sharply, her eyes unfocused.

Harry lunged forward immediately but was blocked by a spatial wall.

"Allen!"

"Be quiet."

"You're telling me to be quiet? She just came back from Tom's hands!"

Fawkes stood on the Basilisk's corpse, tail feathers drooping, golden-red eyes fixed on Allen. The Phoenix let out a cry, the sound piercing through the water noise of the Chamber, striking directly at the eardrums.

Allen's hand paused for half a breath.

He looked at Fawkes. "I'm not cutting her memories. I'm just covering me up."

Fawkes tilted its head.

Hearing this, Harry felt even more suffocated. "You make it sound so easy. Did you do this to me last year too?"

Allen pressed his finger down, and the silver layer on Ginny's forehead slowly began to glow.

"You were awake last year. You saw too much."

"So you just washed it away?"

"You can't hide it."

Harry's eyes turned red. "By what right do you decide for me?"

Allen turned to look at him. "By the fact that you're still holding a sword and arguing with me. The Professor will be down soon, Ron is coming, and Ginny is about to collapse. If you can soothe Ginny, fool Snape, and block Dumbledore all at once, I won't intervene."

Harry opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

Ginny sobbed softly within the silver layer. "Don't let Mom be disappointed… Don't let Mom…"

Allen lowered his wand.

The spatial layer adhered to the outermost edge of Ginny's memories. All images in the Chamber of Secrets concerning Allen began to shift. The dark-haired boy walked out from the shadow of the stone pillar, wand suppressing Tom, the diary pierced by the fang, all outlines covered in silver light.

Only a shimmering brightness remained before Ginny's eyes.

Someone had saved her.

Someone had blocked Tom.

Someone had destroyed the diary.

But that face was swallowed by the silver light, and the voice was drowned out by the sound of the water. She would only remember Harry, Fawkes, the Basilisk, the fang, and a streak of silver light of unknown origin.

Harry watched as Ginny slowly closed her eyes, his chest heaving faster.

"Will it hurt her?"

"It's gentler than Tom."

"That's not an answer."

"It won't leave a scar."

Allen retrieved three knuts, leaving only two suspended beside Ginny's temples, pressing down on the final rift in her memory.

When Ginny opened her eyes, her gaze was blank for a moment.

"Harry?"

"I'm here."

"Just now… there was a light."

Harry looked at Allen, his jaw tightened. "What light?"

Ginny tried hard to recall, tears falling again. "Silver. It pushed Tom away. I couldn't see clearly."

Allen tucked the knuts into his sleeve. "Enough."

Harry supported Ginny. "Is it my turn?"

Allen raised his wand.

Harry stepped back half a step, holding his sword horizontally in front of him. "I won't let you do this easily."

"I don't intend to do it easily, either."

Fawkes cried out again, its wings flapping lightly against the Basilisk's scales, as if in warning.

Allen glanced at the Phoenix. "Do you want to watch too?"

Fawkes stood still.

Harry seized the opportunity. "It will tell Dumbledore."

"Phoenixes don't speak human language."

"Dumbledore can understand it!"

"It conveys emotions, not images." Allen stared at Fawkes. "Unless it wants to."

Fawkes blinked.

Harry felt a chill. "You even calculate the Phoenix?"

"I calculate risks."

"And what about me?"

"You're the biggest one."

Harry gripped the sword handle in anger. "Can you stop saying things that make me want to punch you?"

"No."

Allen raised his hand, and the Spatial Thin Layer descended toward Harry's forehead. Harry tried to dodge, but the air around his body was shifted by half an inch, and he stepped into thin air.

He stumbled, and his forehead was already tapped by a silver thread.

His memories were opened.

The blank space from the night of the Philosopher's Stone remained, like a piece of cloth that had been cut away. Allen in the Chamber of Secrets, the Killing Curse, the spatial wall, Tom's roar—all piled up in Harry's mind. Allen didn't crudely smooth them out; he only dismantled the points in time where he appeared.

Harry would remember that someone had helped.

He would remember silver light blocking the curse.

He would remember Tom showing fear.

But he wouldn't be able to see the face clearly, hear the complete voice, and the details of the Spatial Magic would turn into water light, Phoenix fire, and the chaotic reflections from the Basilisk's corpse.

Harry gritted his teeth sharply. "Stop!"

Allen didn't stop.

The first-year stone chamber flashed before Harry's eyes. Quirrell fell, the black mist fled, and the green Killing Curse struck someone's chest. That person looked back, seemingly saying something.

The image cracked.

Silver light covered it.

"Allen!"

The instant Harry roared the name, Allen pressed his finger down, and the final syllable was swallowed by the spatial layer. Harry's voice dissipated in the Chamber, leaving only ragged breathing.

Allen stepped back, his face turning a little paler.

"Don't resist. The more you resist, the uglier the gap."

Harry held his forehead, his vision blackening. "I hate you."

"Can you remember?"

Harry looked up, stunned.

He remembered being angry.

He remembered someone helping him in the Chamber of Secrets.

But that person's face seemed to be behind a layer of water. He was clearly right in front of him, but he couldn't match him with the silver light in his memories.

This feeling made him uncomfortable.

"You… what did you just do?"

"Keep you out of trouble."

"I will remember."

"As you wish."

Allen looked at Fawkes.

The Phoenix was still standing on the Basilisk's corpse, tail feathers drooping, its gaze fixed on Allen. It was unaffected by the spatial memory coverage. It had witnessed the whole process and clearly seen every technique used.

The Chamber of Secrets was silent for a few seconds.

Harry supported Ginny, his mind in a mess. He wanted to demand answers, but found he couldn't grasp the point. Every time he thought of Allen acting, the image slid toward the silver light.

Fawkes chirped softly.

Allen lowered his wand. "Seen enough?"

The Phoenix hopped off the Basilisk's corpse and walked two steps closer.

Harry instinctively blocked Ginny. "Fawkes?"

Fawkes didn't look at him, only at Allen.

Allen's wrist was steady, with unretrieved knuts still in his sleeve. If the Phoenix showed any intention to attack, the spatial wall would close immediately.

But Fawkes just tilted its head.

There was scrutiny and hesitation in its eyes.

Allen said in a low voice, "I saved your master's student."

Fawkes let out a cry.

"I destroyed a piece of Lord Voldemort's soul."

Another cry.

"I don't want to see Dumbledore."

The Phoenix's cry stopped.

Harry didn't understand, only feeling the atmosphere becoming more oppressive. He supported Ginny, his throat dry. "Are you negotiating with it?"

"Negotiating facts."

Fawkes spread its wings, the firelight illuminating the Chamber. It walked toward Harry, gently tugging at his robe hem with its beak, and looked at Ginny.

Allen put away the knuts. "Take them away."

Harry was still staring at him. "What about you?"

Allen looked at the entrance of the Chamber. "Cleaning up the tail."

"What tail?"

"You don't need to remember."

Harry's face looked even worse.

Fawkes extended its tail feathers. Harry supported Ginny; Ginny's fingers were still trembling. She looked at Allen, and as if unable to remember what he had just done, she spoke hesitantly.

"Thank you… silver light."

Harry's throat felt blocked.

Allen turned around. "You're welcome."

Before Fawkes flew up, it looked back at Allen.

That look held no promise.

And no denunciation.

Allen watched the Phoenix, his fingertips pressing against the last knut.

"Don't make me regret it."

The Phoenix let out a clear cry, and the firelight swept up Harry and Ginny, rising toward the top of the pipe.

Only the sound of water, the Basilisk's corpse, and the diary remains wrapped in the spatial seal remained in the Chamber.

Allen stood for two seconds, then raised his hand to wipe away the blood seeping from under his nose.

"Memory coverage is more troublesome than killing."

Inside the Portable Space, the Void Silver Eye lit up. Peter lay by the cage, his mouth sealed, able only to press his face against the bars, his eyes full of terror.

Allen looked at the pipe above.

Fawkes was unaffected.

Dumbledore would ask.

Snape would investigate.

Harry would be left with a piece of incomplete silver light.

"Still not clean enough."

He raised his wand and walked toward the water marks beside the Basilisk's corpse.