138: Chapter 138 Clean Evacuation

"Don't go toward the main shaft; Snape will come down to check."

Allen spoke into the knut in his cuff. That knut was connected to the anchor point at the foot of his bed in the Slytherin dormitory, capable of transmitting only very short messages.

The other end was silent for two seconds, then Draco's voice came through against the copper surface, "Are you still alive?"

"Cut the chatter."

"The Common Room is in chaos. Ginny Weasley has been found. The Professors are all on the second floor. Nott is guarding the door, and Pansy is making up a testimony that you were sleeping."

"What about Flint?"

"He's shouting about the Heir of Slytherin. Zabini told him to shut up; they almost started a fight."

"Let him shout. The more chaotic, the better."

Allen moved upward along the interlayer within the wall. Old pipes leaked water under his feet; before the water could reach his shoes, it was moved behind him by Spatial Displacement.

Arguments could be heard from Draco's end, "Where the hell are you?"

"Inside the wall."

"Can you speak like a normal person?"

"Not convenient."

"What about the diary?"

"It's a wreck."

The other end of the knut went silent.

A moment later, Draco spoke, "Is there any trace of the Malfoy Family?"

"Yes."

A sharp intake of breath came from the other side.

"My father is done for."

"He won't be. He'll get beaten, humiliated, play innocent, and then continue being Lucius."

Draco gritted his words out, "You make it sound so easy."

"It's a fact."

An abandoned iron gate blocked the way ahead. The rusted magical lock still bore old spell marks. Allen raised his wand, letting a Spatial Thin Layer slide past the lock cylinder. He was shifted to the other side of the gate without touching the lock or leaving any signs of tampering.

"Listen well. I'll be back in the Dungeon in twenty minutes. You need to do three things."

Draco immediately went quiet.

"First, everyone must see me sleeping in the corner. Second, no one is to enter the dormitory. Third, Nott must stay close to Snape."

Nott's voice cut in, "The Dungeon entrance won't be loose until Snape leaves the second floor. Where are you coming back from?"

"From inside the wall of the Second Floor Girls Lavatory, through the old drainage interlayer, turning toward the old fireplace near the Charms Class."

"That interlayer leads to underneath the Trophy Room, where Filch often walks."

"I will avoid him."

Pansy interjected, her voice strained, "Can you not crawl back past Filch? He just said he wants to hang all the Slytherins up and interrogate them."

Draco cursed, "He wouldn't dare?"

Allen cut them off, "Pansy, cry."

"What?"

"When Ginny Weasley is mentioned in the Common Room, say it's too horrible, you can't stand the sight of blood, and incidentally mention that I've been sleeping in the corner the whole time, too scared to wake up."

Pansy held back for two seconds, "Why would I cry?"

Nott answered quickly, "Because everyone remembers you're afraid of dirty water."

Pansy shouted angrily, "Nott!"

Draco urged her in a low voice, "Do as he says."

Allen cut the connection and continued moving up along the old pipes.

Outside the Second Floor Girls Lavatory, Myrtle was screaming.

"They come to my lavatory every time! First crying, then snakes, and now they're even bringing up unconscious girls!"

Professor McGonagall suppressed her anger, "Myrtle, please be quiet."

"I'm already dead, why can't I complain?"

Snape stood at the doorway, his robes motionless, but his magic swept over the sinks, the floor, and the spot where the diary wreckage had been.

Harry's voice came through intermittently, "The diary, Tom Riddle, he controlled Ginny, the Basilisk is down below."

Snape sneered, "You killed a thousand-year-old Basilisk all by yourself?"

Ron exploded on the spot, "He had a sword, and a Phoenix, didn't you see?"

"I see you covered in mud, Weasley."

McGonagall interrupted him, "Severus, take the children to the Hospital Wing first."

Allen leaned against the inside of the wall, waiting for Snape's detection wave to slide past.

The old bat would go down, but he wouldn't immediately catch the traces of the interlayer outside the real entrance. Allen had already stuffed most of the fluctuations into the Phoenix fire, and the rest were pressed into the old waterway wards. Snape could see a tangled mess, but he couldn't grab the thread.

"Move."

Allen moved upward along the interlayer. Every time he passed a wet spot, he wiped his own magic into the water flow. His soles never touched the stone surface; his body was suspended within the Spatial Thin Layer.

Near the old fireplace on the second floor, the portraits were complaining about how noisy the night was.

"First a cat, then a snake, and now the Professors are running all over the Castle."

"I saw Potter holding a sword."

"Which Potter?"

"The Chosen One."

"And the other one?"

Allen paused for half a breath.

Another portrait hummed, "The Slytherin one? Isn't he always sleeping?"

"That's right, a sleeping child is less trouble than a child holding a sword."

Allen continued forward.

Underneath the Trophy Room, Filch's footsteps dragged across the stone tiles. Since Madam Norris was petrified, his walk was heavier than before.

"They should all be in detention, all of them."

Allen slid along the crossbeam inside the wall, flicking a knut from his cuff, which landed in the corridor at the other end.

Filch turned and roared, "Who's there?"

He chased after it.

Allen passed through the maintenance hatch from the opposite direction, entered the wall crack on the Third Floor, and then slid down from the thin layer behind the moving staircase without opening any doors.

In his Portable Space, the family crest reported the count.

"No footprints, identifiable magic residue low, six spatial anchor points pending retrieval."

Allen said, "Locations."

"One in the main hall of the Chamber of Secrets, one in the Basilisk's head, one in the collapsed tunnel, one inside the wall of the Girls Lavatory, one in the old fireplace, and one underneath the Trophy Room."

"Retrieve the outer ones first."

The knut in the old fireplace turned into a silver dot and returned to his sleeve along the spatial line. The one in the Trophy Room was also retrieved when Filch turned around. The one inside the wall of the Girls Lavatory was the most dangerous; Snape was still nearby.

Allen stopped outside the side wall of the second floor.

Snape had walked to the sinks, his wand tip pointing at the faucet engraved with a small snake.

"Opening it isn't a normal mechanism."

Harry said in a low voice, "I spoke Parseltongue."

Snape stared at him, "Only you?"

Harry paused.

Allen, inside the wall, watched him.

The memory overwrite had taken effect. Harry remembered the silver light, but as soon as he tried to say Allen's name, the image slid toward the water surface and the Phoenix fire; he couldn't grasp that face.

"I, I said it."

Snape narrowed his eyes, "You hesitated."

Ron immediately cut in, "He just survived the snake's mouth, anyone would hesitate!"

McGonagall said coldly, "Severus, that's enough."

Allen took advantage of this argument to retrieve the knut inside the wall. Snape's magic swept over, but only encountered the spatial remnants burned by the Phoenix fire.

Snape paused, "Strange."

McGonagall asked, "What?"

"There is magic here that has been burned."

Fawkes called out from the windowsill. Snape turned to look at it. The Phoenix preened its feathers and didn't speak again.

Allen left silently.

The three anchor points in the Chamber of Secrets couldn't be retrieved for now. The main hall and the Basilisk's head were already within the Professors' investigation range. Forcing retrieval would expose him. He put the anchor points into a dormant state, leaving them for later cleanup.

Myrtle suddenly poked her head through the wall.

"Huh?"

Allen pressed into a Spatial Folding.

Myrtle hovered in mid-air, staring at the wall, "Something just slid past."

Filch yelled from the distance, "Who's there?"

Myrtle rolled her eyes, "You can't catch ghosts anyway."

Allen slid past half a foot behind her, entering deeper into the outer wall.

He didn't like ghosts; ghosts weren't blocked by walls, and their perception was weird—trickier than portraits and more troublesome than students.

Ten minutes later, Allen appeared in the drainage crack above the Slytherin Dungeon corridor. The Common Room entrance was not far away, and two senior students were arguing outside the door.

Pucey shouted, "The Heir of Slytherin must be in our house."

Zabini replied coldly, "Shut up. The Professors just took Ginny Weasley away, do you want Slytherin to be searched?"

"What are you afraid of? Pure-bloods should stand up."

"If you want to stand up, go to the second floor yourself."

Pucey cursed but didn't actually leave.

Allen bypassed them and slid toward the dormitory.

At the door, Crabbe and Goyle blocked it like two walls.

Crabbe, clutching a pumpkin pasty, said, "Draco said no one can enter."

A second-year student frowned, "Who's inside?"

Goyle thought about it, "Allen."

Crabbe added, "Always sleeping."

"Is that all you can say?"

Goyle nodded seriously, "It's enough."

Allen passed through the wall behind them and entered the dormitory.

On the bed, the decoy was curled up in the blanket, facing away. Draco sat at the table, clutching a quill, but hadn't written a single word. Nott leaned against the window sill, his fingers resting on the wooden frame.

Allen dispelled the decoy, and his body landed back by the bed.

Draco stood up, "You're finally back."

Nott glanced at the clock, "You're twenty-seven minutes late."

"Acceptable."

Draco threw the pen onto the table, "Acceptable? It's a mess out there. Ginny Weasley is unconscious, Potter has a sword, and Snape wants to cut the Castle open."

"That's why you need to be steadier."

Allen took off his robe, which was wet at the corner, and threw it into the Spatial Thin Layer. The Basilisk fang, the stone pipe, the diary scraps, and the scales were all sealed separately.

Nott looked at his cuff, "Did you get it?"

"I got it."

Draco said with a stiff face, "Is there my father's mark?"

"Enough to make Dumbledore suspicious, not enough for the Ministry of Magic to convict him."

Draco sat back in his chair, the nib of his pen piercing the parchment, "He'll say it was stolen."

"He will."

"Did you calculate this early on?"

"Lucius will only put himself in a position where he can retreat."

Draco cursed under his breath.

Nott looked toward the door, "Pansy is already crying. She said you were so scared you slept like the dead in the corner. Flint called her useless, and she cried even louder; the whole Common Room heard it."

Allen nodded, "Very good."

Draco glared at him, "Do you have a misunderstanding of what 'very good' means?"

"As long as someone remembers, that's enough."

Goyle's voice came from outside the door, "You can't come in."

Immediately after, Snape's voice pressed in from the corridor.

"Move aside."

The dormitory went quiet.

Allen took the knut into his palm, lay back on the bed, and closed his eyes.

"Begin."