139: Chapter 139 Closed Loop

"Move, or I'll have you learn what 'too narrow' means in the Hospital Wing."

Snape's voice cut through the door panel. Crabbe and Goyle retreated half a step simultaneously; no matter how much they could block a door, no one dared block the Dean.

Draco stood up, his quill still stained with ink, looking first at the corner of the bed.

Allen had already curled into the quilt, breathing slowed, eyelashes lowered, appearing as if he had just been woken up.

Nott stopped tapping the window sill and whispered a reminder: "Stick to the original story."

Draco gritted his teeth: "I know."

The door was pushed open. Snape's black robes carried the dampness of the second floor, followed by Flint and two upperclassmen, clearly brought over from the Common Room.

"Malfoy."

"Dean."

Snape stepped past him and looked toward the bed in the corner: "Where is Potter?"

Draco turned to the side: "Sleeping."

Flint sneered: "The Chamber of Secrets incident just happened, and he's sleeping quite soundly."

Draco looked back: "You were shouting about the Heir of Slytherin in the Common Room just now, you were quite sound yourself."

Flint's face darkened: "Little Malfoy, don't try to pressure me with your father."

"Did I mention my father?"

Zabini leaned against the doorframe: "Flint, the whole floor heard you shouting about pureblood cleansing; you should be questioned more than Potter."

Snape barked: "Shut up."

The room fell silent.

Snape walked to the bedside. He didn't lift the quilt, just tapped the bedpost with the tip of his wand.

"If you're awake, open your eyes."

Allen opened his eyes, sleepiness heavy in his gaze. His line of sight swept over the group, finally resting on Snape's face.

"Professor?"

"Where were you when the incident happened on the second floor?"

"Here."

"Who can prove it?"

Draco spoke up immediately: "I can."

Nott followed: "I can too."

Outside the door, Pansy shouted with a crying tone: "I can too! He's been sleeping in the corner the whole time. I even said he wouldn't wake up even if he was scared to death."

Flint scoffed: "You're crying so hard the walls are almost collapsing."

Pansy immediately countered: "So what if I'm crying? If you're not afraid of the Basilisk, you go to the second floor!"

A few stifled laughs came from outside.

Snape turned back, and the hallway went quiet immediately.

He stared at Allen again: "From after dinner until now?"

Draco answered first: "He wasn't feeling well after dinner. After returning to the Common Room, he sat by the window overlooking the Black Lake and slept. When the news of the Ginny Weasley disappearance came, the Dean locked the Dungeon, and we were all present."

Nott added: "At nine-twenty, Pansy mentioned Allen was sleeping too soundly. At nine-forty, Flint and Adrian Pucey were arguing, Goyle was blocking the dormitory door, and after ten, Crabbe was sitting in his original spot eating."

Crabbe nodded: "I ate three pieces."

Goyle corrected: "Four pieces."

Snape's expression darkened further.

Zabini spread his hands: "They are more accurate at counting food than counting Charms."

Draco lowered his head and coughed.

Snape looked at Allen, his wand raised half an inch.

"Potter, what did you hear?"

Allen leaned against the pillow, his voice carrying the dryness of someone just waking up: "The Common Room was noisy. Someone was shouting about the Heir of Slytherin, someone was crying, and someone said Ginny Weasley was dead."

Flint immediately interjected: "I didn't say she was dead!"

Pansy shouted from outside: "You said 'corpse', I heard it!"

"That was written on the wall!"

"You shouted the loudest!"

Snape turned: "Enough."

Flint shut his mouth, his expression ugly.

Snape looked back at Allen: "You didn't leave the dormitory?"

"No."

"Why are your shoes wet?"

The quill in Draco's hand stopped.

Nott's fingertip, which had been tapping the window sill, also stopped.

Allen looked down. There were faint water marks on the edges of his shoes, remnants from returning to the dormitory through the hidden passage, which he had already replaced with the dampness of the Black Lake and the cold water from the Dungeon's stone crevices.

"The window by the Black Lake in the Common Room leaks. When Pansy was crying, she even said the carpet was wet."

Pansy immediately picked up: "It is wet, my shoes are wet too. The Dungeon is damp to begin with!"

Zabini added a sentence: "If the Professor is willing to apply for maintenance funds, Slytherin would be grateful to you."

Snape looked at him.

Zabini raised his hands and shut his mouth.

Snape swept the tip of his wand across the edge of Allen's shoes. The detection spell only read the moisture of the Black Lake; there was no residue from the second-floor bathroom, nor any Basilisk blood.

The answer was blindingly clean.

Snape retracted his wand: "Potter, you always manage to avoid trouble."

Allen rubbed his temples: "I sleep a lot."

Flint mocked: "Is sleeping considered a skill?"

Allen looked at him: "It's safer than stealing Potion ingredients."

The room went quiet.

Pansy let out a half-laugh outside, then continued to pretend to cry.

Flint's face flushed red: "You..."

Snape raised his hand to cut him off: "Flint, two weeks of detention for spreading dangerous remarks at night and interfering with the investigation."

"Professor!"

"Get out."

Flint retreated with the two upperclassmen. The students at the door moved aside; no one spoke up for him.

Snape continued to look at Allen: "Come to my office tomorrow morning."

Draco said anxiously: "Professor, everyone has to be questioned tomorrow, Allen he..."

"Malfoy, I am speaking to Potter."

Draco bit back the second half of his sentence.

Allen closed his eyes: "What time?"

"Nine o'clock."

"I might sleep through it."

Snape's gaze bore down: "Then I will come to wake you personally."

"Fine."

The black robes swept across the doorframe, and the students in the corridor dispersed rapidly.

After the footsteps faded away, someone in the dormitory finally breathed.

Draco closed the door: "Are you crazy? You dared to mention Flint stealing ingredients?"

"Diversion."

"You almost provoked Snape."

"He was already investigating me."

Zabini entered the room and latched the door: "They believed it outside. Pansy cried convincingly enough, Flint was stupid enough, and Crabbe ate steadily enough."

Crabbe asked from outside the door in a muffled voice: "Can I come in?"

Draco looked back: "No."

Goyle asked: "What about me?"

"Not either."

Nott sat at the table: "The timeline is closed. Snape can only suspect, he can't get evidence. Over on the second floor, Harry's narrative has already taken shape: diary, Basilisk, Riddle, Ginny."

Allen sat up and took a knut from his sleeve. The copper surface had black marks on it, and the snake shadow extending from his Portable Space pressed down on the tail end.

Draco's expression sank: "Diary fragment?"

"Remnant."

Allen opened a corner of his Portable Space.

The ebony box was kept far away, the cracked pocket watch was sealed within seven layers of anchor points, and on the other side, the diary fragment was sealed in a stone tube, next to a Basilisk fang fragment and scales.

The void coiled outside the stone tube, its tail tip pressing down on the parchment that wrote the diary, its silver eyes staring at the seal ring.

Peter huddled in the corner of the cage, his mouth sealed, hands clutching his head.

Draco approached and then stopped: "Where is my father's mark?"

Allen used his space to lift the fragment and turned it to the inside of the back cover.

Within the shallow marks corroded by venom, only half of the silver-green 'M' remained, but it was glaring enough.

Draco's Adam's apple bobbed: "He stuffed the master's Horcrux into a little girl."

Nott raised his eyes: "You used the word 'master'."

Draco turned his head: "I didn't mean it that way."

Zabini looked at the fragment: "Your father used to."

The room sank into silence.

Allen took back the fragment: "Lucius will say he didn't know, define the diary as an old Dark Arts object, and then say it was swapped by someone during the conflict at Flourish and Blotts. He won't admit it."

Draco asked in a low voice: "Will Dumbledore believe it?"

"No, but Dumbledore needs him alive. The Malfoy Family is still on the Board of Governors, and the pureblood circle needs to be stable. At most, he'll be forced to give up his board seat, donate money, and bow his head."

Zabini clicked his tongue lightly: "The punishment for adults is truly decent."

Nott asked: "Do you intend to hand over the evidence?"

"Not all of it."

"Which part are you handing over?"

"Let Harry take the diary remains, let Dumbledore see the Malfoy traces. I'll keep one fang, leave a bit of Basilisk scale, and keep a sample of the Horcrux residue."

Draco stared at him: "Will Harry talk about you?"

"No."

"Did you tamper with his memory?"

Allen did not deny it.

Draco felt a chill down his back: "You even tampered with him?"

"Necessary."

Nott's hand, which had been tapping the window, stopped: "What about Ginny?"

"Silver light."

Zabini understood immediately: "She only remembers someone helping, she can't see you clearly."

Pansy pushed the door and came in, her eyes red and makeup smudged. She had just heard the second half and closed the door behind her.

"I cried until I was almost out of breath, and you guys are here talking about memory magic?"

Draco looked at her: "The effect was good."

Pansy glared at him: "You cry next time."

Allen looked at her: "Hard work."

Pansy's anger got stuck, and she turned her head away: "Don't think a 'hard work' is enough. I was almost called a coward by Flint."

"He got two weeks of detention added."

Pansy turned back immediately: "Really?"

"Snape just added it."

She wiped away her tears: "That's alright then."

Nott spoke up: "Dumbledore returns tomorrow, Fawkes will be by his side. The biggest problem isn't Snape, it's the Phoenix."

Allen put away the knut: "I've talked to it."

Draco almost snapped his quill: "You talked to the Phoenix?"

Pansy was also stunned: "Can it understand?"

"Better than Crabbe."

Outside the door, Crabbe said aggrievedly: "I heard that."

Goyle added: "I heard it too."

Zabini laughed: "It seems everyone is awake tonight, except for Allen."

Draco looked at the phantom shadow on the bed, then at Allen, who was truly sitting at the table: "You can't hold on anymore."

Allen's face was pale, his eyelids already drooping.

Continuously entering the Chamber of Secrets, destroying the Horcrux, altering memories, clearing traces—his body had reached its limit.

"Wake me in half an hour."

Draco frowned: "Why?"

"Dumbledore might come back overnight."

"Then you should sleep even more."

"I need to seal the fragment first."

Allen summoned the void. The black snake's tail tip landed on the stone tube, its silver eyes tightened, the three-layered space thin walls closed, and an extra gray seal ring appeared outside the stone tube.

[Horcrux residue sealing complete. Probability of contamination leakage reduced.]

Allen fell back onto the bed, leaving one last sentence before closing his eyes.

"Tomorrow, don't let anyone touch my pillow."

Draco looked under the pillow.

There, a cold knut was hidden, pressing down on the starting point of the entire alibi.