140: Chapter 140 The Return of Blank

"You say there was silver light that helped you?"

Dumbledore sat behind the long table in the Headmasters Office, his voice gentle, but Harry gripped his blanket, the soot on his face still unwashed.

Fawkes perched on its golden stand, its gold and red feathers smoothed back into place. It glanced at Harry, then chirped softly at Dumbledore.

Harry pressed his forehead, "It was silver light. It blocked Tom, or maybe it blocked the spell, I can't tell."

McGonagall frowned, "Mr. Potter, you need to rest."

Snape stood by the fireplace, "You can't tell, yet you remember someone helped?"

Harry looked up, "I was just bitten by a Basilisk, and held at wandpoint by a sixteen-year-old Lord Voldemort. Do you want me to recite a full report?"

Ron nodded immediately, "And Gilderoy Lockhart brought the tunnel down, almost burying us."

In the corner, Gilderoy Lockhart held his teacup and smiled, "I'm skilled at ambushing, or being buried. Would you like an autograph?"

Snape's temple twitched. Dumbledore gave him a single look, then turned his gaze back to Harry.

"Before the silver light appeared, did you see anyone?"

Harry closed his eyes to recall: the sound of water, the Basilisk's corpse, Ginny lying on the ground, Tom raising his wand, the diary pierced by a fang, and then the silver light cutting in from the side.

Just as he caught that figure, it dissipated into the reflections on the water.

"I couldn't see clearly."

"What about a voice?"

"There was one, but I couldn't hear it clearly."

Snape spoke up, "The memory has been tampered with."

Ron stood up, "Who would dare tamper with Harry's memory?"

"Sit down, Weasley."

Ron tried to retort, but one look from McGonagall pressed him back into his chair.

Dumbledore picked up the remains of the black diary. The cover had been pierced by the Basilisk's fang; black ink was dried around the tear, and half of a silver-green mark was visible on the inside.

"This diary belongs to Tom Riddle."

Harry said immediately, "He said it himself. He is Lord Voldemort."

McGonagall's fingers tightened, "Merlin."

Snape stared at the remains, "Horcrux."

The Headmasters Office fell silent.

Harry caught the word, "What is a Horcrux?"

Dumbledore placed the diary back on the table, "A form of Dark Arts. You shouldn't touch it again."

"I've already touched it."

"Which is all the more reason to stop."

Harry clenched his back teeth. Another voice in his head had also told him to ask later, but he couldn't remember who it was.

This gap in his memory made him restless.

"Professor, I don't want to be kept in the dark anymore."

Dumbledore looked at him, his blue eyes behind his spectacles darkening, "I understand."

Snape let out a short, cold laugh.

Harry turned his head, "What are you laughing at?"

"I am not laughing."

Ron muttered, "You're more annoying than laughing."

McGonagall barked, "Mr. Weasley."

Ron shrank back into his chair.

Dumbledore turned to McGonagall, "How is Ginny?"

"Madam Pomfrey says her life force is severely depleted, but she will recover. After waking up, she only mentioned the diary, Tom, and the silver light."

"Silver light."

Dumbledore repeated the word, and Fawkes chirped softly.

He turned to look at the Phoenix, "You saw it, didn't you?"

Fawkes's feathers shifted slightly, and its cry circled the Headmasters Office.

Dumbledore closed his eyes to listen, and Harry immediately pressed, "What did it say?"

"Fear, Basilisk, diary, Ginny, Harry, Phoenix fire."

Snape stepped forward, "And a third party."

Fawkes chirped again.

Dumbledore did not respond.

Snape stared at him, "Albus, there are traces in the Chamber of Secrets that have been tampered with. Harry's residual magic is too thin, the break in Tom's Dark Arts is too clean, and the extraction lines on Ginny were severed. A second-year student couldn't do that."

Harry said immediately, "I didn't say I did all of it."

Ron panicked, "Harry!"

"I said there was silver light; I didn't try to take the credit."

Dumbledore raised a hand, "No one is accusing you, Harry."

Snape's gaze fell on Harry's forehead, "During the Philosopher's Stone incident last year, there were similar gaps."

Harry's head began to ache.

Last year, Quirrell, green light, silver light.

He gripped the armrest, his face turning pale.

Dumbledore said immediately, "Don't force yourself to remember."

Harry looked up, "Someone saved me, right? Last year too, you all knew?"

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore. Snape stood by the fireplace, his expression even worse.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, "There were indeed irregularities left behind last year."

Harry gave a grim smile, "Irregularities saved my life?"

No one answered.

Ron blurted out, "This school is deadly."

Hurried footsteps sounded outside. Madam Pomfrey entered with Arthur and Molly. Molly first hugged Ron, then grabbed Harry's shoulders.

"Where is Ginny? Harry, how could you go down there? Ron, why did you go too?"

Ron was squeezed until he couldn't breathe, "Mum, Ginny is in the Hospital Wing. She's alive."

Molly's tears fell, "As long as she's alive."

Arthur walked to the table and saw the half-mark on the back cover of the diary; his breath hitched.

"Malfoy."

Molly turned around, "Lucius Malfoy? Was it him who gave it to Ginny?"

Harry held up the remains, "At Flourish and Blotts, he touched Ginny's books when he was fighting with Mr. Weasley."

Ron added, "He grabbed Ginny's cauldron of old books!"

Dumbledore tapped the table, "This will be an important clue."

Molly was trembling with rage, "A clue? He almost killed my daughter!"

Arthur held her, "Molly, Ginny needs you."

Dumbledore continued, "Lucius will come. We must make him speak in the most uncomfortable position possible."

This sentence made Molly stop.

Green flames rose in the fireplace. Lucius Malfoy walked out, leaning on his cane, his blond hair neat, his face pale.

"Headmaster, I heard Miss Weasley has been found. As a member of the Board of Governors, I naturally must be concerned about Hogwarts' safety."

Molly started to rush forward, but was held back by Arthur.

Lucius saw the diary remains on the table, and his eyelids twitched.

"What is this?"

Harry picked up the remains, "The one you gave to Ginny."

Lucius looked at him, "Mr. Potter, accusations require evidence."

Harry flipped to the back cover, "Isn't this the Malfoy Family mark?"

Lucius stared at the half-M, his grip tightening on his cane.

"The Malfoy Family has collected many old books. Loss, resale, or forgery—all are possible."

Ron shouted angrily, "You shoved it into Ginny's cauldron!"

"The Weasley Family children always love to mistake chaos for evidence."

Molly broke free from Arthur and forced her way in front of Lucius, "Do you dare say another word about my children?"

Lucius stepped back half a step.

Dumbledore stood up, "Lucius, Hogwarts will submit a report to the Board of Governors. The diary contained a soul fragment of Tom Riddle. It controlled a student, opened the Chamber of Secrets, and released the Basilisk. The night you pushed for my removal, a student nearly died."

Lucius's face tightened, "I pushed for your removal because the school was out of control."

"The source of the loss of control flowed from your hand."

Lucius looked at the diary, at Fawkes, and then at the sword in Harry's hand. He finally understood that the situation had reversed.

Dumbledore was back, the Basilisk was dead, the diary was destroyed, and Ginny was alive.

He couldn't explain the diary.

"I will cooperate with the investigation."

Snape sneered, "Rare."

Lucius did not respond and turned toward the fireplace, but stopped before the green flames.

"Headmaster, who opened the Chamber of Secrets and who closed it—the report had better be clear."

Dumbledore replied, "Tom Riddle used Ginny Weasley to open the Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter killed the Basilisk, destroyed the diary, and saved Ginny."

Lucius looked at Harry, "The Chosen One always manages to arrive at the right time."

Harry looked up, "Better than someone who only knows how to shove dirty things into a little girl's books."

Ron whispered, "Well said."

Molly didn't stop him this time.

Lucius stepped into the green flames, leaving behind one sentence, "Headmaster, I hope you can always protect the students."

The green flames swallowed his figure.

The Headmasters Office was quiet again. The remains of the diary lay on the table. The half-Malfoy mark was enough to make Lucius pay a price, but not enough to send him to Azkaban.

The real problem was hidden on the other side.

Harry had gaps, Ginny only had the silver light, Fawkes chose silence, and the traces in the Chamber of Secrets had been churned into turbulence.

Dumbledore gazed toward the Black Lake, thinking of the silence the Sorting Hat had mentioned, the overly clean memories from afternoon tea, and the blank piece of parchment that had been burned and returned.

"That blank space again."

Snape continued, "Allen Potter."

Harry looked up, "Who?"

The moment the name entered his ears, a flash of silver light sparked in his mind, only to be washed away by the sound of water, leaving behind nothing but an angry urge to get to the bottom of it.

Dumbledore neither admitted nor denied it.

"Snape, you have an appointment with him tomorrow morning?"

"Nine o'clock."

"Don't scare the child."

Snape put away his wand, "If he really is a child, I will."

Fawkes chirped softly.

Dumbledore looked at the Phoenix, "Then let's start at nine o'clock and see which door he is willing to leave open for us."

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin dormitory.

Allen lay on his bed, his fingertips pressing against a knut under his pillow.

Draco sat beside him, "Dumbledore is back."

"Mm."

"Lucius went too."

"Normal."

"Snape is looking for you at nine tomorrow."

"I heard."

Draco stared at him, "Can you still sleep?"

Allen retracted the knut into his Portable Space. The tip of the void tail pressed against the diary page stone tube, and the cracked pocket watch was quietly sealed inside the ebony box.

"It's only troublesome if I can't sleep."

Nott sat on the edge of another bed, his fingertips touching his knee, "Tomorrow will be difficult."

Allen turned over, his back to them.

"It's they who will have it difficult."

Draco asked, "Why?"

"They have suspicions but no evidence, they have a Phoenix but no images, they have Harry but no memories, they have Ginny but only silver light."

Draco was silent for a moment, then cursed in a low voice, "You are truly terrifying."

Allen closed his eyes.

"Thank you."