Chapter 126: The Lost Malfoy

"The behaviour of a fraud! A dirty scheme! A clumsy performance — the people of Hogwarts are nothing but swindlers, through and through."

In the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter furiously denounced Hogwarts for fakery, claiming they had intended to destroy the Chamber but in reality had only set off a few shoddy fireworks inside the castle.

As for why she was so angry that she, quite unusually, let loose a tirade in the paper, no one knew.

However, the amusing part was that Fred and George had hidden the fireworks the previous afternoon, and to give the show a perfect finale, they had placed the largest dragon firework on the southern tower.

That was the spot with the best view in all of Hogwarts — standing up there, one could take in the entire castle, making it the ideal place to set off the closing firework.

But a certain beetle thought the same thing, and it was perched right on top of the box used to hide the dragon firework.

So, when the thirty-foot-long dragon firework exploded above Hogwarts, that beetle was sent up along with it.

By the next morning, when someone claimed to have seen Rita Skeeter, the usually immaculate lady had become rather dishevelled.

For one thing, her clothes were off — at a glance nothing seemed wrong, but on closer inspection one would find that the outfit was actually torn, covered in many inconspicuous little holes, with uneven colouring.

It looked like a half-finished failure from a first-year practising the Mending Charm. Of course, it could also be that the clothes were simply too damaged for the charm to fully repair.

Rita Skeeter's face also looked smudged and blackened; her proud golden curls had been haphazardly tied up, the ends still trailing thin wisps of smoke and giving off a faint, acrid burnt smell.

Still, the article didn't cause much of a stir — in the paper it was tucked away in some inconspicuous corner of the third page.

Because the front page was occupied by the Ministry's Auror investigation results: they had determined that Gilderoy Lockhart had been attacked in Hogsmeade Village, having just come out of the Hog's Head.

"Maybe some thief was looking to make a big haul," said a villager of Hogwarts. "After all, that Professor Lockhart always smells of Galleons — he ought to have gone to the Three Broomsticks."

Since Lockhart had been attacked outside Hogwarts, talk of the Chamber and the like naturally became far less credible.

……

Meanwhile, Hogwarts had already resumed classes; everyone had returned to school after Christmas, and only Draco Malfoy had ended up back in the hospital wing once again.

When he was brought to the hospital wing, there was almost no colour left in his face; the boy was weak to the point of collapse.

"I hear you wanted to see me?"

Silven looked at the nervous-looking Malfoy on the sickbed. "Speak up — otherwise your father will be here soon."

Lucius Malfoy had come again; at this very moment he was probably in the headmaster's office throwing a fit.

"C-could you… not tell the headmaster…?" Malfoy said softly, looking at Silven.

"Which thing do you mean?" Silven laughed. "Ordering the Basilisk to kill me, or attacking Lockhart?"

"That was you too, wasn't it." Silven picked up a box of Chocolate Frogs from his bedside table, opened it, and very naturally slipped the card inside into his own pocket.

"After all, Lockhart sucked the bones right out of you — wanting revenge on him is perfectly normal… and Lockhart was attacked in Hogsmeade, when everyone else was in the school. Only you could have done it."

"I didn't!" Malfoy suddenly grew agitated and said loudly, "I was at St. Mungo's at the time — how could I possibly have run off to Hogsmeade?"

"Then how do you explain the words on his body?" Silven narrowed his eyes. "Only Tom Riddle knew about the Chamber, and you were the one with his diary."

"But I really was at St. Mungo's," Malfoy said. "The Healers there can all testify — I couldn't have snuck off to Hogsmeade without them knowing."

"You couldn't have run to Hogsmeade."

"Exactly," Malfoy nodded.

"In that case," Silven's tone shifted, "are you admitting you wanted the Basilisk to kill me?"

"I-I…" Malfoy's bravado deflated at once; he stared at Silven, stammering, unable to get a word out.

"You wanted to kill me, and you're asking me to keep it secret for you?"

"No, I didn't — I just wanted to teach Weasley a lesson," Malfoy said. "He hit me with the Slug-Vomiting Curse and made me the laughingstock of Slytherin. Even though no one showed it to my face, I know what they said behind my back.

"So I just wanted to teach him a lesson, make him pay."

"By 'pay,' you mean letting the Basilisk kill him?" Silven shot him a glance.

"Of course not — I never really wanted to kill him," Malfoy hurriedly explained. "I just wanted to teach him a lesson. Then Tom… that Riddle said he had a way to punish Weasley, and made me trust him."

"So you released the Basilisk?"

"I don't know," Malfoy said. "I only felt like I'd had a nap; when I woke up my clothes were all wet, but I really don't know what happened in between."

"Silven." Malfoy raised his head and took a deep breath. "If you keep this secret for me, I can give you a lot of Galleons."

"A very tempting offer," Silven shrugged. "Too bad you should have said so earlier — sorry, but I told the headmaster all of this half an hour ago."

Silven had never intended to hide what had happened the night before. Riddle's screams had gone on for so long that no single door could have blocked them out — someone was bound to have heard.

Even if no one had heard, there were still the ghosts and the portraits in the corridors; sooner or later one of them would have told Dumbledore.

So early that morning, Silven had found Professor McGonagall, asked her to take him to the headmaster's office, and told Dumbledore about the diary and Riddle's soul.

Of course, he had concealed the matter of the Horcrux Codex, saying only that once Riddle's soul had been fully extracted, the diary had turned to ash.

Dumbledore did not doubt this account; his expression was surprised, yet at the same time he felt this was only to be expected.

Silven still remembered what Dumbledore had said at the time.

"Truly astonishing — Tom Riddle should have been the most brilliant student I have ever known. Few people at his age, in their fifth year, could have mastered such a wealth of magical knowledge."

Afterwards Lucius arrived and, without a word of greeting, tried to throw Silven out of the headmaster's office.

Conveniently, Silven had also been worried that staying too long might let Dumbledore spot some flaw, so he took the opportunity and left.

After all, the Horcrux Codex bore the very words "Horcrux" on it — if Dumbledore found out, he would certainly confiscate it, and whether to hand it over or not would be a dilemma.

The same reason was why he had Harry keep quiet.

Silven told all this to Malfoy and watched the colour drain rapidly from his face into a shade of greyish white.

"I'm probably going to be expelled…" he muttered to himself, lying in bed.

Silven did not reply, and certainly did not offer any comfort; he turned and hurried out of the hospital wing.

Even if Malfoy had been controlled by Riddle and didn't know what he was doing, and hadn't ordered the Basilisk to attack him — the remarks he'd made a while back, stirring up the students and trying to get the school to expel him, surely couldn't have been Riddle controlling him either, could they?

Honestly, under the circumstances, Silven felt that getting him to the hospital wing and not adding insult to injury was already more than generous.

Better to let his father comfort him… though he wasn't sure whether Professor Dumbledore had told him who Tom Riddle was, or what that diary represented.

If Lucius found out, his expression was sure to be quite a sight.

……

(End of this chapter)