Chapter 357: A Hundred Secrets, One Slip

"So, your and Snape's plan is that someone needs to rush into the Ministry of Magic to kill Nagini, and you recommended me as the candidate?" Neville pursed his lips, but Harry could see the corners of his mouth were turned upward.

"That's right, Snape agreed." Harry recalled the scene of his conversation with Snape just now, telling him his plan. "He trusts your ability very much, and he had this intention anyway; it was he who suggested Arnold arrange for you to intern at the Department of Mysteries."

"Then what about you? Will you go with me?" Neville asked.

"Yes, Luo En and I, we'll go together." Harry said. "We'll act next Friday afternoon; Snape still needs some time to contact other allies, and Friday after work happens to be when the Ministry of Magic is most relaxed."

"The three of us, going to the Ministry of Magic..." Neville stroked his chin. "This is a covert operation, not a frontal assault, right?"

"Right, and it's a very covert operation, so covert that I can't even tell Zhang Qiu." Harry lowered his voice. "After we break in, we only have twenty minutes; twenty minutes later, Snape will arrive with a large number of officials."

"Sounds quite generous." Neville calculated. "We might not really be able to beat Nagini head-on, so I'm prepared to use the Time-Ascension Charm to kill it. And if that's the case, we might only need three minutes to finish it off."

"Then for the remaining time, we can go find that weapon." Neville glanced at Harry. "With your help, perhaps there's more certainty."

"Everything is negotiable, but the most important thing is still Nagini." Harry said. "Ordinary methods might not be able to kill it, because Voldemort made it into a Horcrux."

"Won't the Sword of Gryffindor work?" Neville asked.

"I'm afraid not; things that can destroy Horcruxes are few and far between. What we can obtain is either basilisk fangs or Fiendfyre." Harry explained.

"Fiendfyre!" Luo En couldn't help but exclaim. "We'll burn down the entire Ministry of Magic!"

"And we must keep the body intact." Harry pointed to the ground. "The best way is to take advantage of when it opens its mouth, you cast the Time-Ascension Charm, and then use a basilisk fang to stab into its mouth."

"But, Nagini itself is a snake; what if it has resistance to snake venom?" Neville pondered.

"If that doesn't work," Luo En pointed to the bronze box on top of Harry's cabinet, "can we use the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"The Seven Deadly Sins?"

"These alchemical swords were forged with Fiendfyre; they also possess the ability to destroy Horcruxes. Tang Tang Nade specifically told me last time." Luo En said somewhat proudly.

"That's not right either; do you all remember that painting? I'm worried that just like in the painting, after Neville cuts off its head, it will turn into fly ash." Harry said helplessly.

"We have to leave the complete body, right?" Neville also showed a distressed expression. "How about I try with the Sword of Gryffindor first."

"But that can't destroy the Horcrux." Luo En said.

"Right, I'm just thinking, does not being able to destroy the Horcrux mean I can't cut through its skin at all, or that even if I cut off its head, it still won't die?" Neville counted on his fingers. "Or, does the Horcrux not care about the life or death of the attachment, and I can kill Nagini by decapitation, while the nature of the Horcrux keeps its body intact?"

If the Horcrux isn't destroyed, will it affect that Grindelwald spell? Harry only felt a headache at this moment; this Horcrux had become the one slip in his plan.

"Perhaps we can experiment; let's try everything." Neville suddenly said. "Is there a ready-made Horcrux, and preferably one that is also a living thing?"

Harry almost said, how about you cut me to try.

"Eh! The diadem!" Luo En suddenly slapped his head. "If we can find some way to destroy the Horcrux while retaining the diadem's original function, wouldn't that be enough?"

"Oh, how did you think of that?" Harry was stunned for a moment.

"Tang Tang Nade told me; he said the Order of the Phoenix knew about it long ago. Did none of you mention it?" Luo En blinked. "The diadem should still be in that place in the Room of Requirement where things are hidden."

"Let's try tomorrow; it's too late today." Harry glanced at his watch. "Anyway, we've finished the exams, and there's plenty of time next."

The three stopped talking and collapsed onto their beds to prepare for sleep. Harry was somewhat uneasy; the reason he suggested finding it tomorrow was that if they had no way to deal with the diadem, they wouldn't be able to sleep at all tonight.

The next day, all the fifth-year students in the castle were celebrating, and when Harry, Luo En, and Neville went down to the Chamber of Secrets, they found Zhang Qiu was actually there too.

"Prototype cartridge..." She was rummaging through that large TV cabinet, muttering Chinese that Harry couldn't understand.

"Oh, Harry, are you here to find me?" She hid a game cartridge behind her back, her face flushed.

"No, we're here to find the basilisk." Neville shrugged, then walked toward the giant basilisk corpse.

"What are you looking for it for?" Zhang Qiu was stunned for a moment, then reacted. "Is it for the Horcrux?"

"That's right," Harry said. "We're wondering if there's a way to destroy the Horcrux while retaining the original function of the item; or conversely, to make the original item lose its function, but the Horcrux remains intact?"

"That's not difficult; the Killing Curse will do." Zhang Qiu said very naturally.

Neville's footsteps toward the basilisk paused. He turned his head back, and the four of them looked at each other.

"Can this work?" Harry asked cautiously. "There's no theory that the Killing Curse can destroy a Horcrux..."

"But there is practical proof, or rather, uh, anyway, it just works." Zhang Qiu said. "In short, if you want to get rid of your scar, you can go find my master; he would be happy to do this favor."

"If we use the Killing Curse on the diadem," Neville said, "the diadem itself cannot be killed, so we can clear the Horcrux on it?"

"Perhaps your strength might be a bit off." Zhang Qiu shrugged. "However, if you want to use the diadem, you don't have to wear it; you just need to cast an Inspiration Charm on yourself."

"Anyway, thank you." Neville glanced at Luo En. "Let's go try with the diadem first."

"Then," Harry looked at the others in turn, "I'll help you find things here; what item is missing?"

"Chronicles..." Zhang Qiu said casually. "No, it's not important, just a game cartridge. You go busy yourself with serious business."

Harry turned and left somewhat embarrassedly.

On the stairs, Neville said in a low, serious voice: "Zhang Qiu said our strength might not be enough; this is true, none of us have used the Killing Curse."

"Uh, the Killing Curse requires harboring murderous intent; I think for Voldemort, we can still do it." Harry took a deep breath. "Think about it, he killed my parents; I've been wishing for him to die anyway."

Neville looked at him somewhat complicatedly, then said somewhat distressed: "But my grudge with him, eh, strictly speaking, I actually have a grudge against the Death Eater group as a whole. I think Voldemort was just pushed out by coincidence, a crazy terrorist."

"Find the diadem first, and then you both try." Luo En muttered. "Tang Tang Nade told me it was placed on top of a large cabinet, a blistered large cabinet, and then there was a bust of an old man covered in pockmarks, and the diadem was worn on the forehead of that plaster bust."

When they actually walked into that room, they found it was as large as a church, and the things hidden there by generations of students formed towering walls, forming a sharp contrast with the empty secret room.

"It's really something that Tang Tang Nade could think of hiding it in this pile of trash," Luo En passed a troll specimen, "let alone Voldemort not finding it, I can't find it either."

"You said it backward." Harry remembered that when Lu Na first found the diadem, it was in this room. "It was Voldemort who hid it here, and it's really something that Tang Tang Nade could find it."

"Let's split up and look." Neville suggested.

They separated along the nearby passages, and Harry heard the footsteps of his two companions echoing in the towering pile of trash: bottles, hats, boxes, chairs, books, weapons, brooms, baseball bats...

Harry walked deeper and deeper into the maze, trying hard to recall the position where the TARDIS had brought him last time, when suddenly he saw something familiar: a pair of rusty shackles lying in an open broken box. Memories flooded back, and Harry looked at the ground to the right; a square, TARDIS-visited trace immediately came into view.

He groped his way toward the direction where he last saw Lu Na, and when he walked past the third corner, he immediately saw a blistered cabinet, and on top of the cabinet, a male wizard bust was wearing a gray, dusty old wig and something like an ancient, faded crown.

As Harry approached it, he called Luo En and Neville over loudly. He carefully hugged the bust and placed it on the ground—he could feel his scar acting up, and there was an urge to put on the diadem.

"Ah, let's give it a try." Neville pulled out his wand somewhat nervously, Harry also pulled out his, while Luo En retreated to the side.

"We're going to cast a Killing Curse to kill Voldemort's soul fragment." Harry took a deep breath, and Neville also gripped his wand tightly.

"Yes, the spell is, we all know the spell; we must ensure the wand tip is aimed at the plaster bust." Neville swallowed. "Who goes first?"

Harry tried to brew murderous intent in his heart, but this wasn't easy; he had to clearly know that he was going to kill someone, even if it was only one-seventh of a person, even if that was the Voldemort he hated most—Harry felt his lips go dry, his palms were full of sweat, and he couldn't quite bring himself to say it. ===== CHAPTER 358 =====