Chapter 76

"Let's reconsider this matter." Ma Erfu said, "Obviously, the opener of the Chamber of Secrets isn't simply to clear out Muggle-borns; Hermione Granger has been living just fine. Then, looking at it from a higher level, what is the significance of the Chamber of Secrets event happening at Hogwarts? Perhaps we shouldn't just consider who opened the Chamber of Secrets, but also who is going to resolve the Chamber of Secrets event. And behind all this, does it contain more games?"

"I think." Pan Xi said, "What's happening around the Chamber of Secrets should be the game of the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors hopes to use the Chamber of Secrets event to reduce Deng Buliduo's prestige, and Deng Buliduo is betting that Harry can help him resolve this matter. As long as Harry can grow up, I believe Deng Buliduo might not mind reducing his own presence a bit."

"Excuse me, I really can't help but want to interrupt." Jin Ni said, "I want to know what these power and prestige things actually mean?"

"Then let me explain it to you." Cui Ge said, "Currently, there are three forces in the British Wizarding World: the Ministry of Magic, the Death Eaters, and the Order of the Phoenix. Among them, the Ministry of Magic is absolutely neutral; they are only responsible for maintaining order on the surface and maintaining the Statute of Secrecy so it isn't broken. The Death Eaters represent the political demands of pure-blood wizards, and the leader is the Dark Lord who was once very popular; while the Order of the Phoenix is a social group led by Deng Buliduo that opposes the Death Eaters."

What he said was actually not wrong, Harry thought to himself, because Cui Ge might be observing this British situation from the perspective of an American. He didn't use simple good and evil values to measure it, but objectively described the status quo.

"But at the same time, Deng Buliduo is a very special person." Cui Ge continued, "He has considerable influence and has gained many honors since serving as Headmaster of Hogwarts. And when a person's personal influence exceeds that of the entire government, social order is bound to have some chaos. So, as of now, the Ministry of Magic should be slightly biased toward the Death Eaters; they hope to reduce Deng Buliduo's influence."

Makes sense. Harry immediately thought of Stalin's deeds. Analogously, perhaps Deng Buliduo himself wouldn't do anything he shouldn't, but his disciples would unconsciously look down on the Ministry of Magic.

Just like now, Harry reflected. No matter how much he is paid attention to by Deng Buliduo, and no matter how important the fate of defeating the Dark Lord is, to Crabbe and Gao Er, what he is doing is wrong. If their friends, even Ma Erfu, knew that Crabbe and Gao Er were currently unconscious in a cold cupboard, perhaps they would also feel heartache and worry for them.

"Then, I think we can even predict the future development." Cui Ge said, "Now it should be the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors negotiating. If the current two attacks cannot pull Deng Buliduo down from the Headmaster position, or if Deng Buliduo is unwilling to compromise, there will be subsequent attacks. And what Deng Buliduo is betting on is that Harry, or some other student he values, can crack the way they carry out the attacks, or even directly kill the monster in the Chamber of Secrets, ending this matter."

"If that's the case, I remember Ma Erfu, your father is a member of the Board of Governors." Lu Na said, "Then this diary does indeed have some problems. By comparison, Harry's suspicion is much smaller."

"With all due respect, he has only been in office for a few years." Ma Erfu explained, "And as I said, I don't know if he has any plans, but I don't want to see the Chamber of Secrets make the students panic. Isn't organizing this meeting to find out who used the diary to do bad things?"

"Alright, then let's assume the opener of the Chamber of Secrets is among us." Lu Na said, "Keeping the possibility of Haige causing an accident or Harry directing and acting it out, next I suggest we carefully analyze the previous rounds of speeches and investigations to see if anyone is deliberately confusing the public. For example, Jin Ni has been insisting that Zhang Qiu is very likely the opener of the Chamber of Secrets, but she shouldn't have any motive to open the Chamber of Secrets."

"I don't insist that Zhang Qiu opened the Chamber of Secrets; I just think it's very likely she planned the attack." Jin Ni said, "And the motive for the attack is also obvious: it's acting on her own to do good for Harry. I have always insisted on saying this because there is no obvious evidence to prove that things aren't like this. Instead, it's Cui Ge, who first said the planner of the attack was related to the Soviets, and the second time said the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was some Gorgon. I think he is the one who has been confusing the public."

"I actually think Cui Ge might not be deliberately confusing the public." Yi Fu said, "Cui Ge is an American who grew up in Yingzhou; perhaps his thinking is more open and active than ours, so he can think of some different possibilities. Although it seems unlikely that the Soviets are involved now, there is no clear evidence to prove the monster in the Chamber of Secrets isn't a Gorgon. I think reasonable speculation is normal, as long as it can be adjusted in time. Instead, it's Crabbe and Gao Er, you two basically haven't said any useful information, which makes me very suspicious if you are afraid of letting something slip, so you don't dare to speak."

"Please understand, Ms. Crowley." Neville, playing Crabbe, spoke. He seemed to have entered the role and performed quite well, "We aren't as smart as you, and it's not what we want to see that the results of the investigation are useless. In fact, the information we found couldn't help everyone, which has already made me very sad. Please don't blame me for this anymore."

"Yeah, and it's not completely useless." Harry knew Neville hadn't attended previous meetings, so to avoid exposing himself, he took over the conversation, "At least we found Marvolo Gaunt. If we hadn't found this name, we wouldn't have been able to confirm that Tang Mu is Slytherin's heir."

"Is there a possibility, I mean, that the two attacks weren't done by the same person." Ma Erfu said, "We always focus on the opener of the Chamber of Secrets, but in fact, for the Board of Governors, they just need to make Hogwarts look unsafe; they don't necessarily need to open the Chamber of Secrets."

"And for Deng Buliduo, he just needs to define the attack event as something that can be solved." Pan Xi continued, "When Filch's cat was petrified, Deng Buliduo knew this was the precursor to the start of the attacks, so he signaled others to paint the blood words, letting everyone connect the attacks with the Chamber of Secrets. In this way, everyone would think that as long as the Chamber of Secrets is resolved, the attacks will naturally be nothing to worry about, not knowing that the attacker and the opener of the Chamber of Secrets were never the same person."

"As the saying goes, when you hear hoofbeats, prioritize thinking of horses instead of zebras." Cui Ge said, "You are making the problem complicated. But in fact, if there were no blood words, Filch's cat being petrified would actually be an insignificant matter. The Wei Silai twins often throw dung bombs at Filch; is this also part of the attack? Does Deng Buliduo have to write a line of blood words behind every dung bomb, saying the Chamber of Secrets has been opened?"

"If it were dung bombs, I would suspect the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a troll." Lu Na said with a giggle, "I think Cui Ge is right. Because of the blood words, Mrs. Norris was counted as the first victim of the attack. If the blood words and the Chamber of Secrets were just Deng Buliduo's move-by-move response in the Chamber of Secrets game, then it shouldn't have appeared after Mrs. Norris's attack, but should have appeared after Colin's attack."

"If the attack is indeed related to the Chamber of Secrets." Jin Ni said, "That is to say, you are inclined to think that the Ministry of Magic, in order to reduce Deng Buliduo's prestige, intends to create panic in the school, cooperating with the Board of Governors to impeach Deng Buliduo. And their means of creating panic is to use the diary to spread the method of opening the Chamber of Secrets, using the monster in the Chamber of Secrets to let students attack students. And Deng Buliduo is playing along, intending to let Harry solve this problem, enhance Harry's prestige, and pave the way for him to take over as Headmaster in the future?"

"Then I think we can still suspect Zhang Qiu." Jin Ni continued, "Harry is from Gryffindor House. Whether it's the Ministry of Magic or Deng Buliduo, they might not know that he is actually also a descendant of Slytherin. Therefore, after they planned the first attack, Zhang Qiu, who already didn't like Colin, had such a bold plan. She investigated some information about the Chamber of Secrets herself, and then tricked key information from Harry, opening the Chamber of Secrets to attack Colin. Or she didn't need to open the Chamber of Secrets at all, just attacked Colin with some Eastern curse we don't recognize."

"This is indeed very possible, because there is a not-so-small doubt in terms of time." Yi Fu said, "The first attack was on Halloween, which is October 31st, and the second attack was on the following Saturday, which is November 7th, less than a week apart; but now it is December 19th, and there hasn't been a third attack. I think, rather than saying the third attack is late, it's better to say the second attack came early. From the occurrence of the attack to political operation to the game, and then to the failure of the game and preparing for the next attack, I think it shouldn't be something that can be completed in just one week. The second attack might have been originally planned to be in December, but because Zhang Qiu intervened, it was brought forward to November, so the third attack is very likely to happen in early January."

"This brings us back to what Ma Erfu said, the situation where the two attacks weren't done by the same person." Neville, playing Crabbe, said, "Perhaps the Board of Governors discovered that someone was launching attacks on their own under the name of the Chamber of Secrets, and they didn't think clearly about whether to really catch the culprit or play along to force Deng Buliduo, so it looks so calm now."

"I remember Ma Erfu mentioned." Harry said in Gao Er's voice, "The Board of Governors intends to let Sineipu be the next Headmaster?"