Chapter 98

“Thank you for coming to see me, I’m feeling alright.” Hermione lay on the hospital bed, her face pale. Donald had gone to find Dumbledore; only Harry and a few others stood beside her.

“She was merely struck by a standard Petrification Charm,” Madam Pomfrey said. “Perhaps she caught a chill or her mind was unsettled—she’ll be fine with a little rest.”

Zhang Qiu looked pleased. She smiled and said, “That’s wonderful—I was truly afraid Hermione might have been hit by some cruel magic.”

“The most cruel part is that the attacker looked like Neville,” Hermione muttered. “No one wants to be attacked by their own… friend.”

“If that’s the case, I suspect the person pretending to be Neville is the same one,” Ron counted off on his fingers. “Stole materials from Snape’s cupboard, brewed Polyjuice Potion to become Neville, came to find me and Harry on Halloween, and now attacked Hermione. I have reason to believe the Death Eaters are plotting a scheme targeting Neville.”

“No,” Harry said calmly. “The Neville on Halloween was investigating the Chamber of Secrets—and the clues he gave were extremely useful. This Neville attacked Hermione. I think these two impostors may not be the same person.”

“Useful?” Neville frowned.

“He said the attacker likely came from the girls’ bathroom—and it turned out to be true. We now know the water on the floor that night was because the attacker got splashed by Moaning Myrtle when leaving the Chamber,” Harry said.

“So from the water trail, the one who attacked the cat and opened the Chamber must be the same person—and so must be the one who attacked Justin and Penelope,” Zhang Qiu said, frowning.

“So there’s still the Halloween Neville impersonator and today’s Neville impersonator, one of whom stole Snape’s materials,” Harry added. “And there’s also the one who killed the Basilisk and attacked Colin.”

“From the angle of the Basilisk’s death, at least two people could have entered the Chamber—not counting Donald,” Ron said, his fingers nearly all used up. “Someone entered the Chamber and killed the Basilisk; after that, anyone who could enter the Chamber could carry out the attacks. I think the one who attacked Justin and the one who attacked Penelope might not be the same—because the former used the environment to create terror, while the latter simply carried out the attack.”

“Assume all these events are separate, but the Chamber connects them all,” Harry said. “How did they learn how to enter the Chamber?”

“The diary,” Zhang Qiu reminded him.

“But the Eight-Person Self-Examination Committee has met countless times—either all eight are innocent, or it’s Ginny. Besides, Donald said the diary was fine…” Harry himself felt he’d hit a dead end.

“I think we shouldn’t disturb Hermione anymore,” Zhang Qiu tugged Harry’s sleeve. “Madam Pomfrey won’t be happy.”

After the children left the hospital wing, Zhang Qiu voiced her new idea: “I think the diary isn’t completely harmless.”

“What do you mean?”

“The evil soul inside might have deceived Donald—or perhaps, to study student relationships, he made a deal with it,” Zhang Qiu said. “After all, he’s American—he’d do anything.”

Ron’s face turned grim.

“I think the diary is fine—Donald is still trustworthy,” Harry quickly defused the tension. “The Death Eaters must have used another method to bring the evil soul into the school.”

“If every attack was carried out after the evil soul possessed someone, then no student would remember what happened—and the soul doesn’t need to possess the diary’s user,” Zhang Qiu said.

“So the first time, it possessed some student who hated Filch—there are plenty of those,” Harry analyzed. “The second time, Colin might have been unrelated. The third time, Justin was attacked in a dark corridor—I suspect it possessed a student who liked pranks. No, not necessarily a student—Peeves could’ve been the vessel.”

“Then the third attack was on a girl jealous of Penelope—I heard many Gryffindor seniors had crushes on Percy,” Harry felt this made sense now. “The evil soul can’t act on its own—it can only use students with inner weaknesses. That’s why the attacks are spaced so far apart and lack logic—Hogwarts is a harmonious place, and the soul finds few opportunities.”

“I still think this is ridiculous,” Neville shook his head.

“It doesn’t concern you much,” Harry patted his shoulder. “Since we dealt with Quirrell, I believe the Death Eaters have planned two separate schemes—one targeting each of us.”

“The scheme against me began over the summer. I believe Voldemort entrusted it to the Malfoys—but they like to hedge their bets,” Harry said. “On one hand, they tried to attack me with Dobby; on the other, Draco went out of his way to befriend me. Either way, I’ll stay alert.”

“I don’t know who’s targeting you,” Harry continued as Neville looked puzzled, “but now it’s clear—he wants you to lose all your friends’ trust. On Halloween, he put on a show in front of me and Ron, trying to make us believe you opened the Chamber. But he didn’t count on you going to Dumbledore that day—you proved your innocence easily.”

“And today’s attack on Hermione? That was him,” Harry recalled the phrase. “The mask has fallen.”

“What does that mean?” Everyone stared blankly except Zhang Qiu, who smiled at him.

“It means he realized his cover-up tactics weren’t working, so he decided to strike directly,” Harry explained the subtle meaning of the idiom—though he himself only half-understood it.

“Alright, then I guess I need to be careful too,” Neville sighed.

“But this also means the Death Eaters anticipated the Chamber’s reopening,” Zhang Qiu said. “Perhaps three schemes, all at once.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, the Death Eaters, aiming to undermine Dumbledore, smuggled in a fanatical ghost—the direct descendant of Slytherin—who seeks every chance to reopen the Chamber and attack Muggle-borns. But since a ghost’s power is limited, the attacks are infrequent and the damage manageable.”

“Second, to retaliate against Harry, the Death Eaters ordered the Malfoys to orchestrate a series of plots against him. But the Malfoys hedge their bets: Dobby pretends to attack Harry ‘for his own good,’ while Draco was supposed to spread rumors that Harry opened the Chamber. But he saw Dumbledore trusted Harry deeply, so he switched to cooperating with him.”

“Third, to retaliate against Neville, the Death Eaters sent someone else to plot against him. That person chose to impersonate Neville and destroy his friendships—but it didn’t work well; Neville easily cleared up the misunderstandings.”

After Zhang Qiu finished her theory, Ron still had two fingers raised.

“Then who attacked Colin? And who killed the Basilisk?” Ron held up those two fingers.

“Colin might have photographed something he shouldn’t have—this needs further investigation. His attack is likely a separate case,” Zhang Qiu said. “As for the Basilisk, perhaps Donald killed it after the first attack—there aren’t many people in this school who use swords.”

Ron nodded, puzzled. “But why didn’t he tell Dumbledore? Or why didn’t he tell anyone?”

“This involves politics. I believe the Basilisk’s actual death occurred during Christmas,” Harry said. “Dumbledore originally planned to leave school to stop the Dark Lord’s activities, but the Chamber held him back. The first attack was on a cat—minor, probably ignored by the professors. When Colin was attacked, Dumbledore grew wary, and the Board of Governors began stirring.”

“Then during Christmas, there must have been a tense power struggle,” Harry continued. “After Justin was attacked, Malfoy tried to stop further attacks and asked his father to write to the Ministry. The Ministry had planned to send observers to monitor the school—but Dumbledore must have reached an agreement with Humphrey at that time.”

Harry’s reasoning was based on the assumption that “Dumbledore did not condone attacks on innocent students,” so his tone was confident and persuasive.

“Dumbledore instructed Donald to kill the Basilisk, then showed the Ministry proof that the Chamber’s monster had been eliminated—so the Ministry abandoned its surveillance plan. But they still didn’t want Hogwarts out of their control, so Dumbledore struck a deal with them: to weaken the Board of Governors’ authority.”

“Publicly, Dumbledore continued pretending to be helpless about the Chamber—making Lucius Malfoy ecstatic, convinced he’d found his chance. He waited patiently, then moved to oust Dumbledore when Penelope was attacked. But it was all exactly what Dumbledore expected—it gave him the chance to leave school, and it drove a wedge between Malfoy and the Dark Lord.”

“Then came Dumbledore’s backup plan to return to school: since the Basilisk was dead, he reused Headmaster Dipper’s conclusion—that the spiders in the Forbidden Forest were the Chamber’s monster. When I found the Centaurs, they said, ‘Dumbledore promised to clear the spiders’—proving he’d planned it all along.”

“By using the Centaurs to clear the spiders and testify, combined with Dipper’s precedent, the entire wizarding world came to believe the Chamber’s monster was gone. When Dumbledore returned, he could severely undermine the Board of Governors’ authority—brilliant strategy.”

“As for Penelope, I think that wasn’t part of Dumbledore’s plan. Even if she hadn’t been attacked, Justin’s case alone was enough for Lucius to strike. I believe it was a terrifying accident no one foresaw.”

“Perhaps this is the truth,” Ron said after a long silence.