Chapter 32: The Notebook

Dumbledore calmly watched everything unfold, and after Dobby had cried for a while, he approached, "Dobby, that is your name, right?"

"Dumbledore!" Dobby stopped crying, his big eyes still tearful, but he seemed happy to see Dumbledore, "They say you are the greatest wizard, that even the Dark Lord fears you."

"Oh, that's just too much praise, you shouldn't take it seriously," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile. "Dobby, I know you are a loyal house-elf. But loyalty sometimes has multiple meanings."

"Dobby, for example, if your master ordered you to kill him. Would you do it?"

"No, no! Of course not! Dobby would never harm Master!"

"Even if his order was for you to kill him?"

"Yes, yes..."

"See, loyalty also has different directions and choices. Dobby, you can blindly follow your master's orders, but you can also choose to take actions that are better for him."

"Now, it's time to make such a choice, Dobby. Will you choose the better action for your master?"

"Dobby will! Dobby will make it better for Master!"

"Very well, Dobby, then please answer this gentleman's questions truthfully."

Dumbledore never disappoints.

Murphy suppressed his admiration for the headmaster and brought the house-elf back to the witness stand.

Then he asked, "Dobby, you are the Malfoy family's house-elf, right?"

"Yes, Dobby is."

"The Malfoy family has a cellar, and in it are many bottles of wine and some strange items, right?"

"Yes, yes, how do you know..."

"Can you describe them?"

"Okay, Dobby can. There are big barrels filled with a lot of red wine, Master says those wines are for entertaining lower-class people, and there are some glass bottles, those wines are for entertaining noble guests..."

"Cough, I'm not talking about the wine, I mean the strange items on those shelves. Can you describe them?"

"Okay, okay, sorry. Those things are all in glass boxes, Master doesn't let us touch them, says they are precious treasures. But Dobby thinks they are dangerous. Once a goblin sneaked into the cellar, knocked over a glass box, and a glove inside touched it, and then it went 'bang!' Dobby spent a whole day cleaning up those things."

"Very well, Dobby." Murphy said, picking up the notebook, "Have you seen this before?"

Dobby looked for a while and nodded, "Seen it. It's Master's treasure. But..."

"Alright, Dobby, thank you."

Murphy said, then also put on a glove on his left hand, and opened the notebook, showing it to everyone.

"Everyone, see, this notebook is blank right now."

"In fact, if you don't know the specific method, you can't see the contents of this notebook. Isn't that right, Lucius?"

But Lucius's mouth was magically sealed, and he couldn't answer him.

"However, with some methods, it can be restored to its original state."

Saying this, Murphy had an Auror bring over a lit alcohol lamp, and then he toasted the notebook over it for a while.

Sure enough, writing started to appear on the blank pages.

Murphy handed the notebook to the Aurors, who placed it on a tray for the wizards to pass around.

The notebook contained several diary entries.

The first entry was like a travelogue, recording the diary owner's experience exploring an ancient magical relic.

The second entry was gibberish, the diary owner's mind seemed a bit disturbed, but it contained phrases like "I have transcended death."

The third entry was the core content of the diary, recording the names of those who had joined him, including those already caught and sent to Azkaban like Barty Crouch Jr., Antonin Dolohov, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and many others yet to be caught, like Goyle, Crabbe, Karkaroff, Walton Macnair, Avery, etc.

Among them, Lucius Malfoy's name was mentioned.

And apparently, Lucius was a favorite of the Dark Lord, as his name appeared more often than others combined in the diary.

Finally, there was a fourth entry, recording the subsequent whereabouts of the notebook.

It read, "I will leave this notebook to Lucius, to be used in case of discord. I will write down what he needs to do if something unacceptable happens. My most loyal servant, he should be able to bear this responsibility. Whenever the time comes, I shall return!"

Lastly, the fifth entry in the diary was clearly torn out, with some magical symbols faintly visible on the edges, clearly an incantation or magical ritual.

The wizards in purple robes whispered among themselves. If what was recorded in this notebook was true, not only Lucius but even more hidden Death Eaters would be brought to justice!

And even more frighteningly, Murphy Darkholme's accusations might be true, Lucius Malfoy might really be resurrecting Voldemort!

"Lucius! Is what's written in this notebook true?!" a wizard on the tribunal couldn't help but ask.

Dumbledore lifted Lucius's silencing spell, and he immediately shouted, "No! It's not true! This is fake! Forged! This is not his diary! It's fake!"

Lucius was initially very fearful, but after hearing the wizards' discussions, he became confused.

That's not right, the diary the Dark Lord gave him was from his youth, back then he Lucius was not even born, let alone follow Voldemort! How could the diary possibly record the names of the Death Eaters? And considering Murphy's method of using fire to reveal the diary's writing—though Lucius indeed never found a way to reveal the diary, he wasn't sure if this method was correct, but using fire seemed too rash?

"Shameless liar! Lying! It's all slander! This is not the Dark Lord's diary! Black... cough," Lucius excitedly almost revealed the true nature of the diary, but he stopped himself in time, changing his words: "I have never been a Death Eater! This is all blatant slander!"

He glared at Murphy: "You are the dark wizard! You broke into my house! Otherwise, how could you know so much about the cellar?! You burned my house, killed my friends, and almost buried me and my family in a fire!"

"Gentlemen of the tribunal! Professor Dumbledore! I accuse Murphy Darkholme! He violated the International Wizarding Secrecy Act! He sold potions to Muggles!"

The judges on the tribunal looked at Murphy again, and the courtroom buzzed with discussion.

"Silence! Silence!" Finally, Dumbledore shouted twice, quieting everyone down. He took the tray with the notebook, studied it for a while, and then suddenly poked the notebook with a finger.

"Be careful!" Many warned.

But the anticipated terrible dark magic didn't happen. Dumbledore pinched the notebook's paper, rubbed it a few times, then picked it up and flipped through it casually.

After a while, Dumbledore put the notebook down again and looked at Murphy, "Where did you get this notebook?"