Chapter 96: Contradictions and Storms

A living person, asking a ghost such a question might feel like poking at someone else's wounds. 

However, as a ghost herself, the Moaning Myrtle quite enjoyed being asked this question. Each time she answered, she seemed a bit proud.

"Oh my, it was terrifying," she said with relish to the inquirer. 

"The incident happened right here. I died in this bathroom. I remember it very clearly. 

At that time, Olive Hornby mocked me for wearing glasses, so I hid in here. 

I locked the door, cried inside, and suddenly heard someone coming in. They spoke in a funny language. 

I think it must have been another language. But what annoyed me the most was hearing a boy's voice. So, I opened the door, scolded him to go away to his own boys' restroom, and then—"

Myrtle proudly puffed up her chest, her face radiant. 

"I died. At that moment, I only saw a pair of frighteningly large yellow eyes. It felt like my whole body was being lifted, and then I drifted away... 

Later, I came back. You know, I was determined to settle the score with Olive Hornby. Oh, she regrets mocking me for wearing glasses."

Soon, Dumbledore sought out Alaric, who visited the headmaster's office for the third time.

"I must say, your words have caused us a lot of trouble," Dumbledore frowned, his tone stern.

"Everyone is concerned about what happened fifty years ago, everyone is worried about the heir of Slytherin, and you've made everyone at Hogwarts anxious."

"But what I said is true, isn't it?" Alaric stared at Dumbledore with a determined gaze. 

"Tom is Voldemort, Hagrid was wrongly accused, the Chamber of Secrets was opened before, and now it's likely to be opened again. What I said is true, isn't it?"

"Yes, what you said is true." Faced with that gaze, Dumbledore's words softened. 

"But you shouldn't have said all of that. It's not something Hogwarts students should worry about. You've involved them all."

"I didn't involve them. In fact, all the students are already in danger!" Alaric replied. 

"There's a monster roaming Hogwarts every day, and we still have to attend classes every day. Do you want another Myrtle to appear?"

Dumbledore sighed deeply, silenced by Alaric. He sank back into his chair, looking somewhat disheartened. For the first time, Alaric felt that Dumbledore was, indeed, an old man.

"You're right, all of it is right. But we've been powerless against this. I've thoroughly examined Hogwarts, but in the end, gained nothing. 

Even now, I don't know what that monster is. I don't know why the Chamber is opening again after Riddle left.

If we truly want to prevent accidents, the only way is to temporarily close Hogwarts, but that won't help find the Chamber and the monster. Now, apart from strengthening patrols, I am helpless."

In the end, Alaric and Dumbledore parted ways without reconciling.

Alaric did not immediately go to Ginny Weasley to find Tom Riddle's diary, even though he knew that destroying this diary would immediately resolve the crisis from the Chamber.

But he didn't do it. He hadn't forgotten his other goal for this school year—studying the basilisk. 

He had to wait for the diary to summon the basilisk. This powerful magical creature could provide significant help in terms of research and materials.

Of course, he wouldn't immediately provoke the basilisk. 

At the moment, he was powerful enough, but not to the extent of easily defeating the basilisk. The two were evenly matched at best.

Before dealing with the basilisk, he needed to spend time creating some magical items, including ones to defend against the basilisk's deadly gaze, detoxification potions, and weapons capable of harming the basilisk—this was the essence of being a wizard. 

Victory wasn't achieved solely through magic; intelligence and creativity were also part of a wizard's abilities.

Since the last encounter with the dragon, Alaric had realized deeply that before magical power could crush these magical creatures, he needed to create physical output weapons capable of breaking through their magical resistance. 

Thus, his strategy was to control with magic and then slay with physical attacks.

...

Not long after Halloween, the highly anticipated Quidditch Cup for young wizards began.

A few days before training began, at Cho Chang's request, Alaric helped modify her broomstick—no, this wasn't just a modification, but the complete reconstruction of a new broomstick. 

Except for the broomstick handle, everything else was replaced by Alaric. Even the invisible seat was no exception.

Alaric reshaped the broomstick handle and engraved it with beautiful and symbolically meaningful patterns. 

He erased all the original spells on the broomstick and reapplied even more powerful spells. 

Finally, he added a footrest. With these enhancements, although Cho Chang's broomstick's performance was not on par with the Skyraider it far exceeded all other broomsticks.

Cho Chang was very satisfied with this broomstick. Even facing Slytherin's seven Nimbus 2001s in the upcoming match, he felt no worries.

Yes, to make Draco Malfoy the new Seeker for the Slytherin team, the Malfoy family generously donated seven of the latest Nimbus 2001 broomsticks to the school. It was indeed a generous contribution.

However, the Gryffindor team did not have an alchemical master like Alaric to help make broomsticks. 

In the first Quidditch match against Slytherin, they had to use a bunch of old broomsticks to counter Slytherin's Nimbus 2001s. 

The best broomstick they had was Harry's Nimbus 2000, but facing the more advanced broomsticks, they were at a slight disadvantage.

To make matters worse, heavy rain started during the match, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

It was the first thunderstorm since the start of the school year. This made Alaric realize that the time had come to become Animagus.

So, he quickly left the scene, riding Skyraider through the rain toward the Forbidden Forest.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to ask Hermione to find Professor McGonagall for him—because the transformation process for Animagus was too dangerous, he needed Professor McGonagall to assist him.

.

.

.

Guys, do leave some power stones and reviews.

✌patreon.com/bobthewriter✌

If you guys enjoy this story, you can support me on Patreon and get access to Advance Chapters, it really helps me to work on new chapters.