Chapter 85: A dim moonlit night

The black cloudy figure of Cyrus disappeared into the beautiful moonlight.

Dumbledore stood for a while looking at the statue.

He then took out the statue from the earth and placed it gently inside his storage bag and took out the Map while remembering something.

"Heh, shocking my old heart like this.. I need to calm down.." Dumbledore found that the Dumbledore on the Marauder's Map had left the office and disappeared in a deserted place. He knew immediately that he had taken action, and now he could return to normal time to fill the void of the moment he disappeared.

"It seems that It's time to go, but I will remember you.. Mr. 'Cyrus'..."

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The Weasley family anxiously paced back and forth in the Headmaster's office.

When they heard that their daughter had been taken away by the heir, and now her life or death was uncertain, Molly and Arthur felt as if the sky was falling!

Fortunately, Dumbledore came back in the end, but he didn't stay long before leaving again.

The only thing that keeps them calm now is what Dumbledore said before: "If nothing goes wrong, I believe that Miss Weasley will not have any accidents."

Maybe this is just a word of relief, but after all, it was said by Dumbledore, and there is a high probability that it will become a reality.

Sure enough, after a while, the door was pushed open.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and a slightly silly-looking Lockhart were standing at the door. They looked a little dirty, but they seemed uninjured, especially Ginny, who looked surprisingly good and looked healthier than at any time in the past two semesters. The only thing that made her look a little pitiful was that she seemed to have cried a lot.

For a moment, there was silence everywhere. Suddenly, a scream——

"Ginny!"

It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting in front of the fire crying. She jumped up, followed by Mr. Weasley, who both threw their arms around their baby girl.

Then, this woman full of maternal love also hugged Harry and Ron tightly.

"You saved her! You saved her! What did you do?"

"To be honest, it's not really a rescue. Ginny was fine..." Harry recalled the experience after he and Ron entered the Chamber of Secrets. He thought he was facing a terrifying monster, but there was nothing there. Even the identity of the successor was told by Ginny after she woke up.

He looked inside the office and found that there was still no sign of Dumbledore. He thought that Dumbledore had not returned to school until now. But Professor McGonagall is here!

So he told everything about what happened, including the "Mr. Riddle" who had been acting with them throughout the semester.

But their memories could not recall what "Mr. Riddle" was lodged in. The only thing they remembered was that it was a thinking thing...

"Apparently Riddle modified their memories," McGonagall said weakly with a sigh.

"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, dumbfounded. "Didn't I teach you? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain! But You! Why didn't you show that thing to me or your mother? A suspicious thing like that is obviously full of dark magic!"

"I-I don't know, I forgot..." Ginny was still crying sadly, "And, I think, Mr. Riddle might not really be that bad... In fact, he didn't even hurt me..."

"You're still speaking for him!" Ron said angrily.

Finally, McGonagall broke their conversation on this topic and asked instead: "So, where did Mr. Riddle go?"

"I don't know, Professor, none of us saw him. Ginny said that the other party claimed to kill her, but actually didn't do it." Harry was also confused about this, which is why Ginny always believed that "Mr. Riddle" was not really a bad person.

"Mr. Riddle has been dealt with."

At this time, Dumbledore opened the door and walked in briskly. He immediately attracted everyone's attention:

"I found his escape route, had a duel with him, and defeated him... you kids don't need to fear him"

Dumbledore blatantly lied as he looked Ginny up and down.

"Miss Weasley looks good, but it's best to go to the hospital wing for a checkup. In addition, I have a few things here that I want to return to their original owners." Dumbledore took out the Marauder's Map from his robe and gave it to the twins who looked happy, returned the cloak to Harry, and finally handed the diary to Ginny.

"Sir, what is this?" Arthur asked nervously.

"It belongs to Riddle, an object similar to a pensieve. I think Riddle should make some compensation for what happened to Miss Weasley. Don't worry, this thing is harmless now." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Professor," Harry said hesitantly, "Professor, is it possible that Mr. Riddle is actually not.. bad person? I-I mean he didn't ev—"

"Harry, why did you even say that?" Ron looked at him in shock, "Did you forget about Hermione? Did you forget that he wanted to put Ginny in danger?"

"But the basilisk didn't actually kill anyone, right?" Harry said. "Maybe he was avoiding killing people?"

"It's an interesting guess Harry, I believe it's because of your own kindness." Dumbledore said faking a happy smile, "You are a kind person, and subconsciously, kind people assume others to be kind like them. But regarding Riddle's inference, You'd be dead wrong."

He seemed to sigh a very long breath, and the whole office was waiting for his next words.

"I don't know how he confuses you. He has always been good at confusing people. In fact, I personally taught him fifty years ago at Hogwarts. He is probably the most outstanding person in the history of Hogwarts's students.

"He disappeared after leaving school...traveled around, traveling to all corners of the world...falling deeper and deeper into the quagmire of black magic, hanging out with the most evil guys in the wizarding world, and going through many dangerous magical transformations. At that time, it was very hard for his close people to recognize his face to the face he had as a student..."

"Later he changed his identity, and we are all familiar with it." He glanced at everyone and said the name heavily:

"Yes, Tom Riddle is Voldemort."

Time in the office seemed to be frozen all of a sudden. Harry never imagined that he was saying nice things about that other person just now, but in fact, that person actually killed his parents with his own hands eleven years ago...

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