บท 71: 071 The Thief
Just five minutes later, Harry burst out of the classroom with a triumphant whoop, while Malfoy trailed behind him with a sullen face, dragging his feet as if he had lost all his energy. Harry's eyes sparkled with joy and his heart pounded with adrenaline. He had done it, he had solved the riddle and defeated the inferi!
"I did it, professor, I did it!" As soon as he left the classroom, Harry sprinted to Professor Watson, who had already sensed his success and was waiting for him with a proud smile. Harry shouted excitedly, "I understood your hint, professor, it was really simple, I just used a small spell to get rid of them!"
"How did you do it, Harry!" Hermione was the first to recover from the stunned state that had gripped her and the other students. She ran to Harry's side, her fingers trembling with excitement and curiosity.
"Very good, Potter!" Bryan smiled with relief and admiration. He clapped Harry on the shoulder and said, "The method is secondary, the most important thing is that you overcame your inner fear, this is a very remarkable thing. You are undoubtedly the winner, Potter, I will give Gryffindor fifty points, and also," Bryan looked at Draco with a smile, who was a bit neglected and looked like he wanted to disappear. "It's not that important whether you finish the final kill or not. Facing the dangerous dark creatures, you didn't choose to escape, but gathered courage to draw your sword. This is also very remarkable, Malfoy. You also won thirty points for Slytherin!"
Anyway, Harry and Draco had done something that most people didn't do. They had faced the inferi without losing their nerve or their wits. The young wizards gave them admiring cheers and applause. Ron happily threw Harry's backpack into the air, not caring about the textbooks that fell out of it. Harry grinned and smiled very happily. He didn't look resentful at all that Ron had messed up his belongings.
Draco's face was not so bad either. He was surrounded by Slytherin's young wizards who congratulated him and patted him on the back. He quietly looked at Professor Watson who was also smiling at him kindly. Draco shyly pursed his lips and lowered his proud head. He felt a rare warmth in his chest.
No one noticed that Ginny's face turned pale when she saw the books that flew out of Harry's backpack. Her body stiffened and her eyes widened in horror.
Finally, except for Harry's group, no one else came up with the trick to defeat the inferi. However, compared to the first time they faced the inferi in the maze, the young wizards' mental state seemed fine. They didn't faint or scream like they did when they came out of the maze for the first time. Bryan used magic to fix Neville's robe that had been torn by an inferi.
He stood at the oak door of the classroom and gave each student who lasted until the end ten points for their house. At this moment, the magic contract that had bound them to face the inferi had completely lost its effect. He could finally tell the young wizards how to deal with the inferi.
"–This is a very evil and morally challenging dark magic creation. When thousands of inferi gather into a huge army of death, they can indeed cause us a lot of trouble. But when the number is limited, it is very easy to deal with," Bryan looked at Harry who already knew the answer and smiled and asked, "How many of you noticed Mr. Potter's reminder before he entered the classroom for the first time?"
"Dark creatures mostly don't like light–" Hermione muttered and slapped her forehead. She realized it right away, "It's fire, isn't it, professor? Like devil's snare, inferi like darkness and dampness. We just need a fire spell to deal with them!"
Because of the hundred points that Harry and his group got, the gap between Gryffindor and Slytherin was not as big as before. This made Gryffindor have a chance to win the house cup again this year. At dinner time, Professor McGonagall came over to ask about the second-year students' course selection situation. She also walked to Harry's side and gave him an encouraging smile. The senior students all knew what inferi were. It was indeed an amazing achievement for a second-year student to overcome inferi with his own wisdom and courage.
That night, Gryffindor common room held a grand celebration party. Fred and George brought a lot of butterbeer from Hogsmeade. Harry liked this mild alcoholic drink very much. It had a sweet and creamy taste that made him feel warm and relaxed. Unconsciously, he drank too much in the admiring crowd. He felt his cheeks flush and his head spin. He didn't mind, he was having the best time of his life.
Professor Watson's hint was obvious enough, but she still couldn't think of inferi being afraid of fire. Hermione was annoyed by this. She felt like she had missed a golden opportunity to show her brilliance and impress her professor. She retaliated by bringing several thick books about inferi from the library during the celebration party. She sat on the sofa near the fireplace and read them sullenly, ignoring the cheerful noise around her. She hoped to find some obscure facts or secrets about inferi that no one else knew.
"Congratulations on another great achievement, Harry–" At the end of the party, Wood squeezed in front of Harry who was surrounded by people and toasted him with his cup. He looked at Harry with admiration and gratitude. But before Harry could show a shy smile, he added, "I think you haven't forgotten that this Saturday is our match against Hufflepuff, have you, Harry?"
"Burp–of course not," Harry let out a big hiccup. He felt dizzy and tipsy from drinking too much butterbeer. If it weren't for Ron's support, he might not be able to stand on his own. He slurred his words and said, "I promise you I'll do my best, Wood!"
"You only need to promise me one thing, Harry," Harry's casualness made Wood a bit unhappy. He said with a serious face, "That is to win the match and send those Hufflepuff idiots back to their home!" He clenched his fist and glared at Harry as if he was expecting him to swear an oath.
"Oh, my God!" Fred and George were about to help Harry say something. They wanted to tell Wood to relax and not put too much pressure on Harry. At this time, Percy, who had just finished his patrol duty, came in from the round hole behind the Fat Lady's portrait. When he saw the mess in the common room, he first showed an incredulous expression. Then he yelled at everyone, "Isn't it too early to celebrate Easter, everyone? If you haven't mixed up the days, you should know that tomorrow is Tuesday, a day when you need to go to class!"
"Don't be such a killjoy, Percy!" George waved his empty bottle unhappily in front of Percy's face. He splashed some butterbeer on Percy's glasses. "Today Harry and his group almost won a hundred points for Gryffindor. We're just celebrating the house cup in advance!"
"Clean up this place and go back to bed, right now!" Percy didn't seem to hear George's explanation. He glared at everyone who had eye contact with him. "Even if Gryffindor wins the house cup for the next ten years, that's not an excuse for you to break the rules!" He pointed at the bottles, cups, plates, and food scraps that littered the floor and tables.
In the next few days, Harry didn't have a good time. First of all, Professor Snape certainly didn't like to see Harry make a name for himself in this school. In Tuesday afternoon's potions class, he was more vicious than usual in deducting points from Gryffindor. Harry, Hermione and Neville lost almost half of the points they earned in the defense against the dark arts practical class. He mocked Harry's swelling potion for being able to poison a dragon. He said it was so bad that it could make anyone who drank it explode like a balloon. To make Harry remember his failure, he asked Harry's homework to be half longer than Slytherin's students. He also threatened to give him detention if he didn't finish it by tomorrow.
Also, Oliver Wood officially entered the pre-match warm-up stage. Every afternoon after school, he didn't even wait for dinner time. He dragged all the team members out and took them to the pitch to practice until the moon was almost in the middle of the sky before letting them go. He made them do drills, exercises, tactics, and simulations over and over again. He shouted at them whenever they made a mistake or slowed down. He was obsessed with winning the match and beating Hufflepuff. Fred and George told Harry privately that according to Wood's training method, let alone Hogwarts' Quidditch Cup, as long as they persisted for another two months, they could also play in the World Cup. They said it jokingly, but they also looked exhausted and sore from Wood's harsh regime.
However, this also proved from the side that Gryffindor team was confident about winning this year. They knew they had a strong team with talented players like Harry, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Wood himself. They also knew that Hufflepuff was not as formidable as Slytherin or Ravenclaw. They had a good chance of winning if they played their best.
During this period, something disturbing happened. On Wednesday night, when Harry came back from practice, he saw Neville running out of the dormitory with a panic on his face. His eyes were wide with fear and his mouth was trembling. He looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Harry–I don't know who did it, I just found out–" Neville looked at Harry with horror and pushed open the door. He gestured for Harry to follow him inside.
The things in Harry's trunk were thrown everywhere. His clothes were lying on the floor, some of them ripped or stained. The sheets were torn off his four-poster bed and the mattress was flipped over. The drawers of his bedside table were pulled open and the things inside were scattered on the mattress. Harry opened his mouth in surprise and stepped on a few pages that fell out of "Travels with Trolls". He felt a surge of anger and confusion. Who would do such a thing? And why?
When he and Neville put the sheets back on the bed, Ron, Seamus and Dean also came in. They had heard Neville's scream and came to see what was wrong. When they saw this scene, Dean shouted, "What happened, Harry?" He looked around the room with shock and disbelief. He couldn't believe that someone had ransacked Harry's belongings.
"I don't know–" Harry shook his head and tried to calm himself down. He searched for his most important items: his wand, his invisibility cloak, and his parent's photo album. He was relieved to find them all intact and safe. But he still wondered what the intruder was looking for. And how they had managed to get past the Fat Lady and into the dormitory.
"It looks like someone was looking for something!" Ron said with a serious expression. He furrowed his brows and clenched his jaw. He scanned the room for any clues or signs of the intruder. "I'm sure it wasn't Galleons, Harry. Check if anything is missing?"
It didn't take much effort for Harry to find out that Riddle's diary was gone. He remembered that he had left it in his trunk, opposite his invisibility cloak. But now, there was no trace of the black leather-bound book. He felt a pang of fear and regret. He had hoped to use the diary to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets and the Heir of Slytherin. But now, it was in someone else's hands. Someone who might use it for evil purposes.
When he told Hermione about it the next day, Hermione's expression was not much better than Neville's last night. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She looked at Harry with horror and disbelief. She wondered who could have taken it and why.
"But–only Gryffindors could have stolen it. I mean, no one else knows the password." She said with a puzzled frown. She tried to think of anyone in their house who would have a motive or a grudge against Harry. She couldn't come up with any names.
"It's not impossible that Malfoy finally figured out how to make Polyjuice Potion from Snape," Ron said with a puffed cheek. He glared at Harry as if he blamed him for losing the diary. "Have any of you lost any hair lately?" He asked suspiciously, touching his own red hair.
"Compared to Malfoy–" Harry said worriedly, cutting off Ron's accusation. He shook his head and said, "I think this is more like Dobby's doing." He recalled how the house-elf had tried to stop him from coming back to Hogwarts, how he had stolen his letters and smashed Aunt Petunia's pudding. He also remembered how Dobby had warned him about the Chamber of Secrets and the danger that awaited him there. He wondered if Dobby really had taken the diary to protect him from 'harm', or if he had some other agenda.
Author's Note: Butterbeer is a alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink is debatable. But, I think it may contain some percentage of alcohol, so harry got a little wobbly after drinking large amount of butterbeer.
The butterbeer may also have been added 'somethings' by the Weasley twins.
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