章節 422: Repentance

An hour ago…

"Do you understand?" hissed Ginny. "This is an order— you will head to the Department of Mysteries, locate Harry Potter, and extract him to a safe location."

It was the dead of night, and Hyde Park was completely deserted, save for a few sleeping tramps and an unlikely pair standing under a lamppost. The first figure illuminated by the lamplight belonged to Ginny Weasley, whose long crimson hair was easily recognizable from afar. As for the second, it belonged to a tall handsome man with a full head of wavy golden hair.

"That doesn't sound too difficult," said Ginny's interlocutor cheerily. "You've sent me on worse missions before."

Ginny scowled at the man— this newfound confidence of his would be his undoing.

"Vol— I mean, the Dark Lord— is sure to be there," said Ginny impatiently. "If you run into him, do try to engage him in combat— and report your findings to me."

Ginny already knew from Harry's example that Voldemort could not control accidentally made Horcruxes— Voldemort hadn't laid the necessary enchantments on him. Otherwise, Harry would have been made invulnerable to common weapons and conventional types of magic, just like Nagini and the rest of the Horcruxes in item form.

However, Ginny had been born from the Diary Horcrux, and the soul fragment in the Diadem Horcrux had been successfully transferred onto her subordinate. They weren't invulnerable either, but would the restrictions that prevented Horcruxes from rebelling still apply to them, even if they weren't in their original containers any more?

"That sounds difficult, Mistress," the handsome man spluttered, his face turning pale. "Why don't you go? Surely, You-Know-Who wouldn't stand a chance against your magical might…?"

Ginny glared at him, and the man hastily covered his face with a golden mask, before turning on the spot and Disapparating.

Their meeting over, Ginny prepared to Disapparate as well, only to stumble and lose her balance— an Anti-Disapparition Jinx had just been activated. Hearing footsteps behind her, Ginny turned on her heel and drew her wand…

"Expelliarmus!"

A jet of red light surged through the night, striking Ginny dead in the chest; such was its might that she was flung to the ground, her wand sent spinning out of her grasp and into the darkness of the night. Head spinning, Ginny attempted to jump to her feet, ready to flee, but the tall robed man who had just attacked her began slowly walking towards her, wand at the ready.

"Do not move," he said calmly, his half-moon glasses glinting in the lamppost's light.

Ginny felt a shiver of primal fear coursing down the length of her spine. Why was it always him? Why did it always have to be Dumbledore!? Why was he the only one who could see through her?

"I would be curious to learn how you came to be acquainted with a man who, by all rights, should be dead," said Dumbledore calmly. "Would you care to share, Miss Weasley? Or should I say… Tom?"

It looked like the cat was out of the bag— Dumbledore must have noticed her intrusion in Tonks's mind and drawn a comparison to Tom Riddle's Occlumency shields, when he had attempted to read his mind when they had been teacher and student, more than fifty years ago…

"What could you possibly mean?" said Ginny smoothly, warily eyeing the wand pointed at her. "I had no idea Professor Lockhart had been in hiding all these years…"

Dumbledore was now one hundred percent certain that Ginny had been fully parasitized by the Diary Horcrux, which he had learned about months ago when Harry had told him about it, right before the Third Task, at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts.

He raised his wand, steeling himself for what had to be done— and found that he couldn't go through with it just yet. There were still too many uncertainties, information that could be learned and inferred from the abomination in front of him…

"Abomination," whispered Dumbledore, recalling the contents of the second prophecy. "Is that what you are, Tom? Dark Lady and Dark Lord; one mind, two bodies…?"

"Before you get any ideas, you should know that half of the original is still in there," Ginny sneered, tapping her temple. "The other half, I've stored in a safe location. You wouldn't kill an innocent, would you, old man?"

And then, Dumbledore said something that sent chills down her spine.

"You… you have made Ginevra Weasley into a Horcrux?" said Dumbledore quietly. "You had no right."

The realization that Dumbledore had somehow learned about the Horcruxes, Voldemort's greatest secret, came as a terrible shock to Ginny.

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" Dumbledore roared, his eyes flashing dangerously.

The immortal soul could only move on to the great beyond if it was whole. But this madman, Voldemort, had not only contented himself with shattering his own pathetic soul, but he had also found a way to doom that of a pure, young, innocent girl!

"I know," whispered Ginny, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "Don't you think I don't know that?"

Ginny's words gave Dumbledore pause— there was an emotion in her voice that he had never heard in Tom's. But that couldn't be; it just couldn't be! He knew Tom Riddle— he was irredeemably evil!

And yet…

"You've been having Mr. Lockhart gallivanting about as the Bone-Breaking Thief for a while, now," said Dumbledore calmly; but his righteous anger had not abated just yet. "Stealing jewellery and precious relics— why?"

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Ginny's mysterious subordinate's identity?

Who else could it have been but the Gilderoy Lockhart, who was supposed to have been swallowed whole by the Basilisk? Unbeknownst to the magical world, Ginny had faked his death and bound him to her will via a series of Unbreakable Vows and Geasa, preventing him from acting against her interests!

At first, she had only wanted him for his special talent with Memory Charms— it had been her way of stealthily building back up her own army of Death Eaters. However, after watching him at work, Ginny had seen his true potential. While Lord Voldemort had never been the best at seeing the good in people, he had always excelled at finding ways in which others might serve his purposes…

At any rate, Ginny had discovered that Gilderoy Lockhart's general ineptitude in other fields did not mean that he was untalented, by any means. While it was true that he was a complete moron, he was a special kind of moron: a magical idiot savant. Or more accurately, Lockhart was a genius of hard work… which was completely useless when one was as lazy as he was, but Ginny was nothing if not persuasive!

What made Lockhart special was his ability to reach unbelievable magical heights by simply focusing his training on a single aspect. And of all of the magical disciplines in a Wizard's arsenal, he had chosen to focus on magic that Vanished bones!

Indeed, when Ginny had first obtained him, Lockhart had been completely useless, but after years of combat training, along with some help from the Diadem Horcrux increasing his learning abilities, Gilderoy Lockhart had been reborn as the Bone-Breaking Wizard, the master thief!

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"You had Mr. Lockhart searching for the missing Horcruxes?" murmured Dumbledore, when Ginny had reluctantly finished telling him her story. "You've been searching for a way to make yourself whole again…"

Dumbledore knew for a fact that Ginny was still keeping some secrets to herself, but he was perfectly fine with digesting the information she had just deigned to give him... for now. He had obtained more than he had bargained for, after all…

"I travelled with Oleandra to other worlds," said Ginny coldly. "It widened my perspective, so to speak. You were right, old man— death is not the end. Limbo is not what I desire, for neither Ginny Weasley nor Lord Voldemort. But it's too late to make things right— Ginny and I have become one; regret for our actions has healed our souls, irrevocably fusing them together."

It was at that moment that a certain idea occurred to Dumbledore.

Eccentric, absurd, radical, bizarre, utterly mad, absolutely bonkers… Words did not suffice to describe just how outlandish that idea was!

"Power the Dark Lord knows not…" Dumbledore muttered to himself. "And the second prophecy…"