A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 155: The Truth Brought by Dobby

Chapter 155: The Truth Brought by Dobby

On that night, Harry lay in bed, tossing and turning, listening to the snores of his roommates, unable to sleep.

He was still thinking about the events of the day—whether it was the resounding victory against Slytherin in the Quidditch match or seeing his rival Draco Malfoy being scolded by his father, both of which brought him immense joy.

But suddenly, a wave of loneliness swept over him. He also wanted to know what it felt like to be scolded by his parents.

Everyone was looking forward to the upcoming summer break, but he resisted. He even considered staying back to keep Hagrid company, or spending time at the Burrow.

"Harry Potter!"

A barely audible call sounded, and Harry was not unfamiliar with this voice. He quickly put on his glasses and looked at the slender figure standing at the door—

He had a pair of enormous brown eyes and a nose that was shaped and sized like a large tomato.

"D-Dobby, is it really you?"

Harry glanced around quickly. Everyone was sleeping soundly, even Ron's pet—a gray, plump rat named Scabbers—was comfortably snoozing on its owner's pillow.

He gently lifted the covers, slid out of bed, looked at the wand on the bedside table, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it.

"Lumos."

With Dobby, Harry arrived at the common room. The light here was dim, and he chose a chair with a cushion to sit on.

"Please, sit down, Dobby. You have something to tell me, don't you?"

Getting closer, he noticed that Dobby had changed his attire—or rather, not changed, he was still wearing that old pillowcase, but he had somehow added two sleeves and something that looked like pant legs.

"You're wearing new clo—no, wait! Dobby, you, you…" he pointed at Dobby, unable to find the words. He had learned from Ron that house-elves weren't supposed to wear regular clothes, so there was only one possibility—

"Yes, Master Potter, Dobby is free!" The elf's big eyes were filled with tears as he exclaimed joyfully.

"How could—oh, I mean, congratulations, Dobby." Harry said, "But during the day, you were still following Lucius Malfoy, weren't you?"

"Dobby isn't sure, maybe it was because the young master's failures during the day made him upset. When he returned at night, he scolded Dobby harshly... Dobby is used to it, but he didn't expect him to want to get rid of Dobby!"

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Dobby continued excitedly, "Dobby never thought... this was what Dobby had always dreamed of…"

He released his fingers, and a magnificent button lay quietly on his delicate palm.

"Master, no, Lucius Malfoy gave Dobby a button, he tore it off himself... he angrily told Dobby to leave Malfoy Manor forever."

"So now you're free, not belonging to anyone." Harry said.

"Yes, Dobby is a free elf now." Dobby blinked his large eyes, "All thanks to you, great Harry Potter, for defeating Draco Malfoy on the Quidditch field!"

Harry felt the unpredictability of life. The fact that he had defeated Slytherin had an unexpectedly huge impact on Dobby.

"I didn't expect it either, of course, I feel honored." Harry humbly said, "By the way, Dobby, you shouldn't be bound by your status anymore, right? I have many questions to ask you."

"Feel free to ask, Potter, Dobby will do his best."

"Well, then, is the Chamber of Secrets incident really Lucius Malfoy's plot?" Harry brought up the doubts discussed by the trio during the day.

"Yes, he brought the Dark Lord's heirloom: a cursed diary, to Hogwarts, using Ginny Weasley's hand."

"Wait a minute! Ginny?"

"...Yes, at Flourish and Blotts."

A spark of insight awakened Harry, and he said with certainty, "Back then, he had a fight with Mr. Weasley, and I remember he picked up Ginny's textbook at the end and mocked her harshly! Lucius must have secretly slipped the diary inside, right?"

"Exactly right, Mr. Potter." Dobby bent over and said.

"Did you stop me from returning to school and attack me on the Quidditch field because of that artifact, because it opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

Dobby lowered his head and whispered, "You're right about all of it. Dobby accidentally overheard Malfoy's words, Mr. Potter. You don't know how dark the days were for house-elves during the Dark Lord's reign. Things are much better now..."

Harry found it difficult to imagine what life was like for house-elves during those times.

He comforted, "You've come a long way since then, haven't you?" But suddenly, something struck Harry, almost making him jump. He trembled as he said, "So now, the diary, is it still with Ginny?"

"Is she in danger?"

Dobby whispered, "No, the diary changed hands among three people. It started with Miss Weasley, then somehow ended up with Draco Malfoy, and finally, it fell into the hands of the equally great Felix Harp."

"Professor Harp?" Harry's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Yes, but Mr. Harp realized the evil of the diary. He destroyed it completely, utterly destroyed it! Right before Dobby's eyes..."

Harry felt like his brain wasn't sufficient. The news bombshells of the night left him bewildered, and he wore a bewildered expression on his face.

...

Early the next morning.

"So, you mean, all of this originated from Lucius Malfoy? He hid the diary in Ginny's textbook. Ginny, under its influence, opened the Chamber, releasing the basilisk, which petrified Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey! Later, the diary ended up in his son's possession. Merlin's beard, he really brought it upon himself! But the most absurd part is, Professor Harp has destroyed the diary now!"

Ron had never spoken so much in one breath. He guzzled down several gulps of pumpkin juice.

"That's right." Harry nodded. He had a thought and recounted his accidental encounter with Draco when saving Justin. "He looked bewildered then, but I didn't have time to think much about it. There were so many things happening afterward that I completely forgot about this detail."

"This is... Professor Harp didn't let slip a word!" Ron exclaimed, a mixture of complaint and admiration in his tone.

Hermione immersed herself in thought and added, "Remember when I was in the hospital? Professor Harp told me the danger was over, not to investigate further. I think he might have had the diary by then, and perhaps he had already destroyed it."

"Moreover," the young witch began counting on her fingers, "Professor Harp definitely told Dumbledore, and Dumbledore might have informed your parents, Ron." She paused, a bit disheartened. "Although he didn't tell us."

"Cool~ Turns out the grown-ups were up to so much behind our backs." Ron remarked.

"So, what are Dobby's plans now?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure, but I guess he might go visit friends?" Harry replied uncertainly.

Ron hurriedly finished his breakfast and left in a rush.

"Where are you going, Ron?"

"I want to ask Ginny. I just thought, what if the diary had some effect on her—"

"You're right!"

...

Through Ginny's stuttering account, they pieced together more information.

"You threw the diary in the abandoned bathroom?" Harry stared at Ginny's eyes, shocked.

Ginny blushed and lowered her head. A bright red hue colored her face. "Y-yes, Fred and George talked about a lot of scary examples. I realized it wasn't right."

"Exactly! Malfoy was tailing us, but we moved the potion somewhere else in a hurry. He missed that, but he found the diary." Harry said.

He couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. The vague shadow he had seen then was likely the diary Ginny had dropped. But because he had noticed Malfoy, he hadn't paid it much attention.

What if Malfoy had picked it up, been controlled by it, and caught while trying to open the Chamber? That would be airtight evidence. And remember, he was still mistakenly accused by everyone for his Parseltongue comments at the time.

"Ginny, have you felt any discomfort?" Ron asked.

Ginny shook her head. "I followed Luna's advice and went to the infirmary. Apart from being a bit weak, there was no other issue. Madam Pomfrey gave me a couple of potions, and I recovered quickly."

"Right, she mentioned a boy with similar symptoms too..."

The three exchanged glances and said in unison, "Draco Malfoy!"

It took them almost half of Sunday, but they managed to piece together the complete truth—

From Lucius's revenge, to Ginny being controlled to open the Chamber causing two attacks, then discarding the diary in the bathroom only for Draco Malfoy to pick it up, Draco being confronted by Harry while trying to open the Chamber, the heroic act of killing the basilisk, and finally, the diary landing in Professor Harp's hands and being thoroughly destroyed, the Chamber of Secrets incident finally concluded.

"It's strange how strongly Professor Harp was involved in this whole affair."

"This indicates that he truly unraveled the entire truth."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat lazily by the edge of the Black Lake, feeling the satisfaction of finally unraveling a long-standing mystery.

They also relieved themselves of a heavy burden and focused on preparing for exams.

A month passed in a flash, and the rainy season arrived along with the exam season.

Hello everyone,

If you enjoy reading this novel and want to read 10 Chapters ahead of schedule, then please join my Patreon.

Or Consider donating! at Paypal or Ko-fi.

Your support is greatly appreciated