The students here, Evan and Harry, could both be targets of attack. To Voldemort, they were his greatest enemies after Dumbledore.
The group analyzed this issue but could not come to any conclusion.
Harry, on the other hand, insisted that it was Malfoy who planned all this.
“Harry, Malfoy isn’t in Hogsmeade!” said Hermione, actually stamping her foot in frustration.
“He must have used an accomplice, then,” said Harry. “Crabbe… or Goyle… or, come to think of it, another Death Eater, he’ll have loads better cronies than Crabbe and Goyle now he’s joined up…”
Hermione was no longer able to argue with his insistence.
But regardless of whether Malfoy was behind this or what his true objective was, one thing was certain — having Katie deliver the cursed necklace was a foolish plan. Even if Evan and the others hadn’t discovered it, she wouldn’t have been able to bring it past the castle gates. Filch would inevitably find it in the end.
“Think about it carefully: maybe the real plan was to kill Filch,” Ron said at last.
That was very possible. If Evan hadn’t intervened, and if Katie hadn’t argued with her friend and opened the package, she would have successfully carried the necklace into the castle. The first person she would have encountered would have been Filch, whose job was to inspect students’ belongings. He would have undoubtedly opened the package, and the moment he touched the necklace…
Well, that might just be the truth of it, a poorly planned and flawed attack.Even though no one involved spoke about it, news of the incident spread across the school by the next day.
However, the exact details remained unclear. Everyone assumed the attack had specifically targeted Katie.
Rumors flew. Katie was a kind girl, and no one could understand why someone would attack her. They didn’t connect the incident to Voldemort, but in the end, all speculation pointed to Slytherin — more specifically, to Malfoy, this year’s Slytherin Quidditch team captain.
Katie was the main player of the Gryffindor team, and many believed this was a conspiracy by Slytherin to prevent Gryffindor from winning the championship.
Malfoy was the captain of the Slytherin team this year.
So, he planned this matter.
Regarding these rumors, Evan didn’t know what to say!
Just like Harry suspected, the conclusions that were reached lacked any solid evidence or reasoning, yet they were eerily accurate.
At exactly eight o’clock on Monday night, Evan and Harry arrived at the door of Dumbledore’s office on time.
They weren’t sure if the headmaster had returned, but since they hadn’t been informed of any cancellations, Harry knocked gently, and a voice from inside told them to enter.
There sat Dumbledore looking unusually tired.
However, he smiled when he gestured to Evan and Harry to sit down.
The Pensieve was sitting on the desk again, casting silvery specks of light over the ceiling.
“I heard from Minerva that a lot of things happened in the school while I have been away,” Dumbledore said softly. “So, I believe you two witnessed Katie’s accident.”
“Yes, Professor!”
“How is she?”
“The situation is not bad. Fortunately, she appears to have brushed the necklace with the smallest possible amount of skin: There was a tiny hole in her glove. Had she put it on, had she even held it in her ungloved hand, she would have died, perhaps instantly.” Dumbledore said. “Evan, your handling was appropriate and timely, and effectively prevented the rapid spread of the curse. After carefully studying the necklace, Professor Snape was able to remove the magic affecting Katie with his…”
“Why him?” asked Harry quickly. “Why not Madam Pomfrey?”
“Impertinent,” said a soft voice from one of the portraits on the wall, and Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius’s great-great-grandfather, raised his head from his arms where he had appeared to be sleeping and looked angrily at Evan and Harry below. “I would not have permitted a student to question the way Hogwarts operated in my day.”
“Yes, thank you, Phineas,” said Dumbledore quellingly. “Professor Snape knows much more about the Dark Arts than Madam Pomfrey, Harry. I believe that with his help, Katie will make a full recovery in time before the first Quidditch game.”
“Professor, where have you been recently?” Evan asked.
Behind them, Phineas hissed softly again. This was also an impertinent question.
“That is a long topic, and I would rather not say just now,” said Dumbledore.
“I’ve gathered everything we need,” Evan continued, and Dumbledore knew what he was talking about.
Evan had talked to him before about summoning the unknown demon under the kitchens.
He didn’t know that Evan had gone to Hogsmeade to trade for a house-elf corpse yesterday, nor did he know that he planned to summon the house-elf demon, but Harry knew that this was related to the secret treasure left by the Four Founders and the powerful monster that Evan called “the evil god”.
Start what? If they were to do it tonight, could he go along?
Although he didn’t know what it was about, Harry was sure it would be an exciting adventure.
“I want to go too!” he said bluntly, and Phineas hissed again.
“You can come along, Harry,” Dumbledore said. “But tonight is not the right time. I’ve given this matter careful thought, and I need more time to prepare. We can take action during the Christmas holidays. What do you think, Evan?”
“No problem!” said Evan.
“Excellent. Then for tonight, we shall continue with our previous lesson. This is new content.”
He withdrew a fresh bottle of silver memories from inside his robes and uncorked it with a prod of his wand.
Evan did not look at the bottle, but he noticed the hand on which Dumbledore wore the Gaunt ring.
The curse on it seemed to have spread further. What did Dumbledore do? What were these things he didn’t want to talk about?
“Wait, Professor!” Harry said hesitantly.
“Um?”
“Did Professor McGonagall tell you what I told her after Katie got hurt? About Draco Malfoy?”
“She told me of your suspicions, yes,” said Dumbledore.
“And do you — ?”
“I shall take all appropriate measures to investigate anyone who might have had a hand in Katie’s accident,” said Dumbledore. “But what concerns me now, Harry, is our lesson. Come on, both of you!”
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