Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Suer sat down carefully on the sofa opposite Dumbledore and took tiny sips of his sour fruit cordial.
At Dumbledore’s question, his heart lurched. Here it came! The trial every great transmigrator before him had faced — an interrogation by the old bee!
“Go ahead, Professor.” Suer could not help sitting straighter.
“Heh, there is no need to be so nervous, Mr Bones.” Dumbledore smiled. “There are merely a few things I wish to understand.”
As the saying went, when the old bee smiled, life and death hung in the balance.
Those words made Suer even more nervous.
“Do you know Tom Riddle?” Dumbledore asked softly.
Suer’s eyes shifted furiously. What did the old bee mean by that?
Should he admit it, admit it or admit it? Joking aside, the old bee would not have asked unless he already suspected something. Since Suer intended to cling tightly to this powerful protector, he naturally had to tell him everything.
No one should expect a young wizard to save the world single-handedly. That was the Chosen One’s job.
Besides, when the old bee became ruthless, he was willing to gamble even with his own life. Of course, part of that was surely because he no longer particularly wanted to live.
Suer nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“I know him, Professor. In fact, I also know that he later became Voldemort.”
Surprise crossed Dumbledore’s face, though it vanished in an instant. Suer still managed to catch it.
“It appears you truly do know a great deal,” Dumbledore said with a sigh. He had considered the possibility that Suer might admit it, but not with such directness. He had expected to reach certainty only after testing the boy from several directions.
It also demonstrated that the young wizard before him trusted him deeply.
Suer could feel Dumbledore’s gaze becoming even more… gentle. He was secretly delighted to have made the correct wager.
“Then you should also know that the notebook was no ordinary object,” Dumbledore continued. “What I wish to know is whether you have ‘seen’ any further information concerning other objects of this kind.”
Suer nodded without a moment’s hesitation. “I have ‘seen’ something, Professor.” Then, after a brief pause, he added, “But I do not know whether there are more…”
“That does not matter, Mr Bones. Simply tell me what you have ‘seen’.” Dumbledore’s voice grew gentler still. “Those objects are very, very dangerous.”
The portraits of former headmasters behind Dumbledore suddenly opened their eyes in unison.
“Er…” Suer glanced hesitantly at the portraits behind Dumbledore, unsure whether he ought to continue.
“What is that supposed to mean? What is that supposed to mean?” an old man in one of the portraits suddenly shouted, his hair and beard bristling.
Plainly, Suer’s glance had made the sensitive old man feel slighted.
An elderly woman marched straight into the old man’s portrait and smothered his mouth with a cushion. Several more people squeezed in behind her and used a rope to bind the struggling old man firmly to his chair.
Satisfied, the elderly woman nodded, then looked out of the frame towards Suer with a gentle, kindly smile.
“You should have heard of me, child.” The elderly woman pointed to her own frame. Beneath it, a line of names written in glittering golden ink could be seen.
“Every person here has shared the same experience. We have all served as headmaster or headmistress of Hogwarts. Some tenures were long and others short, but without exception, every one of us is proud of that service.”
Suer might not have recognised the people by sight alone, but the moment he read the name, he remembered exactly who the elderly woman was.
She was an extraordinarily legendary figure. She had taken part in a goblin rebellion and personally led an army of wizards from the front, making an enormous contribution to peace in the magical world.
After becoming headmistress of Hogwarts, she had also protected the castle during numerous attacks.
Even among the many distinguished figures who had served as headmaster or headmistress over the past thousand years, she was renowned.
None of that, however, was the most important point. The most important point was that she was a Hufflepuff!
Suer immediately rose, his expression solemn, and bowed to the elderly woman. It was both a gesture of respect and an apology for his earlier glance.
“Every Hufflepuff remembers you, Madam Oakesey. You are our hero, and we have committed every one of your deeds to memory.”
The elderly woman smiled gently.
“All of that happened a very long time ago, child,” she said. “What I wish to tell you is that you may trust us completely, just as Dumbledore never conceals anything from us.”
“Yes, Mr Bones, you may trust every headmaster and headmistress here.” Dumbledore nodded in agreement. “They would never do anything detrimental to Hogwarts.”
At the same time, a trace of approval flashed through Dumbledore’s eyes.
“Of course, Professor Dumbledore.” With matters having gone this far, Suer no longer held anything back. “What I am able to ‘see’ may not be everything.”
“A crown, a locket and a cup… As for anything else…” Suer lowered his head and pretended to think, his gaze shifting. “I cannot ‘see’ it, Professor.”
“That does not matter. It is already enough.” Dumbledore nodded.
“A crown… a locket… a cup…” he murmured, repeating the three objects Suer had named. He drew a deep breath and narrowed his eyes slightly. Anger could be seen surging in his light-blue pupils.
“They truly are objects of immense ‘significance’,” he said with a sigh.
Every word Suer spoke was heard by the headmasters and headmistresses in the portraits. Each of them understood perfectly what the three objects represented.
“This is sacrilege! Dumbledore, this is an insult to the founders of Hogwarts,” one old man said furiously.
“Find them! They belong to Hogwarts!”
The headmaster’s office fell silent. A silver spinning instrument on the desk emitted steam as it turned with a soft whir.
Suer raised the glass of sour fruit cordial and resumed sipping. Once one got past the initial shock of the acidity, it was actually rather pleasant.
Only after a long while did Dumbledore speak.
“Can you ‘see’ where they are, Mr Bones? I mean, can you ‘see’ anything distinctive about the places that hold them?”
Suer quickly set down the glass and met the light-blue eyes behind Dumbledore’s half-moon spectacles.
“I saw them, Professor. The locket is in the possession of a house-elf, the cup is in a room filled with jewels, and the crown…”
“It is in a room crammed with discarded objects, resting on the head of a stone statue.”
Dumbledore’s eyes widened slightly before he nodded. Suer’s descriptions were incomplete, but they provided leads that could be investigated.
In truth, Suer knew the precise location of every object. He could not offer too much detail, however, or that would become an even greater flaw in his story.
He had also deliberately concealed several other objects: the Resurrection Stone, for example; the great snake that might or might not yet have become a Horcrux; and…
Harry Potter.