Chapter 186: Nancy and the Black Diary
After returning to the dormitory, Ethan took out some ordinary paper and began crafting a booklet roughly the size of the diary to test an idea that had occurred to him.
However, due to his wariness of the diary, his mind kept drifting while he worked.
*Based on the events of the films, aside from the diary, the other Horcruxes were destroyed without any effects.*
*Besides, the only Horcrux that injured anyone did so because of a curse placed on it, not because it was a Horcrux itself.*
*So finding the diary is still the top priority. It's a serious hidden danger.*
Ethan always felt that the young Tom Riddle was harder to deal with than the full-fledged Voldemort.
Of course, this wasn't about strength, but rather rationality and mindset.
After all, the fifty years of accumulated power since making the diary Horcrux was indeed formidable. That was beyond doubt.
But Voldemort had also grown increasingly extreme and arrogant due to his accumulation of Dark Magic.
The young Tom had been intelligent and charming, knowing how to bide his time and understanding his limits.
Knowing he was no match for Dumbledore, he played the part of a good student, slowly learning and building his strength, until he finally grew into a Dark Lord who could contend with the old man.
And once he had perfected his Dark Arts, he no longer concealed his ambition, becoming proud and arrogant, holding the power of life and death over his followers.
This was vividly demonstrated by how Voldemort's main soul treated Quirrell.
*Wait, if that's the case, as Voldemort's strength grew, wouldn't the Horcruxes he made later also become increasingly arrogant, in proportion to when they were created?*
While his mind wandered, Ethan suddenly thought of something he had previously overlooked.
*Then, by that logic, if the other Horcruxes actually managed to possess someone, wouldn't they be just as dangerous as the diary?*
He stopped working on the booklet and quickly jotted notes on a piece of paper, trying his best to recall every detail.
*Besides the diary and Harry, his living Horcrux, Voldemort also had the diadem, the cup, the Resurrection Stone, the locket, and Nagini. Five Horcruxes.*
*Among them, the Resurrection Stone ring and the diary were probably made into Horcruxes around the same time. Both were created during Voldemort's student days.*
Ethan wrote down the Horcruxes, circling the Resurrection Stone and the diary.
*Find the Gaunt shack during the holidays and retrieve the Resurrection Stone ring?* An idea popped into his head.
He immediately shook his head. "I'll deal with that later. There's a curse on it. The Resurrection Stone is valuable, but curses aren't something to trifle with."
Next, he crossed out Nagini. "This is the last Horcrux. It should have been made after his resurrection, which means Nagini isn't a Horcrux yet."
"The remaining ones, the cup and the locket, were obtained when he worked at Borgin and Burkes. They were likely made into Horcruxes during that period, within a few years of his graduation."
"As for the diadem, that should have been around the same time. After he learned about the diadem at school, he hid it in the Room of Requirement when he returned to apply for a job. The margin of error shouldn't exceed ten years."
Circling the relics of the three founders together, Ethan tapped his pen in the air, tracing circles.
"Now the ring is in the Gaunt shack; the diadem is in my hands; the locket is in the Black ancestral home; the cup's location is unknown, possibly in the Lestrange family vault; and Nagini hasn't become a Horcrux yet."
"Currently, the most immediate threat, aside from the main soul that's probably clinging to life in the forest, is this diary."
After sorting through his thoughts, Ethan tossed the paper into the flames where Little Black lived, reducing it to ashes.
Once he was finished with the booklet, Ethan walked through the sparsely populated common room and made his way to the edge of the Black Lake.
Based on Ron's description, he identified the spot where Ron had thrown the diary from the surrounding vegetation, then hurled the booklet with force. He watched it smack against the water's surface and slowly sink beneath the lake.
Then Ethan returned to the common room, taking Nancy's usual seat, which was now empty.
"Sure enough, you can see the booklet from the window."
Although various water weeds grew at the bottom of the Black Lake, the booklet had sunk straight down and become buried among them.
But after careful observation and searching, Ethan still caught a glimpse of it.
The night Ron threw out the diary wasn't very late. So Nancy, who had been sitting by the window, should have seen it happen. When she came back soaking wet that day, had she gone into the lake to retrieve the diary?
Since hearing the surname Riddle at the beginning of the school year, Ethan had paid close attention to this girl.
And after she demonstrated her Parseltongue ability, he had grown more cautious.
*But how do I confirm if the diary is with her?* Ethan pondered this puzzling question.
"Ethan, what are you looking at?" Just as he was staring at the journal, deep in thought, a curious female voice asked from beside him.
"Nothing, just thinking about the upcoming exams." Ethan turned to see the black-haired girl looking curiously at the water below.
"Oh, this is where you usually sit, right? Go ahead, sit down. I'll get going." Ethan felt a moment of confusion, almost seeing the noseless Dark Lord possessing Nancy.
But through his special vision, there was still only that tormented soul inside Nancy's body, and if anything, it seemed to be suffering even more.
"No, you sit. I can find somewhere else." The common room was quiet now. Most people were in their dormitories studying. The few students remaining had found quiet corners, practicing spells or reading.
"No need, I was just leaving anyway." Ethan stood up and walked toward the dormitory.
Just as he reached the entrance to the boys' dormitory, he couldn't help glancing back. At that same moment, the girl happened to be looking at him too.
They stared at each other, both startled, then turned away at the same time.
"Why is she looking at me?" Ethan muttered to himself, feeling slightly awkward. His steps didn't falter.
*Did he notice something?* Watching Ethan disappear through the door, the girl felt her heart skip a beat.
*What is that?* The girl sat there the way Ethan usually did, as though checking whether today's underwater scene looked any different.
*Another notebook? Fortunately...*
A little while later, the Slytherin prefect entered Ethan's dormitory and asked if anyone had seen a black leather-bound notebook.
Of course, they all shook their heads.
After a quick check, Marcus Flint moved on to the other dormitories to continue his search.
"That was pretty crude, but with exams coming up, there's really no better way." Ethan shook his head.
"What's wrong with the black diary? Why the sudden questions?" Draco's surprise seemed genuine. It looked like he truly didn't know about Voldemort's diary.
"Maybe something important is written inside," Ethan answered casually.
That wasn't exactly wrong, either, except that this important thing was a piece of a soul.
That night, Ethan snuck out to the library and checked the books in the Restricted Section.
Sure enough, *Secrets of the Darkest Art* was missing, along with several other Dark Magic books.
"Good grief, I still have a few books I haven't read!" At such a sensitive time, Ethan didn't take any books. He just left the library quietly.
Lying in bed, Ethan kept turning over the connection between Nancy and the diary.
Finally, after tossing and turning for more than an hour, Ethan made a decision. *I'm done thinking about it. I'll dump this problem on Dumbledore tomorrow and let him find the evidence. As an Occlumency master and the Headmaster, he'll figure it out.*
Even though the next day was Saturday, with exams approaching, Snape had no time to teach him.
So Ethan headed to the Headmaster's office after breakfast.
"Please come in," a weary voice called after Ethan knocked.
The moment the door opened, Ethan saw Dumbledore in his pajamas, hunched over his desk, writing something.
The old man glanced up at him. "Ethan, what brings you here?" he asked casually.
He didn't slow down. After finishing a piece of parchment, he set it on a waiting envelope and added it to the stack of other completed letters to be sent out.
Ethan noticed several familiar books on the desk, the very ones that had vanished from the Restricted Section last night.
Clearly, Dumbledore had gone through them last night, found the information on Horcruxes, and apparently hadn't slept at all.
Just as Ethan had suspected.
After staying up to read through several books, Dumbledore had finally confirmed the secret of Voldemort's immortality. At the same time, he wondered if, besides this diary, now confirmed as a Horcrux, Voldemort had other anchors.
Dumbledore's reasoning was sound, given Voldemort's attitude toward the diary.
The diary was just an ordinary item, commonplace in the Muggle world. It barely qualified as a personal possession, but based on his understanding of Voldemort, Tom wasn't the type to settle for something so mundane.
Moreover, according to the texts, a Horcrux's vessel generally required careful protection to prevent its destruction.
But if his guess was correct, this diary, functioning as a Horcrux, had likely been handed off to Lucius Malfoy without any special safeguards.
So, Dumbledore reasonably concluded that Voldemort must have created more than one Horcrux.
Based on the date in the diary, Dumbledore was virtually certain it was a Horcrux Tom had made while still at school.
After figuring this out, he wrote to the professors who had taught Voldemort, asking whether they had any leads.
"I came to ask about Horcruxes." After casting a Muffliato, Ethan laid his cards on the table.
"Horcruxes? How do you know about this kind of thing?" Dumbledore's hands froze mid-gesture. He looked up sharply, fixing Ethan with a piercing gaze.
"Did Tom tell you about this last year?" The old man paused for a moment, then rose from behind the desk and sat down across from Ethan, casting a Muffliato as he did so.
"No, I figured it out myself. The Shafiq family has a long history, after all. We have records of such things at home." Ethan shook his head, still concealing how he had snuck into the Restricted Section at night to find the method for creating Horcruxes.
"You're quite clever." The old man's gaze flicked to the books on the desk.
"No, I need to clean up the Restricted Section. There's too much dangerous material in there. One mistake, and we might create a second Voldemort," the old man decided quietly.
Ethan offered only a polite smile and continued, "Voldemort's diary hasn't been found yet, has it?"
"Indeed. After Minerva and the others investigated last night, they found that several Muggle-born students were using black leather-bound diaries, but upon examination, none matched the one Ron once possessed.
"Moreover, the merpeople in the Black Lake couldn't determine exactly who had taken the diary." Recalling his conversation with the merpeople last night and the reports from the various Heads of House, the old man felt a nasty headache coming on.
"Can I report someone? I think she's very suspicious."
"Who?"
"Nancy Riddle."
"Her."
Dumbledore absently stroked his beard. "Tell me your evidence. I trust you wouldn't accuse someone without basis."
"Yeah, I ran a test last night..." Ethan told Dumbledore everything about yesterday's events and all the unusual behavior he had observed in Nancy.
"Is that so? Severus did mention yesterday that Miss Riddle had a black leather-bound diary." The old man fell into deep thought.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled for a moment. Finally, he said regretfully, "From what you've told me, Nancy Riddle is certainly suspicious. But without the diary, we can't investigate her based on suspicion alone."
"Really?" Ethan said doubtfully.
*As a Legilimency master, why would Dumbledore need a formal investigation? He could simply steer the conversation that way while talking to Nancy and easily extract her memories of the matter.*
"Of course. If you have nothing else, go back and prepare for your exams." The old man smiled, as if he had sensed something.
"Uh, speaking of which, I still have a question to ask." Ethan, who had stood up to leave, suddenly thought of someone: Lockhart.
So he sat back down. "Can Lockhart be arrested before our exams? I heard from my grandfather that an Armenian wizard whose story he stole has recovered most of his memories and is coming to the UK to testify against him."
"Um, about that." The old man blinked, clearly reluctant to answer. But under Ethan's relentless questioning, he finally shared some details:
"Originally, I planned to wait until the holiday and then coordinate with the Ministry of Magic to take action, to minimize the impact.
"But after I saw the questions Lockhart set for Defense Against the Dark Arts, I changed my mind. I'll act after you finish your exams. Lockhart, what kind of questions did he set?"
The old man was clearly frustrated. Lockhart had used his usual tricks, filling the test with questions that only his fans would care about.
"So will our Defense Against the Dark Arts grades even count?"
"I've already ordered Lockhart to revise the questions. We'll see how it goes." Even Dumbledore wasn't sure whether his order would do any good.
"All right."
Ethan left. Dumbledore returned to his desk to finish his letters.
Then he wrote a note and sent Fawkes to deliver it to Snape.
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