To prevent complications, Pettigrew had to be sent to Azkaban as soon as possible. After Cyberlina left the office, Dumbledore composed himself and went to the hospital wing. Under Pomfrey's dark look, he drew the curtains around Harry's bed—Harry's arm had actually healed yesterday, but Pomfrey thought he looked far too much in need of rest, so she had pinned him in the hospital wing for an entire day to let him recover before returning to class—and now, just as Harry had slept soundly until the afternoon, Dumbledore had come looking for him again!
What could possibly be so important that a young wizard had to know about it? She suspected Harry would have trouble sleeping again tonight.
Harry, still groggy from just waking up, looked at Dumbledore in confusion as he cast a Silencing Charm around them and then sat at the foot of Harry's bed to tell him what had happened in the past.
After hearing only two sentences, Harry was wide awake. He sat up straight, his eyes reddening as he stared earnestly at Dumbledore, gripping the blankets while he listened to the entire story.
"Headmaster... can I go see him?" Harry's voice was choked with emotion. "See my... godfather."
"You can't visit Azkaban, and you need to wait until Sirius is released, my boy." Harry lowered his head, and Dumbledore patted his hand. "But if you want to watch this interrogation, I can help you apply for permission."
Harry abruptly raised his head, then hesitantly asked, "Would that be troublesome for you?"
"No, it wouldn't." Dumbledore smiled. "But if you're willing to ask Cyber for help... that would make things easier."
Harry remembered the Daily Prophet Hermione had brought him during lunch. It had reported that Hagrid had been exonerated, but the accompanying photograph was of Cyberlina. Wearing her school robes, she stood calmly among a crowd of adult wizards in suits and floor-length robes, smiling composedly.
It was clearly just an ordinary photograph, yet several young wizards had been incredibly excited by it.
What puzzled Harry was that the newspaper had not described the process of Hagrid's exoneration in detail, or even explained the specifics of the case. It merely emphasized that Cyberlina and Dumbledore were among the witnesses, without saying what the witnesses had proved. It was almost as though that page of the newspaper existed solely to display the photograph.
"All right. I'll ask her." Harry nodded, then glanced at the diary beneath his pillow. He was hesitating over whether to tell Dumbledore what he had heard from Dobby the night before last. After all, he wasn't sure whether it was accurate.
Dumbledore noticed his movement and hesitation, then said, "Actually, Cyber isn't very eager to go to the Ministry of Magic."
"Hm?" Harry looked at Dumbledore in confusion.
"So if you want to persuade her to help you attend, you'd better say a little more." Dumbledore blinked. "She's very willing to help others."
Harry froze for a moment, then understood at once. "I'll ask her more questions!"
Harry had thought he would have to wait until the next day to find Cyberlina, but he ended up lingering in the hospital wing for a while longer. Just as he finished packing and was about to return to the dormitory, he saw Cyberlina and Snape enter the hospital wing, each supporting a redhead—no, Snape was actually gripping one by the collar. Harry wondered whether it truly wasn't tiring to keep his arm raised so high.
"Good heavens, what happened?" Pomfrey appeared at the entrance of the hospital wing at once. "Oh, you two Weasley boys, where did you go and get yourselves into this state again?"
Only then did Harry notice that both Weasley twins were smeared with blood. The one Snape was holding—whether George or Fred, Harry couldn't tell—was clutching his own arm and keeping it perfectly still.
Snape looked especially grim, and the anger in his voice was obvious. "These two geniuses thought they could play Quidditch in the corridor."
"We weren't—"
Fred, supported by Cyberlina, tried to say something, but Cyberlina lightly patted his arm and stopped him.
"They used flying broomsticks in the corridor and fell onto those suits of armor." As she explained, Cyberlina helped Fred onto the nearest bed, while Snape grimly carried George to another.
"Oh, you two—" Pomfrey seemed about to scold them, but in the end said nothing. She pressed her lips together and began examining the two boys' injuries with a stern expression.
"And you, Severus." Cyberlina looked at Snape. "Your arm. Hold it out."
Those words drew everyone's attention in the hospital wing to Snape's other arm, which had been pressed against his side from the beginning.
Snape's expression stiffened. He quietly moved the arm behind his back and said coldly, "I'm fine."
"Severus, if you're hurt, you can't hide it!" Pomfrey said. "Let Cyber take a look. Don't you trust her healing magic?"
Under the gazes of two senior Slytherins and three young Gryffindors, Snape's expression grew even darker.
—Wait, three?
Snape abruptly turned to look at Harry. Harry instinctively dodged to the side and hid behind the shaking curtain—then closed his eyes. What was he doing? What was there to hide from?
"Ha, I almost forgot that our Quidditch-winning savior had also fallen from his broom—"
"You two can argue later. Deal with the injuries first." Cyberlina walked around to Snape's other side and carefully examined the wound on his shoulder before letting out a breath of relief. "Fortunately, the swords on those suits of armor are ordinary blades. A spell will heal it."
As she spoke, Cyberlina raised her wand and lightly touched it to the fairly deep wound. Snape felt a breeze pass over the injury, and the pain immediately weakened. Then he saw the wound close completely. Cyberlina also used a Mending Charm to repair his torn sleeve and outer robe.
Snape kept his face taut. His mouth moved for a long while before he finally forced out, "...Thank you."
—She had treated his injuries twice today.
"You're welcome." Cyberlina smiled as she put away her wand, clearly pleased by his honesty. "All right, you and Harry can continue arguing."
Snape: "..." He absolutely hated the way she spoke to him as though he were a child!
So he looked at Harry.
Harry, who had suddenly found himself glared at by Snape, poked half his head out from behind the curtain. "..." If you have the nerve, go glare at Cyberlina!
Nearby, Pomfrey treated the twins—one with a broken leg, the other with a broken arm—and couldn't help asking, "What made you think of riding broomsticks through the corridor?"
"We were looking for our pet."
"He went missing."
The Weasley twins spoke one sentence each.
"But we were afraid of disturbing other people."
"So we thought flying above everyone's heads would be better."
Pomfrey: "...Wouldn't that make everyone see you?" She felt that the two Gryffindor boys simply wanted to ride broomsticks through a crowded corridor.
"We have secret treasures!"
"No one would see us."
"We've tried it many times." The two spoke in unison, completely unconcerned that they were currently in front of two professors and a disguised student.
After all, if they had never been caught before, it was as good as never having done it.
Pomfrey also knew that the two boys possessed plenty of strange and unusual items. After setting George's healed arm down, she said irritably, "Then how did you miscalculate this time? Not only did you injure yourselves, you hurt someone else as well."
"Heh..." Snape, who had been listening from the side, sneered and looked at Cyberlina.
Cyberlina smiled and looked back at him with perfect justification.
This had absolutely nothing to do with her!
Because she had recognized the Weasley twins' talent for alchemy from the beginning, she had been giving them various small items she had made herself, intending to guide them gradually.
Among them were several disposable invisibility blankets she had crafted in imitation of the Invisibility Cloak years ago.
However, she had a habit of leaving a mark recognizable only to herself on everything she made.
Thus, after finishing her conversation with Snape and returning to Hogwarts through the map, she had seen the mark of her own alchemical item floating in the air and quickly realized who was beneath it.
At the same time, she had been a little puzzled—there was still some time before curfew. Why had those two already used the invisibility blanket?
So she pretended not to notice and led Snape along another route toward the dungeons. But after passing around a corner, she stopped immediately, cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself, and turned back to follow the invisible blanket.
Snape had no interest in getting involved in her affairs, so he continued along the path. Although it was a little farther, it still led to his office.
Who could have known that the Weasley twins' destination was also underground? Without the Marauder's Map, they ran into Snape yet again—and once again stopped in time.
This time, however, Snape retained the sharpness he usually displayed while patrolling at night. He quickly noticed that something was wrong with the activity around him, drew his wand, and approached the twins' direction with narrowed eyes.
Seeing that things were going badly, the twins immediately continued forward and even sped up. But the blanket was of limited length. Though they worked together perfectly, their increased speed still exposed the tip of a broomstick.
Already on alert, Snape instinctively cast a spell at the suddenly exposed object. Cyberlina, who had been following the twins under a Disillusionment Charm, blocked it with a spell. Snape's spell collided with Cyberlina's. No one was injured, but the blanket was damaged and stopped working.
The Weasley twins were exposed in front of Snape.
They instinctively tried to speed away, but after the damaged blanket fell, one end caught on the tail of George's broomstick while the other tangled around the magical armor beneath them. Thus, when they accelerated, George was violently jerked backward. Fred and George were flying almost side by side, so Fred was pulled backward as well.
Snape reacted extremely quickly. The moment the magical armor swung its twin blades, he cast a Petrification Spell and froze them. This allowed George and Fred to fall directly onto the ground instead of onto the blades.
However, when Snape hurried forward to scold them and instinctively placed himself between George and the magical armor, the extended blade accidentally cut his arm.
"So, Poppy, you see? This really had nothing to do with me, right?" Cyberlina said to Pomfrey with a smile.
Pomfrey pressed her lips together slightly. This really had nothing to do with Cyberlina, yet somehow her shadow seemed to be everywhere...
Old or young, they were all such a headache!
So after healing Fred's leg, Pomfrey bundled all of them out of the hospital wing.
"I almost forgot." Snape's face was stiff as he turned sideways and glanced at the Gryffindors. "Riding brooms in the corridor. Twenty points from Gryffindor."
Then, right in front of everyone, he summoned a time spell and gave a soft, mocking laugh. "It seems you won't make it back to your dormitory before curfew, so—"
"Deal!" Cyberlina stuffed the Marauder's Map into George's hands.
The Weasley twins glanced at Snape's gloomy expression, then exchanged a look. Within seconds, they took the map and relocated to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room—not forgetting to reach out and take the brooms Cyberlina had left at the hospital wing entrance.
Snape: "...Cyberlina Sekerei!"
—The thought that she was a good senior while they were in the Forbidden Forest had definitely been an illusion!
Facing the enraged Snape, Cyberlina smiled brightly and put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "I still need to go find Albus with Harry. Good night, Severus."
After saying that, she swiftly turned and led Harry away.
Harry looked up at her in confusion. "But Headmaster Dumbledore already came to see me this afternoon."
"But you look as though you have something to tell me." Cyberlina lowered her head and smiled at him.
Harry immediately nodded. "Yes, Senior Cyberlina."
"Then tell me. What is it?" Seeing that they had already moved far away from the hospital wing, Cyberlina slowed her steps. "It's all right. Minerva is on night patrol tonight. With me here, she won't take points from you."
Harry first told Cyberlina that he wanted to attend the hearing as an observer—but he didn't mention that Dumbledore had suggested it.
However, after hearing him out, Cyberlina raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Albus told you to ask me?"
Harry paused, then slowly gave a small nod.
"That's not all, is it?" Cyberlina shook her head with a smile. "If that were all, he wouldn't have sent you to ask me—because I already answered that question for him."
Harry widened his eyes and nodded, then took out Riddle's diary and repeated everything the poor house-elf Dobby had said the night before last—from Dobby stopping him from returning to school, to Dobby attacking him with a Bludger, to Dobby mentioning the Chamber of Secrets, and finally to Harry testing whether Dobby had seen the diary before.
"So, Harry, your conclusion is..." Cyberlina smiled as she watched Harry think.
"Ron said that house-elves have masters of their own. And whenever I asked Dobby for details, he started apologizing and saying he couldn't talk..." Harry looked seriously at Cyberlina. "So I think Dobby's master put Voldemort's diary into Hogwarts. His master is a Death Eater, and this might have been something Voldemort ordered him to do!"
"But Harry, there's a part of Voldemort inside this." Cyberlina placed a finger on the diary. "And this part... only awakened after it arrived at Hogwarts."
Harry tilted his head in confusion at first. After thinking for several seconds, he looked at the diary in his hand and recalled some of his conversations with Riddle—
"Ah! The Voldemort inside the diary doesn't know that he once came to Hogwarts!" Harry looked excitedly at Cyberlina. "So Voldemort didn't put it here himself!"
"Good, Harry. I think your guess is correct." Cyberlina added, "Although house-elves can Apparate within Hogwarts, that doesn't mean every house-elf can do so. They need permission. Otherwise, couldn't the house-elves of dark wizards simply come and go as they pleased?"
"So Dobby was allowed to enter Hogwarts?" Harry frowned.
"What were you doing when you were hit by the Bludger?" Cyberlina asked with a smile.
"Playing Quidditch—ah! I understand now. People from outside the school came to watch the Quidditch match!"
"Correct, Harry." Cyberlina stroked the diary's cover, the corners of her lips curving upward. "I once heard Fred and George say that their father got into a fight with Draco's father in Diagon Alley. Is that true?"
"Yes. I was completely stunned at the time." Harry nodded repeatedly, then suddenly froze. He jerked his head up. "Are you talking about Malfoy?"
"Coincidentally, his family consists of former Death Eaters." Cyberlina's smile deepened. "They're also one of the Ministry of Magic's sponsors. Albus is... trying to get me to warn the Malfoy family, isn't he? He really knows how to make use of people."
Harry said nothing. He silently lowered his head and pretended to admire the diary. He had a feeling that the headmaster was about to have a very bad time.
Before you continue