It Was Indeed Him

It Really Was Him

"Charles, listen to me!"

In the abandoned classroom, Harry carefully told Charles everything about the Gringotts robbery, the room guarded by the Three-Headed Dog, his suspicions of Snape, and who Nicolas Flamel was.

Charles fell into deep thought after hearing him and gained a little insight.

If someone had really thrown a Wood-boring Fly into the Second Greenhouse, that person must have had some motive. Otherwise, they would never have risked being expelled to do it.

Starting from motive, the greenhouse only contained the herbs used for Hogwarts Herbology classes and the plants they had cultivated themselves. As far as things currently stood, no one had any reason to sabotage Herbology classes. But if someone wanted to destroy plants they had cultivated themselves, the motive would be that they had a grudge against that person.

Charles had already filtered through everyone at Hogwarts who might hold a grudge against him the previous night. Eleanor's suitors could be ruled out; they only regarded him as a brat. Snape had no deep hatred for him and was even less likely to sabotage Herbology lessons. Voldemort would only do this if Hagrid had kicked him in the head. In the end, only one person remained.

He remembered Malfoy's inexplicably provocative smile when he had just returned to the castle. Looking back on it now, Malfoy might have known what had happened. He also had a grudge against Charles and a motive to commit the crime.

Charles only had suspicions and no further evidence to confirm them, so he had merely prepared some Truth Serum, intending to use it after finding evidence.

Now he had decided to assume Malfoy was the culprit, just as Harry and the others had suspected Snape, and then search for clues.

Seeing Charles deep in thought, Harry assumed he was considering what he had just said.

Who could have guessed that Charles would say to him, "Look into this carefully. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first."

With that, he left the abandoned classroom without looking back, leaving Harry and the other two members of the trio staring at one another.

Malfoy had been knocked unconscious in the explosion at the Quidditch pitch today and was still hospitalized in the Hospital Wing. This was a good opportunity to make his move.

It was just that it was already late. Dumbledore might go to the kitchens at any moment to get a bedtime drink. Whenever students were hospitalized, he would come by to ask about their condition.

Charles checked the things in his Bag of Holding and discovered that the Polyjuice Potion he had bought in Knockturn Alley before the start of term had been used up on Halloween Eve. To be absolutely certain, he could only find a new supply.

"Polyjuice Potion?" Eleanor frowned as she looked at Charles. "This potion... involves a lot of issues. What do you want it for?"

Charles hesitated for a moment, then said very seriously, "Sorry, I can't tell you, but I promise I won't use it to do anything bad."

What he was about to do was somewhat dangerous. If he were discovered, he might really end up in Azkaban, so he had to keep Eleanor out of it.

Eleanor looked into Charles's resolute eyes and pointed at the potion rack beside the laboratory. "There's a bottle of Draught of Living Death over there."

Charles said, "Thank you."

After speaking, he put on a pair of gloves, went to the potion rack, and found the bottles labeled Draught of Living Death and Polyjuice Potion. He then dripped two drops of the Draught of Living Death into Eleanor's teapot.

Eleanor poured herself a cup of tea and said to Charles with a smile, "The floor is cold right now."

After saying that, she drank the tea without hesitation.

Charles carried the sleeping Eleanor to the bed and settled her there. He then selected a strand from the hair he had prepared long ago and prepared to put it into the Polyjuice Potion.

At that moment, he hesitated. After thinking for a while, he put the Polyjuice Potion into his Bag of Holding, swapped wands with the Old Man, and tucked the Bag of Holding beneath the bed. He put the Draught of Living Death into his pocket, took out the House-elf magic shoe-insole Portkey, adjusted its coordinates, and then walked out of the laboratory.

The castle was silent at night. Only Filch's footsteps on patrol and Peeves's singing could be heard from time to time.

The Hospital Wing office was brightly lit. Various potion bottles filled the surrounding shelves. Madam Pomfrey was quietly reading a book and did not notice a drop of water silently flying into her teacup.

She yawned, picked up the teacup, and took a sip of slightly cool black tea. Two seconds later, she slumped over the desk and fell asleep.

In the ward nearby, a potion bottle appeared out of thin air. A drop of Draught of Living Death fell into the mouth of a sleeping student, ensuring that he would not wake for quite some time.

Malfoy was in the bed beside him. He had long since felt that there was nothing wrong with him, but Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he remain there for the night under observation, just like the person who had been hit by him.

He had originally been asleep, but he suddenly sensed a strange taste in his mouth and woke up at once.

"What's your name?"

The sudden voice startled Malfoy, but he discovered that the bedsheets had wrapped his body tightly, leaving him unable even to move his neck.

The voice seemed familiar to him, but its emotionless tone was so terrifying and unfamiliar.

"Draco Malfoy."

Malfoy had been given Truth Serum and could not lie, but he could choose not to answer. However, the Malfoy family had stood tall for so long because they knew when to back down, so he answered every question.

A voice as cold as liquid nitrogen asked, "What bad things have you done recently?"

Malfoy immediately babbled about all the bad things he had done lately, most of which involved bullying students in his year.

"I really hate Smith, so I bought a piece of wood with a Wood-boring Fly in it and threw it into the greenhouse where he grew flowers..."

Charles heard the information he wanted, but he was running out of time.

"Homenum Revelio!"

Dumbledore's voice rang out in the ward. There had originally been nothing beside Malfoy's bed. After the spell, a blue human-shaped silhouette appeared first, followed by the figure of someone wearing a Hogwarts uniform.

"Charles?"

Dumbledore froze, not expecting it to be him. But in the next moment, he asked sternly, "Who are you?"

The person beside the bed looked not merely similar to Charles, but exactly identical to him. Yet their bearing was completely different—cold and ruthless, reminding Dumbledore of Grindelwald and Voldemort.

Charles saluted Dumbledore in a very ancient manner and said with some emotion, "Albus Dumbledore, long time no see. You've grown old too."

Dumbledore stared intently at him and pointed the Elder Wand at him. In an even sterner voice, he asked again, "Who are you?"

"Cut off one head, and two will grow in its place," Charles said slowly. "You can call me Steve Rogers."

"We should have met long ago, but on the day I went to find you, you were in the barn. I did not wish to disturb you, so I could only come another day. I didn't expect to receive a more important mission soon afterward. It was only today that we were finally able to meet."

Dumbledore's brows furrowed even more deeply. It would have been one thing if the man had mentioned something else, but he had brought up the barn and implied that he knew what had happened inside. That made it impossible to determine his true background.

Charles continued, "We hold you in great respect and have no intention of becoming your enemy. Although our visit this time was somewhat offensive, no one was harmed. My compensation will satisfy you."

"I'll leave after asking Mr. Malfoy one question. I suspect you also want to know the answer."

Dumbledore's face darkened. Light gleamed at the tip of the Elder Wand, but he did not cast a spell.

"Mr. Malfoy," Charles asked, "was the thing that caused your family's house to explode a blue cube? It looked like crystal, with light radiating outward from its core."

Malfoy immediately answered nervously, "No! There's nothing like that in my house!"

At this point, Dumbledore asked, "Then what was it?"

He was very curious about this person's origins. He appeared to belong to some organization, so whatever they had gone to such lengths to infiltrate Hogwarts and search for certainly was not an ordinary object.

Charles answered, "I don't know. That year, we wanted to invite you to study it with us, but just as I was preparing to visit you again, it was stolen. The last time it appeared was on June 30, 1908, in Tunguska, Siberia. Its whereabouts have been unknown ever since."

"We suspect it was created by wizards from another planet."

Before Dumbledore could say or do anything else, Charles said, "I should be going back. I suggest you take a look at Advanced Dark Magic Revealed."

With that, he activated the shoe-insole Portkey and disappeared from the ward.

Dumbledore merely watched him leave in silence, his brows deeply furrowed.

He went over to examine Malfoy, then asked what had happened just now.

Malfoy answered truthfully, including all the bad things he had done.

At that moment, Charles appeared in Eleanor's laboratory. He immediately went to the study, poured himself a cup of tea containing Draught of Living Death, drank it, and held it in his mouth. The teacup fell casually to the floor. He then went to the bedroom, removed his clothes and shoes, folded them neatly, and placed them at the foot of the bed. After storing the Old Man's wand in the Bag of Holding, he placed it on top of the clothes, cast two Cleaning Charms on himself, and finally lay down beside Eleanor in the pose of a body awaiting its final farewell before swallowing the tea.