After trying several passwords Dumbledore had used before and finding that none of them worked on the Stone Beast before them, Harry gave up on further attempts. All three realized Snape had changed the Stone Beast's password, and their feelings grew especially complicated. That almost meant Snape had become Hogwarts's headmaster.
Only the headmaster had the authority to do that.
They could only stand before the Stone Beast and patiently wait for Albert to come fetch them.
"Why don't you ask Albert what the password is?" Ron asked Hermione, glancing sideways at her as he used the Marauder's Map to keep watch on their surroundings.
"Probably not. He likely used some kind of spell," Hermione guessed.
"What spell?"
"Ask him yourself later."
"Do you think Albert found Ravenclaw's Diadem ages ago?" Harry interrupted their conversation. "He's clever. If we could find those clues, he definitely could too. It probably wouldn't be hard for him to get the Grey Lady to tell the truth."
"Albert isn't someone who likes lying." Hermione shot Harry a glance. "Besides, would that really mean anything?"
"Dumbledore was an informed person too?"
"That's inevitable."
"Dumbledore obviously had no reason to lie to us about this." Harry had entertained similar thoughts, but quickly suppressed them. Just as Hermione had said, Dumbledore had no need to conceal the Horcruxes' locations. More than anyone, he wanted to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes.
"But they must have known long ago that the Grey Lady was Ravenclaw's daughter," Ron pointed out. "That guy's brain works better than the three of ours put together."
"While your praise makes me happy, I don't think you need to put yourself down at all. People's upper limits may differ, but their lower limits are actually not that different." Albert came down the spiraling stone staircase above and