Grub's Disappearance

"It's not hard to understand Riddle's choice." Dumbledore glanced at Xiwen and suddenly said, "Xiwen, let me ask you: If you were someone with a strong competitive spirit and an extreme desire to improve your strength, and now someone your age is constantly overshadowing you, how would you feel?"

Xiwen paused for a moment.

It seems that this is indeed the case. His existence is like a mountain on Riddle's head, pressing down on him ever since he enrolled, and never wavering.

Especially as this mountain continues to grow taller, like an unyielding and ever-growing peak that shakes the skies of the Wizarding World, one can only imagine the despair of those trapped beneath it.

When Riddle learns that Xiwen has the power to challenge Grindelwald, the most powerful dark wizard in the Wizarding World, what feelings of despair and helplessness will he experience?

Therefore, it is conceivable that Riddle must have wanted to find some alternative ways to improve his strength, so he thought of the ancient Pure-blood families to which his mother belonged, and set off for Little Hangleton to find the bloodline left behind by Slytherin.

However, the Gaunt family, which had long since fallen into decline, didn't offer him many ways to improve his strength. Instead, he only had a sickly uncle who constantly mocked his origins. So Riddle used his power to take revenge on his Muggle father and framed his sarcastic uncle for it.

"So I still bear a great deal of responsibility after all," Xiwen sighed and said.

"No, you bear no responsibility, Xiwen," Newt said to Xiwen. "You've done enough. What other young wizards grow up to be is not something you can control. This situation is simply Riddle's own nature."

"Yes, Xiwen, don't blame yourself too much," Dumbledore chimed in with a smile. "Tom is the product of the Amortentia between Merope Gaunt and old Tom Riddle. From birth, he was destined not to possess such a powerful emotion as 'love.' Coldness and selfishness are only to be expected."

"Albus, is this why you warned me to be wary of Tom Riddle?" Headmaster Dippet asked, looking at Dumbledore.

"It's not because of that, after all, I didn't know Tom was a product of the Amortentia at that time," Dumbledore shook his head and said. "It's just that Tom's behavior at the orphanage was very domineering, he showed no consideration for the other children's feelings, and he was good at lying. So I wanted to remind you to be careful."

"So this is what Tom was like before he came to Hogwarts?" Headmaster Dippet nodded slightly, his expression still seeming somewhat regretful.

Just then, Newt spoke up and asked, "So, Miss Mannis's petrification was a curse Riddle created himself?"

"It shouldn't be," Xiwen shook his head and explained to Newt. "Having spent these past few years with Riddle, I know him fairly well."

"Riddle doesn't actually like spending time and energy creating his own spells. He prefers to focus his energy on learning powerful spells invented by others to quickly increase his power, or to concentrate on finding ways to escape death."

"If this isn't Riddle's own spell, and we've never heard of it before, then what kind of magic could it be?" Headmaster Dippet asked.

Dumbledore, then turned his gaze to the ground, where Mannis had stood earlier.

"Look here, didn't Tom say the real murderer is in the Chamber of Secrets!" He looked at the blood-red writing on the floor and whispered to Xiwen and the others. "There might be a powerful Fantastic Beasts in the Chamber of Secrets that can turn people to stone instantly, or of course, it's possible that Riddle is just creating a mystery."

"So we need to take control of Riddle immediately?" Xiwen asked.

"We're just speculating, after all; we don't have concrete evidence," Headmaster Dippet said cautiously, shaking his head subconsciously. "Let's have a few House-Elf monitor him first, and then we can catch one of them when the time is right."

Xiwen originally wanted to refute, but suddenly remembered that when he was a first-year student, he disliked Headmaster Dippet's cautious approach, so he called the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic to choose a more drastic method to forcibly arrest Professor Lore, which indirectly led to the destruction of the castle's third Magic Node.

So he swallowed his rebuttal, nodded slightly, and said, "I understand."

"However, there's no need to send House-Elf to monitor Riddle; I have other, more suitable methods."

Nighttime is when ghosts roam Hogwarts Castle.

The Ghost Xiwen made a rare appearance in the Ghost Hall and, using his authority in the Ghost Council, summoned most of the castle's ghosts.

After the meeting, a large number of ghosts quickly sprang into action, some spreading silently around Riddle's dormitory, while others occupied all the paths he might take.

A larger portion of the ghosts wander endlessly within Hogwarts Castle, searching for the Chamber of Secrets left behind by Slytherin.

Ghosts are beings that can bypass all physical obstacles, allowing them to track a person's movements quickly and easily. In addition, their transparent bodies and the fact that they can easily make young wizards feel cold all over mean that young wizards often don't pay much attention to the movements and actions of ghosts.

In addition, since the ghosts liked to wander around the castle anyway, the fact that there were only a few more ghosts in a small area was not enough to attract the attention of the proud and confident Riddle.

However, whether Riddle had reformed, wanted to wait a little longer, or whether Xiwen others had truly misunderstood him, the ghosts had not sent any useful information.

At the ghost meeting on the second day, Ghost Xiwen looked at the ghosts sitting around the ghost table, his expression not too pleasant.

"Tell me, what information have you gathered about Riddle?" he began.

The ghosts all shook their heads, wondering why Riddle was simply sitting quietly in his room staring out the window instead of searching for Chamber of Secrets.

Just then, the Fat Friar suddenly said with some worry, "Did you see that kid Grub tonight? He seems to have disappeared."

"I remember he should have just started enjoying his big meal at this time normally, I don't know why he's gone."