After altering Ginny's and the others' memories, Cyrus finally felt he had tied up all the loose ends.
Now no one else would know that his true form was an utterly unremarkable diary.
Harry and the others were dazed for a moment, then completely forgot that their memories had been altered.
"So, Mar-I mean, Mr. Riddle, have you found anything? Or do you know who opened the Chamber of Secrets last time?" Harry desperately wanted to uncover some secrets so he could find the real culprit and clear his name.
Especially after he had revealed his Parseltongue and Justin had been petrified, almost everyone believed he was the culprit.
"Ginny said you caught the culprit when the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago."
"I did, but I'm afraid you won't want to believe it-" Cyrus put it delicately.
"What do you mean? We need the truth, Mr. Riddle! We can't let the heir keep doing whatever he wants! We think there might be a connection between the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago and the one opening it now!" Harry said anxiously.
"All right. If you're willing, I can take you to see it," Cyrus replied. "You don't have to listen to me tell the story. I can take you into my memory, into the night I caught him."
"But how?"
"Find an empty classroom and wait for me there." Having gone to so much trouble to erase the Diary from their memories, Cyrus certainly wasn't going to take it out in front of them. As it happened, he had previously found a broken Pensieve in the room for hiding things within the Room of Requirement and had casually repaired it.
"I originally prepared that little toy for Draco. I didn't expect it to come in handy now."
After fetching the Pensieve, Cyrus used the Marauder's Map to locate Harry and the others, then hurried straight over.
"How did you know we were here?" Ron asked in surprise when Cyrus found them without any trouble. But his attention was soon drawn to what Cyrus was holding. "Are you-going to wash your face?"
"That's a Pensieve!" Hermione's eyes widened.
"What's a Pensieve?"
"It's an alchemical device that can store the thoughts and memories in your mind." As Cyrus explained, he drew a short strand of silvery memory from his temple with the tip of his wand.
"Think of it this way: a Pensieve lets you and other people see past events again from a third-person perspective. Like watching a film. Understand?"
Cyrus dropped the strand of memory into the Pensieve and stirred it. Soon, the silvery substance turned transparent, looking like glass.
"Follow me."
Cyrus willingly entered his own thoughts. He fell through a cold, dark substance, as though he were being sucked into a black vortex-
"What do we do?" Ron hesitated as he watched Cyrus vanish before his eyes.
"Follow him!" Harry said without hesitation. Before he had even spoken, Ginny had already become the second person to enter the Pensieve. Harry followed, then Hermione, and finally Ron.
Before they could grasp what had happened, they found themselves in a strange new space.
They knew at once where they were.
The circular room, its walls hung with loudly snoring portraits, was Dumbledore's office-but the man sitting behind the desk was not Dumbledore. He was a frail-looking, wizened wizard with only a few wisps of white hair on his bald head, reading a letter by candlelight. Harry had never seen him before.
"That's Professor Dippet. Fifty years ago, he was the headmaster of Hogwarts," Cyrus explained.
He spoke as loudly as usual, which made Harry and the others nervous.
"Sorry,
" Harry said, his voice trembling, "shouldn't we keep our voices down and hide..." But the wizard did not even look up. He continued reading the letter, his brow creasing slightly.
"Don't worry. They can't see us. They're only memories, just like I am," Cyrus explained. Only then did Harry and the others relax.
Then the old wizard sighed, folded the letter, and stood up. He walked past Harry without so much as a glance and went straight over to draw back the curtains.
The sky outside was filled with red clouds; it seemed to be sunset. The wizard returned to his desk and sat down, twiddling his thumbs absently as he watched the door.
Someone knocked on the office door.
[Come in,] the old wizard said in a feeble voice.
A boy of about sixteen entered and took off his pointed hat. A silver Prefect Badge gleamed on his chest. He looked exactly like Cyrus, tall, with black hair and dark eyes.
"That's me," Cyrus explained, though the others could see that without being told.
"He's much better-looking than Lockhart!" Ron nudged Hermione with his elbow, and her face immediately went red.
[Ah, Riddle,] the headmaster said.
[You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?] Riddle asked, looking a little nervous.
[Sit down,] Dippet said. [I've been reading the letter you sent me.]
[Oh,] Riddle said. He sat down, his hands tightly clasped.
[My dear boy,] Dippet said kindly, [I can't let you stay at school over the summer holidays. Surely you'd like to go home for the holidays?]
[No,] Riddle said at once. [I'd rather stay at Hogwarts than go to that-that-]
[You stay at a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, don't you?] Dippet asked curiously.
"Mr. Riddle, you never told me..." Ginny looked at Cyrus with sympathy, her face full of sadness. She had never known that "Mr. Riddle" had such a past.
"It's nothing." Cyrus merely shook his head. "I don't want people to pity me, Ginny."
That, at least, came from the heart. Useless sympathy brought no comfort.
Harry agreed with that more than anyone. He felt closer to Tom Riddle now. Their experiences were so alike. They were almost like brothers born fifty years apart.
[Yes, sir,] Riddle said, blushing slightly.
[Are you Muggle-born?]
[I'm a half-blood, sir,] Riddle said. [My father was a Muggle, and my mother was a witch.]
[And your parents are both-]
[My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the orphanage that she only had time to name me: "Tom," after my father, and the middle name "Marvolo," after my grandfather.]
Dippet clicked his tongue sympathetically.
[The thing is, Tom,] he said with a sigh, [we might have made special arrangements for you, but under the present circumstances...]
[You mean all these attacks, sir?] Riddle asked.
Harry's heart began to race. He moved closer, afraid of missing a single word.
[Precisely,] the headmaster said. [My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be for me to allow you to remain in the castle after term ends. Especially after the recent tragedy... that poor little girl's death... You'll be much safer at the orphanage. To tell you the truth, the Ministry of Magic is even discussing closing the school. We still haven't the slightest idea what-ah-is behind all these unfortunate incidents...]
Riddle's eyes widened.
"You were very upset."
"I just didn't want the school to close. So I had to hand over the culprit, even if he hadn't intended to hurt anyone," Cyrus said calmly. He was preparing Harry and the others for what was to come, deliberately emphasizing "hadn't intended."
Harry could easily understand what the Riddle in the memory was thinking.
Hogwarts always offered the warmest shelter to those who had no home.
It was the first home he had ever known, and the best. He, Mr. Riddle, and other abandoned boys had all found a home here...
Before you continue