Voldemort

"Long time no see, Mr. Gargoyle. Thank you for the portrait you drew of me." That evening, Brian spoke to the gargoyle outside the Headmaster's Office. "Is Professor Dumbledore in his office?"

The gargoyle said nothing and stared blankly at Brian.

Brian knew it was playing dumb, so he decided to try to make the Gargoyle speak and continued asking:

"Don't you get lonely, being a statue here all by yourself? Would you like another gargoyle to come and keep you company? There's another lone gargoyle in the second-floor corridor. Do you two know each other?"

The gargoyle's gaze grew even blanker as it stared back at Brian.

"All right, all right. Thank you for listening to me ramble." Brian gave up and spoke the password. "Mead."

The gargoyle immediately moved, revealing the spiral staircase that led to the office.

The furnishings in Dumbledore's office had not changed at all since his last visit-except that Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.

Noticing the visitor, Fawkes regarded Brian with gentle eyes, flapped his wings twice, and gave a soft cry.

"Hello, Fawkes." Brian greeted the lovely bird. "Where's Dumbledore?"

"I'm down here." Dumbledore's voice came from beneath the long desk. "Just a moment, Brian. I'm tidying up the wine cellar. There's a bottle of tequila here with an illegible vintage, and I'm wondering where best to put it."

"In your stomach."

Brian answered without hesitation,

"How are you going to get out? Apparition? I remember that spell isn't allowed at Hogwarts-so... is that a privilege reserved for the headmaster?"

"Quite right."

Dumbledore appeared before the desk with a swish, holding a bottle of tequila with a yellowed cork, and said with a warm smile,

"Several members of staff have mentioned you to me. It seems you've had a productive couple of days."

"I imagine it was mostly Snape and Hagrid."

Brian felt no particular pressure around Dumbledore. He quite naturally pulled up a chair and sat down,

"Your robes today look much nicer than the ones you wore when we first met."

Dumbledore wore sky-blue robes embroidered with stars, which made him look as though he were glowing. Brian had seen similar designs at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and not one had cost less than five hundred Galleons.

"And Minerva... thank you. I'm very fond of these robes."

Dumbledore said happily,

"'Dumbledore, come to the Ministry of Magic at once!'-that was how it went. Fudge sounded so stern in the letter he sent summoning me to the Ministry that day, I had to dress to match his mood."

"I don't have any fond feelings for the Ministry of Magic right now... I hope you aren't planning to go out today. I have a lot to tell you."

Brian considered it. The students' safety had to come first,

"There's very likely a basilisk in Hogwarts, but I don't know whether it's still alive."

"...Hagrid didn't mention that to me last night." Dumbledore poured him a glass. "You've worked out that the monster is a basilisk in just one day?"

"I'm pretty sure of it," Brian said firmly. "An acromantula made a great sacrifice to help me reach that conclusion. It was so frightened that it forgot how to spin a web. I'd say that's fairly convincing."

Before coming to Dumbledore's office, he had made a trip to the Forbidden Forest and found One Hundred and Eighty-Eight of Aragog's grandsons—when he mentioned the word basilisk, Number One Hundred Eighty-Eight had been so terrified that he fell off his web and turned into a bush.

"I haven't caught any prey all day, and now you come and frighten me with that nightmare of a creature! The leader went blind because of that monster—he was afraid of seeing it again..." Once he came to, Number One Hundred Eighty-Eight had said that much, but did not dare continue.

"Sorry. I hope you'll accept this as an apology." Brian apologetically set a bowl of ferret meat he had prepared in advance in front of Number One Hundred Eighty-Eight. "By the way, don't you think a bush hanging from a spiderweb looks rather strange?"

"I forget about that sometimes. I'll get used to it in a few more days."

Number One Hundred Eighty-Eight offered that stubborn reply, then pounced on the bowl and tucked in.

Brian pulled himself out of his recollection and took a sip of tequila:

"I'm going to keep looking for the Chamber of Secrets. If I really can't find it, I'll have to enlist a few loud-voiced roosters to help me tour Hogwarts-even if I can't clear Hagrid's name, I have to make sure that basilisk never comes out to endanger the students again."

"A very good idea, though it would be best to do it at night. Roosters crowing can be deadly to students too-they'll get distracted in class and blow up their cauldrons, or turn their buttons into beetles with rooster combs."

Dumbledore watched Brian approvingly, waiting for him to say the rest.

"Are you sure you can't read minds?"

Brian had no choice but to voice the question he had been holding back, silently anticipating Dumbledore's reaction,

"Hagrid told me that You-Know-Who was the one who reported him-could this have something to do with You-Know-Who?"

To Brian's surprise, Dumbledore remained calm. He did not even put down his glass:

"Not You-Know-Who. Voldemort. His name back then was Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"I was hoping to see you look utterly shocked."

Brian said teasingly. At last, he knew You-Know-Who's true identity,

"Tom Marvolo Riddle... Voldemort. Isn't that just rearranging the letters? That's... a bit adolescent, isn't it? Even the most evil Dark Lord in nearly a century did things like that?"

"Ha ha, Brian. You mustn't let Voldemort hear what you just said." Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction. "But I'm glad Hogwarts now has another person who can say Voldemort's name without hesitation."

"Another?" Brian immediately picked up on that detail.

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore said fondly.

"Ah... that boy... a brave, kind boy." Brian could not help adding, "I spoke to him for a little while. He's under far too much pressure. Who gave him the title of the Chosen One, anyway? That isn't necessarily a good thing. Luckily, Voldemort is already dead."

"I share your views about Harry... though it isn't necessarily a bad thing, either."

Dumbledore's expression suddenly grew grave,

"Brian, I believe Voldemort did not truly die all those years ago. One day, he will return-and from what we can see, he is already lurking in Hogwarts-for the Philosopher's Stone."

"That fellow in the Forbidden Forest, right? Have you decided not to keep it from me anymore?" Brian blinked. He knew Dumbledore must already have a suspect. "What if I'm helping Voldemort?"

"Voldemort speaks Parseltongue." Dumbledore smiled and asked in return, "Can you command snakes?"

"The most I can do is have a one-sided conversation with them, but snakes generally don't listen to me—Professor Snape, for example." Brian firmly believed that he and snakes did not get along. "Even the Copper Faucet with a little snake engraved on it in the bathroom won't obey me."

"A Copper Faucet with a little snake engraved on it?" Dumbledore suddenly put down his glass. "Brian, would you be willing to take me to see it?"

"Perhaps before that, I could tell you that the mysterious power I have might be ancient magic?" Brian was a little puzzled by Dumbledore's reaction. "We can talk on the way, too."