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Chapter 102- Aftermath.
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Eyes flutter open in the Hogwarts hospital wing, first blearily staring up at the ceiling, and then the mind begins to function and realisation occurs, and with it comes confusion, the ceiling not being one they are used to. The pupils begin to flicker left and right, making sense of their surroundings, soon realising that they are in the infirmary, but with that comes more confusion, not realising why they are here to begin with. With frustration, they begin to rack their brain, trying to figure out how they ended up here, but nothing comes up. And then they notice someone walking up to their bed.
"Professor?" She asks, and I sit down beside her bed, looking at her bedside drawer where a few presents and get-well cards are, before turning to look at her. "Yes, I am here," I say, and she perks up, sitting up in her bed and clutching her arm as she looks around, feeling vulnerable. "Professor Lockhart, how did I get here? What happened?" She asks, and I take a moment to consider her question before deciding that a question in return would be better.
"What is the last thing you remember?" I can see the visible confusion emerge on her face as she scrunches up her face in thought, trying very hard to recall whatever she can, and then, after a while, she answers. "It's been around a week of classes since the year started. The last class I had was Astronomy, and then I went straight to the Slytherin dormitory and went to bed." I nod my head in understanding, directing a pitying look her way.
"Well, Miss Farley, I'm sorry to say that it is nearly the end of the year." Gemma Farley's eyes widen as she jumps, clenching her fists in the bedsheets as she looks at me and pleads. "W-What? That can't be true. Please, tell me you are joking." She starts to stutter, tears welling up in her eyes as she realises she has missed a lot of time, and worry swelling up in her as she doesn't know how she got in the hospital wing, and paranoia is setting in as she imagines the worst-case scenario.
"I'm afraid it is true, my dear," I say simply, leaving it at that as I get up and prepare to leave, which worries her even further. "W-wait! Please! What happened? Tell me, please." She begs, and I just smile and shake my head at her. "I'm sure that there is someone else that would better handle that, my dear. Madam Pomfrey! Miss Farley has woken up. She is just like the others, I'm afraid." I call out, and footsteps quickly ring out, the owner rushing here quickly.
"Oh dear, I feared as much." Madam Pomfrey says, moving past me and quickly moving over to the girl, forcing her gently to lie back in bed before pulling out her wand and beginning to cast diagnostic spells. "You can go now, dear. I appreciate you sticking around and helping me look after all the students, especially with how many there are here now. But it's time you get some rest; leave the rest to me now." She says, shooing me away. The whole time, Gemma is there looking around, scared and frightened.
"Aye, aye. You are the Mediwitch, so I'll listen to your expert advice." I say as I walk away, and she just chuckles in response, continuing to wave me away. I go with ease, having done what I needed to do and confirming what I wanted to confirm. I look around at the other beds as I leave, beds that have students in them, some of which had just been freed from their petrifications. The others, however, were here because of memory loss and possession. These are the Slytherin students who were lying in ambush in the Chamber of Secrets, the ones that Harry and Myrtle knocked out. And now they are here, missing nearly an entire year's worth of memory. Man, am I good, or am I good?
Well, objectively, I am not good in the grand scheme of things, but I am good at what I do when what I do is my speciality. I mean, these kids all knew way too much, Gemma most of all, and I didn't want to be ousted, so I did what I had to. Of course, I did so in my signature way, slyly. Let me take it back to the Chamber of Secrets, just after I had burnt Riddle to death and destroyed the Horcrux and then levitated the Sword of Gyfindor into the Basilisk's mouth and into its brain. With all the threats taken care of, I had turned to Harry and found the boy to be gasping for air. Evidently, he had been running through the tunnels for his life, constantly evading the snake.
Fawkes was no longer with us, so I assumed he had died whilst trying to protect Harry, or maybe he had just left; who knew. Either way, it's only myself, Harry, and Myrtle who are left conscious here, and that gave me an opportunity. I had ordered Harry to grab hold of Ginny and quickly take her to the hospital wing for a checkup, which he was eager to do. I then ordered Myrtle to grab them and levitate them there, leaving me alone inside the chamber as they left for the hospital wing. I looked around the chamber, and the first thing I set out to do was gather all of the students down here.
Once I gathered the traitorous students before me, I made sure to hit them all with another Stupefy, making sure they were down for the count and would not be getting up. With that, I got to work parsing through their memories and fishing for the knowledge inside their noggins, finding out precisely what they knew and if there were any other students who were not here that knew anything. I made sure to go through Gemma's mind with a toothcomb since she was the one that was closest to me and probably had the most intimate and crucial information. And after going through their minds, I had an idea of what they and Riddle had been up to.
So, of course, I don't know what happens before Ginny throws away the book, but I know that it was pretty much the same as the cannon, and if everything went as it should have, then Harry would have come around soon and picked up the diary. However, it seems my presence did, in fact, have an effect and change things, and though it was just a minor thing on my part, it made very big changes. It was during one of my classes, and all I did was show some competence and be my usual handsome self, and that led things down a new road. I helped Gemma with a spell and helped her cast it correctly, and that changed everything.
I don't even remember it because it was so insignificant, but it wasn't for her. She actually got hot and bothered since I got in close and grabbed her hand to show her how to do the wand signs, and after class, she needed to let off some steam, if you catch my drift. So she rushed to the nearest secluded area to do so, and that just so happened to be the bathroom on the second floor, in which she didn't get to do what she wanted, as she found the diary thrown on the floor and after that, everything was set in motion.
This time, instead of being in the hands of a good-natured, innocent young girl, Riddle ended up with an older, more mature Slytherin girl, and that made things even easier for him. Promising promises to her and convincing her was easy, and after that, it was a snowball as Gemma helped him gather others and do his bidding. With many more resources at hand, instead of just absorbing the soul of another and coming to live, Riddle got greedy and planned something bigger, ready to go big or go home. They came up with a way to empower him, which was through blood magic.
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That's what I came upon that one night when I went into the Slytherin common room, where they were all doing some ritualistic shit with Gemma leading and one by one going up and pouring their blood in a box and asking for protection. Turns out that the diary was in that box, and each offering of blood was powering it up and gathering followers for Riddle. I have no idea how it worked, and neither did the students; they just set it up how Riddle told them to. That's how he got so powerful that he was able to split his pages up and send them out to possess people and even control them.
He was having the Slytherins sacrifice their blood to him nightly, keeping him powered up. Those Slytherin students actually had to spend a lot of money on blood-replenishing potions so that they could actually function and be ready for nighttime to offer more. They were haemorrhaging both blood and money to keep Riddle powered up. With this power, which wasn't permanent but temporary, Riddle set in motion a plan to get as much permanent power as possible, which was just a bigger version of the blood sacrificing he was doing, except with the whole of Hogwarts involved.
So he began controlling students to set up runes all over the castle in place to make a massive connecting sacrifice ritual that would span over the whole of Hogwarts. Once it was set up, he would instantly sacrifice everyone inside at once and use it to bring him to life with unlimited power. He was planning a mass sacrifice of magical life to empower himself; he wasn't being slow or gradual; he was trying to jump straight to the end, and after getting that power, he would demolish the entirety of Britain to showcase his might and then subjugate the world. Truly, this guy was impatient.
However, his plan was sound. Sacrifice actually has a lot of nuance to it, and it wasn't just straight-up murder of a bunch of stuff to get power. There had to be preparation, meaning, timing and a whole bunch of other stuff, including the actual sacrifice itself. You would have to sacrifice a million muggles for a potent effect, and magical beasts work all right, but their limited intelligence doesn't work for long-lasting effects, and usually, there are side effects. Sacrificing other wizards and witches is best, but magic is resistant, so you need to sacrifice a lot at the same time.
However, this isn't easily done as a lot of preparation is needed, and you would easily be found out with all the ritual marks everywhere which can be sensed. However, at Hogwarts, the magical energy is already so high that you would have to get close to the marks to chance upon them, but even with that, Riddle made sure to use the Basilisk to distract everyone and cause trouble for the teachers and Dumbledore, keeping them distracted.
It was only me getting in the way that stopped him from completing his plans early. Still, he couldn't deal with me as he estimated that the Basilisk wouldn't be able to petrify me. He would have to kill me, and that would upset all his plans, so he just kept trying, ignoring me and doing what I was doing aside from the threat he gave me. So we continued on until, eventually, I took too many pages, and he wanted them back, at which point he sent in Gemma, and I already knew what she was doing with me.
This worked out for Riddle as one of the things he had promised Gemma had been me, given how she ended up finding the diary in the first place. Gemma proved to be the most faithful and loyal of his followers as well, which was partly why he didn't try to kill me, though just a small part. And then, when Penelope caught my attention, Gemma reported to Tom, and he needed to petrify someone anyway to keep the fear lingering and people distracted, so he went for her, but Hermione accidentally got caught as well. Riddle didn't mind that, but then it came to bite him in the ass.
What he wanted to happen happened, but it happened too soon. Dumbledore left. Well, Hagrid was taken by Fudge so the Ministry could look like they were doing something, and while Lucius Malfoy was trying to remove Dumbledore, the old man himself was more concerned with the half-giant and went to help him. Unfortunately for Riddle, this was too soon, but he knew he wasn't going to get a second chance like this. So, while I went into the Forbidden Forest that night to rescue Harry and Ron from the spiders, Riddle was busy altering his ritual, setting up the common rooms and the staff rooms for the ritual, and readying himself for the next day where he would put it into action.
We know how that went; I managed to beat him. And then, to make sure nobody knew anything else too crucial about me, I went about erasing the student's memories. Thankfully, it was only the students in the chamber who knew anything important; the rest were just duped into providing their blood out of fear and ignorance, hoping to not be the next one petrified. Of course, it would look weird if I only erased specific memories, so I decided to be thorough and get rid of everything in the kids' minds until the beginning of the year. Plus, this gives those kids a second chance where perhaps they won't join up with a madman, but if it happened once... Anyway, with that, I had covered my back.
As I walked down the corridor, I had to pause as I came upon an old man I hadn't seen in a while. "Professor Dumbledore, it's good to see you back. It was touch and go for a while there, but we managed to pull through." I say pleasantly as I greet him, and then I move to continue on, but the old man follows with a smile, walking alongside me. "Indeed, if I had not returned when I had, I fear to think what might have occurred. Truly a terrifying future to ponder." Dumbledore says, following me as we turn a corner.
"Yes, quite fortunate. I am glad you came back when you did. Speaking of which, I do hope Hagrid is out of that dreadful place now. And all that is taken care of." I ask, showing some concern because that big guy is truly harmless and really shouldn't be in such a terrifying place, even though he deserves to be for making such a massive, massive Ancromantula nest. "Yes, he should be let go soon since things have been resolved here. Lucius' attempts to remove me from the school proved ineffective once the board members realised how foolish it would be to take a wizard of my calibre away from their children's protection." I hum at that but don't say anything.
"In fact, if you wouldn't mind, I would like some more clarification on what exactly went on down in that chamber. I spoke to Harry, but I'm afraid he was rather busy running from a Basilisk, so I'll have to trouble you for the full version of events. I believe Harry mentioned Riddle wanted something from you?" He smiles at me, his eyes twinkling. We are done with the small talk, and now we are getting to the actual point. "Right, well, where to start?" I ponder with a finger to my chin.
"First of all, what Riddle wanted from me was my body. Apparently, he was just a spirit or something confined inside a book, and even with all of the power, he needed a body, and I was the best fit. The students are all children, and most of the staff are women. Pardon me for saying, but you are too old. Kettleburn has lost too many limbs, Flitwick is a half-goblin, and Snape is... Snape. I was his best choice for a body." I lay out calmly, completely skipping out the talk of pages and me capturing them. It should be a good explanation, since now no one knows about the pages except for me.
"That makes sense. But since you mentioned how much power he had, I find myself wondering how you defeated him. Even with me fighting against his sacrificial ritual, he was immensely powered. How did you defeat him?" Dumbledore queries, and I look over to see what I think is suspicion in his eyes. I ponder his question, and at this point, I am sure he has suspicions about Horcruxes, so if I say I just blew him up, then that is not believable. And it will also be revealed later down the line.
"If I'm honest, I nearly wasn't able to defeat him. Nothing I used worked on him, and nothing really hurt him. It was when he was concentrating on his ritual that I managed to get him, and only one spell worked." I looked to see how Dumbledore was reacting, but he still had that genial smile on his face, so I continued. "There was a book that seemed to be the nexus of his power, so I aimed for that. I used Fiendfire, which seemed to work and burnt him away. You told me about the spell before the year began, and I looked into it. I'm sure Harry informed you about everything else." I finish, and Dumbledore nods his head, not revealing anything else.
"Yes, Harry mentioned he heard you say Fiendfire before he exited the tunnel with the Basilisk chasing him. I believe that covers everything; thank you for informing me, Gilderoy." Dumbledore smiles at me and stops walking, prompting me to stop as well. Damn, I guess it was a good thing I told the truth. Otherwise, Dumbledore would have caught me in a lie, and then my credibility would have been down the drain, and he would always be suspicious of me.
"I know you are not a truthful man, Gilderoy." Well, shit, he's more than suspicious of me. I freeze up; I can't help it, and I prepare myself for anything, ready to grab my wand at a moment's notice. What does he know? "But you are not a bad man; you just have your vices. We all have our vices. I know what people think of me, but I am not without faults. We all make mistakes, but that doesn't mean we can't do good." Dumbledore loses the smile, and for some reason, that just makes everything he is saying all the more genuine.
"You have been a good professor this year, Gilderoy. I appreciate you working here this year." And with that, he walks off, leaving me standing there, not knowing what to do. What does he know? Is he just going to ignore whatever he knows? Why did he even tell me then? Does he actually think I am a good guy..?
I think it would be better if I just forgot about this and went on with my life.