Chapter 26: The Raven Residing In The Diadem
The Illumination Charm emitted a silvery glow like gauze, Melvin slightly tilted his head back, but did not find the shadow of the Sapphire Diadem from his impression, only ornaments covered in dust one after another.
Confirming again that the diadem from his memory was in this room, Melvin moved two steps to make way, continuing to search.
The old items piled up here were numerous and disorderly, the hills formed by them stacked and interlocked appeared too obtrusive, metal armor and knight statues seemed embedded in the piles of miscellaneous items, the dust covering their surfaces almost obscured their original appearance, and with the dim light in the room, one needed to approach closely and observe carefully to discern the outlines of the ornaments, to speculate whether it was a diadem or a visor.
Additionally, there were indeed diadem-like ornaments on the armor and statues, which still needed careful identification to see if they bore the Ravenclaw eagle wing emblem.
Melvin paused to observe for a moment, then moved toward other piles of miscellaneous items.
Dumbledore was gazing at the image inside the Mirror of Erised, reluctantly withdrawing his gaze, unsure why Melvin seemed somewhat unusual, but still followed unhurriedly.
Actually, he really quite liked the style of those woolen socks in the mirror, the colors and patterns were very beautiful, especially when Ariana wore them.
“It seems you’re looking for something, have you found a target?” Dumbledore asked.
“Just looking around, as you said earlier, staying patient…”
Melvin carefully searched the ornaments on the nearby piles of miscellaneous items, leaving a series of footprints on the dusty floor: “Mister, have you thoroughly searched this warehouse? There might be unexpected things hidden inside.”
“I come here occasionally when I cannot sleep, but I prefer going to the tower to admire the moon, or downstairs to the kitchen for a hot chocolate.” Dumbledore’s gaze scanned the surroundings, finding nothing unusual, and kept his attention on Melvin.
“The things hidden by generations of Hogwarts teachers and students for nearly a millennium are indeed hard to inventory.”
“…”
Dumbledore nodded slightly, somewhat curious but did not press, with ample patience.
After walking like this for about ten minutes, he saw Melvin stop in front of a pile of miscellaneous items, which showed nothing particularly special, no different from other stacks in the room, old wooden furniture, yellowed old books, damaged scrying mirrors, a slightly twitching Bludger…
But when he approached this pile of miscellaneous items, an unusual feeling came over him.
The intuition accumulated from nearly a century of magic power and talent was warning him.
Melvin stopped under a dusty metal armor, looking up at the upright lance, and the diadem beside the lance: “I’ve always wanted to ask, the etymology of Ravenclaw’s name is raven, so why is her symbol an eagle?”
Dumbledore followed his gaze, his eyes widening slightly.
It was a diadem covered in dust, with an eagle spreading its wings, a gemstone embedded in the abdomen, exuding a hazy blue glow, the inscription beside it blurred and unclear, but Dumbledore knew the content without needing to identify it:
「Extraordinary wisdom is humanity’s most precious wealth.」
That diadem lay quietly on top of the armor’s helmet.
Dumbledore put away his usual calm and gentle demeanor, seemingly sensing some unusual magic power, his expression becoming serious and steady, he cautiously approached the diadem, casually waving a whirlwind to sweep away the dust.
The sapphire revealed its original luster, crystal clear, but the center part was somewhat dark, deep like the abyss at the bottom of the Black Lake.
Dumbledore focused and examined it carefully for a moment, then cast several spells in succession:
【True Form Reveal】
【Curse Detection】
“…”
After repeatedly confirming no vicious curses or poison had been applied, Dumbledore cautiously removed the diadem, placed it in a wooden box inlaid with silver thread, and only then began to consider how to explain to Melvin beside him.
“I should thank you, Melvin, on behalf of Rowena Ravenclaw, on behalf of the entire Hogwarts…”
“Let me guess, you don’t really want to explain the reason for the thanks?”
“That was my original thought…”
Dumbledore’s deep blue eyes flickered with a faint light, soon making a decision: “But this diadem missing for a millennium was found by you, if I concealed the truth from you, I probably wouldn’t sleep tonight.”
A relieved smile appeared on his face, and he winked at Melvin: “Have some sympathy for a centenarian’s sleep quality, so that I can still meet the goddess of luck in the future, I should at least reveal some information… that’s what I think.”
“I’m very willing to listen.”
“The matter goes back a long time, let me think…”
Dumbledore weighed his words: “Hogwarts’ four founders achieved unimaginable accomplishments in different fields of magic, after the school was on track, they summarized and organized their understanding of magic, creating several extraordinary items to leave for posterity, Hufflepuff’s Goblet, Ravenclaw’s Diadem, Slytherin left even more, though most have vanished into the river of history.”
“What about Gryffindor?”
“…”
Dumbledore paused briefly, seeming somewhat reluctant to speak: “Gryffindor commissioned Goblin King Ragnok I to forge a sword, symbolizing unyielding courage, which remains at Hogwarts to this day, usable only by those possessing courage.”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
Melvin of course knew of the sword’s existence, he was just curious about other matters: “Goblins claim ownership of all goblin-forged items belongs to the goblin kingdom, with their greedy nature, would they let the sword stay at Hogwarts?”
“Gryffindor had twenty years’ usage rights to the sword.”
“And after twenty years?”
“After twenty years, the goblin king sent subjects to reclaim the sword, they failed.”
“You tell past stories with such apt detail and omission…” Melvin savored the omitted content, feeling it very Gryffindor.
“The four founders each left treasures, then what?”
“Gryffindor’s Sword has always been kept at Hogwarts, Ravenclaw’s Diadem was lost long ago, the other two founders’ treasures were inherited by their descendants, over a millennium there were many upheavals, overall fairly stable, until fifty years ago…”
Dumbledore stared at the wooden box in his hand, his gaze distant: “This story is too complex, Melvin, don’t think this old fellow is too long-winded, let’s start with Hufflepuff’s Goblet.
“This goblet was collected by the witch Hepzibah Smith, the last direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, in the winter of 1950, poor Hepzibah was poisoned to death at home, Ministry of Magic Aurors quickly solved the case, the culprit was her house-elf.
“That house-elf named Hokey was as elderly as her, with failing eyesight, mistaking a rare and deadly poison for sugar frosting and adding it to her cocoa tea, the tribunal convicted on the spot, sentenced to life in Azkaban.
“Meanwhile, Hepzibah’s relatives discovered her two most valuable treasures were missing, Hufflepuff’s Goblet, and a locket left by Slytherin… why Slytherin’s locket was in Hepzibah’s hands is another story, I’ll tell you when there’s a chance.
“Returning to the mysterious disappearance of the two treasures, everyone was puzzled, myself included, so I visited the imprisoned Hokey, obtaining a fuzzy memory from her, which led to another person, an old acquaintance.
“He was a wizard obsessed with pursuing dark magic power, extremely worshiping Slytherin, soul thoroughly corrupted, I have ample reason to believe he murdered Hepzibah to obtain Slytherin’s relic, framing the innocent house-elf.
“He obtained several treasures by illicit means, Hufflepuff’s Goblet, Slytherin’s locket, from this I infer the mysterious Ravenclaw Diadem may also have fallen into his hands, though I’ve lacked evidence.
“These years I’ve been searching for their traces, only today gaining substantial results…
“Melvin, you deserve the thanks of all Hogwarts teachers and students.”
“…”
The headmaster tells current stories with the same apt detail and omission.
Analyzing from the house-elf and innocent party clues, the headmaster is referring to shortly after Voldemort’s graduation, when Voldemort worked as a shop assistant at Borgin and Burkes, accidentally learning that Hufflepuff descendant Hepzibah Smith possessed two founders’ relics, poisoned her and framed her house-elf, making off with Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s Goblet.
Melvin showed an noncommittal smile, pretending to know nothing of Horcruxes: “Not sure if you’ve noticed, Headmaster, this diadem seems tainted by dark magic.”
“Yes.”
Dumbledore nodded slightly: “Previously I thought that dark wizard merely wanted to collect these treasures as mementos, now it seems he performed evil dark magic modifications on them. But for now, I’m not certain of the specific changes, later I’ll conduct some preliminary research, hoping to reverse the dark magic for restoration, it would be even better if I find clues linking to the other items.”
“Convenient to observe?”
“Not very convenient.”
“Alright then.”
Melvin was not disappointed, tonight he had fully gained the headmaster’s trust, in the future for anything needing to pull in help or a legendary wizard to stand in, as long as it didn’t involve Voldemort and Horcruxes, the headmaster probably wouldn’t refuse.
“…”
Dumbledore bid farewell and left, the Room of Requirement immediately falling quiet.
Melvin stood under the knight armor, his elongated shadow covering half his shoulder, he thoughtfully looked at the ring of marks left by the diadem, pondering what else might have been overlooked in the Room of Requirement.
Trivial miscellaneous items piled into mountains, most magical items stored here had faded under the erosion of time, magic power dissipated, no longer possessing any magical uses. Perhaps some nearly century-old things could be used again after simple repairs, but hard to determine in which corner, digging through would be a massive undertaking, laborious and unrewarding.
If the diadem remained here, in about six or seven years, Fiendfyre would burn everything.
Melvin’s eyes reflected the nearby items, towering dim metal armor, a cauldron with green patina, and cabinets in the corner covered in webs and dust.
“This seems to be a Vanishing Cabinet.”
A figure suddenly flashed in Melvin’s mind, to find weakened power prankish defective dark magic props, wasn’t there a shop in Knockturn Alley.
Others had decades of reputation as an old shop.
…
Headmaster’s Office inner room.
The sleepy phoenix lay on the gold-inlaid perch, eyes half-open half-closed, eyelids drooping powerlessly.
Fawkes glanced at the headmaster’s expression, then at that diadem, that thing gave it a very bad feeling.
Fawkes quietly extended a claw to shift sideways, climbing over the perch, up the shelf, all the way to the Sorting Hat, burying his head inside, wings tucked tight, vibrant fiery red plumage retracted, leaving only two bright eyes peeking from the crack.
The tattered cloth hat shook a few times, reluctant to be treated as a bird’s nest, yet helpless.
In the center of the room, the diadem was held suspended in midair by the Levitation Charm.
Dumbledore applied 197 detection methods he knew to analyze it, alchemy combined with a legendary wizard’s magic power forming double-layered protection, sealing the diadem on one side and his mind on the other, soon infiltrating his perception into the blue gemstone.
“…”
The founder’s relic passed down a millennium, even now still rich in magic power, that blue magic power not strong, perception touching it brought a wondrous feedback, as if the mind became clearer, will more resolute.
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, carefully experiencing it.
This feeling was like returning to his youth when energy was most vigorous, full of curiosity about everything in the world, with ample physical and mental strength to study complex obscure knowledge, exploring magic fields predecessors never reached.
As if confirming that rumor: Ravenclaw’s wisdom resides in her diadem.
But now it was not just Ravenclaw’s gift, also mixed with Tom Riddle’s evil dark magic.
What exactly had he done to these treasures?
Dumbledore searched, cautiously probing his perception deeper into the sapphire.
At that moment, a strange magic power suddenly appeared, accompanied by a faint hum, the sapphire emitting a weak crystalline glow.
The gemstone rose with a dark blue-black glow, space somewhat hazy, the floating midair light and shadow began to shift and distort, like soft formless smoke, or some viscous liquid, turning from blue-black glow to some gray substance, constructing shadowy forms.
About half a minute, a bird with blurred outline quietly emerged, neat smooth plumage, slightly curved sharp beak, empty eyes glowing red, possessing bird features, yet indeterminable as to specific species.
Dumbledore quietly watched the grey shadow’s changes, meeting its illusory eyes.
Inexplicably recalling Melvin’s recent question, Ravenclaw’s emblem is eagle, yet now twisted into a raven.
The bird beak opened and closed, emitting a heavy raspy voice echoing in the midnight office: “This is… Hogwarts?”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
“The current headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.” Dumbledore’s expression inscrutable, voice without the slightest ripple.
“…”
“My turn to ask, who are you, or rather, what are you?”
“I am the raven residing in the diadem, bearing Ravenclaw’s wisdom.” The Grey Shadow Raven’s beak opened and closed, eyes narrowing slightly, eerie red glow seeming to penetrate into his mind, yet meeting only empty void, the grey shadow soon lowered its head, “Place the diadem on your head, with just a bit of weak magic power, I can grant you extraordinary wisdom.”
“I’m over a hundred years old, the long years have long extinguished my thirst for knowledge.”
“…”
The grey shadow fell silent, the eerie red glow fixed on the arc of the man’s mouth, always feeling that smile hid mockery toward it.
Fifty years ago this smile, fifty years later still this smile, with condescending vigilance, as if having seen through its thoughts, truly detestable!
“However…”
Dumbledore suddenly spoke, slightly raising his volume, tone drawn out slowly, as if deliberately keeping one in suspense: “Lately I’ve been very interested in the world of the dead, old people are like that, attached to life, fearing death…
“If I could understand death a bit more, it should dispel the fear in my heart. The wise Lady Ravenclaw must have researched this aspect, do you know materials on these studies?”
The red glow in the grey shadow’s eyes suddenly brightened: “Of course, of course!”
