A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts
Chapter 634: Antagonist - (2)

Valen stared strangely at the window; there was nothing there, but Valen saw the Dark Lord making faces at the window. Then, Felix quieted down, standing still as if waiting for someone.

It wasn't until Dumbledore, wearing pajamas and dragging his shiny silver beard, appeared that Valen realized.

The Dark Lord didn't sleep at night because of this!

But where were Harry and the others on the map? Valen sniffed lightly, hopped down, and looked at Felix.

"Go, don't let them ruin my experimental equipment," muttered Felix softly.

Valen gestured a 'no problem' and quickly slipped away. Obviously, Dumbledore didn't have much appeal to it.

The two left behind fell into silence for a moment.

"About Harry—"

"I know."

A moment of silence. This time, Dumbledore spoke first.

"How is Tom's situation?"

"Quite interesting. He just discovered the Chamber, but because of my attention, no one died this time. I punished him with cleaning the trophy room and copying the school rules."

"You keep a close eye on him."

"There has to be a distinction. The subconscious resistance from Voldemort is getting stronger. I estimate we have only one or two months left. We must start..." Felix hesitated. "Any suggestions?"

"If you want to prevent him from falling into darkness, don't let him kill. Some things, once done, can't be undone. I hope he can experience the feeling of love, even if it's an illusion."

"...Albus, what do you think about me playing the antagonist?"

Dumbledore stopped, staring at Felix under the half-moon spectacles.

"You know, following Voldemort's path." Felix shrugged. "Maybe I can confuse his subconscious, and he can stop me—or compete with me."

"A dangerous attempt," Dumbledore shook his head. "Voldemort has no love in his heart. You'll only expedite his descent into darkness."

"No, he'll pretend for a while," Felix said, eager to try. "And during that time, I'll bring him a bunch of 'helpers'—troubles he can't shake off."

Dumbledore suddenly looked at him with a strange expression.

"...You seem to be plotting something. What's going on?" Felix looked wary.

Dumbledore smiled, "Just think your idea makes sense... unavoidable troubles, yes, that's it. But it must be handled with caution."

In the abandoned girls' bathroom, a crying Moaning Myrtle floated around.

"A Niffler? A Niffler?" She asked with interest, "Are you the one Professor Snape keeps? I've seen you from afar." She started circling Valen, speaking in a cheerful tone that didn't match her sad face, "But I dare not get too close... I'm a bit scared of him. I've seen how he deals with Peeves."

Valen looked at the crying Myrtle in confusion, then thought for a moment. It took out a small bottle from its pocket containing a ghostly food. Unscrewing the lid, Myrtle approached in amazement, "For me?" After a confirmed nod, she stretched out a chubby, transparent hand, passed through Valen's small hand and the bottle, and pulled out a bunch of silver light.

Valen shivered; its hand felt like it was soaked in ice water.

"Didn't expect there's a midnight snack." Myrtle said dreamily, her face with translucent pimples slightly glowing. She ate the food in small bites, talking happily, "Honestly, since I caused a scene at Olive Hornby's brother's wedding, and got ordered back to school by the Ministry, I haven't felt much joy... I'm the youngest among them, and I don't have much to talk about with other ghosts... Sometimes, I think about suicide, but I found out I'm already dead... Ghost food lets me feel alive, but Professor Snape probably doesn't care, right? Besides Bloody Baron and Lady Grey, I haven't seen him interacting much with other ghosts, a cold person..."

Valen took out a bottle of Super Bubotuber Pus, puffed up its cheeks, blew a huge bubble, wrapped itself in it, then turned and waved at Myrtle, floating into the Chamber of Secrets. Myrtle was startled, tumbled backward, and fell into a toilet.

She floated out from the gap in the door, looked down from the entrance of the Chamber, only seeing a shiny light purple bubble getting smaller in her line of sight.

Inside the Chamber.

Harry felt like they were wasting time. They had been searching the Chamber for half an hour, and Ron reported the time every ten minutes, so he remembered it quite clearly. Except for not finding the Philosopher's Stone, everything was going smoothly.

They walked through long tunnels, revisiting old places. Harry introduced the place where they had encountered the Basilisk's shed skin, "We were almost scared to death!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, "But it's gone now."

"Oh, that thing was blown to pieces by Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said.

Ron grumbled for a while and fell silent.

Then they passed through a door and entered the real Chamber. Harry could still recall how they fought with the Basilisk amidst the ruins of broken stones and the coiled snake pillars. Ron and Hermione lifted their heads in unison, smiling at each other.

Just for this, Harry felt the trip was worth it.

But they also saw many novel things, like in front of the Salazar Slytherin statue, there was an open space with rows of black stone targets, seemingly made from the surrounding ruins. These targets suffered terrible abuse—Harry believed at least a third of them were instantly melted, and the ground was scattered with droplet-shaped solidified small stones, crystal-clear like crystals.

"There are plenty of stones here," Ron said, half teasing, half admiring.

Hermione extended her hand, casting the Lumos spell to raise a milky white light ball to the high ceiling, instantly brightening the Chamber as if it were daytime. Then they began the long and futile journey to find the Philosopher's Stone. Still, with those gem-like stones on the ground, they didn't leave empty-handed.

When Harry picked up a pine nut-sized, pure red stone with no impurities, he felt a bit regretful. It would have been great if Ginny hadn't come. He could have secretly made a necklace for her. But now Ginny was happily squatting on the ground, looking for jewelry materials with Luna.

"Snap!"

A distant echo came, followed by the rapid sound of footsteps approaching them. Harry raised his wand, looking at the path from which they came, and Ron nervously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

You can access more chapters from HERE by joining my Patreon community. You'll gain exclusive early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.

As a member of my Patreon community, here is what you'll get:

• Early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
• You also get access to all the novels I'm translating, you can find them here HERE.
• You Get Ad-free Chapters.
• Plus, you can Cancel your membership at any time.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.