Chapter 75 - Wards and Suspicion! Part-2 (Patreon)

{Headmasters office, Hogwarts}

{7th Sep 1991}

{3rd Person POV}

Dumbledore sat on his chair as he looked through his mail. The official correspondents while important weren't as time-sensitive as his ongoing research into Riddle's background and his worries about where Harry would live after the year was over. While Harry was sent away to the muggle world away from the danger of retaliation, his coming back to the wizarding world presented him with a problem.

Lily's protection had been used up at least the wards were now useless as the lingering aura that protects Harry's magic remained. The last bit of information still brought relief to the old wizard as he knew that Harry would remain relatively safe for the next 7 more years.

'7 years and the war would start again...' Dumbledore mused, he had worked through Riddle's background in the past 17 years. Going through his actions and the trail he left behind in the history of the Wizarding world with a fine-toothed comb and the facts that are presented in front of him were scattered.

He was missing something, something important but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't quite put his finger on it. His musings were disturbed by the arrival of his house elf. Dumbledore's thoughts immediately jumped to a conclusion as a sense of alarm went through him.

'So soon?'

"Blinky has something to report to Master Dumbledore," the house elf with green eyes bobbed excitedly as finally after days of loitering around that god-forsaken corridor he had found something interesting.

"Who was it?" Dumbledore asked, even though he knew the answer before the elf even began to speak in broken English.

"Binky saw it, it was Rigel Black, the Slytherin student who could talk to snakes like the Dark Lord..." Blinky shivered, the elf thought back to the times when he had to do terrible things a couple of decades ago.

"Thank you, Blinky..." Albus gave the old elf a kind smile hoping to relieve some of his tension. The elf nodded and listened as Albus gave further instructions, "...would you be so kind as to keep an eye out at the gates and tell me when he leaves?"

"Blinky understands..." the elf popped away.

Albus Dumbledore sank into his seat as he contemplated what was happening. He didn't like jumping to conclusions, but the Chamber of Secrets and mooning Myrtyl was a reminder of his failures. How lost in his arrogance he wasn't able to stop Riddle from making the foolish mistake, something that managed to further push the future Dark Lord over the edge.

Killing someone, even if done accidentally leaves a mark, even if it is just psychological, Ablus was sure that the crack in his Occlumency shields that the incident left behind caused Riddle to be lost in the allure of the Dark Arts.

'...And now his descendent walks the same path.' Albus thought. It wasn't hard for him to find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Although it was carefully hidden, his access to the wards of the castle made it easier to narrow down the places where the entrance could be.

Coupled with the fact that an almost insane amount of wards were placed on those sinks, and that Myrtle Warren had met her demise in that very same bathroom, made it easy to guess where the entrance was. It could be a massive diversion but was highly unlikely, the extensive wards made the entrance impenetrable even to the Elder Wand in his hand.

...

Albus put his gloomy thoughts aside and thought about the latest Parselmouth to walk through Hogwarts. His story had an almost eerie similarity to Riddle's, both of them grew up in an orphanage before coming to Hogwarts. The teachers praised their almost instinctual grasp on the fundamentals of magic and almost prodigal-level wandwork.

The ease with which they both mingled through society, while Riddle had a more charming personality. Rigel was more focused on girls and sex. It was the last point that made it difficult for Dumbledore to categorize the two together. Even from the first day in Hogwarts, Riddle displayed a level of ambition that was borderline obsessive.

In comparison Rigel had different plans, instead of trying to conquer wizarding Britain he seemed more laidback, as he thoroughly enjoyed the company of a certain witch. While the Rowle family was one of the darkest out there, according to Snape he was friends with Daphne, Tracy, and Blaize.

But bizarre his actions may be, the fact that he was a Parselmouth had Dumbledore on edge, and the fact that a Basilisk still was alive somewhere in the castle caused Dumbledore to lose his composure.

Plans swirled in his mind and the thought of using the Chamber of Secrets to lure Voldemort occurred in his mind. A Basilisk was one of the more exquisite creatures and for a moment he couldn't help but think about the qualities of the venom.

Dumbledore swiftly pulled out his wand and swirled it around, although he was quite knowledgeable about potions it was better to seek out the council of experts. The idea stuck to his mind and the more he thought about it the better it seemed.

A moment later a dark-haired man walked through the doors, a scowl was permanently etched on his face as he spoke in a slow drawl, "Yes, Headmaster?"

"Tell me, Severus..." Dumbledore spoke, his voice although aged, Snape detected a hint of excitement in it.

"How strong is a Basilisk's venom?"

...

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AN - I'm finally settled in! Travelling took a lot out of me though!