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"My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it stillShe concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts
"Then my mother fell ill - fatally illIn spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more timeShe sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find meShe knew that he would not rest until he had done soShe drew a deep breath and threw back her head
"He tracked me to the forest where I was hidingWhen I refused to return with him, he became violentThe baron was always a hot-tempered manFurious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me
"The Baron? You mean -?"
"he Bloody Baron, yes," said the Gray Lady, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chestWhen he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorseHe took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himselfAll these centuries later, he wears his chains as bay bag chloe an act of penitence
"And - and the diadem?"
"It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward meConcealed inside a hollow tree
"A hollow tree?" repeated Harry"What tree? Where was this?"
"A forest in AlbaniaA lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach
"Albania," repeated HarrySense was emerging miraculously from confusion, and now he understood why she was telling him what she had denied Dumbledore and Flitwick"You've already told someone this story, haven't you? Another student?"
She closed her eyes and noddedTom Riddle would certainly have understood Helena Ravenclaw's desire to possess fabulous objects to which she had little right
"Well, you weren't the first person Riddle wormed things out of"He could be charming when he wanted
So, Voldemort had managed to wheedle the location of the lost diadem out of the Gray LadyHe had traveled to that far-flung forest and retrieved the diadem from its hiding place, perhaps as soon vintage cartier watch as he left Hogwarts, before he even started work at Borgin and Burkes
And wouldn't those secluded Albanian woods have seemed an excellent refuge when, so much later, Voldemort and needed a place to lie low, undisturbed, for ten long years?
But the diadem, once it became his precious Horcrux, had not been left in that lowly treeNo, the diadem had been returned secretly to its true home, and Voldemort must have put it there -
"\a151the night he asked for a job!" said Harry, finishing his thought
"I beg your pardon?"
"He hid the diadem in the castle, the night he asked Dumbledore to let him teach!" said HarrySaying it out loud enabled him to make sense of it all"He must've hidden the diadem on his way up to, or down from, Dumbledore's office! But it was well worth trying to get the job - then he might've got the chance to nick Gryffindor's sword as well - thank you, thanks!"
Harry left her floating there, looking utterly bewilderedAs he rounded the corner back into the entrance hall, he gucci ladies watch checked his watchIt was five minutes until midnight, and though he now knew \iwhat\i the last Horcrux was, he was no closer to discovering \iwhere\i it was
Generations of students had failed to find the diadem; that suggested that it was not in Ravenclaw Tower - but if not there, where? What hiding place had Tom Riddle discovered inside Hogwarts Castle, that he believed would remain secret forever?
Lost in desperate speculation, Harry turned a corner, but he had taken only a few steps down the new corridor when the window to his left broke open with a deafening, shattering crashAs he leapt aside, a gigantic body flew in through the window and hit the opposite wall
Something large and furry detached itself, whimpering, from the new arrival and flung itself at Harry
"Hagrid!" Harry bellowed, fighting off Fang the boarhound's attentions as the enormous bearded figure clambered to his feet "What the \a150\a150?"
"Harry, yer here! \iYer here!\i"
Hagrid stooped down, bestowed upon Harry a gold gucci watches cursory and rib-cracking hug, then ran back to the shattered window
"Good boy, Grawpy!" he bellowed through the hole in the window"I'll se yer in a moment, there's a good lad!"
Beyond Hagrid, out in the dark night, Harry saw bursts of light in the distance and heard a weird, keening screamHe looked down at his watch: It was midnight
"Blimey, Harry," panted Hagrid, "this is it, eh? Time ter fight?"
"Hagrid, where have you come from?"
"Heard You-Know-Who from up in our cave," said Hagrid grimly"Voice carried, didn't it? 'Yet got till midnight ter gimme Potter' Knew yeh mus' be here, knew that mus' be happenin'So we come ter join in, me an' Grawpy an' FangSmashed our way through the boundary by the forest, Grawpy was carryin' us, Fang an' meTold him ter let me down at the castle, so he shoved me through the window, bless himNot exactly what I meant, bu' - where's Ron an' Hermione?"
"That," said Harry, "is a really good question
They hurried together along the corridor, Fang lolloping beside fake chanel bag th |
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