"You are somewhat..." Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry with a peculiar expression and finally chose to give Harry a thumbs up, "quite eloquent."
What else could he say?
Actually, Dumbledore also knew about Harry's experiences over the years at the Dursley family's home. The child couldn't beat them, so it was quite reasonable to develop a sharp tongue to retaliate.
However, in his opinion, the Dursley family didn't really warrant his intervention—because his own childhood experiences were much wilder than anything with the Dursleys, having even suffered similar treatment to Jesus, with clear stigmata on both hands.
At that time, Hogwarts was much wilder than it is now. Even among wizarding families back then, corporal punishment was a common practice.
"Thank you, Professor." Harry accepted Dumbledore's praise.
It could be considered a compliment, though he didn't care much.
"But..." Harry suddenly said, "I just remembered, Professor. That notebook popular in Slytherin last year seemed to be the work of a ghost named 'Melop.'"
"Melop?" Professor Dumbledore was taken aback. He recalled what Snape had told him before, "How much do you know about this notebook?"
"Miss Fari told me," Harry answered truthfully. "But I don't know much—at the time, I felt something was quite wrong. Now it seems this 'Melop' must have been Voldemort in disguise, using his mother's name."
"Looks like he still craves love," Harry said with disgust. "Look at this poor wretch without a mother's love, using his mother's name as an alias..."
Harry had no sympathy for Tom, not in the slightest.
Not only did he not sympathize with Tom, he even found it a bit funny, with a schadenfreude kind of feeling.
"No, Harry, you're mistaken about one thing," Professor Dumbledore sighed. "Tom is the product of a Love Potion; he was born emotionally indifferent and doesn't understand what love is."
"No wonder he's so bad; doesn't even have friends. Turns out the issue lies here," Harry nodded repeatedly. "Actually, you should have resolved the problem before it even happened, rather than trying to fix it now."
Before this, he thought the problem resulted from Dumbledore's way of educating Tom, causing him to become Voldemort, a twisted and evil being.
But after hearing Dumbledore, he realized—even if Dumbledore hadn't been involved, not even the resurrection of the four founders taking turns to educate Tom could set him on the right path. This guy was inherently meant to walk the path of evil.
The biggest mistake Dumbledore made was not sending Tom away sooner.
In a magical sense.
Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry and said, "But that's not a reason for us to look at him with biased eyes, Harry... the old him..."
"This is where you're indecisive." Harry sneered incessantly, "Look, what kind of monster you've cultivated? Such an innately evil guy could never be redeemed—your choice was at the cost of thousands of lives, look at the destruction he's caused."
Having stayed for over five years a century ago, Harry had witnessed far too much.
He once had ill-considered Holy Father ideas but was thoroughly shattered by reality.
He once let a dark wizard go, thinking him pitiful, only to almost lose his life a year later.
Had Cassandra not blocked that magic spell for him, he might have gone to meet Merlin already.
Redemption?
Redeeming Tom is Merlin's business, my responsibility is to send him to meet Merlin!
"In terms of the outcome, you're right," Professor Dumbledore sighed. "But if it were you, you might not have the heart to do it."
Harry thought, indeed I might not, but Cassandra and Vivi would definitely be able to.
"Professor, have you checked on the basilisk issue at the school?" Harry steered the conversation back to the main topic, "Who exactly at Hogwarts has the bloodline of the Gaunt family?"
Professor Dumbledore shook his head and said, "No, the Gaunt family has long since died out, who would still have their bloodline in the world..."
A momentary silence fell between them.
"I just went to the Map Secret Room, Professor," Harry said again. "Professor Luke Wood's analysis is that the one controlling the basilisk must be a student at Hogwarts."
"Why do you say that?" Professor Dumbledore looked up and asked.
"Because of your lockdown order," Harry said, "Current Hogwarts students can only move in groups of three to five within dormitories and can hardly leave the common room—I just saw Professor Snape sitting and guarding the entrance to the Slytherin common room; he's really dedicated."
"Severus indeed is a competent professor," Dumbledore said, "However... wait, I understand now!"
He suddenly froze as he connected it to what Snape had told him about the notebook.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"The notebook," Professor Dumbledore said succinctly, "That notebook must still be at Hogwarts, just like Melop last year, Voldemort is controlling a student—this makes sense, someone without Gaunt's bloodline can control the basilisk because that person is being controlled by Tom!"
"Makes a lot of sense," Harry nodded, "So, how should we find that notebook?"
"We'll have to investigate," Professor Dumbledore said, "I think I should borrow some tools for detecting dark magic items from the Ministry of Magic and conduct tests in the four houses."
"Do you think you can find it?" Harry asked tentatively.
"It's better than doing nothing at all, Harry," Dumbledore sighed, then said, "Do you have any leads on the creature?"
"I asked Professor Bin," Harry replied. "However, Professor Bin thinks it's a vague legend and doesn't believe it really exists—his reasoning is, if the Secret Chamber truly existed, with so many headmasters over the years, the so-called secret chamber should have been found."
"Yet it hasn't," Professor Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles glinted, "But recent events prove that this chamber does indeed exist."
"So besides finding that notebook, we also need to find the secret chamber," Harry said seriously, "We must eliminate the basilisk lurking in Hogwarts—even if it was a basilisk reared by Slytherin himself, it cannot be allowed to remain!"
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