Later that night, Alexander did something unusual.
He didn't go to practice his spells or study.
Normally, after Dueling Club, he would go to the Room of Requirement with the diary. His schedule was structured down to the minute—spell practice, ancient rune study, magical theories, and sometimes experimenting with new enchantments.
As he usually did every night before leaving, he went to grab the diary from his desk.
He looked around and couldn't find it.
The diary was missing.
Alexander frowned slightly.
He searched the desk, his bag, and came up with nothing.
Alexander rarely misplaced anything. His memory was sharp, and his organization was nearly perfect.
After calming down, he muttered.
"If the diary was gone, then Peter must have taken it again."
He sat in his chair thinking about everything and the timing.
"There must be a reason why Peter had taken the diary... why tonight? He took it only a few times these past few months, and there was only one attack so far. Will there be another attack tonight?
Alexander shook his head, and he concluded that there was another attack tonight.
"Let's just go to sleep."
He went to bed early to only be rudely awakened several hours later.
Alexander felt someone shaking him awake.
"Mr. Chen… Mr. Chen..."
Alexander opened his eyes slowly.
Standing beside his bed was Flitwick, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Professor?" Alexander said as he sat up.
Flitwick cleared his throat.
"I'm terribly sorry for waking you, Mr. Chen. But do you happen to have any Restorative Draught available?"
Alexander nodded calmly and climbed out of bed.
"Yes Professor, I do have some available."
He reached down and opened his enchanted briefcase.
"Silver."
A house-elf's head popped out and answered immediately.
"Yes, Young Master."
"Please bring me a Restorative Draught from the storage room," Alexander said.
"Yes, Young Master."
The house-elf's head disappeared back into the briefcase.
Professor Flitwick blinked in surprise.
"You… have a house-elf in there?"
Alexander chuckled softly.
"Actually, Professor, I have two. They help me maintain my magical plants and creatures."
Flitwick nodded slowly, clearly impressed but deciding not to question it further.
Moments later, Silver stepped out of the briefcase, holding a small potion bottle, and handed it to Alexander.
He passed it to Flitwick.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Chen," Flitwick said gratefully.
Flitwick started to walk away but paused and turned around.
"Tomorrow evening after dinner, please go to the Headmaster's office. He will be waiting for you."
Alexander tilted his head in confusion.
"What about Dueling Club?"
Flitwick sighed.
"There are some changes... You will find out tomorrow evening."
Alexander nodded.
"Alright. Good night, Professor."
Flitwick smiled kindly.
"Mr. Chen, thank you again. Good night."
Flitwick quickly left his room.
After the door closed, Alexander turned slowly toward Silver.
"Do you have something to tell me?"
Silver lowered her head respectfully.
"Young Master… we caught a house-elf wandering around the castle."
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
"House-elves are allowed to wander Hogwarts Castle."
Silver shook her head.
"This one does not belong to the castle."
Alexander's eyes lit up, and he said.
"Where is this house-elf?"
"We locked him up inside," Silver continued. "Please come see, Young Master."
Alexander grabbed his robe.
"Alright. Let's go."
They stepped into the enchanted briefcase.
Silver led him into their house.
Standing guard nearby was Copper with a wand in hand.
Copper did a quick bow.
"Hello, Young Master!"
Then he resumed pointing his wand at the house-elf they had caught.
Alexander laughed.
"I see you are using Professor Quirrell's wand perfectly, Copper."
Alexander nodded as he noticed that Copper was standing in a proper dueling stance, and the position of his wand was correct.
He stopped looking at Copper and looked toward where the wand was pointing.
There stood a trembling house-elf with enormous eyes, tied up with a magical rope.
Copper spoke.
"This one calls himself Dobby."
Alexander folded his arms.
"So, Dobby… why are you sneaking into Hogwarts?"
Dobby began shaking violently.
"Dobby must protect someone! But Dobby cannot say!"
Alexander chuckled.
"If you don't tell me… I'll keep you locked up here forever. Then you won't be able to protect anyone."
Dobby froze.
Then he panicked.
"No! No! Dobby must go! Dobby must protect—!"
He began crying loudly.
Alexander sighed.
"Copper. Silence him."
Copper raised the wand.
"Silencio."
Instantly, the room fell quiet.
Dobby continued crying, but no sound came out.
After a moment, once he calmed down, Copper removed the spell.
Alexander crouched slightly so they were eye-level.
"Will you talk now?"
Dobby sniffed.
"It… it is to protect Harry Potter."
Alexander nodded slowly.
"Bad things will happen again," Dobby said nervously. "It happened before… and it is happening again."
Alexander thought for a moment before asking calmly,
"Are you talking about the Chamber of Secrets?"
Dobby's eyes became enormous.
"You… you know about the Chamber?!"
Alexander shrugged.
"Yes."
Then he asked,
"Is that all?"
Dobby nodded quickly.
"Yes."
Alexander stood.
"Silver. Copper. Let him go."
Both elves blinked in surprise.
"But Young Master—"
"Make sure he understands," Alexander continued calmly, "that this briefcase is a secret. He must not tell anyone about it."
Silver and Copper bowed.
"Yes, Young Master."
Alexander led them outside the briefcase.
Silver and Copper then escorted Dobby away to release him somewhere within the castle.
After they returned, Alexander closed the briefcase and placed it beside his bed.
He lay down again, staring briefly at the ceiling.
"The Chamber of Secrets…"
A small, thoughtful smile appeared on his face.
Within minutes, Alexander was asleep once more.