After trying a few passwords that Dumbledore had used before and finding that they had no effect on the stone monster in front of him, Harry gave up the idea of continuing to try. The three of them realized that it was Snape who changed the password of the stone monster. They felt extremely complicated, as that almost meant that Snape became the headmaster of Hogwarts.
Only the principal is qualified to do that.
They had no choice but to stand in front of the stone monster and wait patiently for Albert to come and pick them up.
"How about you ask Albert what the password is?" Ron said to Hermione while he was alert to his surroundings with the help of the Marauder's Map.
"That's unlikely. Maybe some spell was used," Hermione speculated.
"What spell?"
"You can ask him yourself later."
"Do you think Albert has already found the Ravenclaw diadem?" Harry interrupted their conversation and guessed, "That guy is very smart. If we can find the clues, he can definitely do so. It shouldn't be difficult to get Mrs. Grey to tell the truth."
"Albert is not a liar," Hermione said, glancing at Harry. "Besides, is there really any point in doing that?"
"Dumbledore is also an insider?"
“It’s inevitable.”
"Dumbledore obviously had no need to lie to us about this." Although Harry had similar thoughts, he quickly suppressed them. Just as Hermione said, there was no need for Dumbledore to conceal the whereabouts of the Horcruxes. He wanted to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes more than anyone else.
"But they must have known that Lady Grey is the daughter of Ravenclaw." Ron reminded, "That guy's brain is better than the three of us put together."
"Although I am very happy with your compliment, I think you don't need to belittle yourself. Although people have different upper limits, their lower limits are actually not much different." Albert came down from the spiral stone staircase above and greeted Harry and the other two with a smile: "It seems that you have gained a lot from this trip."
"You knew that a long time ago, didn't you?"
Although Harry acted relatively calm, Albert could see that he couldn't wait to know about the crown.
"This is not a good place to talk, come with me!"
Albert invited the three people to enter the stone stairs and go directly to the principal's office.
"How did you do that?" Ron couldn't help asking, "I mean..."
"Of course I don't know what the password is." Albert explained, "But this is not a big problem at all. As long as we use the Confusion Charm, we can easily deal with the stone monster guarding the gate."
"Can a Confounding Charm really do that?" Harry doubted.
"Don't forget that Barty Crouch Jr. used a clever Confusion Charm to trick the Goblet of Fire," Hermione reminded.
"But didn't we just try to use the Confusion Spell on the stone monster? It didn't have any effect at all."
It wasn't that Ron thought Albert was lying, but he had just tried it.
"Because your level is not good enough, only a sophisticated Confusion Charm can do this." Albert explained to the three people: "The spell is not just as rigid as the one you chanted. It can also be used like Hermione used the Patronus Charm to convey messages."
"Extraordinary wizards are often able to use more advanced magic, which I call advanced magic or higher magic.
Albert waved his wand gently, and a ball of light flew out from the tip of the wand and floated beside them.
"Although it is essentially the same as the Luminous Charm, its use is no longer restricted to a wand," Albert introduced to the three people, "You can think of this as an advanced application of the Luminous Charm."
"I've seen Dumbledore use this," Harry said suddenly. "It can also emit a dazzling light that illuminates the surroundings."
"Yes, it can be used to blind the enemy at night."
"We're here."
Albert made the ball of light floating in front of him disappear, reached out and turned the door handle in front of him, then pushed the door open and walked directly into the principal's office.
"What did you bring us here for?" Harry asked confused.
"Harry, you should know that the portrait in the principal's office can speak and has its own consciousness." Albert stopped and said suddenly.
The three people following behind him bumped into him.
"Of course I do."
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Harry rubbed his head, looked up at the portrait of Dumbledore smiling at him behind the desk, his mouth slightly open, and he finally understood why Albert brought them here.
"Nice to meet you, Harry." Dumbledore's portrait looked at Harry kindly.
"gentlemen."
Harry looked at Dumbledore with a complicated expression, and talked about what he had gained from coming to Hogwarts today, "I suspect that Ravenclaw's Diadem is the last Horcrux we are looking for."
"It seems you have found some clues." Dumbledore said with relief.
"I have verified this with Professor Binns. Ms. Grey is indeed the daughter of Ravenclaw. I suspect she knows the whereabouts of the tiara, but she seems unwilling to reveal it to me."
"If Ms. Grey knows the whereabouts of the crown, the chances of the You-Know-Who obtaining it from her are very high. After all, the You-Know-Who is very good at sweet-talking and deceiving others. It is not difficult for him to convince a ghost to reveal the news of the crown."
While speaking, Harry secretly glanced at Albert, "Besides, I suspect that the You-Know-Who hid the tiara in Hogwarts."
"Hagrid once told me that if you want to hide something, the safest places are Gringotts and Hogwarts."
Facing Dumbledore's portrait, Harry spoke nonstop about his analysis: "So, you put the Philosopher's Stone in the Gringotts vault in the beginning, and later moved it to Hogwarts. I think the You-Know-Who probably had similar ideas."
"What you said makes sense, Harry. So where do you think Tom Riddle hid the crown?" After listening to Harry's analysis, Dumbledore nodded in agreement and asked.
"The Room of Requirement. The You-Know-Who may have hidden the tiara in that magical house on the eighth floor. It's a great place to hide things." Harry's eyes moved back and forth between Albert and the portrait. His intuition told him that Albert and Dumbledore had known about this for a long time.
"On the day Tom Riddle came to Hogwarts to apply for a job and ask you to let him stay and teach, he probably hid the diadem in the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor."
Noticing the confusion on Ron's face, Harry explained, "Tom Riddle knows a lot of secrets about Hogwarts Castle, and the Room of Requirement is undoubtedly one of those secret places. If we hadn't revealed its location to many people, not many students would have known the secret of the Room of Requirement."
"But we don't have any evidence that the You-Know-Who has won the Ravenclaw crown." Ron pointed out the premise of Harry's analysis.
"Not everything requires evidence." Harry's biggest puzzle now was why the two of them were willing not to tell him.
Or was it that Albert had only recently discovered this, so he was now guiding himself to look for the Ravenclaw crown
Harry thought that was the only way it made sense.
"Go on Harry, your time is limited," Albert kindly reminded.
"Time is limited?" Dumbledore gave him a puzzled look.
"Felixir."
"Oh, I see."
"The Room of Requirement can be turned into a hiding room according to the You-Know-Who's request." Harry also realized that he had limited time and planned to sort out all his thoughts in one go. "Tom Riddle believed that few people could find the place and the diadem he hid. In fact, I suspect he would not rule out someone finding Ravenclaw's diadem."
"At that time, Tom Riddle probably hadn't collected all six Horcruxes yet, so he still wanted to fight for the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, because only in this way would he have a chance to stay in Hogwarts and get the sword of Gryffindor." Harry said softly, "Later, he turned his own venomous snake named Nagini into a Horcrux."
"Very good, Harry!" Albert clapped his hands softly. "Why don't you take this opportunity to tell us where the Hufflepuff cup is hidden?"
"Gringotts." Harry felt that Albert was trying to hint at something, but he continued, "I don't know if Tom Riddle has a vault in Gringotts, but I think when he was young he might have envied someone who had the key to the vault in Gringotts."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Albert.
"Don't look at me like that. I also have my own Gringotts vault. I bought it with Galleons. I think it was 500 Galleons." Albert shrugged and said, "But I'm right about knowing you. The You-Know-Who probably doesn't have the key to Gringotts. When he was young, he didn't have a lot of Galleons to store in Gringotts. When he became a famous dark wizard, he probably wouldn't easily walk into a place like Gringotts."
In fact, Albert was more certain than anyone else that Voldemort did not have a Gringotts vault, because he was the one who inherited most of Voldemort's inheritance.
"Maybe, Tom Riddle does not have a Gringotts vault, but I think he is likely to put the cup in the vault of other Death Eaters. After all, he has given the diary (Horcrux) to the Malfoy family for safekeeping."
Harry excitedly shared his conclusion and analysis with everyone: "However, given that he never told Lucius Malfoy the truth about the diary, he probably wouldn't tell the Death Eaters the secret of the Horcrux. He would only say that the golden cup was a precious thing and should be kept in his family's vault."
After that, Harry looked up at Dumbledore's portrait and asked, "Do you know which Death Eaters Tom Riddle trusted the most?"
"Great speculation Harry."
Dumbledore looked at Harry with the satisfaction of seeing his own child grow up.
"Back then, Tom Riddle had many loyal supporters. If we had to name some who were qualified, they would probably be the Malfoys, the Stranges, the Yaxleys, and the Carrows."
"Mr. Anderson, who do you think it will be?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.
"It's actually not that difficult. You only need to look through the Pure-Blood List compiled by Cantankerus Nott to find out that most of the so-called Twenty-Eight Holy Clans became Death Eaters, and the most powerful and loyal of them are probably your targets."
The Malfoys already have the diary, so that can basically be ruled out first.
"Bellatrix is here for the Strange family. Yaxley can help Tom Riddle control the Ministry of Magic, so he obviously has a certain degree of trust." Harry cast a probing look at Albert: "Which family do you think it is? How about divination?"
"Come on Strange." Albert revealed the secret directly.
"I also think it's Strange. That crazy woman is very loyal to Tom Riddle." Harry agreed with Albert. He also thought it should be Strange's house. After all, their whole family lived in Azkaban for many years.
"By the way, are they rich?" Harry asked suddenly.
"The Strange family originated in France, and their branch in the UK is equally ancient and wealthy." Phineas looked at Harry Potter and his group. It was really hard to imagine that this group of people were actually discussing going to Gringotts to rob someone else's vault.
"It's not easy. I've never heard of a successful case of robbing Gringotts." Ron felt that it was an impossible task to sneak into Gringotts and get the Hufflepuff gold cup quietly.
"We have time to make a perfect plan, but before that, maybe we should go to the Room of Requirement to find the whereabouts of the crown." Harry asked curiously, "Didn't you go to the Room of Requirement to look for the crown?"
"If you hope to find a place to hide something through the Room of Requirement, you will inevitably come across a garbage dump, where all the discarded items from Hogwarts over the generations are piled up." Albert kindly reminded, indicating that he did know these things. "It's not easy to find a crown or a gold cup from a garbage dump. You can't hide in Hogwarts to look for it. Once you are exposed, you will arouse the vigilance of the mysterious man."
"So, Ms. Grey really told the secret of the crown to the mysterious man, but why didn't she want to tell us?" Hermione expressed her confusion.
"Perhaps out of shame, she stole her mother's tiara and hid it."
"What should we do then?"
Harry looked at Albert and brought the topic back to the topic. He felt that the other party had a solution.
"I have an unconventional solution." Albert did not disappoint everyone.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"Use Fiendfyre to burn the garbage in there to ashes. The Fiendfyre spell can also destroy Horcruxes."
"That's too dangerous." Hermione said uneasily, "Many wizards who have used Fiendfyre throughout the ages have been burned to death by their own Fiendfyre."
"Compared to the crown, breaking into Gringotts is more troublesome." Albert changed the subject and said, "You only have one chance. Once you break into Gringotts, the You-Know-Who will probably know what you are doing."
"Not only do you need to convince a goblin to help lead the way, but you also have to get through Gringotts's heavy defense facilities and find and destroy the Horcrux before the You-Know-Who reacts."
"If you're willing to help, our chances of success will definitely increase significantly." Hermione looked at Albert expectantly.
"I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."
Albert shook his head and refused. He was a little worried that if he joined, the matter would become hellishly difficult.
"However, I will let Dobby help you when the time comes. If you succeed, Dobby will be able to help you leave calmly."
"Okay." Harry remembered something else, "Professor, can I take the Sword of Gryffindor? I need a weapon to destroy the Horcruxes, and by the way, use it to convince the goblins in Gringotts."
"You're going to use the Sword of Gryffindor to convince the goblin?"
Ron and Hermione stared in surprise. They couldn't believe that Harry was planning to bribe the goblins with the Sword of Gryffindor.
"That's a smart move." Albert nodded in praise, "The sword of Gryffindor belongs to Hogwarts. Even goblins can't take it away."
"You may be disappointed," Phineas said sarcastically, "Snape took the sword away and said that it was put in the Yaxley family vault."
"The one Snape took was a fake. The real sword of Gryffindor is still hidden here," Dumbledore said gently, "behind my portrait."
Harry couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and moved closer to the portrait of Dumbledore and pulled it out, revealing the hole hidden behind it. The sword of Gryffindor was lying quietly inside.