Dumbledore did not pursue the fact that Fred and George got up and wandered around in the middle of the night, and followed Albert into an alley among the garbage dump. After passing the troll specimen, they walked a short distance and stopped in front of a large cabinet with bubbling on the surface, as if it had been splashed with strong acid.
"Last time, I hid Mr. Hertog Dagworth's gold card here." Albert opened the cabinet door and pointed to the cage inside. The creature in the cage had long been dead, and from the skeleton it looked like it had five legs. "Later, I came here to study this thing again. I think this creature should be the legendary five-legged monster."
"I have never seen a five-legged monster, and almost no one knows where Delia Island is." Dumbledore also looked at the skeleton in the cage and shook his head. "However, your guess may be correct."
"Where is the crown in the photograph?" Dumbledore asked again.
"There!" Albert raised his hand and pointed to the top of the crate next to him, where there was an ugly bust of an old wizard with a gray old wig and a rusty crown on his head.
"So it's here." Dumbledore reached out to take the crown, but Albert grabbed it.
"What's wrong?" Dumbledore looked at Albert in confusion.
"I think it's best to wear dragon-skin gloves. I heard that many dark magic items are very deadly. If they come into contact with the skin, it may cause serious consequences." Albert took out a dragon-skin glove from the pocket of his robe and handed it to Dumbledore. "Although we are not sure whether the crown is a dark magic item, we should still take precautions. Otherwise, it would be really unlucky to lose our life because of it."
Seeing Albert's serious expression, Dumbledore was also stunned. He took the dragon leather gloves and said with a smile, "It was my negligence."
Although Dumbledore thought Albert was too cautious, he was actually right. Many dark magic items were indeed dangerous.
After he put on the dragon leather gloves, he reached out and took the crown off the old wizard's bust. He placed it in front of him and examined it carefully. He nodded and said, "You are right. This should be a dark magic item. Fortunately, you didn't touch it, otherwise who knows what terrible things would happen."
"Is it dangerous?" Albert asked.
"A very dangerous and evil dark magic item." The smile on Dumbledore's face disappeared. He narrowed his eyes and looked up and down at the crown, wondering what he was thinking.
Soon, Dumbledore's mood became cheerful again, and he took Albert out of the Room of Requirement. He smiled and said to Albert, "You handled it the right way. Gryffindor gets 50 points more."
"Well, sir, I'll leave it to you. I'll be leaving first!" Albert said hello to Dumbledore and turned to leave.
"A very good boy." Dumbledore murmured as he watched Albert leave.
When he returned to the principal's office with the crown, the portraits that had been pretending to be asleep immediately gathered around him.
"Is this the crown in the photo?"
"It does look a bit like the Ravenclaw diadem."
"Can you confirm its authenticity?"
"This... I'm not sure. After all, the Ravenclaw diadem has been missing for thousands of years. However, we have a simple way to distinguish it." Dumbledore instructed one of the headmasters: "Armando, please go find Ms. Grey and ask her to come to the headmaster's office."
"Ms. Grey? I see."
Armando left quickly. He had a portrait of himself in the Ravenclaw common room, and when he went there, he could ask students who were not in class to help pass on messages.
"Dumbledore, do you want to see me?"
It wasn't long before Ms. Grey arrived.
"There is something." Dumbledore pointed to the crown on the table and said, "I found it. Can you tell me if this is the legendary Ravenclaw crown?"
Ms. Grey's face showed a moment of astonishment. She floated to the table, stared at the crown for a few seconds, and murmured, "It looks very similar, but this is impossible. It can't appear in Hogwarts."
"Where did you find it?" Ms. Grey asked.
"In the Room of Requirement," Dumbledore added, "that magical room on the eighth floor of the castle opposite the tapestry where the troll beat up Barnabas."
"Is this thing really the Ravenclaw's Diadem?" Armando was shocked. You know, the Ravenclaw's Diadem has been missing for thousands of years.
"That can't be!" muttered Mrs. Grey. "It should be in a hollow tree in the forests of Albania."
Now, anyone who is not stupid can guess Ms. Grey's identity from this sentence.
“Someone took it back to school.”
In fact, Dumbledore had already guessed what it was, and who brought the Ravenclaw diadem back to the school.
"Ms. Grey, I regret to inform you that this Ravenclaw relic has been tainted by evil dark magic."
"He... is very likable. He... is very considerate... and compassionate." Lady Grey was stunned, staring at the Ravenclaw diadem in disbelief, and murmured, "How could he do such a thing."
"Tom is very good at using sweet words to deceive others." Dumbledore said softly, "You are not the only one who was deceived by him..."
"Is there a strong black magic cast on the crown?" Amando asked, "Can it be restored?"
"Tom has most likely turned the crown into a Horcrux." Dumbledore said softly, "This is a very evil black magic, and ordinary magic can't even hurt it! I need to find some more special methods."
"Horcrux!"
At this moment, all the principals of the past generations were furious!
"Fortunately, Mr. Anderson was very alert, and he handled it correctly when he found it, otherwise he would be in big trouble!" Dumbledore raised his wand, trying to remove the dark magic on it, but his magic had no effect.
"Even you can't do anything?"
"Destroying a Horcrux requires extremely powerful destruction, so powerful that the dark magic attached to the Horcrux cannot resist." Dumbledore shook his head and murmured.
"Use the dark magic, don't tell me you can't use it!" Phineas suddenly shouted. Although Dumbledore had hardly ever used those dark magics, he believed that Dumbledore would definitely use them.
"The Fiery Fire Curse or the Avada Kedavra Curse should be able to destroy it!" Dumbledore naturally had a way, but he didn't want to use those methods if there were other better options.
"Use the Killing Curse. It's not used on humans anyway. Don't tell me you don't know how to use it!" Phineas couldn't help but curl his lips. He really didn't like Dumbledore's hypocrisy.
"Shut up, Phineas." An old witch waved her cane at Phineas as a demonstration, and if he said another word of nonsense, she would hit him hard on the head with the cane.
"Destroy it. Don't leave this evil thing here. It makes us feel uncomfortable."
Other headmasters also said that Horcruxes were too weird and no one knew what would happen if they were kept.
"Okay, Avada Kedavra!"
The next moment, green light filled the entire principal's office.
After the green light faded, the crown seemed to vibrate violently, and then it cracked on the table in full view of everyone. A bloody, black and sticky substance seeped out of the crown, and an extremely faint scream of pain came from the crown.
"How could this happen, how could it be..." Ms. Grey was very shocked. The Ravenclaw crown was ruined because the boy used evil black magic to defile it.
"It seems that I need to give Mr. Anderson another special contribution award!" Dumbledore said easily.
He raised his wand and waved it gently at the broken crown on the table, and the liquid completely disappeared. He reached out and picked up the damaged crown and put it in a box, and said seriously to the others, "By the way, please don't tell anyone about the discovery of the Ravenclaw crown and the Horcrux. This matter needs to be kept secret. It is very important, very important. As for the crown, I will find someone to try to repair it, but I can't guarantee that it can be completely repaired."
"Mr. Anderson?" Ms. Gray murmured, "Perhaps, I should thank that kid. It's because of him that I haven't been deceived any further."
Ravenclaw's crown was eventually destroyed, which made her very regretful. She regretted that she should not have trusted the boy.
…
At this moment, Albert, who was listening to the class, suddenly raised his mouth in joy. On his task panel, three more tasks had been completed. It was really a great harvest!
It seems that the Horcrux has been destroyed. The headmaster is really decisive!