Chapter 56: Dumbledore is Just a Tool!
Dumbledore's memories...
At night, Lyra tossed and turned in her bed.
Although Miss Lovegood had come up with a very good idea... would Dumbledore be willing?
Memories were very private things. Although she wasn't at all curious about how Dumbledore defeated Lord Grindelwald... nope, not curious at all.
Really not curious!
But... Dumbledore might not think that way. Who knew how many dark little secrets he was hiding? Maybe even his memories of teaching class were shameful.
And, how should she ask him?
Lyra hadn't forgotten her relationship with Dumbledore. He was her enemy! The guy she was destined to defeat for the Greater Good.
How could she go and ask him for a favor again...? Even though she seemed to ask him for favors quite often...
But as a member of the Zauberpartei, Lyra believed she needed to have a backbone! That's right! Backbone!
Her pointed ears twitched.
But... thinking of her promise to Professor McGonagall, and the Durmstrang teaching methods that didn't seem to suit the young wizards of Hogwarts... Lyra was troubled.
"Maybe..." She pursed her lips and looked at the diary on the table.
"Mr. Riddle, can you do me a favor?" she wrote. "I want your memories."
"No." Riddle rejected Lyra almost instantly. "My memories are all within the book. If you extract them..."
"I will disappear."
Is that so... Seeing Riddle's refusal, Lyra wasn't too surprised... She had just suddenly thought that Mr. Riddle, being a Hogwarts student, must also have memories of Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.
Then it seems I have to go ask... no, use Dumbledore.
Oh, right. Just as she put away her quill, Lyra suddenly remembered something and quickly wrote in the diary, "Mr. Riddle, about the secret room you mentioned before..."
She had been so focused on her classes these past few days that she almost forgot the main business!
The secret room with the hidden Ancient Runes that Mr. Riddle had promised.
"..." Riddle was silent for a long time before replying, "Don't worry, I will take you there."
"But not now," he wrote in his elegant script. "I still want to savor my past days at Hogwarts a little longer."
Mr. Riddle really is a strange person... Can you savor the past just by lying in an office?
And he doesn't seem to want to see Dumbledore either... That's normal, though. No one would want to see Dumbledore, right?
What? You say I'm going to see Dumbledore in a bit?
Ah... that's... that's... that's for the Greater Good.
Soon, Lyra arrived at the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Looking at the gargoyle statue, she whispered, "Iced Lemon Juice."
Such a simple Locking Formation couldn't fool her.
Watching the staircase slowly appear, Lyra pursed her lips and took a deep breath.
That's right, I'm here to gain Dumbledore's trust, to let him know how much I care about education at Hogwarts... Asking him is just to use him!
He's nothing but a tool to me... That's right, a tool.
Having convinced herself again, Lyra felt much more relaxed.
Heheh... just a tool being used by me...
"Miss Hamilton?"
"Ah!" Hearing the voice behind her, Lyra let out a scream and instinctively shrank behind the gargoyle statue.
"D-D-D-Dumbledore!"
"Good evening, Miss Hamilton." Dumbledore smiled at the panicked girl. "Were you looking for me?"
"Ah... yes..." Lyra looked at Dumbledore awkwardly. She hadn't expected him not to be in his office.
And she certainly hadn't expected to run into him returning to it.
"I... I wasn't here to steal... steal anything..." Lyra felt the need to explain, but her stammering made her sound exactly like a thief!
"Of course not." Dumbledore didn't seem suspicious at all. He chuckled and asked, "I assume it's about something else?"
He walked up to Lyra. His tall figure cast a shadow that completely enveloped her.
"Ah... it's about... about the classes..." Lyra poked her index fingers together. "I want to borrow your... memories."
"My memories?" Dumbledore froze, a hint of surprise flashing in his blue eyes, which were so similar to Lyra's.
"Mm... mm!" Lyra took a deep breath. "Professor McGonagall spoke to me... She thinks Durmstrang's curriculum isn't suitable... suitable for Hogwarts students."
"So you decided to adopt the Hogwarts curriculum?"
"Yes..."
"And I heard... you... you were the most... most outstanding... Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts." Lyra said, her eyes drifting to the tips of her boots. Saying nice things about Dumbledore was even more shameful than she had imagined.
"Hahahahaha." Her words made Dumbledore laugh. He shook his head. "Miss Hamilton, I only happened to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for a few years."
"And that was a long time ago." Dumbledore paused. "I may not remember things from back then very clearly."
This rejection made Lyra look up anxiously, but she really didn't know how to beg Dumbledore... This stupid mouth is bound to say something stupid as soon as I open it!
Lyra knew herself well enough.
Seeing Lyra's hesitation, Dumbledore smiled again.
"Of course, Miss Hamilton." He suddenly said, "If you really need it... I might be able to recall the memory of one lesson."
"Is that enough?"
Not enough... definitely not enough... Lyra wished Dumbledore would hand over memories of every Defense Against the Dark Arts class he had ever taught, along with the memory of Lord Grindelwald's location and what treacherous trick he used to defeat him.
But... something is better than nothing, right?
And thanks to Miss Lovegood's words, Lyra actually had many ideas... Besides Dumbledore, there were many other professors at Hogwarts... They might not have been Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, but they had surely taken the class, right?
Like Professor McGonagall... she would support this idea, right?
And Hagrid... although he was a bit scary, he was a gentle person. He would definitely help her too.
Ah, and Snape...
Let's forget about him... He'll kill me, definitely!
Maybe Mr. Lockhart would work too...
"Miss Hamilton?"
"Ah! Sorry... I was... I was daydreaming again." Dumbledore's call pulled Lyra back from her thoughts.
"Shall we begin now?" Dumbledore said as he walked up the stairs. "It is getting late."
"Old people need to rest early."
"Ah... that's... that's true." Lyra took two circlets from the spatial storage book in her robes.
One was the one she had worn before to inject memories, and the other was for students to view memories.
She held the two circlets carefully and followed Dumbledore up the stairs into the Headmaster's office.
It looked the same as before, except for... a bird.
"Eek!" Lyra shrank back when she saw the fiery red bird on the perch. "It... it's on fire!"
"That is Fawkes," Dumbledore shrugged. "A phoenix."
Ah... so that's a phoenix? Lyra's knowledge of magical creatures came mostly from Newt's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (or rather, her misremembered title Magical Creatures in the Stomach), and even then, she hadn't read it very carefully.
And she had never seen a phoenix before... Lyra looked at the bird awkwardly, but the burning flames made her worry.
Doesn't being on fire hurt?