Chapter 63: Special Award for Services to the School

"Thank goodness," Mrs. Weasley said as she approached Harry and Ivan, "You saved Ron, you saved him! How did you do it?"

"That's what we all want to know," Snape said as he stared at them.

Ivan and Harry looked at each other in silence, Ivan motioned for Harry to tell what had happened. Harry hesitated for a moment, Harry went to Dumbledore's desk and put down the Sorting Hat, the silver sword and Riddle's diary.

Then he began to tell the story to everyone.

He spoke for a quarter of an hour, everyone listened intently, the room fell silent.

He told them that he had been hearing the voice of the basilisk, and then, after investigating, they thought the monster must be a basilisk, it lurked in the water pipes, roamed the school and attacked the students.

Then he talked about the battles, the one in the common room and the one in the Chamber of Secrets, how he and Ivan were taken to the Chamber of Secrets by the Basilisk, how Ivan was hit by Riddle's spell, how the Sorting Hat gave him the sword, and how he used the sword to kill the Basilisk.

But his voice became hesitant.

He avoided mentioning Riddle's diary and Ron's involvement in the plot.

When they heard him say Voldemort's name, the room became eerily silent. The Weasleys, Hagrid and Fudge shuddered, Snape's expression was also a little strange and Lucius Malfoy, who had been huddled in the corner, had an unnatural expression.

"You mean we did everything we shouldn't have? It wasn't Hagrid who did it fifty years ago, he was caught and framed by that person, we even gave him a reward for his contributions to the school," Fudge said.

"Cornelius, I told you before, Hagrid was framed, he was innocent all along," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, you said that but the student who caught Hagrid..." said Fudge uncertainly.

"His name was Tom, the student was Voldemort, he orchestrated a series of attacks inside the castle but Harry and I stopped his plot," said Ivan.

When he heard Ivan's words, he took a step back, even though he listened to Harry, he couldn't imagine how two young people, not even in their teens, could defeat the most powerful dark wizard and a basilisk.

This all sounded like a fairy tale.

"Minister, since we have stopped Voldemort's plot and saved Hogwarts," Ivan said as he looked at Fudge with a smile, "Can Harry, Hermione, Ron and I receive a special award for services to the school?"

"What?!" Fudge paused for a moment and said, "Well, since you defeated the one who shouldn't be named, it shouldn't be a problem, but the Board needs to approve it first, so it will take a few days."

Ivan felt and said, "If I may, I would like to have the award given to us personally and have the news published in the Hogwarts newspaper. I think everyone appreciates the work the ministry does."

"No problem, my dear boy! I will probably visit Hogwarts tomorrow with your award and Hagrid's pardon," Fudge was very pleased to hear that the reputation of the ministry would not be affected, "Albus, since everything has been cleared up, I must be off. There are many things awaiting me."

He said goodbye to everyone and turned to leave the Headmaster's office, Snape followed him.

"Although we all know that Voldemort planned this, we still don't know how Ron met Voldemort and came under his control in the first place," said Dumbledore as Fudge left, "because according to my sources he is hiding in the Albanian forest."

"What?!" said Mrs. Weasley in a surprised voice, "You mean the one who shall not be named controlled Ron, but Ivan just said that it was they who defeated Voldemort together..."

"Professor, the diary is the culprit," Harry hesitated saying nothing, he grabbed the diary and showed it to Dumbledore, "It was written by Riddle when he was sixteen."

Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and stared at it for a long time, he looked at the burnt and damp pages.

In fact, Dumbledore looked at the pages and realized what it really was.

"This is amazing," Dumbledore said quietly, "Needless to say, he was the most talented student Hogwarts has ever produced."

He turned and told the Weasleys about some of Voldemort's school days.

Mr. Weasley looked at Dumbledore and asked in confusion, "But I don't understand, what does Ron have to do with this?"

"It's because of the diary," Ron said, "I've had it for a year, it's been talking to me. Ivan's right, I'm an idiot, I trusted a diary more than my friends."

"Ron, didn't I teach you better?" gasped Mr. Weasley. "Don't trust things they can think independently - that suspicious diary was apparently full of black magic!"

"Don't blame Ron, Mr. Weasley." Said Ivan hastily, "When the basilisk attacked in the common room, Ron saved Ginny."

"Very few wizards can escape Voldemort's control." Dumbledore added, "Arthur, you should be proud of Ron and I think you have taught him a lot about this matter."

Just when everyone thought it was all over, Lucius Malfoy suddenly stood up from the corner with a sneer, "Dumbledore, don't you remember that the board suspended you? You should be more concerned about your position than a ridiculous diary and a child's self-esteem..."

Before his words were finished, a letter suddenly appeared on Dumbledore's desk.

"I just wanted to tell you, Lucius!" Dumbledore said calmly, "I just got in touch with the other managers and they told me they think I'm the best person for the job."

"That's right..." said Lucius with a narrowing of his eyes.

"Plus they told me something fascinating, it seems someone was threatening to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me," said Dumbledore as he smiled at Lucius.

"What a good joke!" Lucius' face was paler than usual, his eyes were boiling with anger, "In that case, I will leave, I hope this attack will not be repeated. Otherwise, as a representative of this school, I will be very worried!"