In the latter half of the night, the students at the tables of the four Houses had become indistinguishable and started running around in a chaotic manner.
The Weasley twins even took the opportunity to perform a feat of firing fireworks, which drew gasps from the younger students. The professors, who were drunk and staggering, had no time to pay attention to this. Professor Flitwick even ran down to applaud the fireworks, his hat tilting to one side.
Harry and Ron struggled through the crowd of students to reach Draco.
"Why do you not accept the Special Award for Services to the School? You deserve it just as much as we do! We think it is unfair!" Harry could not understand Draco's thought process—he could have added at least two hundred points to Slytherin's score, but he refused.
"We spoke with Professor Dumbledore before dinner, and he said it was your request." Ron was puzzled; in his view, no one would refuse such an honour.
"Professor Dumbledore said he could not explain it and told us to come directly to you." Harry looked at him earnestly with his emerald green eyes. "We need to be sure this is what you really meant."
"Ah, yes... for personal reasons," Draco said mysteriously, lowering his voice. "It is, after all, the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin House, Salazar Slytherin's pet, you know... some Slytherin students might think I am a traitor or something..."
He shrugged and reminded them, "Please keep this a secret."
"All right," Harry and Ron reluctantly agreed, glancing warily at the Slytherin students around them.
The explanation was too simplistic, almost childish; but Draco seemed determined, and if they persisted, it would seem disrespectful to him.
Ron scratched his head and hesitated before speaking, "George and Fred told me. The owl you gave me for my birthday, I have to say I really like it. I named it Pigwidgeon... Anyway, I wanted to say, uh, thank you."
Draco just gave him a lazy smirk, said nothing more, and patted him on the shoulder.
That concluded the conversation.
A wave of Ravenclaw students suddenly surged over and surrounded Harry and Ron. They put a strange-looking birthday hat on his head, pretending that this cardboard object was some kind of magnificent crown.
Ravenclaw students really have a passion for crowns, Draco thought casually. He was fiddling with a palm-sized, retractable dragonhide pouch deep in his pocket, where several fresh Basilisk fangs were stored.
A thought suddenly popped into his head—why not do it now?
Draco rarely had the chance to go to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor. It was always too crowded there.
It was very close to the Gryffindor Tower, and a Slytherin appearing there would certainly be quite conspicuous; but today was different, with everyone gathered in the Great Hall, and even quite a few ghosts had come.
Draco stood up and strolled casually through the cheerful crowd, as if he were not anxiously crossing the Great Hall, but leisurely strolling through his own back garden.
Finally, he slipped to the door—thinking he had not disturbed anyone—and quietly slid the Great Hall door open a crack.
The students were still partying and making noise. Who would pay any attention to the commotion at the door? The answer was no one.
Draco darted out the door, gently closed it, and ran straight for the Ravenclaw Tower.
"You are back alive." The Grey Lady did not participate in the revelry, but waited quietly in place—she had not moved an inch since Draco ran off to the Chamber of Secrets.
A faint smile finally appeared on her face, which was often etched with melancholy. She asked him, "Did you get it?"
"Of course," Draco said, a hint of pride in his eyes.
The Grey Lady pursed her lips and made a decision in a short while.
"It is time to settle things." She quickly moved and floated in front of Draco. "See you on the eighth floor."
It was rare to see the Grey Lady so unladylike. Draco stared in disbelief as the Grey Lady darted through the wall like a gust of wind and quickened his pace.
When he appeared at the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor, the Grey Lady had already been lingering in front of that wall for quite some time.
"It is up to you to come. This room only listens to the wishes of the living." She sighed softly, her tone melancholy.
Draco nodded. He skilfully closed his eyes and paced back and forth in front of the wall three times, thinking—I need to find a place where I can hide all sorts of things.
Soon after, the door appeared. He opened it, and as expected, it was the treasure room filled with clutter that he knew so well from his previous life. He had spent most of his sixteen years here, researching the Vanishing Cabinet.
Having been reborn, this was Draco's first time stepping into the Room of Requirement since his rebirth. His near-death experience amidst the Fiendfyre had left him with some psychological trauma.
He did not enjoy entering the Room of Requirement. Whilst it was magical, the meaning behind it—death, conspiracy, and more death—was unenjoyable.
But this time he had to come. Following the Grey Lady, who floated silently in front of him, he passed through rows of messy tables, chairs and cabinets, walked past several rows of old flying brooms, and finally stopped in front of an old cabinet with a bubbly surface.
On top of the cabinet was an ugly male witch bust, wearing a dusty old wig and an old, faded crown-like object.
"Here," she said softly, a hint of excitement in her voice.
Draco immediately recognised the crown on the statue's head—the very one Harry had desperately tried to obtain in his previous life amidst the Fiendfyre.
—The Ravenclaw diadem.
He waved his wand, but the crown remained completely still.
"You have to use your hands to hold it," the Grey Lady chuckled softly. "The Summoning Charm will not work on such exquisite magical items."
Draco had no choice but to climb the cabinet with difficulty, grabbing it with his hands amidst the creaking of the wood. He landed on the ground with a thud, trying to see the dusty diadem in his hands, and more details came into view.
He could see the exquisite patterns and gems beneath the dust, and he also discovered the tiny inscription on the diadem: "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
Strangely enough, the words seemed to be whispering in his ear, repeating themselves over and over. This caused Draco to feel a moment of disorientation.
For a moment, he had a feeling that perhaps by wearing the diadem, he would gain infinite wisdom and would no longer need to rack his brains to figure out the secrets of Horcruxes or the Dark Lord—all the problems in the world would be solved.
"Wake up! Draco Malfoy!" The Grey Lady exclaimed urgently.
Her scream woke him. He looked up at the Grey Lady, who was now a milky-white ghost, which should have no other colour, but at that moment, he could see the flames of revenge burning in her eyes.
"Quick! Do not be seduced by it! Look at what I have become!" The Grey Lady shouted fiercely. "Quick, stab it!"
Draco snapped out of his daze. As if burnt, he tossed the alluring diadem to the ground. He gripped the fang in his hand and plunged it fiercely into the very centre of the diadem.
The seemingly tranquil diadem suddenly emitted a distant, faint, and painful scream. Then, a bloody, black, viscous substance seeped from the diadem. The diadem trembled violently on the ground, then shattered into charred fragments inch by inch.
The scene was terrifying, and the sound was piercing. Draco could only cover his ears and stay far away from the diadem until everything fell silent.
"It is over." Finally, he looked up, panting, and said to the ghost beside him.
The Grey Lady ignored him. She floated around the fragments of the diadem, laughing and laughing, and then she cried.
"Thank you. I shall always owe you a favour." After a long while, she seemed to wake from a dream, muttering something, and drifted past the door of the Room of Requirement, disappearing into the distance in a daze.
Draco stared at her retreating figure for a moment, lost in thought. That diadem really was a curse.
He quickly and carefully put the remaining fragments of the diadem and the fangs into his storage bag, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Draco had imagined how excited he would be when he destroyed the Horcrux, but when he actually destroyed it, perhaps because he had experienced so much waiting and hardship, he was extremely calm.
Even indifferent.
Or rather, it was extreme exhaustion of the soul.
After all, he had just gone through the ordeal in the Chamber and was now facing the evil temptation of the Horcrux.
In one day, he participated in two major events. Each one was something he could boast about for a lifetime in his previous life.
But he was not excited at all. He just felt mentally exhausted and completely drained.
Before anyone noticed, he planned to leave this place quickly and return to his dormitory at the bottom of the Black Lake to rest.
Under the cool moonlight, the door of the Room of Requirement was opened a crack.
Draco slipped out in a flash and gently closed the door behind him.
However, when he turned around, someone he least expected was standing straight in front of him.
It was Hermione Granger.