Professor Baker in the Crystal Ball

Chapter 23 Professor Baker in the Crystal Ball

"?!"

The two turned around in alarm, but only saw a normal Room of Requirement and found nothing unusual.

"I'm here."

The voice chuckled bitterly, "Go forward, look at your feet, that black crystal ball..."

The two then realized that in their panic, they had been so focused on Professor Baker that they had forgotten about the black crystal ball that resembled a dark magic item!

And who is this voice that is speaking to them now but Professor Baker?

Avada and Baron drew their wands again, but did not approach the crystal ball that had rolled to the ground.

"Being wary of the unknown is a good habit," Professor Baker continued with a sigh. "But I really didn't intend to do anything to you... You must have noticed how abnormal the 'me' with the body acted before, right? Actually, that was fake; I am the real Benjamin Baker."

"You're the real Professor Baker?!"

Avada and Baron looked at each other in disbelief—not to mention Baron, even Avada, who knew about Horcruxes, found it hard to believe: the soul fragments remained in the body, while the main soul went into the Horcrux. What kind of logic was this?

Or is there something else going on with Professor Baker?

Filled with doubt and confusion, Avada pulled Baron back a few steps, slowly approaching the door of the Room of Requirement: "I'm sorry, Professor Baker, your situation is too complicated. We are just two ordinary first-year students, unable to ascertain the situation or offer any help... We'll go find Professor Dumbledore and ask him to help you!"

Please, please don't!

Professor Baker's voice suddenly became anxious, and at the same time, the space inside the Room of Requirement distorted again, transforming back into an inescapable, invisible maze: "My current state must absolutely not be known to anyone else!"

"I swear, I've become who I am not because I wanted to harm anyone, or because I'm reaping the consequences of my evil deeds... But everyone has secrets they don't want others to know, right? Like you, Ken, what made you so certain that this crystal ball was a dark magic artifact? Are you willing to tell others?"

Avada frowned and stopped in his tracks.

Baron, standing beside him, looked wary: "So, this crystal ball really is a dark magic artifact?"

"That depends on how you define a dark magic item."

Professor Baker gave a wry smile: "If you're talking about black magic in an academic sense, that is, magic that requires damaging one's own mental energy to use—then this crystal ball does indeed belong to black magic, and even within black magic, it might be the darkest category..."

"But if you, like those classical wizards, believe that only magic used for evil can be considered black magic, then rest assured, this crystal ball has absolutely nothing to do with black magic."

"Um?"

Avada, who had been listening quietly, had a hint of surprise in his eyes: with the help of his magical senses, he had discovered something extraordinary.

But before he could ask, Baron frowned and asked again, "I don't quite understand... Professor Baker, what's going on with you?"

"As a council member of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League, why do you possess the 'darkest' dark magic artifact and bring it to school? What was it originally intended for?"

"Why was your body taken over by another person? And why are you inside the crystal ball?"

"And since you don't want anyone to know about this, what will you do if we don't come?"

After listening to this series of questions, the black crystal ball remained silent for a long time.

"It seems that unless I dispel your doubts, I'm afraid I can forget about getting your help," Professor Baker sighed helplessly. "Then let me give you a brief explanation."

Avada raised an eyebrow but remained silent, intending to hear what Professor Baker would say—after all, she couldn't run away now.

"Let me put it this way, the me in the crystal ball right now, and the person who just controlled the body to walk out, are both me, Benjamin Baker."

"For some reason, during my adventure, my consciousness split. This split severely affected my thoughts, control over my body, and spellcasting abilities. To solve this problem, I had to spend several years searching for a solution, and finally came up with a passable one: to create a special container to absorb the split consciousness, allowing my main consciousness to completely control my body."

"And this black crystal ball in front of you is the container I created to hold fragments of consciousness."

Professor Baker's voice betrayed a hint of weariness: "To create it, I had to gather knowledge and magical materials from all over—including my decision to become a professor at Hogwarts, which boasts the largest library in all of England, a forbidden section containing a vast collection of esoteric knowledge, and a secret location I learned about during my student days, which is right here. At the time, I thought that perhaps this place could help me achieve my goal as quickly as possible..."

"It turns out my decision was right. Through the library and the restricted book section, I gained a wealth of useful knowledge and data, and the school's professors' connections made it easier for me to obtain hard-to-find materials... Just a few days ago, I finally finished making the container."

"So I happily came to the Room of Requirement, intending to secretly complete the split here. To do so, I even cast a spell on the space of this room to prevent other students from barging in—the one you just encountered."

"Oh, right, you probably don't know this, but when there are already people in this room, the door can't be opened unless the people outside have the same needs as those inside..."

"That's not right," Baron said, puzzled. "But many rooms were already opened before we got here."

"Let me continue."

Professor Baker said bitterly, "However, just as I began the ritual, an accident occurred: due to the exceptional performance of the container I created, and some mistakes I made during the operation, my main consciousness was sucked into the container, while the fragment of consciousness remained in my body and gained control!"

Avada was momentarily at a loss for words – he really had put his main soul into the Horcrux!

What kind of incompetent dark wizard could pull off such an astonishing feat...? No, how could an incompetent dark wizard possibly create a Horcrux?!

"That's why you can open the other rooms," Professor Baker said with a wry smile. "Because only a complete consciousness can be recognized as a person by the Room of Requirement—however, my main consciousness has been locked in a container, and the fragments of my consciousness are not enough to be recognized. So, in the Room of Requirement's judgment, I went from being 'one person' to 'two items'."

Avada Kedavra nodded to himself. That was true—Voldemort's Horcruxes had been in the Room of Requirement for so long, yet it didn't affect the other students' room-hopping, did it?

"From now on, the 'me' who controls the body will prove what I said. You'll find that his lectures will become increasingly boring and rigid, and your reactions will be much slower than before..."

"But if that's the case,"

Baron interrupted Professor Baker suspiciously: "After encountering something like this, shouldn't you have sought help from others? Why did you trap us when we wanted to go to Professor Dumbledore?"

"I've already said it," Professor Baker said in a low voice, "While it won't do anything evil, this crystal ball is indeed a cutting-edge creation of dark magic. If word gets out, even if there's a reason behind it, it'll be enough to ruin my reputation."

"Moreover, this crystal ball contains a large amount of my unique technology and some trump cards. Once it falls into the hands of others, these technologies may be deciphered, which would be a fatal threat to an adventurer like me who has offended countless dark wizards."

"I do need help, but I would prefer that as few people as possible get involved in this."

(End of this chapter)