Infiltrating the Office

Chapter 29 Infiltrating the Office

As Professor Baker said, casting the Disillusionment Charm alone is not difficult.

First, Baron successfully cast his first Disillusionment Charm half an hour later, turning himself into a jumble of colored blocks; then Avada, who had finally observed the magical structure of the Disillusionment Charm, immediately caught up and successfully cast the Disillusionment Charm. His skill improved rapidly, and he soon achieved a basic integration into the environment.

However, Baron was already used to it—after several days of training, he had become accustomed to Avada's slow-start, fast-acceleration learning pattern.

Then, under Professor Beck's further instruction and Avada's real-time corrections through his magical senses, Baron's Disillusionment Charm level began to improve rapidly, reaching Professor Beck's standard in just a short time.

This has been their consistent training method since the beginning: Baron is responsible for learning first and demonstrating to Avada, then Avada quickly improves his skill proficiency and then reports the results back to Baron... This method, which is comparable to stepping on one foot to reach the sky, has greatly increased their progress speed, and the close cooperation between the two has once impressed Professor Baker.

However, as Professor Baker also said, mastering the Disillusionment Charm is only the beginning.

After Baron mastered the Disillusionment Charm, they began to learn the accompanying techniques: silent walking, eliminating footprints, masking scents, using obstacles, and blocking line of sight—a series of tactical maneuvers. If it weren't for the fact that Avada and Baron were only first-year students, Professor Baker would probably have even taught them the Silent Charm.

While one can learn magic by using magical senses to gain advantages, there are no shortcuts to physical training, especially for Avada, whose athletic talent is not yet outstanding. In the following days, even though Professor Baker slowed down his lectures to accommodate Avada's progress, he still felt considerable pressure.

However, when his learning results were put into practice, Avada felt that the pressure he had felt before was less.

When Professor Baker told them to master the Disillusionment Charm before, he said it would be very useful in the process of obtaining magical materials. At the time, the naive Avada didn't understand the meaning of those words, but now the answer has finally been revealed...

[Someone's coming! Use the Disillusionment Charm, quick!]

【Received, already hidden.】

"Hey, Ken? You're here too?"

"Cedric? Are you here to see Professor Baker?"

"Oh, right, there's a point in the textbook that I don't quite understand... Did you just talk to him about it?"

"I'd like to, but he's not in his office right now. I'm waiting for him here. By the way, what's that point you don't understand? I've almost finished studying the second-year defensive magic textbook on my own; maybe it can help you?"

"Uh... thank you for your kindness, I'll show it to you, and we can discuss it together."

"Hmm, it doesn't seem too difficult, it should be this..."

[Ken, the protective magic has been broken; you can go in now.]

"Okay, I guess I don't understand it either. Sorry, I was a bit arrogant and took up your time..."

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it. It's already amazing that you can learn second-grade material on your own. I'll go back to the library and take another look. See you tonight."

"Okay, see you tonight..."

After confirming that Cedric, who had intruded, had completely left, Avada immediately cast an Illusion Charm on himself, silently and swiftly turning a corner along the wall, and arrived at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. The door, which should have been tightly closed, was now ajar, and there was a somewhat unnatural patch of color next to it.

That's right, Avada and Baron are infiltrating the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.

It was now mid-February. As time progressed, the setup for the consciousness extraction magic had finally reached its last step. However, the two discovered a problem: relying solely on incantations would make this step almost impossible; specific magical materials were needed to assist in "setting up the array."

The materials were either dangerous and prohibited items, or so rare that even Baron would be stunned by their exorbitant prices. When they asked Professor Baker what to do next, he was already prepared, saying that some of the materials could be found in the Forbidden Forest, while the rest were kept in his office…

With the help of Professor Baker's "Forbidden Forest Creature and Herb Distribution Map" and "Defense Office Exploration Guide," the two first infiltrated the Forbidden Forest, collecting a considerable amount of herbs and then teaming up to take down a small giant eight-eyed spider to collect its venom. An unexpected incident occurred along the way—their location happened to be right on the hunting grounds guard Rupert Hagrid's patrol route.

At that time, Avada Kedavra sacrificed himself, dispelling the Disillusionment Charm and pretending to be a reckless newcomer exploring the Forbidden Forest alone out of interest in magical creatures. He was caught red-handed by Hagrid, thus covering Baron's actions.

Fortunately, thanks to his relatively extensive knowledge of magical creatures and his good communication skills, he ended up having a great chat with Hagrid. After talking with Hagrid for half an hour about the habits of hippogriffs, Hagrid didn't tell Professor Sprout about his behavior. He just gave him a verbal reprimand and warned him not to violate school rules by exploring the Forbidden Forest in the future.

Next, it was the Defense Against the Dark Arts office's turn.

However, sneaking into the office was actually safer than going into the Forbidden Forest. After all, it was a place personally arranged by Professor Baker, and the information provided was the most detailed and comprehensive. Moreover, the fake Baker's lifestyle was consistent with Professor Baker's, so he knew exactly when he would leave the office, how long he would be gone, and whether he would notice any signs of infiltration upon his return.

The only problem is that it takes time to break through the defenses and alarms at the entrance. During this time, other students will inevitably pass by, so one person needs to stand guard outside and communicate with the other person mentally at all times, which is why the scene just now happened.

Since Hufflepuff is generally more popular than Slytherin, even though Avada Kedavra, with his magical senses, could break through the defenses faster, he still chose to keep watch himself and leave the task of breaking through to Baron.

After Baron completely breached the security measures, the two carefully opened the door a crack wider, slipped inside, and quietly closed it before immediately starting to search the designated areas.

[Part of the material is scraps from making crystal balls; this part of the material is located in a shielded area, unknown even to the fake Baker...]

After Avada Kedavra enchanted the soles of his shoes, he crouched down, counted a floorboard, and tapped it a few times with his wand in a specific rhythm. The floorboard then lifted up on its own, revealing bottles and jars in a hidden compartment below: [These can all be taken without hesitation.]

As he spoke, he took off his wizard's robe and used it as a bundle to pack up the hidden materials—he only needed to cast a Disillusionment Charm on the robe later.

[But the other part is hidden in a normal storage cabinet, and taking it rashly will leave traces... Do you have the replacement fake material?]

【certainly.】

As he moved, Baron also put on protective gloves, precisely opening each drawer to retrieve useful materials, then stuffing the fake materials at the bottom to make their reduction less noticeable: [How much time has passed?]

[There are still twelve minutes until the earliest expected return time for the fake Baker.]

Avada glanced at his Muggle watch and transmitted a message via telepathy: "But we need to allow for contingencies and eliminate traces, so we have to hurry."

【clear.】

Baron quickened his search, while Avada checked each item against the others to ensure all the necessary materials were present. A few minutes later, they finally completed their collection.

After carefully eliminating every trace of infiltration and confirming through his magical senses that no one was outside, Avada first cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and added a spell to the large package in his hand. Then he opened the door and slipped out, with Baron following closely behind.

The door's protection was broken through using skillful dismantling rather than brute force, so there's no need to worry that the protective magic would reveal that someone had been there.

(End of this chapter)