Reunion with Voldemort

Chapter 53 Reunion with Voldemort

"Harry? What brings you here? I remember the Gryffindor selections are tomorrow, aren't they?"

Avada blinked, looking somewhat confused: he did know that Harry had been chosen by Professor McGonagall to be the Seeker in his first year due to his outstanding flying talent, but did he no longer need to participate in the preliminary rounds?

If we do this, what will the other players think? How will they coordinate during the game?

Oh, the seeker doesn't need to coordinate with others, then that's fine.

"Oh, you don't know yet, I just..."

Harry was about to excitedly explain that he had just been specially approved by Professor McGonagall to become Gryffindor's youngest Seeker and had also received a Nimbus 2000, when he was suddenly interrupted by a voice—"Harry?"

A tall boy in a red protective suit walked over, carrying a large box under his arm. He paused for a moment after seeing Harry talking to someone: "Is this your friend? Wait, you're that...?"

"Wood".

Avada raised his hand in greeting—they had met last year when he visited the Weasley twins' audition.

"Oh, Ken."

Wood finally found the image of "this person whose name couldn't even be mentioned" in his memory, so he nodded in acknowledgment before saying, "Excuse me, Ken, could you please excuse us for a moment? We're here..."

"Wood, I think..." Harry was about to object when Avada interrupted him.

"Is there some confidential project? Okay, I'll head back now."

Avada smiled. It seemed Wood wanted to keep Harry's skill level a secret, only revealing it as a secret weapon in the official competition: "See you later, Harry; and best of luck with your training, Wood."

Perfect timing, he was also looking forward to a rest after watching Quidditch matches all day.

After saying goodbye to Harry, who looked somewhat disappointed, he headed straight for the Great Hall. It was still dinnertime, and many people were eating in the Great Hall, a significant portion of whom were Slytherins who had just finished the Selection Tournament. They were all eating voraciously at the tables without even having had time to change their clothes, looking extremely hungry—no wonder, since their Selection Tournament had taken place right at dinnertime.

"Hey, Ken!"

Avada turned his head and saw Baron, who was sitting elegantly cutting a steak, waving at him. So he went over and sat down opposite Baron, taking some food and chatting with him.

"I haven't congratulated you yet, but you've successfully secured the Seeker position."

"Let's put that aside for now. I just heard from Draco that Harry Potter almost broke his neck during his flying lesson? You Hufflepuffs are close to Gryffindor, have you heard anything about that?"

"...I just saw him. He looked cheerful and didn't seem to be in any trouble."

Avada hesitated for a moment about whether to tell Baron that the opponent had already acquired god-tier gear, but after thinking about it, he decided against it and decided to wait until the Quidditch match was about to start before telling Baron, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

When Gryffindor faces Slytherin, and two young students ride the world's best racing broomsticks to fight for the Golden Snitch, that scene will definitely be quite exciting, but it'll be tough on Cho Chang and Cedric...

"Um?"

Avada paused, then realized something was wrong: 'Why are all the people I'm close to becoming Seekers?'

He clearly felt that the most illogical position in Quidditch was the Seeker...

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

He only stopped his internal monologue when Baron waved his arm in front of him: "Oh, sorry, where were we?"

"We've started talking about Draco and Harry..."

Baron had finished eating and was wiping his mouth. "I'll go ask Draco about it later. Besides, I always felt there was something off about the tone he used when he said those things to me. It didn't sound like he was shocked or concerned..."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot!"

He suddenly jolted awake: "Good heavens, I was so busy talking that I almost forgot something important—Professor Quirrell just came by and asked where you were. He told me to let him know when I see you so you can come to his office..."

Avada's expression turned solemn.

"What's going on? Why is Voldemort looking for me at this time?"

"They can't possibly be planning to send me to scout with Fluffy, can they? Come to think of it, Harry and the others should already know about the trapdoor..."

"What's wrong?"

Seeing that Avada's expression was off, Baron couldn't help but think of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from last semester: "Could it be that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is having problems this time too? I noticed something was off about his behavior in class. Who's been teaching for two weeks and is still so nervous in front of the students..."

"What are you thinking about?"

Avada shook his head and chuckled: "It's just that when I asked him some questions last time, I asked some tricky ones that stumped him. He said he'd call me over when I had a better answer, and here I am now."

"Relax. Although the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor changes every year, there can't be problems every year, otherwise the course would have been unable to recruit any professors long ago—I'm leaving now."

"Okay, see you later."

Last semester, he had inadvertently dragged Baron into Professor Baker's affair by introducing him to the Room of Requirement. This time, the guy they were facing was many times more dangerous than Professor Baker, and the benefits of defeating him would be almost negligible, so there was even less need to involve Baron.

In dealing with Voldemort, having professors like Dumbledore, Harry with his protective charm and his two friends, and someone who knows the original story and has an unfair advantage, is enough.

After rushing back to his dormitory, Avada quickly emptied his backpack, leaving only a blank notebook and a shorthand quill. He then grabbed the book "Psychodynamics" and related notes, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and went up to the third floor, knocking on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.

The instant he opened the door, he activated his Occlumency and "saw" Quirrell's body dominated by a dark golden mental force—Voldemort himself had taken over again.

"Professor Quirrell, you wanted to see me?"

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that after I recommended the book 'Psychodynamics' to you, I thought about it and realized that the content might be too profound for you and you might have difficulty grasping it, so I wanted to ask about your progress."

Quirrell smiled gently and pulled out a chair for Avada to sit down, as if he were truly a gentle and learned professor.

"Ah, that's perfect. I did have quite a few questions, and I was planning to gather them all up before coming to you, so as not to take up your time..."

"Look here, I've made some notes. Regarding the specific meaning of this logical symbol, the phenomenon it describes seems to involve more unknowns and unpredictability..."

While Avada was using Occlumency, he secretly activated the shorthand quill hidden in his backpack to record Voldemort's mental energy data. He had deliberately placed the backpack far from the doorway and made special modifications to it. In addition, the shorthand quill was designed to be quiet, so he could ensure that Voldemort would not discover it to the greatest extent possible.

"You didn't fully understand the content here... no, it should be said that the book didn't express it clearly, after all, it's an old book from decades ago. Actually..."

Voldemort glanced through the notes he had made, nodding in satisfaction as he picked up his pen and began to explain them to Avada with annotations and introspection. Voldemort was a little embarrassed – analyzing your mental power while simultaneously siphoning off your knowledge, all while secretly plotting to take advantage of you… There’s no way to fleece someone like this.

However, when he thought about what the person in front of him had done and what he was going to do in the future, Avada's embarrassment vanished.

For your own sake, and for everyone's peaceful life, it's best to get rid of him as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Voldemort really resurrects and reassembles the Death Eaters, not only will the British wizarding world be thrown into chaos, but Avada Kedavra, being a Muggle, will definitely be among the most targeted—others may not know his lineage, but didn't the Department of Mysteries investigate his ancestral bloodline when they selected him? The Department of Mysteries says he's Muggle-born, so he's definitely Muggle-born, no doubt about it.

(End of this chapter)