The Christmas Holiday Arrives

Chapter 70 The Christmas Holiday Arrives

Looking at the results presented on the paper, Avada fell silent.

Last semester, the confession magic was able to bring Professor Baker's main soul back into his body. This involved not only the volume of the soul, but also a combination of factors such as the total amount of spiritual power, the binding force of the Horcrux on the soul, the compatibility of life force and body, and so on. Perhaps the specially made black crystal ball that could hold a main soul also played a part in it...

However, when facing Voldemort this time, due to his unusually small main soul, his mutated mental power, his special state of having no physical body, and the influence of the Horcrux magic itself, the Penance spell could only return the soul fragments to his main soul.

Fortunately, the "Confession" spell doesn't have a wide-area effect; otherwise, the fragments of Harry Potter's soul present at the scene would have interfered, and the outcome would have been truly unpredictable...

While the return of the soul fragments cannot achieve soul healing or boost Voldemort's intelligence, the fragments remain in his possession. Once he recovers his body, he can use the fragments originally stored in the diaphragm to create a new Horcrux unknown to Avada. Who knows how much effort it will take to investigate later...

However, he wasn't too discouraged, since he had prepared far more than just this one plan.

Adding drugs to Voldemort's father's ashes, infiltrating Azkaban to tamper with the Death Eaters, and simultaneously destroying all the Horcruxes Voldemort acquired during his battle with Dumbledore... only the quickest method has failed; there are still many other options.

And don't forget, he also possesses complete data on Voldemort's mental abilities, allowing him to tailor-make several spells specifically to counter him. Once those spells are distributed to the Order of the Phoenix, any member could exert immense pressure on Voldemort, making him question his very existence…

However, the quickest and least costly solution was gone, and half a year's work was wasted. It's hard to swallow this bitter pill.

"So... let's try developing it independently."

"Since I'm just killing time anyway, and without the pressure from Voldemort, second-year classes are getting a bit too boring..."

"But there are only six months left. If I'm unlucky, I won't even be able to find a solution."

"Fine, I'll just do my best."

With a sigh, Avada put the large book away again and left the Room of Requirement.

"Christmas is just around the corner, and Quirrell probably won't be staying at school, so I won't be able to continue recording Voldemort's mental energy. But we already have enough data, and we can catch up on the rest in another class or two... So let's start trying to find a solution during this Christmas period."

"I need to check out the forbidden book section... Luckily, I've already figured out the 'Close-up Spell,' otherwise just opening the restrictions on the forbidden book section silently would have taken a lot of effort. And I've also found a way to move through the spatial interlayers, although it's a bit of an unconventional method..."

He felt he was gradually being assimilated into Gryffindor, but he had no evidence.

So that very night, he got up in the middle of the night, locked himself in the bathroom, and used the "Close at Hand, Far Away" spell to send himself into a spatial interlayer, indulging in a taste of being the Celestial Venerable of the Floating Life and Profound Yellow. Then he pulled a flying broom out of his pocket.

The Comet 100 Sport Broom is the oldest version of the broom still in production by Comet, valued at 2 Galleons and 4 Sieges.

Since we don't have magic to fly for the time being, can't we at least ride a flying broom?

Of course, Avada had pre-treated the broom to be cold-resistant, so that it could be used normally even in the space interlayer where the environment was almost like space.

So, while manipulating the Unseen Stretch Charm to expand the space, he slowly flew upwards on his broom, constantly paying attention to the changes in the magical environment around him, experiencing the novel feeling of passing through real objects like a ghost... Finally, he entered the forbidden book area on the fifth floor without any hindrance, and after casting an Illusion Charm on himself as a precaution, he began to wander among the bookshelves.

The forbidden book section contains many books with various eerie effects: some leave strange patterns on your hand when you touch them, some emit screams when you open them, and some run away on their own... Moreover, their covers are mostly strange and grotesque, hairy, spiky, bubbling like boiling water, and some are even said to have a bunch of rolling eyeballs.

God knows what was going on in the minds of the authors of these books, but fortunately Avada's magical senses allow him to avoid or temporarily suppress this nonsense.

So, after searching for more than half an hour, he returned empty-handed, dejectedly making his way back to the toilet in the Hufflepuff common room. Then he opened the door and tiptoed back to his dormitory—he had to control his time for the time being to prevent anyone from waking up in the middle of the night to use the toilet and thinking he was constipated.

However, once the Christmas holidays begin tomorrow and most students have left school, it will be fine. Even if he stays in the toilet all day, probably few people will notice.

So, the next day.

Are you going home this time?

Avada looked at Baron, who was carrying a suitcase, with some surprise—wasn't he still at school last semester?

"Of course, I stayed at school last semester just to experience the Christmas holiday at Hogwarts. Once the novelty wears off, I still have to go home. Otherwise, wouldn't I only see my parents once a year?"

Avada recalled what happened during last year's Christmas holidays: "I don't think that was the norm..."

"...That's true."

"Alright, I'll have an owl deliver your Christmas presents to your house. Don't ask what they are yet, it's a surprise, keep it a secret."

"Is this going to be another one that causes a lot of trouble?"

"..."

And so, Avada watched Baron board the Hogwarts Express with his luggage, feeling a pang of loneliness.

As a result, almost all of his friends—his roommate, Cedric, Cho, Baron, the Weasley twins, and others—chose to go home for Christmas. Since there were already very few students staying on campus for Christmas, he would likely only run into someone he could talk to while cooking or looking for food in the kitchen. And he dared not openly sneak into the restricted section during the day…

He knew that Harry and Ron would also stay at the school, but they weren't very close. Besides, according to the original story, the two of them should still be racking their brains to find clues about "Nico Flamel" at this time, and shouldn't have time to worry about anything else.

"Forget it, I'll just go chat with Hagrid and then use the rest of my time to do some other research."

He sighed, turned around and went back to his dormitory to start preparing Christmas gifts for the others.

He couldn't give away anything too special for Christmas, just homemade pastries, alchemical artifacts, or books he found interesting. The so-called surprise he prepared for Baron was a bottle of brain-boosting serum that he had finally been able to make himself—this stuff had helped him a lot last year.

It's worth mentioning that he also prepared gifts for Quirrell, Harry, and Ron. Quirrell did this to further prove his loyalty, while Ron wanted to cultivate a good relationship with Harry so that he could get his cooperation when dealing with the soul fragments inside him in the future.

However, there was another reason: to prevent Harry from interfering with his plans for a nighttime visit to the forbidden library—the gift he gave Harry was a book on alchemy, which highlighted Nicolas Flamel's contributions to alchemy, including the Philosopher's Stone.

(End of this chapter)