Shocking Change

Chapter 84 Shocking Change

"A pile of cockroaches?"

"Sizzling honey?"

"A bloody lollipop?"

"..."

Under the disapproving gaze of the stone beast, Avada finally figured out the password to the principal's office, quickly ran up the spiral staircase, and knocked on the familiar wooden door.

"Professor Dumbledore, are you there?"

no respond.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

Avada called out a few more times, but still received no response, so he stopped waiting and pushed the door open—luckily, the door wasn't locked.

The arrangement of the headmaster's office remained unchanged. The desks and chairs, various silverwares, the Sorting Hat, and the perch of Fawkes the phoenix were all in the same place. The portraits of the past headmasters were all asleep with their eyes closed... Only Dumbledore himself and Fawkes were missing.

"that……"

Avada looked around, then finally turned to the portraits hanging on the wall for help: "Professors, could you please tell me where Professor Dumbledore is? And when will he be back?"

"You are... oh, that student with the ridiculous name, right?"

Amando Dippert's portrait was the first to open its eyes and glance at Avada, after which all the other portraits stopped pretending to be asleep and opened their eyes wide, looking with great interest at this "student with a very outlandish name"...

"Ahem, it's me, Professor."

Avada coughed awkwardly, but didn't forget the important matter: "Excuse me, where is Professor Dumbledore? I have something urgent to discuss with him."

"He went to London this morning," Armando finally replied. "He probably won't be back for a few days..."

"What?!"

Avada was utterly shocked: Why is Dumbledore in London now?!

There's still over a week until the final exams! Didn't Voldemort only start his operation after the final exams were over in the original books?!

"Do you have a way to contact him immediately?" Avada asked the portraits urgently.

"Unfortunately, no."

This time it was Delis de Winter's turn to speak: "I can contact St. Mungo's Hospital, but none of us have a direct way to contact Dumbledore, after all, we're just portraits..."

"Okay, I got it, thanks!"

Avada immediately turned and left the headmaster's office, quickly running to the third floor and knocking on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office: "Professor, are you there? I have a question..."

Click.

With a gentle turn of the doorknob, the door opened a crack, and Quirrell's head peeked out—not Voldemort.

"Ken?"

He beckoned Avada in and closed the door, then asked in a low voice, "Are you here to see your master?"

"Yes, I..."

"The master is resting."

Quirrell smiled at him: "He's conserving his energy for tonight's operation."

"Are we going to take action tonight?!"

Avada's heart skipped a beat, but she still put on a look of surprise: "After tonight, the professor can be resurrected?"

"No, no, not that soon..."

Quirrell's expression brightened considerably: "After we get that item tonight, my master and I will have to leave Hogwarts temporarily. Resurrection is a rather complicated process... but at the latest, my master will regain his body and power in a few months!"

"That's fantastic... So when does the professor plan to conquer Hogwarts?"

"That will have to wait a while. Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic are not easy to deal with... But once your master is resurrected, you can leave this school, which is temporarily bound by corrupt dogma, and follow your master to openly learn all kinds of wonderful magic. At your rate of growth, you might even be able to participate in the war and make contributions when we conquer the Ministry of Magic and take over Hogwarts!"

"You'd better perform well then. You're the second greatest contributor to the master's resurrection, and you've received his guidance for so long, he'll definitely focus on nurturing you."

"Um!"

Avada smiled, his eyes filled with anticipation for the future: "Then I'll be waiting for your good news!"

"Don't worry, this time it will be foolproof."

Quirrell smiled confidently, planted a flag (a metaphor for a plot device), and then saw Avada out of the office. The instant the office door closed, Avada's expression darkened:

"Is it really ahead of schedule? Why?"

"Was it because I interfered with his process of drinking unicorn blood? But I clearly alerted Hagrid to the anomaly beforehand and warned the unicorns to leave quickly. The subsequent hunts did indeed end in failure several times... Why was it earlier than expected??"

"And if that's the case, do Harry and the others even know Voldemort exists? Do they know he's going to pass through the trapdoor tonight?"

"What should we do now...?"

While his mind raced, Avada ran downstairs to the school's owlhouse, pulled out a piece of paper, placed it against the wall, and began to write:

[Dear Professor Dumbledore:]

As I write this letter, Voldemort has already planned to sneak into the fourth-floor corridor that very night to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I don't know if you went to London genuinely for business, or if you were misled... but I have another important matter to discuss.

[A while ago, I received a package containing five notebooks and an anonymous letter. The sender claimed to be an American adventurer with the ability to foresee the future. In the letter, he said I had the ability to cast the spells recorded in the notebooks to completely seal Voldemort. He also said he had already given those spells to you, but you replied that you couldn't cast them...]

The letter also mentioned that my friend Baron Shafik possessed a prophecy orb, which could function as a "container"...

I admit, I do have a rather peculiar sensitivity to mental energy: my mind seems to work much faster than other wizards, and I learn things much faster; not only that, I can also roughly sense other people's feelings; and on several occasions, I've even been able to roughly predict what kind of magic others are going to cast...

The current situation is... after discussion, we've decided to do as he says and attempt to seal Voldemort, working together to maintain peace in the wizarding world...

Therefore, I request that you return immediately after reading this letter. Baron needs your protection... but please do not show yourself immediately. According to the letter, doing so may scare Voldemort away...

[A. Ken]

"Go and send this letter to Dumbledore, as soon as possible!"

Avada hurriedly tied the hastily written letter to the leg of an owl, giving it instructions as he released it. The owl seemed to sense Avada's urgency; with a flap of its wings, it became a tiny black dot and disappeared from his sight…

"Next, let's go check on Harry and the others."

Avada took one last look in the direction the owl had disappeared before turning back to the castle.

It's Sunday afternoon. With exams approaching, if Harry and the others didn't know Voldemort was going to make his move tonight, they'd most likely be studying in the library; but if they did know…

Sure enough, they found no trace of the three in the library in Avada Kedavra, and then, unsurprisingly, they spotted Hermione lurking around not far from the entrance of the faculty lounge.

"This is a ghost."

Avada sighed deeply: "How come they always seem to realize something's up until the day before Voldemort's move?"

So he went back to the library and pulled Baron, who was studying diligently inside, out.

"Something's gone wrong. He'll make his move tonight, and I reckon Harry and the others will get involved too. Our plans have to be moved up..."

"……what?"

(End of this chapter)