Avada Kedavra

Chapter 88 Avada Kedavra

The room's layout had completely changed—the walls were covered with mysterious and intricate patterns, and various strange materials were embedded or placed on the floor, now rapidly evaporating or losing their color… Quirrell's body convulsed uncontrollably, and he collapsed to the ground, even dropping his wand to the side…

What terrified Voldemort the most was that he saw his wandering soul being forcibly pulled from Quirrell's body by an invisible force and merging into something on his back!

In Harry and Baron's eyes, a large amount of gray smoke suddenly emerged from the back of Quirrell's head and then poured into something attached to his back—a black crystal ball with a white ring nested inside.

"How's it going, Professor Voldemort?"

A voice that should never have been there suddenly rang out in the room: "The grand gift I prepared for you... are you satisfied?!"

"Ken?!"

Three gasps of surprise echoed simultaneously in the room—it was Harry, Baron, and Voldemort. Quirrell was too exhausted to call out anymore.

"What are you doing out here?! Didn't we agree that you'd stay hidden and cast spells?!"

Baron jumped up from the ground, took a step back away from Voldemort, and ran to Harry's side, exclaiming as he looked at the suddenly appearing figure.

"Of course, it's to draw attention. Dumbledore hasn't shown up yet. If I don't want you to get hurt, the only way is for me to step in and prevent Voldemort from having any more hidden tricks up his sleeve..."

Avada Kedavra glanced at him without speaking, but continued to point her glowing wand at Voldemort, her teeth clenched, her forehead covered in cold sweat, looking extremely strained...

"You bastard..."

Baron snorted angrily, turned around, and swiftly cut the ropes binding Harry: "It's over, Harry."

"You...are willing...you all..."

Harry felt his mind buzzing like it was filled with a beehive, completely confused and unable to comprehend what was happening. He felt that everything he saw defied logic and common sense, a million times more absurd than the most ridiculous abstract painting…

"I'm sorry I took advantage of you without your knowledge."

Baron helped him up, his voice full of apology: "But you don't know Occlumency, so you can't defend against his Legilimency, which is why I had to keep the plan from you... It was all for this moment, for the final victory."

"The final victory... was all planned by you and Dumbledore? You knew from the beginning that Voldemort was going to steal the Philosopher's Stone?" Harry asked incredulously.

Baron didn't answer. Instead, he gripped his wand tightly, watching Avada Kedavra intently as she maintained the magic. Their conversation from half a day ago flashed through his mind...

[You mean, you possess a spell similar to the Unseen Stretch Charm, which allows you to conceal your spells within the house while the surface remains completely undetected, preventing Voldemort from noticing anything amiss. Then, you suddenly unleash the spells inside the house when he's completely off guard, right?]

Yes, that's one way to understand it.

"So, my plan is—you just need to stay hidden in that space and maintain the magic. The task of placing the crystal ball on Voldemort will be mine."

【You? Don't be ridiculous, I would never let…】

[Let me finish. Didn't you foresee that Harry and the others would infiltrate shortly after Quirrell, and that Harry would ultimately confront Voldemort, destroy Quirrell's body, and drive away Voldemort's spirit? Well, if I also participate in this process, help them overcome the obstacles, enter the final level with Harry, and then ambush and subdue Harry from behind, I can prevent him from encountering Quirrell—]

"I helped Harry in the competition; and Voldemort knows I'm your friend, and a pure-blood Slytherin... I naturally have their trust, and neither side will suspect me."

【…】

So, Harry will trust me and go into the last room with me; and Voldemort will trust me after seeing me ambush Harry, considering me one of his men. As for you… well, just tell him you planned to send Harry to him to please him, but were too afraid to show yourself because you acted on your own initiative.

"Are you sure Harry possesses the ability to avoid Voldemort's harm? That makes things easier... When Voldemort is completely off guard, I'll fawn over him in the most pathetic, humble way, begging him to accept me as a Death Eater. He certainly won't refuse. Then I'll take the opportunity to go up and hug him, and then..."

Then, the crystal ball hidden in his sleeve was secured to his back.

[I'll wear a robe with wide sleeves to make sure the back of his head won't notice my movements... Which hand did he brand you with the Dark Mark? Your right, right? Then I'll use my left hand to hide the crystal ball, but he might still notice... So after I make the gesture to hug him, you need to cast the spell immediately, don't give him time to react.]

"By the way, you've already replicated the potion we'll use to advance, right? Give me some of that potion, just enough for one person. We can't leave Ron and Hermione, who might be there, with a reason to move forward. They don't have Harry's qualities; it's too dangerous for them to get involved rashly..."

……

"Ken?! Why?! How is that possible?!"

Voldemort's screams were beginning to weaken—a human face was vaguely emerging from the gray mist flowing into the crystal ball, half of its chin already sucked in…

"Nothing is impossible, Voldemort, no, Tom Marvolo Riddle..."

Avada looked at Voldemort's panicked and angry face, and mimicked his expression with a sinister smile.

"What?! Who, who are you?!"

Avada smirked – they'd fallen for it.

In the time that followed, he needed to bombard Voldemort with all sorts of trash talk to distract him and prevent him from actually pulling out some big move.

As for whether he will expose any messy secrets as a result... what a joke! The Harry Potter series is about to end under his watch, who cares about that!

"Who am I... Ha."

Avada Kedavra let out a disdainful snort, struggling to maintain the magic's flow and drag Voldemort deeper into the abyss, while simultaneously asking, "Didn't you think about that?"

"Why do I have such a peculiar name? Why do I share so many similarities with you? Why was I able to deduce the prototype of the Imperius Curse on my own? And why can I now use a spell that seems tailor-made for you?"

"Do you... still remember the name 'Melop Gaunt'?!"

"What?!"

Voldemort's composure crumbled instantly, a large portion of the gray mist being swallowed by the crystal ball: "Who are you?! Could it be, could it be that you are...?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just asking casually. I have absolutely no connection with Merop Gaunt, and I'm nobody to you."

Seeing Avada's smug smile, Voldemort almost exploded with rage.

"Okay, okay, enough joking around..."

Avada watched as nearly half of Voldemort's soul was dragged into the crystal ball, and his expression gradually relaxed: "Ever since I learned of your identity, including after you branded me with the Dark Mark, I have never intended to submit to you, Voldemort."

"After you revealed your identity to me, I saw a certain future in you, a future that could completely destroy you... I have been preparing for this, whether it was learning mental magic, getting closer to you, or constantly memorizing your mental characteristics... everything was for this day, this moment."

"The one who provided this magic wasn't me, nor even Dumbledore, but an American adventurer who claimed to have been possessed by you... You should know best who that person is, right?"

"What?"

Voldemort was momentarily confused—before Quirrell, he had never found a satisfactory subject to possess, let alone an American adventurer... But if not this person, where did this magic, which seemed tailor-made for him, come from?

"wrong!"

The next moment, he realized: 'He's stalling me!'

"Very good, Ken, very good..."

The face in the gray mist stared intently at Avada, as if trying to devour him with its gaze, its low voice containing unimaginable rage:

"How could I not have thought of that... Someone as brilliant as you, a born dark wizard, with a mind that could even fool the Sorting Hat... how could you be content to be subordinate to someone else? How could you not, like me, possess a heart that desires to control everything?"

"Very good, you're just like me, Ken, even better than me, and a better faker..."

"But since that's the case, I can't tolerate you anymore... I'm going to kill you, I will definitely kill you..."

The next second, the gray mist that hadn't yet been swallowed by the crystal ball seemed to gather all its strength and rapidly expand, then with a desperate squeeze, it forced a portion of it back into the back of Quirrell's head. Then, Quirrell, who had been slumped on the ground, suddenly moved. His right hand, as if it didn't belong to him, automatically reached out and picked up the wand that had fallen beside him, then turned it around and aimed it at Quirrell's neck...

"No!"

Quirrell's eyes widened instantly, his voice filled with terror and panic: "Master, please don't do this! I beg you! I..."

puff! !

In a flash, to everyone's disbelief, Quirrell's wand unleashed a blade of eerie blue light, instantly leaving a gruesome gash on his neck. Black blood gushed out like a fountain, and Quirrell's terrified and resentful gaze gradually faded...

With an incredibly piercing scream, Voldemort's spirit instantly snapped in two, leaving only one half, like a gecko's severed tail, still being devoured by the crystal ball...

(End of this chapter)