Voldemort drifted closer and took hold of Cappadocia's hand.
Just as Cappadocia thought Voldemort was about to pull him out, Voldemort suddenly leaned in close.
A mocking smile played across his face as he pointed at his own neck.
The pitch-black lake water washed over Voldemort's body, and the crimson mark gradually faded under the current until it disappeared completely.
The mark... was gone.
The safeguard he had left on Voldemort had been removed?
How was that possible? A wizard with no body left and barely a fraction of his magic remaining. What gave him the right?
Cappadocia went pale with disbelief as he stared at Voldemort. Then he felt the ring being taken from his hand.
"You think you're the only one who knows about the Deathly Hallows?" Voldemort's voice rang in his ears.
"I knew about this thing when I was young. I even studied it. This is where I discovered the place where Death became an Eternal Wizard."
As he spoke, Voldemort slid the ring onto his own finger right in front of Cappadocia. The Resurrection Stone, which embodied the soul power of Death, slowly melted and flowed into Voldemort's soul.
In an instant, the lake was stirred into motion. The enormous magic woven into the environment was awakened by the soul power inside the Resurrection Stone. It surged toward Voldemort and merged into his soul, swelling his aura again and again.
The place where Death became an Eternal Wizard? No wonder everything here felt so strange, steeped in death and eerie power.
Cappadocia understood now. He had been played from beginning to end. He had never truly made Voldemort submit.
His eyes went bloodshot with fury. He wanted nothing more than to tear a chunk of flesh from Voldemort's body.
Voldemort laughed when he saw that rage.
"Strange, isn't it? Wondering why your mark disappeared? This place is saturated with the power of death. Your so-called Titan power is worthless in front of it."
As he spoke, Voldemort's fragile soul began to change. It started taking on the shape of a skeleton, and the phantom of a tattered robe appeared over his body.
In the blink of an eye, Voldemort looked as though he had become Death itself. Vast soul power rippled from his spectral body, filling him with a formidable presence.
And yet Voldemort was still dissatisfied.
Back then, the reason he had not chosen to inherit Death's power was simple. Collecting all three Deathly Hallows was too difficult.
He had not known where the Invisibility Cloak and the Elder Wand were.
But now he did.
So the Deathly Hallows had once been this close to him.
The Elder Wand in Dumbledore's hand. The Invisibility Cloak in Harry Potter's.
Excellent. Old scores and new could be settled together.
The Deathly Hallows. The Resurrection Stone contained Death's soul power, the Invisibility Cloak represented Death's body, the Elder Wand represented Death's magic, and Death's consciousness had transformed into eternity, governing all of it.
The Resurrection Stone was soul power.
But soul power alone could not make Voldemort truly strong. Magic was the foundation of everything.
Right now, Voldemort had only gathered the Death-aspected magic in this region. It far surpassed that of an ordinary wizard, but compared with Dumbledore, there was still a vast gap.
That did not mean, however, that Voldemort had no way to deal with Dumbledore.
He looked greedily at Cappadocia, who was still making his final struggle, and smiled.
"We're going to be working together for a long time, Mr. Cappadocia."
Voldemort's sinister laughter echoed through the cave. He reached out, and Death's soul power slipped like a cold venomous snake through Cappadocia's mouth and nose and into his body.
A scream of pain and terror rang out through the cavern.
...
Leonard lounged casually against empty space, watching the starlight glitter overhead.
The inside of the World Tree really was quite beautiful. Those stars were not real, but neither were they static. They moved according to a fixed pattern.
Unfortunately, this was hardly a scenic retreat at the moment. The stars on one side were dazzling enough, but when there was a raven on the other side crying out in its sleep from some endless nightmare, even the finest view lost its charm.
Harris Raymons had been unconscious for a very long time now, so long that the semester was nearly over. If the World Tree had not been feeding him the nutrients he needed the entire time, he would have starved to death long ago.
Which was hardly surprising.
According to Leonard's examination, Harris Raymons had essentially died once already. Ancient magic had shredded his soul to pieces.
On top of that, some kind of magic had transmitted him into the raven's body through a connection, leaving his soul in complete disarray.
Only the World Tree, the very source of ancient magic, could heal wounds this troublesome.
"But after all this time, he should be waking up by now, shouldn't he?" Leonard muttered, looking at the raven tossing in its nightmare.
The ability to dream again meant the soul had mostly been repaired. Returning to normal was no longer possible, though. His soul was now inside the raven's body, and over the course of healing it had completely fused with it.
Even if he died naturally one day and turned into a ghost, he would only be a raven ghost.
That was not Leonard's fault. Preserving Harris Raymons's memories and intelligence had already been enough trouble. Leonard had no intention of making more work for himself by restoring him to human form too.
"Whatever. Let's speed it up a little. Harris Raymons is obviously like this because of Odin. Time to give Dumbledore a little Eternal Wizard shock and make him stop staring at me all day."
Leonard snapped his fingers, and a mass of pure soul power poured out and flowed into the raven's body.
The raven suddenly stopped struggling. Instinctively, it began absorbing the soul power, and before long it woke up.
"Where am I?" The moment Harris Raymons opened his eyes, he saw a sky full of stars. His thoughts stuttered for a second, and when he noticed Leonard, he hurriedly asked.
"You're near Hogwarts. When we found you, you were just about ready to dissipate completely." Leonard was very considerate. "How do you feel? Anything uncomfortable?"
Since Harris Raymons was about to become the most important tool for redirecting Dumbledore's attention, Leonard did not mind being a little nice to him.
Leonard's enthusiasm made Harris Raymons uncomfortable. He sprang up, noticed his body, remembered a great many details, and instinctively said, "I don't feel very good inside."
"Oh, then you're fine." Leonard rolled his eyes. "Come on. I'm taking you to see someone."
"Who?" Harris Raymons asked.
"Dumbledore, obviously." Leonard smiled. "I imagine there are quite a few things you'd like to say to him right now, aren't there?"