"Cockroach clusters?"
"Fizzing Whizzbees?"
"Blood-flavored lollipops?"
"…"
Under the stone gargoyle's increasingly displeased gaze, Avada finally guessed the correct password to the Headmaster's office. He hurried up the spiral staircase and knocked on the familiar wooden door.
"Professor Dumbledore, are you in?"
No response.
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Avada called out a few more times. When no answer came, he stopped waiting and pushed the door open—fortunately, it wasn't locked.
The Headmaster's office looked exactly the same as ever. The tables and chairs, the array of silver instruments, the Sorting Hat, and Fawkes's perch were all in their usual places. The portraits of past headmasters slept with eyes closed as always… only Dumbledore himself and Fawkes were nowhere to be seen.
"Um…"
Avada glanced around, then finally looked up at the portraits lining the walls. "Professors, may I ask where Professor Dumbledore has gone? When will he be back?"
"You are… oh, that student with the ridiculous name, aren't you?"
The portrait of Armando Dippet was the first to open his eyes and glance at Avada. At once, the other portraits stopped pretending to sleep and opened their eyes as well, all staring at this "student with the ridiculous name" with great interest.
"Ahem, yes, that's me, Professor," Avada said awkwardly, coughing once before getting back to the point. "May I ask where Professor Dumbledore went? I have something very urgent to discuss with him."
"He went to London this morning," Armando replied. "He'll probably be gone for several days…"
"What?!"
Avada's entire body jolted.
Why would Dumbledore go to London now?!
There was still more than a week before final exams! In the original timeline, didn't Voldemort only make his move after exams ended?!
"Is there any way to contact him immediately?" Avada asked the portraits urgently.
"I'm afraid not," Dilys Derwent said this time. "I can contact St Mungo's Hospital, but none of us can reach Dumbledore directly. After all, we're just portraits…"
"All right, I understand. Thank you!"
Avada spun on his heel and rushed out of the Headmaster's office. He ran straight to the third floor and knocked on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
"Professor, are you in? I have a question—"
Click.
The doorknob turned lightly, and the door opened a crack. Quirrell's head poked out—without Voldemort.
"Ken?"
He motioned Avada inside and closed the door, then asked in a low voice, "You're here to see the master?"
"Yes, I—"
"The master is resting," Quirrell said with a smile. "He's conserving his strength for tonight's operation."
"Tonight already?!"
Avada's heart tightened, though he quickly forced a delighted expression onto his face. "After tonight, Professor will be able to revive, right?"
"No, no, it won't be that fast…"
Quirrell's expression noticeably brightened. "Once we obtain that item tonight, the master and I will need to leave Hogwarts for a while. Resurrection is quite a complicated process… but at most a few months, and the master will regain his body and power!"
"That's wonderful… Then when does Professor plan to take over Hogwarts?"
"That will take a bit longer. Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic are both troublesome opponents," Quirrell said. "But once the master has revived, you'll be able to leave this school—temporarily shackled by decaying dogma—and follow him to openly study all kinds of marvelous magic. At your rate of growth, by the time we seize the Ministry and take Hogwarts, you might already be strong enough to fight and earn merit!"
"Make sure you perform well then. You're the second-greatest contributor to the master's revival, and you've received his guidance for so long. He'll definitely cultivate you carefully."
"Mm!"
Avada smiled, his face filled with anticipation for the future. "Then I'll wait for your good news!"
"Don't worry. This time, nothing can go wrong."
Quirrell smiled confidently, jinxing himself without realizing it, and escorted Avada out of the office. The moment the door closed behind him, Avada's expression darkened.
"Did it really move up? Why?"
"Is it because I interfered with his plan to drink unicorn blood? But I clearly had Hagrid notice the anomaly early and warned the unicorns to leave, and the hunts afterward did fail several times… so why is it still earlier?"
"And if that's the case, do Harry and the others even know about Voldemort yet? Do they know he's going through the trapdoor tonight?"
"What do I do now…?"
Thinking at breakneck speed, Avada ran downstairs to the Owlery. He pulled out a sheet of parchment, pressed it against the wall, and began to write.
[Dear Professor Dumbledore:]
[By the time I am writing this letter, Voldemort has already planned to infiltrate the fourth-floor corridor tonight to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I do not know whether your trip to London is truly for business or the result of some misdirection… but I have another extremely important matter to report.]
[Some time ago, I received a package containing five notebooks and an anonymous letter. The sender claimed to be an American adventurer capable of foreseeing the future. In the letter, he said that I possess the ability to cast the magic recorded in those notebooks and completely seal Voldemort. He also said that he had already given those spells to you, but that you replied you were unable to cast them…]
[The letter further stated that my friend Baron Shafiq possesses a prophecy orb, which could serve perfectly as a "container"…]
[I admit that my perception of mental power is somewhat unusual. My mind seems to work faster than that of other wizards, and I learn more quickly; moreover, I can vaguely sense other people's emotions. On several occasions, I have even been able to roughly predict in advance what spell someone was about to cast…]
[Given the current situation… after discussion, we decided to follow his instructions and attempt to seal Voldemort, together safeguarding the peace of the wizarding world…]
[Therefore, I ask that you return immediately after reading this letter. Baron needs your protection… but please do not reveal yourself at once. According to the letter, doing so may frighten Voldemort away directly…]
[A. Ken]
"Go—deliver this letter to Dumbledore as fast as you can!"
Avada hastily tied the poorly written letter to an owl's leg and sent it off with repeated instructions. The owl seemed to sense his urgency as well; with a single beat of its wings, it became a small black dot and vanished into the distance.
"Next, I'll check on Harry and the others."
Avada cast one last glance in the direction the owl had disappeared, then turned back toward the castle.
It was Sunday afternoon. With exams approaching, if Harry and the others didn't yet know that Voldemort was acting tonight, they would most likely be studying in the library; and if they already knew…
Sure enough, Avada found no sign of the trio in the library. After making a trip to the staff room, he unsurprisingly spotted Hermione sneaking about not far from the entrance.
"For Merlin's sake…"
Avada let out a long sigh. "How do they always realize what's going on only the day before Voldemort makes his move?"
He returned to the library once more and pulled Baron—who was earnestly revising—outside.
"Something's gone wrong. He's acting tonight, and Harry and the others will probably get involved too. Our plan has to be moved up…"
"…Huh?"
(End of Chapter)