Although the opening-term examinations had finally come to an end—and regardless of whether people had actually revised properly during the holidays or finished their homework on time—everyone should have been able to calm down and accept their fate, something rare was happening.
The atmosphere across the entire school, especially among students from fourth year upward, showed no sign of relaxing at all. If anything, many of the more outstanding students were even more anxious than before. Aside from curfew hours, the library was packed almost around the clock with students cramming and reviewing, and fifth-years were only a small part of that crowd…
The reason was simple: this second half of the school year was just too heavyweight.
Two of the four Heads of House had begun recruiting for large-scale research projects during this period, while countless smaller projects—such as "Chamber of Secrets Ecosystem Survey" and "Architectural Analysis of the Chamber"—were popping up one after another. Among them, Professor McGonagall's project on constructing a basilisk brain model was even offering co-authorship on academic papers.
Each of these mouthwatering opportunities tugged relentlessly at the hearts of students from fourth year and above, driving them to study like mad and fight tooth and nail just to get into any one of the projects.
There was no helping it. The basilisk had become the hottest topic in the academic world in recent times, and Hogwarts' professors—along with the resources at their disposal—were more than enough to guarantee the value of these projects. Being able to add something like this to one's academic résumé would be unimaginably beneficial for future prospects, and opportunities of this caliber were said to appear only once every few decades.
However, all of that instantly paled into insignificance the moment another piece of news broke.
That was the research project personally launched by Dumbledore himself—an exploration of a Black Magic ruin, along with experiments attempting to "synthesize factors capable of affecting the soul through non-living materials."
This was a project personally led by Dumbledore!
Albus Dumbledore—one of the greatest wizards in the world!
Even a tiny bit of resources slipping through his fingers would be enough to sustain an ordinary student indefinitely.
And even more astonishing was the fact that, besides Dumbledore himself, countless authoritative academic giants had accepted his invitation and put their names on the core personnel list—
The legendary alchemist Nicolas Flamel;The transfiguration authority Babajide Akingbade, whose achievements even surpassed Professor McGonagall's;St. Mungo's Hospital Director Luthurford Bock;And the Potions Master, Severus Snape…
Each name made the list heavier, brighter, and more dazzling, until it shone like a supernova—instantly becoming one of the top-tier academic projects in the entire international wizarding world.
And now, an opportunity to participate in a project of this level was being opened to Hogwarts students.
Anyone with even the slightest understanding of who these wizards were would go completely mad over a chance like this.
Rumor had it that after the announcement, some already-graduated students had even volunteered to confess a pile of rule-breaking incidents from their school days, hoping the school would revoke their diplomas and let them repeat a year. As for those who were still enrolled and qualified to participate in the experiments—their mental state hardly needed explanation.
Even Avada found himself tempted.
Although he already possessed two top-tier magical research notebooks and still needed to devote energy to other matters, the chance to observe—or even directly consult—so many peak-level wizards still made his heart itch.
Not to mention that this project was unexpectedly well aligned with his own expertise.
The wizarding world knew pitifully little about the soul, and under the ethical constraints of mainstream magical society, conducting experiments in this field was nearly impossible. The soul was practically an unexplored frontier.
And as someone who could directly see souls, had spent three years researching Horcruxes, possessed the Resurrection Stone—a masterpiece of soul magic—and had already achieved tangible results…
Avada wasn't entirely sure whether he could now be considered a top-tier expert in the field of soul research.
His recent studies had also hit a partial bottleneck—especially the project aimed at separating Horcrux fragments without destroying the host object, which had been stalled for quite some time.
Given all that, there was no way he could pass up an opportunity to clash ideas with so many brilliant minds.
And so—
Before he even had the chance to submit an application, he was summoned directly to the Headmaster's Office and informed that he would be skipping all selection and assessment procedures and moving straight to the final contract-signing stage.
"Professor… wouldn't this be a bit inappropriate?"
Inside Dumbledore's wondrous office, Avada pointed at himself in a daze, looking across the desk at the smiling, white-bearded old man. Between them lay a quill and a thick stack of densely written parchment.
"What's inappropriate about it?"
Even after an entire holiday, Dumbledore still looked as kind and cheerful as ever, as though he had an endless supply of things that made him happy.
"That ruin was left behind by Voldemort in the first place. As someone who has defeated him multiple times, is there anything improper about your participation?"
"I made it very clear," he continued shamelessly, "that students who have made significant contributions to combating Dark Magic could be admitted without examination. Who do you think that rule was written for?"
He laid the favoritism bare without a hint of embarrassment.
"But the problem is… it seems I'm the only one you pulled in this way," Avada said hesitantly. "What about Harry Potter?"
"I would have liked him to join," Dumbledore said with a regretful shrug. "But Professor Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn insisted on dragging him into research on deciphering Parseltongue. Even Newt—an old friend of mine—wrote asking for Harry's help. I couldn't refuse them."
"…What about Baron, Hermione, Luna, and the others?"
"Like you, they have a clear understanding of their true level," Dumbledore replied gently. "So, just like you, they chose the projects that suited them best."
The smile on his face remained warm, but his eyes revealed a deep, penetrating light.
"Do you remember the two conjectures I mentioned when I gave you Nicolas's notes? Although I haven't seen direct proof yet, my intuition increasingly tells me those conjectures were correct… I'm afraid you're even more qualified to take part in this research than I originally thought, Ken."
"…"
Judging from Dumbledore's current mental state, there was still a degree of probing in his words. After all, following the resolution of the Chamber crisis, Avada had remained conspicuously quiet for an entire year on the surface.
Still, the feeling of being so thoroughly seen through was far from pleasant.
More importantly, his personal strength, the level of trust between himself and Dumbledore, and the broader state of affairs had all reached a certain critical juncture.
It was almost time to reveal the matter of the Horcruxes in his possession to Dumbledore.
But he still needed a bit more preparation.
On one hand, he wanted to keep those Horcruxes for a little longer, continuing his attempts to research magic that could separate soul fragments. On the other hand…
He still couldn't predict what kind of changes the sudden appearance of the Resurrection Stone might bring about in Dumbledore.
(End of Chapter)