At that moment, Dawn felt something indescribably strange.
He felt as though he had once again entered another person's mind.
In the span of an instant, countless experiences washed over him as if he had lived through them himself.
A birthday party held just for him. Receiving the perfect present. Scribbling all over the walls.
Playing games. Skipping stones by the river.
Just as Flamel had said, every memory was filled with happiness. But Dawn wasn't happy at all.
The memories were far too vivid.
So vivid that even though he knew they weren't his, the corners of his mouth still lifted uncontrollably, as if he were sinking into those joyful emotions.
"Damn it... damn it!"
Bent over and gasping for breath, Dawn grabbed the corners of his own smiling mouth and forced them down.
Thinking back to the Brain in a Vat's abilities, he instantly understood what it had done.
"Nicolas Flamel! Damn you! You're trying to alter my mind!"
The words were forced out between clenched teeth.
Without wasting another second, he fought against the divided emotions surging inside him, pulled out his wand, pointed it at his own head, and roared,
°Obliviate°
A flash of light burst from the tip of the wand.
Dawn frantically erased the foreign memories.
Yet almost immediately, he discovered that the memories kept resurfacing. Every time one disappeared, another emerged to replace it.
They simply could not be erased completely.
Gradually, he found himself unable to distinguish which memories truly belonged to him and which had been implanted.
The birthday party... was that his memory?
It probably was. He really had celebrated birthdays as a child.
What about the presents? The childish drawings? The games? Skipping stones?
Those were all things he could easily have done when he was little.
For a moment, Dawn no longer knew what he was supposed to erase. The fragmented memories had woven themselves seamlessly into his own.
There was no longer any clear boundary between them.
His face darkened. He knew this had become a serious problem.
Crossing the room in several quick strides, he grabbed the half-melted brain from the floor and squeezed it tightly in one hand.
"Nicolas Flamel! Tell me! What exactly is happening?!"
"You don't need to worry, child. I haven't altered your consciousness."
The Brain in a Vat spoke weakly. Its translucent tendrils hung limply, no longer moving.
"I only wanted you to be happier."
Happier?
Dawn nearly laughed in disbelief.
He no longer wanted to waste time arguing. Raising his wand, he cast Legilimency, intending to pry the information directly from its mind.
It did nothing.
"Don't bother trying," the brain said softly.
"A Brain in a Vat's abilities are deeply connected to memory. Legilimency is very easy for us to defend against."
Grinding his teeth, Dawn squeezed harder, forcing more viscous fluid from the folds of the brain.
Yet for the first time in a long while, he found himself completely at a loss.
Threaten it with death? The thing was already halfway to dying. He had no leverage.
At that moment, the brain slowly tilted upward as though looking at him.
Then, almost absentmindedly, it began speaking.
"Dawn... I actually heard your name long before we met.
Albus once wrote to me about you.
He said he'd encountered a student who gave him endless headaches, someone he simply didn't know how to handle.
From his descriptions, my first impression of you was arrogance, ruthlessness, obsession, excessive self-centeredness.
Nothing but flaws.
But after meeting you... after speaking with you myself... I realized that wasn't the whole truth.
You may be arrogant, but you're also full of emotion. In many ways, you're no different from any ordinary child.
For example, while I came to admire you, I could also feel that you treated me differently than you treated everyone else.
So in my eyes, you possess the ability to feel love just like anyone else.
It's simply buried very deeply, perhaps because of what happened during your childhood."
The brain rambled on.
Dawn frowned impatiently.
"So what? What exactly are you trying to say? What does any of this have to do with forcing memories into my head?"
"Everything."
Its voice grew even weaker.
"Child... only people who often experience happiness come to believe that the world is beautiful.
And only those who believe the world is beautiful are less likely to descend into extremism."
Its tone became unusually earnest.
"I wanted you to recover something you once possessed. So, child... I wanted you to be happier."
Dawn's face twitched.
He understood the brain's reasoning. He also found it utterly absurd.
"So this isn't altering my consciousness?"
"Of course it isn't."
The brain stubbornly insisted.
"Dawn, consciousness is an extraordinarily difficult thing to define.
If the same event happened when you were ten and again when you were fifty, would your opinions be identical?"
After a pause, it continued, "Probably not."
"But could you honestly say that the fifty-year-old version of yourself had lost his own consciousness?"
It emphasized every word.
"Child, the way a person thinks is more like the deepest layer of logic. It isn't something that can be changed so easily."
What ridiculous logic.
Dawn's crimson eyes darkened.
He rejected the entire argument.
Changing the way he viewed the world, changing the patterns behind his behavior—if that wasn't changing his mind, then what was?
Perhaps the effects were still small. But over time... He might drift further and further away from himself.
That was something he absolutely refused to accept.
Still, arguing philosophy wasn't what mattered now.
Before the brain died, he hurriedly asked, "Where did these memories come from?"
"I made them all up."
Its voice was becoming barely audible.
Dawn didn't believe it.
"You fabricated them? The Brain in a Vat can create completely convincing memories and implant them into someone else's mind?"
"No. The Brain in a Vat can't.
But magic can. Magic can do anything."
Now that death was close, the brain no longer hid anything. In fact, it almost seemed determined to tell him everything.
"Do you remember our conversation before, child? My greatest achievement in alchemy.
The conversion of matter into magic.
The truth is... I lied to you.
The reason you entered this dream wasn't because I ground the Brain in a Vat into powder.
It was because...I restored it into pure magic."
Its words became increasingly broken, like an old man taking his final breaths.
Seeing this, Dawn loosened his grip ever so slightly.
Much as he wanted the thing dead, what it was saying fascinated him.
The brain's voice became a little clearer.
"Remember what I said during the meeting?
Because the Brain in a Vat was so unique, I copied my own memories into it, allowing it to develop something similar to my own consciousness.
After that, instead of having the students consume it... I transformed it into magic and spread that magic across the entire castle.
Since the copied consciousness remained attached to that magic, I could control it.
Within certain limits, I could make it accomplish whatever I wished."
It calmly explained.
"I could draw the students into dreams.
I could erase Voldemort's consciousness. And I could implant memories into you."
Dawn froze.
"So... you could have removed Voldemort's consciousness entirely on your own?"
"...Yes.
I could have done it all by myself.
But... I wanted you to experience more happiness. So I brought you along."
The brain spoke gently.
Dawn fell silent.
As he listened, something suddenly clicked in his mind.
His anger vanished.
His thoughts focused entirely on something else.
Turning the Brain in a Vat into magic... While its consciousness remained attached to that magic... Controlling it directly...
Dawn lowered his eyelids, his thoughts racing.
He immediately connected this with something else.
Natural magic.
As he had learned before, immense quantities of natural magic filled the entire world.
That magic was governed collectively by the consciousness of both wizards and Muggles.
Normally, it could only be borrowed through rituals or ancient runes.
That was precisely what Dawn had always done.
He extracted rituals from well-known stories and used them to borrow natural magic.
But Flamel's explanation had suddenly opened an entirely new path.
Was turning matter into magic essentially transforming it into natural magic?
If the Brain in a Vat's copied consciousness could remain attached to that magic and manipulate it...
Didn't that mean an individual's consciousness could control natural magic directly?
If so...
Could he someday find a method to control natural magic entirely through his own will?
His eyes gradually lit up.
Of course, he knew things couldn't possibly be that simple. Even so, the thought made his heart pound.
It completely overshadowed the implanted memories.
Almost desperately, he asked, "Turning matter into magic... Nicolas Flamel... how did you do it?"
Just like the real Flamel, the brain fell silent.
After a long pause, it spoke one last time.
"Dawn... continue walking the path of magic.
When you finally reach its end...
You may discover that everything is completely different from what you imagined.
And one more thing. I'm sorry. I did this without your permission.
If you're still angry... When the other me returns from Jerusalem... He'll apologize to you in person."
With those final words, its body collapsed.
It dissolved into a puddle of viscous liquid that slipped through Dawn's fingers.
"Hey! Don't die yet! Explain yourself first! Nicolas! Nicolas!"
Dawn shouted anxiously.
Only the sticky slime in his hands answered him.
The Brain in a Vat had become nothing more than a lifeless substance.
"Fuck!"
Dawn couldn't stop himself from cursing.
Having the explanation cut off here was almost unbearable.
And "when the other me returns from Jerusalem?"
He had every reason to suspect the brain already knew what had happened there and had deliberately mocked him with those words.
"Fuck!"
He paced around the room before finally opening the window.
The cold night wind blew across his face for a long while before his chaotic thoughts slowly settled.
Forget about natural magic for now.
The priority was finding a way to remove the implanted memories and protect his own consciousness.
Taking a deep breath, Dawn made his decision.
Before he could think of a solution, however, his expression suddenly changed.
He carefully examined his own mental state.
Something strange was happening. The implanted memories were fading.
No...
Not fading.
The emotional immersion was being stripped away.
Those scenes gradually changed from firsthand experiences into something like memories of watching a film.
He still remembered them. But he could once again clearly distinguish reality from fiction.
"...Reset?"
Dawn stared blankly for a moment before understanding.
The ritual in Jerusalem. It had reset the changes made to his consciousness as well.
Perhaps because part of his consciousness was still present in Jerusalem.
"What a ridiculous twist of fate..."
The corner of Dawn's mouth twitched.
He glanced once more at the puddle that had once been the Brain in a Vat.
The whole situation left him utterly speechless.
....
London.
Hogwarts.
With the death of the Brain in a Vat inside the dream world, the silent castle finally awakened.
The Aurors stationed outside suddenly heard excited shouting echoing from inside Hogwarts, along with countless complaints from students starving after days without food.
As soon as word spread, the parents who had remained anxiously in Hogsmeade these past several days rushed toward the castle.
Once everyone confirmed that entering Hogwarts no longer caused people to collapse unconscious, joy erupted among the crowd.
Calling their children's names, parents poured into the school.
Molly Weasley was among them.
Although Dumbledore had previously reassured her, she had spent the past several days unable to eat or sleep from worry.
The moment she heard the news, she charged inside.
"Mrs. Weasley! Over here! There's a red-haired boy! Is he one of yours?"
A parent she had only recently met called from the distance.
Molly hurried over.
Near the Gryffindor common room, she found her youngest son sitting on the floor beside Harry and a young girl.
All three looked dazed.
"Oh, Merlin's beard! Ron, Harry, and... Miss Granger, isn't it? Are all of you alright?"
She immediately wrapped the three of them in a tight embrace.
Hearing someone call her name, Hermione slowly came back to herself.
Harry quickly greeted Mrs. Weasley as well.
"M-Mum? What are you doing here?"
Ron looked genuinely surprised.
He tried to stand but his stomach growled loudly, forcing him to flop right back onto the floor.
"Honestly... I feel awful."
"I'm starving... I'm thirsty... I could eat an entire cow right now."
Seeing his condition, Molly carefully examined him before finally relaxing.
He looked miserable, but nothing appeared seriously wrong.
Looking around, she pulled out a blanket and levitated it through the open window.
The three children floated gently downward.
"Head to the Great Hall, children. There should be plenty of food prepared there.
But remember, don't eat too much at once. That would be terrible for your stomachs."
After watching them drift away, she suddenly remembered something.
Leaning out the window, she shouted, "Ron! Do you know where your brothers and sister are?"
"No idea! Percy and Ginny are probably still in the dormitory.
As for Fred and George... Mum, you know them. They could be anywhere in the castle!"
Ron yelled back.
Molly slapped a hand against her forehead.
"Good heavens."
Then she disappeared back into the castle to search for the rest of her children.
Outside, the enchanted blanket continued floating lazily downward.
The cold breeze finally cleared the last traces of sleep from the trio's minds.
Rubbing her temples, Hermione looked up at the bright afternoon sun. "Do either of you remember what happened?"
"What happened?"
Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"No. I only remember planning to sneak out last night... then suddenly I became incredibly sleepy."
"After that... nothing."
Hermione frowned thoughtfully.
Ron, however, suddenly stared at the blazing sun in horror.
"Oh no! We slept until the afternoon?!"
"There was Potions this morning, wasn't there? We're finished! Snape's going to skin us alive!"
His priorities remained as unique as ever.
"It's far more than just sleeping until afternoon."
Hermione rolled her eyes while clutching her growling stomach.
"Judging by how hungry we are, there's no way we've only been asleep for one day."
She pointed toward the castle entrance, where adults were constantly entering.
"And if we'd only slept until the next afternoon, why would there suddenly be so many parents rushing into the school?"
"...You do have a point."
Ron thought of his mother. Or perhaps he was simply too hungry to argue.
"So what do you think happened?"
"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out."
Running a hand through her hair, Hermione continued, "But the first thing we need to do is find out today's date."
Harry nodded in agreement.
He, too, sensed that something was very wrong.
Then Ron suddenly stroked his chin and confidently announced, "Hey... do you think Snape did this?"
He even had a reason.
"Didn't we learn about that sleeping potion before? The one that puts people into a deep sleep?"
"It's the Draught of Living Death."
Hermione corrected him immediately.
"And stop blaming Professor Snape every time something strange happens."
Thinking back over everything that had happened during the school year...
The Basilisk.
Harry's attack.
The jellyfish.
The students who had died.
She had the overwhelming feeling that something incredibly important had happened while she remained completely unaware of it.
That feeling unsettled her deeply.
"Forget about it, Hermione."
Ron waved a dismissive hand.
"If it's something serious, the professors will explain it eventually. We'll just listen then."
Hermione rolled her eyes at his utter lack of curiosity.
Still...
He did have a point.
Just then, the blanket drifted past the fifth floor.bThrough the windows, Hermione caught sight of the library.
A sudden chill ran through her body.
Harry noticed immediately. "Hermione? What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"
"I... don't know."
The brown-haired girl looked dazed as she stared toward the library.
"I think... I had a dream while I was asleep. I can't remember what it was about.
But right now...I suddenly want to read.
I feel like if I don't start studying immediately... someone's going to surpass me."
"Merlin's beard." Ron rolled his eyes. "You're completely insane."
To someone like him, that kind of obsessive dedication was downright terrifying.
Still... Speaking of dreams... He seemed to have had one as well.
It had been both wonderful... And terrifying.
But what had he dreamed about?
Ron scratched his head for a while.
When nothing came back to him, he simply shrugged and stopped thinking about it.
___________
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