On the sixth day of the Christmas holiday, the bizarre, irregular petrification incidents that had kept everyone on edge suddenly ceased without any warning. Throughout the entire day, even though a small number of students still moved about the corridors, not a single person was petrified.
Once the news spread, some of the braver students—or those who firmly believed the culprit was the basilisk and carried warning devices with them—finally dared to leave their common rooms and walk around outside. Yet even on the seventh day of the holiday, not a single new petrification occurred.
Gradually, a hint of life returned to Hogwarts Castle. At the very least, there were once again students eating at the long tables in the Great Hall during mealtimes, a few figures reappeared in the library, and faint laughter could be heard in the corridors that had previously been deserted…
Of course, those willing to move about freely were still a minority. The shadow lingering in most students' hearts had yet to dissipate, and they still didn't dare stay away from their house common rooms for long. Aside from meals and trips to the library to find references for homework, they avoided leaving whenever possible. Coupled with the fact that few students had remained at school for Christmas in the first place, the castle as a whole was still rather quiet.
On the eighth day of the Christmas holiday, "Diary" Tom Riddle met with "Cup" Ken as agreed, in that same empty classroom. As before, he used a spiritually condensed, illusory body and did not expose the identity of the student he was currently controlling.
Nothing of note had happened during those three days. The two merely discussed further details on how to lure Dumbledore back before parting ways again. Before leaving, however, Ken reminded Tom not to let the basilisk remain too inactive, lest anything seem amiss—at the very least, it should continue attempting to attack Muggle-born students. On one hand, this served the grand plan of purging Mudbloods; on the other, it maintained the appearance that the situation was unchanged.
…
'So how do I lure Dumbledore back…'
Wrapped in an invisibility cloak, Tom Riddle guided the body he controlled while issuing Parseltongue commands to the basilisk, keeping it close by. These days, almost every Muggle-born carried a warning device, making actual attacks extremely difficult. He was merely taking the basilisk out for a stroll, letting those cursed warning devices blare a few times to stir panic and signal to the school that the attacks hadn't truly ended.
'Kill a student outright and enrage Dumbledore? No—that's too unstable. Dumbledore needs a sense of safety and leisure, so the Cup can reclaim the original body from him…'
'Deliberately expose a flaw, lose ground temporarily, and force Dumbledore to return as headmaster? That's an option—but it would be a massive blow to my own reputation. Those pure-bloods might resist me… and I still need their power to search for Ravenclaw's diadem.'
'The Cup really tossed me an enormous problem…'
He sighed inwardly, then forced a faint smile.
'Still, I'm not incompetent. At least my intellect impressed him. That fainting incident must have thrown him completely off balance…'
Lost in thought, he moved silently through the corridor, searching for a suitable target—or at least someone whose warning device he could trigger to create some panic. Yet he hadn't encountered a single person in nearly five minutes, and the last one he saw had been a half-blood.
'Damn it.'
Frustration piled up both mentally and practically, and he was just about to turn back toward the common room.
'I'll come out again at mealtime. It won't be this deserted then…'
"Petrificus Totalus! Expelliarmus! Incarcerous! Stupefy!!"
Without any warning, a rapid series of incantations rang out beside him. Four spells struck his body almost simultaneously, instantly robbing the student he controlled of all mobility and sending Tom's own consciousness reeling!
A figure suddenly appeared out of thin air at his side, yanked off the invisibility cloak, flipped open the wizarding robes, and—clearly knowing exactly where to look—pulled a black diary from a hidden inner pocket. In one swift motion, the attacker stuffed it into a pitch-black box, slammed the lid shut, and wrapped it with five tight layers of tape!
In those few seconds, Tom barely managed to shake off the daze, glimpse his attacker once—then his vessel was sealed inside a sturdy box, cutting him off completely from the outside world.
And the last face he saw—
"Ken—!!!"
Click.
The venomous scream was abruptly cut off as the lid snapped shut.
"It's finally… over."
Avada collapsed onto the floor, sitting there limply. He glanced in mild surprise at the student he had knocked down, then casually looked toward the bend in the corridor.
"Professor, I've taken care of this one!" he shouted.
"Really? That's wonderful!"
A figure came jogging out from around the corner, grinning broadly and flashing a full set of pearly white teeth—
Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Thank goodness you were here to back me up, Professor," Avada said, wiping sweat from his brow, his smile utterly sincere. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the courage to ambush him."
"You did very well,"Lockhart said warmly as he pulled Avada to his feet and patted him on the shoulder. "And with me here, of course I wouldn't let you come to harm. Since you trusted me enough to share your plan from the start, how could I possibly betray that trust?"
"Letting a professor get attacked to lure out the culprit… brilliant! Truly brilliant!"
"I'm definitely putting this in my next book—one that will surpass all my previous works!" His excitement flushed his face, his breathing quick and uncontrolled.
"All right, Ken. Could you help carry this student to the hospital wing? She's clearly an innocent victim and needs treatment immediately."
"Of course, Professor."
Avada smiled and nodded, turning around to levitate the student's body with a charm, his back to Lockhart—
"Obliviate!!"
A streak of white light tore through the air like lightning. Hearing the incantation behind him, Avada barely had time to react. He twisted desperately to the side, avoiding a direct hit to his torso—but the powerful Memory Charm still slammed into his right hand, blasting his wand away.
His body shuddered. He hurriedly caught the falling student, then turned back in disbelief to stare at Lockhart, whose expression had somehow completely changed.
"Professor?"
"Why?!"
"Why?"Lockhart laughed smugly at the sight of the wandless, bewildered student. "Of course it's for your story, my dear Ken."
"My… story? What story…?"
"Why, this magnificent scheme, of course. A tale worthy of being recorded in my books, sung by the world in praise of the great Lockhart!"
He threw his head back in laughter. "Think about it, child. Who would believe that a second-year, Muggle-born little brat could solve the entire school's crisis and save Hogwarts? Just look at yourself—pale-faced, clothes in disarray, like a sniveling crybaby, with absolutely no sense of style. How could you possibly think you'd be more fitting for this story than the great Gilderoy Lockhart?"
"What…?"
Avada asked in disbelief, "Are all your stories fake, then? All stolen from others, just like today?!"
"Oh no, no—how can you call it stealing?"
Lockhart waved dismissively. "If people didn't think I did those things, my books wouldn't sell nearly as well. Readers don't want to read about some ugly old American wizard, even if he freed an entire village from werewolves. Imagine his face on a book cover! And that witch who banished the Wagga Wagga Werewolf—she had a chin covered in hair!"
"But I do plenty of work myself. I track these people down, find out exactly how they did it—and then I cast a Memory Charm on them, so they forget everything. If there's one thing I'm truly proud of, it's my Obliviate…"
"You see, Ken? I work very, very hard too. That's what it takes to be famous…"
"All right, child."
His wand pointed at Avada once more. "Now that I've satisfied your curiosity, it's time for you to repay me—by keeping my secret. Agreed?"
"Obliviate—"
"Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus! Incarcerous!!"
Suddenly, three spells burst into existence right beside Lockhart, striking him instantly and stripping him of any ability to resist!
Baron Shafiq threw off his invisibility cloak, a device resembling recording equipment slung over his shoulder. Wand in hand, he smiled faintly as he looked at Lockhart's rapidly despairing expression.
"I recorded everything you just said, Professor," he said calmly, then turned his head to the side.
And beside him, another figure stepped out from beneath an invisibility cloak—
Another Avada Kendavia.
(End of Chapter)