"Using spiritual power as the standard for capacity?"
Hearing that, everyone could not help but grow puzzled.
"Why would Voldemort do that?"
"If this standard was tailored according to the strength of his own spiritual power, then this boat could carry almost any wizard in the world. He himself was already at the very top."
"Maybe he was afraid a stronger wizard might sneak in?"
Rolf scratched his head and muttered, "But that doesn't make sense either. If someone really could surpass Voldemort so completely in terms of spiritual power, wouldn't that mean they could easily break through all of Voldemort's traps anyway? What would be the point of arranging something like this?"
"So we absolutely must not let our guard down. There may very well be an even deeper trap here…"
"Um, you know,"
Listening as Voldemort's image gradually grew loftier and loftier in everyone else's minds, Avada finally could not hold it in anymore.
"Is there any chance Voldemort set this up purely for his own amusement? We already saw the previous stage—so long as you bled a little, you could get through it without much trouble. There really wasn't that much substance to that arrangement, right?"
"Absolutely impossible!"
Percy shook his head at once.
"Ken, I know you defeated Voldemort, so maybe you look down on him a little. But you never lived through the terrifying era he created, when dark wizards ran rampant everywhere. That kind of situation wasn't something personal strength alone could produce!"
"And don't forget, just last year, a single dark magical object left behind by Voldemort nearly brought down all of Hogwarts!"
"The Dark Lord's intellect is not something we can casually speculate about."
The others all nodded in strong agreement. Most of them were around seventeen or eighteen years old, and the dark age Voldemort had created coincided exactly with their childhoods. The shadows it left on them ran deep and were hard to dispel, even now that Voldemort had already fallen completely.
"…"
Avada did not even know how to refute that.
If he kept going, he would end up exposing everything about the Horcruxes.
"…I trust Professor Dumbledore's safety measures."
In the end, that was all he could force out.
"Look, he's already renovated the entire cave into this state, and he's perfectly willing to let a bunch of students like us explore it freely. That means all the most dangerous and fatal magical traps must have already been ruled out. And he only warned us not to damage the Inferi. He didn't mention anything else…"
"Hmm… that does make sense."
That argument actually worked surprisingly well. After all, most of the people present had only heard of Voldemort's reputation, but the miraculous Dumbledore was someone they practically saw every day.
"Then we can split our research into two directions."
Percy smacked a fist into his palm and settled on the plan.
"One group will inspect the boat and determine its upper limit for spiritual power capacity, as well as whether it can travel back and forth automatically. The other group will study the properties of the lake and see whether there's any way to freeze the water or create a passage across it… I'll stay here and study the lake first. What about the rest of you?"
"I'll go with you."
Penelope immediately chimed in.
"Then I'll examine the boat."
Avada nodded as well, agreeing with Percy's plan—and he also had his own little scheme in mind.
He had deliberately pointed out the existence of that boat. Otherwise, given how thoroughly Voldemort had hidden it, this group probably would not have found it even after finishing the entire project. And the reason he had done so was to give himself a perfectly legitimate chance to reach the island in the middle of the lake ahead of time…
Then, using that as an excuse, he could reveal the accidental discovery he had made a few days ago to Dumbledore in the most reasonable way possible, and try to get the real Slytherin locket into his hands as soon as possible, finally removing this hidden danger.
But Sirius is still over at Greyback's side right now. Discovering the clues related to R.A.B.—that is, Regulus Black—will probably still be delayed for a while. In that case, things at Nobby Leach University will have to speed up too. I need to pull Sirius out of the werewolf affair as soon as possible… Fortunately, the shielding devices are already in preliminary form, and there's no real need to worry too much about cost control or mass production. There are only a few dozen victims in total, so if a few professors work overtime, it should be enough.
Though I'm definitely included among those professors… bloody overtime.
While crouching on the ground and pretending to inspect the boat, Avada once again felt a wave of exhaustion rising from deep within his soul.
Next year. Next year I'm definitely going to rest properly. Easy school on this side, easy teaching on that side, and maybe I can even enjoy watching a possible Triwizard Tournament on the side…
Ah, that sounds wonderful.
Just thinking about that pleasant future improved his mood, and his work efficiency rose with it. In barely any time at all, he had already measured the boat's carrying capacity—and the result made his expression gradually turn strange.
"Uh, alright, I think I've figured out the amount of spiritual power this boat can carry."
He turned toward the others, who were carefully experimenting with the lake water by various methods, and said somewhat hesitantly,
"This boat… can fit all of us."
"???"
"Its spiritual capacity is absurdly large."
Looking at the utterly baffled stares fixed on him, Avada could only shrug helplessly.
"I suspect that even if Professor Dumbledore himself got on it, there would still be room for another one or two people. It seems Voldemort was very confident in how much stronger he would become in the future?"
"…Thank goodness Voldemort was dealt with in time."
After a moment of awkward silence, Percy spoke dryly.
"But that doesn't help with our task. The ones who need to reach the island in the middle of the lake aren't us, but a large group of the strongest wizards in the world."
"I can try modifying the boat—see if I can remove the capacity limit, then lengthen the hull and turn it directly into a bridge."
"That is good news."
Beside Percy, Penelope frowned slightly.
"There's something extremely strange about this lake. The water here cannot be frozen, nor can it be solidified. Flight is forbidden above the lake, and even the appearance of extra matter is prohibited. In the Dark Lord's design, that boat was probably the only way to cross the lake."
"I suggest we continue researching in both directions."
This time it was Rolf who offered the idea.
"One path is to try breaking the lake's protective magic, and the other is to try modifying the boat… Right now, we still can't tell which route is simpler, so it's best to try both."
"My thoughts exactly."
Percy nodded.
"But if one route turns out to be too difficult, abandon it in time. Professor Dumbledore did say this place should be easier to solve than the previous stage."
"Then I'll continue studying how to modify the boat."
Avada finally found the chance to say what he wanted.
"But first, I also plan to go take a look at the island in the middle of the lake, to check whether there are any other unknown possibilities there… Does anyone want to come with me?"
"Me."
That casual question was met with six voices answering in perfect unison.
(End of Chapter)