It was currently the middle of the afternoon. The Hogwarts students had already gone to class in Durmstrang Castle, and would very likely remain there in one stretch until the Christmas Ball ended at around midnight, so the corridor was completely empty and silent.
In other words, Avada's Disillusionment Charm had been utterly wasted…
Knock, knock, knock.
"Professor, are you in there?"
Avada silently lifted the Disillusionment Charm, stood in front of Dumbledore's office, gently knocked on the door, and asked in a low voice.
"Hm? Who is it?"
A slightly puzzled voice immediately came from behind the door. Then the office door was pulled open by an invisible force, revealing Albus Dumbledore's aged face.
"You are… Mr. Ken?"
He looked at Avada and asked.
Most people would naturally have taken a question like that as either a greeting or a way of asking what was wrong. But Avada did not even need to use his magical senses to spot the uncertainty and faint guilt hidden in that "Dumbledore's" eyes…
"Uh… sir?"
Avada hesitated for a moment before asking, while also reaching back to close the office door behind him.
"Call me Professor for now."
That "Dumbledore" seemed to roll his eyes—an expression one would absolutely never see on the real Dumbledore.
"…All right, Professor."
Avada very cooperatively decided to play along all the way.
"Albus told me you would probably return in two days. Looks like things went more smoothly on your end than expected."
That "Dumbledore" gestured for him to sit down while asking in a gruff voice.
Anyone personally brought in by Dumbledore to act for him certainly would not leave such obvious flaws in their performance under normal circumstances. It was only because he was currently facing someone who knew the truth that he had relaxed a little.
"Oh, right. Your best friend David Stephen also asked me to pass along a message. He said he already knows what you told him, and he'll do his best to cooperate with your stand-in's performance…"
"David Stephen isn't my best friend. We just get along well enough and can talk to each other."
Avada replied calmly. "Among the people who came to Durmstrang this time, the ones I'm closest to are Cedric Diggory and Baron Shafiq."
David Stephen was a seventh-year Ravenclaw student, and also one of the champion candidates who had come to Durmstrang this time. He had once explored Voldemort's Horcrux cave together with Avada, so they were not strangers.
Judging from the reaction of that "Dumbledore's" magical aura when he spoke, he was very obviously testing whether Avada was the real thing.
"Then that's correct."
Only then did "Dumbledore" place the hand that had been hanging at his side onto the desk, and more than half the vigilance and wariness in his magical aura instantly disappeared.
"Your real name is the incantation for the Killing Curse. The purpose of your trip was to strip the soul fragment from Harry Potter, and then restore Voldemort's soul to wholeness. And the writing Dumbledore left on the feather he gave you was the name of his phoenix, Fawkes… Anything else you want to ask?"
"…No."
Avada already had a rough guess about this "Dumbledore's" true identity by now, so he finally sat down at ease, taking out the six objects that had formerly been Horcruxes—including the crystal sphere—as well as the glass bottle containing Voldemort's restored main soul.
"This trip really did go very smoothly, so I returned much earlier than expected."
"Including Harry, all the Horcruxes have already been stripped clean, and Voldemort's soul has been restored to completeness. Now all that's needed is to dispel the magic on the bottle and smash it hard against the ground, and this once-feared Dark Lord will immediately vanish for good."
"But that clearly isn't our plan."
"Dumbledore" gave a soft snort, picked up the glass bottle from the desk, and examined the handsome face made of gray mist inside with great care. Gradually, a look of amazement appeared in his eyes.
"Albus told me long ago that Voldemort split his soul into a full eight pieces. I was already shocked enough when I first heard that news. But now there's actually someone capable of forcibly stitching those divided souls back together… If this were ever made public, it would certainly become another magical miracle remembered by all wizards."
Avada could not tell whether it was just his imagination, but as this "Dumbledore" examined the bottle, he seemed to be using only one eye. The pupil in the other eye was slightly unfocused, and that eyeball trembled faintly, as though it wanted to turn uncontrollably in another direction. Combined with what Avada's magical senses were telling him, that made him even more certain of his earlier guess.
"To be honest, I had to put in a tremendous amount of work too. But if I hadn't done it this way, there would have been no way to strip the soul fragment out of Harry Potter. And there would have been even less chance of preserving these three priceless relics…"
"Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, hm…"
"Dumbledore" seemed to notice only now that three priceless historical treasures were sitting on his desk, so he shifted his gaze slightly toward them, as though observing them out of the corner of his eye.
"Ha. Good thing Voldemort never found any relic of Gryffindor's. Otherwise, all four founders of Hogwarts would have been thoroughly defiled by him."
As he spoke, he slipped the bottle containing Voldemort's restored soul into his pocket, then pushed the other six former Horcruxes back toward Avada.
"You can keep these for the time being. Once Albus returns, he can discuss with you how to deal with them. And if I heard right, this crystal sphere belongs to the Shafiq family, doesn't it? It was used when you all captured Voldemort."
He looked Avada over, undisguised admiration clear in his eyes.
"Ha. Based on that feat alone, you'd qualify for direct recruitment into the Auror Office regardless of any academic requirements."
"Rufus's evaluation of you wasn't exaggerated at all. If anything, it was too light…"
"Uh, Professor Moody,"
Avada's expression twitched. "Aren't you making this a bit too obvious? If I remember correctly, you're also supposed to attend the Christmas Ball tonight."
"Of course I know that."
Alastor Moody, disguised as Dumbledore, showed absolutely no surprise that Avada had guessed his identity. If anything, after behaving that openly, he would have been disappointed if Avada still had not figured it out.
"There's no need to keep acting when there's no audience. I can't do what Snape does and just stay in character naturally…"
Boom!
Just as they were talking, a burst of fire flared beside them without the slightest warning.
Moody's wand was out in an instant with lightning speed. At the same time, he erected a Shield Charm in front of both himself and Avada so solid it was almost beyond belief. Only then did he fix a wary gaze on the figure emerging from the flames…
"Ha! So my disguise was seen through that quickly, Alastor?"
The real Albus Dumbledore smiled cheerfully at the face identical to his own, which was still staring at him in vigilance, while lightly stroking Fawkes, who had landed on his shoulder.