Moody still kept his wand raised, pointing it at Dumbledore without saying a word, as though he had not heard a single thing Dumbledore had said earlier.
"…All right, then."
Dumbledore pushed up his glasses with a helpless motion. "The first time I contacted you this year was on May 10, and the time I asked you to impersonate me was last Wednesday. Before that, you had been hiding in the safe house the entire time. The code phrase we agreed on for confirming identity was 'milk toffee'…"
At that point, he suddenly stopped speaking and instead simply looked quietly at Moody, who was still wearing the same face as his.
"When you were explaining the plan to me, what was the point on which we disagreed?"
Only after another two or three seconds passed did Moody finally speak again.
"You still didn't trust Wormtail, even though he was already bound by the oath."
Dumbledore answered immediately.
"…All right."
Only then did Moody seem to relax. With a flick of his wand, he dispelled the Shield Charm in front of him, then started counting off on his fingers.
"First he stated the dates of our two contacts. The second one had to be described by weekday rather than the calendar date. My location. The code phrase… hm. All of it checks out."
"Welcome back, Albus. Looks like things on your end also went more smoothly than expected?"
"…"
Avada felt his eyelids twitching at the side.
So that whole exchange just now, which had looked like they were trading information and confirming identities, had all been a prearranged password system??
Did Moody really need to be this paranoid? It was one thing to keep an extra eye on Avada, but the person he had just been "interrogating" was Dumbledore himself, the greatest wizard alive. If someone could actually force information like that out of Dumbledore, then what use was Moody's vigilance supposed to be?
And from what Dumbledore had said just now, Moody did not seem to trust Peter Pettigrew completely either. Had he discovered something suspicious about Pettigrew? Or was it simply the instinct of a legendary Auror?
"Honestly, you really shouldn't be acting so jumpy the moment you don't have your magical eye."
Dumbledore let out another helpless sigh. "I thought having Fawkes bring me here would be enough to confirm who I was. I suppose if the materials in this room had been a little more complete, you'd probably have already been pouring a portable Thief's Downfall all over me."
"I really did want to do exactly that."
Using Dumbledore's voice, Moody began grumbling complaints straight at Dumbledore himself, creating an extremely surreal scene in Avada's eyes.
"Before I retired, I proposed hanging a Thief's Downfall at every single entrance to the Ministry of Magic—even just the simplest revealing potion would've done. But those idiots kept saying there wasn't enough budget… utter nonsense. During those ten-plus years, how many times was the Ministry infiltrated by Death Eaters?!"
"…Ken,"
After thinking for a moment, Dumbledore decided not to bother responding to Moody's muttering for now and turned to Avada instead.
"You came back faster than expected as well. How did it go? Smoothly?"
"Very smoothly."
Moody, apparently annoyed at being ignored by Dumbledore, directly cut in before Avada could answer. At the same time, he pulled the glass bottle containing Voldemort's complete soul out of his pocket and handed it over to Dumbledore.
"I have no idea where you found a genius like this. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes—and if I hadn't already confirmed that you weren't joking with me—I'd never have believed that a soul shattered into so many pieces could actually be stuck back together."
"It worked? You confirmed it?"
Dumbledore's beard trembled almost imperceptibly. He immediately took the bottle from Moody, drew out the Elder Wand, and pointed it at the bottle, closing his eyes as he carefully examined it with all his senses. Avada and Moody both fell silent, waiting quietly for him.
"…It's whole."
Only after another five or six minutes did Dumbledore finally open his eyes again. Deep in them lingered a trace of joy and disbelief. His voice trembled, as though he did not know whether he was marveling aloud or merely murmuring to himself.
"This truly is a complete soul. There are no missing parts, no gaps… not even any sign that it was ever divided in the first place. It was really done?"
"A soul so broken, so steeped in evil… to think it could truly be restored by external means…"
"Ahem, Professor,"
Seeing that even Dumbledore's hand was trembling as he held the bottle, Avada decided to divert his attention a little.
"Now that the Horcrux issue has been resolved… there's something I need to give you."
"Oh? What is it?"
Dumbledore's attention was indeed drawn away from the bottle. He turned to look at Avada.
"This."
Avada picked up the Gaunt ring, which had been sitting on the table all along.
"Voldemort's last Horcrux. Earlier, I didn't dare tell you about it because I was afraid it might affect your state of mind… You should recognize it."
"This is—!"
Dumbledore did not even take the ring from Avada's hand. He only glanced at it once, and immediately seemed to be struck by lightning. The whole man froze where he stood, staring blankly at the ring like someone possessed, making Moody's hand drift back toward his wand again.
"Put it away, Ken."
It seemed to take an enormous act of will, but Dumbledore finally managed to wrench his gaze away from the Resurrection Stone. Looking into Avada's eyes, he gave a bitter smile.
"You shouldn't have shown it to me at a time like this, Mr. Ken. It affects my state of mind far too strongly, and we still have matters to deal with."
Dumbledore showed no intention whatsoever of asking where Avada had obtained the object he himself had yearned for for decades, nor did he seem curious as to how Avada knew he wanted it. Instead, he continued, while still trying to keep his gaze under control:
"For now, you should keep it, Mr. Ken. I suspect you've had it for quite some time already, and you've proven yourself qualified to safeguard it. Once everything is over, then we can discuss what ought to be done with it."
And then, to Avada's astonishment, Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand to his own temple, slowly drew out a thread of white light, and flicked it into the air, where it dissipated. Only then did his expression gradually improve.
Had he just directly erased his own memory of seeing the Resurrection Stone?
"Now tell us what happened on your side."
Seeing that Avada had swiftly hidden away the ring that could drive Dumbledore into obsession, Moody also spoke up, trying to redirect Dumbledore's thoughts.
"Was it resolved?"
"On the contrary."
At the mention of that matter, Dumbledore immediately became serious again.
"In fact, the reason I've come back is to tell you that I'm afraid you'll need to keep impersonating me for a longer period of time. And I'll also need you to send over a bit more of my beard. If you're unwilling, then hair will do instead."
"Why?"
Moody frowned. "What kind of nonsense did that old man pour into your ears this time?"
"…Ahem."
Dumbledore quite clearly caught the implication behind Moody's words and coughed awkwardly.
"How should I put it… the information he revealed to me this time was rather more surprising than I expected. Far too many new variables have suddenly appeared. Our original plan will have to change accordingly."