Looking at the two girls in front of him, Headmaster Dumbledore was silent for a moment before stroking his white beard and speaking, "I have no doubt about Miss Amanda's ability. With you here, Miss Granger is very safe."
"However, regarding Senior Cho Chang, Marietta Eckmore, and Penelope, I fear that their contact with Voldemort's objects might..."
Amanda shook her head with a calm expression, "Senior Cho Chang and the others promised me. After seeing the objects, they will not approach them, so there will be no safety issues."
"Furthermore, before getting off the hogwarts express, I cast protective Charms on Hermione and the others to ensure their safety during the summer vacation."
"I see." Headmaster Dumbledore smiled slightly and said nothing more.
Since the children had made their own decisions and ensured their safety, the remaining matters should be left for the children to solve.
After seeing Headmaster Dumbledore out of the house, Hermione quickly turned to look at Amanda, "When did you cast the protective Charms on us? How come I didn't see it at all?"
Amanda closed the door and blinked gently, "I have been practicing Charms diligently this school year, so I can cast them now without any gestures."
"Hiss..." Hermione couldn't help but gasp. Her assessment of Amanda's strength rose to another level in her heart.
She felt she had worked hard enough, yet there was still a huge gap between her and Amanda.
She shook her head helplessly, but she didn't feel discouraged. After all, no matter how powerful Amanda was... she was still hers~
A week passed in a flash. Mr. and Mrs. Granger's vacation ended, and Amanda and Hermione set off on the road to find Horcruxes at Riddle House and Gaunt House.
Riddle House was very easy for Amanda to find because the family were all Muggles. For Amanda, a "wealthy person" who had already begun to make a name for herself in the Y Country Muggle World, looking up someone's address was obviously not a difficult task.
Looking with complicated eyes at the staff member who was bowing their head and using a computer to look up information for Amanda with a fawning smile, Hermione leaned into Amanda's ear and whispered.
"It really is true that if you have money, you can basically do whatever you want. Even someone else's address can be looked up just like that."
Hermione was certain that this was definitely an infringement on privacy and personal rights.
Nodding mechanically with a calm expression, Amanda's voice was devoid of fluctuation, "The rules and systems are just like that."
"But this isn't right!" Hermione said dejectedly. Looking at the staff member who had clearly found the location, a deep sense of helplessness rose in her heart.
There was no absolute black and white in the world; this was a truth she had understood long ago, wasn't it?
Taking the register handed over by the staff member, Amanda quickly visualized a map of Y Country in her mind upon seeing the registered location of Riddle House, and marked the corresponding spot on the map.
"Thank you, you've worked hard."
Handing the register back to the staff member, Amanda took Hermione out of the government department and came to a small alley nearby.
"Hermione, hold onto my arm, and hold tight."
Turning her head to look at Hermione, Amanda extended her left arm to signal.
Hermione nodded, reached out to hold her left arm, and simultaneously gripped Amanda's wrist tightly with both hands.
"It might be a bit uncomfortable, Hermione, just bear with it for a moment."
As soon as Amanda finished speaking, the surrounding space twisted and deformed.
Hermione felt as if she had been squeezed out of a narrow pipe, and a nauseating feeling rushed to her throat.
"Ugh..."
Watching Hermione bend over and cough, Amanda reached out to gently pat her back, slowly helping her catch her breath.
"Whew," once the nausea was finally suppressed, Hermione straightened up and looked at Amanda, her fair and delicate face slightly flushed from coughing, "Is Apparition... is it always this uncomfortable?"
"The first time usually feels quite intense." Amanda shook her head calmly.
"Will it be better later?" Hermione nodded, her eyes full of anticipation.
"You'll get used to it later." A flash of half-mischief crossed Amanda's half-indifferent eyes.
Hermione was slightly stunned for a moment, then her heart suddenly stirred. She smiled and lightly punched Amanda's shoulder, "That's great, you've even learned how to joke."
"I'm telling the truth." Amanda shrugged, then took Hermione and walked with long strides toward Riddle House.
Approaching Riddle House step by step along the mountain road, Amanda frowned as she looked at the pile of broken wooden fragments in front of her.
After so many years, had Riddle House actually turned into ruins?
Amanda's gaze quickly scanned the ruins of Riddle House. Every piece of debris and every wooden plank did not escape her eyes.
Ensuring that any unnatural spot would be recognized by her, Hermione stood quietly to the side without disturbing her, only silently drawing her wand.
She wanted to ensure that if any emergency occurred, she could immediately cast Charms to protect herself and Amanda.
"There is nothing wrong with it to the naked eye."
Amanda shook her head. According to her analysis, every wooden plank in the ruins of Riddle House appeared to have disintegrated naturally.
Every landing spot was correct, and there were no signs of human intervention or subsequent movement.
So, the next step was a magical examination.
As Amanda extended her right hand, her finger lightly tapped toward the ruins of Riddle House.
The ruins of Riddle House were instantly enveloped in a white light, and the detection magic covered the entire ruins and the land beneath it.
Even the underground was within the range of Amanda's detection magic.
After carefully sensing for a few seconds, Amanda shook her head and withdrew her hand, "There is nothing in Riddle House."
"Then we should go to Gaunt House next." Hermione lowered her raised wand and turned to look at Amanda.
"Hmm."
Amanda nodded expressionlessly, her eyes quickly searching the surroundings.
"What are you looking at?" Hermione blinked, curiously peering around, but saw nothing.
"I am looking for the possible location of Gaunt House."
Amanda stated what she was currently doing in a calm voice.
"Is Gaunt House also nearby?"
Hermione looked at Amanda suspiciously. The Gaunt family was a Wizard family, and the location of their old house was certainly not recorded in the Muggle World.
Even if the Y Country Ministry of Magic had it recorded, they wouldn't tell them, unless Amanda contacted a Ravenclaw graduate working in the Ministry of Magic.
But she hadn't seen Amanda sending out any letters recently, so... how did she determine that Gaunt House was in this vicinity?
Seeming to have sensed Hermione's confusion, Amanda didn't wait for her to ask and explained directly.
"More than fifty years ago, the relationship between the Muggle World and the Wizarding World was slightly more tense than it is now, and the Gaunt family were famous supporters of pure-blood supremacy and the epitome of inbreeding."
"Therefore, Voldemort's mother could not have been allowed to go very far from the family to contact Muggles, so there is only one possibility."
"Voldemort's mother saw Voldemort's father at home."
Hermione realized it and stated Amanda's final deduction.
"Correct." Amanda nodded affirmatively and cast her gaze toward the hillside.
"The most likely location is there."
Slowly extending her finger toward the hillside, on the regional model constructed in Amanda's mind, with Riddle House as the base point, countless thin lines spread out, forming one "terminal point" after another.
And among these "terminal points" where the lines spread, the place on the hillside where Amanda pointed was clearly marked with the highest probability.
"Then let's go up and take a look." Hermione put her wand back into the pocket of her wizard robe, stretched, and followed Amanda toward the hillside.
Arriving at the hillside, what Amanda and Hermione saw was a ruin similar to Riddle House.
However, the moment she saw this ruin, Amanda quickly moved and shielded Hermione behind her.
"What's wrong?" Hermione also immediately reacted, drawing her wand and looking around vigilantly.
"The falling points of the wooden fragments and building debris in the ruins do not match natural falling patterns."
Amanda pointed to one of the wooden fragments, "This place has undergone human destruction."
"Then it is very likely that a Horcrux is hidden here." Hermione said in a serious voice, her grip on her wand instantly tightening.
"Hmm." Amanda nodded without the slightest change in expression. She had already confirmed that there was no active danger here; in other words, there was nothing that would actively harm them.
Without saying a word or making a move, just with a look, the ruins in front of Amanda automatically floated into mid-air.
And in the midst of these ruins, a ring shimmering with black magic light was particularly conspicuous.
"Is it that one?" Hermione stood behind Amanda and pointed with her wand from a distance at the ring floating in mid-air, shimmering with black magic light.
"That's it." Amanda narrowed her eyes slightly, signaled for Hermione to stay put, and walked toward the ring herself.
The closer she got to the ring, the more Amanda could feel an aura unique to the Dark Arts, an aura that was frantically twitching her nerves.
It wanted to make her manic, wanted to make her furious, wanted to stir up all her bad emotions.
However, these obviously failed to make a single facial muscle of Amanda tremble even by 0.1 millimeters.
Reaching into the pocket of her wizard robe to draw her wand, Amanda prepared to burn the ring directly.
Fiendfyre from the Dark Arts could completely destroy a Horcrux; correspondingly, the fire she had created herself, which had the effect of targeting evil souls, could also destroy a Horcrux.
However, just as she was about to wave her wand, an unexpected change occurred.
A girl appeared in front of Amanda. She was wearing a white down jacket and a pair of faded jeans. This girl was crying loudly, lying on the ground, and grabbing something with great effort.
Behind her, two heavily armed Enforcement Agents were forcibly pulling her away.
"Please, save me, save me..."
The girl looked up at Amanda, wailing miserably for help, "As long as you put on that ring, as long as you put on that ring, you can save me. You want to save me too, right... Please, please."
Amanda looked down at the girl mechanically. She knew this girl; she used to be her next-door neighbor. She had watched with her own eyes as this girl was dragged away and destroyed by Enforcement Agents on New Year's Eve.
And the girl's parents were standing at the door, eating the last New Year's Eve dinner the girl had prepared for them.
Seeing that Amanda's hand holding the wand had not moved for a long time, Hermione bit her lower lip. She didn't care about the gesture Amanda had made earlier telling her to stay put, and was about to step forward to pull Amanda back.
No matter what, Amanda could not have an accident; it didn't matter if the Horcrux was destroyed later.
However, just as she took the first step, she saw Amanda raise her wand and wave it casually, and a golden flame rose up on the ring in front of her.
Waves of wailing and screaming came from the ring. In just the blink of an eye, the main body of the ring disappeared, leaving only the stone on it, which for some reason had not been burned away by Amanda's flames.
Hurrying to Amanda's side, Hermione looked at her with concern, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Amanda turned to look at Hermione and shook her head gently, then lowered the entire ruin from mid-air and waved her wand lightly to retrieve the stone, "Another Horcrux destroyed."
"Hmm," Hermione nodded, but she was more concerned about something else, "Was that just now..."
She wanted to ask Amanda if that was the scene where students were destroyed in their world, but she was afraid of bringing up Amanda's sad memories, so she stopped halfway.
"That was the scene when the girl living next door to my house was destroyed. I was at my doorstep at the time, and I watched her being taken away by the Enforcement Agents with my own eyes."
"Merlin..." Hermione reached out and wrapped her arms around Amanda's neck, kissing her cheeks one by one, "You must be very sad."
"I don't know if I'm sad," Amanda shook her head, feeling Hermione's warm, soft lips, "I just feel that it's very stuffy here."
As she spoke, she pointed to her chest, "But I understand that the Horcrux cannot bring her back to life, so the Horcrux cannot trick me."
"Hmm, Amanda is so smart, what could possibly trick you."
Hermione said softly, while inwardly cursing Voldemort fiercely for setting up such an illusion to protect the Horcrux.
It could only be said that Voldemort's combination of a Horcrux and the resurrection stone... produced a result that was indeed too good, using death to stir up a person's unwillingness to let go.
If it wasn't for Amanda, someone else would really be easily fooled. At the very least, Hermione believed that she herself might not have been able to resist the illusion created by this Horcrux just now; after all, who didn't have grandparents, and who didn't have people they would miss even across death?
"But our efficiency is still quite fast," Hermione quickly adjusted her mood, smiling and changing her hands to wrap around Amanda's waist, "It only took us less than a day to finish searching Gaunt House and Riddle House, and successfully destroyed the Horcrux."
"This speed indeed exceeded my expectations." Amanda also affirmed this. To be honest, she had originally thought that the magic guarding the Horcrux would be more complex and harder to break.
It should have been something that would make her think twice after encountering it, but she didn't expect... it turned out to be just such an ordinary illusion temptation.
"Next, we can go and help Senior Cho Chang and the others."
Amanda put away her wand and said in a cold, stern voice. Just as well, with her following, there would be no need to worry about the safety of the seniors.
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