"Kiki! (The smell of ice cream!)" Valen tilted her head and looked at Felix, her two little hands clutching his shirt.
Felix laughed. "You've got a good nose." He said, stroking her head with one hand, and in her expectant eyes, the ring on his finger flashed brightly and an ice cream suddenly appeared.
"Whaaaaaaaaat!"
"I have more," Felix said, "I bought it on the way back." He waved his hand again, and two more ice creams floated in the air.
He handed one to Hermione. "Oh, thanks." Hermione said.
They walked in the direction of the ancient rune office, Hermione take a small bite of the crushed nuts on top of the ice cream - very different from the flavours served at the Hogwarts table.
"How are you preparing for the third task?" Felix asked, biting the chocolate over the ice cream as it crunched.
"We're progressing well - we've been practicing with Cedric, Collins, and Roger, although Harry seems a bit - well, but anyway, we're progressing rapidly, and I can't believe Collins hasn't mastered the Apparition yet. You know, she's in her seventh year!"
Hermione chattered, "We all bet on which of the two - Ron or Collins - would master the Apparition first, and Professor, we told them the secret about the Room of Requirement." She glanced carefully at Felix.
"That's fine." Felix said, "In fact, throughout the years there are more than a few people who know about it, but only a few have been able to dig out its true hidden mysteries."
Hermione looked relieved. "And the Phantom Book you gave Harry, which was Harry's prize in the dueling tournament ... Harry took it out too, but after a year or so, the magic on it is a bit unresponsive." She did not mention how Professor Hap's face in the book became blurred, she did try to fix it, but the result was minimal.
Felix smiled as he listened and opened the door to his office.
"Mr. Wimple from the Committee on Experimental Charms came to the school two days ago, he dropped by to review the runic spells we had discovered, everyone was curious about the horns growing on his head, but he said things are much better ... Harry, Ron, er," she pursed her lips "And Malfoy, they all together discovered the Bright Fire-Making Spell which seems to have a restraining effect on dark creatures, Mr. Wimple is going to test it on many creatures, if it works well enough, he will apply to the Ministry of Magic for a reward, and possibly invite Harry and the guys to join the Dark Force Defence League."
"I didn't expect such an effect." Felix slightly got surprised.
"And ... uh," Hermione hesitated. "What's wrong?" Felix asked, only to be taken aback by Hermione's answer. "Harry's having those nightmares again."
"Something to do with Voldemort?"
"It sho-ould be ..." Hermione stammered, "Harry wasn't sure, he was asleep and vaguely dreamed of Crouch Jr. plotting with V-Voldemort, and Harry went into Voldemort's point of view once again, and he said he saw Crouch Jr. kneeling at his feet ... After that, Harry woke up as his Occlumency worked."
In fact, Harry was quite remorseful about it, his Occlumency seemed to have backfired on him in this case, keeping him from getting more useful information.
Felix's face looked solemn. He realized something, "Does Dumbledore know about this?"
"Yes," Hermione busily nodded, "Harry had a burning scar on his forehead, Ron took him to the hospital wing, and Headmaster Dumbledore showed up not long after."
Felix nodded, he vaguely guessed why Dumbledore chose to suddenly reveal the truth at the meeting in Wizengamot, even at the expense of having a public confrontation with Fudge, because the pace of Voldemort's resurrection continued to grow closer and closer, and the wizarding community still knew nothing about it ...
Lucius Malfoy did not find anything different. This is normal, the Horcrux is obviously more closely linked to Voldemort than the Dark Mark, Harry can detect Voldemort's violent mood swings, but it did not mean that the Death Eaters can do the same thing with the Dark Mark.
What Felix wanted, in fact, is for him to find out about Voldemort's resurrection in the first place, as well as to be aware of the subsequent Death Eaters' plan of action.
When he looked back at Hermione who is staring at him, her expression became sluggish as she said, "Professor if Voldemort is really resurrected, in addition to Headmaster Dumbledore, is there anyone else who can fight against him?"
Felix laughed, "Are you asking if I am his opponent?" Her question seemed to be the same thing he asked Dumbledore back then.
Hermione looked at him with a wry expression as he caught her little thought.
"Well, it's hard to say, I've never truly fought Voldemort before," Felix shrugged his shoulders and said uncertainly, "I guess there is some difference." He judged it based on Dumbledore's strength, Dumbledore has obviously undergone the transformation process towards a "magical being" as Ms. Ravenclaw claimed, but probably because of age, or other reasons, his shape is slightly declining.
And Voldemort can fight with Dumbledore in this state, but only slightly inferior, which almost indicates that they stand on the same level, the gap is not very obvious.
And he ...
Hermione looked strangely at Professor Hap as he stared at his arm in deep thought, somewhat puzzling. But she at least heard the professor's answer, her heart somewhat lost, the professor is so powerful, but still not Voldemort's opponent.
She left the ancient rune office and returned to the common room, where Harry and Ron are using the last bit of time to catch up on their assignments. Hermione sat down with a heavy heart and said carefully to the two: "I asked the professor."
The unspoken words caused Harry to jerk his head up and fumble his hands, knocking over a bottle of ink, "Hey - it's okay, never mind," he drew his wand and pointed to the shards on the floor, "Reparo." The pieces immediately put together.
Then he and Ron stared at Hermione, "What did the professor say?"
Hermione repeated Felix's words to them, and Harry's expression looked shaken.
"It's actually quite normal when you think about it," Ron said, "Professor Hap is only, only - well - in his mid-twenties."
"Twenty-four years old." Hermione instantly said.
"Exactly, yeah." Ron said as if he already knew, "He's still so young, I mean - he's a genius, but even a genius needs time to grow up, no? Honestly, I can't think of a stronger wizard than him, except for Dumbledore. Ever since the Quidditch World Cup, Dad's been saying that he could possibly succeed Dumbledore."
"You mean Professor Hap will become Headmaster of Hogwarts?" Harry asked in surprise, he had never thought about it, but when he thought about it now, the possibilities are very high. He stared, imagining the scene - decades later, silver-haired, silver-bearded Professor Hap (somewhat similar to Dumbledore's image, except with a normal nose) welcoming the new students in the great hall, and wondered what the professor would say in his welcoming speech.
"No," Ron interrupted his imagination, "Dad said he might become the strongest wizard in the world after Dumbledore."
Harry suddenly felt a sense of relief, with Dumbledore - plus Professor Hap, even if Voldemort resurrected he could not make any storm, right? But Dumbledore's repeated reaffirmation about his dream in the hospital wing last night still cast a psychological shadow on him.
Hermione sat on the armchair with her knees in her arms and remained silent for almost ten minutes.
"You guys," she slowly asked in a very soft voice: "V-Voldemort ... is there a possibility that he has been resurrected?"
...
"I suspected as much, Felix." Dumbledore in his pyjamas, his long silver beard tied together, "Do not rule out the possibility."
"Is he really in that much of a hurry?" Felix frowned, " He doesn't need Harry anymore?"
"Maybe we all guessed it incorrectly before, Harry is not the key to his resurrection," Dumbledore said softly. "Or not essential - as you speculated before, it is possible that Voldemort knew that Harry had a piece of his soul in his body, and he intended to retrieve this soul fragment at the time of his resurrection, for which Crouch Jr. came ... But obviously, he failed."
"And do not rule out other possibilities." Felix said.
"That's right," Dumbledore nodded slightly, he sighed: "I know some of the evillest dark magic, to be precise, magic that is classified as a curse, they all require the use of the enemy's blood, I have speculated that Voldemort's target is the blood flowing in Harry's body, Lily's protection magic may have a unique appeal to him. But--"
"But we interrupted his plans," Felix added. His mind ran fast, trying to deduce Voldemort's thoughts from his point of view: " Crouch Jr. and Voldemort's lucky escape must have been fresh in his mind, Voldemort assumed that no one would know if he hid in the shadows, so he naturally had the patience to wait and arrange his resurrection plan calmly ... but his sense of security was shattered that night - once he deemed that there is little to no hope of obtaining Harry, he is likely to immediately proceed with the resurrection in order to avoid a long delay and the loss of his only helper, Crouch Jr!"
"Before the resurrection, he may have had Harry in his eyes, but after the resurrection - if that is indeed the case - his vision will envelop the entire wizarding world." Felix paced around Dumbledore's circular office, his thoughts becoming clearer, "No more summoning servants, no more contacting allies, Albus, he will plan to strike a fatal blow!"
"That's what I'm most worried about." Dumbledore's expression turned grim as he gazed at Felix, the wrinkles on his face looked very deep in the light, he looked old and weary.
...
"This is impossible!" Ron shouted in shock.
"Why is it impossible?" Hermione asked him back in a sharp voice.
"He lacks the conditions for resurrection!" Ron blurted out, looking uneasily at Harry and Hermione, "You know, he sent Crouch Jr. to school, and pretty much the only thing Crouch Jr. has done all this time was dropping our names into the Goblet of Fire. But we all know who his real target is. It's Harry, isn't it?"
Harry felt his stomach flip, he strongly disliked the question Hermione had asked, but he had no evidence to refute it. Even deep down he vaguely agreed with the idea: yes, Voldemort had a brilliant helper, and it is nearly four whole months since Crouch Jr. escaped on Christmas night, so it is unlikely that he did nothing till now...
But Ron's idea is not without justification, Harry thought. Voldemort allowed Crouch Jr. to infiltrate the school, so there must be a bigger goal, although he hates to admit it, but Harry knew their goal should be him, he originally thought Voldemort wanted to torture him, but he should not be that stupid.
It's not too late to do that after the resurrection, no? Harry did not feel that torturing him is more important in Voldemort's mind than resurrection. Unless his mind is messed up in the process of repeatedly cutting souls and making Horcruxes crazily.
"Dumbledore will fix everything," Ron said with unease, as he looked at a silent Harry and Hermione, "we should better think about the third task, I've almost managed to master Apparition and succeeded several times today in the Room of Requirement. Collins almost died of frustration, her eyebrows have dropped ... all at once"
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