Before arriving at Hogwarts, Alaric and his group had successfully destroyed three Horcruxes, which led Hermione and Cho Chang to believe that Horcruxes were not as formidable as they had imagined.
However, the recent events made them realize the true power and strangeness of Horcruxes.
Although Hermione, Cho Chang, and Luna had strong willpower and could resist the Horcrux's temptation with some attention.
They were now wary and somewhat in awe of the Horcruxes, like startled birds.
To put their minds at ease and as a precaution, Alaric placed the Diadem into a special dragonhide pouch.
This pouch, a creation of his own, was an extremely practical alchemical item that could isolate magical fluctuations inside and outside the pouch, ensuring that magical items or materials inside would not affect the outside and vice versa.
In this way, the Horcrux could not influence or control people outside the pouch.
Initially, they should have destroyed the Horcrux as soon as they discovered it.
The same fate had befallen the Gaunt family's ring, Slytherin's locket, and Hufflepuff's cup.
However, Alaric had no intention of destroying Ravenclaw's Diadem.
Besides having promised Helena Ravenclaw not to destroy it, there was another reason: the Diadem's effect.
As a magical item, Ravenclaw's Diadem had an unprecedented effect—it increased the wearer's intelligence.
Not magical talent, spell strength, magical power, or mental strength, but intelligence itself.
Simply put, it made a person smarter and more quick-witted.
This was an extraordinarily powerful magical effect.
In various fantasy worlds, spells that increase intelligence are rare. In the world of Harry Potter, Alaric had only heard of Ravenclaw's Diadem possessing such an effect.
Outside the Harry Potter universe, in worlds like Tsukihime, World of Warcraft, High School DxD, A Certain Magical Index, and other magical worlds, while spells to increase magical power were abundant, spells to enhance intelligence were extremely rare, if they existed at all.
Wisdom is the foundation of magical research; magical power stems from intelligence.
Enhancing intelligence would significantly boost a person's abilities, regardless of their innate talent or magical power.
If Ravenclaw's Diadem indeed increased intelligence, it would be a monumental magical achievement, pursued by countless wizards even in other magical worlds.
Given the opportunity to witness and study this magic, Alaric was unwilling to destroy the Horcrux merely to deal with Voldemort.
He considered it a waste of an invaluable magical asset.
Instead of destroying the Diadem, Alaric preferred to directly eliminate Voldemort and prepare to deal with him again in the future, rather than destroy Ravenclaw's Diadem.
Moreover, Alaric thought Voldemort lacked vision.
He had forsaken the Diadem's true, magnificent capabilities and made it into a Horcrux to satisfy his own desires.
In Alaric's view, it was a classic case of throwing away the watermelon to pick up the sesame seeds.
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After acquiring the Horcrux, the group quickly left the Room of Requirement.
Alaric, carrying the Horcrux, went straight to the Chamber of Secrets to begin his research.
He aimed to understand the principle behind the Horcrux's creation and find a way to destroy the Horcrux aspect without damaging the Diadem's original effects.
His first idea was to use a soul attack to directly destroy Voldemort's soul fragment within the Diadem.
This way, he could achieve the goal of a magical weapon without physically damaging the Diadem's structure.
However, upon further study, he found this method impractical.
First, while souls are fragile, soul confrontations are brutal and dangerous.
There was a risk of damaging his own soul in the process, resulting in mutual destruction.
For Alaric, this was not a concern.
His soul's rank was higher than average, having been tempered in the different worlds.
Voldemort's fragmented soul was clearly inferior to his, so Alaric was confident he could destroy Voldemort's soul fragment without harm.
Yet, he still had to consider the second issue: the dark magic attached to the Diadem.
While Alaric could overpower Voldemort's soul, he couldn't withstand dark magic with his soul alone.
Magic can influence both material and spiritual aspects, and dark magic could affect the soul.
To use his soul to combat Voldemort's, Alaric first needed to dispel the dark magic on the Diadem.
As a master of magic, he believed he could eventually find a way to break the dark enchantments if he focused on it.
Of course, since the dark magic on the Diadem affected the soul, why couldn't he use soul-combat magic to destroy the soul fragment within the Diadem?
This led to the third and most crucial issue: the connection between Voldemort's soul fragment and the Diadem.
Alaric had to admire the wonders of magic in the Harry Potter universe.
Despite the world's magic not being extraordinarily powerful, its mastery over rules and certain aspects was unparalleled.
For example, Alaric discovered that Voldemort's soul had become an integral part of the Diadem.
Direct magical attacks on the soul fragment would inevitably destroy the Diadem along with it, thus nullifying its magical effects.
Thus, using soul-to-soul combat seemed the most reliable approach.
However, this approach also had a problem.
If the soul fragment were damaged during the battle, the Diadem's structure would no longer be intact, causing its magical effects to fail.
Though this was still preferable to the Diadem being destroyed along with Voldemort's soul.
Even so, Alaric remained unsatisfied.
He faced the dilemma of choosing between completely destroying Voldemort and preserving the Diadem's intelligence-enhancing magic.
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