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Chapter 180: Lupin: Emptiness After Forgetfulness
Chapter 180: Lupin: Emptiness After Forgetfulness
The distinctive wail of a fire truck's siren pierced through the forest, carrying from a distance.
"We should leave now," Lupin said.
"Just a moment," Weasley whispered to Michal. "Please."
Michal spread her wings and landed amidst the ruins, golden flames engulfing the entire area.
After a moment, the flames retracted, and the golden bird emerged from the dust with a charred, black ring in her beak.
Some sticky, dark substance clung to the ring, but Michal's flames soon reduced it to ash, which fell away.
The gold on the ring had also melted and solidified into a strange shape. Michal pecked at it a couple of times, ingesting the gold and leaving only the black stone in her beak. She returned to Weasley's side and gently placed the stone in his palm.
Lupin peered at it curiously. It resembled a black stone with a symbol composed of triangles and circles, crisscrossed with fissures.
Any curses or magic attached to it had been thoroughly burned away by the fierce flames. Weasley, holding the stone through a handkerchief, examined it in the light.
Even the light seemed to be devoured by the stone.
He knew this to be one of the Deathly Hallows, a legendary gift from Death to the Peverell brothers. It was known as the Resurrection Stone, possessing the power to bring back the dead.
By simply holding the stone and turning it thrice, one could bring the deceased back to the mortal realm.
However, the resurrected did not truly return to life, and only the user of the stone could see them. Thus, even if they remained in the living world, they would feel endless loneliness and pain.
This was an object that appeared to be a divine artifact but was, in essence, no different from a curse. Its function paled in comparison to the other two Deathly Hallows, the Elder Wand and the Invisibility Cloak.
In the story, it was this stone that Dumbledore, longing to see his deceased parents and sister, had carelessly placed on his finger, falling prey to Voldemort's curse. Even with Snape's potion, his life was only extended by a year.
Of course, Dumbledore was, after all, Dumbledore.
Even in his final year, he had set in motion a grand scheme. Despite his death, his plans ensured that Harry, under his guidance, would ultimately defeat Voldemort.
But that one year without Dumbledore was the darkest and most perilous for the wizarding world and Hogwarts.
Harry and his friends had to flee the school, many Muggles and wizards were killed, the Ministry of Magic became Voldemort's accomplice, and Hogwarts students, except for Slytherin, endured torture.
If not for Harry and Neville's protagonist aura exploding at the last moment, finding and destroying all the Horcruxes, and Harry using the Elder Wand's allegiance to rebound the Killing Curse back at Voldemort, the darkness would have persisted over the British Isles, and Voldemort's reign of terror would have spread worldwide.
It all started with Dumbledore obtaining the Resurrection Stone.
If not for the curse on this stone, a powerful wizard like Dumbledore should have lived much longer.
Not to mention Nicolas Flamel, who had taken the Elixir of Life, but the witch on the Hogwarts Express had been doing her job since 1830. Some students assumed there had been multiple people in that role, but it had always been the same witch.
There was also Armando Dippet, the previous headmaster of Hogwarts, who had lived to be over three hundred years old until his recent passing.
However, as Armando Dippet had been in seclusion for many years, the wizarding world had largely forgotten him, and his death warranted only a small mention in the Daily Prophet.
Not including the original founders, Dumbledore possessed the most powerful magic of all the headmasters, and so, despite his current aged appearance, he still had many years ahead of him before reaching his end.
— If only he had passed away of old age.
...
Weed also placed the Resurrection Stone into the anti-magic box and sealed it shut. He then transfigured his luggage into the shape of a wardrobe and opened the door, asking the firebird, "Michal, can you stay inside here? Be careful not to burn anything."
Michal nodded, flew into the wardrobe, and after circling once, found a dry spot to settle. She then chirped twice.
Weed gathered some stones and dry branches from the mountain and made a nest for her. Michal spat a small fireball, igniting the branches, and then nestled comfortably in the flames.
Weed put away his quill case, and he and Lupin quickly left the forest. When they returned to Little Hangleton, they saw the fire truck passing through the village.
The sharp wail of the siren woke those who were asleep, and they sat up groggily, staring blankly at the distant plume of smoke.
"Fire!"
Panicked voices finally rang out from all directions. No one thought there was anything amiss with having fallen asleep, nor did they pay attention to the two figures hurrying through the path.
Upon reaching the pub, there were also a few people standing outside, gazing towards the distant forest. Lupin and Weed made their way through the crowd and back to the room they had rented.
The black Vanishing Cabinet stood in the center of the room.
Lupin opened the cabinet door and said to Weed, "You go back to school first. I'll take the Vanishing Cabinet back to Hogsmeade."
Weed nodded without saying much and climbed into the cabinet, reappearing at Hogwarts in the blink of an eye.
Zoe stood outside the cabinet, waiting for him with a smile.
...
Lupin closed the cabinet door, cleaned up the traces of their stay, and opened his luggage. He placed the Vanishing Cabinet inside and then picked up his case. Donning his gray, peaked wizard hat and pulling the brim low, he left the room.
The bartender of the pub was discussing with a patron about the sudden fire in the forest, speculating that someone might have started a campfire without regard for safety and failed to extinguish it properly.
"Or perhaps the wind blew a lit cigarette butt into the forest," Mack interjected importantly. "Most fires are started that way."
"Why don't you talk about those two guests earlier instead?" asked Pete, the guest with a bushy beard. "I still don't believe that an adult man could suddenly turn into a child."
"It's true," Mack insisted. "How could I mistake it? They had the same black hair and gray eyes; they must have been the same person..."
"How about a father and son who look alike?" Pete teased.
"But I didn't see anyone else go in..." Mack argued.
"You must have missed it!" Pete insisted.
Behind them, Lupin silently apologized and raised his wand—
"Obliviate!"
A flash of light passed, and the two men at the door blinked, their expressions somewhat dazed.
After a while, Mack said, "Or perhaps the wind blew a lit cigarette butt into the forest. Most fires start that way."
"No... I think it's more likely an unextinguished campfire deep in the woods."
"...Anyway, there are always people who lack forest fire prevention awareness. It's us who live nearby who suffer the consequences."
As Mack finished speaking, he suddenly felt the door behind him move slightly. He turned to look but saw nothing and turned back, dismissing it from his mind.
(End of Chapter)
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