Chapter 198: Your Mother's Voice

Chapter 198: Your Mother's Voice

"Why are you resigning? You've been here for ten years. Is there something wrong with the department?"

Kluge stood up from her chair.

This would not be a concern for an ordinary employee, but Silke was no ordinary employee. Ever since Kluge took over as the head of the Department of Mysteries, she had been grooming Silke as her successor.

Silke's expression remained calm, and she shook her head.

"There's nothing wrong with the department. It's a personal issue."

She didn't elaborate, and Kluge didn't press further, but she spoke with extreme seriousness.

"You need to think this through, Vera. You should know what the department has planned for your future. And if you leave, where else could you go?"

Silke didn't respond immediately. She seemed to be lost in thought, and her lips curled into a smile Kluge had never seen before.

"I've always had a place to go." Her voice was gentle and serene. "I just lost it, and now I've found it again."

Kluge ultimately agreed to Silke's resignation.

If she was determined to leave, there was no point in trying to keep her.

After leaving the German Ministry of Magic, Silke went directly to Diagon Alley in Britain.

She withdrew the money she had saved over the years from the vault Eddie had left her, along with a portion of the assets Eddie had bequeathed to her, and exchanged it all for pounds at the goblin bank. Then, she headed to Magnolia Crescent, Little Whinging, Surrey.

She looked at the house at number 12, then chose number 13 over number 14 and knocked on the door.

A middle-aged woman opened the door, frowning at the strangely dressed woman.

"Who are you looking for?"

"I'd like to buy your house", Silke said as calmly as if she were picking out a nice teacup from a store.

The woman looked at her as if she were crazy.

"Sorry, we're not selling."

"The average house price in Britain is around 60,000 pounds, but this area is not prime, so it's likely to be below average", Silke said, clearly having done her homework and trying to negotiate a lower price.

The woman's expression grew more impatient, and she reached to close the door. At that moment, Silke silently opened her briefcase, revealing a stack of crisp, new banknotes.

"Here are 200,000 pounds. If you agree to the price, we can go and complete the paperwork right now. Regardless of how long it takes, you must vacate the property within a week."

The woman froze at Silke's words, staring at the money in the briefcase. After a long moment, she came back to her senses, her breathing heavy as she called out to her husband.

"Mark! Oh my God! Mark, come here!"

Sherlock was completely unaware of what Silke was doing.

He was in his office, explaining in the simplest terms to Snape the purpose of the Magic Notes he had given Lily.

"Soul Protection Magic is a spell that allows one soul to protect another. Lily used this method to protect Harry from the Dark Lord's Killing Curse."

"Another dark form of soul magic, which you may or may not have heard of, is called a Horcrux."

Snape's face twisted with disgust when he heard the word "Horcrux."

"The magic that splits a soul to achieve immortality?"

As a former expert in Dark Magic, Snape was familiar with Horcruxes, but he had only heard of them. The method to create a Horcrux was known to very few, and even fewer knew the exact process. The only known person to have successfully created one was Voldemort.

Sherlock snapped his fingers.

"Exactly, a Horcrux. With Amy's help, I found the method to create a Horcrux in the Hall of Death at the Department of Mysteries. I noticed that this Dark Magic has some similarities to Soul Protection Magic."

"However, one requires extreme evil, while the other requires pure love."

"I then used other magical resources to try to incorporate elements of Horcrux Magic into Soul Protection Magic."

At this point, Snape could already guess some of Sherlock's thoughts, especially after he had glanced through the contents of the notes before passing them to Lily.

"You want the Soul Protection Magic to not only provide soul protection to the protected individual but also split a part of the protector's soul and transfer it over!"

Sherlock shrugged.

"Initially, my idea was exactly that—splitting Lily's soul so she could also gain the advantage of immortality through a Horcrux. Using Soul Protection Magic as a medium, the magic protecting Harry would become a special Horcrux, with a part of Lily's soul residing in Harry."

"Did you succeed?"

Snape subconsciously clenched his fists, asking with excitement.

"It's not that simple. An idea is just an idea. When I delved into the actual research, I found out that to split a soul, a soul must be sacrificed, and naturally, that soul couldn't be Lily herself. Moreover, love cannot replace malice; creating a Horcrux requires a powerful evil intent, which Lily obviously lacks."

Snape took a deep breath, staring at Sherlock as he struggled to control his emotions, mindful that he was the one humbly seeking help.

"So, what did you achieve?"

Sherlock spoke solemnly.

"I realized that trying to harmlessly integrate the method of creating a Horcrux into Soul Protection Magic was a pipe dream. Magic of this caliber is not so easily altered, let alone combined with other magics."

"So, I abandoned the idea of modifying the Horcrux creation method and came up with another idea."

Sherlock's eyes brightened as he continued.

"Drawing inspiration from Horcrux Magic, I created a soul magic based on Soul Protection Magic that has similar effects to a Horcrux but doesn't require such evil intentions."

"However, after a series of experiments, I found this to be very difficult. While emotions are essential for a wizard to cast magic, and both malice and love are powerful, the fundamental purpose of splitting a soul is to ensure one's immortality, which is inherently selfish and more aligned with negative emotions."

"However, solutions are always found by people. If we change the purpose of splitting the soul from seeking immortality to the protector's strong desire to see the protected one safe and sound, then that emotion becomes love."

"The Department of Mysteries has extensive records in the Hall of Souls. I studied a lot and eventually refined the theory, leading to the Magic Notes I gave you."

With that, Sherlock picked up his cup from the desk, took a few sips of tea, and looked at Snape, who was anxiously waiting for the final result, despite his impatience, still having to endure Sherlock's self-congratulatory talk. Finally, Sherlock said with satisfaction:

"The improved Soul Protection Magic, theoretically, would preserve some of the protector's consciousness."

Snape's face darkened.

"Not the soul? Why are you talking about consciousness now!"

Sherlock furrowed his brow.

"You can call it a soul if you like, but I can't be certain what exactly is left behind. If it were a soul split without a life sacrifice, even the strongest love wouldn't be enough to split the soul. But if it's not a soul, my final research suggests that the consciousness left behind by Soul Protection Magic is no different from the protector's own."

He rubbed his chin, pondering, "If I had to define it, it would be more like a soul replica."

"Replica?"

"Yes, because the soul itself isn't split; it's more like using soul magic to create a replica."

"Can such a replicated soul be resurrected?" Snape murmured.

"That's hard to say", Sherlock shook his head. "The replicated soul needs the protection magic to survive, and whether it's just a stream of consciousness or a real soul is still uncertain."

Sherlock glanced at him.

"Besides, it's a bit premature to ask these questions now. I've only told you about the theories I've developed. Whether it will succeed is still uncertain. Don't get too excited; I don't want you to be overly disappointed."

His words didn't seem to have much of an effect. Snape's face remained pale, clearly overly tense.

The two sat in silence in the office for a while before Snape took a deep breath and stood up from his chair.

"I'll go get Harry!"

Sherlock poured himself another cup of tea, nodded, and indicated that he would wait in the office.

It had only been yesterday since the final exam week ended, and there was still a whole week before Hogwarts would go on break for the year.

The holiday wouldn't start until all the professors had finished grading their students' exams.

Starting from today, this week would be the most relaxed time for the students in the castle.

Harry and Ron had been chatting late into the night and eventually fell asleep.

They slept until noon the next day, went to the Great Hall for lunch, and then spent the afternoon in the common room, playing wizard chess and discussing the events of the previous night.

Even though the exams were over, Hermione still held a thick spell analysis book, sharing her discoveries with Harry and Ron.

“I heard from Lavender that she saw Snape in the corridor this morning.”

Harry, who was directing a knight on the chessboard, froze.

“Snape is back? That means Professor Forrest must be back too!”

“Should we go visit him in his office later?” Ron wasn’t interested in the game; he was more curious about what had happened when Sherlock and Snape disappeared together.

Harry stood up from the sofa, his excitement evident.

“Why wait? We can go right now.”

They left the chessboard, where the pieces, still locked in battle, shouted in anger at their commanders' sudden desertion: “Cowards! Come back and fight!”

However, before Harry and the others could even step out of the common room, they encountered Snape, who was hurrying along in black robes, his expression stormy.

“Potter!”

He called out Harry’s last name, his voice strained as if he were suppressing something.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all stopped. Hermione and Ron instinctively avoided his gaze, feeling a bit wary. Harry, however, glared at him, still angry about what had happened the previous night.

Snape didn’t seem to care about their emotions at the moment. He grabbed Harry’s arm.

“Come with me!”

Harry instinctively struggled.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Stop moving!” Snape’s dark, hollow eyes fixed on him, and for the first time, they seemed to have a glimmer of light.

“You’d better listen to me and come with me alone.”

Harry was taken aback and found himself being dragged along the corridor towards Sherlock’s office.

At the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances, unsure of what had just happened.

“What do we do now?” Ron asked.

Hermione, worried, replied.

“Is it possible that Snape is trying to force Harry to reveal Black’s whereabouts?”

Recalling how Snape had acted when he saw Sirius Black the previous night, Ron shuddered.

“It’s very likely!”

Hermione paced back and forth, her expression determined.

“We should find Professor Dumbledore! Only he can stop Snape!”

While Hermione and Ron were making wild guesses, Snape had already half-forced Harry into Sherlock’s office.

Harry, who had been trying to escape along the way, realized they were heading to Sherlock’s office, and his tense heart finally settled a bit.

Once inside, before Harry could say anything, Sherlock put down his teacup and looked at him seriously.

“There’s something important I need to tell you, Harry. Sit down first.”

Harry sat down in a daze, while Snape, impatient, said,

“Stop stalling!”

“Harry, as the one involved, you need to understand some things,” Sherlock said solemnly, then looked at Harry, “Have you ever heard strange voices during moments of intense emotion?”

Harry was taken aback, staring at Sherlock in confusion.

“What kind of voices?”

“Your mother’s voice.”

Harry’s eyes widened in shock!

“How, how do you know that, Professor?”

Seeing his reaction, Sherlock smiled and nodded affirmatively to a tense Snape.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end