Chapter 343: New Intelligence
Chapter 343: New Intelligence
"What does Headmaster Dumbledore want with me tonight?" At eight o'clock, Liam, thoroughly puzzled, headed towards the Headmaster's Office. When Harry brought the message in the afternoon, Liam found it very strange because Harry's nightmares had nothing to do with him. Being summoned to the Headmaster's Office out of the blue felt off.
"Cockroach Cluster." Liam spoke the password and smoothly entered the Headmaster's Office.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore." Liam greeted the Headmaster, who was seated behind a large golden desk.
"Good evening, Liam." Dumbledore greeted him as he entered, then placed part of his memory into the swirling Pensieve. "This is Harry's memory of our meeting and my memory from this afternoon's errand. You can take a look."
Liam nodded and leaned his head into the Pensieve. The first memory was Harry recounting his dream, with a few more details than what he had told Liam, but nothing particularly noteworthy.
The second memory was more significant. In it, Dumbledore arrived at a large house filled with boxes. The house had no windows, resembling an underground warehouse.
What struck Liam as odd was the white cloth covering some objects on the ground and the Aurors walking around in their uniforms.
"Kingsley, what on earth is going on here?" Dumbledore asked a black wizard.
"Disastrous!" the wizard named Kingsley replied. "We usually don't send our people to Knockturn Alley, but recent orders have us patrolling the area. This afternoon, Percy Weasley's patrol team passed by the entrance of the Soul of Poison and noticed that the door, which is usually open, was shut, and even the display window was covered with a cloth."
"Percy Weasley thought something was amiss and knocked on the door, but there was no response. The incident was reported to the department", Kingsley leaned in and whispered, "You instructed us to be vigilant about any anomalies in potion distribution points. When we received this report, I brought my Aurors to investigate, and this is what we found."
"How many casualties?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the white cloth covering the objects on the ground.
"One clerk was killed at the front desk, and the owner, another clerk, and two guards were found dead in the warehouse. All were killed by the Killing Curse", Kingsley said, his expression slightly horrified. "We also found traces of a large snake, and the store's appraiser is missing. Dumbledore, could it be—"
"Exactly what you're thinking. This is the kind of situation I warned you about when I called you together." Dumbledore said solemnly. "What about the losses in merchandise?"
"About a third of the elixirs, all from the most valuable batch. This store is actually a key distribution center for the underground market in Britain, so we haven't finalized the exact numbers yet."
"Head, we've made a discovery." An Auror called out to Kingsley. Following Dumbledore's steps, Liam reached the end of the warehouse, where a few boxes stood out, free of dust.
Dumbledore waved his wand, and the boxes moved aside, revealing a hidden fireplace. An Auror waved a peculiar silver device inside the fireplace, and when he pulled it out, the transparent crystal in the center had turned red.
"We've found an illegal International Floo Network fireplace", the Auror reported to Dumbledore and Kingsley. "Someone used this fireplace to leave the country recently."
"Quickly, see where that person went", Kingsley urged the Auror, but Dumbledore didn’t hold much hope, standing there silently. Sure enough, after a moment of using the device, the Auror looked dejected and said, "The person completely scrambled their magical traces. We can only confirm that they left Britain."
With that, the memory ended, and Liam emerged from the Pensieve. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, tapping his fingers on the surface. When he saw Liam finish viewing, he stopped the tapping.
"Harry has made contact with Voldemort. What do you think this means? I want the truth, not the comforting words for Harry", Dumbledore asked.
"This isn’t just a nightmare", Liam began. "If one person can see what another is doing, the most likely explanation is a fusion of souls. Simple blood relations wouldn’t cause this effect. Based on my previous knowledge, I believe Harry likely obtained a part of that person’s soul inadvertently on the night his parents died. In simpler terms, Harry is an accidental Horcrux created by that person. His Parseltongue ability also confirms this."
The two men fell silent. Dumbledore rubbed his temples and asked, "As I expected, I thought you might have seen a lot. The only thing I didn’t anticipate was that you’ve already analyzed this to such a degree. From your alchemy during the Triwizard Tournament, I noticed it was very different from the popular alchemy today, and your skill level is not low. So, do you have any way to solve Harry’s problem?"
"For now—there’s no good solution", Liam thought for a moment and said, "If we were dealing with an inanimate object, like the rings, extracting the soul fragment would be more feasible. However, separating a soul fragment that has grown with Harry over the years is far more challenging than extracting it from an object. I have several methods to destroy the soul fragment in Harry, but none can guarantee his safety."
"You said, for now?" Dumbledore picked up on a key word from Liam’s response.
"Indeed, such an operation requires powerful magic and extensive knowledge. I’ve only been involved in magic for at most four years, and my experience is far less than most wizards. So, I can only say I can’t do it now, but it doesn’t mean I won’t be able to in the future with the knowledge I have", Liam explained.
"You’re right", Dumbledore smiled, relieved. "Voldemort has fled Britain, though he will certainly return. But it will take him some time to resolve his own issues. We have enough time to do what needs to be done for now."
At that moment, Phineas Nigellus Black’s portrait appeared on the canvas, and a voice rang out, "Dumbledore, Fudge refuses to disclose the details of the recent attack in Diagon Alley and wants to handle it as a simple Dark Wizard conflict."
"I can accept not mentioning the possible names of the criminals, but it must be stated that this was the work of a Dark Wizard. We need to raise people’s awareness", Dumbledore said to the portrait.
"Fine, I’ll go back and try again. But I suspect Fudge wants to keep this under wraps", Phineas shrugged and disappeared.
"We always face this, dealing with enemies while our own people hold us back", Dumbledore complained slightly, then quickly adjusted his demeanor. "Alright, noted. If you have any new developments, come and inform me directly. My door is always open to you."
Hearing this, Liam quickly stood up to take his leave. As he was about to leave, Dumbledore suddenly asked, "You won’t be making a Horcrux, will you?"
"Of course not. On the path to immortality, I have better methods. Why would I choose such a troublesome one?" Liam answered as he left the office.
(End of Chapter)
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