The Past

[This chapter contains content related to Hogwarts Legacy and includes the author's personal conjectures based on the main storyline.]

After agreeing with Cyberlina to visit the Ministry of Magic on Tuesday, Dumbledore expressed a desire to look around her Room of Requirement.

This was within Cyberlina's expectations, so she readily agreed. She knew that after seeing his troublesome student again, Dumbledore was probably feeling a little uncomfortable, so she let him look here and there as much as he wanted.

What Cyberlina hadn't expected was that, relying on her indulgence and softheartedness toward him, Dumbledore would actually push his luck! After finishing one round, he started another, as if he wanted to count every blade of grass in the landscape paintings on the walls. Even the few pots of newly planted dittany didn't escape being touched by him.

Cyberlina didn't know why Dumbledore was investigating her Room of Requirement so thoroughly, and she didn't bother thinking about it. There truly wasn't anything here that would count as contraband to Dumbledore, so she could let him search as he pleased. But—that didn't mean she could tolerate him making trouble for no reason!

"Mr. Dumbledore! You're not young anymore. You should go rest!"

And so, the elderly headmaster was forcibly pushed out of the Room of Requirement.

But he still couldn't go rest, because the little bat who never slept was waiting outside his office.

Coming to find me of his own accord? That's unusual. It must be something important.

With that thought in mind, Dumbledore said, "Severus, there have been too many things happening tonight. I think we should both go get some rest."

"Then surely you can spare me a few more minutes." Snape looked up at him. "I didn't hear you say anything about resting when you summoned me in the middle of the night before, busy Headmaster."

Dumbledore: "...All right. 'Creamy Peanut Candy.'"

As soon as he stepped into the office from the spiral staircase, Snape asked bluntly, "Does Sekerei have some ability that lets her know what other people are thinking?"

"There are indeed people with such a talent, but I assure you Cyberlina doesn't have it." Dumbledore leaned against his desk. "Why would you think that? If you're referring to what happened earlier concerning... Tom, it should have something to do with the existence of that diary. After all, Cyberlina is very good at dealing with things related to souls."

"No, that's not it." Snape told him about how Cyberlina had inexplicably sensed his emotions in the Chamber of Secrets that night. "I'm certain she wasn't looking at me at first—in fact, she was far away from me. Afterward, I deliberately revealed my emotions and then quickly sealed them away, but she still sensed them while her back was turned to me."

Sensing emotions?

This was an angle Dumbledore had never considered. After all, people skilled in Legilimency tended to possess a certain intuition in that regard, and Cyberlina was also very good at reading people's expressions... There were simply too many explanations for her perceptiveness.

He was silent for a few seconds, then slowly said while thinking, "Severus, you know that emotions can cause fluctuations in magic. For someone with powerful magic, sensing some of them isn't difficult. Besides, Cyberlina's magic is somewhat special... Wait, I think I've heard something similar before—"

Dumbledore suddenly stopped and turned to look around at the portraits in the office. "Does anyone know where Neophyt is?"

"Who knows? She hasn't stayed in the office regularly for a long time. She may be at their secret base again." Headmaster Black lifted his head from his own arm, lazily yawned, and waved impatiently. "Truly outrageous. There is actually a secret base at Hogwarts that the other headmasters don't know about."

"It can't really be called a secret. It's just that none of us can get in." A middle-aged male headmaster spread his hands. "After all, Neophyt is an old senior, and then there's that power of hers... It's only natural that we can't find the place."

"Oh, she probably hasn't gone there today. I saw her passing the third-floor portraits a few hours ago, and then she went upstairs," said a kindly-looking elderly female headmaster.

"Then please help me find her. I want to ask her something about Cyberlina." Dumbledore smiled amiably at the portraits.

After hearing this, the former headmasters rose one after another and left their portraits. Headmaster Black looked unwilling, but he moved faster than anyone.

"Neophyte Fitzgerald was a headmaster several hundred years ago." Dumbledore explained to Snape, "She is probably the person who understands Cyberlina's power best today... Cyberlina once mentioned to me that Neophyt and portraits of three other wizards from her era guided her in learning to use her power, but—"

Dumbledore pondered for a few seconds.

"But she hasn't appeared in the headmaster's office of her own accord for a very long time."

"Because of Sekerei?" Snape asked, though his tone was clearly more certain than inquisitive.

"Yes." Dumbledore sighed. "Before Cyberlina resigned back then, Neophyt had a long conversation with her. I only learned about it from the other headmasters after becoming headmaster myself, but no one knew what they had discussed... In any case, Neophyt rarely came out after that."

Seeing that Dumbledore was speaking in detail and had no intention of sending him away, Snape was silent for a moment before saying quietly, "I've learned too much tonight."

"You should know something about Cyberlina."

Snape looked up at Dumbledore. The blue eyes behind those lenses were watching him with the same trusting gaze as always—and, as always, he couldn't determine how much of that trust was genuine.

"Severus, you should have noticed by now that I have no way not to follow Cyberlina's pace." Dumbledore clasped his hands in front of him and gave Snape a wry smile. "So I need you to stay vigilant on my behalf."

Snape wore an incredulous expression. "Are you sure you know what you're saying?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you from the beginning? Don't let your guard down around her."

"How can you be sure I won't be influenced by her?"

"You already have been." Dumbledore cheerfully watched Snape's expression stiffen. "No one can spend this much time with her without being influenced."

Snape said nothing. Dumbledore continued, "But you are someone who, even after granting trust, will never withdraw your vigilance, Severus."

Snape curled his lips and pressed them tight, the corners arching upward. He frowned at Dumbledore—after all, that hardly sounded like praise.

"Oh, Severus, don't overthink it. I'm only speaking from personal experience." Dumbledore tucked his hands into his sleeves and leaned back, almost half-sitting on the edge of the headmaster's desk, his face teasing. "Besides, look—you are expressing your doubts about Cyberlina to me right now, aren't you?"

"I found her!"

Headmaster Black's voice rang out, and Dumbledore and Snape tacitly ended their conversation.

"Oh, thank you very much, Phineas. And—" Dumbledore thanked the portrait the voice had come from, then looked toward the portrait beside it. "Long time no see, Neophyt."

"Long time no see, Albus." A hint of weariness appeared on Neophyt's solemn face—a look that perhaps shouldn't have appeared on a portrait. "What do you want to ask me?"

"I want to know whether Cyberlina's magic can sense other people's emotional fluctuations more keenly."

Snape noticed the red-haired headmaster's eyes widen slightly, but she immediately returned to normal and asked Dumbledore as if nothing had happened, "Why are you asking that? Did something happen?"

"It was merely a question that came up while Severus and I were talking." Although the portraits at Hogwarts served the current headmaster because of their magical contract, Dumbledore knew that this centuries-old headmaster was also bound by another powerful oath.

So he habitually avoided telling her everything.

Neophyt lowered her head slightly, seemingly considering how to answer.

Dumbledore thoughtfully said, "If you can't say, then you don't have to answer."

"Actually, after Cyberlina returned this time, I could no longer sense the restrictions of the other contract, Albus." Neophyt shook her head slightly. "Perhaps I can tell you."

"What do you mean?"

Dumbledore straightened, and within moments, the former headmasters' portraits had nearly filled the office. It was the first time Snape had seen all of them gathered together. He began, for what he couldn't say was the umpteenth time that day, to wonder whether he should remain where he was.

But this time, he didn't struggle with the question for long, because Dumbledore looked at him.

After Snape left the headmaster's office, Dumbledore's expression immediately turned solemn. "Neophyt, be more specific."

He and the other headmasters all knew that although the oath-bound contract wasn't particularly ancient, its restrictive power was almost equal to that of Hogwarts' ancient magical contract.

In fact, the confidentiality oath was even more powerful than Hogwarts' contract governing the portraits. Otherwise, several headmasters wouldn't have remained unaware that Neophyt and three other professors had protected the same secret for centuries as "Guardians" until Cyberlina cheerfully told them about the trials she had undergone as the heir.

"Actually, these past few days, I've been repeatedly entering and leaving our Chamber to confirm this—" Neophyt sighed softly. "Forget it. Let me start from the beginning. I can tell you everything now, anyway.

"As Cyberlina once told you, the four of us served as Guardians back then. To ensure that Ancient Magic wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, we established several trials, searched through ancient books, and used Ancient Magic to create an oath that would protect this knowledge and power forever.

"We had to ensure that only the right person could inherit it, and we firmly believed that anyone able to see traces of Ancient Magic would eventually follow the clues to find us and begin the trials. But over the past several centuries, Cyberlina had been the only person to truly reach us and pass the trials."

Dumbledore had already begun to sense that something was wrong, because Cyberlina looked nothing like a "right person," no matter how he considered it.

"Actually, there was no trial at the beginning. We didn't reject anyone who could see traces of Ancient Magic, because witches and wizards with such a special gift were exceedingly rare. But Isidora—a child as extraordinarily talented as Cyberlina—made us change our minds.

"You must have noticed from Cyberlina that when she uses dark magic, it affects her far less than it does ordinary wizards, perhaps not at all. That's because Ancient Magic itself is extremely pure, without a trace of impurity. It makes the magic of those who use it pure as well, and strengthens their souls.

"But Isidora... that child... used such pure power to create an unimaginably dark force, something more evil than any dark magic."

Neophyt paused, but still chose to say a few kind words for the student who had nearly killed her. "But at first, Isidora did it for her father, who was forever immersed in grief over the loss of his child. Her original goal was to keep her father from suffering, and to keep those afflicted by illness from suffering."

"So what did she do?" Dumbledore asked. He stared intently at Neophyt's portrait. Fragments of memory surfaced in his mind, and an absurd guess arose.

"She... chose to draw the 'pain' out of suffering people's bodies."

Of course.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and said hoarsely, "But it wasn't 'pain,' was it?"

"...No. 'Pain' isn't a clearly defined thing. How could it be extracted from the body?" Neophyt's expression was solemn. "Those people had the substance drawn out of them would gradually lose all their emotions, becoming numb and unable to react to anything around them. And the thing that was extracted contained an extremely powerful dark force. Isidora sought out goblins and used Goblin Mithril to create special containers for storing it."

"So that's why those goblins suddenly began rioting back then? They discovered those powerful dark substances through what happened before! Damn it!" Headmaster Black grew agitated. "Sekerei never said any of this! She only said it was because of her Ancient Magic and the wand that could inherit Ancient Magic!"

"That wand was made by Ollivander using the things we left behind. It wasn't ancient at all. We only said that at the time to conceal the truth."

"Ollivander certainly knows how to keep his mouth shut." Headmaster Black grumbled. "But even if the dark substance was concealed, that goblin incident was still suppressed. What was the point..."

Neophyt ignored him and continued, "Later, we discovered that she had begun targeting the students—oh, like Cyberlina, she eventually returned to the school and became a professor. But we never imagined that, already knowing it wasn't something harmless, she would turn on the students. She seemed to have gone mad..."

"Isn't that simply what happens when an ordinary wizard is corrupted by dark magic?" Dumbledore spoke up. "I think I know what happened next—you quarreled, Isidora lost, and then you stored the dark substance away and established an oath-bound contract to ensure it would remain sealed forever."

"Yes." Neophyt closed her eyes. "Back then, Cyberlina and Fig went to stop the goblin leader from obtaining that power—"

"Oh, that was the day all the professors left me behind to show off. Really, I was the headmaster at the time—mmph! Mmph!" Headmaster Black was gagged by two headmasters working together.

"You have some nerve. Even if Weasley had told you then, would you have believed her?" An elderly female headmaster pursed her lips.

Neophyt continued, "Later, Fig sacrificed himself. Cyberlina defeated the goblin leader Ranrok and destroyed the substance, eliminating the possibility of anyone absorbing it and turning it into dark energy, but—"

"But Cyberlina didn't actually destroy it." Dumbledore took over. "Didn't you ever stop to think about what that substance really was?"

"We had no time to study it before sealing it away, but we carefully observed the people it had been extracted from. They had no emotions at all, so we believed the substance was human emotion."

"Only emotion?" Dumbledore looked at Neophyt.

Neophyt looked at the old man before her, who had been personally taught by Cyberlina and understood her extremely well. She sighed inwardly and said, "I don't know, Albus. But Cyberlina definitely found something else within it, and discovered a way to extract it more cleverly than Isidora did. I guarantee that she wasn't corrupted by the dark substance."

"Are you saying Cyberlina remained lucid the entire time?" Dumbledore's mouth trembled slightly beneath his beard. "Are you telling me that the way she acted during the last few years before her death was merely because she couldn't accept Mr. Ominis's departure?"

The office fell silent. The portraits had no idea what Cyberlina had been like during the last few years of her life, much less what riddle these two headmasters from different centuries were trying to solve.

The two headmasters restraining Headmaster Black glanced at each other and released him at the same time—

"What are you talking about? Can you make it clearer? What exactly did Sekerei discover? Did she absorb that stuff?" Headmaster Black rushed to the edge of his frame, wearing an expression that said I knew it. "I saw her portrait in Morrigan Square. Her complexion was so terrible!"

"Soul." The Sorting Hat suddenly spoke after remaining silent. "It was the soul."

Neophyt closed her eyes, and all the other portraits turned toward the Sorting Hat.

Everyone knew that the Sorting Hat could trace its origins back to the beginning. But Cyberlina's mind, now that she had returned, was absolutely flawless. There was no way the Sorting Hat could have seen this in her mind, which meant it could only be—

"Did Cyberlina extract that substance in the headmaster's office?" Armando Dippet asked in astonishment. Speaking of Cyberlina's death, he had been head of house at the time. Could it be—

"No, not during your tenure." The Sorting Hat saw what he was thinking and hurriedly explained.

Armando paused, then turned with the other portraits toward Black.

"..." Black fell silent for a few seconds. To the other portraits' surprise, he didn't erupt. "So how many times did she actually come to my office?"

"I don't know." The Sorting Hat shook the tip of its brim. "Too many to count. She used the Disillusionment Charm every time—you know her skill, so it's normal that you couldn't see her."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't lose anything, and she didn't look around. She simply thought the headmaster's office was the safest place, so she came here to conduct experiments." The Sorting Hat wobbled the tip of its brim. "All right, that really wasn't appropriate, but there was nothing I could do. The Ancient Magic spell she created herself really could cause me a tiny bit of harm—just a tiny bit!"