Threats

The Sorting Hat behind him was bickering noisily with Black, while several other headmasters added fuel to the fire.

Dumbledore looked at Neophyt's portrait and understood deeply that the guardian had not lied to him. She had no reason to lie—the oath binding the ancient magic to secrecy had already failed, and Neophyt was now loyal only to him.

Moreover, if Cyberlina had truly been affected by that dark substance, Neophyt, who had still been bound by the contract at the time, could not possibly have done nothing.

"So, before Sebas resigned all those years ago, this was what you and she discussed?"

As soon as Dumbledore asked the question, the arguing stopped.

"Not entirely." Neophyt gave a bitter smile. "It was also due to my incompetence. I never knew she hadn't destroyed the dark substance back then. I only discovered the things she had stored away while she was packing up before resigning. So I spoke with her. She said she was merely researching them, and proved to me that she hadn't been corrupted like Isidora."

"But you still had your doubts." Dumbledore sat down on the sofa. "That's why you kept going to your secret base over the years to check on it—wait a moment. You've been hiding a dangerous energy in Hogwarts for centuries?!"

Neophyt was silent for several seconds before nodding. The headmasters in the portraits immediately began arguing again.

"So in the end, you confirmed that..." Dumbledore leaned against the back of the sofa, his hands tucked into his sleeves and resting over his stomach as he looked up at Neophyt on the wall. "Sebas really did absorb some of that dark substance, didn't she?"

"But she retained her sanity."

"I believe you. I believe you..." Dumbledore murmured.

He knew Cyberlina.

Though she enjoyed taking certain risks, she never took risks without a plan. She would never do something unless she was certain of success. Therefore, her research into that substance and her decision to make it her own had begun long before the morning of her resignation, perhaps even when she had first obtained it.

Besides, the period when she seemed less than lucid had been many years after she resigned. So she truly hadn't been affected by that substance at the time.

—But only at the time.

Dumbledore lowered his eyes slightly and looked at his sleeves.

He had once believed that Cyberlina had begun researching souls only after Ominis fell into a prolonged sleep. Then Ominis's death had driven her insane, causing her to throw herself into all kinds of forbidden experiments in an attempt to resurrect him. In the end, she had fallen into an irredeemable darkness through those untouchable taboos.

But now, nearly all of that seemed to have been overturned.

The only thing he could be certain of was that her experiments had indeed been because of Ominis.

Dumbledore was certain that all the manuals and records he had destroyed had been failures. So would Cyberlina, with nowhere else to turn, have followed Isidora's example and used that powerful, mysterious force to open up a new path?

"Since that substance is connected to human emotions, perhaps Cyberlina really does possess an extraordinary sensitivity to emotions. Is that so?" Dumbledore pulled himself back from his thoughts and asked.

"Yes. That was what I wanted to answer at first." Neophyt nodded, then hesitated before continuing. "As for the disappearance of the contract...I believe that was Cyberlina's doing.

"After becoming the heir, she voluntarily joined the guardians. So she also made an oath—to continue protecting the ancient magic and hand the wand capable of inheriting the repository over to the next heir. She also added a trial of her own.

"That wand disappeared after her death, and we portraits have no way to search for it.

"But...several months ago, when I noticed something wrong with the contract, I went to the Chamber of Secrets and discovered that the floor concealing the repository's entrance had changed. There was a map on that floor. One of the points of light marking the trial Cyberlina had arranged had been lit.

"That meant someone had begun the trial—but that was practically impossible. Yet only a few days later, I heard that Cyberlina was about to return to Hogwarts."

"So that person was Sebas." Dumbledore lowered his eyes in thought. "You suspect she used a loophole in the contract and the guardians' trial to do something."

"And succeeded." Worry finally entered Neophyt's eyes. "On the night of the start-of-term feast, she came to us carrying that wand. She opened the floor that only a guardian could open and went into the repository, but we don't know what she did inside."

"Then why didn't you come and tell us sooner?" Black frowned, his walrus moustache curling upward.

"I said she 'opened the floor that only a guardian could open and went into the repository.'" Neophyt looked at Black's portrait and frowned sternly, speaking each word clearly. "Do you know what that means? It means she is now both guardian and heir. She is a user of unrestricted ancient magic—and the only one."

"And so what? The contract on you is gone too, isn't it? Aren't you now only bound to Hogwarts?" Black said aggressively. He was truly furious that Neophyt had placed the trial's location in the headmaster's office. If not for that, would Sekerei have thought of conducting experiments in the headmaster's office?

"She's threatening them, Phineas." Dumbledore let out a long sigh. "We all know she isn't exactly benevolent."

"But she isn't evil, either," Armando said. "Albus, perhaps you could speak with her. I believe she would tell you."

Dumbledore lowered his eyes. After silently pondering for a long time, he finally asked slowly, "Neophyt, since the purpose of the contract was to prevent the ancient magic from falling into the hands of the wrong people, if those who weren't ancient-magic users learned what Isidora had done, did they also have to swear an oath?"

"Yes." Neophyt understood what Dumbledore meant, and was also somewhat surprised by the question. "During the trial, Cyberlina and Fig did tell the others about those matters, so they all swore oaths as well."

"Who were they?"

"Matilda Weasley, Sebastian Sallow, Anne Sallow, and..." Neophyt paused.

"And Mr. Ominis Gaunt."

—Obviously.

Dumbledore closed his eyes.

The portraits fell silent as well.

Clearly, they had all realized what Cyberlina intended to do by using the contract and the ancient magic. Though they didn't know the details of her process, the result was obvious—she had failed.

Dumbledore sank into the sofa and waved tiredly. "That's enough. Let's disperse. We'll stop here for tonight. It's late."

The portraits looked at one another. In the end, some fell asleep where they were while others left the headmaster's office.

Fawkes sensed the fluctuations in Albus's emotions and flew down from his place on the desk. He perched on the back of the sofa behind Dumbledore and leaned forward to nuzzle Dumbledore's cheek.

"I'm fine, Fawkes." Dumbledore opened his eyes and smiled as he stroked Fawkes's head. "I was only thinking."

Dumbledore wondered how many places Cyberlina had visited for the gravely ill Ominis after resigning all those years ago, and how many methods she had tried to resurrect him after his death.

She had loved so deeply, clung on so stubbornly, and gone so completely mad.

Dumbledore firmly believed that his outwardly mild-mannered professor would do anything for Mr. Ominis.

That was why, after Mr. Ominis's death, he had kept a constant watch on Cyberlina's movements. That was why he had discovered Cyberlina in Europe, following the Wiccan Party and harvesting souls; why he had stormed into her laboratory while she was conducting research; why, after she vanished, he had immediately gone to her laboratory in the Muggle world and destroyed those things; why he had been the first to confirm her death...and why he had done so many other things.

Then why was she still so peaceful now, despite still being without Mr. Ominis? She even seemed somewhat more lively than she had in her younger years, giving off an incongruously positive, energetic impression.

Rather than having let go, Dumbledore thought Cyberlina's current state looked more like she was—waiting for something.

—First, he still had to figure out exactly what that substance was—or at least understand what it was in Sebas's mind.

With that thought, Dumbledore rose, set Fawkes on the sofa, took out the Pensieve, and drew out a strand of memory, guiding it inside.

The instant he lowered his head into the basin, black mist enveloped his vision. Then the violent sound of pounding rain crashed into his ears.

The rain woke the sleeping red-haired boy. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking forlornly at the storm outside the window. Then he picked up his wand, preparing to cast a spell over the entire room, but he worried that too much silence would make him sleep through the next morning. After several seconds of indecision, he irritably set down his wand, got out of bed, and prepared to take the thick quilt from the wardrobe and pull it over his head.

Dumbledore stood at the doorway, watching his sixteen-year-old self suddenly stop as he passed it. Then he carefully crouched down and pressed his ear against the door.

This was the summer after he had finished his O.W.L.s. He had stayed home only a few days before going to Cyberlina's house. He would study there for two weeks, then accompany Cyberlina to France to look for Nicolas—together, they would attend several academic conferences.

Cyberlina and Ominis's little home wasn't large. The first floor held the living room and dining room, the second floor their bedroom, and the third floor the study. There was no spare room for young Albus. So Cyberlina had magically enlarged a windowed storage room on the first floor and furnished it with new furniture for him to stay in temporarily.

Tonight was Thursday of his first week there. He had been awakened by the storm, then drawn by the unfamiliar voices coming from the living room.

Dumbledore looked at young Albus's curious, excited expression and directly sensed that he was a Gryffindor. It was exactly the same expression worn by the little lions nowadays whenever they were about to cause trouble!

Young Albus looked through the colorful decorative holes in the door toward the living room. Mr. Ominis had told him about them, saying they were a little secret Cyberlina didn't know about.

Old Dumbledore passed straight through the door and looked directly at the two people seated in the living room: Cyberlina, with her back to him, and a brown-haired man sitting sideways to him.

The man was clean, though somewhat disheveled. His hair showed signs of having been blown by the wind. Young Albus was certain he had arrived drenched in rain, after which Cyberlina—who couldn't stand dirt in her house—had first sent him outside beneath the eaves for a drying and blow-drying spell, then used Scourgify, and finally made him change his shoes before allowing him inside.

Albus had been treated the same way. But Mr. Ominis had immediately arranged his hair, combing his red hair perfectly flat so that he looked nothing like this disheveled man.

"I've already told you. I can't extract that stuff from little Anne anymore." Cyberlina sighed. "Anne knows this too. Did you ask what she thought before coming here?"

"Why not?" The man looked at Cyberlina with reddened eyes, visibly agitated. "Haven't we been getting through the past two years this way? Why can't we continue?"

"Calm down, Sebas."

The moment Cyberlina addressed him, young Albus's eyes widened. He knew who the man was—Sebastian Sallow, the man who had killed his uncle and been sent to Azkaban, only to be released more than two years ago.

Young Albus didn't know the reason, but old Dumbledore did.

The official reason for Sebastian's release had been that a retrial had found an accident more likely, and that he had a seriously ill sister who needed care. But the true reason was that Cyberlina and Mr. Ominis had pressured the Ministry of Magic. Cyberlina had later told Dumbledore about it, saying they simply couldn't bear to let Anne Sallow pass away alone without any family.

The memory he had shown Snape was from when the pair had successfully applied that pressure and Sebastian was about to be released.

"How am I supposed to calm down? Anne is lying so weakly in bed, while I can do nothing. Sebas, please help me. That's Anne! I know you can, I—"

Sebastian suddenly stopped. His eyes widened as he watched Cyberlina cast a Silencing Charm upstairs.

"What are you doing?"

"A Silencing Charm."

"I know it's a Silencing Charm! Cyberlina!" Sebastian abruptly stood up and glared at her angrily. "Omi is Anne's friend, and he's my friend too. Why can't you let him know? Aren't you going too far?"

"Don't get agitated, Sebas." Cyberlina's voice remained as calm as ever. "How could I keep him from knowing? When I went to help little Anne before, he came with me. It's just too late now, and I don't want to wake him."

Sebastian lowered his head, his expression dark as he looked at Cyberlina.

"Sebas, you and I found Isidora's manuscript and letters together. You also promised me you would help Anne."

"Of course I'll keep my promise." Cyberlina reached out and tugged at Sebastian's sleeve, trying to make him sit down, but failed. "I also said that I had to make sure the method was viable before helping Anne. But the facts have proved that it isn't. Sebas, our goal is to restore Anne's health, not turn her into a puppet that can only eat and drink."

"But you improved it! Anne was fine throughout these two years, wasn't she?" Sebastian grabbed Cyberlina's arm and bent slightly toward her. "Sebas, you know I can't lose Anne. I can't..."

"Sebas, listen to me. I told Anne long ago that I could take away her illness, but there might be side effects affecting her soul. So she refused at the time." Cyberlina tried once more to make Sebastian sit down, and succeeded this time. "Two years ago, I did improve the magic through Isidora's manuscript. It might not draw out the soul, but it would still gradually make a person lose their emotions. I told Anne that too, but because you had just been released, she still wanted to spend more time living with you. So this time, she agreed."

"Anne..." Sebastian's eyes reddened.

"Anne and I discussed it. Each time, I extracted only a tiny amount of the illness, enough to make things easier for her, so the harm to her emotions would be smaller. But once the accumulated harm reached the point where she began losing her emotions, I would stop. That was what Anne and I agreed on long ago. We told you the same thing last year, didn't we?" Cyberlina spoke slowly and gently, soothingly patting Sebastian's arm.

Sebastian looked at Cyberlina with reddened eyes. The sadness gradually faded from his face, and his gaze slowly deepened. Then he suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"Cyberlina, you always do this." He shook off Cyberlina's hand and said sternly and disappointedly, "You always deceive me like this. You promise me things, but in the end, you do nothing!"

"Sebas..."

"Don't try to argue! Back then, I begged you to persuade Omi not to report me. You promised so readily, but what happened?"

"I did persuade him."

"No, you didn't. He was already wavering at the time. If you had told him to give up, he definitely wouldn't have reported me."

"How can you be so certain?"

"You should ask yourself that." Sebastian's gaze was gloomy. "Do you really think I don't know? You told me one thing to my face, then gave Omi another version. You deceived both of us so skillfully that Omi practically did whatever you said!"

"You are the least qualified person to say that to me, Sebastian." Cyberlina's voice still carried a smile, but her tone had turned forceful. "If we're talking about deceiving Omi, you were the first. You always used that pitiful expression of yours to win his sympathy, then made him give you all kinds of opportunities to study dark magic! He hated dark magic so much...do you know how much pain you caused him?"

"So you used the opportunity to drive a wedge between us?" Sebastian sneered and stood up. "I'll go tell him everything you did back then. Not just the ambiguous things you said between us. Let's see how he reacts."

As he spoke, Sebastian reached for his wand to cancel the Silencing Charm, but Cyberlina was faster. Without moving her body, she swiftly swung her arm. Her wand knocked Sebastian's not-yet-secure wand to the floor, then she lightly twisted her wrist and pointed her wand at his throat.

Cyberlina tilted her head back to look at him and smiled. "Sebas, several years in prison and two years of comfort have lowered your skill considerably. If we were on a dueling platform, could you and I still fight side by side?"

Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly, looking dangerous, but the gloominess from before was gone.

"You and I both know perfectly well that we're the same kind of people, Sebas. We're frighteningly alike." Cyberlina rose, wand raised, and forced Sebastian backward step by step. "When you kept saying you were doing it for Anne while walking step by step toward dark magic, do you know how much I wanted to laugh? You said it was for Anne, yet you used the keepsake between you to trick her, a gravely ill girl, into coming out. In the end, you made her watch her own brother kill the uncle who had always cared for her. I have to say, you were the chief culprit behind the worsening of her condition, Sebas."

"Cyberlina!" Sebastian gritted out through clenched teeth.

"And now, Sebas, you're once again using that familiar pitiful appearance and saying 'Anne' at every turn. But what is this really for? Your comfortable life now, or did you research something extraordinary somewhere again?" Cyberlina's amused tone was filled with mockery.

"To help Anne. Otherwise, I really will tell Omi everything you did to trick him into falling for you." Sebastian's face hardened.

"Don't threaten me!" Cyberlina's wand pressed against Sebastian's chin. "It won't work."

The two stared at each other in a tense standoff for a long while. At last, Cyberlina was the first to put away her wand. "I'll discuss it with Anne again. In the end, whether to continue is her choice."

The moment Sebastian bent to pick up his wand, Cyberlina grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him outside.

"Wait—Sebas, what are you—"

"Bang!"

"Click."

"Thud."

After Sebastian was thrown outside, the small sounds were concealed by Cyberlina locking the door. She didn't hear them.

Young Albus, who had been spying, heard them but paid no attention.

Old Dumbledore heard them and noticed them. He suddenly looked up toward the second floor.