What does this Voldemort want to do?

Chapter 31: What is this Voldemort Up To?

Charles felt like he had caused trouble. This world should have differences from his "memories," and his earlier rambling had actually hit the mark.

He immediately calmed down. He couldn't admit ignorance now. If Voldemort used Legilimency to "see" the vast amount of fanfiction he had about him and Lin Daiyu, who knew what kind of mess that would cause. If he "saw" the mess with Snape, it would be even bigger.

So, Charles replied, "It was a group of Muggles who called themselves the 'Church of Necessary Evil.' They said they had been searching for a treasure containing these magic books and used that excuse to scam Muggles out of their money everywhere."

Voldemort asked him, "Just Muggles?"

Charles immediately answered, "I only met them once. I didn't see them use any wands. They also said they were going to places like the pyramids, Easter Island, and Leifeng Pagoda to search for clues."

What needed to be done now was to muddy the waters. If Voldemort had the ability, let him go cause trouble at Leifeng Pagoda. See if Old Master Xu, who had a drink stall nearby, wouldn't beat him back with a swollen nose.

Voldemort was silent for a long time after hearing this. After a long while, he finally said, "These despicable and shameless thieves must have learned something from some Wizard and now want to steal that precious treasure belonging to Wizards!"

Charles asked doubtfully, "Professor, is there really such a treasure?"

However, Voldemort's answer was, "I don't know."

A moment later, he added, "I heard that a hundred years ago, some Goblins tried to seize a certain power but failed in the end."

"But this history has been erased. There are no clues. No one knows what this power is, where it is, or who possesses it now."

Charles listened with great surprise, but he wasn't interested in the matter. Since someone had the ability to seal this matter so thoroughly that even Voldemort couldn't find any clues, it meant some incredibly powerful individual didn't want anyone to touch it. If he rashly investigated, he might not be able to use his computer when he got home.

Voldemort clearly didn't think Charles knew any more. He didn't ask further and continued to pace back and forth.

Charles also began to continue copying the catalog, and the office fell silent.

Voldemort occasionally glanced at Charles through Quirrell and found him to be very serious, which he found quite satisfactory.

About ten minutes later, Voldemort suddenly asked Charles, "I heard you're looking for a spell that explodes?"

Charles looked up, not understanding how he knew, but he didn't hide it and replied, "Yes, Professor. I need some means to eliminate the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, but my strength is not yet sufficient."

Voldemort looked at him and said sternly, "You would win if you fought one Acromantula now. You might win against ten. But if you went to war with the entire Acromantula colony, not even your corpse would remain. You would be eaten clean."

Charles shivered, pretending to be scared.

"Then what should I do?" he asked pitifully. "I promised my friends I would help them eliminate the Acromantulas."

Voldemort pointed at the books and said, "Find the answer yourself."

Charles was speechless.

Silence returned to the office, with only the sound of pacing and the friction of a quill on parchment.

But Voldemort seemed to have many questions. This time, he asked a question that made Charles very unhappy: "I heard you've killed someone?"

Charles froze and replied somewhat unhappily, "Can I not answer this question?"

His saying so had effectively answered the question.

Voldemort was a little curious. He hadn't killed anyone at Charles's age. This kid was even more formidable than him; he was truly talented.

"May I know why?" Voldemort tried to soften his tone, like a caring older brother, but to Charles's ears, it sounded more like a threat.

Charles pouted and replied, "It's nothing. I was just caught up in a kidnapping case. To escape, I killed one of the kidnappers."

He mentioned that his elementary school had many children of the powerful and wealthy. Hermione's family, being middle-class, was considered ordinary. Parents like Charles's father, a county councilor, were also numerous.

During their sixth-grade field trip that spring, the daughter of a major capitalist in their class was kidnapped. Charles, who was playing with that classmate at the time, was casually taken by the kidnappers as well.

The kidnappers, because the hostages were still children, let down their guard. When several other kidnappers went out to collect the ransom, they left only one person to guard them.

When the guard fell asleep, Charles strangled him with a noose made from shoelaces, then used the house's telephone to call the police. The police were then able to track them down through the phone line.

This incident caused quite a stir within the relevant departments; even the SAS was mobilized. However, it was suppressed by both sets of parents. Charles later refused to bring it up, and even his neighbors didn't know about it.

The kidnapped classmate transferred schools without returning to their original one. Other classmates all said that Charles had single-handedly beaten up the kidnapper and escaped on his own, especially since he had been taking boxing classes and had always performed well.

That's why, during flying class, Hermione had to hold Charles back, worried he might kill someone.

Voldemort asked him, "Were you scared at the time?"

Charles froze, realizing he had never considered that question.

He stopped writing and recalled for a moment, then shook his head and replied, "No, I didn't feel scared at the time."

Voldemort asked again, "When you knew he was dead, what were your thoughts? Fear, or pleasure?"

Charles frowned and recalled for a long time before answering with certainty, "Neither fear nor pleasure. I felt very calm, like... like I had just finished copying a few words."

His answer stumped Voldemort.

If Charles had answered "fear," Voldemort could have tempted him to seek more power. If he had answered "pleasure," Voldemort could have guided him to repeat that pleasurable experience, essentially luring him into the pit of dark magic.

As it turned out, Charles felt no emotional disturbance about killing someone. Voldemort, having navigated the world for so many years, had truly never encountered anything like it.

Voldemort felt he needed to adjust his strategy. He didn't speak again until the allotted time was up.

After Charles rushed out of the office, he walked a long distance before daring to breathe a sigh of relief. He mentally replayed what had just happened, unable to figure out why Voldemort had acted that way.

He felt a bit restless now, with a sense of his fate not being in his own hands. As he walked, he suddenly realized the door to the Room of Requirement had appeared before him.

Charles sighed and walked into the Room of Requirement, finding it to be a boxing gym.

He picked up a pair of boxing gloves, tried them on, and found them quite good. He then took off his robes and started hitting the punching bag, as if the punching bag were Voldemort.

After an unknown amount of time, it was already late when he lay on the ground, panting.

So he left the Room of Requirement, had the Room of Requirement transform into a bathroom for a hot shower, and ate a late-night snack in the kitchen before returning to the Gryffindor common room.

Upon entering, the Fat Lady complained, "Don't young people need to sleep anymore?"

When Charles entered the common room, the scene before him left him a bit dumbfounded.

Hermione, wearing a pink dressing gown, was standing there, which was fine.

The problem was that, like Harry, Ron, and Neville, her face was flushed, she was covered in sweat, and she was still panting slightly, clearly having just finished strenuous exercise.

The bigger problem was Hermione angrily saying to the three of them, "Alright, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed!"

Charles scratched his head. Had something rather significant happened between them just now?