Lights of all sizes floated beneath the ceiling, illuminating the office like daylight.
Voldemort hunched over, squinting as he leafed through the Book of Spells.
It was already the early hours of the morning. His eyes were tired, but he still refused to rest. He wanted to find a suitable spell as soon as possible and study the source of magic in the "Dumbledore Conjecture."
He had been in the magical world for over ten years and had been free for several months. He had spent that time studying magic with all his might, only to prove one thing...
His magical talent was average.
The magic of this world had been broken down much like the jobs of the Muggle world after the Industrial Revolution, entering an era of specialization and fine division of labor.
Even children with average talent could achieve respectable results as long as they were willing to work hard.
But he, with his merely average talent, happened to possess part of Voldemort's Soul Fragment...
The Voldemort's Soul Fragment's understanding and use of Dark Magic far surpassed that of his primary soul.
This made him intensely envious, and he was always eager to study Dark Magic in depth. But he could only look on from a distance—studying Dark Magic under Old Bee's watchful eye would take a madman.
Recovering more of Voldemort's soul from the other Horcruxes should improve his magical talent.
But he didn't know how to retrieve the soul from a Horcrux, and the Remnant Soul held no relevant memories. It was a subject for future research; for now, he lacked the circumstances and ability to pursue it.
In these circumstances, Voldemort's original plan was to shore up his knowledge of Magical Theory and improve his ability to apply magic.
But the unexpected "Dumbledore Conjecture" had given him a new direction. Since I'm no genius, I might as well follow in the footsteps of one.
So, in Hogwarts after dark, while well-behaved students slept and naughty ones sneaked around, he endured his exhaustion and continued searching for a glimmer of hope.
"Enemy Fall Trap, a protective spell. It can affect multiple people, but its effects..."
"Flame Blaze, an elemental spell. It doesn't fit the overall direction of the Wizarding World. Pass..."
"Confundus Charm. I have some experience with it because of the curse. I'll keep it as a backup..."
As he went through the spells one by one, Voldemort kept judging them in his mind. He rejected most, while noting a few possibilities in the notebook beside him.
Another half hour passed, and he was barely able to keep his eyes open. He had slept for only a little over an hour the previous night, and now he had stayed up until the dead of night. His mind was utterly exhausted.
"Just a few more. Only a few..."
Voldemort thought as his finger slowly moved down the page, scanning each spell.
"Expecto Patronum. It's sufficiently remarkable, and it involves emotion enough. A backup..."
"Reparo. A household charm. Not very meaningful..."
"Scouring Charm. Another household spell... Wait..."
Voldemort's finger stopped. He shook his head hard and blinked, but still didn't feel alert enough. He picked up the glass of water beside him and took a big gulp.
He finally felt a little more awake and gently moved his finger back up the page.
"Reparo. A household spell, but quite remarkable. It restores everything to its original state..."
Voldemort murmured. His finger stopped over the words "Repairing Charm" again, and he began to read the small print below carefully:
Spell: Reparo.
Can seamlessly repair most damaged objects.
The spell was invented in 1754 by Ottoline Gambol, a clerk at the Improper Use of Magic Office of the British Ministry of Magic. When it was first created, it was used to repair the Roman Colosseum after it was accidentally destroyed.
Effect: The Repairing Charm works on most materials.
Restriction: The Repairing Charm can only be used on inanimate objects. Using it on a living being will cause severe scarring or irreversible injury, and may even prove fatal.
Cannot be repaired:
The Repairing Charm cannot repair damage caused by rare, powerful curses.
The Repairing Charm cannot repair objects imbued with powerful or complex magic.
The Repairing Charm can perfectly repair a container itself, but cannot recover liquid spilled from it.
The Repairing Charm cannot be used on wands and other objects that are exceptionally sensitive to magic...
The section on the Repairing Charm took up a full half-page, and the print was tiny, but it didn't offer any particularly in-depth analysis of the spell.
The book focused more on the conditions for using and prohibiting spells. Although the Book of Spells contained fairly comprehensive information on each spell, it lacked depth.
It offered no annotations at all on how the spells themselves were formed or broken down.
Voldemort looked up from the desk and pondered for a moment. Then he picked up his wand and waved it gently...
"Reparo."
A spell of yellow and purple slowly drifted from his wand. At Voldemort's command, the glowing magic hovered in front of him.
He squinted and examined it closely, but couldn't glean anything useful.
"Rrrip..."
He tore a page from his notebook, folded it, ripped it in half, and repeated the process several times. Finally, he crumpled the pieces together and tossed them into the glowing magic.
"Whoosh..."
A gentle breeze seemed to pass by. The crumpled ball unfolded as if in reverse, and countless scraps of paper floated in the yellow-purple glow, joining together under the spell's influence.
At first, many cracks remained. But as the yellow-purple light seeped into them, the cracks disappeared at a visible speed, and the paper quickly returned to its original form.
Even the creases vanished in an instant.
"Time Reversal?"
Voldemort murmured softly. He took the sheet and rubbed it between his fingers, then held it up to the light and examined it. He couldn't find the slightest trace of a join.
He put the paper back in its place and pointed his wand at the notebook...
"Reparo."
Yellow-purple light shot out again, instantly reaching the tear between the page and the notebook. Then the light slowly faded, and the page was restored to its original state.
It fit perfectly, with no sign that anything had happened.
"A household spell, but quite remarkable. Is this a characteristic of Time Reversal?"
Voldemort murmured, unable to resist picking up a small ornament from the desk—a crystal model of London Bridge, a little trinket from the Muggle world.
"Smash."
Without hesitation, he threw it to the floor. The glass crystal shattered, scattering into countless tiny fragments across the ground.
"Reparo."
He pointed his wand at one of the larger pieces, and yellow-purple light instantly shot into it.
The scene of time flowing backward appeared once again. Tiny fragments flew out from beneath the desk and beside the chair, quickly gathering into a crystal model of London Bridge.
"London Bridge, Accio."
His wand turned, and the newly repaired crystal model of London Bridge immediately flew into Voldemort's hand.
Holding up the ornament, he examined it carefully against the light...
"There isn't a single mark. It's no different from before."
He couldn't help murmuring softly as he recalled the process by which the ornament had been restored.
A spark of excitement slowly appeared in his tired eyes.
Reparo should be remarkable enough, shouldn't it... Voldemort turned the wand in his fingers as he considered it.
He really hadn't expected that, after all his searching, the spell he'd chosen would be a household charm.
But just as he'd thought, this spell was remarkable enough, wasn't it?
Before you continue