Horcruxes and the Vanishing Cabinet

However, he did not forget his main objective. He temporarily ceased his observation of the surroundings and began to use his Magic Sense to search inch by inch through the vast ocean of magic for the characteristics of a specific object.

Soon, a magical void that was completely impossible to probe appeared within his perception.

"Found it!"

In his experience, a magical void represented a sentient being. Yet, he was the only person in the entire room at this moment. Therefore, that extra magical void must be the Ravenclaw Diadem, which carried the soul of Voldemort!

He drew his wand and walked slowly toward the direction of the void. After sweeping away a large pile of debris along the way, he arrived in front of a sparkling, exquisite headpiece and reached out to pick it up from the heap.

There were no extra curses on the diadem; it could be touched directly.

But Avada did not dare to put it on his head immediately. After all, it truly contained an evil soul. Referring to what the Horcrux diary had done, it was hard to predict what would happen if he used it directly.

"The magic on it is too complex and profound; it is completely incomprehensible..."

"But even so, one can easily discover that there are two completely unrelated spells on this magical item. One of them has a magical structure connected to the diadem itself, and its structure is slightly similar to human mental power; it should be the ability of the Ravenclaw Diadem to increase wisdom."

"The other spell tightly protects that magical void—the soul fragment—and its connection to the diadem itself is not as tight as the previous spell. Needless to say, it must be Voldemort's Horcrux magic."

He stared at the diadem in his hand, frowning and muttering to himself: "However, it seems feasible to forcibly unravel the structure protecting the soul fragment using mental power. This should be the correct way to destroy a Horcrux without damaging the object itself."

"With the strength of my mental power and the complexity of this protection, if I were to cast spells day and night without eating, drinking, or resting... it would take me about half a year to completely crack this defense."

Well, that was great. If others knew that a first-year student could theoretically crack one of the world's most sophisticated Dark Arts—a Horcrux—in half a year, their jaws would surely drop.

However, Avada did not intend to rely on stimulants and glucose drips to survive half a year only to perish along with the Horcrux. Therefore, he planned to wait until his own strength improved and he could easily unravel the Horcrux's protection before dealing with it.

Although a Killing Curse or Fiendfyre could achieve the same effect, that would destroy the Ravenclaw Diadem itself, which was not what Avada wanted to see.

"Next target, the Vanishing Cabinet..."

Avada tucked the diadem into his robes and looked around. He soon found a tattered, black cabinet that looked as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid.

When he watched the original work in his past life, he felt that this thing should have been able to change the wizarding world.

It ignored distance and transmitted objects instantly. The key was that the manufacturing technology was not complicated; a sixth-year student could easily repair it. It was cleaner than Floo Powder for traveling, and for sending messages, it was countless times faster than an owl—just imagine, if this thing could be miniaturized to the size of a palm and modified using Floo Powder technology so that it could link to other Vanishing Cabinets at will like a fireplace, what would happen?

At the very least, owls would be out of a job.

Avada had never understood why the space technology of the wizarding world was developed to the point of being almost miraculous—instant movement, storage charms, space folding, and even a world within a trunk were nothing special—yet they were unwilling to apply this technology to transmitting information.

What, do owls have unemployment insurance?

"I must figure out its principles as soon as possible."

Looking at the somewhat broken magical structure on the Vanishing Cabinet, Avada secretly decided: "After I go back, I must speed up my self-study progress and strive to reach the level where I can study Spatial Magic as soon as possible. Perhaps I can borrow some books related to Apparition for reference..."

In the end, he took a few more lingering looks at the tattered Vanishing Cabinet before leaving the Room of Requirement.

"Let's relocate the Horcrux first."

Avada tucked the diadem into his robes, left the Room of Requirement, and closed the door. Watching it gradually disappear into the wall, he concentrated again and paced back and forth in front of that section of the wall three times.

"I need a room that only Avada Kedavra can open. I need a room that only Avada Kedavra can open..."

The door appeared again, revealing a small, empty room of a few square meters. Avada placed the diadem in the corner of the room, checked the surroundings to ensure there were no hidden dangers, and then left with peace of mind, heading straight for the school library.

He had to enrich himself quickly and gain the strength to analyze the Vanishing Cabinet and crack the Horcrux as soon as possible!

"Knowledge of the Vanishing Cabinet should be mastered by the sixth year; after all, in the original work, Draco Malfoy repaired the Vanishing Cabinet in his sixth year."

"But the knowledge of Horcruxes is much more profound. Voldemort didn't even know the specific function of Horcruxes before his sixth year, and that book containing detailed Horcrux knowledge, Secrets of the Darkest Art, has already been hidden by Dumbledore in his own office. If I dare to ask him for it, he would probably throw me into Nurmengard on the spot to keep Grindelwald company..."

"In short, I'll first try to thoroughly understand all the knowledge from the first to the seventh year, and then try to sneak into the Restricted Section to see if I can find any clues. The only problem is that my memory isn't that good. I remember that Dragon Claw Powder can temporarily increase intelligence; if I have the chance, I can try to get some..."

"Oh, right, there is also a potion called Wit-Sharpening Potion that has the same effect, and it can be learned in the fourth year! I'll ask Professor Snape after Potions class tomorrow. I'm neither Harry Potter nor Gryffindor; perhaps he will be slightly gentler than in the original work... right?"

Finally, after Madam Pince, who managed the library, reminded him that curfew was approaching, Avada crawled out of the pile of books with a dizzy head and walked back to the Hufflepuff common room in a daze.

"Yo, K, why are you back so late?"

Avada's roommate, Shabi Nott, was staying by the fireplace: "When you weren't here, the seniors gave us first-years a briefing on Hufflepuff common knowledge. I thought about calling you, but I couldn't find you even after searching the entire Great Hall. Where did you go?"

"The library."

Avada rubbed his temples, feeling that his head hadn't recovered yet: "Only after starting school did I realize how lacking my understanding of magic is. Plus, I'm Muggle-born, so my foundation is even worse than classmates from wizarding families. I have to work hard to make up for it."

"Merlin's beard, stop joking. You were the one who performed the best today!"

Shabi looked at him with a disdainful expression that said "don't be humble": "In Charms class, you were the second to finish, and in Transfiguration, you were the first to succeed. If you count as having a 'poor foundation,' then what are the others? Is their foundation a bottomless pit?"

"Let me tell you about Hufflepuff instead. These are experiences and customs passed down by word of mouth from the seniors, which you definitely won't see in the library."

"Oh?" Avada realized that he had been too obsessed with research and had neglected to build relationships with his own house: "Let's hear it?"

Shabi smiled triumphantly: "Then I'll pick some customary things to talk about. For example, on Sunday afternoons, if the weather is nice, the house will organize a picnic in a place with good scenery. If you are confident in your cooking skills, you can apply to the prefect to become a volunteer chef; there is also the common room tea party on Wednesday nights..."

"The kitchen is right next to the entrance to the common room, that oil painting of a large basket of fruit. As long as you tickle the pear, it will giggle and turn into a door handle. Once you pull it open, you're in the kitchen..."

"Also, the house-elves in the kitchen have a very good relationship with Hufflepuff students. You can borrow kitchen utensils at will, and if you're hungry at night, you can go there to find some midnight snacks..."