The Mystery of Professor Baker

"What?!"

Avada lunged inside in a single bound. After skirting around a few piles of debris, he saw Baron crouching anxiously before a man in black wizard robes who had collapsed on the ground unconscious—it was Professor Baker. Beside his hand, a black crystal ball the size of a fist was rolling quietly to the side.

"Something's wrong! Baron, get back!"

The moment he swept his Magic Sense over Professor Baker and that black crystal ball, Avada's hair stood on end. He shouted at Baron, his face deathly pale.

Baron was startled by his shout, jumping up and retreating a few steps while quickly drawing his wand from his waist.

"What is it?"

He couldn't help but lower his voice and ask cautiously. In his understanding, Professor Baker was undoubtedly a competent and kind teacher; his title as a director of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League, the trust of Headmaster Dumbledore, and the shocking duel displayed at the start of the term all served as proof of this professor's safety and reliability.

Although the reason he was currently collapsed in the Room of Requirement remained unclear, no matter how one looked at it, he should be receiving help rather than suspicion.

Avada did not answer immediately. Instead, he also drew his wand, his expression incredibly grave as he moved his feet, slowly and silently approaching Professor Baker's body. He said to Baron in a heavy tone, "Do you see that black crystal ball next to Professor Baker? I suspect it's a Dark magic object!"

"And I guarantee that this crystal ball has never appeared in the Room of Requirement before, so it must have been brought here by Professor Baker, or created by him!"

"Are you sure?!"

Baron's pupils shrank suddenly, his expression filled with shock and uncertainty. A director of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League actually possessing a Dark magic object—if this got out, it would definitely be massive news.

Avada gave a bitter smile after hearing Baron's question. He had been trying to avoid scaring Baron, so he had understated it; that thing was far more than just a Dark magic object...

Looking at the massive magic void inside the crystal ball, the lingering golden mental energy, and the incredibly complex and familiar magic structure surrounding it, Avada sighed.

It was a Horcrux.

A Horcrux belonging to Professor Baker.

There was no doubt that this Horcrux was ironclad proof that this professor, deeply trusted by the students, had committed the sin of murder and had been painstakingly studying Dark magic for years. Through a semester of exploration, Avada had gained a certain degree of understanding of Dark magic, and combined with the content from the original story in his memories, as well as his own research into human mental energy, he naturally wouldn't think a Horcrux was some trivial thing that could be created at will.

In his understanding, only the most evil dark wizards, who understood Dark magic to the extreme and whose souls had been completely corrupted by it, were qualified to split their souls through murder and create their own Horcruxes.

Otherwise, if souls could be split through murder so easily, wouldn't the souls of Aurors, members of the Order of the Phoenix, and other combatants fighting for justice be riddled with holes and shattered to pieces?

He finally understood the reason for the strong sense of dissonance Professor Baker's mental energy had given him before; it was likely that his soul had already completed the split at that time, and he had simply used some method to hide his abnormality.

"Are you sure this is a Dark magic object? How can you tell?"

While he was thinking, Baron had observed the crystal ball for a while but hadn't found the slightest sign of Dark magic, so he turned to Avada and asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"

"Retreat immediately, Baron."

Avada said with extreme seriousness, "Leave the Room of Requirement first, then go find the nearest professor! I remember Professor Flitwick's office is on the eighth floor, right? Come with me to find him, while Professor Baker hasn't woken up yet!"

"Even if you don't trust me, you should at least trust Professor Flitwick, right?"

Listening to Avada's incredibly serious tone, Baron gradually understood the gravity of the situation—although he still didn't know how Avada had confirmed the crystal ball was a Dark magic object, he believed Avada wouldn't make such claims without cause.

"Alright, then let's go together..."

"Ugh..."

Before Baron could finish his sentence, Avada heard a soft groan. He saw that Professor Baker, who had been unconscious on the ground, had opened his eyes and was slowly sitting up, supporting himself with his hands.

"Run!!"

Seeing this, both of them were terrified to their core and immediately turned to sprint desperately toward the door of the Room of Requirement!

However, a terrifying thing happened: both of them quickly discovered that no matter how hard they ran, the distance to the door of the Room of Requirement did not shorten in the slightest; it was even constantly increasing! In Avada's perception, the magic structure symbolizing "space" had been twisted into a tangled mess at some point, as if it were a massive, invisible labyrinth!

"It's over..."

Avada stopped in despair, drew his wand to prepare for a final struggle, and seeing Baron beside him making the same motion with a pale face, he couldn't help but give a bitter smile, wishing he could beat himself up for his behavior at the tea party a few months ago.

At the time, he had been thinking to himself, "I can't possibly not even survive the first semester, right?"

Look at you, jinxing yourself! Look at you, jinxing yourself!

"Eh?"

Professor Baker over there finally stood up, surveying the surrounding environment with somewhat dazed eyes, and then quickly noticed Avada and Baron, who were facing him like a great enemy. A look of confusion appeared on his face.

"How... are... you... here?"

His voice was slow and hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken for several years.

Avada and Baron exchanged a glance, suddenly realizing that they might still have a chance to survive.

"Ahem."

Baron took a step forward first, the expression on his face instantly restrained, replaced by a concern that didn't look fake in the slightest: "Professor Baker, are you alright? We just entered this room and saw you collapsed here!"

"Merlin be praised, you're finally awake. We were just hesitating whether to go find other professors for help, but we didn't want to expose this room just like that... It's so good that you were able to wake up on your own!"

Avada listened from the side, his skin twitching and goosebumps rising in layers: this kid was truly worthy of being sorted into Slytherin in a second!

"I... woke up?"

Professor Baker looked at his own hands in confusion, and it took a long while before he responded slowly: "Ugh... yes, I woke up. You are..."

He raised his head to look at Avada and Baron for a long time, the expression on his face shifting from recollection to realization.

"Right, you are Avada Kedavra, and Baron Shafiq, my students... I am, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, Benjamin Baker, and also an adventurer, and a... director of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League?"

He clutched his head and stood up unsteadily, which made Avada and Baron's hearts tighten once more.

"The way you speak to students... right..."

He looked at the two of them, a somewhat stiff smile appearing on his face: "Thank you both for your concern, I'm fine, just... well, encountered a small accident, no need to worry..."

"You two go back to playing, I'll be off now, there's still quite a bit of work for a professor to do..."

As his voice trailed off, the previously distorted space silently returned to normal. Professor Baker also began to move, his gait unsteady as he wobbled out the door under the tense gazes of Avada and Baron, not even forgetting to close the door behind him, leaving the two of them staring at each other in confusion.

"What... what was that all about?"

Baron finally dropped his facade, letting out a long sigh before collapsing onto the floor. After taking a moment to recover, he recalled Professor Baker's abnormal behavior and asked Avada, puzzled.

Avada remained silent, though he knew deep down that this was likely a side effect of a completely fractured soul. In his perception, Professor Baker's mental power had indeed weakened significantly, and that magical void essential to sentient life had shrunk by a wide margin.

"Right,"

Baron suddenly looked at Avada with curiosity: "Did Professor Baker just say your real name? You're called Ava..."

"Don't say it."

Avada shuddered again: "I'll explain later. Let's get out of here first. You go find Professor Flitwick, and I'll go to the Headmaster's office to find Dumbledore. Professor Baker's condition is too bizarre; it might be beyond the scope of what a professor can handle!"

"Yeah."

Baron also understood the urgency of the situation and didn't dwell on Avada's name. He climbed to his feet and followed Avada toward the door.

Suddenly, an urgent, familiar voice interrupted their steps.

"Mr. K, Mr. Shafiq, don't leave yet, please wait a moment!"