"First, we can be certain of one thing: 'the other me' doesn't know about me or the existence of this Crystal Ball. While making the Crystal Ball, I deliberately blocked off that fragment of consciousness. He has no memories of it, giving us an information advantage."
"Other than that, though, he has almost all of my memories and personality. But since he's only a fragment, his mental strength is far weaker than mine, the original. So he'll be slow to access those memories and clumsy when controlling the body, especially when casting spells. His combat ability probably won't even measure up to that of an ordinary Auror."
"What you need to do is help me set up a spell in this room to extract consciousness, then lure the other me here and defeat him. Once he's unable to resist, the spell we've prepared will let me return to my body."
Avada was surprised. Even after being weakened so severely, Professor Baker's body still had the combat ability of an Auror. They shouldn't look down on Aurors just because of someone like Dawlish. Aurors were the most battle-tested and resilient wizards, chosen through the strictest selection process. They were truly among the best the wizarding world had to offer!
"You may think it's absurd to expect two first-year students to defeat an Auror, but it isn't."
Professor Baker continued, "He'll be almost completely off guard around you, and I know all his fighting habits and weaknesses. On top of that, we'll have the element of surprise, and we can prepare all kinds of traps in advance. With the help of the Spatial Magic in this room, which I control... At your level, you'll have no trouble beating him."
"Also, while we're preparing the spell, I'll personally teach you how to fight and give you some techniques tailored to my style and weaknesses. You'll have to keep those techniques secret. My life depends on it."
"No problem."
Avada and Baron nodded at the same time.
"Good." Professor Baker tried to nod, then remembered he had no body and could only continue helplessly, "In that case, I'll first teach you how to set up the consciousness-extraction spell. It may be difficult for you, and you'll also need to collect a lot of magical materials. Just setting up this one spell will probably take until February or March."
"Still, that gives you plenty of time to train your combat skills."
"Then should we start now... Uh, did you bring notebooks?"
"..."
Avada and Baron exchanged a look, then shook their heads. They'd only come to sign the contract. They'd never expected Professor Baker to be ready to start so soon.
"...All right, then. We'll start tomorrow."
Professor Baker said helplessly, "You can come for lessons whenever you like, but try to keep it discreet. Don't let anyone notice anything unusual. It's best if you both come together, too. Going over the same material twice would be a waste of time."
"All right, that's enough for today. Remember to bring notebooks and quills tomorrow. What I'm teaching you is far more complicated than first-year coursework. Luckily, your regular classes aren't much of a burden..."
When the Black Crystal Ball fell silent again, Avada and Baron left the Room of Requirement.
"When should we come tomorrow?"
As they went down the stairs, Avada looked at Baron.
"After dinner, as usual."
Baron thought for a moment before answering. "From now on, after dinner, we shouldn't meet up first. We should go to the Room of Requirement separately to lower the chance of anyone noticing us. And if one of us has Astronomy, the other can go find Professor Baker and tell him to cancel that day's lesson. We only have two Astronomy classes a week, so it won't set us back much."
"And on weekends..."
Picking up on Baron's train of thought, Avada said, "We can't spend the whole weekend in the Room of Requirement, either. We have to set aside some time to stay with our own houses, or people might notice something's off. Besides, Hufflepuff has its regular picnics..."
"Then we'll go once on Saturday night, and we can spend half of Sunday there. We'll decide on Saturday whether to go in the morning or the afternoon."
Baron clapped his hands, and he and Avada settled on a plan.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask: what's the story behind your name?"
Now that his immediate worries had been dealt with, Baron's curiosity got the better of him. Somehow, he remembered Professor Baker's "fragment of consciousness" saying Avada's true name at Christmas.
"..."
Avada's face turned green, and he instinctively wanted to avoid the question. But he knew that if someone knew his true name without knowing what it meant, it could cause a serious mess later. For example, if someone cast the Killing Curse at him, he might be delighted to realize, right before he died, You know Avada too?
Besides, Baron was a friend who'd been through thick and thin with him. There was no real reason to hide it.
"Have you heard of the Unforgivable Curses?"
"Of course. The Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse."
"My name is the incantation for the Killing Curse."
"...Huh?"
Avada sighed and gave Baron a rough account of the Department of Mysteries' absurd decision. Baron's expression shifted several times as he listened, and by the end, he seemed at a loss for words.
"...Good luck."
In the end, he could only pat Avada on the shoulder and leave him with those words, which could have been encouragement or condolences. Then he went his separate way, heading for the Slytherin Common Room.
Avada watched Baron's back gradually disappear from sight. He paused, turned, and took a step toward the stairs leading up, then stopped again.
In the end, he shook his head to himself and silently headed toward the Hufflepuff Common Room.
He'd considered returning to the Room of Requirement after Baron left, finding Professor Baker, and asking him outright about the Horcruxes and the truth behind them. The contract would keep Professor Baker from doing anything to him. At most, the professor would be shocked that a first-year student knew about Horcruxes, one of the most advanced branches of Dark Magic.
After all, Professor Baker had raised far too many questions for him.
As Avada understood it, what people called the "soul" was simply a person's mental strength. And when it came to studying mental strength, he could certainly call himself an expert. His Talent Optimization Technique alone was enough to earn him an Order of Merlin, First Class.
Even so, he'd never found anything in mental strength that could lead to "splitting after a murder." At first, he'd thought that Dark Magic might leave some kind of structure behind after corrupting the mind. That had led him to conclude that "only the most evil Dark wizards, whose souls have been completely corrupted by Dark Magic, are capable of splitting their souls through murder."
But Professor Baker had disproved that theory. His mental strength did show signs of corruption by Dark Magic, but it still lacked the structure Avada had imagined.
Professor Baker's mental strength hadn't been corrupted very severely—it was nowhere near "completely corrupted." Yet he'd undeniably already split his soul and made a Horcrux. And since one person could create multiple Horcruxes, the "splitting structure" in a person's mental strength shouldn't disappear once the split was complete!
Everything seemed to point to one fact: making a Horcrux—or at least splitting one's soul—might not be as simple as Avada had imagined.
What was the relationship between "murder" and "splitting"? What conditions had to be met for a soul to split? And what was the principle behind it?
Why was there a hollow in the center of mental strength? And why did splitting mental strength also split off that hollow?
If Professor Baker was willing to answer him, Avada would not only gain a wealth of important knowledge about Horcruxes, but also make astonishing progress in understanding mental strength and researching Horcruxes. He could also learn more about why and how Professor Baker had made his Horcruxes. If the only condition for splitting a soul really was "murder," with no particular requirements for the soul itself, then Professor Baker's decision to make Horcruxes wasn't all that bad.
He was a famous hunter of Dark wizards. If he used the deaths of a few utterly wicked people to make Horcruxes, he'd actually be doing the wizarding community a service.
And even if Professor Baker refused to answer, it wouldn't affect Avada. The professor didn't want anyone finding out about the Horcruxes himself, so why would he tell anyone that Avada knew about them?
But after weighing it carefully, Avada still gave up on the tempting idea.
Letting other people know he was interested in Horcruxes was simply too risky.
Before you continue