Just as Professor Baker had said, casting the Disillusionment Charm itself wasn't difficult.
Baron was the first to succeed, managing to cast his first Disillusionment Charm after only half an hour and turning himself into a jumble of mismatched colors. Avada, who had finally been able to observe the charm's magical structure, immediately redoubled his efforts. Once he successfully cast the charm, his skill improved rapidly, and he soon managed to blend into his surroundings.
Baron had already gotten used to it, though. After several days of training, he was accustomed to Avada's slow-to-start, quick-to-improve learning style.
Then, with further instruction from Professor Baker and real-time corrections from Avada using Magic Sense, Baron's skill with the Disillusionment Charm also began to improve rapidly. It took him only a little while to meet Professor Baker's standards.
This had been their routine ever since they started training: Baron learned each skill first and demonstrated it for Avada, who then quickly improved his proficiency and passed what he'd learned back to Baron... This method, like climbing to the sky by stepping on one's own feet, had boosted both their progress tremendously. Their close teamwork had even earned repeated praise from Professor Baker.
However, as Professor Baker had also said, mastering the Disillusionment Charm was only the beginning.
Once Baron had mastered the Disillusionment Charm, they moved on to the skills that went with it: walking silently, erasing footprints, masking their scent, using obstacles, staying out of sight, and various other tactical techniques. If Professor Baker hadn't remembered that Avada and Baron were only first-years, he would probably have taught them the Non-verbal Spell as well.
Magic could be learned by taking shortcuts with Magic Sense, but there were no shortcuts when it came to physical training. That was especially true for Avada, who wasn't particularly athletic. Over the next few days, even though Professor Baker had slowed down his lessons to accommodate Avada's progress, Avada still felt considerable pressure.
But when it came time to put what he'd learned into practice, Avada realized that the pressure had been nothing compared to this.
When Professor Baker had told them to master the Disillusionment Charm, he'd mentioned that it would "come in very handy when gathering magical ingredients." Naive as he'd been, Avada hadn't understood what Professor Baker meant at the time. Now the answer was finally clear...
[Someone's coming. Use the Disillusionment Charm, quick!]
[Got it. I'm hidden.]
"Oh, K? You're here too?"
"Cedric? Are you here to see Professor Baker?"
"Oh, right, there's something in the textbook I don't quite understand... Were you just with him?"
"I wish. He's not in his office right now, so I'm waiting here for him. By the way, what was the part you didn't understand? I've almost finished studying the second-year Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook on my own. Maybe I can help?"
"Uh... Thanks. I'll show you. We can discuss it together."
"Hmm, it doesn't seem too difficult. It should be this..."
[K, I've finished breaking the protective enchantment. We can go in.]
"Ah, well, it looks like I don't understand it either. Sorry, I got a little overconfident and wasted your time..."
"Don't worry about it. It's already impressive that you've taught yourself the second-year material. I think I'll go check the library again. See you tonight."
"Sure. See you tonight..."
After confirming that the unexpected Cedric had left, Avada immediately cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself. He crept silently along the wall, quickly rounded a corner, and reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. The door, which should have been shut, was now open a crack, and an oddly colored patch lay beside it.
That's right. Avada and Baron were breaking into the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
It was already mid-February. As time went on, the preparations for Consciousness Extraction Magic had finally reached their last step. That was when the two of them ran into a problem: they could hardly complete the step with spells alone. They needed specific magical ingredients to help "set up the array."
Those ingredients were either dangerous items that were banned from sale or so rare and expensive that even Baron had been stunned by the prices. When they asked Professor Baker what to do, he'd already had a plan. Some of the ingredients could be found in the Forbidden Forest, he said, while he had others stored in his office...
With the help of Professor Baker's "Map of Forbidden Forest Creatures and Herb Locations" and "Guide to Exploring the Defense Against the Dark Arts Office," the two of them first broke into the Forbidden Forest. After gathering quite a few herbs, they even worked together to take down a small Acromantula and collect its venom. Something unexpected happened along the way: they had been working right on the gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid's patrol route.
Avada had taken one for the team. He dropped the Disillusionment Charm and pretended to be a first-year student who, driven by an interest in magical creatures, had foolishly explored the Forbidden Forest alone. Hagrid caught him on the spot, giving Baron cover to carry on.
Fortunately, Avada knew quite a bit about magical creatures and was good at talking. He and Hagrid ended up having a lively conversation. After spending half an hour discussing Hippogriff behavior with him, Avada found that Hagrid didn't report what he'd done to Professor Sprout. He only gave him a verbal reprimand and warned him never to break school rules by exploring the Forbidden Forest again.
After that, it was the Defense Against the Dark Arts office's turn.
Breaking into the office was actually safer than going into the Forbidden Forest. After all, the place had been set up by Professor Baker himself, and the information he'd provided was the most detailed and comprehensive. Besides, Fake Baker had the same habits as Professor Baker, so Professor Baker knew exactly when Fake Baker would leave the office, how long he'd be gone, and whether he'd notice signs of a break-in when he returned.
The only problem was that it took time to bypass the defenses and alarm at the entrance. Other students might pass by while they worked, so one of them had to keep watch outside while staying in constant contact with the other through their Mental Link. That was how they'd ended up in the situation from just now.
And since Hufflepuffs generally got along better with others than Slytherins did, Avada had chosen to stand watch himself, even though his Magic Sense would have let him get through the defenses faster. Baron had taken on the task of cracking them.
Once Baron had completely disabled the defenses, the two of them carefully widened the gap in the door, slipped inside, and silently closed it behind them. Then they immediately began searching the designated spots.
[Some of the ingredients are scraps left over from making Crystal Balls. They're in a section that's been blocked off, so even Fake Baker doesn't know about it...]
After magically treating the soles of his shoes, Avada crouched and counted out the floorboards until he reached the right one. He tapped it several times with his wand in a specific rhythm, and the board lifted by itself, revealing bottles and jars in a hidden compartment beneath it. [We can take all of these without worrying.]
As he spoke, he took off his wizard's robe and used it as a sack, packing the hidden ingredients inside. All he'd have to do later was cast a separate Disillusionment Charm on the robe.
[But the rest are stored in ordinary cabinets, and taking them without a trace would be difficult... Do you have the fake ingredients we'll use as replacements?]
[Of course.]
As Avada worked, Baron put on protective gloves and carefully opened one drawer after another, taking out the ingredients they needed and slipping the fake ones in at the very bottom so it wouldn't be easy to notice anything missing. [How much time has passed?]
[There are twelve minutes until the earliest time Fake Baker is expected to return.]
Avada checked his Muggle watch and sent a message through their Mental Link. [But we need to leave some time for unexpected problems, and cleaning up our traces will take time too, so we'd better hurry.]
[Understood.]
Baron sped up his search while Avada checked off each ingredient against their list. A few minutes later, they finally finished collecting everything.
After meticulously erasing every trace of their break-in and using Magic Sense to make sure no one was outside the door, Avada cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself first. He cast it on the large bundle in his hands as well, then opened the door and slipped out. Baron followed right behind him.
They had used skill to dismantle the defenses on the door, rather than destroying them by force, so there was no need to worry that the protective enchantment would reveal someone had been there.
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