After confirming that no one was coming, the two figures under the Disillusionment Charm silently summoned the door to the Room of Requirement. They hurried into the room where things were stored, then dropped their disguises.
"Phew..."
As the familiar surroundings came into view, Avada and Baron both let out a quiet sigh of relief.
They were both capable and had a meticulous plan, not to mention experience sneaking into the Forbidden Forest. But this was their first time breaking into a professor's office, so of course they were nervous.
If this got out, losing a hundred points for their house would be the lightest possible punishment. If things went badly, they could even be sent straight to Azkaban.
"I think this one experience alone gives us more life experience than every Gryffindor in the school..." Baron complained with a weary look as he wiped away his sweat.
"That's your prejudice against Gryffindor," Avada said solemnly.
"Fine, gossiping behind their backs does show a lack of character, but..."
"What I mean is, who says Gryffindors can't successfully sneak into a professor's office?—Pfft, hahaha..." Avada had tried to keep a straight face as he finished, but he couldn't hold it in. Baron joined him, laughing heartily, until an awkward little cough interrupted them.
"Um, I'm a Gryffindor myself."
Professor Baker's faint voice came from the Black Crystal Ball.
"..."
"Ahem, Professor Baker, we've brought back what you asked for."
Avada quickly composed himself, then hurried over to the crystal ball with two large bundles made from wizard robes. He opened them, revealing a dazzling array of bottles and jars.
Though, to be honest, that earlier remark hadn't been unfair to Gryffindor. Who was it that had gone to steal African Tree Snake Skin from Snape's office?
"Well done. Thank you both."
Professor Baker's voice softened before he continued, "But those fake ingredients will only fool them for a while. If too much time passes, the fragment of my consciousness will certainly notice something is wrong and grow wary... In other words, we don't have much time left."
Avada and Baron both tensed.
"But fortunately, your outstanding performance over the past few months has greatly sped up our progress. Consciousness Magic is at its final stage and can be completed tonight. The traps and mechanisms for the battle are all in place, and your combat skills have improved rapidly... Honestly, I'm not at all worried about whether this operation will succeed."
"And it's thanks to your willingness to trust me that I was able to escape from this failed experiment. I can't imagine what would have happened if you hadn't come along then. I would have been trapped alone in a container, unable to move or talk to anyone... I'd probably have gone completely mad before long."
"I owe you my life."
"You don't need to say that, Professor." Baron shook his head. "Helping others is simply my duty as a Pure-blood."
Avada smiled in agreement with Baron, but said nothing.
"All right, all right, let's not dwell on that." Professor Baker's voice held a clear note of amusement. "We'd best not talk about what comes after until everything is settled. That sort of thing invites bad luck..."
"Now, let's finish the final step."
"Right."
Avada and Baron nodded, carefully placing the magical ingredients in their designated positions as instructed. Then they drew their wands, pointed them skyward, and began reciting a long, obscure incantation, their wands tracing complex, wondrous patterns through the air.
As they moved, the magical ingredients arranged around the room began to react. Some blazed with light, some made strange noises, and some simply evaporated into thin air... For a moment, the entire Room of Requirement seemed like a garden from a dream. Streams of color danced everywhere, weaving through the air to form strange, meaningless yet beautiful patterns...
Through their Magic Sense, they could feel the magic created by the previous six steps drawing together and merging. The magical environment throughout the room shook violently, almost enough to affect the Room of Requirement's very structure. The magical disturbance produced by the seventh step gradually calmed the tremors, then, like flowing water, slowly but firmly pushed the six magical structures toward fusion.
At last, amid a tremendous sound that existed only in the magical world, the six structures fit together seamlessly and became one. They formed a vast, complex, magnificent, wondrous new structure—one so beautiful that Avada nearly lost himself in it!
It seemed related to the mind, yet went far beyond it. In some ways, it resembled Horcrux magic—but while the structure of Horcrux magic only made Avada feel that it was complex and chaotic, the structure before him now possessed a startling beauty, as if it were the very opposite of a Horcrux.
"Professor Baker, did you really create this magic yourself?"
He asked the question in a daze.
"I never said that."
Professor Baker answered lightly. "How could I have created such complex and wondrous magic all by myself? It was forged from the wisdom and hard work of countless generations. I merely came along later, unearthed those treasures from the dust of history, and pieced them together."
"Does it have a name? This magic?"
"Hmm... Not yet."
Professor Baker thought for a moment before replying, "But if you really want to give this magic a name..."
"Why not call it Repentance?"
Repentance?!
Baron only wondered why it had been given such a name, but Avada was struck as if by lightning and could barely keep his expression under control.
Repentance was the only method in the original story capable of restoring a shattered soul!
And Professor Baker had named this magic Repentance too. What did that mean? Could this magic do more than extract souls? Could it forcibly restore shattered souls and render Horcruxes completely useless?!
If that was true...
"All right, it's getting late. You should head back."
As Avada pondered this, Professor Baker's voice sounded again. "You can rest for the next few days and get your strength back. After that, you'll need to prepare for the final battle."
"Relax. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves. For you, defeating 'another me' will actually be the easiest part of all your efforts over the past few months... Think of everything you've set up, the weaknesses I told you about, and this Spatial Magic... I daresay that even Professor Dumbledore would be in for a surprise if he came upon you unprepared!"
Good grief. Their preparations could easily take down an Auror, yet against Dumbledore they'd amount to little more than a prank that would give him "a surprise"...
"Let's set the operation for this Sunday. That gives us three days to recover, and it probably isn't long enough for the fake Professor Baker to notice anything amiss." Baron clapped his hands and looked at Avada questioningly.
"Sounds good."
Before you continue