"Professor Baker! Professor Baker!"
At six on Sunday morning, just as dawn was breaking, "Professor Baker," who had lately been feeling constantly short of energy and was fast asleep, was jolted awake by a series of urgent knocks.
What's going on?
He rubbed his head, then quickly got up. With a wave of his hand, he changed his pajamas into formal clothes, left his bedroom, and hurried to the office door. The professors' quarters were usually located inside their offices, separated from the part of the office open to students.
As he pulled the door open, he saw a young face full of anxiety. He immediately recognized the boy: Baron Shafiq, a first-year Slytherin who had performed exceptionally well in his classes and made a deep impression on him.
"What's wrong, Mr. Shafiq? Don't panic. Take your time and tell me what happened."
He spoke gently, trying not to cause the boy any more anxiety.
"My friend K—he was sucked into a Black Crystal Ball right in front of me!" Baron's anxious voice wavered with tears.
"What?! What exactly happened?"
"We... we found a secret room on the Seventh Floor. It was full of all kinds of curious magical objects... We only wanted to explore it, but when K picked up a Black Crystal Ball, he... he..."
"He was suddenly sucked inside! He stretched out like a stream of water, then got pulled right in... The Crystal Ball is so heavy I can't lift it, and Professor Flitwick won't answer the door... Please, you have to save K!"
"Take me there at once." The false Baker was startled by what he heard. He immediately gave Baron the order in a grave tone, then ran alongside him, offering reassurance as they went. "Don't worry too much. The Crystal Ball may have had an Undetectable Extension Charm placed on it, allowing it to suck Mr. K inside when he touched it. It's almost impossible to bring a genuine Dark Magic object into Hogwarts, so your friend should be fine. He's just trapped..."
As they spoke, they had already raced up the stairs and reached the Seventh Floor. Baron hurried to a bare stretch of wall and paced back and forth in front of it three times. A smooth doorway appeared.
"So it's this room."
The false Baker looked considerably more relaxed. "I know this place. Nothing inside should be dangerous... Wait, why do I vaguely remember that we've been here before...?"
He furrowed his brow slightly. He felt as if he had forgotten something, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what. So he put it out of his mind for the moment and focused on the situation at hand. When Baron opened the door, he followed him inside and immediately spotted the Black Crystal Ball, gleaming in the center of an empty patch of floor.
"That's the one!"
Baron looked terrified and instinctively hid behind the false Baker.
The false Baker stared at the smooth, dark Black Crystal Ball and paused. For some reason, it seemed vaguely familiar. But he ignored the inexplicable feeling and walked straight over, taking out his wand to examine the Crystal Ball carefully.
"It seems to be a Prophecy Crystal Ball. The material is incredibly sturdy..."
"No, I can't see through it. I can't tell whether there's an Undetectable Extension space inside just by looking at it..."
He stepped closer and crouched down, touching the Crystal Ball with the tip of his wand. But just as he was about to cast a more thorough diagnostic spell, a sudden weakness burst through his body and swept over him. Even standing up felt like a struggle...
"Poison?!"
The false Baker turned in shock, trying to look at Baron, but before he could, a shout rang out behind him. "Expelliarmus!"
Years of combat experience kicked in at once. The false Baker forced what little strength he had left into his legs and sprang up like a grasshopper. He dodged the Disarming Charm, twisting around in midair, and saw Baron pointing his wand at him with a grave expression.
"Mr. Shafiq! What are you—"
Suddenly, a streak of red light burst from just a few feet away and slammed into him, knocking him backward. His wand flew out of his hand, only to vanish inexplicably in midair!
"There's someone else?!"
The false Baker's right hand twitched. Another wand slipped from his sleeve, and he caught it in his hand. He swung it hard, ready to summon a great wall of flames and force the invisible enemy out—but then a sharp pain stabbed through his head, followed by an overwhelming wave of exhaustion that nearly made him pass out on the spot!
"A curse! One targeting the mind! It's coming from the ground!"
Not far away, Avada, concealed beneath a Disillusionment Charm and having just tucked away the wand she had disarmed, watched the false Baker's reaction intently. Meanwhile, Professor Baker's voice echoed in her memory:
[As first-year wizards, the biggest differences between you and an Auror—besides the amount of magic you know and your skill in using it—are your stamina and mental strength. An Auror in good physical condition with a clear head can wear you down with ease, even if they do nothing but defend. So the first thing you need to do to defeat my fragment is weaken his stamina and mental strength.]
[Poison and curses are undoubtedly the best choices. As long as you take antidotes in advance and cast counter-curses on yourselves, they won't affect you at all. But there's a drawback: they're too easy to detect. Still, if you handle things properly, you can turn that detection to your advantage...]
[During my years of adventuring, I developed a technique of my own and named it "Dual Casting." It lets me use two wands in battle, casting completely unrelated spells at the same time without interfering with each other. It's one of the trump cards that have let me defeat powerful foes. So you must knock my first wand out of my hand at the start of the fight, before I can use this technique. Otherwise, you'll be facing several times the pressure... Don't think you can end the fight immediately with a spell like the Stunning Spell. Your spells aren't powerful enough to make me lose the ability to fight back.]
[When I'm at a disadvantage, I should first use the Bubble-Head Charm to protect myself from the poison. Then I'll use Transfiguration to turn something into a few ropes and stick them to the ceiling, swinging through the air like a monkey to escape the ground-based curse. That will let me take control of the air while quickly healing myself. In that situation, you'll need to...]
In the next instant, the false Baker's sleeves suddenly came apart, transforming into several ropes that shot upward and stuck fast to the ceiling. They hauled him into the air, where he moved nimbly to dodge attacks, giving him time to cast a Bubble-Head Charm over his head.
"Mr. Shafiq, what are you doing?! Why would you do this?"
The false Baker stared down at Baron and asked in a deep voice. Baron said nothing, continually changing position as he fired weak little jinxes upward.
Suddenly, several powerful spells shot from behind a pile of clutter nearby, aimed straight at the false Baker. He swung through the air on his ropes and dodged them.
"I was expecting you!"
The false Baker gave a cold snort. "Those spells are precise and expertly cast... So you're the one who threatened Mr. Shafiq and made him bring me here to ambush me? Is Hogwarts really this easy to infiltrate? I'll have to report this to the headmaster afterward..."
"Who are you? A follower of Aethelred? A Death Eater? Or an underling of some other Dark wizard I've taken down?"
The invisible figure gave no answer. They simply kept firing powerful spells at the false Baker, seemingly unconcerned by how much energy they were expending, forcing him to dodge all over the place before he had fully recovered.
"Like rats, the lot of you."
He gave another cold snort, a glint passing through his eyes. "Looks like I'll have to work to drag you out of hiding."
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