The Limitations of Magic Sense

Surrey, Little Whinging, Privet Drive.

It was now a week into the holidays. Avada had long since returned to the orphanage, where he had settled back in with his friends and the adults who looked after them. They'd asked him about life at school, so he'd shared a few amusing experiences that didn't involve magic, like the "Baking Club" and the "Scary Chemistry Teacher."

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd forgotten something important.

Then, when he'd bought a train ticket by himself and come to Surrey to catch a glimpse of the Chosen One and make a pilgrimage to the holy site, he finally remembered what he'd forgotten: while he was still at school, he'd forgotten to remove the Trace from his wand.

So, for this trip, he had to leave his wand at the orphanage and come to Privet Drive empty-handed. He cast a wandless Disillusionment Charm on himself, then watched Harry Potter through a window as he seemed to be washing dishes, and couldn't help reflecting:

His "Magic Sense" wasn't omnipotent.

In theory, this ability let him sense the magical structures of everything in the world. But there were always things that, despite being studied through magic, remained invisible to him.

Time, for instance. Fate. Love.

Although the wizarding world had such things as Time-Turners and Divination, forms of magic that touched on these fields, Avada had yet to observe anything in magic that might represent them.

What's more, he'd spent a year looking for the curse Voldemort had placed on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor position and still hadn't found it.

He still didn't understand how a soul could be split through sheer force of will, either.

The sight before him now made him realize just how limited his abilities were. Harry Potter, right there in front of him, seemed completely ordinary to his senses!

There was no sign of another fragment of a soul possessing him, and he had no protective spells on him at all!

If not for the faint sense of incongruity his own mental energy gave him, just like Professor Baker's, Avada would have wondered if he'd somehow ended up in the wrong world!

He'd been looking forward to seeing the powerful protective spell that could draw strength from blood relatives and even repel the Killing Curse. He hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

He couldn't help sighing, feeling a headache coming on. Things had just gotten harder.

In his plan to bury Voldemort for good, the soul fragment inside Harry Potter had always been the trickiest part. To destroy it, he would have to wait until Harry turned seventeen and Lily's protection vanished, then let Voldemort hit him with an Avada...Killing Curse himself. But if he did that, he'd have to let Voldemort come back, cause trouble, and kill people... How was that any different from the original story?

That was why Avada had been so eager to invent a magic that could destroy Horcruxes directly without damaging the objects that contained them. But now he'd found that he couldn't even locate Voldemort's soul. Which meant that even if he managed to develop the magic, it probably wouldn't work on Harry...

"If only I could capture and seal Voldemort's remaining soul next term. Then I'd have plenty of time..."

"Ha, as if that's possible. Even Dumbledore couldn't do it." At the thought, he gave a self-deprecating smile.

In the original story, the first year's events had been a trap Dumbledore set specifically to kill Voldemort. From bringing the Philosopher's Stone into the school to hiring Quirrell, and then setting up those laughable... no, downright childish, security obstacles that even first-years could tear through... Even so, Voldemort had still escaped Dumbledore.

How on earth was that guy so good at running away?

Forget it. He'd just have to put poison in Voldemort's father's ashes like a sensible person.

Avada dispelled the Disillusionment Charm in dejection and turned toward the station. It seemed the trip had been a waste.

"Voldemort's weakest moment is right in front of me. Why can't I take advantage of it? Seal him... seal him..."

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and froze.

He'd thought of an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly bold plan.

So bold that he wondered if the Sorting Hat had put him in the wrong house.

Compared to life at Hogwarts, the summer holidays at the orphanage were so ordinary, simple, and dull. But Avada enjoyed the atmosphere well enough. Wasn't that why he wanted to kill Voldemort in the first place?

He spent each day playing with the other children, helping the younger ones with their schoolwork, and showing off the cooking skills he'd learned in Hufflepuff in the evenings. Then he'd lock his bedroom door and secretly work on his Hogwarts summer assignments... And so, August finally arrived.

"Hey, Avada, someone's here to see you. Says he's your friend. Is it that... Baron Shafiq you told us about?"

Avada instinctively shuddered. He was so used to people at school calling him "K," and he'd been so busy plotting against Voldemort lately, that even his own name felt a little strange to him.

"Baron? He's here? Just a moment, I'll be right there..."

Avada thanked the friend who'd come to tell him and carried his suitcase downstairs. A few days earlier, Baron had written to say his parents would be happy to have Avada as their guest, and had invited him to Diagon Alley to buy supplies for the new school year. Pure-blood families weren't restricted from doing magic during the holidays, so Avada had been glad to accept and packed his things.

As soon as he reached the ground floor, he saw Baron standing in front of a black car, surrounded by a few children from the orphanage. They seemed to be chatting happily. Beside Baron stood a short, elderly man in a suit. From the unnatural quality of his life force, he was probably a House-elf from the Shafiq family in disguise. Avada just couldn't figure out where he'd gotten the clothes.

"K, over here!"

Baron spotted Avada as soon as he came out of the building and waved, calling to him in a voice that wasn't loud but was still easy to hear.

"Coming."

Avada walked over with his suitcase, grinning. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, school. It's really interesting, haha..."

"Potions class? Uh... that's what I called chemistry. The teacher's the Scary Chemistry Teacher. That's just what they call it where Baron's from..."

"No, no, we're in different houses. His house isn't as good at baking as ours, but it has plenty of other strengths. They even won this year's championship..."

"Broomstick ball? That's what Baron calls it? Pfft, hahaha..."

"Of course we have Astronomy! Every Wednesday evening, we go to the Astronomy Tower and use the telescopes there to observe the stars... That's what I mean when I say this school is different from others."

"That old headmaster from last time? He hasn't trimmed his beard. He likes the look..."

After chatting with the children for a while and watching them disperse, satisfied, Avada rubbed his forehead and gave Baron a rueful smile. "What can I say? I'm glad you know to keep things secret, but calling it broomstick ball is a bit... You could've just made up football or basketball if nothing else."

"Good thing you covered for me. I'd have given myself away sooner or later if I'd been on my own."

Baron let out a breath of relief and gestured toward the short old man beside him. "I haven't introduced you yet. This is Charlie, my family's House-elf. He takes care of the cleaning and daily chores."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Charlie."

Avada greeted him, and the old elf responded with a smile. "Just Charlie is fine, Mr. K. Wizards don't need to use honorifics for House-elves."

"All right, Mr. K. Please give me your luggage and get into the car with young master Baron. We'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

He opened the rear door and gestured for them to get in.

Avada nodded and was about to hand his luggage to Charlie when he paused and asked, "By the way, I've brought my wand with me. If this car uses any magic, will the Trace detect it?"

"Don't worry. The Trace isn't that powerful."

Before Charlie could reply, Baron explained and climbed into the car first. Reassured, Avada got in after him. The inside seemed to have been expanded, making it much roomier than it looked from the outside, and the seats were comfortable, too.

"Please take your seats. We're about to set off."

At Charlie's reminder, Avada heard a faint buzzing from behind the car. Then, with a loud bang, the scenery outside the window changed in an instant.