Hermione's Unease

Silence. Suddenly, Hermione felt an overwhelming silence.

Some voices that I hadn't noticed but whose meaning I was still subconsciously receiving also disappeared along with the sounds in the cubicle.

She felt as if she were on a deserted island.

The feeling was incredibly familiar—she remembered!

Just like in the tunnel to Atlantis, she could only hear her own voice now.

In this extreme silence, the sounds of teeth grinding and robes swaying were particularly noticeable.

But Hermione wasn't alarmed at all. She knew who it was: Ryan, the handsome and powerful wizard she admired and had been corresponding with all summer, who was more powerful in magic than Dumbledore.

Ryan Smith —an enigmatic figure.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ryan asked, still talking to Luna, while conjuring a new form from nothingness and appearing behind Hermione.

His expression was gentle and concerned, as if he had no idea why Hermione was calling him.

"Weren't you in that room?" Hermione exclaimed, then tidied her messy hair as if waking from a dream.

"I feel like you need me right now." Ryan ruffled Hermione's fluffy hair.

Hermione blushed slightly and absentmindedly straightened her robes.

But the next second, she became serious again. "Ryan, I heard something from Ron — Voldemort is our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor!"

"If that's really the case, then Dumbledore is truly terrifying."

"You know, last year, he let Voldemort into Hogwarts. Although those portraits say he doesn't even have a physical form and is not even as lowly as the most lowly wandering spirit, this is a school."

"In our world, which is what wizards call the Muggle world, if a headmaster dared to do this, I think he would not only resign, but might also go to jail for a few years."

Do you know what this means?

"Like something the world's most dangerous terrorists are eyeing, the principal has hidden him in the future of the entire nation—in the only school."

"Knowing that the terrorist was in the school, even though he wasn't armed, but—" Hermione rambled on, as if she wanted to unleash all her fear and anger. In her mind, she was here to study, not to live in an environment where the most powerful Dark Lord in the Wizarding World existed.

By the end, she was even out of breath and began to take deep breaths.

"Hermione, I can understand your concerns."

"But you've forgotten that we are wizards, wizards whose power originates from themselves."

"The knowledge we acquire is power."

"According to your analogy, Hogwarts should be the most powerful military academy in the Muggle world."

"Headmaster Dumbledore possesses what is arguably the most powerful military force in the world, and his army is stationed at the school."

"Voldemort is the leader of a terrorist organization, but he has no weapons. However, he possesses the most advanced aircraft in the world, which makes it impossible for anyone to catch him."

"He only had one squad (Quirrell) serving him at Hogwarts."

"And the events of last semester were the perfect opportunity to attract the hidden dangers of this peaceful world and seize them."

"A small squad (Quirrell) could not pose a danger to the fully armed students under the heavy guard of the army."

"This year's events can actually be understood like this: the new successor of that terrorist (the young Voldemort) was subdued by Dumbledore, the master of the most powerful army, while the old one (the original Voldemort) was left alone, facing the terrorist organization and the encirclement and suppression of the Dumbledore's Army." Ryan explained using Hermione's analogy.

Hermione, being a quick-witted little witch, understood Ryan's words without much difficulty.

"So, according to you, Voldemort escaped last semester, but a part of him was captured and became one of us."

"I get it! Defense Against the Dark Arts class has a curse, Voldemort's curse. If Voldemort is in this position, does that mean we won't need to change teachers so often for Defense Against the Dark Arts anymore?" Hermione jumped up excitedly.

She knew that with Ryan around, no one else would notice her rude behavior.

After briefly realizing that this semester wasn't a big deal, she immediately thought about her studies. Although, strictly speaking, she was only a second-year student and hadn't yet experienced the impact of a change of teachers.

However, she judged the drawbacks of changing teachers based on the weakness of the older Ravenclaw students in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

So, she was actually a little worried about these things.

But that's no longer necessary.

Thinking about it this way, Voldemort becoming a professor might actually be a good thing.

"Ryan, aren't you in that room?" Hermione, whose intelligence had once again taken over, remembered the question Ryan hadn't directly answered.

Moreover, Ryan's necklace can create additional forms, so whether the one in front of her is Ryan himself is still debatable.

"I was in that room, but I sensed Hermione was in danger, so I rushed over." Ryan told a truth that wasn't entirely a lie; he was indeed in that room, and he did rush over for Hermione —his power and consciousness were enough to get him there quickly!

Just as Ryan and Hermione went to the cubicle where she had put her luggage (where little witches like Lisa Turpin were, Hermione's roommates), Luna was curiously watching a cloud of mist that Ryan had conjured. Inside the mist was a scene of Ron and Harry talking.

"The Warlock's Hairy Heart!"

"I understand now. Voldemort must have ripped out his own heart, which is why he became as ruthless as the wizard in that story."

"And Dumbledore discovered Voldemort's heart, which then became our professor," Luna suddenly said.

Luna's father Xenophilius Lovegood, was a devout believer in the Tale of the Three Brothers. Luna knew about the Warlock's Hairy Heart in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," and through Harry and the others' conversation, she realized it wasn't such a big deal.

But Ryan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Because the story Luna told coincided with the significance of the fragments of soul in the diary for Voldemort.

The diary contained Voldemort's faint conscience; once discarded, a true monster was born!

The story of the Warlock's Hairy Heart tells of how the handsome wizard became cold and lost the ability to love after separating his own heart.

"Not bad, almost right," Ryan said finally, giving Luna an approving look.

He drew his wand, and the mist in the cubicle gradually disappeared.

The window, now completely dark, revealed a view of the night sky dotted with twinkling stars.