Hogwarts: A little lion in the skin of the Eagle School

Dumbledore, watching John standing there for a long time with his expression changing, assumed he was facing some kind of difficulty.

So he asked.

"Is it impossible to sense?"

"Ah, no, I already know. One is under the cabinet over there, and the other is in the attic. I'll go up and check to find out."

John, who had just heard Dumbledore speak, snapped out of his daze and spoke to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow slightly, because John was absolutely right.

He knew the location without even entering the room, which shows that he can indeed sense the Horcrux.

"Principal, I've discovered that my soul seems to be something special..."

John was too lazy to care about the Horcruxes at this point, and instead talked to the headmaster about the other soul.

"How so?"

"At once......."

John told Dumbledore about his observations of that soul.

Recent activity suggests the emergence of self-awareness, indicating that the individual is still developing...

Dumbledore listened and fell into deep thought.

But instead of rushing to express his opinion, he took out the silver incense burner he had seen before.

He plucked a small tuft of his hair and threw it into the incense burner.

Soon, a wisp of smoke rose slowly, without any ripples, rising straight up until it completely disappeared.

"This is my soul state; there is only one soul, and no other soul is involved."

Dumbledore began to explain slowly.

He paused, then took out a tuft of black hair that didn't look like his own.

As the tuft of black hair was thrown into the incense burner, this time two wisps of green smoke rose, twisting and swirling together like two intertwined snakes, but neither merging nor separating.

"This is another state of dual-soul symbiosis, where they influence each other, yet remain independent of one another."

As he spoke, Dumbledore waved his hand again, and a tuft of John's hair was plucked and tossed into the incense burner.

Two wisps of smoke still rose, but they were different from the previous two.

The two wisps of smoke initially rose separately, but then slowly intertwined, one enveloping the other, merging into a single, more robust wisp of smoke.

"This is your soul state, where things are intertwined, as I've seen before."

"To be honest, although I've never seen a case like yours before, I suspect..."

"Perhaps your mother was pregnant with twins or a boy and a girl, but due to some special circumstances, she only gave birth to one body, and then your two souls coexisted together."

John pursed his lips as he listened to Dumbledore's conjecture.

If he were a native of this world, he would believe it.

But he happened to be a time traveler, specifically a reincarnation.

Therefore, he wondered if his other soul might be the original owner of this body, because at that time the soul had not yet developed and was dominated by his adult soul.

Now, many years later, that soul has developed, so it has begun to have consciousness and is growing stronger.

The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel...

It's not just because I feel guilty for taking someone else's body for no reason, but also because it's gradually growing, and I don't know if it will have any impact on me in the future...

Even if he felt guilty, he had already lived in this body for more than ten years and had too many ties with this world, so he really couldn't give up even the original owner's soul.

So he asked Dumbledore.

"Principal, do you think there's a chance we'll end up fighting for control of the body in the future?"

Dumbledore didn't know the answer to this question either, and simply shook his head.

Just then.

Another soul within John reacted, seemingly responding to John's words.

It seems to be conveying some kind of thought to itself.

A...thought of denial?

"Um???"

John looked up in surprise. "What? It can answer my question?"

Dumbledore looked at him strangely, wondering what was wrong with John this time.

"Principal...it seems like it's denying what I just said..."

Dumbledore was taken aback, not expecting John's spirit to respond to him. Before Dumbledore could ask anything else...

John immediately started talking to himself again.

"You can hear us, right? That's why you were able to help me find the Horcrux and even respond to me. Can you continue talking about yourself?"

"Feed? Can you hear me?"

Dumbledore immediately realized that John was trying to communicate with another part of his soul.

There was no second response for half a day.

Why does it sometimes work and sometimes not?

Just as John was about to give up, another faint thought entered his mind.

It is not a communication through words, but an abstract feeling.

[...to convey...tired...]

The thought vanished in an instant, and then I could no longer sense any movement from another soul.

John was stunned for a moment.

"It stopped responding, but in the end, it seemed to be saying, 'Communication is tiring?'"

Dumbledore frowned, pondered for a moment, and then slowly spoke.

"It seems that even if you coexist, you can't convey information at will."

"Or perhaps, it hasn't fully matured yet."

"However, judging from the current situation, it not only has no ill intentions towards you, but you could even say that it is doing everything it can to help you."

John was even more confused after listening to Dumbledore's analysis.

Why go to such lengths to help him?

What exactly is their relationship?

But it's okay, at least the situation is slowly becoming clearer.

Just ask it again once it recovers.

"You don't need to worry too much about its situation, or feel like it's trapped inside your body."

"Based on my judgment, it is usually in a dormant state, only briefly waking up when it needs to express itself or is strongly stimulated by the outside world."

"Just like when you first touched a Horcrux, it aroused it, and last year, when you first suffered the Imperius Curse and the Cruciatus Curse, it aroused it as well."

"This also explains why it has only started to appear frequently in the last two years, because it had been dormant before and has only recently been awakened."

"As it grows, I believe it will soon be able to communicate with you independently."

"If it doesn't have any ill intentions towards you, believe me, it will become your unique helper."

Seemingly sensing John's continued worry, Dumbledore offered gentle words of comfort.

John had no choice but to accept this, since at this stage he had no means or ability to change it.

Afterwards, Dumbledore investigated other aspects of his condition and confirmed that it was simply another soul that had recently grown, with no other abnormalities.

And reassure him that the soul's dominance is not so easily replaced.

Try talking to yourself more often, whether you have something to say or not, and see if you can get a response from it.

After that, John left Dumbledore's office.

After John left, Dumbledore watched his retreating figure and fell into deep thought.

"If the other soul within John is indeed affected by the Horcrux, yet John showed no abnormalities when touching Harry..."

"Could this mean that there's still room for negotiation regarding Harry's situation...?"