Hogwarts: Who uses a crowbar in wizard duels?

Clang, clang.

The sound of the train starting rang out rhythmically.

Kevin and his friends were already on the train home.

During the Christmas holidays, they all chose to return to the Order of the Phoenix.

Draco, however, still went back to Malfoy Manor.

"Kevin, any news about Professor Dumbledore?"

Inside the compartment, Harry Ron sat in Kevin Hermione's compartment, during which Harry asked curiously.

After attending Professor Horace's ball yesterday, Dumbledore disappeared without a trace.

According to Professor McGonagall, news came from the Ministry of Magic that someone had seen the death row inmates who had been rescued by Voldemort, so Dumbledore went directly to investigate.

He didn't come back all night, nor did he send any messages.

Kevin shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.

Anyway, this isn't the first time the principal has gone missing, so there's nothing to worry about.

"Come on, Harry, put your hand out."

Kevin suddenly pulled out his wand and said to Harry with great interest.

"?"

Harry felt uneasy under Kevin's smiling gaze and had a bad feeling, but he still obediently extended his hand.

Kevin placed the tip of his wand against Harry's palm.

Ron looked at Kevin's actions strangely, clearly curious about what Kevin was trying to do.

Hermione already knew what Kevin was planning. Don't ask, it's just curiosity that caused this trouble.

"Avada..."

The moment he uttered the incantation, Harry completely bristled.

Isn't this a death curse?!

Before Harry could pull his hand back, a flash of blue light appeared.

"The Edge of Avada"

Suddenly, a sudden, inexplicable pain struck; it wasn't intense, but it was still real pain.

"Hey! Kevin! What are you doing?!"

Harry cried out in pain and quickly pulled his hand back, rubbing his palm repeatedly in an attempt to relieve the waves of pain from an unknown source.

Even though there were no wounds on my hands, I could still feel pain. This pain even slowly spread until it became a kind of phantom pain throughout my whole body.

Harry writhed in pain for a while before the agonizing pain slowly subsided.

This is a spell that Kevin just developed recently, combining the Killing Curse and the Divine Edge.

The killing function of the Killing Curse was removed, but the effect of touching the soul was retained, and then the effect of the Divine Blade's Shadowless Cutting was incorporated.

Finally, the special spell to sever the soul was achieved.

However, it's worth mentioning that this thing falls under the category of black magic.

"Kevin, what did you just do?"

Harry finally got rid of the stinging pain and questioned Kevin in dissatisfaction.

"Harry, tell me how you feel. Is there anything like suddenly feeling relaxed all over?"

Instead of answering Harry, Kevin asked him how he felt.

"Relaxed? I almost saw Grandma just now!"

Seeing that Kevin was still in the mood to joke, Harry immediately shouted indignantly.

"Try to feel it more carefully now~"

Kevin asked, unwilling to give up.

"......No!"

Harry saw that Kevin was still fixated on this issue and actually quieted down, thinking that Kevin had invented some new type of pain massage.

After experiencing it seriously, I found there was no relief whatsoever; instead, I felt lingering pain.

"..."

Kevin scratched his head. Had he failed...?

Well, it wasn't exactly a failure. If he could have clearly located where the Voldemort soul fragment was stuck, he could have simply cut it off.

That last burst was at the minimum power he controlled, similar to a small cut on the finger from a knife.

It will not cause any irreversible damage to the soul.

Kevin stopped hiding his intentions and explained the principle behind the spell.

However, he didn't tell Harry his real purpose, only saying that Voldemort had developed a defensive charm that could negate physical attacks, while he had developed a charm that attacked the soul.

Strictly speaking, this move is no less lethal than the Killing Curse.

Kevin could even further optimize it by adding the "Shadowless" effect to the Divine Edge Without Shadow, making it an absolutely deadly and unpredictable spell.

However, to be honest, creating such a curse is somewhat immoral.

Therefore, Kevin did not intend to delve any further into the research; eliminating Voldemort's soul fragments would suffice.

The next step should be to learn how to explore the soul.

Harry and Ron were amazed by Kevin's genius and were also glad that Kevin was one of their own, otherwise even Dumbledore probably wouldn't have been able to help.

At that moment, a ball of fire appeared, and a letter fell out from the flames.

"It's a letter from the principal."

Kevin took the envelope, saw the signature, and slowly said.

Harry and the others immediately gathered around, eager to see the contents of the letter.

After opening the envelope, they read the contents.

Just as Professor McGonagall said, she went to track down death row inmates provided by the Ministry of Magic.

According to information provided by the Ministry of Magic, they discovered yesterday at Little Hangleton a death row inmate who had escaped with Voldemort.

This is the only time in this period that the whereabouts of a death row inmate have been discovered; the rest of the death row inmates seem to have vanished into thin air and have never appeared.

Little Hangleton is the town that Kevin and Dumbledore visited together before; Riddle House and Gaunt's old house are located there.

So yesterday, Dumbledore made a trip to Little Hangleton without stopping.

The result was a major discovery: the old Riddle House had vanished into thin air, leaving only a bare little hillside.

Only a trace of magical aura remained in the vicinity.

Sensing something was wrong, Dumbledore began a large-scale search of the area around Little Hangleton.

After a night of investigation, he actually found the problem.

Outside Little Hangleton, there appeared a landowner's manor that Dumbledore had never seen before.

That was a manor that the Aurors had never even been able to discover before.

Dumbledore realized it was a very powerful illusion magic because he noticed something was off about the flow of people, with people occasionally appearing from that direction.

Only after seeing through the illusion did he discover the manor.

This manor, though seemingly ordinary, was protected by magical enchantments, preventing even Dumbledore from infiltrating it for a time.

At this point, there's basically no need to think further; Voldemort, or some Death Eater's very important stronghold, is located there.

Dumbledore meant that they should not alert the enemy for the time being. He did not break the illusion at that time, so he was not exposed.

For now, we can ignore Voldemort; finding his stronghold is enough.

We'll discuss the rest when we meet next time.

However, Kevin really wanted to just charge in.

He and Dumbledore joined forces to subdue Voldemort, then used Legilimency on him to locate the last Horcrux.

Although success is not guaranteed, because at this level, one can even fool oneself by altering one's own memories.

But at least it's worth a try. If all else fails, we can see what Voldemort had to save about those death row inmates he rescued.

As soon as the idea came to mind, Hermione nudged Kevin.

"No unauthorized actions are allowed."

"..."

Hermione seemed to see through Kevin and spoke up in advance to stop the dangerous thoughts in Kevin's mind.

Leaving aside the fact that it might be Voldemort's stronghold, the information provided by Dumbledore alone shows that it had long been heavily guarded, and it would be a terrible idea to deliberately break in.

Most importantly, Grindelwald, who appeared some time ago, has completely disappeared recently, and it's very likely he's there too.

Even if you go with Dumbledore, it's not guaranteed that you'll be able to handle it easily.