Simultaneously traversing: the pinnacle of all realms

Chapter 79 The Curse of Black Magic

Professor Flitwick tried to explain it to Xavier.

"For example, the most terrifying ability of Dementors is to suck out people's souls, and some of the most evil black magic—"

He took a deep breath and continued, "Even at the cost of damaging one's own soul, Mr. Xavier, do you understand?"

"Like—the three unforgivable curses?"

Professor Flitwick fell silent for a moment.

Second-year wizards shouldn't be exposed to this kind of thing, especially since Xavier is Muggle-born. But considering the boy's consistent studiousness, it makes sense that he had looked up relevant information beforehand.

"Yes, just like the three unforgivable curses."

"They are cruel and powerful, but if a wizard uses them continuously, the caster's soul will gradually deteriorate, just like food rotting in an unseen corner. This is the fundamental difference between black magic and other magic."

Xavier lowered his head in thought: "In other words, some curses can damage the soul, so specific counter-curses are needed; ordinary healing magic is ineffective."

Indeed, if it's a soul, that explains it. And perhaps the soul itself possesses self-healing abilities, while black magic has a curse-like effect on the soul; the counter-curse might simply remove the curse attached to the soul.

Xavier then thought of something else.

The magic used to create Horcruxes is clearly a form of dark magic, requiring the destruction of one's own soul as a price, and this damage is far deeper and more irreversible than that of the Unforgivable Curse.

Voldemort sliced ​​his own soul so many times that he eventually became neurotic.

To destroy the soul fragments sealed inside the Horcrux, one obviously needs something capable of destroying the soul.

For example, Fiendfyre, or the sword of Gryffindor, or the fangs of the Basilisk.

Ok?

Fiendfyre itself is dark magic, the Gryffindor sword might have used some secret fairy magic, and the basilisk's poison—a poison that can corrode the soul—is interesting.

At the same time, Dumbledore was sitting alone in his office, flipping through a thick old archive.

It contains a record of all the events that occurred at Hogwarts in 1943.

The entry for "The Death of Myrtle Warren" contains only a few lines of text.

The investigation fifty years ago was too hasty. The then-headmaster, Armando Dippert, was eager to quell the situation, and the Ministry of Magic was eager to find someone to take responsibility. In the end, Hagrid was pushed out to take the blame, even though the pet Hagrid kept at the time was indeed very dangerous.

But Dumbledore knew Hagrid wasn't the killer.

At the time, Dumbledore, despite having suspicions about the conspiracy behind it, was unable to take any substantial action to stop it due to a lack of crucial evidence.

About fifty years before Harry enrolled, in the school year of 1942-1943, Dumbledore was still the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets for the first time that year.

Dumbledore knew far more about this matter than anyone else at the time.

When everyone believed Hagrid was the murderer of Myrtle, Dumbledore was the only teacher who doubted Tom Riddle's "perfect student" facade. He kept a close watch on Riddle, a silent observation that eventually forced Riddle to close the Chamber of Secrets.

Following that incident, Dumbledore continued his investigation into the Chamber of Secrets. He exhausted every means to search for its entrance, but never found it. This means that decades before Harry was born, he had already begun his search for the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.

He even questioned each of the portraits, as well as the ghosts that had been wandering around Hogwarts for a long time.

Of course, Myrtle was no exception, but none of them gave a definitive answer. The only certainty was that Myrtle was not killed by a curse; the eyes she saw were definitely not human eyes.

Although Dumbledore was the headmaster, this castle had stood for a thousand years, burying too many secrets that even he could not touch.

However, Dumbledore now has other methods.

He went to find Tom Riddle in the diary.

Although Tom Riddle in the diary wouldn't tell Dumbledore the truth, the sixteen-year-old without a nose was already quite clever, clever enough not to believe anyone's sincerity, not even Dumbledore's.

But Dumbledore doesn't need him to tell the truth.

After some interrogation—a thorough and detailed conversation—young Tom finally admitted to the existence of the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin, and the Basilisk within it, located in the women's lavatory.

However, even though Dumbledore knew the truth of the matter and even the location of the Chamber of Secrets, he now faced a problem.

Because Dumbledore was facing two insurmountable obstacles at this time.

The first is language: he does understand Parsnip. He can speak it, understand it, pronounces it correctly, and uses the correct grammar, but that was acquired through decades of learning and research, not from a natural Parsnip accent.

Therefore, he could not open the entrance to the secret room; they did not recognize him as a "foreign language learner."

This whole thing is absurd—Parsleyan is clearly a magical talent, yet Dumbledore learned it as if it were a language. Did he perhaps think that since it's a language, there must be a way to learn it?

The second is access control: the Chamber of Secrets can only be opened by Salazar Slytherin's true successor.

Even if Dumbledore finds the entrance, he is currently unable to break the magical restrictions left by the founder.

As one of the four founders of Hogwarts, Slytherin's authority in the castle was clearly much greater than that of a headmaster.

Therefore, to resolve all of this, time is needed, a natural Parsley speaker, a Slytherin successor, or the magic outside the Secret Chamber needs to be broken directly.

Even to bring the truth of Moaning Myrtle's case to light, wizards from the Ministry of Magic would need to be present as witnesses; otherwise, they probably wouldn't readily admit their mistake from fifty years ago.

Perhaps, that diary will come in handy one last time.

The diary, and other possible Horcruxes —

All of this required a plan, and Dumbledore's eyes grew even more profound.

In November, Hogwarts was shrouded in continuous rain, and a thin layer of moisture seeped from the stone walls of the castle. The weather in Britain at that time was indeed unpleasant.

The torches in the corridor, like nuclear power, never went out, casting the shadows of passing students, sometimes long, sometimes short.

Xavier noticed that Dumbledore hadn't been to the dinner party for a while.

This is not Dumbledore's style.

He always enjoyed dining with his students at dinner parties, and would occasionally tell a few corny jokes that no one could understand.

He's even skipping mealtimes now, which means something is taking up most of his energy.

If it weren't for the occasional sighting of Dumbledore during the day and the fact that his alchemy classes were still going on as usual, Xavier would probably have thought that Dumbledore had left Hogwarts.

He thought that Dumbledore was probably investigating Voldemort's other Horcruxes.

It seems that Old Deng hasn't made any progress yet, which is indeed true, because the later Horcruxes are all precious items. Who would have thought that No-Nose's first Horcrux would be something as simple as a diary?