The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Dumbledore ran his hand over Grindelwald's handwriting, feeling as if he could see the man himself through the words.

But now was not the time to reminisce about old friends, so Dumbledore turned his attention to the record.

"The area under the bed was full of patients, all of them with black sticks stuck in their bodies, stones stuffed in their mouths, and their heads cut off—their heads were made of dirty black cloth and stuffed into their necks."

After reading it silently three times, Dumbledore drew the horrific scene on another piece of paper.

The painting depicts a severed head, covered with a black cloth that resembles a skull, which reminded Dumbledore of Dementors.

The Dementors and the people described in the story gradually overlapped.

Dumbledore checked the time again, "The earliest mental hospital..."

"Um……"

The white wizard rubbed his throbbing temples hard. His memory was always excellent. When was the earliest mental hospital ever established?

"Spain..." Dumbledore's memories began to return: "The earliest mental hospitals were established in 15th-century Spain!"

A glint of light flashed across the lenses of his glasses.

Dumbledore excitedly grabbed the notebook. The timeline matched up. Perhaps, he had found the answer to Moriarty's question!

"Fox".

Dumbledore grabbed the phoenix by the legs; he was going to London, to the British Library!

The next day, Moriarty, who was brewing potions in Potions class as usual, was invited to Dumbledore's office.

The fourth-grade snakes and lions started gossiping. Professor Dumbledore himself came to the Potions classroom, interrupted Professor Snape, and called Moriarty away!

Scenes like today are not something you see every day.

"Headmaster?" Moriarty looked at Dumbledore curiously in the office. "You've made some discovery, haven't you?"

"Snapped!"

Dumbledore slammed a thick, green hardcover book onto the table.

"The Doctors of Medieval Western Europe?" Moriarty saw the words on the cover; he understood Spanish.

"Yes!" Dumbledore's eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept all night, but he was unusually excited: "This book is about doctors, strange patients, and the bizarre diseases they encountered in Western Europe from the 12th to the 17th centuries."

Moriarty looked directly at Dumbledore: "What are you trying to say?"

"Look at this," Dumbledore said, pushing Grindelwald's notebook toward him and then pointing his wand at the Spanish book. "This book contains the account of a strange mental patient, exactly as described in the notebook."

"His name is—Extis!"

"Splash!"

Turning to a page in "The Doctors of Medieval Western Europe," the words were all in red ink.

"The first patient to escape from a mental hospital?"

After reading the notes, Moriarty came over and read the records in the book.

"Extis—a Spaniard, whose growing fondness for corpses led local residents to discover he was mentally ill..."

"Extis entered Spain's first mental hospital at the age of 16, where he spent twenty years, brutally murdering more than 600 fellow patients and turning them into—horrible things..."

The following text became increasingly gruesome. Moriarty frowned as he read it, gaining a complete understanding of Extis.

"Extis saw himself as the creator, and every living being—including every organ within it—was a piece of a puzzle in his hands!"

"He used puzzle pieces to create the monster."

Moriarty turned to the back of the book. There were no cameras back then, only sketches drawn by the author stroke by stroke.

"Look at these monsters..." Moriarty's tone was enigmatic, a glint of anger flashing in his eyes. "Six eyes sewn onto their faces, and another pair on the back of their heads. Is Extis trying to create people with eyes in the back of their heads?"

"And this one, they've embedded the nose into the toenails and fingernails, but instead of the nose, they've sewn a left hand on it! This is the right hand!"

"He didn't even spare children with depression! He cut open the tops of two children's heads and then sewed them together head to head, creating an hourglass!"

"Finally, as the notes say, the area under the bed was filled with corpses whose heads were made of black cloth! Looks like that was his handiwork?"

Moriarty angrily slammed the book shut; he couldn't read any more.

"Anyone with a conscience would be outraged to see this. Extis is completely defiling and fooling humanity."

"Dumbledore said calmly."

"When I first saw it last night, my beard seemed to come to life and kept trembling. But I must say that some of the most notorious dark wizards in history have often used living beings for dangerous magical experiments."

Moriarty bluntly stated, "Extis must be the one who has harmed the most. Now I know what you're thinking—Extis created the Dementors of Azkaban!"

“That’s right,” Dumbledore said seriously. “He did it in the mental hospital, and those corpses with their heads wrapped in black cloth looked a lot like Dementors.”

"From a chronological perspective, Azkaban became a wizarding prison in England starting in 1718," Moriarty analyzed. "Extis was active in the 15th century, and if he found some way to escape death, it's not impossible that he created Dementors."

"You said that the members of the Immortal Organization all have a way to become immortal, right?" Dumbledore recalled: "Dracula is immortal, Nightfall has dark elemental magic, and he draws life force from the Blood Feast. The old witch died and was resurrected, and the Ventura clan also has demons protecting them."

"So?" Moriarty and Dumbledore exchanged a glance and said in unison:

"Extis is next!"

"Extis has a secret!"

"Excellent," Moriarty said happily, "It's rare to see us on the same page. Shall we set off immediately for Azkaban?"

Dumbledore asked why, and Moriarty smiled and shook his head.

"The island of Azkaban is black, and the waters surrounding it are black. The water elemental tells me that black represents the dead."

Moriarty discovered this on his first trip to Azkaban, but did not contact Extis, since deaths in prison were commonplace.

However, Dumbledore's discovery of Extis's deeds immediately made Moriarty connect the two events.

Extis may be using prisoners to create liches!

Thinking of this, Moriarty sighed, "No wonder there's no trace of Extis in the history books of the wizarding world; he was a Muggle."

Dumbledore pondered, "I have lived more than a hundred years longer than you. No dark wizard who defiles a human body can be alone! If the secret of Azkaban is as we think, it means that Extis has many more secrets that are unknown to others."

As they chatted, they Apparated to London, and then on to Azkaban.

Coincidentally, Voldemort also chose today as the day he would begin to control Harry.

Voldemort intended to use the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement to secretly bring in a group of Death Eaters.

however.

"Who moved my disappearing cabinet?!"

When Ron entered the Room of Requirement, he found that the cabinet had disappeared, leaving only a deep mark on the floor.

Voldemort was enraged.

Moriarty in London suddenly sneezed.

"Who's thinking about me?" Moriarty rubbed his nose. "Hmm...it must be my darling Narcissa..."

Ron walked out of the Room of Requirement with a gloomy expression.

If one plan fails, another will come up.

Ron used a secret passage to let the two Death Eaters in.

"Why are there two of you?"

Ron, now wearing a mask and cloak, looked at the two Death Eaters with disdain.

The Carlo siblings.

The elder brother, Amycus Carlo, respectfully replied to his master, "Lucius sent us to serve our master."

Sister Alexios added, "Lady Bella has gone into hiding with Antonin Dolohoff, August Lukewood, the Lestrange brothers... Lockhart is checking too frequently. Quite a few people have already been brought back."

Whenever Lockhart is mentioned, the Caro siblings grit their teeth in disgust.

Lockhart's anti-Black Squad has been remarkably effective in combating the Death Eaters.

The Death Eaters are now divided into two groups.

Most of them were led by Bella and infiltrated into small villages in England.

A small number of Death Eaters hid at Lucius's Malfoy Manor, an arrangement made by Voldemort—these were all former Ministry of Magic officials, public figures, whom Voldemort intended to use for other purposes.

But Mrs. Sabine didn't seem very happy; the woman appeared to have other plans.

The Carol siblings told Voldemort all of this, and then hid in the Room of Requirement, waiting for Voldemort's summons.

(1. Extis was a real person; his background will be revealed in later chapters.)

(2. Amycus Caro: The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts in Book VII. He was knocked down by Harry's Crucifixion Curse before the Great War and then controlled by Professor McGonagall's Imperius Curse. Alecto Caro: Amycus's sister, the Muggle Studies teacher in Book VII. She discovered Harry before the Great War but was knocked down by Luna's Stunning Curse.)