My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 280, Section 277: The Evil Consequences Left by Voldemort

The silence in the office lasted for a long time.

Lynn sat quietly, waiting for Behirde to speak, while Tom on the table held his breath, seemingly very interested in everything.

After a long while, the little girl finally spoke timidly.

"Professor, if I told you that I'm learning magic for revenge, would you stop teaching me?"

"Of course not," Lynn said, blinking. "Do you remember what I told you before our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Revenge is not shameful; what is truly shameful is being afraid to face your hatred and giving up on yourself."

Hearing Lynn's words, Behirde seemed to finally feel at ease. She sat down opposite Lynn with a forlorn expression and began to tell her story.

"I want to avenge my parents. They were killed shortly after I was born by the henchmen of a man who called himself the Dark Lord. I was raised by my uncle's family from a young age. Because I was born with a weak constitution, they never told me about this, but I overheard their conversation and found out. They said that although the Dark Lord was dead, the murderer who killed my parents was still at large, so I wanted to become stronger and avenge them."

It's a very simple and cliché story, but it feels incredibly real in the magical world.

During the decade or so that Voldemort wreaked havoc on the British wizarding world, countless orphans like Basild emerged, their tragedies directly linked to Voldemort.

Lynn glanced at Tom out of the corner of her eye and spat on Tom's love, which had died before it even began.

Pah, serves you right!

"I'm actually terrified of the professor." Behilde lowered her head, her two pale, almost translucent hands gripping her robes tightly. "I never even had the courage to watch my aunt kill a chicken when I was little, yet I've always dreamed of avenging my parents and finding and killing my enemy. I only dare to practice magic diligently; I don't even dare to think about how I would kill my enemy if I ever encountered him."

Her emotions seemed to be completely released as she spoke, her voice trembling with sobs.

"I know I was born with a weak body, and my magic skills are not as good as others. It's completely impossible for me to become a great wizard. But every night when I sleep, I dream that my parents are questioning me about why I didn't avenge them. They are condemning me, saying that I am not worthy of being their daughter."

"But Professor, I've really tried my best, I've really, really tried so hard! Apart from eating and sleeping, I haven't dared to have a single spare moment. I've been studying constantly, but no matter how much magic I know, it's useless. The power of the magic I use is less than half that of others!"

Behilde wept, pouring out all the pent-up emotions she had been suppressing.

Lynn couldn't offer any words of comfort.

Saying you need to cheer up now is just bullshit; your parents definitely don't want to see you like this.

Only revenge can extinguish the torment in her heart.

There was no Ravenclaw lounge in Lynn's office. After she had vented all her emotions, she collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted, and fell asleep.

Lynn found a thin blanket to cover her up and then sat back down in the chair.

Seeing Behirde asleep, Tom, filled with guilt, was about to speak when Lynn's stern gaze stopped him.

Two hours later, after Lynn woke her up and left the office, Tom was finally allowed to speak.

"So Lynn, the reason she suffered such a tragedy is because of me in the past?"

Lynn pulled out a piece of parchment and held a quill pen in his hand as if he were writing something.

"You used to do all sorts of evil things, and what Behild said is just one of the evil consequences of your past actions."

Silence fell over the office, broken only by the soft scratching of the quill pen tip against the parchment.

Tom spoke again after a long period of contemplation.

"Then, is there anything I can do to make it up to them?"

While he was asking the question, Lynn finished writing his letter, picked up the parchment, previewed what he had written, and stood up after finding no mistakes or omissions.

"I'm glad you have this idea, Tom." He smiled like a father. "Although strictly speaking, you and the you of the past are not the same person, the sins that the Tom of the past left in this world can only be borne by you alone. This sin is huge, and you may even have to spend your whole life to repay it."

I'll give you time to consider. If you're unwilling to take these responsibilities, you can stay in this ball for the rest of your life. But if you've thought it through, you can tell me, and then Professor Dumbledore and I will work together to find a way to make you a normal person and start your new life—a new life that will be your redemption.

After listening to Lynn's words, Tom did not say anything more.

As Lynn said, he wasn't ready to take on all of this yet. After Lynn's "training," Tom's values ​​are now more normal than those of a normal person.

He could certainly stay in that little ball forever, but after hearing about Behirde's ordeal and the torment she was enduring, Tom felt very sad. He really wanted to do something.

Lynn put the letter he had written into an envelope, without disturbing Tom's thoughts. He pushed open the door, left the office, and walked out of the castle.

As Lynn approached the owl's room, he transformed back into his original form and found his owl inside.

"Take this to old John, and then wait for him there. He will give you a reply as soon as possible."

The owl carried Lynn's message into the night sky and disappeared into the darkness.

Lynn did not leave immediately. He stood quietly looking at the waning moon and the clear night sky outside the window for a long time.

Hermione and her friends' plan went very smoothly.

On Saturday, they successfully borrowed the book "Powerful Potion" from the library.

But after obtaining the formula for the compound decoction, they still had another difficult problem to solve.

They lacked two essential ingredients for brewing potions.

However, the audacious Harry and Ron had already come up with a plan: they intended to steal the necessary materials from Snape.

The idea is bold, but it could very well succeed.

Hermione steals because she has no prior record with the professors, so even if she gets caught, she won't be severely punished. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron use distractions in class to buy Hermione time.

Finally, a week before Christmas, they successfully obtained the materials they wanted from Snape's office.

(End of this chapter)