Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 138 The Possibility of Breaking the Stalemate Ahead of Schedule

As he spoke, Baron opened the briefcase he had been keeping at his feet: "Let me show you the device I made myself—don't worry, it's just a regular spider inside, not an eight-eyed giant spider."

Inside the box was a glass jar about the size of a quagmire, containing a dark, ordinary spider that was currently lying listlessly at the bottom of the jar, with a bunch of small flying insects next to it, probably its food.

"To ensure the spider's emotional stability under normal circumstances, I applied some mimosa flower juice to the inside of the enclosure—the main ingredient in the euphoria potion, which helps keep it calm."

Baron placed the jar on the table and explained.

"Is that all?"

That's all for now.

"Let me think..."

This device in front of him could very well be a lifeline for Muggle-born students for a considerable period of time to come, and the key to uncovering the school board’s conspiracy. Faced with something so important, Avada must devote himself to careful consideration. According to the standard, he should also take a small dose of the intelligence enhancer, but unfortunately, he is currently in a period of recuperation and cannot take it.

He put down his knife and fork, drew his wand, and aimed it at the poor spider. He closed his eyes, frowned slightly, and carefully sensed the spider's spiritual power and life force. After a while, he looked up at Baron again.

"These spiders have a strong ability to sense basilisks, with a range of about fifty meters. If the basilisk is active, this range will be even larger. In that case, it would basically cover most of the castle, which wouldn't be very useful to an individual..."

Avada tapped the glass jar with her wand: "I suggest adding a spell to the jar to suppress the dispersion of spiritual energy, to limit the range within which the spider senses the basilisk... a radius of twenty or thirty meters should be enough."

"Furthermore, other stress-reactive behaviors of the spider itself need to be limited, and its earthquake resistance also needs to be improved..."

"Oh, right, students wearing these devices might not be able to keep a close eye on the spiders' movements all the time. We'll also need to arrange a spell to detect the spiders' condition and immediately sound an alarm if they panic..."

"And it also needs to be as portable and inconspicuous as possible. The current jar is a bit too big, but we still need to leave the spider with the necessary living space. Perhaps this can be solved by choosing the right spider species..."

"Hmm, a very valuable suggestion..."

Baron suddenly had a note in his hand, and with a pen in his other hand, he wrote down Avada's suggestions: "But wouldn't this make it a bit too difficult to make a single device? This thing is meant to be made for every Muggle student."

"Not high."

Avada shook his head: "Give me half an hour, and I can develop the corresponding magic. The casting difficulty should be controlled at the level of a third or fourth grader. If I get a few more people to make it, that should be enough."

"So fast?" Baron looked at Avada in surprise. "Isn't your mental strength still recovering? Don't use any more intelligence-enhancing drugs or anything like that..."

"The development of such minor spells doesn't require intelligence-enhancing agents."

Avada chuckled and continued his analysis: "For spider selection, we can go to Professor Kettleburn or Hagrid and ask them for some advice. Then we can contact the stores in Diagon Alley directly for bulk orders... At this rate, a Christmas break would be enough to make all the devices needed by all the Muggle-born students in the school."

He finished the food on the plate in front of him in a few bites, then stood up immediately: "There's no time to lose, I'll go develop the relevant spells now, can I borrow this jar for a bit?"

"Um."

Upon hearing about something so important, Baron immediately lost his appetite: "Then I'll go ask Professor Kettleburn about spiders."

"it is good."

Avada nodded: "We need to hurry—try to build the devices for all the Muggle-born students staying on campus before Christmas, every one we can save is one more."

"The basilisk's eyes must now have a transparent clasp, like glasses, so its stare won't kill, but only petrify. And if those guys on the board of directors see that their threats aren't working and there are still a lot of Muggle-born students left at the school, they might actually remove the basilisk's eyepatch and let it go on a rampage. Anyway, the so-called Castle Will will take the blame... We have to hurry."

"They shouldn't be that extreme for the time being."

Baron offered words of comfort, but his expression remained unchanged: "After all, Dumbledore can't just stand by and watch these things happen. They lack a backer who can directly confront Dumbledore..."

"It will be available soon."

Avada glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation before whispering to Baron, "Snape confirmed with me that Voldemort himself is the mastermind behind the whole thing—don't be surprised yet, you saw him split his soul, right? He's done the same thing before, which means there's more than one Voldemort in the world. And each Voldemort's soul probably has the potential to be resurrected independently, just like Professor Baker."

"If they really did secretly resurrect Voldemort during the occupation of Hogwarts, then things will be really troublesome."

"Does Dumbledore know?"

"Yes, I know. He's the one who had Professor Snape relay this to me."

"That's good."

Baron breathed a sigh of relief: "At least the situation is still under control... Wait, didn't you say Professor Snape made an unbreakable vow to the Board of Governors? How did he convey so much information to you?"

"To be honest, I don't know either. He seems completely unconcerned about that vow..."

A hint of confusion appeared in Avada's eyes: "If you ask me, either he made an ambiguous statement when he swore the oath, leaving a loophole, or the amazing Dumbledore must have intervened."

"……All right."

Baron stood up as well: "Then I won't go back for Christmas either. I'll stay at school and make the spider device with you."

"it is good."

Avada didn't refuse—after all, there were hundreds of Muggle-born students at the school, and he alone would be too busy to handle everything. Besides, Baron's magical abilities were trustworthy.

"The Christmas holidays are in three days. If we develop the corresponding magic today and place the order with Diagon Alley, we can start work tomorrow. That means we have to make about twenty or thirty devices in two days... It's a bit stressful, but not too much."

"And don't forget about the distribution—most people now believe that what petrified the students was indeed the so-called Will of the Castle, and we still have to convince those students that the killer is indeed a Basilisk. Fortunately, the school proactively posted the list of Muggle-born students, otherwise our workload would probably be several times greater... Anyway, I'm going to find Professor Kettleburn now, hurry up with yours too."

"it is good."

Avada nodded and said no more. He took the glass jar containing the spider and quickly left the bustling common room, then found a quiet empty classroom and sat down.

"If this device can be effectively implemented and petrification incidents completely or at least drastically reduced, it would be practically irrefutable proof of the Basilisk's existence. This would force the school board to issue an explanation, and might even alarm the entire magical community..."

"That way, I won't even need to unravel the secret chamber. The investigators will just turn the old pipes upside down, drag out the Basilisk, and kill it. The Board of Governors' conspiracy will fall apart, Dumbledore can return, and cripple the die-hard pure-bloods... Meanwhile, I can have time to focus on researching the Penance Effect and extract the soul fragments from the Horcrux journal as soon as possible!"

(End of this chapter)