Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 312 Who's Helping?

"Are you sure?"

Dumbledore's brow furrowed slightly—an expression rarely seen on his face: "The Ludo Bagman who has reappeared is a fake?"

"Sure."

Avada nodded readily: "The unease I feel about Ludo Bagman is exactly the same as with Moody before."

"……I see."

Dumbledore stroked his beard and pondered for a moment. The slightly troubled expression he had worn earlier slowly disappeared, and he once again appeared calm and composed, as if what he had just heard was a trivial matter that could be easily resolved: "Thank you for telling me this, Ken. This is quite important information."

"I'm afraid that this replacement of Ludo Bagman is the key to finally killing me—if that person's disguise is sophisticated enough and his own strength is not to be underestimated, he would indeed be a threat to me when I'm caught off guard."

"professor,"

Avada hesitated for a moment, but finally asked, "Could the guy who replaced Bagman be the Barty Crouch Jr. you mentioned earlier?"

To be honest, when he realized that the returning Ludo Bagman was an imposter, he probably already knew what was going on—Barty Crouch Jr. had never actually been released from the beginning, and had been obediently controlled by his father and house-elves the whole time. After all, Voldemort wasn't coming to rescue him this time, and given Barty Crouch's methods, there was no way he could be allowed to escape on his own.

That's why the previous Quidditch World Cup went so smoothly and peacefully, without the usual wizarding procession and Dark Mark incident. One of the key objectives of this Triwizard Tournament is actually to rescue Barty, who has been imprisoned for some time.

As for the fake Moody in Hogwarts... without a doubt, it was Peter Pettigrew in disguise, otherwise Dumbledore wouldn't have left so easily.

However, this makes Moody's whereabouts somewhat noteworthy—he doesn't believe Moody would do nothing at such a crucial juncture.

"...It seems so."

Dumbledore pondered, "Since Barty Crouch entered Durmstrang, that highly enclosed place, it's highly likely that he brought his son in as well. At the very least, he would have established a stable means of contact to allow him to periodically continue the spell... Anyone who pays close attention to Crouch's movements will easily discover clues about Barty Crouch Jr.

"But who will be the one with the heart?"

This time it was Avada's turn to be puzzled—it seemed that there was no one in Durmstrang who shared the same interests as Barty Crouch Jr.

Even Durmstrang's headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, who had a Death Eater background, was the least likely person to want to see Barty Jr. escape—he had escaped punishment by betraying the Death Eaters, while Barty Jr. was the most fanatical Voldemort supporter. It would be good enough if they didn't try to kill each other, let alone help each other.

If Voldemort were still alive, Avada might have considered the possibility that Karkaroff might voluntarily help Voldemort resurrect and make amends—but given the current situation, unless Karkaroff has gone mad, he would never be willing to have even the slightest connection with Voldemort, the Death Eaters, or even the entire British pure-blood family power.

But who else could it be?

"That's what I need to investigate next."

Dumbledore seemed somewhat puzzled, but quickly recovered: "But at least we're not completely ignorant—now that we know Barty Jr.'s identity, we have a lot more control over things, and the pressure we have to bear will be much less... It's good that you realized this in time."

"It's just my duty."

Avada naturally accepted Dumbledore's praise, and then brought up another matter: "By the way, Professor, I have another question I'd like to confirm with you."

"What is it?"

"Is there any way to secretly take me out of Durmstrang without anyone noticing, and then secretly bring me back after some time?"

Why ask that?

Dumbledore paused for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening, and his eyes suddenly lit up with excitement: "The Horcrux separation plan is complete?!"

"It's almost done, but I estimate it should be finished by Christmas."

Avada nodded, then added, "And the reason I'm leaving Durmstrang to do this is because I have another theory... Do you think Harry Potter, who survived the Killing Curse and inexplicably learned to speak Parsley, might actually be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes?"

He never brought this up with Dumbledore, partly to conceal his true abilities while he was still weak and avoid unnecessary trouble, and partly to be considerate of Harry himself—if Dumbledore knew that Harry was also a Horcrux before he was completely convinced that he could destroy a Horcrux without harming the vessel, who knows what kind of trouble the cunning headmaster would cause behind his back…

He should have told Dumbledore about this as soon as he woke up, but his mind hadn't fully recovered yet, and he had too many things to consider, so he put the matter aside until he talked to Dumbledore again today and remembered it...

"...I had guessed that."

Sure enough, Dumbledore immediately became serious when the topic came up: "However, it is still not entirely certain—that a living person can become another wizard's Horcrux is something that has never happened before, either in theory or in practice. In addition, the realm of the soul is too profound, and the coexistence of two souls is too complicated... so I have not yet verified this conjecture."

"Maybe this time it will work."

Avada's expression relaxed slightly: "The method we've developed is based on the Penance effect, specifically targeting Voldemort's soul. It won't affect anyone else's soul. When we begin, we can test it on two or three Horcruxes first, and then explain the situation to Harry after confirming it's safe..."

"So, we need to go back to Hogwarts?"

"That's right, and it would be best if it were at Christmas—if Harry really is a Horcrux, then the fewer people who know about it, the better."

"...Leave the matter of leaving Durmstrang to me."

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore finally finalized the plan: "In theory, this shouldn't be difficult—I can ask to go back to Hogwarts around Christmas, which isn't an unreasonable request, and taking you along would just be a convenient thing... All you need to do is make sure that the plan is fully and reliably developed before then."

(End of this chapter)