Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Chapter 1001 Memory 5
The visitor's long, pointed ears twitched slightly, and his amber eyes swept over Abigail's bewildered face before looking at Rex.

The old man remained calm, as if he were simply discussing a news story.

But the visitor had already understood his meaning—to use the news of Sirius Black's massacre of thirteen Muggles to make the girl in front of him believe that her parents had been killed by an evil wizard, and to fill her with hatred for the wizarding world.

As a wizard, she could not fully integrate into the Muggle world, and she hated and resisted the magical world from the bottom of her heart.

Therefore, her only refuge is with her teachers who understand and care for her, and with her companions who walk alongside her.

Betrayal or loyalty no longer seemed to be a choice. Hatred was both her strongest shackle and her most powerful driving force.

A moment later, the tense, sharp expression on the visitor's face dissipated, and a cold smile appeared on her lips before she sat down on the stool.

"Ah... Grimson... Indeed, his skills are unparalleled."

The visitor said softly, "He also took care of that little problem last time. You can go find him; I'll give you his address."

“Not only me, but the Purifiers’ activities may also need his support,” Professor Rick continued. “Without spells like Grimson’s, they would have a hard time holding out against the wizards’ pursuit.”

"Ah...okay. I'll have him work with the people you arranged."

The visitor said casually, extending his knuckles to pick up the newspaper on the table and carefully examining the man laughing silently on the front page.

Judging from this image at least, he was a ruthless black wizard capable of anything.

“It’s good,” she said. “It has great potential.”

Mr. Rick nodded slightly, leaned back in his chair, and asked, "Amanda, what have you learned about that matter recently?"

"Sigh, this is too difficult..."

The visitor, named Amanda, took out a silver pipe from her small bag, skillfully filled it with tobacco, and flicked it with her fingertip, igniting the tobacco with a thin flame.

She took a deep breath, exhaled a bluish smoke with a strange fragrance, and then said wistfully:
"The pursuit of those true forces buried by the dust of history is like an unattainable dream. Every clue we can find has been altered time and again, eventually becoming unrecognizable..."

Mr. Rick laughed: "I recently got a clue. After encountering this child, it just bumped into me. Little Sera is truly my lucky star..."

He glanced at the girl standing next to him with a smile, and Abigail looked at her teacher with surprise and shyness.

She had no idea that just moments before, her fate had been decided by those two people over there in a few words.

With a glint in his eyes, Teacher Reck said in a low voice, "The clues point to the Balkans, or more precisely, to the Kosovo region."

“…Kosovo?” Amanda repeated softly, frowning. “That’s the poorest place in Yugoslavia, and I’ve never heard of any remarkable wizards there.”

"But that is a crossroads of history, my friend."

Teacher Reck paused for a moment, then said, "The Illyrians left behind ancient rock paintings about the stars there, but the iron hooves of the Roman legions trampled all their local mysteries underground, leaving only some legends about 'holy sites,' 'miracle springs,' and 'giants.'"

"I can't help but suspect that some secrets that were originally hidden were also buried along with it."

Upon hearing this, Amanda tapped her knee lightly with her fingers and narrowed her eyes intently.

She exhaled smoke, her entire face shrouded in mist, making it impossible for anyone to see her expression.

After a long pause, she said, "The Balkans... a land of blood and fire, a land of broken civilizations and clashing faiths, where the obsessions of countless souls are probably buried... You're right, this news is indeed possible."

She tapped her pipe and said in a cold, hard tone, “But it’s difficult, very difficult… This ‘gap’ can be hidden anywhere in Kosovo, unlike the Ministries whose locations we already have.”

“I’ve heard that the smallest ‘crack’ is only the size of a fist, and its impact area is no more than a room. It may be hidden under the roots of trees in the forest, hidden in a mine, buried deep underground, or in the basement of some building ruins…” She looked at Mr. Rick and said, “Finding such a tiny and hidden spot is like finding a blond hair in a haystack… It’s difficult, Rick.”

“That’s true,” Rick said. “But is it any harder than taking over a well-established Ministry of Magic?”

Amanda's expression shifted slightly.

Rick continued, "If 'gaps' were so easy to find, the Departments of Mystery in the Ministries of Magic of various countries would have stuffed them all into protective barriers long ago, so we wouldn't even have a chance to see them."

"To be honest, most of the Ministry of Magic's power is not enough to stop our attack, but what we want is not a temporary invasion, but a long-term occupation."

"Taking over a Ministry of Magic would definitely provoke attacks and hostility from wizards from various countries, and might even attract troublesome figures like Dumbledore..."

"And this one... it's ownerless."

Amanda sighed, nodded, and said, "You're right. Having a specific direction is infinitely better than us blindly searching around the world like headless flies for the past thirty years. The Balkans, Kosovo... I understand. I'll send people there to search."

“Don’t look so gloomy, Amanda, be more optimistic.” Teacher Rex laughed: “Kosovo is only 10,000 square kilometers in size. Even if we search inch by inch, we can find that place.”

The two men stared at each other, their eyes revealing the same ambition and determination to succeed.

Abigail was so sleepy that she leaned back in her chair and was about to fall asleep.

She couldn't understand what the two were saying, but she felt that Mr. Rick was very knowledgeable, and that although the lady looked very strange, she must be a very impressive person to be able to sit and talk with Mr. Rick.
…………

"Ugh!"

Abigail was suddenly pulled from the torrent of memories, as if she had been dragged out of a bucket by her hair. Her head was throbbing and she was gasping for breath.

She staggered and fell to the ground, her back slamming heavily against the shelf, making the crystal bottle rattle.

A hand supported her arm, and someone seemed to be saying something, but Abigail couldn't hear clearly.

Her mind was buzzing, all the fragments of her memory kept colliding, melting, and exploding, almost completely destroying her consciousness and the world she had built up over the years!

So that's how it is... So that's the truth...

Despite her extreme pain, Abigail's mind remained unusually clear, her brain operating at an unprecedentedly rapid and frantic pace—

Teacher Rick, that fairy named Amanda, the Balkans, Kosovo... and their search for the "gap"...

Considering the wars that have taken place on that land in recent years... the sudden appearance of a time weapon in the Magic School League, which was carelessly used on two children... and Hughes and Perez of the Magic Congress, who were also said to have suffered injuries from time magic...

In the past few decades, even before the Time-Turner was strictly regulated by the Ministry of Magic, there have been no such frequent cases of victims related to time magic.

So that's how it is! She understood everything! Everything connected!
"Brawne!"

Abigail suddenly raised her head, gripping the man who was supporting her tightly, eager to tell him what she had discovered.

However, in that very instant—

"Boom!"

She heard her heart pound heavily against her ribs, and she could even hear a huge, bell-like sound in her ears.

(End of this chapter)