From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 592 The Whereabouts of the Soul

“Covetous?” A young man’s voice came from outside the map chamber, the torches in the corridor casting long shadows. “That’s a sad word, my dear great-great-uncle.”

Orminus, the blind man, was from the Gaunt family. He was the uncle of Marvolo Gaunt's father, Voldemort's maternal grandfather, and thus Voldemort's great-great-uncle. Four generations separated by a hundred years—such a long and uncommon kinship term took Ivy a couple of seconds to understand.

The young man emerging from the shadows was practically an adult version of Harry—no, he was Harry's adult self, only with a touch more of an unnatural wickedness and less of the recklessness and impulsiveness of a teenager.

Professor Snape's beloved olive-green eyes, the round glasses perched on his nose, and his neat yet simple long wizard robes—the only external feature that allowed Ivy to associate this man with Voldemort was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

“How could I not notice a little mouse walking into my castle?” Noticing Ivy’s gaze, Harry Voldemort smiled. “However, I’m curious who you are. I don’t remember ever seeing your unforgettable face.”

“Riddle, you will never succeed… Ancient magic is not a power you can master… No matter how hard you try, you can never reach his level…” Before Ivy could answer, Orminis, who was half-lying on the ground, suddenly spoke up in a provocative tone, “Whether it’s possessing the bodies of young people or manipulating the corpses of the dead, you will never succeed…”

“Are you trying to provoke me, great-great-uncle?” Harry Voldemort smiled calmly, a fanaticism gradually spreading across his face. “This isn’t possession. Harry Potter, Tom Riddle, Voldemort—they are all me. This is rebirth, proof that I have conquered death! I am the master of death! I will never see the end! Ancient magic will be mine sooner or later—and I already have a clue… After I crush this little mouse that has wandered into the castle, perhaps I can share my joy with my students. I must say, I’m even starting to understand why Dumbledore always stays in this castle.”

"You call yourself the master of death..." Ivy turned her head to look at the fanatical Harry Voldemort, "Although I expected it, your arrogance still exceeds my expectations."

“You have no idea what I’m capable of!” Harry Voldemort flicked his sleeve, and an elder wand covered in burls appeared in his hand. “Kneel down before me now, and I might grant you a dignified end.”

"Antioch's Elder Wand, Cadmus's Resurrection Stone, and Ignotus's Invisibility Cloak—you've obtained all three Deathly Hallows." Ivy wasn't surprised that Harry Voldemort could do this. If the timeline hadn't shifted, Harry Potter would have obtained all three Deathly Hallows after the final battle. In that timeline, Voldemort entered Harry Potter's body, so finding all three Deathly Hallows wouldn't have been difficult.

Ivy had initially thought the so-called Deathly Hallows were just a rumor about three powerful magical items, but now it seemed they might actually be related to the Grim Reaper as part of a set.

However, in Ivy's divine vision, the guy who claimed to be the master of death did not possess even a trace of divinity; he was still just a mortal.

“Good insight.” Harry Voldemort clapped his hands with an arrogant expression, his true Voldemort nature beginning to show. He raised his left hand, the translucent black stone shimmering on his ring. “When I obtained my first Deathly Hallow, I didn’t even have…”

"Come on, Tom," Ivy interrupted him. "I'm not curious about your thought process. Let's get this over with. I'm looking forward to going home for dinner."

“I’m no longer Tom, not entirely. If my past identity confuses you, perhaps you can call me ‘Headmaster.’” Harry Voldemort didn’t show even the slightest hint of anger, which Ivy found very strange. The reckless Harry and the narrow-minded Voldemort combined had somehow become a polite fellow. Could the law of two negatives making a positive apply in such a field?
However, Ivy had no intention of continuing the conversation. He summoned the Silver Linden Wand from the void, and its dazzling magical light illuminated the surprise in Harry Voldemort's eyes.

There was no incantation, only Ivy's sword-wielding motion, and a sudden burst of rainbow light struck the ground, blasting a large crater into the smooth floor of the map's secret chamber.

"Expelliarmus!" The elder wand emitted a red light, which was then lightly flicked away by Ivy's finger.

The silver linden wand made virtual dots around the area, and the falling pebbles combined to form sword-wielding guards who rumbled closer to Harry and Voldemort.

"Disarming Charm? When did you start liking this kind of spell?" Ivy frowned. Perhaps the opponent standing in front of him was not the original Voldemort, but a guy who combined the characteristics of two mortal enemies.

A flickering shadow swept across Ivy's eyes. Harry Voldemort didn't shout any dueling spells again, but easily sliced ​​the stone guard that Ivy had transformed into pieces.

The divine blade was invisible. Ivy recognized the half-blood prince's unique cutting spell. An invisible spell swept a large shadow in his eyes, hurtling towards him at an extremely fast speed.

Before the shadowy blade could touch Ivy's coat, Ivy stepped back, turned, and vanished from the spot.

The earth and rocks churned, and several protruding rocks hurtled towards Harry Voldemort from below, but before they could reach him, the new-age Dark Lord had already transformed into a wisp of black mist, swirling rapidly around the ceiling of the Chamber of Secrets.

Bright sunlight burst forth on the ground, as if someone had lit up a sun in this narrow space.

The golden sunlight not only dispelled all the shadows, but also, for the first time, harmed the wizard who wielded the Deathly Hallows.

"Ah—" A shrill scream rang out from the air, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. Ivy stopped the sunlight that was shining indiscriminately on this space and looked at Harry Voldemort, who was rolling on the ground.

Harry Potter's body suffered extensive burns, with some areas rapidly swelling with yellow blisters, while others turned into charred, burnt flesh.

"Did they borrow a movement method from vampires?" Ivy clicked her tongue. "The feeling of getting sunburned isn't pleasant, is it?"

"Ah—uh!" Harry Voldemort rolled on the ground, tearing off the sunburnt skin from his face.

The flesh and blood that Harry Voldemort had thrown on the ground quickly turned to ashes, and Ivy immediately noticed that some of the other wounds on his body were also beginning to heal rapidly.

“It’s like it just popped out of a rock… yours—” Before Harry Voldemort could finish speaking, Ivy’s next spell arrived.

The ominous black flames twisted into terrifying serpents, shooting out from the tip of Ivy's wand and hurtling towards Harry Voldemort, whose body was still aching.

Since they discovered that the enemy's regeneration speed was abnormally fast, Ivy naturally wouldn't give him any more time to recover. The Silent Fiendfyre was already activated and was about to tightly bind Harry Voldemort, but the Fiendfyre was not causing physical damage, but rather evil dark magic damage that was like a leech.

Harry Voldemort was horrified and rolled on the ground in a very undignified manner, covering himself with something he took out of his robes.

In Ivy's view, the menacing Fiery Serpent missed its target, and even he himself could no longer see any trace of Harry Voldemort.

It's the Potter family's invisibility cloak.

Ivy understood, turned her wand upside down and pointed it downwards. A torrent of Fiendfyre erupted from the tip of the silver linden wand, completely ignoring Ormenus Gaunt lying on the ground, threatening to engulf the Chamber of Secrets. "All Curses End!" Unable to find a place to stand, Harry Voldemort was forced to reveal himself, raising the Elder Wand high to prevent the Fiendfyre from ensnaring his Invisibility Cloak. "I thought you'd be a righteous hero, concerned for the innocent… but you—"

Before Harry Voldemort could finish speaking, a thunderous roar suddenly echoed in the confined space. Orminus Gaunt, blind as he was, collapsed to the ground, blood seeping from his face, howling in agony. Previously, the Fiendfyre curse hadn't been indiscriminate; under Ivy's control of [Fire Elemental Invocation], the evil flames were as obedient as his own arms.

However, thunder that relies on atmospheric transmission to transmit damage is obviously not easy to control. Fortunately, although this shockwave damage affects the whole body, it is still closer to physical damage overall, and a single healing spell is enough to restore the blind centenarian to health.

Harry Voldemort, who tried to speak repeatedly, was also having a hard time, since Ivy's magic had exploded right above his head.

With his vision blurred and his mind hazy, Harry Voldemort struggled to raise his wand and uttered the spell he knew all too well to the tall figure standing opposite him: "Avada Kedavra!"

The evil green light suddenly appeared, but Ivy did not move to avoid it. Instead, she flicked her finger in front of her, and the green light, which had already taken countless lives, obediently turned around and rushed towards its master.

Ivy saw it very clearly in that instant, and before Harry and Voldemort could react, the green light from the Killing Curse was already close.

However, the usually invincible Unforgivable Curse failed to work, instead passing straight through Harry Voldemort's body and striking the wall behind him.

"Hahahaha—" The young man opposite him suddenly burst into wild laughter, even laughing through his tears. "Didn't I tell you? I am the master of death! Your killing curse is no threat to me! Even ancient magic is no match for me—"

puff.

The sound of a blade piercing flesh was incredibly grating. In the blink of an eye, Harry Voldemort saw Ivy, who had been far away, suddenly appear before him, her elegant weapon, capable of rivaling the Gryffindor sword, clearly piercing his heart.

The coldness of steel spread rapidly from his heart to his limbs. Harry Voldemort tried to reach out and grab the blade, but found that both arms were as heavy as lead.

“I am…the master of death…I will never be caught by death…I will…come back…” Harry Voldemort mumbled incoherently, blood bubbles rising from the corner of his mouth.

"Is that so?" Ivy twisted the beast-biting sword in her hand, completely shattering his heart, and then mercilessly pulled out the blade, slashing off his head with a silver streak.

Voldemort, who merged with Harry Potter, is dead.

But Ivy did not relax because of this.

A dilapidated, ancient stone archway suddenly appeared before Ivy, in the center of the Room of Secrets. This room should have contained a Hogwarts magic sand table, but after Harry Voldemort transformed it into a cage, he moved it elsewhere.

Now, in addition to the pillars that bind Orminis, there is a strange stone archway in the map's secret chamber.

A tattered black curtain concealed the entrance to the archway. In this windless underground space, the curtain was still swaying gently, as if a hand had just lifted it.

Whispers drifted through the air, sounding both like an invitation and a complaint.

But when Ivy tried to discern the sound, it had vanished without a trace.

Ivy was certain that someone was watching him through that archway.

He shifted his body to the side, adjusting his position, and flicked the Beastbite Sword stained with Harry Voldemort's blood, facing the black curtain that was moving without wind.

A pale, dead hand reached out from behind the curtain.

There was no other body, only a hand that did not belong to the world of the living.

With a gentle clench of that pale hand, a wisp of silver mist appeared above Harry Voldemort's decapitated corpse.

The fog had two sources: the corpse lying at Ivy's feet and the head that flew to the pillar.

The silver mist on the corpse gradually transformed into a headless body, with patches of mottled silver blood on its chest proving that it belonged to the corpse on the ground.

The headless silver body groped around on its neck for a while before walking toward the unclosed head beside the pillar.

It pulled its head out of the void—with the same silver color and the same bloodstains.

Ivy almost understood; it was Harry Potter's soul in this timeline because he could clearly see Harry's face—held in the arms of a headless soul, and without the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

A pale hand reached out from the archway and beckoned to Harry's soul, and he clutched his head and walked toward the black curtain.

The pale hand had disappeared behind the curtain, just as it had when it emerged. The black curtain billowed for a moment, as if swept by a gust of wind. Ivy believed that Harry's decapitated soul would soon vanish behind the curtain as well.

But before Harry's soul stepped through the arch, Ivy saw it turn around, cup its head in its hands, smile, and give him a thumbs up.

The dilapidated stone archway and black curtains had vanished, leaving only the Hogwarts headmaster's head still rolling on the ground, as if everything Ivy had just seen was nothing more than a dream within the cracks of time.

(End of this chapter)