From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 595 Memes
The rain outside the auditorium had not stopped, and the incantations inside the auditorium also came crashing down on them.

Ivy calmly used the elusive footwork to change her position, and then used telekinesis to lift four long college tables and sweep them across, knocking down most of the students.

At the same time, his mind was constantly analyzing the current situation.

Soul-stealing curse?
Impossible. The three Unforgivable Curses are all dark magic that Ivy knows very well. It is impossible for a single Imperius Curse to control so many people silently.

Even if Voldemort in this timeline used Harry Potter's body to study dark magic for ten years, it would be impossible for him to do this.

Moreover, while ordinary wizards might not be able to distinguish which wizards are afflicted by the Imperius Curse, in Ivy's arcane vision, the magical aura of the three Unforgivable Curses is extremely strong.

From the moment he entered the Great Hall and made eye contact with Professor McGonagall, he didn't sense even the slightest hint of dark magic, so it definitely couldn't be the Imperius Curse.

Ivy waved her wand wildly, and the tightly closed doors of the Great Hall suddenly burst open. Lightning bolts ripped through the night sky, accompanied by a gust of wind that swept into the room, instantly extinguishing more than half of the thousands of candles floating above the Great Hall.

"Tom, do you know me?" Ivy guided the raindrops flying into the room to pelt the students below, while shouting at them.

Voldemort shouted Ivy's name when he made his appearance, which was something that should have been absolutely impossible.

Ever since arriving in this timeline, Ivy has been using a pseudonym.

To Cassandra, he was Uncle Doom; to the Leaky Cauldron proprietress, he was Victor Worley; to the Headmasters and professors of Hogwarts, he was a taboo from a hundred years ago, the first Dark Lord, the "Fifth Year Student".

None of them mentioned the name "Ivy Doom".

unless--

The "fifth-year student" in this timeline is also "Avi Doom," and Voldemort, while searching for ancient magic, has already learned this name from the memories of those in the know...

Although Ormenus Gaunt was imprisoned by Voldemort for so long that he could not see the truth of ancient magic from a blind perspective, knowing a name was not difficult for him.

“You don’t really think a name can enrage me, do you?” The little girl’s voice, amplified by the amplification charm, drowned out the endless chanting in the Great Hall. Her originally clear and sweet voice became even more sinister under Voldemort’s influence. “I told you long ago that I am not just Tom Riddle, nor just Harry Potter. I am Voldemort, a higher being! And it was your ancient magic that gave me this inspiration.”

The raindrops poured into the auditorium more intensely, almost forming a wall of water under Ivy's control.

Various spells exploded on the water wall, attempting to harm Ivy, the spellcaster.

However, these students controlled by Voldemort were too weak. The dark magic of the older students could pose a slight threat to Ivy, but the prank spells of the younger students would have no effect on him.

"Ancient magic?" The torrential rain pouring down from the Scottish Highlands twisted into a massive vortex around Ivy. Any spells that entered this vortex were only distorted and propelled a few feet before dissipating powerlessly. "You've found a hotspot for ancient magic..."

As a form of magic that has almost been lost in the magical world, ancient magic users, in addition to possessing immense power, also faced unspeakable risks and limitations.

Aside from gifted ancient wizards, no modern wizard can directly perceive ancient magical power. In Ivy's eyes, pure ancient magic shimmered with a silvery-white metallic luster, like a highly fluid liquid.

But to other unqualified wizards, it was nothingness.

Using ancient magic is extremely difficult. Before obtaining the ancient magical power located in the vaults beneath Hogwarts, Ivy had to undergo a long recovery period each time she used ancient magic, drawing power from the environment and then releasing it all at once.

Areas with an ancient magic density far exceeding the average are known as ancient magic hotspots. In these hotspots, ancient magic can even condense into liquid clusters, impacting the surrounding environment.

Spatial transformation is the most common characteristic of ancient magical hotspots. Those who are unaware of its nature and wander into it will only starve to death due to the experience of being trapped in a maze. Even wizards may not fare well.

While the chances of a modern wizard acquiring ancient magic are extremely small, they are by no means entirely impossible.

If Voldemort were willing to spend time experimenting after learning about the existence of ancient magic hotspots, his chances of acquiring ancient magic would greatly increase over time.

Moreover, this world has never lacked ambitious people; Lukewood and the fairy Lanlock from a hundred years ago may have left behind messages as well.

The water curtain that was spinning rapidly around Ivy suddenly surged outwards and expanded, not only completely blocking the flying devices driven by the students with spells, but also sweeping in most of the students who were standing nearby.

A frozen sphere made entirely of freezing energy appeared at Ivy's fingertip. As the roaring vortex swept the students against the auditorium wall, the frozen sphere, launched at high speed, arrived first and disappeared beneath the water.

The sudden burst of freezing energy swept outwards, completely freezing the turbulent water and students inside the auditorium, forming a magnificent ice wall.

"Manipulating a group of students to attack me... You don't really think I'd hesitate to act, do you?" Ivy exhaled lightly, looking at the young girl standing on the podium with a cold gaze.

Apart from the killing curse fired by Professor McGonagall, the professors standing behind Voldemort did not attack Ivy, giving him the opportunity to deal with the students in the Great Hall.

“Ancient magic is good at manipulating the weather, but manipulating humans…” Ivy stood up again on the ground, looking expressionlessly at Voldemort and his henchmen behind him.

"You don't understand? You know nothing? Don't make me laugh! Hahaha..." Voldemort asked in astonishment for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“Wait…” Professor McGonagall, standing behind Voldemort, suddenly lowered her wand. “He somehow severed the connection between us… I can’t sense you anymore…”

"Me too……"

"What exactly is going on?"

The professors behind Voldemort no longer acted in unison, but instead started asking questions one after another, leaving Voldemort, who was standing in the crowd, completely bewildered.

This sudden change was, of course, Ivy's doing.

Although he didn't understand how Voldemort controlled so many people, it didn't mean Ivy had no countermeasures. He had just finished his journey through Baldur's Gate, and in order to combat the Mind Flayer's psychic power, he had learned the Ninth Level Psychic Shared Mind Barrier from the Comet Prince of the Githyanki.

This psionic spell can render the target immune to any form of mental effects, and even the Mind Flayer, which can directly manipulate the brains of intelligent beings through psionic energy, is powerless to break through its effects.

However, while Ivy's shared mental barrier was effective, it couldn't break the control over all the students and faculty of Hogwarts at once. Therefore, after eliminating the controlled students, Ivy's strategy was to directly turn the professors who stood behind Voldemort against him.

But to Ivy's dismay, the professors, who should have regained their senses, did not launch an attack immediately; instead, they began to ask questions incessantly.

“Mr. Doom,” Professor McGonagall, failing to get the answer she wanted from her colleagues, turned to Ivy, who had just been hit by her Killing Curse, and asked, “How did you manage to disconnect me from everyone else? To be honest, it feels pretty good…”

"Stop asking!" the diminutive Voldemort shrieked. "As long as we catch him, we can ask him whatever we want!"

"Hey! You'd better watch your mouth!" the Ravenclaw headmaster, shorter than Voldemort's new body, shrieked. "We're not your subordinates, we are you! We are Voldemort! And of all these Voldemors, you're the weakest!"

This time, Ivy understood everything.

Voldemort's current state is very similar to that of the Mind Flayers; they both have a kind of hive mentality, except that everyone whose body is possessed by Voldemort believes that they are Voldemort, rather than anyone else.

This reminded Ivy of various science fiction works depicting robot uprisings, such as Marvel's intelligent robot Ultron, where each Ultron sub-machine can be seen as a self-replication of Ultron.

Voldemort is now like a magical version of Ultron. Just as Ultron could possess the robots Stark created, Voldemort can possess the wizards.

Although the professors behind Voldemort all considered themselves Voldemort, they were still influenced by some of the habits and personalities of the original body.

Like McGonagall Voldemort, who used honorifics, she was perhaps the most polite Voldemort ever.

“You have taken over their bodies…” This was a path Ivy had never imagined. He knew that there might be infinite parallel universes, and in these infinite parallel universes there were also infinite versions of himself. Therefore, he wanted to develop a magic to merge these infinite possibilities.

Voldemort's approach was undoubtedly more extreme; it seemed as if he had copied his consciousness countless times and stuffed it into the minds of every wizard at Hogwarts.

“You said this is ancient magic…” Recalling Voldemort’s words, Ivy suddenly felt that she understood something.

Whether ancient or modern, magic relies on the wizard's emotions and thoughts to take effect, which is one of the psychic characteristics of wizarding magic.

Voldemort's ability to manipulate such a large group may not have relied solely on ancient magic. Rather, it may have involved using ancient magic to transform Voldemort's personality, obsessions, desires, or emotions into a meme that could be continuously propagated and replicated within the wizard's mind.

And perhaps the only way to achieve this is—

"Do you even have a soul left?" Ivy asked seriously. "Splitting your soul to create Horcruxes has undoubtedly greatly weakened your soul. You transformed your entire soul into ancient magic and then engraved Voldemort's will into Harry Potter's head?"

If Voldemort's skills were advanced enough, he could even modify the transformation of a soul into a single form of information meme according to his own preferences. For example, he could remove the traits of being irritable and easily angered, the desire for pure-blood status, and the contempt and disdain for his Muggle blood…

The Voldemors standing in the center of the Great Hall burst into maniacal laughter: "You truly are a genius! Ivy Doom. Indeed! Tom Riddle's soul is long gone. Standing before you now is Voldemort, his pursuit of immortality! And it is precisely because he has departed from Harry Potter's body that I am certain that the mind can never be destroyed!"

"You will witness the birth of a new era in my hands, an era where everyone is Voldemort!"

All the Voldemors stretched out their arms triumphantly, delivering their victory speeches to Ivy.

“Then you should know that destroying an era is not difficult for me.” Ivy calmed down. Although Voldemort’s current state is extremely difficult to eradicate, it is not entirely impossible. All he needs to do is kill all the wizards he has possessed.

If you can't destroy a person's mind, then destroy their body.

“A hundred years ago, I almost destroyed the British wizarding world.” Starlight shimmered on Ivy, the eagle on his Ravenclaw crown spread its wings as if about to take flight, multicolored rainbows swirled around him, and his mithril staff struck the ground with a sound like a resounding bell. This wizard, who had stepped onto the path to godhood, was already in his prime. “Destroying it again would only be completing an unfinished business.”

"Wait!" Voldemort had lost his body and soul, but his perspective as the Dark Lord remained. He immediately saw that Ivy wasn't joking, and that she truly had the ability to do so. "We can still talk! Perhaps we can coexist peacefully! If the day comes that you die, I can even teach you this path to immortality!"

"Forget it." Ivy snorted coldly, and boundless light shone through the stained glass windows of Hogwarts. He was about to cast a spell to erase the entire Hogwarts castle from the map. "Not even a wandering ghost, you're nothing more than a mere memory..."

Yes, memories.

When Voldemort created his first Horcrux, he infused it with his own memories. Perhaps the magic that transformed him into an information meme came from a variant of memory magic.

And the wizards' magic is not without its merits in dealing with memories that exist in people's minds.

Ivy stopped the massive meteor that was forming in the clouds, then thrust her mithril staff forward, pointed it at Voldemort, and shouted, "Forget everything!"

Children's reaction speed is usually far faster than adults', and Voldemort, who had the body of a first-grader, also benefited from this.

The group of Voldemors behind the faculty and staff table dodged left and right, but only the largest and slowest Voldemort, Sgarhorn, was hit.

Peaceful times are the easiest time to gain weight, especially since Sglahorn teaches at Hogwarts. His ball-of-flesh body crushed two chairs, causing them to fall heavily to the ground.

The only sounds in the auditorium were the cacophony of rain and wind. Everyone stared at the fleshy egg balloon on the ground, watching him groan as he got up.

Perhaps it was his excess fat that reduced the spell's effectiveness, or perhaps it was because Ivy was indeed a highly skilled magician.

In short, after getting up, Sglahoun didn't completely become mentally disabled; he only had a series of questions: "Who am I? Where am I? What are you doing?"

(End of this chapter)