"My goodness! What on earth was Albus thinking? Has his brain finally rotted away from eating too many sweets?
How could he do something like this without telling any of us beforehand?!"
Inside the Great Hall at Hogwarts, McGonagall was organizing the students as they ate while furiously growling under her breath.
The sharpness of her words carried enough sarcasm to rival Snape himself.
She was genuinely furious.
She had awakened to discover that more than five days had passed.
Students were lying unconscious all over the castle, and even the children who had already been taken home by their parents had somehow reappeared at Hogwarts.
And what about the professors?
They knew absolutely nothing about what had happened in the meantime, yet now they were expected to deal with a hall full of outraged parents.
McGonagall was already accustomed to Dumbledore's habit of keeping everyone in the dark, but even she felt he had gone far too far this time.
Sprout stood nearby with a helpless smile.
She wanted to calm McGonagall down but had no idea what she could possibly say.
After all, Dumbledore still hadn't shown himself.
There was no denying how irresponsible that looked.
The kind-hearted witch could only sigh.
She turned hopefully toward Flitwick, silently asking the brilliant Head of Ravenclaw to say something.
Instead, he remained stern-faced, pretending not to notice her glance.
On this matter, he was firmly on McGonagall's side.
Sprout shook her head.
Looking at the bumps covering Flitwick's uneven scalp, she could understand perfectly why he was upset.
It wasn't only because Dumbledore had failed to ensure the students' safety.
After that meeting, Flitwick had returned to his office intending to look through books related to the Brain in a Vat.
Instead, he had fallen asleep halfway up a bookshelf.
The shelf collapsed on top of him.
He had been knocked unconscious beneath a pile of books and only recently dug out by students.
Thinking of the scene, Sprout couldn't help smiling before quickly coughing to hide it.
She then looked toward the last professor standing nearby.
Snape.
Barely a second later, she immediately looked away.
If even Flitwick was reacting like this... Then there was no need to mention Snape.
The Potions Master had also been one of the victims.
He had suddenly fallen asleep in the middle of brewing a potion, ruining an entire cauldron of expensive ingredients while leaving his own face badly burned.
Now thick bandages covered half his face.
Noticing Sprout's glance, Snape slowly turned his head.
Even beneath the bandages, the expression he wore could only be described as foul.
He knew Nicolas Flamel was ultimately responsible.
Even so, he had absolutely no favorable opinion of Dumbledore, who had failed to notice anything before disappearing entirely.
The Great Hall grew increasingly noisy.
The professors did their best to receive the gathered parents.
Some families embraced one another in tears.
Many more students simply buried themselves in enormous meals.
Among them sat Dawn.
After the implanted memories had been reset by the Four Horsemen ritual, he had no reason to remain in Jerusalem.
So he had returned to Hogwarts.
Controlling Blaise's body, Dawn sat leisurely at the Slytherin table, cutting into a thick steak.
He wasn't worried in the slightest about the p walking back and forth nearby.
After all...
Although they knew he was still alive, they only believed his consciousness remained inside Fred's body.
What did that have to do with the perfectly innocent Blaise Zabini?
Dawn chewed another bite of hot food.
Truthfully...
Before entering the Great Hall, he had already explored the castle thoroughly.
Following the connection between their consciousnesses, he first located Fred's unconscious body inside an empty classroom.
After shaking him for several minutes without success, Dawn raised an eyebrow.
He had previously wondered whether Fred's consciousness would regain control if his own remained inside Dumbledore's dream.
Apparently...
The answer was no.
Stroking his chin thoughtfully, Dawn quietly slipped away just as Molly Weasley discovered Fred and rushed over in panic, calling her son's name.
Afterward, he headed to the eighth floor.
Originally, he had hoped to retrieve his Elder Wand while Dumbledore remained asleep.
Unfortunately, after searching for quite some time, he failed to locate Dumbledore himself.
Even after thoroughly searching the Headmaster's office, the Elder Wand was nowhere to be found.
He did find the Sorting Hat, however.
It was still sleeping peacefully.
Although Flamel had described it as a perfect creation, Dawn couldn't take it outside the castle.
Besides, without being able to see the special patterns, studying it now would accomplish very little.
He decided to leave it alone.
There were more important matters demanding his attention.
After Voldemort's consciousness had been erased inside the dream by the Brain in a Vat, Dawn discovered he had effectively inherited Voldemort's place.
By concentrating, he could now control the bodies of most of the students.
As a result...
His primary objective had become unifying the students' shared cognition as quickly as possible, allowing him to use the Castle Consciousness to investigate the truth behind World Correction.
At present, no one could stop him.
The only uncertainty...
Was whether the Castle Consciousness still functioned after everything that had happened.
Thinking of this, Dawn quietly sighed. Then he returned his attention to the gleaming food before him.
There was only one way to find out.
He would simply try.
Meanwhile, the professors grew even busier.
Faced with countless questions from angry parents, they could only offer bitter smiles.
None of them actually knew the truth.
Dawn bit absentmindedly on his fork before grinning slightly. He knew perfectly well the castle was about to become even busier.
There were simply too many things Hogwarts would eventually have to explain.
The mass sleep.
The students who had somehow returned after already going home.
And perhaps most importantly...The deaths of eight more students. That secret still hadn't come to light.
But sooner or later, it would.
Adding everything together, Dawn suspected the professors were about to experience one of the most exhausting periods of their entire lives.
Fortunately...
None of it concerned him.
He had already done more than enough. He had even solved Voldemort's problem for Dumbledore.
Surely it was finally someone else's turn to shoulder the burden.
Thinking that, Dawn watched the professors bustle around with open amusement.
The steak somehow tasted better than usual.
Soon afterward, he shifted most of his attention back to the dream world.
...
Inside the dream.
Sunlight slowly emerged from behind the clouds.
Only after the dazzling rays struck his eyes did Dawn realize he had stayed awake the entire night again.
It was hardly surprising.
After everything Flamel had revealed, there was no way he could simply return to bed as though nothing had happened.
Unfortunately...
No amount of thinking was enough to unravel the mystery of converting matter into magic.
After spending an entire night pondering it, his mind remained completely blank.
Realizing further thought would accomplish nothing, Dawn finally gathered himself.
There were other matters to attend to.
Judging by the time, Dumbledore should already have awakened.
With a crack of Apparition, Dawn returned to the Richter residence.
Just as expected.
Inside the butler's room, the effects of the Full Body-Bind Curse had already faded.
Dumbledore sat quietly on the edge of the bed, Resurrection Stone in hand, his lips moving softly as though speaking to someone.
Dawn wasted no time.
He had long since stopped trusting Dumbledore's words.
Remaining hidden beneath a Disillusionment Charm, he stared directly into the Headmaster's eyes.
Legilimency.
Instantly, countless memories flooded into his mind.
Dawn searched frantically through everything Dumbledore had experienced after falling asleep.
"...Dawn!"
Almost immediately, Dumbledore realized what was happening.
He tore himself away from the vision of his sister and shouted.
His mind hurriedly reconstructed its familiar memory maze, attempting to block the intrusion.
But those few precious moments were already enough.
Dawn had found exactly what he wanted.
After consuming the dream world's Resurrection Stone powder, Dumbledore had indeed entered yet another dream.
Inside that second dream, he became a long-dead Muggle and quietly lived through several ordinary days before awakening once again.
Dawn stroked his chin thoughtfully.
The contents of the dream itself weren't particularly noteworthy.
What interested him was something else. The dream within the dream felt every bit as real.
Every conversation flowed naturally.
Every person behaved convincingly.
Even Dumbledore had noticed no flaws whatsoever.
Dawn narrowed his eyes.
His instincts told him that the Resurrection Stone concealed an even greater secret.
Everything he currently understood was merely the tip of an enormous iceberg.
Unfortunately...
Just like the mystery of converting matter into magic, he had absolutely no clue where to begin.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue softly, Dawn chose not to reveal himself.
After everything that had happened with Flamel the previous night, he had no desire to speak with Dumbledore.
Still concealed beneath the Disillusionment Charm, he simply snatched the Resurrection Stone from the Headmaster's hand.
With a loud crack, he Apparated away.
Moments later, he reappeared inside the luxury hotel room he had occupied the previous evening.
The puddle left behind by the Brain in a Vat had already dried.
After confirming that his alarm spells and Muggle-Repelling Charm remained intact, Dawn conjured a small file.
He carefully scraped away more Resurrection Stone powder and swallowed it.
Now that Dumbledore had proven it was safe, Dawn wanted to experience entering another dead person's consciousness for himself.
But...
Ten minutes passed.
Nothing happened.
He felt no drowsiness whatsoever.He remained completely awake.
"...What's going on?"
Frowning, Dawn tried several more times.
By the time nearly half the stone had been ground away, he finally accepted reality.
The Resurrection Stone inside this dream simply had no effect on him.
Was it because he was an outsider? That was the only explanation he could think of.
He put away the remaining fragment.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting long shadows across the table.
Dawn sat quietly for quite some time.
Then he suddenly realized something.
Aside from observing his younger self... He had almost nothing else to do inside the dream world.
That simply wouldn't do.
It felt like an enormous waste.
After careful consideration, Dawn left the hotel and traveled to Knockturn Alley.
Using methods that could generously be described as "acquiring through force and deception," he obtained several bottles of Veritaserum.
Since Dumbledore couldn't use magic inside the dream, Dawn intended to pry a few valuable secrets—or perhaps some advanced magical knowledge—straight out of the old wizard.
If Legilimency proved unreliable... Then he'd simply try another method. Surely one of them would work.
Time flowed onward.
Winter gradually loosened its grip. Wildflowers and fresh grass began emerging from the earth.
Back at Hogwarts, peace finally returned after the great slumber.
No further attacks occurred.
Everything appeared calm.
That was the only comfort the four Heads of House found while working tirelessly every day to deal with the countless problems left behind.
Meanwhile, the students were living remarkably comfortable lives.
With McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape overwhelmed by endless responsibilities, classes were reduced significantly.
To the students, it almost felt like one long holiday.
Of course...
Not everything had returned to normal.
Many parents remained uneasy and took their children home.
Some even transferred them to other magical schools entirely.
Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased students gradually emerged from Voldemort's Confundus Charm.
Once they realized their children alone had failed to return, they repeatedly came to Hogwarts demanding answers.
Every other missing child had somehow reappeared.
Only theirs had vanished forever.
It was impossible for them to accept.
Fortunately, none of that affected Dawn.
Like the rest of the students, he simply enjoyed the unusually peaceful atmosphere.
One morning, while eating breakfast in the Great Hall, he heard the familiar flutter of wings.
Several owls swooped through the windows, scattering fresh copies of the Daily Prophet across the tables.
Dawn casually picked one up.
After glancing at the front page, however, he immediately began reading more carefully.
News of Jerusalem had finally reached Britain.
The Daily Prophet had devoted an entire issue to the incident, reprinting the official announcement issued by the International Confederation of Wizards.
However...
After reading for a while, Dawn noticed something rather interesting.
The name Voldemort never appeared.
The paper merely reported that Nicolas Flamel had fought an extremely powerful Dark wizard in Jerusalem, triggering the magical disaster.
That wasn't how things should have been reported. Perhaps Fudge had altered part of the article.
Chuckling softly, Dawn continued reading.
From the report, he pieced together what had happened afterward.
Following the chaos, representatives from the International Confederation confronted Israel's leadership.
There they discovered signs that the officials had been placed under the Imperius Curse.
After restoring the Muggle leaders to their senses, they ordered the military to withdraw from the Old City.
The Confederation then concentrated on extinguishing the Fiendfyre while assisting Newt Scamander in capturing the escaped magical creatures.
Gradually, the crisis subsided.
Even more surprising, the Confederation had apparently convinced governments around the world to cooperate in suppressing news of the incident.
Every witness in Jerusalem had their memories of those days erased using Memory Charms.
During the cleanup, they also discovered numerous Muggles suffering from exceptionally vicious curses.
Removing those curses required enormous effort.
In short...
Through a series of extraordinary measures, the magical breach was reduced to its absolute minimum.
The only unfortunate part was that they never identified the true culprits.
They had no idea who had controlled the Muggle leadership.
They didn't know who had spread the curse.
Neither Nicolas Flamel nor the mysterious Dark wizard he had battled could be found.
The Confederation therefore issued a public request for Nicolas Flamel to come forward and explain the full truth.
No reply ever came.
Dawn grinned over the top of his newspaper.
Of course there wouldn't be one.
Before leaving Jerusalem, after what had happened in the dream world, he had burned Abel's body—still carrying Flamel's consciousness—to ashes with Fiendfyre.
Dead men couldn't give interviews.
Taking another sip of milk, Dawn flipped to the next page.
After reading the entire announcement, he noticed something else.
The Israeli wizard he had controlled with the Imperius Curse wasn't mentioned anywhere.
Perhaps, knowing exactly what he had done, the man feared accepting responsibility for the disaster.
After regaining his own mind, maybe he simply chose not to report anything.
That seemed plausible.
Another thing caught Dawn's attention.
His own existence wasn't mentioned either.
Perhaps the Israeli wizards who saw him had focused entirely on Nicolas Flamel.
Or perhaps the middle-aged wizard had deliberately concealed Dawn's involvement to protect himself.
The thought passed quickly.
After folding the newspaper, Dawn tossed it aside.
Whatever had happened in Jerusalem...
Whether or not the International Confederation suspected his involvement...
He simply didn't care.
Every bit of his attention remained focused on unifying the students' shared cognition.
After weeks of effort, he had confirmed two important things.
First.
The Castle Consciousness still functioned.
Whether it had always been reusable or whether the Four Horsemen ritual had reset it, he couldn't say.
Either way, it was excellent news.
Second.
The Resurrection Stone was about to return.
Over the past several days, Dawn had begun sensing a faint pull upon his consciousness.
Something was drawing him elsewhere.
He suspected it was the true Resurrection Stone waiting beyond the Veil of Death.
That meant he had very little time left.
Before his consciousness returned to his real body, he had to use the Castle Consciousness to uncover the truth hidden within history.
So...
A thoroughly bizarre rumor rapidly spread throughout Hogwarts.
It claimed that every night while sleeping, Dawn Richter dreamed of things that had genuinely happened during his childhood.
Honestly...
It sounded utterly ridiculous.
The target was absurdly specific.
No one understood why such a rumor was spreading in the first place.
Yet under Dawn's subtle influence over everyone's subconscious minds, the story swept through the entire school.
More and more students genuinely began believing it.
Half a month passed quietly.
Thanks to Dawn's relentless efforts, he could sense that he was drawing ever closer to his objective.
Ordinarily, that would have made him happy.
But what had happened in the dream world cast a shadow over that satisfaction.
At the Richter residence, Dawn quietly watched another page being torn from the calendar.
He knew...
The day the woman died...
Was almost here.
___________
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