The next day, Aiden woke up from bed and began unwrapping his Christmas gifts with lazy contentment.
Dumbledore's exotic candy, Professor McGonagall's hand-knitted doll, Professor Sprout's precious dittany, and Professor Snape's carefully brewed Wit-Sharpening Potion.
Here we must mention a noteworthy detail: ever since the first year when Aiden sent Snape the Potter family's special shampoo, every Christmas Professor Snape would thoughtfully prepare Wit-Sharpening Potion for Aiden.
After putting away everyone's thoughtful gifts, Aiden stretched lazily, and after washing up, walked out of the warm castle.
Outside the castle, heavy snow surrounded all of Hogwarts in pristine white. Karkaroff hurriedly passed by Aiden with an obviously urgent expression.
Snape was searching methodically in the bushes to see if any students who had partied too hard last night were sleeping in the grass.
"Severus!" Karkaroff rushed up and grabbed Snape desperately.
"What is it?" Professor Snape asked, raising an eyebrow with mild irritation.
Karkaroff rolled up his sleeve with trembling hands, revealing a black mark.
"He, he's summoning me. Don't tell me you haven't noticed," Karkaroff said, looking at him with serious desperation.
"This... has nothing... to do with me!" Snape said, absorbed in searching through the grass and deliberately ignoring him.
Karkaroff trembled with anger and fear. After a while, seeing Snape's stubborn attitude, Karkaroff also turned and left with obvious frustration.
Harry walked over and happened to see Aiden eavesdropping with obvious interest.
Just as he was about to greet him, Hagrid and Maxime also came out for their morning walk.
Aiden grabbed Harry and entered psychological invisibility.
Hagrid got impulsive, Hagrid went for a romantic confession, Hagrid revealed his half-giant heritage, Hagrid failed spectacularly.
Aiden provided running commentary for Hagrid's romantic disaster from the side, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.
"Alright, where are you going?" Aiden asked, turning back to Harry.
"Actually, I want to find Hermione to apologize," Harry said with obvious dejection.
"Then, what did you do wrong?" Aiden asked pointedly.
"I... anyway, apologizing first is never wrong," Harry said, raising his head to show he was being very responsible.
"Tsk tsk, young man, too naive," Aiden said, shaking his head like a wise old man.
You have the nerve to talk about others, the system bubbled up with sarcasm.
"Shut up!" Aiden retorted internally.
"Huh?" Question marks appeared over Harry's confused head.
"I wasn't talking to you..." Just as Aiden wanted to say something more, his Virtual Personality sent him an urgent message. Through the sea of consciousness, his awareness came to Wormtail Peter and found him heading alone to the ruins of the Gaunt family.
"Alright, I won't chat with you anymore. I need to find Dumbledore immediately."
Aiden casually dismissed Harry, took out his wand, and waved it with practiced grace. His whole body transformed into silver-white butterflies that scattered gracefully in the air.
In the headmaster's office, silver butterflies gathered and reformed.
"Aiden, at least knock on the door," Dumbledore said, holding his forehead as he looked at the boy before him.
"It's urgent. Come with me to the Gaunt Shack," Aiden said, urgently pulling Dumbledore from the school.
At that very moment, at the abandoned Gaunt Shack, Wormtail Peter was following his master's explicit orders to retrieve something of crucial importance.
He carefully pushed open the rotting door. The originally magnificent manor had become utterly desolate due to the extinction of the Gaunt family.
Snap! A crisp finger snap echoed through the silence. Wormtail Peter's pupils rolled back, leaving only the whites of his eyes.
"What's happening?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Peter before him with obvious confusion.
"Professor, he lived with me for thirteen years. How could I not leave something on him?"
Aiden gently pushed Peter, and he stiffly fell down like a broken puppet.
"Then what's his purpose for coming here?" Dumbledore asked with a thoughtful frown.
"Who else but his master? Voldemort must have sensed too many Horcruxes being destroyed, so he sent Peter to retrieve his remaining Horcrux. Because this is one of the few servants he can find in the short term, Voldemort told Peter the information, which is how I got the news," Aiden explained methodically.
"I see," Dumbledore nodded with understanding.
"Then let's go get Tom's Horcrux first," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard and taking the lead walking into the manor.
Walking into the manor interior, bricks and tiles were scattered on the ground, and the wall portraits seemed damaged due to lack of maintenance over the years.
Dumbledore placed the Elder Wand in his palm and cast a detection spell. The wand spun like a compass seeking magnetic north.
Dumbledore led Aiden through several ruined rooms and finally came to a heavy stone door.
The door was sealed with powerful magic, and cursed light occasionally flickered ominously on its surface.
"Let me handle this," Aiden said with quiet confidence.
He grabbed the air with his right hand, and his staff materialized with silver light. The brilliance of Zoltraak flickered with deadly power.
A massive beam of light penetrated the stone door, completely destroying both the door and the room behind it with precise control.
When the smoke cleared, a stone platform remained perfectly intact in place, while the surrounding room had become a large smoking hole.
"Your control has become more precise. You can now destroy targets on a large scale while not harming objects in between," Dumbledore said with obvious praise.
He walked forward a few steps when suddenly a particular stone entered his vision.
The Horcrux's temptation magic took immediate effect. Dumbledore's inner desires were infinitely magnified, and he rushed toward the ring like a man possessed.
Just as his finger was about to touch the cursed ring, a thin beam of light hit the ring with perfect accuracy.
The tiny explosion blew the ring away from Dumbledore's reach.
"Professor, such rashness is not the action of a wise man," Aiden said calmly, holding his staff aimed at Dumbledore.
The atmosphere in the field suddenly became tense, as if a battle between the two was about to begin.
Dumbledore waved his wand desperately, and several thick vines flew, trying to bind Aiden.
Aiden Apparated directly to beside the ring, and the vines missed their target completely.
Dumbledore also Apparated over with determination. Aiden's dragon eyes locked onto him and launched Mind Deprivation at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore was stunned by the sudden dragon's might, his hand reaching for the ring frozen in mid-air.
Seeing this opportunity, Aiden quickly wrapped the ring in special protective cloth, and Dumbledore finally came to his senses somewhat.
"Sorry, Aiden. For a moment just now, I felt like I wasn't myself," Dumbledore said, lowering his head with shame.
"You're not being honest. You didn't tell the truth. You recognized the Resurrection Stone immediately," Aiden said, crossing his arms accusingly.
"How did you..." Dumbledore said with a surprised frown.
"People's hearts are easier to read when their emotions fluctuate dramatically," Aiden explained matter-of-factly.
"Alright, I'll keep this thing for safekeeping for now," Aiden said, waving his hand and carefully removing the Resurrection Stone.
Then he went to the nearby Gaunt family cemetery, took a bit of Merope Gaunt's remains, and put them in Peter's pocket for evidence.
"After you wake up, you'll forget everything and only remember that a special stone door was blown into a big hole," Aiden ordered Peter with mental manipulation.
He watched the confused Peter get up slowly, transform into a rat, and disappear into the night.
Hmph, struggle all you want, Tom.
Aiden's hand gently lowered, as if a great net was being pulled and set in motion by his careful planning.