Filch's sinister voice drifted over: "Either get to work, or get expelled. You can choose."
The voice came from an empty room.
Through the slightly ajar door, Wade saw Malfoy glaring furiously at Filch. After a stalemate, he eventually picked up a rag and began wiping the countless candlesticks on the shelves.
Filch continued to drone on, "If you ask me, Dumbledore's too lenient. For little brats like you who break the rules, you ought to be hung up and given a good lashing..."
Wade walked through the dim corridor and left.
Saturday arrived quickly.
Wade had already contacted Lupin in advance. In the morning, while the other students were still asleep, he brought Michael to the Room of Requirement.
Soon after, Theo and Ryan arrived.
Then, Zoe.
Michael and the others were astonished to see a house-elf there and kept looking her over.
Zoe nervously rubbed her tea towel, bowing to everyone.
"If you're ready, let's go," Wade opened the cupboard door. "Who's first?"
"I'll go!" Michael stepped in first.
Then Theo, and Ryan.
Wade stayed behind. He crouched down and said to the house-elf, "Zoe, open the cabinet door when I send you a message, okay?"
The Vanishing Cabinet didn't require an extra spell; closing the door would activate the transport.
However, to get out, someone had to open the cabinet door from the outside; those inside couldn't open it from the interior.
So, the prerequisite for using this cabinet was that there had to be a reliable person waiting at the destination to open the cabinet door when needed.
Zoe nodded, speaking softly, "Wade Grey don't worry, Zoe will complete the task."
Wade smiled and patted her head.
"You don't need to stay here guarding it. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be back before curfew. Then, I'll send you a message in the Book of Friends in advance."
"Okay," Zoe nodded.
Wade also stepped into the cabinet and closed the door, plunging into darkness.
Almost the next second, the cabinet door was opened again, and Lupin stood outside, smiling at him.
"Incredible!" Michael exclaimed. "We just left school so easily."
"Where is this?" Ryan asked, looking around in confusion.
"This is still in the Scottish Highlands, separated from Hogwarts by two mountains."
Lupin said to Wade, "As you requested, there are no wizards, no Muggles nearby, and almost no vegetation or animals."
Wade also looked around, nodding slightly.
It was a lonely and rugged wasteland, strewn with rubble, with only sparse moss and weeds covering the ground.
"Wade, what are we doing here?" Michael asked.
Wade looked at everyone; they were all waiting for his answer.
"Tom... that is, the Dark Lord... he invaded the school last year, everyone knows that."
Wade saw Theo and the others silently nod, then continued, "I found something in the school... possibly a Dark Arts artifact he left behind."
"Our purpose here is to destroy it."
"Voldemort's secret weapon?" Lupin frowned. "He's still trying to tamper with Hogwarts?"
He didn't fear calling Voldemort by name, but the three young wizards' faces all turned pale.
"Why not just hand it over to Professor Dumbledore, Wade?" Ryan asked. "Don't you... trust the Headmaster?"
"Of course I do... When it comes to fighting darkness, perhaps no one is more trustworthy than Dumbledore."
Wade said, "But... guys, Dumbledore is over a hundred years old."
"I'm not saying he's become slow or his magic isn't powerful enough, but... he's been fighting this for many years, bearing many burdens. It's as if everyone is used to relying on him, handing all responsibility to him."
"But... what reason do we have to dump everything we can accomplish ourselves onto an old man?"
"We can rely on Dumbledore, but who can Dumbledore rely on?"
Everyone was deeply moved, and a look of shame appeared on Lupin's face.
Dumbledore was like a banner, a belief. When it came to Voldemort or Dark wizards, everyone's first reaction was—tell Dumbledore, let Dumbledore handle it.
It seemed few people realized... a hundred-year-old man, in another place, would long ago have been enjoying his retirement.
Of course, Wade didn't want to tell Dumbledore, besides not wanting to walk only under the guidance of the white wizard, there were two other reasons.
One was, he didn't want to confront Dumbledore too early, and let him place himself on a chessboard.
Another reason was, he also didn't want Dumbledore to confirm the existence of horcruxes too early and then quietly run off to the Riddle family home.
In the original story, Dumbledore found the Resurrection Stone ring there and somehow contracted Voldemort's curse, leading to his death a year later.
If, because of his butterfly effect, Dumbledore died prematurely, Wade worried that the next few years would become even harder, and Voldemort might even revive earlier.
Of course, there was no need to say more; everyone had completely agreed with Wade's viewpoint.
Lupin had already found a large cave nearby, and everyone worked together to move a stone large enough to completely block the cave entrance.
Wade also explained the reason for doing so:
"Tom's artifact contains powerful magical energy. Ordinary spells won't work. For now, only Fiendfyre can completely destroy it."
Wade had already confirmed with Lupin that he also knew the Fiendfyre curse.
Wizards who had experienced the war could often skillfully use the three Unforgivable Curses, let alone ordinary Dark Arts.
In reality, casting Fiendfyre wasn't very difficult; its true difficulty lay in control—wizards with insufficient ability using Fiendfyre could easily suffer a backfire, causing unforeseen destruction.
For example, Crabbe in the original story, who cast Fiendfyre and was ultimately burned to death by it.
"Then we'd better clear the surrounding weeds too," Theo suggested. "I heard Fiendfyre burns everything flammable."
So, everyone spent another hour meticulously clearing all flammable materials inside and outside the cave.
"That's about right."
Wade said, choosing a bare stone inside the cave. They piled a stack of firewood on it.
Wade took out the magic-shielding box from his bag, then carefully picked up the Diadem with tongs and placed it on the stone.
His cautious and serious demeanor prevented the others from viewing it lightly.
The Diadem looked dusty and its gems dull. Michael didn't recognize it as the founder Ravenclaw's Diadem at all.
After all, that legendary diadem had vanished with its owner a thousand years ago. Although the statue of Ravenclaw in the common room wore a diadem, what did that matter?
For over a thousand years, a few students annually would replicate the diadem, pretending they too had gained supreme wisdom.
The Diadem lay quietly on the stone, showing no special power, nor emitting any aura of dark magic.
Lupin gestured for the students to retreat behind him, pointed his wand in that direction, and whispered, "Fiendfyre!"
A searing ball of flame flew out, igniting the firewood, and the blaze roared, growing larger.
"Get out!" Lupin shouted.
The group hastily exited the cave, ready to drop the large stone to block the entrance at any moment. They watched the area intently.
Perhaps because there was so little to burn, the Fiendfyre wasn't particularly large, but the distorted flames continually transformed into various beasts—Blast-Ended Skrewts, dragons, leopards...
Suddenly, a huge black shadow rose into the air within the flames. It twisted, roared, emitted sharp and painful shrieks, and then suddenly lunged towards the group at the cave entrance, carrying the Fiendfyre with it!
Thump!
The boulder crashed down.
A few sparks flickered from the cracks.
"Wade..."
After a long time, Wade heard Michael say, his eyes wide and vacant, his voice weak:
"I feel like... that shadow... was like Tom himself?"
"...A-a delusion, right?" Theo muttered.