On a clear night, countless stars twinkled, like myriad dazzling silver beads densely embedded in the deep black night sky.
But strangely, the moon, which should have been bright and pure, held a hint of subtlety, and in the hazy light, an abnormal red tinge seeped through, as if a blood-stained hand had gently brushed across the moonlight.
A light breeze rushed from the boundless Forbidden Forest towards the castle. It gently pushed open Amosta's window, and the crimson moonlight seized the opportunity to slip in, spreading a rosy glow across the dormitory's dark brown floor.
The stone box on the desk had been half-opened. The box seemed to possess a magical ability to swallow light; the candlelight that entered it did not escape at all, so the other half of the box remained pitch black, obscuring whatever was inside.
Amosta leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the thumb-sized glass vial he held between his fingers. Inside the vial, shimmering silver mist slowly swirled, like a rotating galaxy.
This was a vial of stripped memories. The memories belonged to Amosta, but he didn't know when he had left this item.
This morning, when Professor McGonagall encountered Harry Potter, a message automatically popped into his mind. The message told him he had hidden something very important beneath the dormitory floor, and that it must be retrieved immediately once his memory recovered. The condition for triggering the message was seeing Harry Potter with his own eyes.
Why had he set such a condition back then?
Amosta gazed at the dazzling silver mist, pondering this question. Suddenly, his heart rate quickened as he considered a possibility.
"Could it be that these memories are related to the Harry Potter plot? All these years, I haven't been able to recall my past life's knowledge of the Harry Potter plot because I personally stripped away this memory?"
Amosta murmured, but then he shook his head, refuting his own guess.
What was the biggest advantage of a穿越者 (transmigrator/reincarnator)? It was simply knowing the plot in advance.
Knowing the plot meant being able to preemptively avoid all dangers and gain advantages for oneself. No matter what happened, Amosta believed he would not abandon such a huge advantage.
In fact, Amosta could have directly integrated this memory, which would have answered his questions. However, being cautious, he dared not try it lightly.
Memories represent a person's past and experiences. To some extent, they can even change a person's personality. Amosta wasn't even sure if the information in his mind was left by himself back then or forcibly instilled by others using memory magic.
If it were the latter, then the caster would surely anticipate that he would retrieve and integrate the memory after seeing that information. If the caster implanted false information into the memory, deliberately misleading his actions—
Of course, someone capable of forcibly extracting and modifying his memories wouldn't need to go through such trouble. Perhaps simply controlling his actions with magic would be much simpler.
But Amosta still couldn't ignore this possibility. When he was still a student, he wasn't as powerful as he was today, so it wasn't impossible for someone to have secretly targeted him.
After much hesitation, Amosta decided to temporarily give up integrating the memory. His mastery of memory magic was not exceptional. If the memory in the vial had been altered by a master of memory magic, he might not have the discernment to detect it. Rather than taking a risk, a more suitable approach would be to find a memory master to help him with an appraisal.
Are there any masters of memory magic at Hogwarts?
Amosta pondered. Dumbledore certainly counted, but unless he chugged two large bowls of Felix Felicis, he definitely wouldn't make such a foolish choice.
After carefully putting away the memory vial, Amosta stood up and slid open the half-covered stone lid. He quietly gazed at the contents of the box. The faintly shimmering candlelight illuminated his face, making his expression look obscure and unreadable.
One of the four founders of Hogwarts, established a thousand years ago, and the founder of Ravenclaw House—Rowena Ravenclaw's most cherished possession in life, a treasure representing the beautiful qualities of calmness and wisdom, lay quietly at the bottom of the box.
However, this treasured item was now covered in black, dried scabs and cracked into two halves—a piece of junk.
Ravenclaw's Diadem had been lost for a thousand years. Amosta didn't know how much effort Voldemort had put into finding it, but he was extremely indignant at Voldemort's act of turning such a treasure into a Horcrux.
Amosta could imagine the stir it would cause if this item appeared in the underworld. Countless ancient schools of magic, whose powers originated from the Four Founders, would probably be willing to exchange all their wealth for it. Some might even go as far as to drench the wizarding world's wealthiest Malfoy family in blood, just to gather enough Galleons to purchase it.
To be so close to achieving financial freedom, yet having to personally destroy this opportunity, thinking about it now, Amosta felt a knot in his chest.
Speaking of personally destroying the Diadem, that was another question worth pondering.
Amosta clearly remembered how he discovered the Diadem and could feel the remnants of Fiendfyre permeating his magic on the Diadem. However, the memory of destroying the Diadem was blurry. As for why this situation occurred, the answer probably lay in that small vial of memory.
"Reparo!"
Amosta pointed his wand at the Diadem. The two old, faded crown pieces lying in his palm trembled for a moment, then became still again.
This wasn't surprising. Although the powerful dark magic attached to the Diadem by the Horcrux had been dissolved by Amosta's Fiendfyre, the Diadem itself still contained strange magic. Restoring a legendary magical item with powerful magic was not that simple.
"Does the Diadem truly possess the miraculous power to grant unimaginable wisdom to its wielder, as rumored?" Amosta wondered.
At the very least, Voldemort certainly hadn't unearthed the Diadem's inherent power back then, otherwise, he wouldn't have committed such an act of gross misuse.
"I'll keep it for now," Amosta said to himself. "Maybe another day I'll try gluing the Diadem back together. Perhaps those not-quite-sane secret wizards of the various schools won't be able to tell the difference!"
The cold air outside and the warm air inside created a convection current. The strong wind slammed the open window shut, making it clatter. Amosta walked to the window and closed it. With his keen eyesight, he unexpectedly saw an oil lamp wobbling out of the Forbidden Forest, drifting unsteadily towards Hagrid's hut.
"—Hermione Granger must have told Hagrid about my return to Hogwarts as an investigator, but perhaps she miscommunicated, leading him to mistakenly think it was the Ministry of Magic. That's not right,"
Amosta suddenly frowned, carefully recalling the scene of their meeting that morning.
Hagrid seemed very nervous about this news, but that was strange. Why would he be nervous? Did he think the Ministry of Magic had instructed me to return to Hogwarts to cause trouble for Dumbledore?
Or, did he actually know something about the Chamber of Secrets, or even have a direct connection to it?
Amosta pursed his lips, his gaze deep as he watched Hagrid's hut.
After a moment of thought, Amosta looked at the still lit window of the nearby tower and shook his head. Just as Professor Snape had said, Dumbledore might not be as noble as people thought, but he certainly wouldn't allow anyone to harm the students in the school. The trust he showed towards Hagrid was enough to indicate that Hagrid was not a suspect.
"The Headmaster should be collecting the Dark Lord's Horcruxes by now,"
Amosta pulled the curtains shut, mumbling as he walked back, "If he's willing to retrieve damaged Horcruxes, for Professor Snape's sake, I can give him a fair price!"
🚨 Note : Consider to Support this Story on Patreon.com/Flokixy to access +200 advance Chapters and To Support The Daily Update