Sean did not know how the dusk had passed.
The six-handed Hermione swayed in front of him, and he ended up falling asleep with his head on the desk.
His desk quietly softened its surface and lit a small fireplace beneath it.
"Sean's desk really is as magical as he is."
Hermione looked at the transformed desk and crossed her arms.
Justin, whose expression had not been very good all this time, smiled faintly.
The fireplace crackled softly. Outside the room, wind brushed through the treetops, making a crisp rustling sound.
Justin and Hermione looked at each other across the firelight, each lost in thought. It was not until the evening glow faded from the horizon that Hermione finally spoke, sounding somewhat angry.
"It's always like this. He never says anything. He doesn't even give us a chance to help."
"That would be too dangerous."
Justin sat on the wool sofa. In front of him were steaming pies and all kinds of sweets.
"We've been through plenty of dangerous things together."
Hermione stared at Justin with burning eyes.
The helpless smile at the corner of his mouth finally drooped.
"No matter what, I have to let him know that there are many people here who can be useful."
Hermione picked up her book and sat down beside Sean in a huff.
Her words were indignant, but her voice was very soft.
Justin nodded at her in agreement.
"We've already done a lot when it comes to fighting… You-Know-Who. If one day he rises again, will he spare us? Will he spare me? Or you? He is a blood-purist wizard. He has persecuted more than enough Muggle-born wizards."
Taking advantage of Sean being asleep, Hermione analyzed quickly in a low voice.
"You said it, Justin. We have to keep fighting and fighting. Maybe that way we can weaken his power and stop him from returning. But he still came back. Neither Sean nor Headmaster Dumbledore managed to stop him—"
Justin gently waved his wand and directed a small chair to run over, so he could sit very close to the two of them.
He looked into Hermione's eyes, which were lit by the glow of the fireplace.
"If Professor Slughorn wasn't lying, he still has two Horcruxes. Think about it. What could they be?"
Hermione bit her finger.
"I think one of them might be Hufflepuff's Cup."
Justin lowered his voice.
"What did you say?"
Hermione suddenly lifted her head.
"It's only my guess."
Justin smiled lightly.
"Oh—Hufflepuff's Cup. How did I not think of that? Maybe it really is—"
The more Hermione considered the meaning behind it, the more she felt it made sense.
"How did you—"
"Mm… a long time ago. Back then, I thought we had only destroyed two Horcruxes—"
Justin looked at the sleeping Sean. He was deeply asleep.
Because he was always tired.
Justin thought of the two Seans he had seen recently, two identical wizards, always busy and exhausted. He had never seen him truly get proper rest.
"Thinking about it now—oh, I'm getting off topic. Do you remember, Hermione? That Voldemort we once saw. The young Voldemort."
Justin recalled.
"Of course. But don't say his—never mind, do as you like."
Hermione thought seriously.
"He shouted about being the heir of Slytherin, and he commanded the Basilisk. I'll count the diary as the Horcrux that opened the Chamber of Secrets, proved he was Slytherin's heir, and purged Muggle-born wizards."
Justin's voice mingled with the crackling of the fireplace.
"So, the two Horcruxes we know were destroyed are: the diary of Slytherin's heir, and Ravenclaw's diadem. Hermione, I know there are people who despise the lowliness of their own bloodline, and because of that, they become desperate for more proof to flaunt themselves."
Hermione stared straight at Justin.
"I suspect Voldemort is exactly that kind of person."
Justin's smile faded.
"If Sean had not brought out Gryffindor's sword, I would have suspected he had already destroyed it."
Justin continued,
"So I think the relics of the four founders of Hogwarts must have a powerful attraction for him. They were once the most powerful and noble wizards, just like the kind of wizard Voldemort wanted himself to become."
"So you think—"
Hermione felt as if a thread had connected the previously vague clues together.
"I think he would want to use Hufflepuff's Cup, just as he used Ravenclaw's diadem. I have been searching for these objects all along, but unfortunately, I haven't found anything."
Justin said with some regret.
"So—"
Hermione raised her voice.
Justin looked at her expectantly.
What did Hermione have to share with him?
"So you were hiding this and doing it too!"
Hermione raised her voice again in outrage.
Justin froze for a moment.
"I was joking—"
Hermione's angry face suddenly relaxed.
"Of course I've been investigating too—"
"Oh."
Justin felt a lingering fear.
For a moment, he really had not known how to answer.
"Riddle—Riddle—I've been investigating Voldemort's name all along. Later, in a newspaper—"
Hermione took out an old newspaper and solemnly spread it open.
It was clearly quite old. Brown-yellow spots were scattered between the lines of text.
The Statute of Secrecy Strictly Violated Again: Repeated Offender and Murderer Morfin! Previously, Morfin had already stood trial on September 14 of an earlier year, answering charges of using magic in front of a Muggle and causing that Muggle harm and pain. Now he has once again gone completely mad. We warn every law-abiding wizard to stay far away from the mad Gaunt family—
Hermione pointed to a line in the corner of the newspaper:
No member of the victimized Muggle Riddle family survived.
"Good heavens—you found this name from so many newspaper reports?"
Justin was clearly shocked.
"There's more."
Hermione said irritably. She pulled many, many pages from her pocket.
Some were pages torn from books, some looked like scraps cut from newspapers, and some were simply tiny slips with only one or two sentences on them.
Hermione spread them out so Justin could see every part.
"Besides the Riddle family, I also found clues about the Gaunt family—"
Hermione arranged the pages.
"They may really be Slytherin's descendants—"
Memories surged up like a tide.
It just so happened that Voldemort claimed to be Slytherin's descendant, and he could also open the Chamber of Secrets and command the Basilisk.
"The heir of Slytherin. The Muggle Riddle family killed by the Gaunt family. There must be some connection here. Even if there isn't, I suspect the Gaunts must have possessed some relic of Slytherin's—just like you said—"
Hermione exhaled heavily as she spoke.
"Hermione, has anyone ever told you you're a genius?"
Justin said.
"Many people."
Hermione lifted her chin.
"I know I may no longer be much help in combat. But I still have this."
Hermione waved her fist and held it beside her hair.
When Sean woke up, the sky had completely darkened.
Justin and Hermione were reading nearby, which was what they did most often in the Cottage of Hope.
Looks like I passed out drunk.
That was Sean's first thought.
But it seemed nothing serious had happened. He had also obtained Professor Slughorn's memory.
Sean instinctively thought Headmaster Dumbledore would be very happy.
"Sean."
Out of the corner of his eye, Sean noticed Hermione putting away her book and walking toward him.
"Good evening, Hermione."
Sean said.
"You—"
"We heard everything."
Justin said openly.
Hermione glared at him.
She seemed to think that was too blunt.
"Mm."
Sean nodded.
There was nothing especially wrong with his companions knowing that they had destroyed Horcruxes.
It could not really be called information that had to be kept strictly secret.
Even if it did need to be kept strictly secret—
Sean looked around and discovered that Ron was not there, which made him feel even more at ease.
"We have some findings about the Horcruxes."
Hermione lifted her face, her nose held high.
"I think even you may not know all of them."
Sean raised his head slightly, his brow quietly lifting.
"You go first."
Hermione looked at Justin.
"We found that Voldemort seems to favor the relics of the four founders. We suspect this satisfies his character—his obsession with false power and his desire to display how different he is from everyone else."
Justin said seriously.
Sean was slightly surprised, then nodded earnestly.
"Hermione also found—"
When Hermione took out that newspaper, Sean was genuinely surprised.
He naturally recognized the person on it, the prisoner—Morfin Gaunt. When he saw the distant photograph of the Riddle House, he could not help glancing at Hermione.
Hermione greatly enjoyed this unusual reaction from Sean.
"Oh, you two—"
Sean hesitated.
"We only pieced it together recently. You tell us—would he have used Slytherin's relic as a Horcrux?
"In any case, we hope this can help you."
Justin said expectantly.
"Slytherin's relic—"
Sean was silent for a while.
"Yes. Voldemort always despised the Muggle part of himself. Even though he himself is a half-blood wizard. Hermione even found a Muggle newspaper report about the son of the Riddle family, local gentry, running away with a vagrant's daughter named Merope. That woman was called Merope Gaunt."
As Justin spoke, even he fell silent for a little while.
The truth seemed ready to emerge.
The Gaunt family's identity, the fact that Voldemort could command the Basilisk, and the source of the Riddle surname—
"You two did very well."
Sean found it difficult to imagine how the two of them had reasoned all this out from such scattered, seemingly unrelated clues.
He was slightly dazed. It seemed that everyone here was working hard to fight evil.
"Then Slytherin's relic—"
Hermione could not wait to ask.
Looking at Sean's expression, she did not believe Sean knew much less than she did.
"Destroyed."
Sean said calmly.
The cottage fell silent for quite a while.
Only then did Hermione hesitantly speak.
"You mean—"
"The two relics of Slytherin—the Gaunt ring and Slytherin's locket—we have already found and destroyed."
Sean repeated.
Justin watched Hermione slump into a chair, her mouth pressed into a small pout.
"Are you alright—"
Justin asked quietly.
"I only hope I didn't look too ridiculous today."
Hermione tried very hard not to let her voice become too small.
"Then Hufflepuff's Cup, have you also—"
Hermione saw Sean shake his head slightly, and only then did light burst into her eyes.
"You don't know yet."
Not by much. At least Headmaster Dumbledore didn't know.
In that case, it could not be counted as something they all knew.
So Sean nodded.
"In other words!"
Hermione stood up excitedly.
"Perhaps we will have an operation soon."
Sean spoke with hidden meaning.
Indeed, Hufflepuff's Cup had not yet been destroyed in time.
He remembered that the thing had been stored in Gringotts for a long time.
Now it was time to go to Gringotts and destroy it.
As for whether Gringotts would obstruct them—
"Mm…"
There was no need to think about something so obvious.
Sean's ambiguous words made Justin and Hermione sink into the atmosphere of an approaching storm for quite some time.
They truly had given Sean some surprises.
This made him look forward to his friends' investigations.
Before the final plan was carried out, perhaps they could find a more convenient and safer way to locate the final Horcrux.
Just like that, over a month passed without anyone noticing.
At the end of February, before Easter arrived,
Hermione, who was both investigating Horcruxes and taking every elective course, finally exploded like a balloon.
"For God's sake!"
In Divination class, Hermione said loudly,
"Stop bringing up that ridiculous Grim!"
Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes and looked at Hermione's face. Parvati and Lavender whispered to each other, both glaring furiously at Hermione.
Professor Trelawney stood up and looked Hermione over with obvious anger.
"I regret to say, my dear, that from the moment you first stepped into this classroom, it was clear you did not possess the gift required for the noble art of Divination.
"In fact, I do not remember ever seeing a student whose mind was so mediocre and hopeless."
The entire class fell silent.
Then—
"Fine!"
Hermione suddenly said. She stood and shoved Unfogging the Future into her bag.
"Fine!"
she said again, swinging the bag over her shoulder and nearly knocking Justin out of his chair.
"I give up! I'm leaving!"
The class stared, dumbfounded. Hermione strode to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder with heavy steps, disappearing from sight.
It took several minutes for the classroom to calm down.
Professor Trelawney panted heavily and pulled her shawl tighter around herself.
"Oh!"
Lavender suddenly cried, startling everyone.
"Oh! Professor Trelawney, I remember now! You foresaw that she would leave, didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever!' You said it long ago, Professor!"
Professor Trelawney gave her a tear-bright smile.
"Yes, my dear, I did know long ago that Miss Granger would leave us. But one always hopes one has misread the signs—the Inner Eye is sometimes a burden, you know—"
Lavender and Parvati looked utterly awestruck. They shifted over to make room for Professor Trelawney to sit at their table.
At that moment, Sean had already stood up.
Professor Trelawney looked at him in surprise.
"Professor, I feel a little unwell."
Sean said.
At that moment, no one dared speak.
Sean bowed apologetically to the professor, then slowly walked out.
When he caught up to Hermione, she was still wiping away tears.
But when she saw Sean come over, she quickly pretended nothing had happened.
As if she did not care about anything.
"You've been too tired lately. You should let yourself relax a little."
Sean said softly.
"You are the last person allowed to say that."
Hermione glared at him with red eyes.
But there was no bite to it at all.
"Mm."
Sean did not deny it.
"When are we acting?"
Hermione changed the subject.
"After you rest properly."
Sean thought for a few seconds, then said.
"If I don't rest, we won't go destroy the Horcrux? What do the two things have to do with each other?"
Hermione said, embarrassed and irritated.
"You're right. They don't have much to do with each other. So don't push yourself too hard."
Sean said softly.
Hermione froze for a moment.
"I understand."
Her voice was low and small.
After she left the corridor, holding her books, the busiest young wizard opened his panel.
[Transfiguration Categories:]
[Magical Transfiguration: Master (1250/3000000)]
[Material Transfiguration: Master (1250/3000000)]
[Soul Transfiguration: Master (11250/3000000)]
After nearly two months, he had finally raised all categories of Transfiguration to Master as he wished.
Now, he only needed to push Soul Transfiguration to the next stage—in other words, enter the Borderland again and find the reason for that sudden surge in proficiency—and he would forge a legend.
Legendary—
At that point, whether it was breaking into Gringotts or facing Voldemort, he would have far more confidence.
It was at that moment that Sean's magic hand mirror, silent for a long time, finally vibrated.
[Respected Mr. Green, we hope we have not disturbed you. He has settled down. In Albania.]