Chapter 586: Voldemort's Departure
The Headmaster's office was silent, save for the rhythmic breathing of the two
wizards—one old, one young—staring at each other across the desk.
Suddenly, a faint, near-imperceptible humming broke the quiet.
Two Magic Hand Mirrors drifted into the air simultaneously, one before
Dumbledore and one before Sean.
"He is gone."
Only three words rippled across the surface of Dumbledore's mirror. The
Headmaster's expression instantly turned grave.
Sean, meanwhile, found two anxious faces staring back at him from his own glass.
"Mr. Green, I hope we haven't disturbed you," Remus Lupin said, his voice a mix
of deep respect and barely suppressed urgency.
"Don't waste time with the pleasantries, Moony!" Sirius Black's voice barked
from the side. "Sir, they've left. I'm certain it was them—the targets you asked
us to track. More than one of them... Regardless, they've departed Little
Hangleton. They Apparated; we couldn't maintain the trail."
"Shall we attempt to intercept them?" Remus asked, his voice steady but firm.
"No," Sean replied after several heartbeats.
Voldemort was leaving the Riddle House. To go where? What was his objective?
Sean didn't know for certain, but he was well aware that even in his current,
weakened state, the Dark Lord was capable of weaving the soul-magic required to
create a Horcrux. Until they located the final anchor—or confirmed its
existence—it was better not to corner a viper that had finally slithered into
the light.
"But we should—" Sirius began, his impatience flared.
"Padfoot!" Remus warned, cutting him off.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin... is there anything else you heard before they vanished?"
Sean asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Remus said quickly. "During our surveillance, a
specific name came up several times."
"Albania, sir," Sirius added.
"I see... Gentlemen," Sean's voice took on a new level of severity. "Tell me...
are you carrying the full set of Fairy Tale Biscuits?"
"Of course," Sirius and Remus replied in unison, their gazes shifting toward the
snowy horizon.
Sean gave a slow nod of approval.
By now, the inventory of the Fairy Tale Workshop had expanded significantly. As
the Ministry had predicted, a coordinated set of magical transformations was an
incredibly versatile and unpredictable tool. Their utility was near-infinite,
especially now that the "Thrice-Greatest Hermes" had perfected the Controlled
Metamorphosis technique.
"Regardless of what happens, the priority is your own safety," Sean reminded
them. "I must emphasize, sirs... the task you are undertaking is more dangerous
than anything else in this world."
The faces of the two men, set in masks of terrifying resolve, slowly faded from
the glass. The M-Net connection went dead.
Sean sat in thought, reviewing the utility of the biscuits he had provided.
The Bowtruckle Biscuit: Transforms the user into a twig-like creature. Placed
against a wizard's robes or tucked into a pocket, a Bowtruckle was virtually
undetectable to the naked eye.
The Demiguise Biscuit: Provides brief periods of total invisibility and,
theoretically, a limited window of precognition—though Sean hadn't been able to
verify the latter through testing, he couldn't rule it out.
The Diricawl Biscuit: Named after the bird famous for its ability to vanish and
reappear elsewhere to escape danger. It was a faster, more intuitive alternative
to Apparition, functioning even in high-stress situations without a wand. It was
currently the Workshop's best-selling item; everyone wanted a
"get-out-of-death-free" card. He'd even heard a rumor of a wizard who kept one
under his tongue at all times, only to be accidentally teleported to a
neighboring village during a particularly vigorous scrub in the bath.
Between those and the combat-oriented Dragon and Occamy variants, Sean felt he
had given them every possible advantage.
He allowed himself a sigh of relief.
"It seems an old man has finally found a way to make himself useful again,"
Dumbledore said, walking slowly toward Sean.
"Hogwarts, child... I leave it in your hands. I have every confidence you will
manage it better than I ever did. Besides, I suspect Severus and Minerva will be
quite eager to 'help' you."
Sean blinked, stunned. "Headmaster, are you...?"
"I intend to reach out to a few old friends. I suspect I'll be quite busy for a
while," Dumbledore said with a bright twinkle in his eyes.
"Hogwarts still needs you, sir," Sean managed to say.
"In the past, perhaps that was true." Dumbledore thought of the stone titan he
had seen standing against the void in the Lands Between. He knew this boy had
grown to a height that even the Masters of the age could no longer look down
upon.
"Forgotten already? Perhaps it's for the best... some wizards don't need their
growth forced," he whispered to himself. Then, louder: "Our private lessons are
concluding, Sean. Consider this our final session."
The weight of the statement hit Sean like a physical blow. Their lessons were
over? He felt as though he'd missed something—specifically the part about
mastering "Blind Confidence."
"Oh? You're worried about the part you think you didn't learn?" Dumbledore
chuckled. "You mastered it long ago, child. In the dream."
Sean looked up, his eyes widening.
"A final word for a final lesson... forgive an old man his rambling, Mr. Green."
Dumbledore glanced at the Void Rune on Sean's chest, noting the two deep
fractures. He remembered the warning Godric Gryffindor had given him in the
mist.
"The Void Rune is just a stone, Albus. Just as the sun is just a star. It is
only when we are awake that the dawn truly begins. The Rune only functions when
the wizard's will is absolute. For your student, those cracks aren't a sign of
failure—they mean his will has finally merged with the realm itself. But is that
a blessing? To reach for power through such a link is to walk hand-in-hand with
death... or perhaps something worse. Who can say?"
"Be cautious with the Soul Sanctities, child," Dumbledore warned, his expression
one of profound, ancient wisdom.
"I understand, Headmaster," Sean replied. Even if the mechanics were still a
mystery, he felt the gravity of the advice.
"You have graduated, Mr. Green. In nearly a century of life, my greatest pride
may well be the fact that I was your Headmaster."
Dumbledore knelt down, his tall frame no longer blocking the sunlight. The
golden morning rays washed over both their faces. Dumbledore offered a smile
that was softer and more sincere than anything Sean had ever seen.
"Minerva has always had better instincts than the rest of us. I suspect that the
task I am about to undertake will be the best thing I have ever done."
"Are you going to find him, sir?" Sean asked just before the Headmaster turned
to leave. "Is it time?"
"I know the hour, child. I am going to face my mistakes. We all must,
eventually."
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