Kael also passed the bottle over and casually asked, "Professor, what are you planning to do about the curse? Since it's from Voldemort's Soul Artifact, it must be dangerous.
"More importantly, if we destroy the Soul Artifact, it seems like the contract would be useless too."
"You're right," Dumbledore nodded, "this contract only works on the Soul Artifact."
"Professor, I believe it would be better if I kept this thing," Kael glanced at Dumbledore's arm, "at least I won't be tempted to touch it."
"I understand your point, Kael, but that's absolutely not possible," Dumbledore said softly but firmly.
"Alright then." Seeing Dumbledore so resolute, Kael didn't bring up the ring's safekeeping again and prepared to leave.
But as he reached the door, he turned and said, "I think you could find a Death Eater and toss the ring to them, that way the curse could be lifted.
"Or even a Dementor, weren't there sixty of them that joined Voldemort earlier? Just consider it waste utilization."
Something dawned on Dumbledore while he was pondering... Yes, how could he have forgotten about those Dementors.
Throwing the ring to a Death Eater might be inappropriate, but there would be no such concerns with Dementors.
Such creatures are the embodiment of all evil, being practically a curse in a different form themselves.
More importantly, Dumbledore had already located those Dementors a while ago, resting on a small island to the south.
He had originally planned to deal with those Dementors after the school holidays, which would just be on the way.
When Dumbledore looked up again, Kael had already left the Headmaster's Office, leaving behind only Fawkes asleep on its perch.
Involuntarily, Dumbledore thought of Ravenclaw's Diadem once again, causing another wave of heartache.
His intuition told him Kael had deliberately let something slip, with the intention of retaliating for having his signature on the hiring form.
If that were true, then Kael had succeeded, because he certainly felt terrible now.
Just thinking that Ravenclaw was in this castle, yet he couldn't meet her, left Dumbledore so upset he didn't even feel like eating cockroach clusters.
Moreover, it wasn't just him; even the paintings on the walls were animatedly gossiping.
Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the greatest witches, possessing supreme wisdom and creativity, still unmatched even a millennium later.
Even just exchanging a word with her would be an invaluable asset for a wizard.
Thus, even the headmasters stopped pretending to sleep and vanished from their frames in the blink of an eye.
Then something intriguing happened in the castle.
People noticed unfamiliar faces suddenly appearing in the school's paintings.
The first to notice were the Gryffindors, because the Fat Lady, who managed their common room, was too engrossed in chatting with a curly-haired witch to respond to their passwords.
"Hey, Pumpkin Juice!" Seamus shouted the password for the third time, sounding increasingly impatient.
But the Fat Lady still had no intention of opening the door, and worse still, when he attempted to shout again, a shrill scream interrupted him.
The Fat Lady appeared quite excited, her scream was unusually piercing, prompting Seamus to instinctively cover his ears.
In the next moment, he helplessly watched as the Fat Lady zipped out of the frame with unprecedented agility.
In the corridor, a group of five or six Gryffindor students exchanged bewildered looks; without the Fat Lady, how would they get inside?
"Please, don't do this..." Neville lamented desperately, "I've been waiting outside for an hour!"
Unfortunately, the Fat Lady had long disappeared into another frame, beyond hearing range.
Thankfully, just then, someone opened the common room from the inside.
Harry, appearing to be in a rush, hurried out, with Ron and Hermione close behind.
"Oh, thank God, you..." Neville began to express his gratitude, but the trio had already vanished at the hallway's end.
"They always do this, acting all mysterious, never revealing what they're up to," Seamus remarked, unsurprised, deftly catching the closing door, "Let's go in, hopefully, the Fat Lady returns soon; I'd hate to spend the next few days stuck in the common room."
With that, he was the first to slip into the passage behind.
Neville hurriedly followed suit.
...