Knock knock knock!
"Professor Snape, may I come in?"
Snape, who had been lounging lazily in a rocking chair, frowned in mild irritation. He turned his head toward the door of his office, then lifted a hand to brush the obstructing hair aside.
"Come in."
With a wave of his hand, he lifted the magical ward on the door, letting in the person outside—the one who was undoubtedly scheming up some troublesome idea, and who was, in Snape's eyes, cut from the same cloth as Dumbledore himself.
"Mr. Ken?"
He cast Avada a sidelong glance. "What is it?"
"Professor,"
Avada carefully examined Snape's arms and facial expression, and only after confirming that nothing seemed amiss did he speak cautiously. "I saw the list of Muggle-born students that was just posted…"
"Get to the point."
"…My name isn't on it."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Snape raised an eyebrow, his tone lazy and faintly mocking. "Someone who's always believed himself to be Muggle-born suddenly discovers he actually has wizarding blood, neatly avoids being targeted by the castle's will, escapes certain doom, and finds a ray of hope at the last moment…"
"Or are you actually looking forward to being petrified—or to leaving Hogwarts?"
"…Neither, Professor."
Avada twitched his lips. Snape clearly hadn't run into any trouble lately—his way of speaking was still as infuriating as ever.
"What I want to ask is this: as far as I remember, my records list me as Muggle-born, and the Department of Mysteries has confirmed that as well…"
"Are you truly so eager to be petrified?"
Impatience crept into Snape's voice. "In order to ensure the accuracy of blood status and prevent students from suffering losses due to misclassification, the Board of Governors conducted a comprehensive reexamination of every student's family background. As a result, some witches and wizards whose ancestors included Squibs—and who therefore retained wizarding blood—were reclassified as wizarding descendants, even if they had previously been mistaken for Muggle-borns. What happened to you is most likely a case like that."
"Is that explanation clear enough, Mr. Ken?"
"…Clear enough, Professor."
Avada could barely hide his heavy breathing anymore.
He finally knew who the mastermind behind all of this was.
The Board of Governors would never do something so utterly impractical and meaningless. Squibs themselves were wizarding descendants and carried wizarding blood, so their offspring would naturally also be considered wizarding descendants. Of course, if they still showed no magical talent, they would continue to be classified as Squibs—but they would never be ordinary Muggles.
So the reason Avada had been classified as a wizarding descendant could not possibly be because of some Squib ancestor.
It had to be something else.
And among the Board of Governors, there just happened to be someone who firmly believed that a student named "Ken" was in fact a wizarding descendant—that his Muggle-born status in the records was merely a disguise, and that he was the descendant of someone important…
'Hard to guess who that might be, wouldn't you…'
'Lucius Malfoy?!'
Avada had noticed long ago that from the moment the coma incidents began up until Snape formally announced the expulsion of Muggle-born students—during all the turbulence at Hogwarts—Lucius Malfoy, despite being a member of the Board, had not appeared at the school even once, even as other governors came and went.
At first, Avada had assumed Lucius was lying low because he realized the diary he had passed on was the source of the trouble, afraid that the pro-Dumbledore governors might seize upon that weakness. But now, Lucius's will had somehow influenced student records without him ever setting foot in the school!
Before Dumbledore was removed, the Board of Governors had no authority to review student records at all. And Hogwarts' student files were kept under extremely tight security—there was virtually no chance of them being taken out of the castle. Lucius's absence therefore strongly suggested that he still didn't know Avada's true name, and was continuing to act on his original assumption.
And one more thing couldn't be forgotten—the Horcrux diary had originally been kept by Lucius. If anyone were to coordinate with the diary's actions, he was undoubtedly the best candidate. The influence he was displaying now more than proved it…
This is absurd…
Avada couldn't help but feel a sense of dark irony. Mr. Shafiq's bit of chaos from over a year ago had ended up helping him identify the mastermind behind the scenes…
At this point, Avada was seventy to eighty percent certain that the coma incident that led to Dumbledore's removal had been orchestrated by Lucius from the shadows, while Flint, Parkinson, and the others merely served as decoys in the open.
Focusing intently, Avada swept the surroundings with his magical senses. After confirming that there were no surveillance charms or eavesdroppers nearby, he raised his head, deliberately fixing his gaze on Snape's arm as he lowered his voice.
"Professor, I have one more question… Do you happen to have the former Headmaster's contact information?"
"What?"
Snape's pupils contracted sharply.
"I just remembered that the former Headmaster borrowed something rather valuable from me, but was removed from office before he could return it. I haven't been able to get in touch with him since…"
"…What did you discover?"
Snape stared expressionlessly as the student in front of him made exaggerated, conspiratorial faces for a moment, then abruptly asked.
"Huh?"
Avada froze. "Discover? What discovery? I just want to send the former Headmaster a message and have him return my property. Nothing more than that…"
As he spoke, he slowly rolled up his sleeve, exposing his forearm—about as blatant a hint as one could give.
"Tell me what you've found directly. I'll pass it on to Dumbledore for you."
Snape frowned slightly, his voice dropping as well. "Before he left, Dumbledore told me that you might uncover some crucial clues without even realizing it. His own progress hasn't been encouraging so far… and I, too, need your intelligence to prepare for further unknowns."
"But your vow—"
"I imagine I value my own life more than you do, Mr. Ken. If I'm willing to listen to this, it means I can at least remain alive to make use of the information you provide. I have no intention of treating my life as a disposable item."
Snape spoke coldly, then drew a crimson quill from within his robes. "So, tell me what you've discovered, Mr. Ken, and I will relay it to Dumbledore."
"..."
Avada couldn't help wondering—just what exactly did Snape's vow entail, to allow him to pass information to Dumbledore so openly without suffering backlash?
If not for Dumbledore's personal assurance, his understanding of Snape's character, and the man's frank and steady mental state, Avada might have suspected that the vow even included a clause about "delivering false information to Dumbledore"…
Damn it… if only the Unbreakable Vow weren't so deeply concealed, making it impossible for me to locate and study it right now…
He sighed inwardly. Only then did he finally speak with confidence.
"I suspect that the one manipulating this entire affair is Lucius Malfoy…"
(End of Chapter)