Chapter 212: Soul
Delphini was just about to continue, eager to pledge her loyalty to her master.
But then, suddenly.
The chilling aura that had enveloped her vanished instantly.
Delphini froze.
She slowly raised her head, only to find that the person who had stood before her was gone.
Sunlight pierced through a gap in the clouds.
It illuminated the Dark Mark on her arm.
Delphini felt a pang of disappointment.
Did her master not even want to bid her farewell before leaving?
She wasn't sure why.
When she faced her master, she always felt an overwhelming sense of submission, one she couldn't control. It was as if she was destined to kneel before him. And he, in turn, would exude a chill even colder than a Dementor's.
But now, she felt that coldness being drawn away, little by little. She found herself hugging her arms, sitting down, and burying her face in her knees.
The house was indeed quite dilapidated. And with the weather turning colder, the room was not only dim but also considerably damp. Water even dripped from the corners of the wooden roof.
She clutched the eyeball in her hand, and tiny specks of light emanated from her palm, dispelling the gloom around her. Delphini felt no fear whatsoever. In fact, a thought spontaneously bloomed in her mind.
—Those who love you won't leave you waiting in the dark forever.
She didn't remember where she'd heard that. And of course, she knew her master couldn't possibly love her.
But what did it matter?
She wouldn't allow her master to remain in the darkness for long! Her master was meant to be a Death Singer, walking in the light!
"Let me do my utmost for Master's grand ideal," Delphini murmured softly, her voice echoing faintly in the empty room.
She sat on the floor, shifted forward two steps, and gently stroked the stone slab where her master had stood moments before. The coldness of the stone seeped from her skin into her very blood. She slowly narrowed her eyes, a morbid expression spreading across her face.
After leaving Lockhart's house, Dylan shed his Kled-like disguise. He frowned slightly, then sighed.
"I was planning to turn Lockhart's house into another one of my safe houses today."
Instead of a safe house, he'd gained a blood diamond whose specific use was still unknown.
"Speaking of which, I haven't seen many unicorns lately. And before, the unicorn herd seemed to have run into some trouble."
Even though this blood diamond wasn't a newly crafted item, the crucial point was that he only had one. The silver setting appeared to have slots for two more. If those two also possessed the ability to influence unicorns and fell into the hands of other dark wizards, it could lead to them developing unsavory ideas about the unicorn herd.
Dylan narrowed his eyes.
He'd already claimed those unicorns as his own. Even if he hadn't had much time lately to actively subjugate them — after all, he hadn't even fully tamed the Hippogriff yet — that didn't mean Dylan would tolerate anyone else laying a hand on his unicorn herd!
"If unicorns appeared in my pet world, I wonder if they could directly become a link in the food chain."
Dylan guessed it was highly unlikely. Unicorns were simply too powerful compared to other ordinary creatures. Moreover, they weren't inherently combative beings. Whether eating or being eaten, it would be difficult for them to fit into a food chain, and thus, they couldn't become a node in the chain.
Even if his world couldn't directly integrate unicorns, if he were to gather the herd from the Forbidden Forest, just those unicorns alone would provide him with ample experimental material.
He didn't linger in Hogsmeade. Dylan had largely taken care of everything he needed to. And the most pressing matter he'd anticipated now seemed to require less of his direct involvement.
—As for Lockhart's property, since Delphini had already found it, it was perfectly fine to temporarily use it as her base. Although he hadn't explicitly told Delphini, only instructing her to deposit her accumulated wealth with Borgin, Dylan was confident that this seemingly unhinged girl would frequently reside in that house.
Dylan planned to go back and research new spells, to see if he could legitimately conceal the house as Delphini's property. This would prevent goblins or others from showing up later and causing more trouble.
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Dylan headed straight for his dormitory. He wasn't hungry after drinking butterbeer and eating some snacks in Hogsmeade, so he skipped lunch. Butterbeer was a warm drink, and even one glass was quite filling for a young wizard who hadn't fully grown. Not to mention, Dylan had consumed more than one.
Pushing open the door, Dylan entered the dorm. He'd expected it to be empty but was surprised to find Harry alone, sitting by himself.
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "No training today?"
Harry, hearing the door open, thought it was Ron and the others. But when he turned, he only saw Dylan. And why was the first thing Dylan asked about his training?
Harry's expression faltered for a moment, then he forced a smile. "No, Wood went to Hogsmeade too. He needed to buy some things, and he said he was going to a special place—he'd been looking forward to it for ages."
Dylan blinked.
A special place?
Looking forward to it for ages?
What special place in Hogsmeade could be so eagerly anticipated?
A brief thought told Dylan exactly where Wood had gone.
—It had to be the Three Broomsticks!
Even he, a third-year, could drink the non-alcoholic version. Merlin knew if the older students got to drink actual butterbeer there. No wonder Wood hadn't dragged Harry to practice today. It was a rare chance to enjoy some butterbeer, and he surely wouldn't want to miss it.
Dylan checked the time. It wasn't too late. It wasn't even afternoon yet. Ron, Hermione, and even Neville probably wouldn't be back anytime soon. Or rather, they'd likely stay out until the very last minute.
And Harry, who didn't have training and wasn't with Ron or Hermione, clearly wasn't going to tackle his homework alone. So he was probably just sitting idly in the dorm.
Dylan casually pulled a bag of snacks from his inventory space. Then, with a flick of his hand, the bag, wrapped in magic, floated in mid-air before gently drifting over to Harry.
"Try these. There are some new snacks I brought back from Hogsmeade. I think you'll like them."
Harry nodded. "Thanks, Dylan."
He placed the snacks in front of him, opened the bag, and peeked inside. Then he looked at Dylan. "Why are you back so early? And alone?"
Dylan shrugged. "You know, nothing in Hogsmeade is as appealing to me as a good book."
Harry, clutching the bag of snacks Dylan had given him, paused. "Was it not fun there?"
Dylan replied sincerely, "I thought it was alright, but at least Hogsmeade has plenty of delicious food you can't find at school."
"Like the sweets from Honeydukes – the school buys from there too."
Otherwise, it wouldn't be authentic. They might even get sued by the Ministry of Magic if Hogwarts tried to make their own versions.
With only the two of them in the dormitory, it felt somewhat empty. Sunlight streamed obliquely through the tower window, casting long, thin shadows across the wooden desk.
Harry sat at the desk and pulled a small packet of sweets from the large bag Dylan had given him. It was a packet of fruit hard candies. Harry tore it open, picked up a pink one, and put it in his mouth. Instantly, the sweet, fresh taste of strawberry spread across his tongue. The cool sweetness of the candy made a small smile curve his lips.
"If I'd known you weren't training today, I would've brought back a few more butterbeers from Hogsmeade," Dylan said, a touch of regret in his voice.
Harry, still sucking on the strawberry hard candy, asked with a hint of surprise, "Hogsmeade sells beer to underage wizards?"
Dylan chuckled. "Surprising, right? I was a bit taken aback too. But the pub owner said the drinks she sells to students are non-alcoholic and specially brewed by her; they're considered beverages, not proper alcohol."
Harry blinked, a look of novelty and envy on his face. "Really? I want to try some too."
Dylan stroked his chin. "Ron and Hermione, and even Neville, are probably at the pub right now—when I left, the place was practically overrun with underage students."
"So, why don't we send a letter and ask them to bring back a few barrels of butterbeer?"
Harry hesitated. "Will that be too much trouble?"
Dylan waved a hand. "What trouble? It's just sending a letter, and they'll be the ones carrying the drinks."
Harry pursed his lips. "Alright."
Dylan opened the window. The afternoon sun was warm. Dylan directly summoned Luna. He then wrote a letter and handed it to the little creature.
"Go on," Dylan said, feeding her a strip of meat.
Luna immediately flapped her snowy wings, vanishing from Dylan and Harry's sight in the blink of an eye.
"Alright, you can just wait for Ron and the others here in the dorm—though I doubt they'll be back even by dinner time," Dylan shrugged. "They'll probably cut it super close, until the prefects start herding them back."
Harry was amused by Dylan. "I think so too."
"Well, I'm off to do my own thing." Dylan said casually to Harry, then pulled out his familiar-space suitcase and placed it by his bed.
"Okay," Harry nodded, not asking Dylan to stay and keep him company. Perhaps he should get used to spending time alone when his friends weren't around. Hadn't he always been like that at home?
Dylan entered his familiar space. Then, he pulled out the unicorn blood diamond he'd obtained from Lockhart's residence. While he was with Delphini, he couldn't use all his various methods to research the blood diamond as thoroughly as he wished. But now that he was on his home turf, the situation was naturally different.
"Lockhart, that bloke, where did he even get this unicorn blood diamond? Was it a trade with someone? Or did he steal it from someone else?"
Recalling Lockhart's unique "talents," Dylan felt that the fellow might indeed have been plotting to appropriate someone else's experiences to write into his own books. But instead of successfully stealing the experience, he'd plundered their wealth instead.
"But Lockhart even bought a house in Hogsmeade. With his wealth, he should have more than enough capital to buy a big house. Why would he buy that tiny, dilapidated shack?"
If Dylan hadn't been able to find fragmented memories in Lockhart's mind while controlling him, he might not have even noticed that rundown house in Hogsmeade. Perhaps Lockhart acquired the property for some shady dealings. For example, conspiring with dark wizards to gain advantages not available at Hogwarts, and then using those advantages to solidify his position at the school.
"It's a pity, it seems because I used too many spells on Lockhart, even his original fragmented memories were completely wiped away by me," Dylan sighed, shaking his head.
He couldn't be certain which possibility was true now, and it would be difficult to find the answer. Unless he could research a spell or method capable of restoring all memories to someone who had lost them.
However, a seemingly complex spell was actually far from simple when truly researched. Memory loss wasn't truly a complete disappearance. Because the human soul wasn't some ethereal, unsubstantial entity—that had long been proven. Otherwise, it wouldn't be consumed by Dementors.
Surface memory loss might still be traceable within the soul. Comparing memory to a hard drive and the soul to a central processing unit, even if memories are deleted from the hard drive, the central processing unit governs all data storage and retrieval.
Even if humans "forget" something, it's merely a superficial deletion from the conscious mind's desktop, tossed into the recycle bin. While it appears the memory is gone, it remains preserved in the most core processor.
Human memories are like threads, deeply entwined in every corner of the soul. This was Dylan's realization while studying Soul Whispers Research. This book documented three layers of the soul:
The surface layer refers to the present consciousness and emotions.
The middle layer refers to the root of personality and instincts.
And the deepest layer is the ultimate destination of all memories.
It was precisely because of this that Dylan believed memories weren't impossible to retrieve. It would just be an extremely troublesome process, requiring him to master the mysteries of the soul as much as possible.
Thankfully, he already possessed a considerable number of soul magic spells, and several had reached maximum proficiency. If it was just about retrieving memories pushed into the depths of the soul, with enough effort, Dylan might just be able to achieve it.
....
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