A little earlier.
A silver-white arc flashed. In an abandoned classroom in the school, Evans appeared, raised his head, and looked around.
In the center of the classroom stood a wizard statue. It wore a dilapidated crown on its head and had very expressive features on its face, seemingly full of curiosity about the surrounding environment.
Beside the wizard statue were two people he knew very well.
One was naturally Dumbledore, who was crouching beside the statue, holding something that looked like a cat toy. The wizard statue cooperated surprisingly well, jumping up and down like a real cat, trying to catch the thing in Dumbledore's hand.
The appearance of the other person surprised Evans somewhat.
Placing the old man he'd been carrying on the ground, Evans looked at that tall, pitch-black figure who would be completely invisible at night without streetlights and teased, "I always thought you were Dumbledore's informant. Now it seems my guess was right?"
"Informant?" Kingsley smiled helplessly. "If I were just an informant, I think my daily work would be much easier."
Hearing this, a sympathetic expression appeared on Evans's face.
"Ahem, all right, since everyone's here, let's handle business first." Dumbledore coughed twice, stopping their upcoming conversation, and looked at the old man Evans had dropped on the ground earlier.
After interrogation, Evans had followed up with a powerful Stunning Spell. At least for a while, this old man couldn't possibly wake up.
What they needed was for him to wake naturally.
Already understanding Dumbledore's plan, Evans said nothing but directly waved his wand. The old man on the ground floated up and drifted to a chair near the wizard statue.
Watching the old man settle into the chair, Dumbledore also stood up from the ground, gently placing the cat toy beside the wizard statue. He then looked into the statue's eyes and spoke softly, "I need you to stand here for a while. It won't be very long."
"During this time, someone might harm you, but don't worry—I won't let your life be in danger."
He pulled out a glowing gemstone from his pocket and waved it before the statue's eyes.
"After it's over, I'll give you this. How about it?"
Leaning close to smell the gemstone in Dumbledore's hand, the wizard statue's pure black little eyes suddenly brightened, then it quickly nodded.
"Then we have a deal."
Watching Dumbledore act like he was coaxing a child, Evans raised an eyebrow.
"You're really willing to spend so much magical power infusing that gemstone."
"If we can achieve our goal, using however much magical power is worth it."
Putting the gemstone back in his pocket, Dumbledore smiled and pointed his wand at the statue standing in place.
Without reciting any spell, the motionless wizard statue suddenly grew upward. Its short arms and legs expanded to normal human length, and its metallic body took on a flesh tone.
In less than half a minute, the original wizard statue completely disappeared, replaced by a wizard wearing Auror robes with a somewhat dazed expression.
After completing this, Dumbledore instructed the wizard a few more times, helped adjust his facial expression, then pulled out a box from his pocket, opened it, and placed it aside, tapping it lightly.
An hourglass-like pattern flashed in midair. The magic Dumbledore had previously solidified on the box was activated. The lid popped open automatically, revealing Umbridge inside with her ungraceful sleeping posture.
Finally, he waved his wand, adjusting the old man's sitting figure at the table, then breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"All right, from here on, we can leave this to Kingsley." Clapping his hands, Dumbledore smiled at the pitch-black wizard beside him. "After all, this is basically his job."
"Yes, after all, my original mission coming here was to help 'Ms. Umbridge' investigate Dumbledore."
Looking at Dumbledore, Kingsley emphasized the words "Ms. Umbridge" heavily, then found a concealed position near the door. A light curtain emerged from his wand tip, enveloping his entire person before slowly disappearing from Evans's sight.
However, looking at where Kingsley had disappeared, Evans suddenly had a rather impolite thought.
Actually, as long as he found a dark corner, whether or not Kingsley used a Disillusionment Charm probably wouldn't make any difference?
Shaking his head to clear the impolite thought, Evans looked at the motionless wizard not far away, worry appearing in his eyes.
"Are you sure temporary transfiguration will work?" Evans said softly. "Although his mental energy is almost depleted, he shouldn't be unable to see through even this kind of temporary transfiguration, right?"
Transfiguration of living things had many limitations. For example, living beings couldn't be permanently transfigured, the mental energy consumed was several times that of inanimate objects, and without maintaining the magic, the transfiguration could easily be undone.
However, with Dumbledore's mental strength, there wasn't much need to worry about the magic being undone. But the transfigured object would still have obvious magical reactions. Mr. Smith might see through this trap because of these magical reactions.
"And," he looked at the dilapidated crown on the wizard's head again, "what if he recognizes this Horcrux?"
Because the curse on the diadem was so intense, no magic could cover it to make it look like something else.
During Legilimency, he had seen that in Smith's memories, there were quite a few moments of interacting and talking with Voldemort.
Although he hadn't completely seen through his entire experience, he had seen quite a few important events and deep memories.
As one of the senior Death Eaters, what if he recognized this diadem and no longer attacked? What then?
"This was just a casual arrangement to begin with. If he really won't cast spells at this statue, then there's nothing we can do." Dumbledore shook his head, then looked deeply at the old man on the ground. "Even if we only let Ms. Umbridge personally see his appearance and remember what happened before, tonight won't be a total loss."
"Moreover—" Dumbledore's tone paused, a gleam flashing in his azure eyes.
"Things might have other developments too, who knows?"
Having said this, he took one last look at the arrangement by the table, turned to look at Evans, and spoke softly, "Let's go. We'll go to the second floor to watch those young wizards' battle."
"Although I've already made preventive measures in advance, I still feel somewhat uneasy without seeing it with my own eyes."
"After all—that's a basilisk."