"Phew."
The golden light before him gradually faded. Evans pulled his wand from the ground and stood up, breathing a sigh of relief.
When that Fiendfyre had erupted moments ago, it had truly caught him off guard. He hadn't expected someone to use their own life and soul as fuel, causing the cursed flames to manifest at full power instantly.
Flames like those could destroy a Horcrux effortlessly, but left unchecked, they could easily consume all of Hogwarts.
Fiendfyre of this magnitude was far beyond what Kingsley could handle alone. Though Kingsley looked impressive kneeling there at the front, Evans had been channeling power from behind—and he was utterly drained.
Dumbledore, standing beside him, didn't seem particularly fatigued. When he'd joined the Finite Incantatem, he simply waved his wand with casual elegance and amplified the counter-curse's potency exponentially.
Dumbledore's power remains as unfathomable as ever.
Besides Dumbledore, the wizard statue had returned to its original form, clutching its gemstone and still looking shaken.
Evans had brought this statue back the moment flames rose, but directly facing Fiendfyre's pursuit was still too stimulating for a newly born statue.
However, being Nicolas Flamel's most successful living transfiguration product, before long, the statue had completely forgotten about the Fiendfyre. It contentedly hugged the gemstone in its arms with a silent, foolish grin.
Evans stopped observing the statue. He looked at the remaining ash on the ground, his eyes unreadable. He glanced at Umbridge not far away, then lowered his voice. "I didn't expect it would end like this."
In the old man's memories, most of the time, the soul created by Voldemort was dominant, yet at the moment of death, it was his own soul that took control.
"He did many unforgivable things during his lifetime, but his death was honorable." Dumbledore shook his head slightly and spoke softly. "Let's bury him back at the Smith family ancestral home. Although now, basically no one knows that place anymore."
"All right, just give me the address." Evans nodded, then looked at Kingsley in the center of the room.
At this moment, Kingsley was helplessly watching that constantly wailing woman not far away. From his expression, he clearly didn't enjoy this work.
But as Umbridge's nominal protector, during his time at Hogwarts, he really couldn't ignore this woman.
This made his expression look even more uncomfortable.
The Ministry of Magic was really hard to work for.
Evans cast one last glance around the classroom. Dumbledore shook his head. "Go help the children with the basilisk situation. And retrieve those two Horcruxes for me first." He paused, his voice softening. "I need to study them, then find the right moment to have Harry destroy one—to see if I can verify my theory."
"All right." Evans nodded, but suddenly his eyes narrowed as he fixed Dumbledore with a sharp look. "So after I've done everything, what exactly are you going to do?"
The old schemer's planning to use me as his errand boy again. Can't let this become a habit.
"Me?" A cunning gleam flashed in Dumbledore's azure eyes. "This evening, I've accepted Cornelius's invitation to visit a newly discovered ruin and study the magical runes there."
He smiled serenely. "You never saw me today."
The next morning.
Yawning, Evans shuffled into the Great Hall and slumped into his usual seat.
Last night had been exhausting—he'd been up until 3 AM. First, repairing the second-floor bathroom walls, then helping the young wizards deal with the basilisk. And of course, cleaning up after Dumbledore's mess by joining the other professors to comfort the traumatized students.
As for the old man's ashes, he'd need to deliver them to the Smith family estate when he found the time.
According to Dumbledore, the Smiths were likely descendants of Hufflepuff herself. The family line had died out, but the ancestral home and its collection vault should still be intact.
When he made that trip, he could bring Hermione's astrolabe along to see if Hufflepuff had left anything else hidden at the estate.
After all, aside from the cup and cookbook, the astrolabe still had three pointers whose purpose remained a mystery.
As for whether it counts as stealing... Evans smirked slightly. Well, I'll just bring Hermione along. She inherited Hufflepuff's legacy, so the heir claiming her ancestor's possessions shouldn't count as theft, right?
Besides delivering ashes, he had many other matters to attend to.
The basilisk killed by the young wizards was still in his pocket. He needed to study it first, then figure out how to sell the basilisk materials. This wasn't too difficult, since basilisks were extremely rare dark creatures—even for collection, their materials wouldn't be cheap.
However, Dumbledore had taken the two most precious fangs, so the basilisk's overall price would probably drop considerably.
Moreover, he planned to mainly study the basilisk's eyes. Since he needed to research them, there would definitely be losses—unavoidable.
But even accounting for so many losses, what those young wizards could earn wouldn't be little. He was even considering whether to slow down their money-making efficiency.
They'd already earned quite a bit from eliminating the dark wizard camp, received generous rewards from those wealthy snifflers for helping clear their camp, and now adding this basilisk—
If they kept earning like this, before even graduating, their money would exceed what ordinary wizards earned in a lifetime.
Moreover, these young wizards had been spending rather lavishly lately. Ron, who'd gotten a new wand and bought several collector's edition wizard chess sets, was still relatively good. Percy's approach of buying strategic props as gifts for his girlfriend was barely acceptable.
But Wood—casually replacing brooms for all team members with a wave of his hand—that action somewhat shocked him.
Couldn't he just find a decent excuse and apply to the school for new brooms? Was it necessary to spend his own money?
Was he really not planning to keep any savings for himself?
However, thinking about that poacher camp, Evans's thoughts shifted.
After that incident ended, he'd commissioned Bill and his team to clear out the Hunting Association's remnants. But nearly a month and a half had passed with no news whatsoever.
Logically, with their abilities plus his friends in Egypt, eliminating an organization without much foundation left shouldn't be too difficult.
Why had it taken so long without finishing?
Evans lowered his head slightly and fell into thought.
Could they have encountered some trouble?
Just as Evans was about to write a letter to inquire, a somewhat panicked voice suddenly rang out at the entrance.
"You can't take me away! I'm a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class! I'm Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor! I want to see Dumbledore!"