Audrey said seriously, "The mory Charm only erases their mory of the event, but the mory itself still exists—it remains etched into their spirit body."
"Then what can you do?"
"My current plan is to return every few days and use a certain thod to delve into their inner world. I'll try to communicate with the deeper parts of their subconscious to help them overco their fear and co out of this self-protective state."
As she spoke, Audrey turned to Madam Longbottom. "Of course, this is just an idea. I can't guarantee it will work."
"That's perfectly fine."
A faint smile appeared on the old lady's face. If she had initially believed Audrey was rely grasping at straws, then after hearing the old doctor—her longti friend—endorse Audrey's view, she now truly saw a glimr of hope.
The two elderly won warmly escorted them out of the hospital. Madam Longbottom didn't forget to hand over so food and warm clothes she had prepared for Neville, asking them to bring them back to her grandson—however strict she was with Neville, her love for him ran just as deep.
———
By the ti they returned to Hogwarts, night had already begun to fall.
Audrey first found Neville and handed him the things his grandmother had sent. Then she gave him the small gifts she had bought in Hogsade earlier that day—sweets, prank items, and the like.
"Thank you," Neville said, surprised and flattered. Aside from his strict grandmother, very few people gave him gifts.
But he quickly realised sothing and asked, "Did you go to the hospital to see my parents?"
"I did."
"They..."
Neville looked nervous. "Are they...still doing okay?"
Audrey smiled and replied, "Mm, I found a way to treat them—but it might take a long ti."
"Really?"
Afraid he had misheard, Neville's eyes widened as he looked at her for confirmation.
"Really."
"Thank you—thank you so much!"
Neville bowed deeply. He was so overwheld with emotion that he could barely speak, unsure of where to place his hands and feet. Then, in a flustered move, he handed the gifts she had just given him back to her. "These...these are for you!"
"Uh..."
He imdiately realised how awkward that was, and his face flushed bright red with embarrassnt.
Seeing this, Audrey picked up a small piece of the snack Madam Longbottom had made. "I'll try one of your grandma's pastries, then. Alright—do a favour and go get Hermione and the others, will you?"
"Okay! Right away!"
Not long after, Hermione, Harry, and Ron ca over, curiosity written on their faces—only to be greeted with an assortnt of candies and little gifts. Hermione and Harry were relatively indifferent—they weren't exactly poor and didn't have much interest in such things. Ron, on the other hand, was overjoyed and, for a mont, felt that Audrey treated him better than his own mum did.
"Did you go to Hogsade today?" Ron asked as he munched on a Chocolate Frog. "Is it really as fun as the upper years say?"
"Even more fun!"
Audrey smiled, continuing the fine Hogwarts tradition of older students teasing the younger ones.
Ron imdiately fell into a wide-eyed daydream.
"Alright, don't forget to share the extras with the other first-years."
"Got it~"
After finishing up with Gryffindor, Audrey returned to the Slytherin common room and started distributing the rest among the first-year snakes. When she realised there was still plenty left, she simply handed them out to anyone she ca across, further boosting her popularity among the younger Slytherins.
Finally, Audrey hung the last small bag of candy on Professor Snape's office door before returning to the common room.
She was just in ti to see Malfoy approaching her. He looked hesitant and asked in a low voice:
"Can you...really see into my mind?"
"In a sense, yes."
"Then what if it's sothing even I don't fully rember...no, I an—if I had a dream while I was asleep, and when I woke up, I could only vaguely recall the gist of it—could you see what I dread about?"
"We could give it a try," Audrey replied with a sly smile, squinting slightly. "Why? Did you dream about killing soone?"
"..."
Malfoy flinched and took two steps back. This woman—this woman really can read minds!!
Damn it, she really is a freak!
But he quickly regained his composure and pretended not to care. "That's right. I dread about killing Harry Potter last night. But when I woke up, I forgot exactly how I did it."
"Do you need help rembering?"
"No, thanks."
Malfoy lifted his chin in disdain. "I'm a pure-blood aristocrat. I'd never sully my hands with sothing as crude as murder. Even if I hated soone to death, I'd have a thousand other ways to take care of them!" He was clearly imitating his father Lucius's tone and mannerisms.
"Oh? How impressive."
"Of course."
With that, he sauntered out of the common room.
Audrey watched him thoughtfully: So Malfoy dread about killing soone—and now thinks he actually did?
But dreams and reality were usually easy to distinguish—so why would Malfoy believe that sothing from a dream had actually happened?
The Imperius Curse?
Audrey quickly ca up with a theory: when soone broke free from the Imperius Curse, the mories of what they did under its influence often lingered in their mind like fragnts of a dream.
So, Malfoy had been under the Imperius Curse...or at least, he believed he had been!
At dinner, Audrey shared her theory with Edward. After a quick discussion, the two of them reached a consensus at once: they had to tell Dumbledore!
They hastily finished their al and made their way to the headmaster's office.
Ever since deciding to run for Minister for Magic, Dumbledore had been busier than ever—reaching out to mbers of the Wizengamot, wavering pure-blood families, and Ministry officials who didn't align with Fudge.
Fortunately, he hadn't gone out tonight.
"You suspect that soone used the Imperius Curse on Malfoy to make him commit murder?"
"That's right," Audrey replied. "Do you rember how the Chamber of Secrets incident still left so questions unanswered? Like—who stabbed the basilisk's eyes?"
Dumbledore fell into a mont's thought. "Actually, after you ntioned last ti that Malfoy might be involved, I've been keeping an eye on him. But I didn't find anything unusual."
"Hmm. Did you use Legilincy?"
"I'm afraid not. I didn't think it appropriate to use Legilincy on Draco based solely on suspicion."
After a pause, he added seriously, "Let's go see him tonight."
———
After dinner, Malfoy was about to head back to the dormitory with Goyle and Crabbe when he saw Snape walking toward him, his face expressionless.
"Malfoy, co with ."
"What is it, Professor?"
"You'll see soon enough. Goyle, Crabbe—you two head back."
The two looked at Malfoy, then quickly left.
Malfoy had no choice but to follow Snape all the way to his office. The mont he stepped inside, he caught a faint whiff of a sweet, herbal scent. Just as he was wondering what it was, his vision blurred and his body suddenly went limp.
Snape caught him and laid him carefully on the couch.
Dumbledore, Edward, and Audrey lifted their Disillusionnt Charms and gathered around the now-unconscious Malfoy.
"You're sure he's...connected to the Dark Lord?" Snape asked.
"We're not sure, Severus," Dumbledore replied with a calm smile. "That's why we need to find out tonight." He turned to Audrey. "Would you like to do the honours, or shall I?"
"I'll do it," Audrey said imdiately—she would never miss an opportunity to perform.
Snape eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure she's capable of this?"
"Oh, absolutely, Severus."
Everything was prepared.
As always, Audrey began by trying to communicate with Malfoy's ntal body through Telepathy.
"Malfoy, did you kill soone?"
"I don't know," he murmured. "But I've been dreaming about killing people—again and again."
"Tell about your dreams."
"I...I dread I stabbed out the eyes of a huge snake...I dread I cast the Killing Curse on soone...I dread people around were lying on the ground, calling 'Master'..."
Snape's expression changed instantly.
"When did the dreams start?"
"After the Petrification was lifted."
"Before that, did you feel anything strange?"
Malfoy frowned. "I don't know...I think—I think I had so mory gaps..."
"When did that begin?"
"Start of the term..."
Audrey paused to think, then asked, "Before term started, did anything unusual happen to you? Did you et anyone—or co into contact with anything odd?"
"No."
This ti Edward spoke up: "Ask if he received anything."
"Did you receive anything...unusual?"
Malfoy's face twisted in discomfort. "At the start of term, I...I...there was a black diary in my trunk...it just appeared...and I talked to it—through writing."
Just as they suspected.
Edward looked to Dumbledore. "That's Voldemort's old diary. The very first Horcrux he ever created!"
In the original tiline, that diary had been entrusted to Lucius Malfoy for safekeeping. Later, fearing a Ministry crackdown on Dark artifacts, he had slipped it into Ginny's cauldron when disposing of cursed items—but that was supposed to happen in the second year...
"And where's the diary now?"
"I don't know. It just disappeared."
"Did the diary ask you to do anything?"
"I forget."
"Had you ever seen it before you opened your trunk?"
"No."
Audrey continued asking a series of diary-related questions, but Malfoy had no mory of any of it.
Dumbledore was silent for a long mont, then asked, "Voldemort's diary was able to converse with Malfoy—so it possesses consciousness?"
Audrey suddenly rembered sothing. "Didn't I ntion before that the state of Voldemort in the Chamber seed...strange? He barely used any spells. He relied almost entirely on controlling the basilisk and Wormtail. And I could tell he seed to exist in so strange overlap between reality and illusion."
"And Wormtail's behaviour toward him was both obedient and evasive—sothing that didn't match her usual cowardly nature."
Dumbledore nodded slowly, realisation dawning on him. "So what you're suggesting...is that the Voldemort we saw in the Chamber wasn't the real Voldemort—but rather...sothing tied to the diary."
———
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