Chapter 287: Locket, Message, and Hagrid's Return
After the activity ended, Harry and Cho Chang huddled together whispering.
Cho's roommate Marietta gave them a sour look, then exited the dream.
"What's wrong with her?" Harry asked with some puzzlement.
"Don't take it to heart," Cho whispered. "She really didn't want to come. I made her come with me. You know her mom works at the Ministry and forbids her from doing anything that might upset Umbridge."
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the two exited the dream. Aiden folded up the dreamscape, stored it away, and waited for the next use.
Over the next two weeks, the D.A. held two activities each week.
With training from several good friends, Neville was gradually able to use the Disarming Charm properly.
Seeing his companions' progress, Harry's mood improved considerably each time Umbridge asked him to recite in class.
Aiden continued teaching Amin and Nura the creation of mental pathways every evening as usual.
Before they knew it, time had reached November.
Hogwarts' annual Quidditch Cup was about to begin.
Since Umbridge hoped to use Quidditch as leverage against Harry, Professor McGonagall finally couldn't stand it anymore and went to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore intervened to pressure Umbridge into forcibly approving the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
However, the newly reorganised Quidditch team only had three weeks of training time left.
This made Angelina so anxious that she practically tethered Harry to the pitch for daily training.
Amin and Nura had completed their basic training, and the rest was up to them to practise on their own.
There was still a long time before the appointment with Amir, so Aiden finally had some free time.
Sneaking away from everyone, Aiden went alone to the Room of Requirement.
Inside the Room of Requirement, in a chamber Aiden had hidden away, everything was wrapped in countless silver threads.
The threads twisted to form special symbols, enclosed within a large circle, combining into an alchemical matrix.
At the very centre of the matrix, a locket was suspended.
That's right. This was the layout that Aiden and Salazar had jointly left behind, spanning nearly a thousand years.
If Sister Tom knew she had been jointly deceived by her ancestor and an outsider, she would probably be angry enough to twist her newly grown nose out of shape.
Aiden stood before the locket and extended his index finger. The threads began rhythmically wrapping toward the locket.
After a long period of analysis, Aiden had also successfully discovered the location of Voldemort's soul.
The moment the threads connected to the locket, black threads also wrapped back from it.
The two colours of threads became entangled, and Aiden took the opportunity to slip crystal-clear dreams through the threads into the locket.
Initially, the black threads tried to resist, but blue light flickered faintly on the locket, and the dream droplets were immediately absorbed completely.
When the dream bubbles fully filled the locket, Aiden easily slipped inside.
A dream meticulously woven by a Sequence 3 Dream Weaver specifically for Voldemort. Even the Deep Realm King had fallen for such tricks.
Much less now, when only one-seventh remained, tainted with some chaotic aura, of a remnant soul.
Wandering in the dream, the entire world was under the dragon's control.
Extending his finger in a beckoning motion, the dream began to rotate and fold, and a woman with a good figure was delivered to him.
"Oh, can changes in the main soul actually affect the Horcrux? Do you share some kind of quantum entanglement?"
Aiden looked at her curiously and snapped his fingers. The soul fixed on Voldemort directly dissolved.
"Aiden Prewett, you damned bastard, you %$#@*^$#." Lady Voldemort began exploring the beauty of language.
Taking out a small vial, Aiden trapped the linguistically creative Lady Voldemort inside and left the locket.
In the Room of Requirement, as Aiden's figure materialised, all the threads began contracting into his body.
The locket also flew into his hand, but a flash of blue light appeared.
The silhouette of a tall, thin man emerged.
"Long time no see, Aiden." The man smiled at Aiden.
"Long time no see, Salazar." Aiden greeted him.
"How long has it been?" Salazar asked.
"It's been a thousand years now," Aiden answered.
"A thousand years... how wonderful. Our ideals still remain on this land, and this is the chamber designed by Rowena, isn't it?"
Salazar looked around, then found a place to sit.
"Where did you go after you left?" Aiden asked casually.
"After parting with them, I went to another continent where I restarted research on chaos. I finally discovered that fellow is a binary twin with order, able to simultaneously draw power from people's desires and the real environment. This is probably why he was able to become the strongest Deep Realm King. Aiden, you must be extremely careful of Him, even though He was once defeated by us."
Salazar earnestly warned Aiden.
"But right now, He's mixed up with your only descendant," a certain dragon said, squinting his eyes teasingly.
"Sigh, it's all destiny. When necessary, end my descendant. Don't consider my feelings." Salazar spoke as blue light began emanating from his figure.
"It seems I can't stay much longer. Aiden, a thousand years of unknown vigilance. You've truly worked hard."
Finally, Salazar suddenly turned back, leaving Aiden with a gentle smile.
"Heh, how could it be unknown?" The clear, bright laughter of a youth echoed in the empty chamber.
Meanwhile, the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match had ended.
Although Slytherin's underhanded tactics were quite dirty, Harry withstood the pressure and caught the Snitch to win.
After the match, Draco heavily mocked Ron because of the loss.
Unable to restrain themselves, Harry and the twins went up and beat him up, successfully getting their brooms confiscated by Umbridge and receiving lifetime bans.
"Dolores, I don't think you have that kind of authority," Professor McGonagall said, unable to watch any longer and stepping forward.
"Authority, Minerva? Would you like to see the latest Educational Decree No. 26 granted to me by the Ministry?" Umbridge said, standing with hands on hips and extremely proud.
Nearby, Hermione gripped her wand tightly, but Aiden suddenly intervened, blocking her way to prevent Hermione from exploding on the spot.
Although the Gryffindors had won the match, losing three players at once caused morale to plummet.
Harry and Ron nearly got into a fight, but news brought by Aiden calmed them down.
"Hagrid's back," Aiden said. He said nothing else, just used this sentence mixed with comfort to quell their anger.
"Let's go see him quickly!" Harry immediately suggested.
"But Umbridge's educational decree forbids us from leaving the castle at this time," Hermione said, pointing to the pink toad standing on the platform overlooking everything.
Then the three turned their gaze to Aiden, who was fiddling with the locket.
"Sigh, let's go." Aiden also knew what the group meant. He cast invisibility over them and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.