Jane Yu had been waiting idly at the center of the small island for what felt like an eternity.
Perhaps it was because of his age, but her guardian seemed to be taking his sweet time.
That thought crossed her mind as she sat there.
She had been resting for so long—why hadn't he arrived yet?
He had set off way before her, hadn't he?
Feeling a wave of boredom and regretting not bringing her game console, Jane sighed deeply.
She realized she should probably cut back on using her Obscurial transformation. Even though she had come to terms with magic and it no longer harmed her body, it was clear that transforming still came with a debuff: a combination of lowered intelligence and heightened irritability.
Perhaps it was because the Obscurial form inherently carried the darkest of emotions—pain, despair, and hopelessness. After transforming, her thoughts became chaotic, leading to a series of irrational actions—
For instance, she had initially thought she was back in the modern world, angrily uninstalling a puzzle game on her phone after failing to clear a level for ages, even smashing the device in frustration.
Then, she imagined herself in an arcade, wildly hammering at a whack-a-mole machine, only to realize after a while that she was standing on the lake's surface.
By the time she landed on the small island, the area around her was littered with the dismembered parts of Inferi she had pummeled.
Even she felt a bit embarrassed looking at the scene.
After all, the dead deserved some respect, didn't they?
Overcome with guilt, she snapped a branch off a nearby tree and lit three sticks of incense for them on the spot.
Perhaps she should even cremate these poor souls, who had been turned into Inferi by dark magic, so they could rest in peace...
She tried casting a few fire spells, but aside from repelling the Inferi, they didn't seem to have much effect. In the end, she gave up.
Yet even after all this, Dumbledore still hadn't arrived.
Curiosity drew her gaze to the stone basin in front of her, filled with a shimmering green liquid that glowed faintly with a phosphorescent light.
Could this be something Voldemort had left behind?
She reached out toward the basin, intending to examine what kind of potion it was, but her hand was met with an invisible resistance, preventing her from touching the liquid.
Better wait for Dumbledore to deal with it.
Jane turned away and decided to rest a bit longer. Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.
...
She was awakened by Dumbledore's urgent voice calling her name.
Opening her eyes, she was greeted by his anxious face, his long white beard tickling her neck and making her feel a bit itchy.
"Did you lose control? Did it fail? Is it harming your body again?"
Jane, feeling a pang of guilt, quickly shook her head in denial.
She had voluntarily used her transformation... just to save time... and no one needed to know about it!
After all, when someone unlocked a new game skill, it was hard to resist trying it out a couple of times.
And with such a high-difficulty skill, mistakes were bound to happen the first time—like wasting a powerful move on thin air... or on Inferi.
Fortunately, her body was in great shape—she could eat and sleep just fine, with no discomfort whatsoever.
The only downside was that the negative emotions inherent to the Obscurial form tended to affect her mood during the transformation.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, and it was hard to tell whether he believed her or not.
"I hope that's true... Perhaps I shouldn't have brought you here..."
He had already silently vowed not to let the child experience too much emotional turmoil.
He knew she must have been triggered again!
Though she had indeed gained control over herself, what if too much stress caused her condition to relapse and spiral out of control?
What if the Ministry of Magic found out she had an Obscurial inside her? Would they try to take her away by force?
Could Hogwarts hide her? Or perhaps the Hog's Head Inn? Godric's Hollow?
At that moment, Gilderoy Lockhart's curse suddenly popped into his mind—
Would the child end up homeless because of her Obscurial being exposed?
The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
Jane, seeing the look of pity in his eyes, shivered as well.
All she had done was use a newly learned skill... Was it really necessary to look at her like that?
She made a quick decision to divert Dumbledore's attention.
"Maybe we should take a look at this stone basin."
Sure enough, Dumbledore's focus shifted. He raised his wand and performed some intricate movements over the liquid's surface, murmuring to himself.
"It's in there... But how do we retrieve it?"
"This liquid... You can't touch it with your hands, can't separate it, siphon it out... Vanishing Spells don't work either..."
"Perhaps the only way is to drink it."
He let out a long sigh, conjured a goblet, and dipped it into the liquid. It worked.
But Dumbledore had no intention of drinking the potion. The moment the goblet touched his lips, he set it down and started walking toward the shore.
"We can't risk ourselves. Perhaps we'll have to try again..."
His words were abruptly interrupted by a loud splash.
Turning around, he was stunned to see Jane wrestling with an Inferius that had burst out of the water!
One side was desperately trying to drag her underwater, while the other was pulling it onto the shore. Jane's hands were even wrapped in black mist—
"No, stop!"
Dumbledore, alarmed, tried to stop her from transforming further.
But Jane's skill proficiency had clearly improved. She controlled the Obscurial power, concentrating it in her hands. With a mighty pull—
She hurled the massive Inferius, along with a tangled mass of waterweed, onto the shore!
Dumbledore stood there, dumbfounded, as he quickly assisted Jane in subduing the Inferius.
"Incarcerous!"
With a few spells, ropes bound the Inferius tightly, rendering it immobile.
He watched in astonishment as Jane picked up the goblet, scooped up the potion, and pried open the creature's mouth to force it down.
The liquid level in the basin began to drop, but it was clear that the Inferius's shriveled throat and stomach couldn't hold much. The potion spilled out of its mouth.
So she grabbed a second one... then a third... a fourth... a fifth... distributing the potion equally among them.
Finally, she fished out the locket from the bottom of the basin.
"Well, we're already here. Coming back for a second trip would be a hassle."
Jane held the locket in her hand, examining it, but she didn't feel the same prickly sensation the diary had given her.
Dumbledore, however, was staring intently at the fifth Inferius she had pulled out.
He strode forward, brushed aside its hair, and examined its pale face and hollow, misty eyes. His lips parted as he murmured a name:
"Regulus Black..."
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