Chapter 457 - 457: 457: Voldemort's Real Plan

"Hah... ah..."

Kasen slowly sat up in his bed again. Then, almost mechanically, he got dressed, used Ender teleportation to leave his office, and headed toward the Great Hall.

After taking his seat at the staff table, he stared at the food in front of him and scratched his head.

"Isn't eating this much first thing in the morning bad for your stomach?"

Dumbledore glanced at Kasen and felt that the boy might have slept himself stupid.

"It's noon. This is lunch."

"Oh, sorry. So what happened this morning wasn't a dream?" Kasen asked.

"Unfortunately, although you did quite a few very stupid things at the time, the fact is that they were all real," Snape added from Kasen's other side.

"All right."

Kasen lowered his head. At that moment, all he wanted was to bury himself in the lamb chops in front of him and avoid everyone else's gaze.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore clearly had no intention of letting him get his wish. In the end, he forcibly dragged Kasen back out of the lamb chops.

"I took your advice and had the portraits keep an eye on Maple Green," Dumbledore said quietly.

"So?" Kasen blinked, waiting for him to continue.

"It was only one morning, but I seemed to see the shadow of someone both extremely familiar and strangely unfamiliar. Tom Riddle. Of course, this Tom Riddle is female."

Kasen nodded. "So you've confirmed it?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Of course not. There's still one final step. The school now has an arduous task for you."

"Honestly, I don't really want to accept this arduous task." Kasen clicked his tongue.

"Why?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Because if I miss class, someone will have to substitute for me. I don't want you teaching my classes. After all, you're an amateur," Kasen said faintly.

"Then the timing of this task is perfect. You definitely won't have any classes then," Dumbledore said with relief.

"Hm? Wait, let me guess. You want me to secretly follow Maple home during Christmas and see whether I can find any clues there?" Kasen's expression suddenly became awkward.

"If Professor Trelawney ever retires, I'll absolutely have you fill the vacancy in Divination."

Dumbledore slowly revealed a broad, toothy grin.

.....

In the blink of an eye, Christmas arrived.

This time, in order to make sure Maple went home and give Kasen a chance to follow her, Dumbledore deliberately did not even issue the forms for students to apply to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday.

Kasen went even further.

It did not matter whether you were an orphan or had an unhappy home life. If necessary, Hogwarts would directly provide holiday allowances.

Even if you had to sleep in a hotel, you were leaving Hogwarts.

Of course, since Kasen dared to come up with an idea like this, he was not worried that Maple would shamelessly come over and claim the allowance.

After all, if Maple really was Voldemort, she absolutely would not do something so out of character.

For example, her identity was that of a pure-blood, yet she suddenly became greedy over a few measly coins.

Wouldn't behaviour that OOC make it painfully obvious that something was wrong with her?

"Wait, that's not right..." In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore and Kasen stood side by side at the window, watching one young wizard after another board the train with their luggage. Dumbledore suddenly looked puzzled.

"What's wrong?" Kasen frowned.

"Maple, or Tom, isn't short on money. What if she leaves the school but doesn't go home, and simply checks into a hotel instead?" Dumbledore asked.

"What else can we do? Go knock on the door, check the water meter, then launch an FBI raid and take her down. Not going home for Christmas and wandering around outside instead? If that isn't Voldemort, then what is?" Kasen said bluntly.

"What if she simply had an argument with her parents?" Dumbledore asked speechlessly, staring at him with half-lidded eyes.

"....Give me a bottle of Veritaserum. You come with me. If she isn't, erase her memory for me," Kasen sighed helplessly.

"I'll go get it."

Unfortunately, all the Plan Bs and Plan Cs Kasen and Dumbledore had discussed ended up being completely unnecessary.

Maple quietly and ordinarily got off the Hogwarts Express, arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, followed a pair of adult wizards out of the station, and finally Disapparated with them from an alley in London.

"Can you find them?" Kasen looked at Dumbledore beside him.

"It'll be difficult."

The moment Dumbledore finished speaking, Kasen quickly pulled out the Watch of Flowing Time and pressed the rewind button.

The world turned grey and white.

Kasen seized the moment to throw a trace of Ender power toward the family of three while they were Apparating.

Five seconds later, Kasen sensed the location of that trace of Ender power and raised an eyebrow.

"Found them."

With that, he wrapped himself and Dumbledore in an Ender Field.

When they opened their eyes again, they were standing in front of a dilapidated manor.

"The Gaunt shack..." Dumbledore looked at the building in front of them and sighed.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to fool the two of you."

Maple's voice came from behind them.

Kasen and Dumbledore calmly turned around and looked at Maple, who was still wearing her Hogwarts uniform.

Or rather, Voldemort.

Kasen did not attack immediately.

The reason was simple.

Since Voldemort already knew that he and Dumbledore had locked onto him, and had even gone so far as to confront them in person, yet still dared to appear before the two of them, then he had to be relying on something neither of them knew about.

"Tom, since the two of us have already found you, remove the Confundus Charm," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

Voldemort smiled.

"Sure."

He waved his wand.

The next moment, Kasen and Dumbledore's expressions instantly turned ashen.

The Confundus Charm had indeed been removed.

And Voldemort standing in front of them still looked exactly like Maple.

"Unfortunately, I did use a Confundus Charm, but it wasn't to confuse myself and turn myself into this so-called Maple. It was to confuse all of you into believing that I had become Maple."

"But now, a real Maple, a real young Hogwarts witch, is standing before you."

"What are you going to do?"

Maple, or Voldemort, looked smugly at Kasen and Dumbledore.

Suddenly, Kasen spoke.

"Then what about Maple? What condition is she in right now?"

...

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