Hogwarts Headmaster's Office, the sky outside the window was gradually darkening.

Rare alchemy research materials were to alchemists what treasured ingredients were to chefs.

As the topic gradually shifted from the distant future of the magical world to Voldemort's Horcruxes, the conversation between Nicolas Flamel and Eileen became more and more congenial. The two wizards, one old and one young, exchanged a knowing smile, revealing the same meaningful excitement.

Clearly, in their eyes, the "most dangerous Dark wizard" in history was not intimidating at all.

Dumbledore, with a worried expression, was about to say something when Grindelwald spoke first, saying calmly.

"Don't be so quick to question, Albus. You've worried many times before, but if she really wasn't trustworthy, we wouldn't have this 'new and old wizard social gathering' assembled here now. Think carefully, do you think there's any need to worry? Even if little Tom shows signs of strangeness, destroying a fragment of soul is too simple."

"...That's true."

Dumbledore looked around at the "Tarot Club" in the room, nodded, and agreed with the statement.

Even if Eileen's experiment tonight failed, the worst-case scenario would be just destroying one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

In fact, Dumbledore was more eager to see Eileen's expectations fulfilled. With perfect alchemical materials, the losses in research and innovation of magical civilization could be greatly reduced, and many dangerous attempts that might cross the line could be avoided.

Although risks still existed, strictly speaking, those things couldn't even be considered "people."

Horcruxes were indeed an extremely evil and thorny form of dark magic.

As Eileen had said before, slowly searching like finding a needle in a haystack, hoping to one day gather all the Horcruxes and destroy them one by one, was the most direct, simplest, and lowest-level solution.

And if Horcruxes, these evil props, could play a slight positive role before being destroyed.

In Dumbledore's opinion, that would be a pretty good outcome.

As for Eileen's talk about packaging the "sCp-17" series into a Black Lord's treasure called "Anotherpiece," attracting wizards to flock to find it, thereby opening the magical era of the entire magical world... Dumbledore had long learned to automatically ignore these strange, incomprehensible Veela girl fantasy words.

Since there was a better way to deal with Voldemort's Horcruxes, that alone was worth trying.

Thinking of this, Dumbledore relaxed.

"If you and Flamel both come to the same conclusion and find a more appropriate way to resolve the Horcruxes, then those few in Hogwarts can be handed over to you—I can't make decisions on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, but I think if the reasons are justified, perhaps that obsidian ring publicly collected in Russia can also be retrieved and processed."

"Don't worry, we don't need to deal with the Ministry of Magic for the time being."

Eileen shrugged, saying nonchalantly.

"Besides, regarding these results, I suggest it's best to limit it to small-scale exchanges. Human greed is terrible. Before fully grasping and researching most of the content, letting politics get involved probably won't have any good results."

Dumbledore paused, seemingly thinking of something, and nodded thoughtfully.

"That's true..."

"Then, back to the topic, Professor Dumbledore, the experimental site you promised to provide—"

"Yes, you don't have to worry about that. As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, I still know a few wonderful secret places, one of which is not far away. After evening self-study, we can set off after staggering the peak time for students returning to the dormitory."

A warm smile appeared on Dumbledore's face, and he replied softly.

Although he trusted the strength of everyone present, this was, after all, the first Horcrux disposal experiment, and being cautious was not excessive. Besides, if it was in that magical room, he would be more comfortable with the preparations and emergency handling.

"A wonderful... secret place? Okay—"

Eileen's eyes flickered slightly, and she raised her eyebrows lightly.

With her understanding of Hogwarts Castle, there weren't many secret rooms located near the seventh floor of the castle, and considering the confidentiality and functionality, Dumbledore's evasive answer was obvious—the Room of Requirement.

However, since Dumbledore chose to keep it secret for the time being, she didn't need to show off her knowledge here.

Just as Dumbledore considered, not everyone present could be completely trusted. Instead of generously telling them the secret of Hogwarts Castle, it was better to keep some mystery as a trump card.

'It seems I need to warn the house-elves later not to reveal the secrets of the castle.'

Eileen thought to herself, but a curious expression like the other wizards appeared on her face.

In addition to serving as a multi-functional venue, the Room of Requirement itself was also quite valuable for scientific research. This was one of the most precious secrets in Hogwarts Castle, and Eileen had many ideas waiting to be verified one by one.

"Sorry, to interrupt a bit..."

Nicolas Flamel tapped his fingers lightly on the table and turned to look at Dumbledore.

"Since there's still some time, Albus, let's finalize the teaching job you mentioned earlier. Alchemy is a very dangerous and complicated subject, and I don't have the energy to deal with nearly a thousand apprentice wizards with zero basic knowledge."

In Dumbledore's previous owl letter, the invitation from the foundation was just a hidden line.

The real official statement to the Ministry of Magic was to invite Nicolas Flamel to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to restart the Alchemy class that had been sealed for decades—in today's magical world, there were not many wizards capable of teaching this course. It would be a pity to let this knowledge disappear.

"Oh, of course—"

Dumbledore quickly turned his head and moved his fingers slightly.

Immediately afterward, a small piece of parchment floated over from his desk not far away and landed in Flamel's hand.

"This is the formal professor appointment agreement for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Cornelius and the members of the school board have all shown considerable enthusiasm after learning that you may be recruiting students at the school. As for the curriculum arrangement..."

The old wizard said, looking at the white-haired fluffball standing next to the bird stand, playing with the phoenix again.

"Miss Kaslana has given a plan. She believes that you can write a part of the teaching plan and content, and then Muggle scholars plus some wizards will help complete the most basic teaching screening—as for you, rather than directly participating in teaching, it is more like equipping you with a certain number of assistants to assist you in your subsequent alchemy research work at Hogwarts."

"Muggle scholars?"

Nicolas Flamel frowned and repeated with some surprise.

"More precisely, mainly some researchers in the field of chemistry. They represent the research results of the non-magical world in the field of 'alchemy' in the past five hundred years. I think exchanging knowledge with each other will have good results."

Eileen smiled and explained softly, gently tapping her index finger in the air, outlining a silver magical halo.

Beneath the form of an elaborate six-pointed star magic array, densely packed with various chemical equations, chemical bonds, and reaction formulas were like magical paths, connecting the various elements together in an orderly manner, looking quite dreamy.

(Picture - Click to expand)

"What you are seeing now is the reaction cycle of a certain metal element. As you can see, there is not much difference between Muggle chemistry and alchemy in magic. They are both ways for human beings to explore the truth—if we wizards pay more attention to thinking about 'what we want,' then they think more about 'why,' which is such a close complement."

"I see..." Nicolas Flamel glanced at the magic array drawn by Eileen and nodded noncommittally.

"After the experiment ends tonight, I will take half a day to confirm tomorrow. If the degree of fit between the two is really so high, then of course I have no reason to reject this proposal to reduce my burden."

"You will be surprised, Mr. Nicolas Flamel... oh no, should I call you Professor Flamel now?"

Eileen smiled contentedly as she watched the great alchemist sign his name on the "Teaching Contract."

Counting Newt Scamander, who had already completed the course handover for Care of Magical Creatures earlier tonight and returned to the Hogwarts professor sequence, and Sirius Black, who was still in the Transfiguration classroom, taking his last teaching assistant internship lesson with Professor McGonagall before officially taking over, the Hogwarts professor list for this year was finally completely determined.

Not to mention, Lupin, who was now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, was originally the best professor of this course in the original work.

'If Hogwarts is an open-ended card-drawing game, then I've almost completely spent all my money at the beginning...'

Eileen felt at ease while snatching the phoenix Fawkes's small rice cakes, and watched Dumbledore answer and arrange the future teaching plans for the wizards in the room one by one, narrowing her eyes with pleasure and thinking secretly.

Although a certain former Slytherin Head of House, who was somewhat afraid of death and vain, had not yet returned, with the successful experience of "recruiting" Gilderoy Lockhart, Eileen did not think it would be difficult to persuade Horace Slughorn.

Once the research on Horcrux cracking and reuse progressed to a certain stage, the wizards of the Destiny Group should begin to contact Professor Slughorn—from the current situation, future expansion of Hogwarts was inevitable.

The current number of faculty and staff alone was far from enough to support the [Hogwarts Academy City] plan.

And the main task now was to stand from the perspective of an ordinary little wizard and carefully savor and feel the changes in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As for the starting point, it would be better to start with writing a diary.

There was still a little while before the end of the evening class, and she could take this opportunity to rest and prepare well.

Perhaps Tom at this time was slightly weaker in strength, but he was definitely not cannon fodder that could be kneaded at will.

In any case, the other party was at least a dangerous wizard who would be crowned "Dark Lord" in the "future."

Compared to the other Horcruxes, the soul in this diary might be the real Voldemort.

At the same time, this might be the version of Tom Riddle that Dumbledore was most afraid of.

After all, theoretically speaking, Tom Riddle as a student was even more dangerous than the future in terms of intelligence and human cunning—he was the conspirator who, without any external plug-ins, caused Hogwarts to experience a school closure crisis, and then relied on his own strength to debut as a campus idol and solve this unexpected disaster.

In a way...

Eileen touched the phoenix's warm wings and glanced thoughtfully at the [Slytherin Family Deed], which was now spread out, framed, and neatly hung on the wall behind the Hogwarts Headmaster's desk, her eyes flickering.

She seemed to have just experienced something similar not long ago.

Hogwarts was indeed a magical castle favored by demon kings.

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Chapter 1 ~ Maybe there will be more later tonight -