"Me? I'm just Helora Paris. Would you like to come to my office and talk?"
Helora still did not answer Wade's question directly.
"All right."
Wade agreed without hesitation. His curiosity would not allow him to refuse.
The caretaker's office was on the first floor.
Unlike Filch's cluttered office in later years, Helora's office was extremely clean and tidy despite her being a new caretaker.
What surprised Wade even more was that there was a small door in the office that had been left open. Through it, he could clearly see a tiny kitchen.
"You cook in your office?" Wade could not help asking.
"Yes. It's not that I dislike the food made by the house-elves. I just prefer making things myself. Studying food is a wonderful thing too."
Helora had Wade sit on a small sofa nearby, then brought over a jug of something to drink.
"I made this myself. It uses seven different kinds of fruit, some honey, and a little magic to blend the flavours together."
The amber-coloured drink poured from the jug into a glass, looking almost like real amber.
Wade looked at the beautiful drink in front of him and casually picked it up.
He brought the glass beneath his nose and smelled it. A fresh fragrance unlike anything he had encountered before immediately filled his senses and made him feel more alert.
Wade seemed to hesitate for a moment, but eventually took a small sip.
The strange drink was smooth and rich, filled with the aroma of fruit.
Wade could swear that in both his previous life and this one, he had never tasted anything this good.
"There are actually several very useful spells for checking whether food contains curses or poison. I can teach them to you," Helora said with a smile.
Wade paused slightly.
So his subtle attempt to inspect the drink just now had not escaped Helora's notice?
"Sorry. It's just a habit of mine," Wade said casually.
"It's a good habit. You should keep it," Helora replied, seeming not to mind at all that Wade had checked her drink.
"Ahem... this really is the best drink I've ever had, Ms Paris," Wade said after clearing his throat.
That was not a lie. He truly had never tasted a drink this delicious before.
"I'm glad you like it!" Helora looked genuinely pleased. "If you want, I can give you the recipe later."
"Oh? Really?"
"Of course. For someone who enjoys studying food, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing others enjoy what you've made."
Wade set down the glass.
"About what you said earlier..."
He had not forgotten the real reason he was here.
"You want to ask why I know her?" Helora set down the jug and sat opposite Wade.
"Yes." Wade nodded.
"We were once friends."
Helora waved her wand, and several plates of small pastries floated out from the kitchen.
"Friends?" Wade looked at her in confusion.
There had never been anyone like Helora in the game he had played.
Still, the game's story had only covered the year when the Senior first transferred into the school. What happened after that was unknown.
So it was entirely possible that she had met Ms Paris after graduation.
"Yes, friends. She was an extraordinarily capable person. Whether at school or after graduation, she helped a great many people. Very few people had as many friends as she did," Helora said.
"Then what you said earlier... about burying her with your own hands..." Wade said hesitantly.
"Yes. Back then, together with her other friends, I personally placed her inside that narrow crystal coffin. I even made the clothes she was wearing..." Helora sighed.
"Then how did you know I had something to do with her? What you said to me earlier proves you already knew I was connected to her," Wade asked calmly.
"You have 'residue' inside you, don't you? And it wasn't extracted by you. It came from her. I can recognise it. Back then, when we were making that cloak, Ominis and I worked ourselves to exhaustion for several days," Helora said. "That means you've already met her, and you must have spent time beside her physical body as well. No one can enter that place unless she personally invites them. So she must know you, and you must also have learned about her past from her."
"All right. If that's the case, then I have a question," Wade suddenly said.
"What question?"
"She told me that not long after she became trapped, her close friends began disappearing one after another and never came to see her again. Where did all of you go?"
Helora sighed heavily, "For the first few years after she was buried, we visited her every year. But in the fifth year, she fell into a complete sleep. For the next several years, she never woke up. Even her presence gradually weakened. Then many years passed, and many things happened. Her friends all ended up facing different circumstances."
"Sebastian was busy trying to remove his sister's curse. He spent years travelling through all kinds of dangerous ruins because of it, and over time, we gradually stopped hearing from him."
"Ominis was in poor health, and creating that cloak to conceal the residue consumed too much of his life force. So not long after we buried her, he passed away..."
"As for her other friends, they scattered to different places. Some moved to other countries because of their circumstances, while others passed away."
Wade caught the key point in Helora's explanation.
The Senior had once fallen into a deep sleep for a fairly long period of time.
During those years, many things had happened to her friends. By the time she finally woke up and was able to use nightmare magic to let her consciousness wander freely, many years had already passed.
Most of her friends were already gone.
That might have created a powerful sense of disconnection for her, making it seem as though they had all suddenly disappeared.
If Wade's guess was correct, even the Senior herself had never paid much attention to exactly how long she had been asleep.
Long years of loneliness had probably caused her to lose track of time.
Or perhaps she had deliberately stopped paying attention to it.
Watching time pass would only frighten her, because it would force her to confront how much of her life had been wasted.
Wade finally understood just how desperately the Senior wanted to escape that prison.
Looking at Helora, Wade also noticed that she had never once mentioned the Senior's name.
He knew very well that unless he brought it up himself, everyone who knew the Senior would instinctively avoid saying her name.
"Why did you suddenly approach me today? And why did you come to Hogwarts to work as the caretaker?" Wade asked.
"I came to you because you're like her, and because you've been in contact with her. I wanted to learn something about her current situation from you. As for why I came to Hogwarts as the caretaker... it's because I like this place. I always have. I've spent years travelling all over the world, but now I'm old. It's time to return to where I came from. I only hope to spend the final part of my life at Hogwarts."
There was nothing obviously wrong with Helora's answer, but Wade still felt that she had not told him the whole truth.
"May I ask about her now?" Helora asked.
"Of course."
"Is she... doing well?" Helora hesitated for a moment before asking such a broad question.
"No. She thinks about freedom every day. She's almost going mad from being trapped there," Wade replied.
"I only realised recently, after seeing you, that you carried some of her magic. And it wasn't until now that I learned she had already awakened. I should have gone to see her sooner." Helora sounded regretful.
Wade could not help feeling somewhat emotional.
If Helora was telling the truth, then she had not visited the Senior's hiding place for a very long time.
Time truly was a kind of poison.
No matter how sincere a friendship had once been, it could gradually fade under the passage of time.
"She doesn't have much time left either," Wade suddenly said. "At most, she has another year before the residue inside her can no longer be suppressed."
In reality, with Wade's help, the Senior was no longer in danger of being unable to endure it.
But Wade said it anyway.
Helora looked at him in surprise. Then a trace of sadness and weariness passed through her eyes.
"I see... another friend is going to leave."
"But I have a way to save her and release her," Wade said, staring closely at Helora and watching every subtle change in her expression.
Occlumency might stop others from looking into your mind, but it could not completely suppress every instinctive reaction.
Wade wanted to know whether Helora was truly the Senior's friend.
Or perhaps... her enemy.
Helora looked at Wade in delight.
"Is that true?"
"Of course. I've already made enough preparations. I can release her at any time now."
Wade withdrew his gaze.
Judging from Helora's reaction, she really did seem to be the Senior's friend.
Still, he would have to ask the Senior personally before reaching any conclusion.
"What method are you using? Is it dangerous?" Helora asked.
"I can't tell you the exact method yet," Wade replied calmly.
Helora immediately understood his concerns.
"It seems your relationship with her is quite unusual."
"She's helped me a great deal. Strictly speaking, I owe her. So no matter how dangerous it is, I have to repay that debt," Wade said calmly.
If the Senior were here, she would probably mock Wade again for always knowing exactly what to say depending on who he was talking to.
But it worked.
Helora's eyes were filled with approval as she looked at Wade.
"All right, try some of the pastries I made..."
As Wade sampled the pastries, he was already making calculations in his mind.
If the Senior did not turn against him after being freed, then Ms Paris might also become a useful ally.
But if the Senior did turn hostile...
Then his precautions would need to be adjusted again.
After all, no one knew which side Ms Paris would take when the time came.
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Guys, please check out and support Hogwarts' Accidental Dark Lord. It's at 43 chs rn, and I'm uploading 2-3 daily. You'll definitely love it.
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69