At the dining table, Nicolas pushed a plate of ribs with bones in front of Kael, smiling as he said, "Almost forgot to ask, what brings you to me this time… You're not just here to spend Christmas with me, are you?"
"That's the main reason," Kael said.
"No other business?"
"None." Kael shook his head.
"Well then..." Nicolas glanced at him, half-joking, "I won't bother with you, you know.
You know it takes a long time to find the right talisman, I might not leave that room for weeks afterwards."
"Uh…" Kael patted his own head, "Ah, now that you mention it, I did remember a small matter."
"Just say it." Nicolas chuckled, "As long as you're not like Albus, coming to me with a Time Turner from a thousand years ago."
"No, no, it's really just something minor..."
Kael put a box on the table, put on his Anti-Curse Gloves, and took out a tarnished, rusty diadem.
"I found this in Hogwarts Castle, wanted to see if there was any way to restore it."
...
When Nicolas first saw the diadem, he didn't care much, just thought Kael dug up a broken old alchemy item from Hogwarts.
After all, nothing's too odd to turn up in that thousand-year-old school.
But with a Master of Alchemy's instinct, Nicolas soon sensed something strange about the diadem.
His expression turned serious, as if he'd thought of some possibility.
"Could it be..."
Nicolas suddenly tensed up, subconsciously asked, "What is this...?"
"Oh, it's nothing, just Ravenclaw's Diadem," Kael replied offhandedly.
"The diadem that's been missing for a thousand years?" Nicolas couldn't help jumping to his feet.
For almost all alchemists, Ravenclaw's Diadem, which boosts wisdom, is as legendary as the Philosopher's Stone—existing only in myths.
Nicolas already had the Philosopher's Stone, but had never actually seen the Diadem; in his six-hundred-year life, that was one of his few regrets.
Who'd have thought it had been at Hogwarts all along.
And Albus had told him he'd never seen it—some Headmaster he is, can't even compare to a kid in his teens.
Nicolas grumbled in his mind.
But now another problem popped up—
Ravenclaw's Diadem was so battered, looked just like some old junk from a thrift store.
Normally, a magic item of this level shouldn't be all corroded like that…
Nicolas couldn't help leaning in, scrutinizing the diadem closely.
His expression got more and more stern.
"This is... a Soul Artifact?"
"Yep." Kael nodded, "When I found it, somebody had already made it into a Soul Artifact."
Now, even with Nicolas's composure, he wanted to start cussing.
Turning Ravenclaw's Diadem into a Soul Artifact—hell, even that scumbag Herpo wouldn't sink this low, would he?
Nicolas tried touching the diadem; whatever he did, suddenly a swirl of black mist poured out and started coiling around the diadem.
A faint whispering drifted out all around them.
"Pop!"
The house-elf Tata apparated right in front of Nicolas, nervously pointing his finger at the black mist.
"No need to panic, Tata," Nicolas said, pressing his hand downward, and the black mist withdrew back into the Diadem.
Kael packed it back in the box, then continued:
"This time I'm here to see if there's a way to remove the Soul Fragment attached inside."
Nicolas responded with a soft "hmm."
He didn't ask Kael where he'd found the diadem, or if Dumbledore knew... He just said with interest, "Do you have any ideas yourself?"
"If you just want to destroy a Soul Artifact, there are plenty of ways..."
Kael said, "A Basilisk fang, Fiendfyre Curse, Dementor's Kiss, or even just hitting it with the Killing Curse—all of those can wipe out the Soul Fragment inside.
But any of those would damage the diadem itself, one way or another."
"I'm glad you thought of that."
Nicolas grinned, "Once something gets made into a Soul Artifact, it and the Soul Fragment inside become one entity… Or you could say, the entire diadem is their soul.
Now I sort of get why that guy picked the diadem as the vessel; for most people, even if they know it's a Soul Artifact, they just couldn't bring themselves to destroy it.
On this point, that guy's sharper than that scumbag Herpo."
"So, are you confident you can restore it?" Kael asked. "If you need it, I happen to have Basilisk venom, or maybe use a Dementor.
They're at Hogsmeade, only one Ministry of Magic guy watching over them; as long as we act fast, grabbing a couple shouldn't be too hard."
Nicolas's expression got a bit odd.
Basilisk venom, that he could get; Dumbledore had said before, the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secret was Kael's now, so taking some venom wasn't a big deal.
But catching Dementors… that's on a whole other level—those aren't something you just go grab, are they?
"Ahem… No need for that, I have a better way," Nicolas waved it off, "It might take a bit longer, but it guarantees the diadem won't get damaged at all."
"What way?" Kael asked, curious.
"There's an ancient Magic Potion for the soul," Nicolas said calmly, "I once read it on a tablet when trying to prove Soul Artifacts aren't part of Alchemy. As it happens, this potion was invented by that scumbag Herpo too."
"Scumbag Herpo… a potion from a thousand years ago?"
Kael frowned. "After all this time, you can still find the potion materials?"
"No problem," Nicolas laughed, "I've used special methods to store a whole lot of ancient potion materials—even if I'm missing one or two, I can always get suitable substitutes."
"But kid..." He looked away from the box, calmly gazing at Kael. "You seem to know an awful lot about Soul Artifacts."
"Yeah, I studied them for a while because of an idea."
Kael didn't hold back, "I'm planning to—"
"Oh, you don't need to tell me."
Nicolas interrupted Kael again, "I believe you'll make the best judgment, and you have your reasons for what you do.
I'm not blaming you, just reminding you… Remember what I told you in Paris back then?
If you ever need to, you can always go back to my private library. There are a lot of books there, on all sorts of things..."
Nicolas blinked slyly, and while Kael zoned out for a second, he quietly made off with the box.
By the time Kael noticed, the thing was already tucked away in a bag—he was quick as anything!
Of course, Kael was planning to hand over the diadem anyway, so he definitely wouldn't take it back. Nicolas's little move was honestly unnecessary.
And besides the diadem, he was also ready to start looking for the other Soul Artifacts.
Kael wasn't sure if he could stop Voldemort coming back, but at the very least, he could set a small goal first… like, collecting all Voldemort's Soul Artifacts before the guy resurrected.