Harry Potter : Bloodraven-Chapter 268: The Boy Who Shall Live (IV) (CH - 288)

Shards of crystal-like fragments shimmered in the air, and as if a veil of magic were being pulled away, Maverick emerged in the Chamber of Secrets, returning from the mirror dimension into reality.

It took a little longer than he expected though, since he had to do some work at the beginning. After all, one could not exactly use Legilimency on a soul, much less on a fragmented piece of one.

That said, Legilimency was not his only option, and he had the system of sorcery lined up and ready for a challenge like this.

To start with, it had a wider arsenal of psychic and mystical techniques for accessing and reading memories, most of which he had more or less mastered with the help of his cheat.

The Sands of Nisanti, for instance, was perhaps the most direct and non-invasive method for extracting and reviewing memories, however, it could only be used when a consciousness was anchored to a physical body, which was not the case here.

There was also Mystical Hypnosis, a simpler and more subtle approach that placed the target in a suggestible state so they could verbally recount their memories. Yet again, a physical body was required for the magic to take hold.

Actually, almost every spell, psychic, or psionic approach he knew required some kind of physical anchor, in other words, a body, before anything could even begin. Legilimency was therefore out of the question, as were the general spells of the mystic arc system.

Maverick had no choice but to improvise therefore, to carry out a small experiment of sorts. His choice of technique was something called Astral Projection Intrusion. It wasn't something he created himself, but a legitimate practice within the mystic arts. However, because of its peculiar nature, it was not a method commonly known or widely used.

As the name implies, it was a direct probe in which sorcerers projected their astral form into the mind or psychic space of an enemy's astral form. But this kind of forceful intrusion was extremely dangerous, especially when used on someone with extraordinary mental ability.

If the caster's psychic awareness was weaker, there was a very real chance of the caster's mind suffering a severe backlash. That was one of the main reasons it was not widely practiced.

Moreover, this method also required a physical anchor in order to pull the target's astral form free, which leads to why Maverick had to improvise.

His first gamble turned out to be a success. He tested whether he could force an astral form out of the shadowy mass, and to his satisfaction, it moved into place without any resistance.

After all, technically the Horcrux was neither a pure soul nor a cleanly cut fragment of one, so he had always suspected this would work. It was not fully tangible and not fully intangible, existing in a strange middle ground, yet that narrow gap was all he needed.

And through that opening, Maverick managed to pull the astral form of Riddle, or rather the piece of his soul, out of the mass of darkness.

Surprisingly, the astral projection, even if it was only a piece of a soul, still looked human. Hideous, yes, with skin stretched tight over sharp bones, slitted red eyes that burned like embers, and nostrils flattened like a snake's. Yet despite that monstrous distortion, it was still unmistakably human.

Maverick paid it no mind, not even giving it the slightest chance to speak. The moment the fragment tore itself free from the mass of darkness, he locked it in place and immediately pushed into its psychic space to probe its memories.

As for any danger, he felt none. His mental realm stood firm as a mountain, and even if Riddle were whole, Maverick would not have been concerned. Let alone a mere fragment like this, it was nothing to him.

Anyways, his objective was very specific, and he got what he needed very quickly. Turns out Nagini had not yet been created as a Horcrux, and Riddle, at the time before he died, was still contemplating what to use as his final vessel to store the last piece of his soul.

Heck, he hadn't even considered the Maledictus at that point, and Maverick figured that idea only came to Voldemort after he resurrected himself. Well, it didn't matter now.

He heaved a sigh of relief at the thought, then traced the last memory he needed and discovered that, as in the original work, Voldemort had indeed given Bellatrix the Hufflepuff Cup to safeguard it, very specifically instructing her to store it in Gringotts.

And with that, everything he wanted was taken care of. He had no intention of rummaging through the twisted mind any further, left the wicked thing's psychic space, pulled its astral form back into the mass of darkness, and burned it to nothingness on the spot.

"Were you able to discern the whereabouts of the serpent?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

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