Dawn observed Professor McGonagall's expression before taking the bracelet from her.
He studied the sparse runes engraved on its surface carefully before fastening it around his wrist.
Nothing happened.
Dawn quietly examined the bracelet's effect.
It was not like a Muggle tracking device that displayed a red dot showing someone's exact location.
Instead, it created something more abstract.
A faint sensation formed in his mind.
He could vaguely sense where the other person was and how far away they were.
A useful item.
After experiencing it for a moment, Dawn removed the bracelet. It was not an extraordinary alchemical artifact, but it clearly belonged to the category of very practical tools.
Just then, Dumbledore returned from the forest.
He removed the black bracelet and took the white one back from Dawn.
"It still needs some adjustments," the headmaster said. "I need to connect it with the boundary of the practical training area and add a few more functions."
After that, the three of them began walking through the forest.
There was little worth mentioning about the process of removing potential dangers. It was neither difficult nor particularly exciting. It was simply time-consuming.
If they had only cleared the area Dumbledore originally marked, things would have been easier. However, for safety reasons, both McGonagall and Dumbledore agreed to venture deeper into the Forbidden Forest.
Dawn had no choice but to follow.
The journey was uneventful.
Magical creatures were not stupid, and Dumbledore seemed to have learned a few tricks from his famous former student Newt.
Whenever they encountered a creature, Dumbledore would exchange a few strange calls with it. Afterward he would simply nod and say everything was fine before continuing forward.
The only accident involved the Nundu Dawn had created.
The unfortunate beast had been peacefully sleeping when they entered its den.
Furious at being disturbed, it began sharpening its claws and spraying poisonous breath while roaring at the three intruders.
Then—
Dumbledore loudly declared that the creature was extremely dangerous and knocked it unconscious with a Stunning Spell.
He planned to notify Newt so the animal could be relocated.
Originally, Dumbledore had allowed the Nundu to remain because he wanted to study Dawn's magic.
But after so much time without results, he decided it was safer to remove it from the castle's vicinity.
After all, when it came to killing efficiency, a Nundu was far more dangerous than creatures like thunderbirds or dragons.
Dawn watched the creature he had created with his own blood.
The Nundu looked noticeably larger than when he had first made it.
Hagrid must have been feeding it well.
As they walked deeper into the forest, Dawn saw thick webs stretching between the trees.
Soon after, giant eight-eyed spiders appeared, raising their massive claws as they attempted to capture the intruders.
Professor McGonagall's eyes widened instantly.
"Merlin's beard… Merlin's beard… Merlin's beard!"
She turned to stare at Dumbledore, clearly wanting to grab his beard and demand why such creatures were living so close to Hogwarts.
She knew Dawn had released a few Acromantulas into the forest before.
But that had only been two or three spiders.
"Do not worry, Minerva. Their leader is a good friend of Hagrid. Besides, this area is already deep within the forest. No students can reach this place."
Dumbledore calmly reassured her.
McGonagall was not satisfied with that answer.
As a Gryffindor known for adventurous spirit, she knew perfectly well that many mischievous students liked sneaking into the Forbidden Forest at night.
The Weasley twins were the most obvious example.
No student could reach this place?
What if someone did?
If a student encountered a colony of Acromantulas, the consequences would be disastrous.
As an educator, how could student safety be entrusted to mere probability? The more she thought about it, the more displeased she became.
She decided she would inform Severus Snape about the Acromantulas living deep within the forest.
After all, their venom was a valuable potion ingredient.
In certain advanced potions, their blood and legs could also be used.
She imagined Snape would gladly thank nature for its generosity while packing the spiders away in batches.
It might be unfortunate for Hagrid, but McGonagall firmly believed student safety was more important.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore introduced himself to the spiders.
The Acromantulas clearly feared him and led the group to their leader.
Aragog.
The enormous spider suffered from cataracts but still carried himself with authority.
Dumbledore requested that they remain within this area for the time being.
"Of course, Headmaster Dumbledore! My children and I are very peaceful creatures!"
Aragog agreed immediately. He knew exactly who not to provoke.
Dawn kept his hands tucked inside his sleeves and idly looked around, trying to locate the two spiders he had originally created.
Unfortunately, he could not identify them.
They continued deeper into the forest.
Soon they encountered a herd of unicorns.
The creatures, noble in appearance but possessing blood with terrifying magical properties, clearly disliked their presence.
They merely glanced at the three humans before retreating into the trees.
That was understandable.
According to every book written on the subject, unicorns favored only pure and kind maidens.
As for the three of them—
Dawn subconsciously glanced at Professor McGonagall.
Then he quickly looked away, realizing how rude that thought had been.
McGonagall, however, felt as though someone had just looked at her with ill intent.
She glanced around suspiciously.
Dumbledore did not intend to approach the unicorns. He simply led the others in another direction.
The trees grew taller and denser.
The winter sunlight barely penetrated the canopy, leaving only cold shadows beneath the branches.
Along the way, Dawn also encountered Hippogriffs and a herd of Thestrals.
Fortunately, none of them were creatures that required immediate attention.
Eventually, Dumbledore led them into a wide clearing where the trees thinned.
There they encountered a group of centaurs returning from a hunt.
The centaurs began speaking with Dumbledore, complaining about recent disturbances in the forest.
"Too many dangerous creatures have appeared lately," one of them said angrily. "Especially those thunderbirds. They built their nests beside our settlement."
"Every time we attempt to observe the stars, thunder roars and storm clouds gather. They refuse to listen to negotiation."
Dumbledore smiled helplessly and promised to find a solution.
He also informed the centaurs that many Hogwarts students would soon enter the forest for training exercises and asked them to keep watch over the children.
As for the thunderbirds nesting near the centaur settlement, they were currently away from their nests.
Dumbledore decided he would deal with them another day.
By the time the sun began setting, the three finally started heading back toward the forest's edge.
Behind them floated a large piece of cloth.
The unconscious Nundu lay sprawled across it, sleeping soundly.
"No matter how many times I see it, it still amazes me," Professor McGonagall said while looking back at the creature.
"It behaves exactly like a real animal. No… it is a living creature created from blood."
"I truly wonder how Mr. Richter managed such a feat."
She had spent considerable time studying the creatures Dawn had created.
Apart from their incredible realism, she had discovered nothing unusual.
Dumbledore sighed.
"Who knows? Perhaps only Dawn himself knows the answer."
Dawn did not want to pretend ignorance again.
But to maintain Hickman's identity, he forced himself to act surprised.
"Wait… what did you say? This leopard was created with Transfiguration?"
"That's right," McGonagall confirmed.
She explained details that had never appeared in the newspapers.
Dawn reacted with appropriate amazement, though internally he felt exhausted from acting.
However, a question suddenly occurred to him.
As far as he knew, every wizard's magical pattern was slightly different.
Even individual magical creatures within the same species possessed subtle variations.
When Dawn created these animals using blood, he had replicated the exact patterns of specific creatures he had previously studied.
If that was the case…
Did the creatures he created share the same personalities as the originals?
The idea intrigued him.
Extending the thought further—
If he transformed one wizard's magical pattern into another wizard's pattern, would that person become completely identical to the original?
What about memories?
Would those also be duplicated?
Dawn narrowed his eyes. He decided that someday he should conduct an experiment to find out.
Lost in thought, Dawn barely noticed when they finally left the forest.
In the distance, laughter echoed across the grounds. Several students were playing beside the Black Lake.
Near a small wooden hut, Hagrid was busy working in his animal pens, likely preparing for spring.
"Excuse me for a moment," Dawn said quietly.
He stepped away from the group and approached Hagrid while holding a box filled with various teeth.
It was meant to make his excuse from yesterday more convincing.
The box contained the Christmas gift he had supposedly purchased.
He silently thanked Quirrell.
The former professor had decorated his office with bones and teeth, and Dawn had simply repurposed some of them.
Hagrid stared at the box in astonishment.
He wiped his huge hands nervously against his clothes. "Professor Hickman… I mean… is this really for me?"
"Of course. Merry Christmas, Hagrid. I'm afraid my greeting is a little late."
"Not late! Not late at all! Thank you, Professor Hickman! I love it!"
The enormous half-giant burst into tears.
Tears and mucus streamed down his face, making Dawn extremely uncomfortable.
He had no idea why Hagrid was crying over something so trivial.
After a brief and awkward conversation, Dawn quickly found an excuse to leave.
He rejoined Dumbledore and McGonagall.
McGonagall's expression looked complicated. She remembered the Christmas gift Dawn had given her.
Catnip and a scratching board.
Her lips twitched slightly before she sighed helplessly. No one could understand the emotional turmoil she had felt when opening that gift.
The three professors continued walking toward the castle.
Students greeted them along the way, and they returned the greetings with polite smiles.
At that moment, as Dawn entered the Great Hall, he unexpectedly ran into Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
The three had left their common room intending to submit their homework on the fourth floor.
However, the constantly shifting staircases had tricked them and carried them down to the first floor instead.
Originally Dawn had planned to cause some trouble when they submitted their homework.
He wanted to criticize them harshly and stir conflict between them.
But since other professors were present, he could only warn them not to copy homework again before dismissing them.
They left quickly.
Soon afterward, they climbed the stairs.
McGonagall's office was on the third floor, so she departed first.
Dawn's office was on the fourth floor, so he left next.
Dumbledore continued upward to the eighth floor.
After entering his office and greeting the portraits of previous headmasters, he sat down behind his desk.
The teapot automatically began heating water.
"Dawn…"
The old headmaster murmured softly as he reflected on his conversation with Professor Hickman earlier.
He gently stroked the downy feathers of the young phoenix Fawkes resting in a basket.
After a moment of quiet thought, he took out two bracelets from his pocket.
They were not the bracelets Nicolas Flamel had once given him. Those special bracelets had the ability to induce a phoenix-like sleep.
The ones he held now were ordinary tracking bracelets.
The special bracelet had already been returned to Nicolas Flamel.
Dumbledore had asked him to modify it so the sleeping effect would be more subtle and harder to detect.
It had not yet been returned.
Although Dawn had worn the bracelet today without hesitation, Dumbledore suspected that was only because the white bracelet had no hidden functions yet.
Dumbledore knew about the room containing Olivia's portrait.
After Dawn had left the castle earlier and after discovering Voldemort's magic, he had spoken with the girl in the portrait several times.
Although Olivia refused to reveal the spell Dawn had used to split his body or the location where he hid his magic, she had told Dumbledore everything about their conversations.
From her account, Dumbledore learned that Dawn had once repaired a broomstick.
That meant he had at least some knowledge of alchemy.
So Dumbledore wanted to be cautious.
Ideally, the bracelet's sleeping effect would be hidden beneath another magical function.
Watching his elderly friend Nicolas Flamel struggle to work again made Dumbledore feel guilty.
But…
He could not miss this opportunity to capture Dawn.
Yes.
Capture him.
While researching solutions to Voldemort's magic during the Christmas holidays, Dumbledore had discovered something unexpected.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year, Leia Hickman…
Was actually Dawn in disguise.
Dumbledore placed a piece of candy into his mouth.
The person he had been trying to capture had been standing right in front of him the entire time.
Not only that, Dawn had passed the interview and become a professor, interacting with students every day.
It was an extremely troubling realization.
Dumbledore had begun to suspect that his judgment as an educator might not be as reliable as he once believed.
Thinking back to the interview, he had to admit that Dawn had grown tremendously.
Not only in power, but also in confidence and composure.
Dumbledore still remembered their first conversation last year.
At that time, Dawn had immediately used Occlumency and looked at him with caution and unease.
But now?
Dawn could lie without changing expression and look directly into his eyes without hesitation.
Although he admired Dawn's growth and audacity, Dumbledore knew one thing.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
After their confrontation during the Christmas holidays, Dumbledore had concluded that forcing the bracelet onto Dawn by strength alone would not be realistic.
But Dawn's disguise had created a new opportunity.
The so-called practical course was merely an excuse to make Dawn willingly wear the bracelet.
Even today's trip into the Forbidden Forest had been arranged to make the training course appear more convincing.
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