"Altering... memories?"

Lockhart was the first to finish reading the contract in his hand, and he breathed a small sigh of relief.

"That's right, perhaps I couldn't have described it more accurately."

Hermione nodded calmly, pulling out her wand and skillfully tapping it in the air.

A light blue magical beam gradually took shape in the space, resembling a sprawling, tree-like structure.

"The principle of the Mirror of Erised is to reveal the deepest desires in everyone's heart. Whatever that is, it must correspond to an unfulfilled goal. Let's tentatively mark it as 'd1' - but no one can have only one wish. There must be multiple branches under 'd1'."

"As time goes on, everyone's desired things are bound to change..."

Hermione glanced at the silent Dumbledore, directing her wand to outline lines in the air.

"For example, a maiden who has never been in love might yearn for love and marriage, but when she gets married, she naturally won't see the same scene."

"This isn't hard to understand, is it? But this is precisely what makes the Mirror of Erised a special loophole—"

"The images presented in the Mirror of Erised come from memories, experiences... wishes woven from the traces of our existence. If a 'wish' is 'fulfilled' at some point, then it naturally won't reappear in the mirror."

Hermione's eyes sparkled with bright light as she looked around the room, smiling and whispering.

"If a 'skip' method appears, then we can influence the Mirror of Erised through a limited number of 'switches'."

"...So, you intend to use memory alteration to deceive the Mirror of Erised?"

Dumbledore looked at Hermione with a complicated expression, his eyes twitching slightly.

As the owner of the Mirror of Erised for the past few decades, Dumbledore reacted almost immediately.

"Obviously, the mirror doesn't show the truth—this isn't just a bad thing, it means it can't distinguish between truth and falsehood either..."

Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly, a hint of demon-like cunning hanging on her delicate face.

"It may not be able to help people fulfill their wishes, but memory magic can. And under the multiple effects of Legilimency, memory extraction, and memory modification, we can make the Mirror of Erised a 'limited-function wish machine', a real... magic mirror."

"Tsk, sounds like it has a low feasibility, but there are two small problems—"

Grindelwald chuckled softly, tapping his fingers on the parchment, and said in a flat tone,

"The person looking in the mirror must accurately and honestly tell the 'Memory Master' what image she sees in the mirror, otherwise we can't instill a fictitious 'wish fulfillment' in her mind. Moreover, this memory must be erased during the 'memory instillation' process, otherwise it's useless."

"Of course, Legilimency can transmit memories as undamaged as possible."

"The most troublesome point is..."

Grindelwald turned to look at Arkhipovna, and then glanced at the hesitant Dumbledore and Lockhart.

"Miss Kaslana, this extremely dangerous behavior of playing with people's hearts... is a considerable test from both ethical and human perspectives. The requirements for trust and the subsequent potential problems are not something you can decide."

The first Dark Lord took a deep look at the increasingly "perfect" Fairy Queen, and said meaningfully.

"This is Pandora's Box—"

"But, in Pandora's Box, there is still the most important treasure hidden—hope, right?"

Hermione replied with a light smile, looking at the thoughtful people in the room, and clapped her hands happily.

"I'm not sure how much of the future the Mirror of Erised can see, but it can at least make people understand what they want. As for whether the risks and benefits are appropriate, that's entirely a matter of individual judgment... Okay, explanation complete—"

In fact, in Hermione's unfinished plans, the Mirror of Erised is most suitable for scholars in the magical world.

Perhaps researchers like Arkhipovna outside the magical world can see a "flash of inspiration" or even see the direction of research clearly.

But for wizards who control magic, the moment they see the result, the confusion ends—in most cases, what restricts the development of magic is not the process, but the "answer," a sufficiently clear, specific, and definite casting result.

It's just that, compared to the non-magical world, the "special use" of the Mirror of Erised will be more difficult to promote among wizards.

"...Pandora's Box? It's already been opened, but at least you saw hope in there."

Dumbledore pondered for a moment, then sighed helplessly.

The abuse of the Obliviate spell has long plunged the magical world into a very deformed vicious cycle.

Since Grindelwald's downfall decades ago, the Statute of Secrecy of the International Confederation of Wizards has continued to rise in status. In order to hide their existence, wizards have become increasingly dependent on the Obliviate spell. Not to mention spellcasting aimed at individuals, even the collective memory erasure aimed at cities has occurred.

Some time ago, Dumbledore had tried to promote a "Obliviate" restriction law at the International Confederation of Wizards.

However, as Grindelwald had previously ridiculed him, in this era, no one dared to impose restrictions on the "Obliviate."

The "Restriction Act" proposal submitted by Dumbledore was not only suppressed in the first time, but also received a reform solicitation of the opposite wizarding law—based on the "Secrecy Law," the International Confederation of Wizards is preparing to lift some restrictions on spellcasting against Muggles.

After all, the members of the Memory Modification Squad occasionally cannot arrive in time, and the danger of the magical world being exposed is increasing.

As the scope of Muggle activities expands, the International Confederation of Wizards has begun to consider allowing wizards to use Obliviate spells at their discretion.

Dumbledore has no doubt that there are quite a few wizards similar to "the former" Gilderoy Lockhart.

Hermione is not the one who opened the "Pandora's Box" of memory magic.

In fact, on the contrary...

"The lives and memories of high-ranking members are sacred and inviolable. Unless the Major Arcana collectively judge, they cannot be arbitrarily deprived or tampered with."

Dumbledore recalled the rules they had jointly established, and said gently in a low voice.

Compared to the unscrupulous Grindelwald and Tom, the biggest difference between Hermione and the former two is that she has a bottom line.

"Is that why you insisted on promoting Ms. Arkhipovna?"

Dumbledore's gaze, cast from his long hooked nose, fell on Hermione's face.

"No matter how the process of altering memories goes, you want to turn this activity into a collaboration, rather than a one-sided attempt... Even if it sounds a little scary and terrible, if there is an accident in this process, at least there will be enough force to fight back, right?"

"Only a small part, you think too complicated."

Hermione looked directly into Dumbledore's eyes, and answered seriously with an unchanged expression.

"I said, Ms. Arkhipovna's research is especially important, that's the real reason—the status of a formal A-level member is not a talisman, it should become an umbrella to protect others and the world... Besides, this matter, ultimately, depends on Ms. Arkhipovna's thoughts."

Really... the flawless witch princess.

Dumbledore shook his head, his long, silver-white beard trembling slightly.

It seems that he and Grindelwald cultivated a remarkable little fellow in the last moments of their lives.

"Gilderoy, what do you think? And of course, most importantly, Ms. Arkhipovna, what are your thoughts?"

"Me?"

Lockhart frowned, still hesitating.

"Altering memories, I'm not very confident. Simple forgetting, I'm still okay..."

He turned to look at Arkhipovna, "Besides, it's too subtle. This is directly subtracting from people's hearts and memories."

"So, equivalent to a rather special surgery, is it?"

Arkhipovna carefully studied the "instruction contract" in her hand several times, and raised her eyebrows.

"My attending doctor is you? Then I don't think there's anything to worry about—but let's make it clear first, I'm only responsible for academic research. If there's any politics or fighting involved later, don't expect me to be of any help."

"Cough, you must understand that this is not the shallow work of a Muggle doctor cutting people open!"

Lockhart's expression became serious, putting away his usual carelessness, and said in a deep voice to the mindless Russian madwoman.

"This is directly modifying the soul. If the caster has a mind, he can even tamper with your personality... adding, distorting, or deleting some memories, resulting in different experiences... This is a thousand times more terrifying than the Imperius Curse, and cannot be relied on simple counter-curses to—"

"Okay, okay, don't explain magic here—I don't even know what the Imperius Curse is."

Arkhipovna impatiently interrupted Lockhart's nagging, rolled up the parchment in her hand, and patted the young wizard's shoulder.

"Anyway, you won't do that, right? Hmm, what would happen if he really attacked me, by the way?"

Halfway through her sentence, Arkhipovna turned to look at Hermione and asked curiously.

Obviously, among the Major Arcana, this little witch has a very special status.

This is a very simple social law: only those at the top of the food chain are qualified to formulate rules details.

As for height, age, and appearance, since she personally witnessed the ancient craftsmanship of the goblins and learned about the wonderful legends of the magical world, Arkhipovna had long abandoned the original concept—the measuring standards of the ordinary world have little meaning in the magical world.

"Oh, you'd probably die? Most likely... Of course, it still depends on the severity."

Hermione gave a sweet smile and answered very seriously.

As the underage Demon Lord valued by Grindelwald, she would not be lenient in some key places.

In Hermione's view, there are many things that only have the difference between zero and infinite.

What's more, a certain bestselling novelist in the magical world has a precedent, so there is no room for maneuver

If Gilderoy Lockhart really used the special effects of "memory magic" to satisfy personal desires, then Hermione would directly mark him as a "hostile target" as soon as she learned about it, and solve it outside of visual range as much as possible - just like dealing with that big snake.

"So, what about the benefits and work tasks? What is the approximate authority of this A-level member?"

"Gringotts Wizarding Bank, hmm, that is, the only legal magical bank in the magical world, its chief executive officer level is A-level."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, gently tapped her fingers on her lips, thought for a few seconds, and then continued.

"As for your side, it's a bit more special, and it should be considered an A-level member in the 'internship period'—from an administrative perspective, you are the academic leader on our science side, second only to the Major Arcana. If no accidents occur later, you should be able to become a full member in half a year."

"So, the scope of financial, material, and human resources mobilization..."

"How should I put it..."

Hermione spread her hands, looked at Arkhipovna, and said quite sincerely.

"Money is just a number to us..."

"As for material and human resources, these depend on the requirements of your project and the population on Earth. You will gradually understand that most of what restricts us is imagination rather than reality—to use a not-so-appropriate analogy, would you consider the problem of oxygen consumption when breathing?"

"Okay, then I have one last question."

Arkhipovna raised her eyebrows and looked around the room.

"After I am promoted to A-level, who is my direct superior, and what should I call you?"

"The Hogwarts Research Institute is naturally coordinated by me, but matters involving the school must also be informed to the 'Pope', that is, Professor Dumbledore. And security and confidentiality are the responsibility of the 'Hanged Man', Lockhart, as for my title..."

Hermione paused slightly, and said in a gentle and calm tone.

"You can call me... The Fool."

…………

The Mirror of Erised stood quietly in the center of the room.

"Have you really thought about it? This is not a joke."

Lockhart said earnestly in a low voice, "You can still retreat now, I can make everything go back to the beginning..."

As a Major Arcana member, Lockhart is very aware of the importance of things - if Arkhipovna looks in the mirror, then she will inevitably experience a deep Legilimency once, whether she saw the "answer" or not, Dumbledore and others will execute this process.

Because as a Muggle, Arkhipovna cannot directly present the pictures in her mind, this must be verified by magic.

Arkhipovna laughed.

Lockhart seemed to be more nervous than her now.

"Of course," she said calmly, "If this mirror can see the answer, then it is the greatest miracle of mankind to date."

"But what if there isn't—I mean if your wish is something else—"

"Isn't that even better?"

Arkhipovna showed a bright smile and winked slyly.

"Having a sweet dream during work hours is the dream of many people, I believe in your abilities—Mr. Major Arcana."

"Okay, prepare to record the time nodes—"

At the same time, Hermione and Dumbledore, not far away, looked at the time on their pocket watches.

According to the previous agreement, after the end of all the "looking in the mirror" timelines, they would erase all the false memories while handing over the recorded "wish" change trajectory line to Arkhipovna as her extra little gift.

"Please walk to the front of the mirror, Ms. Arkhipovna."

"Then, tell us what you see..."