"The phoenix is a magical creature that rises from the ashes," Dumbledore said softly.
He seemed to see Lyla's profound confusion, and he slowly sat down in his high-backed chair, looking fondly at the fiery bird. "Fawkes is exactly the same."
"He is about to be reborn from the ashes."
"Is that so...?" Lyla nodded, her nerves settling slightly. She carefully pulled out a chair to sit opposite Dumbledore.
"Let's... let's begin..." she said, placing the two metal headbands she was holding onto his large desk.
"After wearing this... you can... extract your memories..." Lyla pointed her pale index finger to the first headband.
"Then I... I'll put on the other one to securely view it... and see if there are any... memory problems."
"I understand," Dumbledore nodded gently. "After all, the principle comes from the Pensieve, right?"
"No... strictly speaking... it's the combined effect of the Memory Magic Array, the Transmission Array, and the Connection Array..." Lyla corrected him nervously. "The Pensieve only possesses... ah, sorry."
Realizing she was lecturing the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Lyla looked at Dumbledore and quickly shook her head. "Let's... let's just begin..."
Dumbledore bowed his head slightly and then picked up his Elder Wand.
'What... what is this supposed to be?'
Lyla paused for a moment. She watched in shock as Dumbledore simply raised his wand and flicked it, pulling a long, glowing wisp of silver memory slowly from his own forehead.
He frowned slightly in concentration and tapped the metal, allowing the wisp of memory to float directly onto the headband and merge with the runic carvings.
'Is it possible to do it... like this?'
Lyla stared at Dumbledore in sheer astonishment. 'Isn't this the Magic Array I personally created? How... do you know how to bypass the physical extraction process like this?'
For a moment, Lyla felt deeply betrayed. Although it was strange to feel betrayed by her own Magic Array item, she genuinely felt a sting of academic jealousy.
"I was just trying it out," Dumbledore said casually. "Because that's exactly how the Pensieve is used."
"I see..." Lyla pursed her lips beneath her mask. She had been so incredibly busy studying Mr. Riddle's dark diary that she hadn't remembered to actually physically test out the Pensieve's mechanics.
'But is this memory really okay to use?'
Lyla pursed her lips and carefully put on the second headband in front of her.
After a short while, she slowly took off her headband.
Unexpectedly, there were no problems at all. The Transmission Array had perfectly transferred Dumbledore's memories of his past Defense Against the Dark Arts classes into the metal.
But Lyla didn't feel happy about her success... probably because of the headband's apparent betrayal of her intended extraction method.
She looked at Dumbledore and found that the Headmaster had seemed a little bored while waiting for her to review the memory. He was currently playing Wizard's Chess by himself.
'Wizard's Chess... I've never actually played it with anyone before...'
"Oh, Miss Hamilton, did it work?" He raised his head slightly, his wise eyes full of twinkling gentleness.
"It worked," Lyla nodded and whispered, "Thank you..."
"Isn't this also for the good of Hogwarts?" Dumbledore smiled and tapped his wand, pushing a heavy stone chess piece forward across the board.
"Do you know how to play Wizard's Chess?" he asked.
"No... no." Lyla would never tell Dumbledore that she didn't know how because she couldn't find anyone willing to sit near her and play.
"Want to play a game?" Dumbledore asked casually.
"No... no need." Lyla quickly shook her head in a panic. "I don't know how..."
"I haven't actually played that many games myself," Dumbledore said, gesturing with his wrinkled hand. "It's mainly because I couldn't find anyone to play with."
'So we're exactly the same after all... Pshaw! Who's the same as you?!'
'I don't want to end up a lonely old person like Dumbledore!'
'But... I really do want to play Wizard's Chess... I heard Lord Grindelwald talk about it before. It is said to be the absolute best game for developing strategic thinking.'
'I also need to develop my strategic thinking; it will definitely come in handy for Lord Grindelwald's future endeavors...'
'It's definitely not just because I am curious after never having played it before.'
"Shall we play a game?" Dumbledore chuckled softly as he watched Lyla holding her head, staring longingly at the moving stone pieces. "Just to keep this old man company."
'You said before that you were getting old and needed to rest early... But since you've begged me like this, I'll play a game with you then.'
'Just one game.'
"Alright... okay..." A slight look of joy appeared on Lyla's hidden face. "But I... I really don't know how to... move the pieces."
'Even if I lose to Dumbledore, it won't be because he has better strategic thinking! It's just that I haven't played before, that's all...' Before the game even started, Lyla had already prepared comforting excuses for herself.
'Losing to others is fine, but I absolutely do not want to lose to Dumbledore.'
"It's alright." Dumbledore, entirely unaware of Lyla's intense internal monologue, waved his wand to restore the shattered pieces on the chessboard. "I've said it before, I rarely play chess either."
Seeing Dumbledore's sincere expression, Lyla relaxed slightly. "I'll believe you this once."
'Since neither of us knows how to play well, is there still a chance for me to win?'
With this optimistic thought in mind, Lyla pursed her lips and sat up seriously.
'That damned Dumbledore! I should have engraved a Killing Curse onto his headband!'
As Lyla watched her stone pieces being utterly and violently annihilated by Dumbledore's knights once again, a dark blush visibly spread across her face. It was not from shame, but from pure, unadulterated anger.
'He's clearly very good at Wizard's Chess!'
"Ah, it seems I've won again, Miss Hamilton," Dumbledore said, looking quite pleased with himself.
'Why did you emphasize the word "again"?!'
Lyla gritted her teeth and stammered furiously, "You... you clearly know how to play chess..."
"Ah..." Dumbledore paused, looking at Lyla with a serene expression. "This seems to be the first time I've heard someone say that."
'You... you did this on purpose, didn't you?'
Looking at the brilliant cunning twinkling in Dumbledore's eyes, Lyla felt that he was definitely bullying her on purpose!
"Thank you for playing chess with me." As if he hadn't seen Lyla's seething expression, Dumbledore said softly to himself, "I haven't had this much fun in a very long time."
"Haha... ha..." Lyla laughed awkwardly. 'Does your happiness have to rely on making me unhappy?'
"Well, Miss Hamilton, it seems quite late now." Dumbledore glanced at the intricate grandfather clock ticking in the Headmaster's Office. "Perhaps you should get some rest."
It was indeed very late. Lyla glanced at the clock, which showed one in the morning, and felt even more dissatisfied with herself.
'I actually wasted precious time that should have been spent rigorously studying Magic Arrays by playing chess with Dumbledore!'
'The worst part is that I actually lost every single time!'
Lyla slowly stood up, let out a soft, frustrated breath, and said in a low voice, "Then... I... I'll take my leave."
"Well, goodnight, Miss Hamilton. I had a very pleasant evening." Dumbledore nodded gently as he watched Lyla walk to the heavy oak door.
'That damned Dumbledore… he must be mocking me…' Lyla stood at the door, her teeth itching with rage. 'Just you wait. Don't let me find a chance to defeat you... then I'll make you play a game against Lord Grindelwald…'
"Oh, wait a minute." Dumbledore suddenly called out to Lyla as if he remembered something important.
"Eek!" Lyla shuddered violently and whipped her head around. "What... what's wrong?"
'Could it be that Dumbledore saw my thoughts? Was it Legilimency?! I didn't even feel it...'
But all she saw was Dumbledore's warm, smiling face.
"Would you like to play chess again when you have some free time?"
Her lips twitched slightly. "We'll... we'll talk about it later."
'I promise I won't lose next time!'
Clatter.
The door to the Headmaster's Office closed slowly behind her. Dumbledore chuckled softly, waving his wand to put away the battered chessboard.
He was not lying to Miss Hamilton. It seemed that more than seventy years had passed since he had last played a proper game of Wizard's Chess.
However, that particular opponent was much, much more formidable than Miss Hamilton.
Then he turned his attention back to the Pensieve resting nearby. Did Miss Hamilton's runic inspiration really come solely from his Pensieve?
His sharp mind began to wander once again.