Secret Talk with Harry

As they emerged from the fourth-floor corridor, Dumbledore and Victor nodded goodbye, attracting curious glances from the students. However, the vast majority of Hogwarts students had no desire to explore that area—the headmaster had warned of the dangers inside, so who would bother going in for no reason?

Hogwarts returned to its usual tranquility.

As Victor headed towards the North Tower, Dumbledore climbed a few steps and returned to the Headmaster's office on the eighth floor.

There, Professor Minerva McGonagall stood before the door, adorned with a griffin, carrying a thick stack of documents. Hearing Dumbledore's voice, she turned to look.

"Albus, I've been waiting for you for a long time," she said, handing a stack of documents to Dumbledore. "These are all documents that the Ministry of Magic needs your approval for, along with some from the Board of Governors."

"Mr. Lucius Malfoy is clearly very upset about his son fainting on the school bus and shows no sign of letting it go, though we all know he's in the wrong. Good heavens, that Malfoy brat actually humiliated Harry's parents on the train!"

"I will handle this matter properly," Dumbledore shook his head.

Professor McGonagall sighed as well: "But he also colluded with Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic. I really don't know what provoked those goblins in Gringotts to send a letter pressuring the school to thoroughly investigate security risks..."

"Oh, this matter has actually been resolved," Dumbledore said, stroking his long, gray beard.

"The goblins' unusual behavior is actually due to the progress of the investigation. They somehow found out that the suspect is near Hogwarts, so they are eager to solve the case and regain their reputation."

"I've already involved Professor Victor in the process of constructing the protective magic; I think he'll take care of the fairies' problem along the way."

Professor McGonagall tightened her grip on her book and said in a low voice, "A suspect? So... he's already inside?"

"You know we can't stop him."

"...Albus, I still don't understand. Why didn't you investigate the school first? We have so many professors at our school. Even if we alerted him, we could definitely defeat him. There's no need to risk letting him roam the school."

Dumbledore sighed, his weathered blue eyes filled with weariness. At this moment, he no longer looked like the most powerful wizard who could control everything, but rather just an old man.

"I'm old, Minerva, but how he survived is still unclear—everyone says Voldemort is dead, or at most a ghost, but you and I both know the latter is the truth."

When Dumbledore mentioned that name, Professor McGonagall's lips trembled, as if she were recalling the magical world shrouded in fear and death back then.

Dumbledore paused for a moment before continuing:

"I don't know how he survived. You know, Lily—she used special magic to make Voldemort suffer the backlash of his own spell. I examined the scene, and by any measure, he should have been dead. But he's still alive."

"I don't know how he did it. Even if we catch him now, I can't kill him completely. If he chooses to go into hiding and resurfaces after more than ten years, I might not be able to stop him—by then I should have reached the end of my life."

"Albus—"

"I know what you mean, Minerva." Dumbledore shook his head. "But everyone dies. I don't want to run away from it; I just want to ensure the safety of the wizarding world before I leave, and to ensure that the efforts of the Order of the Phoenix aren't in vain..."

A silence fell between the two of them.

Ten years have passed since the war against Voldemort ended, but the wizarding world still seems to be shrouded in its shadow, making heavy topics increasingly difficult to avoid.

For a moment, only the candlelight flickered beside the spiral staircase, casting two elongated shadows on the wall.

But after a moment of silence, Dumbledore stroked his beard and shifted his attention to another topic:

What do you think of Victor?

"Professor Victor?" McGonagall was caught off guard by the sudden change of topic, but she quickly composed herself and thought for a moment.

"Hmm... He's capable, but he speaks a bit strangely, and I often can't figure him out. He's quite close to Severus, which might mean he's on the purebloods' side..."

Dumbledore smiled and said, "There's no need to worry about that."

"Um?"

"He doesn't agree with the pure-blood ideology. When school started, I paid attention to his conversation with Quirrell. He admitted that he was born a Muggle and was somewhat disdainful of the pure-blood theory—he didn't sound like he was lying when he said those things."

That's quite unusual.

"Yes," Dumbledore said with a hint of melancholy, "it seems that not everyone like Slytherin is like Voldemort."

"But we can't let our guard down... Although he doesn't support purebloods, he has his own problems, and many of his methods resemble dark magic. I'll continue to keep an eye on him, and you should also pay close attention, Minerva, and make sure he doesn't do anything too outrageous."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it."

Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement.

But after a few seconds, she said with some distress:

"But Albus, he gave Harry a book a while ago called *From Blood to Curses*. I flipped through it briefly, and it's full of curses and spells. I was thinking of telling him not to let the kids read these things... but for Slytherins, it's perfectly normal!"

"...Just tell him that teaching anything that might violate school rules and wizarding laws is prohibited. Professor Victor has studied law, so he should understand."

But when he said this, Dumbledore's expression also carried a hint of uncertainty.

……

Meanwhile, Harry Potter has been doing quite well lately. Although releasing snakes at the start of the school year earned him some strange looks, these problems naturally disappeared after he took the lead in clashing with Slytherins several times.

A Gryffindor who doesn't cause trouble for Slytherin isn't a true Gryffindor!

Of course, the reverse is also true.

In short, apart from the little incident where he helped Professor Victor, Harry encountered a major event during this period—he violated the rules by using a flying broom during his flying lesson, which was discovered by Professor McGonagall, and he was exceptionally added to the Quidditch team.

The next morning, while he was having breakfast, a peculiar package caught everyone's attention—a long, thin package carried by six long-eared owls. Harry, like everyone else, was eager to know what was inside.

Unexpectedly, several owls landed in front of him, along with two other owls.

"For me?"

Harry stared at the package in surprise.

While Ron was eating his smoked breakfast, he curiously came over to take a look and just happened to see Harry opening another letter, signed by Professor McGonagall.

Harry first tore the letter open—thankfully he did—and read:

"Don't open the package on the table. It contains your new flying broomstick, Nimbus 2000. I don't want everyone to know you have a new broomstick, lest they all want one too."

"Cool!!" Ron exclaimed enviously, "A Nimbus 2000! I've never even touched one!"

Harry couldn't hide his joy either. He carefully touched the long, narrow package and looked at his first gift—it was at this moment that he noticed the third package next to it.

It was a square-shaped package.