Hogwarts: What bad intentions could a little Hufflepuff have?

Even if it was only temporary...

That still proved the child's talent was extraordinarily powerful.

Only...

When had that man had descendants?

He had actually known nothing about it!

For a moment, Dumbledore's feelings grew rather complicated.

When he had seen this child earlier, he had not thought much of it.

But after learning that Black's surname was Grindelwald, he began to study Black carefully.

Only now

did he realize that, in the child's features...

he really did resemble that man!

But...

what Dumbledore found strange was

that he not only saw traces of Grindelwald in Black, he also saw...

traces of himself?!

On closer inspection, Black's features resembled Grindelwald's.

And those azure eyes...

were exactly like Dumbledore's own!

This child was like...

like a fusion of him and Grindelwald!

Could it be...

A very absurd, yet incredibly unbelievable thought suddenly arose in Dumbledore's mind!

Though the thought was absurd, but...

if it was true, then...

Fawkes bringing him here

made perfect sense...

When a member of the Dumbledore family was in danger, a Phoenix would come to his side!

Black had been quietly observing Dumbledore's expression the whole time.

The Dumbledore of now

looked extremely conflicted...

as if he had run into something he found utterly helpless.

"Um... Professor. Do you recognize the surname Grindelwald?"

"I noticed you seem to care a lot about that surname."

"If you know it,"

"does that mean you know my family?"

Black said the words above tentatively.

It was a perfectly reasonable question.

So Dumbledore did not suspect otherwise.

After seeing him react like that, it would have been more suspicious if Black had no reaction.

What orphan would not be curious about his own origins?

"Yes... I know that surname."

"I know someone with that surname too..."

"But... I can't tell you too much right now."

"I need to confirm something first."

Dumbledore did not intend to bring up the story of the Grindelwald surname with Black just yet.

"All right... If you confirm that thing, will you be able to tell me everything about the Grindelwald surname?"

Black pressed him.

After Dumbledore was silent for a while, he finally sighed helplessly.

"If that matter really is confirmed, I'll tell you everything you want to know, truthfully."

Dumbledore had not originally wanted to tell Black about Grindelwald.

However...

Although so many years had passed, there were still many people who knew about Grindelwald!

How could he possibly hide it from this child?

Even if he did not tell Black, once the child grew up, he would find the answer himself!

So Dumbledore decided to tell him after all.

"Fawkes."

Dumbledore called to the Phoenix.

Fawkes let out a melodious cry toward Black.

It seemed as if he were saying goodbye to Black.

Then he flew onto Dumbledore's hand.

Dumbledore plucked a leaf from one of the drooping branches.

Then that leaf turned into a blank slip of paper in his hand.

When Fawkes held the slip of paper in his beak, sharp-eyed Black noticed

that on the previously blank slip of paper, a line of looped, circle-within-circle handwriting had already appeared...

Phoenix Fawkes held the slip of paper in his beak.

With a flash of firelight, he vanished from Dumbledore's arm.

"It's getting late. I'll take you home."

"As for this place... I've already sent a letter asking someone to come deal with it."

"You don't need to worry."

Dumbledore walked along the streets of London with the two children.

Although his strange clothes drew countless looks, he did not care at all.

"Would you like some ice cream?"

"I've always thought Muggle desserts are more imaginative."

At the entrance to a dessert shop, Dumbledore made the suggestion cheerfully.

Black licked his somewhat dry lips.

Then he nodded decisively.

For some reason, Black especially liked sweets.

This seemed to be a preference he had only developed in this life.

Especially those British desserts so sweet they made your throat ache.

The sweeter they were, the more he liked them.

Even he himself found it baffling...

Hermione was originally a little embarrassed.

But after she saw Black nod, she nodded along with him.

She had lost her Strawberry Cake ages ago.

So she actually had not gotten to eat the dessert she had been longing for all day.

Dumbledore walked into the dessert shop.

Before long, he came out with three large cups of Strawberry Sundae.

From the look of it, he seemed very familiar with everything in the Muggle world.

Buying things in Muggle shops was second nature to him too.

The three of them sat down like that at a table by the shop entrance.

They took small bites of the desserts in their hands.

While they tasted the sweets, Dumbledore asked Black a few more questions.

Most of them were about his life at the Orphanage.

He seemed especially concerned about Black's past experiences.

Life in the orphanage

was not really anything that needed to be hidden.