Hogwarts: What bad intentions could a little Hufflepuff have?

"That was what happened."

"In the end, I convinced everyone at the time."

"We did not lock Grindelwald up in Azkaban."

"Instead, we imprisoned him in the prison he had built himself... Nurmengard."

After finishing the story of what had happened between him and Grindelwald all those years ago, Dumbledore picked up his teacup and took a sip.

He looked around the shabby room.

Suddenly, it felt somewhat familiar.

Many years ago, he had once visited an orphanage.

There, too, had been a room like this.

However, the owner of that room...

had stirred up storm after storm of bloodshed many years later.

He glanced at Black.

Then he made a quiet resolve.

He absolutely could not let Black become someone like that too.

"So that's how it was?"

Black had actually known all of this long ago.

Even so, he still pretended that this was the first time he had heard it.

After all, this was something he had previously asked Dumbledore to tell him.

Next, they should be getting to the point.

"Then... who am I to this... Grindelwald?"

"Why was I abandoned at the orphanage?"

Faced with Black's question, Dumbledore sighed softly.

Because he suddenly did not know how to begin.

After pondering for quite a while...

"You just heard me talk about what happened back then."

"So, of course, you also know that Grindelwald had been searching for Credence Barebone."

Black nodded.

Credence was actually a member of the Dumbledore family.

It was just that, through a series of accidents...

his fate had been rather miserable.

He became an Obscurus, then became a sharp blade in Grindelwald's hand.

Fortunately, in the end, he could be considered to have turned away from darkness and toward the light.

Though it had been a bit sudden...

"Your story begins with Credence... oh, that is, my nephew, Aurelius Dumbledore, leaving Grindelwald..."

"Hm? It has something to do with him?" Black asked.

"It is actually related to his departure," Dumbledore replied.

"With his departure, Grindelwald needed another sharp blade."

"And then he thought of..."

"Creating a sharper, tougher, more suitable blade."

"This blade had to be the strongest!"

"So..."

"He established a Bio-research Institute."

"The members of this institute..."

"There was an Alchemy master from the wizarding world."

"There were also top biologists from the Muggle world..."

When Black heard this, a bad feeling rose in his heart.

"From the body of the most powerful wizard in the world at the time..."

"Pardon my lack of modesty."

"At that time, the two most powerful wizards"

"were Grindelwald and me."

"He... used a drop of blood he had taken from me many years before,"

"together with his own blood."

"With the finest Alchemy and the finest biology..."

"he created a new life-form."

"He wanted to ensure that this life-form possessed all the talents of the two greatest wizards of that era."

Dumbledore stopped there.

Because he had to give Black some time

to properly digest this bombshell.

To be honest, when he had first read all this in that Experiment Log, it had taken him a very long time to calm down.

Let alone Black.

It had truly been an experiment far too insane!

Grindelwald had been trying to create life!

At that moment, Black understood everything completely.

Right then, he only felt as if ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his heart!

"That life-form was me?"

After receiving Dumbledore's affirmative answer, Black was utterly disheveled in the wind.

"So... I'm not actually human, am I?"

"Actually... I'm just something created..."

"...a monster?"

"A killing machine to help him complete his so-called great cause?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No! Child, you are human!"

"You are not a monster."

Black sighed.

"But I don't even have a mother, do I?"

Dumbledore was left speechless for a moment.

Back then, Black had grown in a petri dish.

Of course he had no mother.

"But you truly are human."

"There is a technical term for this among Muggles."

"Mm... I think it's called cloning?"

Black knew Dumbledore was trying to comfort him.

A clone was not like him.

"And then?"

"If that experiment involving me had already succeeded decades ago,"

"then why was I only born eleven years ago?"

Black asked the key question.

Logically speaking, with him as he was now.

The experiment could actually already be considered a success!

Black had also perfectly inherited the specialties of the two great wizards.

He was confident that even without the system, in the end, he would inevitably go further than Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

Then.

Why hadn't he been born decades ago?

"No... Black..." Dumbledore sighed softly.

"That experiment..."

"Actually wasn't a success..."

"In the end, that experiment failed."

Black's eyes suddenly widened.

That experiment failed?

If it had failed, where had he come from?

Dumbledore went on.

"Because although the fetus that was born was perfect,"

"but..."

"he had no soul..."

"only an empty shell."

"An empty shell could never become a sharp sword."