With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

"I'm terribly sorry. I promise that next time, before taking them out, I'll report it to you first."

Dumbledore spoke to Mrs. Cole with complete sincerity.

"All right... since they're back already, let it go. You have no idea how worried I was! It's so dangerous outside... there are human traffickers everywhere!"

As Mrs. Cole spoke, she shot another glare at Tom and Li Weide, who were hiding behind Dumbledore.

"You two aren't allowed dinner tonight. That's your punishment!"

"Yes... Mrs. Cole." Li Weide and Tom responded weakly.

After Mrs. Cole left, Dumbledore turned to look at them. "All right. Now it's time for you to tell me what you experienced today."

"All right... let's go to Tom's room and sit down while we talk..."

"Your room would be better. The environment in your room is nicer," Tom quickly objected.

He really did not want to see Dumbledore in his own room again...

Who knew whether he would burn something else to scare him?

"All right, then let's go to my room..."

A short while later, the three of them arrived in Li Weide's room.

Li Weide pulled over a chair for Dumbledore, then sat down on the edge of the bed with Tom.

"I think you must be hungry. But Mrs. Cole punished you by forbidding you dinner tonight, and I shouldn't encourage you to break her rules. So, have something to drink instead."

As Dumbledore spoke, he picked up an old umbrella from nearby and placed it on the floor.

Whoosh!

The next second, the umbrella transformed into a coffee table.

Li Weide and Tom's eyes lit up at the sight.

Dumbledore waved his hand, and three drinks appeared on the coffee table. Neither of them knew where he had been hiding them before.

"I trust you can also guess that I didn't happen to appear there by chance and take the blame for you," Dumbledore said.

Li Weide and Tom nodded.

Dumbledore pushed two cups of pumpkin juice toward Li Weide and Tom respectively.

"This morning, in an alley two kilometers away from the Leaky Cauldron, Muggle policemen discovered two people who had been tied up tightly..."

Li Weide nodded. "We did that."

Dumbledore paused slightly. He had not expected Li Weide to admit it so readily.

"Can you tell me why? I seem to recall telling you that we absolutely do not allow wizards to use magic on Muggles." Dumbledore's tone grew stern.

"They were human traffickers!" Tom said urgently. "They wanted to abduct and sell us! Were we supposed to just not fight back?"

Li Weide patted Tom on the shoulder, signaling for him not to get so worked up.

"Article Three of Chapter One of the Underage Sorcerer Protection Act, as newly amended in 1928, states that underage sorcerers may use magic to protect themselves when facing danger."

"Article One of Chapter One further states that, for the purposes of this Act, an underage sorcerer refers to any sorcerer under the age of eighteen."

"Tom and I are both only around eleven years old this year, so we should both fall under this Act's protection."

"In other words, faced with abduction, Tom and I used magic to offer appropriate resistance. This was entirely in accordance with Article Three of Chapter One and should not violate the Ministry of Magic's regulations..."

"So, Professor Dumbledore, we should not be reprimanded over this matter."

Dumbledore was left somewhat stunned by Li Weide's argument.

Tom, meanwhile, gaped at Li Weide beside him, completely unable to understand why Li Weide knew so much about these so-called Wizarding World regulations.

"You... how are you so familiar with these?" Dumbledore could not help asking.

Li Weide shrugged. "We went to Diagon Alley today. I also spent more than two hours at Flourish and Blotts."

Tom stared at Li Weide in shock. "So you really memorized every book you were interested in? You weren't bragging?"

"Not all of them. Time was limited, after all. I couldn't go through every book that interested me..." Li Weide said regretfully. "I can only wait until next time to visit Diagon Alley again."

"So... with that many books, you can memorize them just by reading through them once? You... you..."

Tom was so crushed that he could not speak...

Dumbledore was equally shaken. In other words, everything Li Weide had just quoted had been memorized after merely reading it once today...

Of course, it was also possible that he had realized what he had done today, deliberately found that Act, and memorized it.

"Your talent truly is astonishing, Weide... You're right. I indeed cannot hold you accountable for this matter. Moreover, your actions were indeed self-defense. You did nothing wrong..."

"However..." Dumbledore changed the subject. "Did you go to 39 Strand Street afterward?"

"Yes, we did that too." Li Weide admitted it just as readily again.

Since Dumbledore had come looking for them today, it meant that what they had done had been exposed.

Any attempt at concealment would only be futile. If Dumbledore did not have sufficient evidence, he would never have come here.

It was better to admit it cleanly.

"Why did you do that?" Dumbledore asked with a frown.

"We all know how miserable it is to fall into the hands of human traffickers... They sell good-looking children to wealthy perverts. Those who aren't as attractive but are clever get trained as pickpockets, while the less clever ones have their arms and legs broken before being driven onto the streets to beg..."

"So, after learning there were still children in the traffickers' hands, I pulled Tom along with me. We wanted to save them," Li Weide said calmly.

Tom was somewhat surprised that Li Weide had taken all the responsibility onto himself this time.

Dumbledore opened his mouth, but could not bring himself to utter a word of reproach.

After a long while, he slowly said, "Wanting to save people was right... but you should not have gone like that. It isn't that I doubt your and Tom's abilities. It's just that... wizards and magic must never be casually exposed before Muggles. That is a serious violation of the International Statute of Secrecy."

Dumbledore raised his eyes to Li Weide. "I assume that, since you've memorized all this, I don't need to repeat it to you?"

"Yes, Professor... but at the time, we hadn't gone to Diagon Alley yet and did not know that our actions violated the International Statute of Secrecy."

Li Weide looked at Dumbledore, then lowered his head and said softly, "But I don't regret what I did then. There were people who needed help, and I happened to have the ability to help them... I couldn't simply stand by and watch. I have always believed that with great power comes great responsibility."

Dumbledore's brows rose slightly. "With great power... comes great responsibility..."

After quite some time, Dumbledore spoke again. "All the arrested human traffickers have been frightened out of their minds and are unable to reveal anything about the Wizarding World. So you were fortunate this time. It does not count as a violation of the International Statute of Secrecy... All right, tell me about the entire operation."

Thus, Li Weide and Tom recounted everything that had happened during their raid on the human traffickers' hideout that morning, from beginning to end. This included the gold bars, Tom's Parselmouth, and Nagini, whom they had drawn over because of it.

They could not hide it anyway, so it was better to say it plainly.

After hearing the whole story, Dumbledore sighed. "I have to say, you were lucky today... I knew Nagini in the past. She is a very unfortunate person... wavering between beastly nature and humanity. It is difficult to imagine how much pain she has suffered."

Tom immediately asked, "What exactly happened to her?"

"She is a Maledictus," Dumbledore said. "All right, we can discuss her later. For now, let's talk about the dozen or so gold bars you obtained."

Li Weide remained calm upon hearing this, but Tom's eyes widened involuntarily, afraid that Dumbledore wanted to confiscate the gold.

Tom, whose strength was still insufficient, now understood the importance of money very well.

After all, he was not yet the Voldemort who would one day shake the world...

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm not here to seize your gold. I merely want to remind you... could an ordinary human traffickers' den really possess that much gold? You exchanged that gold today, so you should know what an enormous fortune it was."

Li Weide immediately understood. "Professor, are you saying we've gotten ourselves into serious trouble?"

The so-called underage protection act from the Ministry of Magic was something I made up. I couldn't find any relevant information...