Sean's Preferred Method

Dumbledore paced slowly through the Room of Requirement, his tone sounding very serious.

"There are some things that I don't want to tell you, but I can't tell you— Sean, in my research on Prophecy, I've slowly discovered that my initial views were both right and wrong."

Sean was somewhat puzzled. "Is it right or wrong?"

"Remember when I told you that at first I thought the so-called Sin might be a special bloodline among wizards, which is passed down from generation to generation and will fully awaken at the right time. The awakened bloodline will bring great power and curse to the holder, which is Sin."

Sean nodded. "That's what you told me back then, but I have to say, Professor, in my personal experience, describing Sin in terms of bloodline might be a bit inaccurate."

Dumbledore wore a troubled, bitter expression. "So I said, it's both right and wrong—the right part is that my initial deduction was not wrong, and Sin is indeed inherited through blood..."

Sean frowned. Sin really something that was part of one's bloodline?

In his speculation, the emergence of Sin may be closely related to the great changes that occurred in the Realm of Illusion back then. It is even possible that the collapse of the Realm of Illusion led to the appearance of Sin in the present world. After all, the Prophecy mentioned that Sin had already ravaged the present world once a thousand years ago.

But the message brought by Dumbledore was that Sin was truly a bloodline?

Sean remained silent, waiting for Dumbledore to finish his story.

"Sean, you should know that wizarding blood can be inherited, or rather, wizards are a special kind of human bloodline."

Sean nodded. Parseltongue, Metamorphmagus, and so on are all forms of wizarding blood that can be inherited.

Dumbledore sighed, "But Sin bloodlines are not like wizarding bloodlines. If wizarding bloodlines are inherited talents, then Sin are accumulated curses..."

"Accumulated?" Sean frowned.

Dumbledore: "This is something I didn't expect either—the bloodline of Sin chose one of your ancestors, and Sin, like other wizarding bloodlines, is inherited. But the difference is that there is only one Sin, while bloodlines are not unique. Whether you are Parseltongue or Metamorphmagus, this talent still requires you to study to a certain extent before you can reach a certain level—but Sin is different. Thousands of years have allowed Sin to accumulate power until your appearance."

Upon hearing this, Sean's pupils dilated violently.

"Professor, do you mean that the power of Sin is far greater than I imagined?"

Dumbledore shook his head, his expression becoming extremely serious. "No, it's larger than I imagined."

Even Dumbledore said so... Sean suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"That night in Paris, you should have felt the power of Sin— " The old man gazed into the distance, seemingly recalling that night of fire and blood, "You should have personally experienced the immense power of that force?"

Sean nodded. He certainly understood—the once invincible Voldemort was flattened like dough by him. The Silent Mouth of Obscurus, only hindered the Sin for a moment. Even as it was about to fall into slumber, the remaining power could easily shatter the barrier left by Dumbledore.

It can be described as a tremendous force.

Dumbledore said softly from the side, "If my verification is correct, the power of Sin that awakened in Paris back then may only be the tip of the iceberg. Compared to the truly awakened Sin —that's probably the difference between you and me?"

Sean gasped. The power of Sin he had awakened that day was only a small fraction of what it was... and the gap between him and Dumbledore...

Sean has a very clear self-awareness. His current strength surpasses that of his peers, and most elite Auror are no match for him—roughly comparable to Professor Moody's peak magical level. If you add Magical Creatures, Obscurus, and his own trump cards, he is confident that he can defeat most wizards.

But it was precisely because he had progressed fast and far enough on the path of magic that he came to a profound understanding of just how powerful an existence like Dumbledore truly was.

He and Grindelwald, these two unparalleled geniuses, completely surpass the entire Wizarding World. Only the two of them are qualified to compete for the first and second positions, and whoever sits in the second position is still far superior to other wizards.

In Sean's mind, perhaps only Voldemort in his peak, fully-formed form could even remotely rival these two. Although Voldemort's dreams were of low caliber and he wasn't very bright, his Magic Talent was still quite formidable. However, that guy had already split his soul, turning himself into something neither human nor ghost.

Of course, there's also that unknown Bard; his strength is unfathomable.

This is the difference between Sean and Dumbledore; if the latter wanted to, he could easily defeat him in a direct magical duel.

And this is equivalent to the difference between the Fire Giant of Paris Night and the real Sin?!

This news weighed heavily on Sean's heart.

Seeing Sean's somber expression, Dumbledore continued in a deep voice, "In fact, I can tell you that when I first discovered this Prophecy, I was, to put it another way, very confident, or rather, very arrogant."

"I think I can suppress the awakened Sin, and if that doesn't work, I can also—" He paused here, "And add Gellert."

"But as I got closer to the essence of Sin, I realized that I had overestimated myself."

Dumbledore's words plunged Sean into deep thought. After a long while, he raised his head and asked in a deep voice, "But the Prophecy states that, by some means, Sin can be transformed into virtue—Professor, I've always believed that both you and my teacher have guided me to resolve the Sin within me through my own strength, such as transforming the power of Sin..."

Dumbledore smiled and said, "That was indeed our initial intention, but Sean, it's not that I don't trust you, but the consequences of the Sin would be something that neither Gellert nor I could bear. I have to leave another way out."

"Is it the part of the Prophecy that you hid from me?"

When Sean pressed him for an answer, Dumbledore nodded.

"Even if what you're about to do will... kill you?" Sean tapped the piano beneath him with some irritation, a series of chaotic notes echoing in the Room of Requirement.

Dumbledore remained silent.

Sean asked in a questioning and dissatisfied tone, "What about the conversation just now, Professor? What was the point? What's the difference between all that and what we said before? I thought you at least understood that you're not alone, and that many things can be approached from another angle, and that you can think of more solutions..."

Dumbledore interrupted Sean.

"Sean, please listen to me," the old man said, his lake-blue eyes filled with gentleness and wisdom. "Our conversation just now was not without meaning. I can now clearly tell you the reasons that are limiting me, which is a kind of progress, isn't it?"

"Does that count..." Sean retorted, dissatisfied.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, "One of the reasons, as you know, is that Unbreakable Vow is not so easy to circumvent. As for the part that does not involve the Returners, it is because I have discovered some characteristics of Sin. If I tell you everything clearly, it is very likely to accelerate the awakening of Sin, which will not be of any benefit to you when you deal with the outbreak of Sin in the future."

"That idealistic argument again?" Sean scratched his head in annoyance.

"Didn't you clearly realize this when you were teaching those children in the Transfiguration? Magic is, after all, an idealistic miracle."

"Can't you even give me a hint?" Sean persisted.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, the only thing I can reveal is that, in a sense, Sin and the World Will are of the same kind."

Sean's pupils contracted sharply. The level of his Sin was actually close to that of the World Will? This was something he hadn't expected...

"So what do I need to do now, and how do I do it? Professor, I'm starting to regret why I insisted on digging so deep to find all the answers. I really hate this feeling of powerlessness." Sean sighed.

Dumbledore patted Sean on the shoulder. "Sometimes, it's because you want too much, and you want to do too much. My request to you is to carefully feel the magical nature of that magic that I had you feel back then. It will be of great help in the future."

The magical nature of Sin? Sean frowned, touching his chin as he recalled that feeling.

But that feeling is one-time only. He can't very well negotiate with the Pride within him just to frequently experience the nature of magic, can he? Speaking of which, Pride has left him a ball of Sin power that he can use at any time, but Sean is worried that it is a huge trap and has not tried to use it yet.

Dumbledore's voice rang in my ears. "Feel it carefully, feel it in the way you are good at."

Sean looked up and saw the other person wink at him.

"Feel it carefully..."

He lowered his head to ponder the meaning of Dumbledore's words, but when he looked up again, Dumbledore had vanished from the Room of Requirement.

"That elusive old man—ah! I hate the Riddler!" Sean roared in frustration.

He felt like he had repeated that sentence in his mind tens of thousands of times. Dealing with someone Dumbledore required not only a sharp mind but also a great deal of patience. Otherwise, his habit of only saying half of what he meant could drive anyone to the brink of losing patience.

After venting his anger, Sean lay down on the ground, feeling the cold stone slabs and staring at the dark ceiling, lost in thought.

Dumbledore said that this conversation must have some meaning, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically emphasized that Sean needed to carefully understand it and use his preferred methods...

However, the Sin magic he felt that time came from "Sloth." Thomas was trapped in the ring by himself. Should he let the other person out to fight for a while and then lock him back in?

This is unreasonable...

But what way can I possibly feel the power of Sin again?

He now regretted it somewhat; he had used the Ravenclaw's Diadem two weeks ago, when he was practicing Ancient Runes ...

While Ravenclaw's Diadem is powerful, its side effects are equally obvious. Frequent use will greatly deplete the user's physical and mental strength, and Sean even has a faint feeling that the thing also has some effect on the soul—not damaging the soul, but making the soul somewhat... cold-hearted?

"Cold-blooded" is probably the most accurate adjective Sean can think of. He has used the Ravenclaw's Diadem six times so far, and after the most recent one, he had some vague feelings about it.

This made Sean even more hesitant to use it frequently. If it weren't for saving his unfortunate Ancient Runes Talent, Sean wouldn't have taken out the Ravenclaw's Diadem unless it was an emergency.

He rubbed his temples, somewhat troubled. What exactly did Dumbledore mean by his final emphasis...?

"Sin, power, feeling..." Sean lay on the floor, muttering unconsciously to himself.

Suddenly, he sat up abruptly, his eyes shining brightly.

He had an idea...

If there are no conditions, then create them, and what Sean is good at... is causing trouble, isn't it?

There is only one direction that is related to Sin and happens to meet Sean's conditions for causing trouble— Durmstrang.

Dumbledore was telling himself that there was indeed Sin Vessel within Durmstrang, and that he was supporting himself in tearing off Durmstrang's mask...

And given that Dumbledore was still able to give such hints after the last incident where the Portkey's route was altered, it meant that there was no need to worry; a higher level of power would intervene, and Dumbledore would handle those matters for him...

"Tsk—" Sean licked his lips, "I can't stand this for long..."

Ever since the Quidditch Pitch incident, Durmstrang students have had a tough time. They have been subjected to ostracism, cold shoulders, and ridicule from students from the other three schools, which has become a daily occurrence for them.

However, time heals all wounds. Although Reinhardt Nott was still hospitalized, more than half a month had passed, and the Durmstrang students were suffering less ridicule and sarcasm. They were also able to act independently. At the height of the conflict, they dared not go out alone. Those bastard twins from Gryffindor had tried to harm them several times, but those two bastards were too slippery to catch any evidence of their crimes.

Now, you must be tired of it by now, right?

Although they were very unhappy, Durmstrang students could only passively accept it all. On the bright side, at least they could safely go to the Hogwarts library and Great Hall, and on good days they could go out of the ship to bask in the sun.

Strong Hartman hurried through the corridors of Hogwarts Castle. Although students from other schools would still grumble at him when they saw him, their aggression was at least less intense.

He was somewhat annoyed, but he could only endure it—fortunately, the news that he and Reinhardt had a good relationship had not been leaked, otherwise the situation would have been much worse.

That guy, lying in the hospital all by himself, seems pretty comfortable... he thought with some dissatisfaction.

However, this thought didn't last long. As he rounded the corner, the idea suddenly left his mind, and he blacked out and passed out.