The Collapse of a Great Image: Was the Contract a Ceasefire Agreement?

Harry paused for a moment, then stared at Dumbledore in astonishment, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"You mean... Aaron's arrival last night was arranged by you? How is that possible?"

"Under normal circumstances, it is indeed impossible. He is quite capable, but he is not just ordinary... cautious."

But last night presented an opportunity, and I simply went with the flow.

"What exactly happened?" Harry asked, his face full of confusion.

"Ever since you dreamt that Arthur was attacked by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries, I knew he had started plotting the Prophecy Orb. After all, he only received half of the Prophecy a dozen years ago, and the other half was very important to him."

At that time, I took some time to visit the Department of Mysteries and cast a spell on the Prophecy Orb. This was inspired by Miss Klein Adrian Klein, allowing me to remotely monitor the Prophecy Orb, and the spell would continue for a period of time even if the Prophecy Orb was destroyed.

"Remote monitoring?" Harry murmured, then suddenly realized, "So that means that from the moment we found the Prophecy Orb last night, our every move was under your watchful eye?"

"You could say that," Dumbledore said bluntly. "The Order of the Phoenix has special means of communication. After you dreamed that Sirius Black was captured, Aaron notified Snape, and he then notified the Order of the Phoenix as quickly as possible to confirm the situation."

"He... didn't stall for time?"

"Why do you think that?" Dumbledore. "Snape and Sirius Black have some grudges, but that doesn't mean he can't distinguish between public and private matters."

I must tell you this clearly: you can always trust Snape.

Harry remained silent. He lacked trust in Professor Snape, which was why he rode Thestral to the Ministry of Magic.

If Professor Snape hadn't delayed, then last night's events would have been entirely his own fault, and Sirius Black would have paid the price for his impulsiveness.

"And Kritter." Harry found a reason to defend himself. "I spoke to Kritter through Umbridge's fire, and he told me Sirius Black wasn't in the Order of the Phoenix."

"He's lying," Dumbledore said quietly. "House Elf are loyal to their masters, but you are not his master, so he can lie to you."

"You mean he wants me to take over the Ministry of Magic?"

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore sighed. "Kritter is loyal to the Black family, but the Black family isn't just Sirius Black."

Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix's sister and Sirius Black sister, could also be someone he pledges allegiance to.

He couldn't betray Sirius Black and never left Grimmauld Place, but Sirius Black was too indifferent to the House Elf, even saying "get lost" when he cursed at them.

This gave him the opportunity to leave Grimmauld Place and seek out other members of the Black family for whom he was willing to serve.

"But he can't provide any useful information, can he?" Harry said with difficulty.

"A lot of information can be deduced from some trivial matters. For example, your relationship with Sirius Black is like that of a father and son, which is why you dreamed that he was captured by the Department of Mysteries."

Yesterday he hurt Buckbeak, and while Sirius Black was upstairs taking care of it, you checked on Order of the Phoenix to see what happened.

Harry slammed his fist on the table in anger. "It's all his fault! He's an unfaithful, liar, and Hermione keeps telling us to be nice to him."

"He should indeed be treated better," Dumbledore said noncommittally. "The personalities of House Elf are shaped by Warlock, and I've reminded Sirius Black that he should show more respect to Kritter, but he doesn't seem to have taken my advice to heart."

"You're not allowed to talk about him like that," Harry said angrily.

"But Kritter certainly deserves pity, forced to obey the orders of a master who considered him insignificant, and his life was just as miserable as Dobby's."

Harry gritted his teeth, feeling a tightness in his chest.

"How do you know all this?" Harry asked wearily.

" To Mind Extraction," Dumbledore said calmly. "I used this spell to learn all this after Snape informed the Order of the Phoenix."

However, it was too late by then. When Snape wanted to tell you that Sirius Black was alright, he couldn't find you in the Forbidden Forest.

He was worried that you still believed Sirius Black was in Voldemort's hands, so he contacted Order of the Phoenix again.

At that time, Lupin, Moody, Sirius Black, Kingsley, Nymphadora, and I were all at headquarters.

Sirius Black was overly concerned about you. He didn't know if you had already arrived at the Ministry of Magic, but he wanted to immediately come to your aid. Everyone else shared this idea, except for Snape, who advised him to stay at headquarters.

"Then why did you arrive so late?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"This was my idea," Dumbledore said softly. "Voldemort wants the Prophecy Orb Prophecy Orb. You are safe until you get your hands on it. I have set up a spell on the Prophecy Orb so that I can monitor your every move."

We were prepared to use Apparition and could arrive at any time.

But before we cross the border, I want to see how you are doing at this stage. After all, this is Dumbledore's Army's first real battle, and we must admit that your fighting strength and courage are indeed gratifying."

Harry stood up abruptly, questioning incredulously, "We almost died there, and Neville was tortured by Bellatrix with the Cruciatus Curse. You just stood by and watched?"

"Calm down, Harry, of course we're not going to just stand by and watch."

Just as we were about to Apparition, Miss Granger took out the Flintlock Gun.

I have a good relationship with Nicolas Flamel and a decent understanding of alchemy. That gun is an absolute Divine Weapon, its value immeasurable, especially those enchanted bullets, which are comparable to a full-force attack from Archmage.

"What's there to say about that?" Harry asked impatiently.

"It speaks of Gaius's background," Dumbledore said in a deep voice, "And also of the extent of Aaron's concern for Miss Granger."

This makes me think this is an opportunity; Aaron might get involved, so to ensure your safety, I've decided to wait a bit longer.

Harry's eyes widened instantly. The image of Dumbledore just and towering figure crumbled in his mind. "Professor, are you... really that serious?"

Dumbledore smile. "I know it's not very kind of me to do this, but I have no other choice."

The Order of the Phoenix is not at an advantage over the Death Eater. We have lost too many people in past battles, including your father and Neville's father, and this is only a small part of the story.

Therefore, we need a strong ally. I started thinking about this on my first day of school in Aaron, but I couldn't find a suitable opportunity.

His stance was very clear: he would not participate in the Magic World's conflicts, nor would he support either side.

Harry nodded, seemingly understanding, which meant he had come to understand Dumbledore.

"Now that he's here, why haven't you shown up yet?"

"This is a little bit of my own selfish reason." Dumbledore didn't hide anything. "Aaron Gaius has been keeping a low profile and doing things quietly for the past five years at Hogwarts."

He clearly possesses qualities far exceeding those of people his age, yet he constantly tries to diminish his own presence.

In the first year, all the professors were excited that Hogwarts had welcomed a genius Warlock. Despite being Slytherin, he was able to maintain good academic relations with the other three houses. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout even asked me to apply for him to transfer to another house more than once.

In the following year, the three deans became less enthusiastic about transferring him to another hospital, but they still greatly admired this genius.

After three years, when people mentioned Aaron, they would think of him as a genius. But what made him a genius? It was simply his academic performance.

He used this time to reduce his own presence to that of an ordinary top student, yet the professor's appreciation and the students' respect only increased.

"Hiss!"

Harry gasped; it seemed that was indeed the case.

Aaron is very strong; he excels in every aspect.

If you really look into it, his fame and influence are not as great as his "The Chosen One's ". If he wanted to, it wouldn't be difficult for him to command a large following.

As Harry thought about it, an image appeared in his mind: he was in front of him, bearing various titles and blocking attacks from all sides, while not far behind him, Aaron Gaius was lying down easily, quietly and stealthily developing his strength.

"I want to see the real him, to understand his true strength, so that I can make arrangements for what to do next," Dumbledore continued. "And he certainly didn't disappoint us; he even gave us a real shock."

Putting aside his strength for now, I've never seen anything like it before— Book of Prophecy and that mask that allow him to control dozens of puppet ninjas.

"Afterwards, Barty Crouch Jr.. arrived and gave up his chance to leave, teleporting Hermione away instead."

This made me very happy. Although our romantic relationship might have played a large role, it at least shows that he is a loyal and compassionate person, and I can entrust him with important responsibilities in the future.

"Then Voldemort came and revealed the secret of the Gaius family," Dumbledore said with emotion. "Only then did I truly understand why the Gaius family had always maintained neutrality."

The Dumbledore family also has some records of those four families, though not many, and between the lines they show respect and apprehension.

I initially thought it was due to the vast connections and relationships among their four families, where a single move could have far-reaching consequences. However, last night I realized that with the influence and resources of their divine lineage, whoever they support will win.

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "Aaron is definitely on our side."

"It's not that simple," Dumbledore said. "Unless the development of the Magic World is a dead end, they will absolutely not get involved."

This is their ancestral instruction, to prevent future generations from imposing their own will on the entire Magic World.

It can only be said that the ancestors of the Gaius family were extremely farsighted, forcefully suppressing the ambitions of their descendants. Otherwise, the Magic World would undoubtedly be under a strict hierarchical rule today, because no one could stop those four Warlock families, and there would be very few people opposing them.

"That's too much!" Harry muttered.

"You don't understand the power and influence of the God of Magic. Merlin is still the faith of the vast majority of Warlock!"

He left no offspring, yet the Magic World established the Order of Merlin based on his name, which held an extremely high status. Even the Minister for Magic had to show them some respect, let alone the descendants of the God of Magic.

You've seen how much Voldemort valued him; he found it hard to resist the temptation of any Warlock seeking Eternity or the secrets of godhood.

Harry nodded somewhat blankly, then asked, "Now that he's been dragged into this, you can train him to fight Voldemort!"

"He doesn't need my guidance. The Gaius family places great importance on the training of their heirs."

"And based on my understanding of him, unless he's absolutely certain, he won't confront Voldemort head-on."

"You're really good at judging people," Harry thought to himself. "I think so too."

Even if you schemed against him like this, he wouldn't want to kill you, would he?

Regardless, your timely arrival last night saved him from a humiliating pact with Voldemort.

Dumbledore's lips twitched, and his expression became quite interesting. "Things might be a little different from what you think."

"What's different?"

"Do you really think that was a humiliating contract?" Dumbledore asked mysteriously. "Harry, you're smart, but you're still a bit too green."

In reality, that contract had nothing to do with humiliation; it was more like Aaron and his twin brother forcing Voldemort to sign a truce agreement.

What did he say back then...? He let you leave, and you can't cause him any trouble for a year. I have to say he was very rational.

Having obtained the Prophecy, Voldemort satisfied his curiosity, achieving the most basic goal. To reach a greater goal, he needed time to consolidate his power, exactly one year.

When Aaron produced the contract, Voldemort was presented with two choices.

He could either fight to the death, or he might be able to kill one of the two Gaius, while the other would become his future rival, a fight to the death.

Either a year-long truce is possible. Aaron said he was leaving the Magic World to handle some business, which means that after he consolidates his power, Aaron will be all alone and easier to control.

Harry, what would you choose if it were you?

"The first one," Harry said without hesitation. "The first one is too risky and offers no benefits whatsoever."

"Yes! Voldemort thought so too," Dumbledore said, then changed the subject, "But it was Aaron who led Voldemort to think that way."

After a year-long hiatus, he can shake off last night's predicament and retire unscathed.

As for a year from now... haha! There's only the first time and countless times when it comes to signing a contract.

He'll figure out a way to get Voldemort to focus his attention elsewhere, like the Order of the Phoenix. I guarantee he'll make a big promise that Voldemort won't be able to refuse.

Even if things don't go smoothly, do you really think it would be difficult for him, with his low intelligence, to avoid Voldemort?