Dumbledore's Short Time to Live, a Bomb Buried for Decades

Dumbledore also became interested and curiously sat down to cooperate.

A glint flashed in Clea's green eyes, then her brows furrowed slightly involuntarily. "Professor, I... I must have seen wrong."

"Perhaps I'm not mistaken!"

"Tell me, I've been prepared for this for a long time."

Tepler nodded to Clea before hesitatingly saying, "I didn't see the specifics, but your aura was shrouded in death energy, which means..."

"I don't have much time left, do I?"

"Yes, it can take anywhere from three years to one year."

"It's going to be a little longer than I expected." Dumbledore; instead, he smiled with relief. "Death can be another kind of adventure."

"Most people would never be this optimistic after knowing their death is imminent," Tepler said admiringly. "It's truly admirable."

"Actually, I wasn't that optimistic either." Dumbledore shrugged, slowly raising his right hand, which was as lifeless as charcoal. "It took me a while to accept Reality Stone."

Tepler looked thoughtfully at Dumbledore's withered, charred right hand. "Some kind of terrible curse. It seems you really don't have long to live. Logically speaking, Great wizard like you shouldn't make such a low-level mistake."

"Everyone has one or two regrets they want to make up for," Dumbledore said meaningfully. "My time is running out, and there are many things waiting for me to deal with, but arranging Miss Clea's enrollment before I die is still not a problem."

Tepler hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Vico, is he alright?"

"Although I don't particularly like him, he barely deserves it," Vico said unhappily.

"That's good." Tepler said meaningfully, "Albus Dumbledore, the Gaius family might be able to spare your life, and even help you advance further."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed slightly, a storm raging within him.

"What's the price? There's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Withdraw from the conflicts of the Magic World, and even if Voldemort wins, you cannot intervene," Tepler said calmly. "Of course, this is only the most basic condition."

"And more specifically?"

Tepler placed his hand on the table, and a piece of parchment covered in writing appeared out of his hand. "The rest is the core secret of the Gaius family. You have to sign a contract before I can tell you."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore fell silent.

He picked up the contract and examined it carefully. It did not contain any clause requiring him to pledge allegiance to the Gaius family. On the contrary, he was entitled to full personal freedom and was required to strictly keep confidential everything he saw, knew, and heard, and not to reveal it to any official in any way.

"Is this just a confidentiality agreement?" Dumbledore asked doubtfully.

"You can understand it this way: this agreement is very binding." A wise glint flashed in Tepler's eyes. "Whether you do it willingly, passively, or by accident, you cannot reveal the secrets of the Gaius family."

After signing this contract, you will know more.

"If you are unwilling to Gaius family's plan, we will not force you. However, the secrets you know will be buried with you, and no one will ever know them again."

"That makes perfect sense," Dumbledore said, but he didn't sign immediately. Instead, he asked with a hint of doubt, "I imagine many people have signed similar contracts!"

"Yes." Vico nodded. "You have two friends you know well: Nicolas Flamel and Newt Scamander."

"One is an alchemist, the other Magizoologist," Dumbledore murmured thoughtfully. "Both are top talents. What exactly is the Gaius family planning?"

"You'll know once you sign the agreement," Vico said calmly. "After Scamander retired, I contacted him. He signed a confidentiality agreement and, after learning about the deep secrets of the Gaius family, he excitedly accepted our terms, only requesting that his wife be brought along."

As for Le Mel... to my shame, the Gaius family contacted him many times, but he was always very busy.

It wasn't until a few years ago that he changed his mind and signed a confidentiality agreement. After that, I took him to see the scenery of alchemy. At that time, he regretted it deeply, regretting that he had signed it hundreds of years too late.

His request was strikingly similar to Scamander's: to bring his wife.

"It sounds like he's about to enjoy a life of luxury."

"If that's how you see it, then it's pretty much true." Vico shook his head with a sigh. "Over the years, my wife and I have been traveling around looking for qualified people to sign agreements with."

After learning the secrets of the Gaius family, some who were alone joined without hesitation, some who had families to take care of their funeral arrangements before joining, and others who waited until their lifespan was over and they had enjoyed their remaining years before joining.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Albus, you will be the third type.

Dumbledore pursed his lips and used his Wand to write his name on the contract: Albus Percival Woolford Bryan Dumbledore

"You're about to see a whole new world," Tepler said. "You'd better be prepared."

"Uh..." Dumbledore raised his intact left hand as if learning from a teacher, "Before we begin, I have two questions that I hope you can answer for me."

"Excuse me," Tepler said.

"The first question is, how do you plan to save my life?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

He could clearly feel his life slipping away. Surely the Gaius family wouldn't give him a Resurrection Potion after he died; that would be too extravagant.

"At the moment of your death, your Soul Stone will be taken away by the contract, and your body will be reshaped to be exactly the same as before your death, but the curse on your hands will be removed."

"Unbelievable." Dumbledore took a while to accept it. "The second question is, why choose me? I shouldn't be considered a top talent, should I?"

Unless you say you're an educator, then I might barely qualify as one.

"Don't misunderstand, we don't lack talent in the field of teaching and nurturing people," Vico said dismissively. "Besides special talents, there is another standard, and that is ability."

Only Holy Magus are qualified to know our secrets, but Holy Magus are generally quite proud, and the probability of them knowing is less than one in a hundred. Just like the four Founders of Hogwarts, none of them knew, but they warned their descendants to give the Gaius family full respect.

Professor Dumbledore, your abilities are still somewhat lacking. A peak-level Grand Archmage is not Holy Magus after all.

"I can break through that bottleneck anytime I want," Dumbledore said weakly.

"Voldemort won't give you that chance, nor will your old nemesis Grindelwald," Vico said meaningfully. "Your entanglements with the two Dark Lord are too deep; they will immediately notice if you make any move."

Furthermore, once you become Holy Magus, you must abide by certain rules. After all, our living world is too small to withstand the whims of Holy Magus.

"What if Voldemort..."

"He's the same," Vico said. "In short, a holy war between Holy Magus is absolutely forbidden."

"The reason I'm giving you a chance is because... you're capable," Tepler said. "There are standards for selecting people based on their strength. Even if a madman like Voldemort is incredibly strong, he's not qualified. But someone like you, who is willing to make a great sacrifice for the peace of the Magic World, can be an exception even if you're only slightly weaker."

I don't know much about you, but the fact that you can face death so calmly shows that your perspective is much broader than Voldemort's; he definitely can't outmaneuver you.

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore chuckled self-deprecatingly, "It seems good people are still rewarded."

"Grindelwald doesn't share your views," Vico said with a half-smile.

"What? You went to see him too, Nan Yu?"

Dumbledore's smile froze instantly, and his composure was no longer as calm as before.

Although his greatest enemy right now is Voldemort, he also sincerely believes that Voldemort and Grindelwald are incomparable.

The former was merely a madman with immense power; Voldemort's forces were essentially sustained by him alone, and the fear of him far outweighed any loyalty.

With Voldemort dead, his united forces will crumble instantly, and his followers will scatter like monkeys when the tree falls.

The latter is different. Grindelwald not only has great strength, but also intelligence, emotional intelligence and vision far exceeding those of ordinary people.

Once he walks out of Nuremberg Prison, all his former supporters will flock to his cause without hesitation, if he raises his arms and calls to arms.

After half a century of development, these people are all prominent figures in their respective fields. If they were to unite, Grindelwald's power would be no weaker than it was decades ago, and it wouldn't be impossible for them to launch a war that would sweep across the entire Magic World.

"Of course," Vico said matter-of-factly. "He wasn't surprised when I approached Gellert Grindelwald, but he didn't refuse."

"Why? He's hardly a good person. There have been at least eight or a thousand innocent lives lost at his hands."

"His ideals at the time weren't necessarily wrong," Vico said calmly. "You and he were both working for the future of Warlock, but you chose peaceful means, while he chose to achieve his goals through force."

"He's wrong," Dumbledore said excitedly.

"In our view, this has nothing to do with right or wrong, and at the time, there were quite a few Warlock who supported him," Tepler recalled. "My father's assessment of him was that he was an extreme idealist, a genius-level intellectual, and a ruthless personality, yet he was able to restrain himself well and always remain rational."

Moreover, after being defeated by you, he realized his mistake and has regretted and reflected on it for half a century.

Hearing this, Dumbledore felt a mix of emotions and slumped listlessly in his chair.

"Wait, how did you determine that?"

"Vico fought him," Lisana said with a strange expression. "It was a draw."

Gollum!

Dumbledore swallowed hard, a few beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead. "So that means..."

"His strength has not diminished because of his decades in prison," Vico said on Dumbledore's behalf. "He can leave that prison whenever he wants."

Dumbledore felt his composure crumbling. He had come tonight to discuss with the Gaius family how to deal with Voldemort, but somehow this mess had somehow ended up on his head.

He was so exhausted from Voldemort with Voldemort that he never expected that he would not have discovered a bomb he had buried for dozens of days.

If he were killed by Voldemort, would Grindelwald re-escape from prison, and who would be able to stop him then?

Dumbledore, who was originally indifferent to death, suddenly became somewhat afraid. He couldn't die yet, at least not before he could deal with the threat of Grindelwald.

But Great wizard like them could live for several weeks without any problem, so if Grindelwald was determined to hide, he really had no way to deal with him.

"Don't worry!" Teps seemed to sense Dumbledore's concern. "Grindelwald will not appear in the Magic World again."

"I wouldn't dare gamble," Dumbledore. "He's several times more dangerous than Voldemort."

"He signed a contract with Gaius," Vico said.

"If you're talking about this tonnage protection agreement, then forget it," Dumbledore said with a forced smile, swearing he had never smiled so hypocritically in his life.

"It's a formal contract. He can't kill anyone in the Magic World, and he can't leave Nurmengard for the rest of his life."

"Really?"

Dumbledore coughed up a mouthful of blood like a dying man, his face instantly turning bright red.

"I have no reason to lie to you," Vico said calmly.

"That's true!" Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief, then said, "Now that I've signed this life-saving agreement, shouldn't Mr. Tepler tell me the specific price for my life?"

"That's natural." Tepler smiled slightly, then rolled up his sleeves to reveal the family mark on his arm.

The World Tree pattern seemed to come alive, its branches and leaves swaying slowly, creating ripples in the air and forming a transparent portal.

"Clea, do you want to...?"

"No need to say anything, Grandpa," Clea said easily. "After I marry him, he will take me in."

"Alright!" Tepler nodded, then led Dumbledore into the portal.

At this time, in the living room.

Voldemort stared impatiently at the grayish-white barrier, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

His negotiations with Vico were very simple; the other party refused decisively, and he didn't dare to say anything more.

But Dumbledore's conversation with him had gone on for far too long. Even if he trusted that the Gaius family wouldn't violate their ancestral precepts, it was hard not to overthink it now.

"No need to rush." Aaron patted the dragon in his arms. "Dumbledore is probably trying to persuade my dad, and the result will be the same."

"Maybe it'll work!" Harry said with some anticipation.

"Harry Potter, do you believe I'll kill you right now?" Voldemort gritted his teeth.

"It's best not to make a move on Gaius's territory," Jeans warned. "Otherwise, you'll face the consequences."

"Let's all keep the peace, keep the peace," Aaron said, trying to smooth things over. He then gave Harry a wink. "Please don't say anything for now. I have something to discuss with the Dark Lord."