A Flimsy Shield and Magic You Can Learn but Not Use

"I admit what you said makes a lot of sense, but this... it's not reasonable!"

During the standoff between the Phoenix Society and the Death Eater, Dumbledore's importance was self-evident. He must have been very aware of this; his death would directly or indirectly affect the Phoenix Society, resulting in many deaths.

"What if Dumbledore is about to die?" Clea interjected, snatching the chalk from Aaron's hand and writing the words on the blackboard. "With that premise, everything makes sense."

Aaron's expression changed, and he exchanged a glance with the Thought Form, both able to see the lingering emotions in each other's eyes.

"No way!" Aaron said somewhat incoherently. "That old codger is only a little over a hundred years old. With his peak Great Magus power, as long as he doesn't cause trouble everywhere, living to three hundred years old would be a piece of cake."

Even if he works tirelessly for the Phoenix Society, losing a hundred years of his life would be about right. If I were to take a loss and deduct fifty years from his lifespan, he could still live another thirty years or so, preventing him from 'dying young'!

Clea chuckled, her gaze towards Aaron filled with a mixture of sympathy and teasing. "Uncle Jeans told us that you made two deals with Voldemort."

The second deal was to use the ' Moon Drop ' to ensure Ollivander's safety and to release Hermione Granger once. We all fully supported this, as it considered both family and love.

"Stop," Aaron waved his hand. "Talking about love is a bit of an exaggeration!"

"That's true." Clea nodded thoughtfully. "Love isn't something you say, it's something you do."

Rumble!

A series of thunderclaps resounded in Aaron's mind, leaving him completely stunned.

Where did you learn such vulgar and offensive language?

And you're only fifteen, is it really appropriate for you to say something like that?

"You'll be ten years old by the New Year, and besides, you're my fiancé."

"It's not decided yet!" Aaron said hastily.

"In fact, it's already decided," Clea said, shrugging. "It started the first time you saw me Summer Holiday, but you just didn't want to admit it."

"If only I weren't over 10 years old yet, otherwise..."

Gollum!

Aaron couldn't help but swallow.

Holy crap! Are girls these days so outgoing?

"Heh!" Aaron forced a stiff smile. "So, in other words, we can still live in peace until I'm five years old, no, until you're five years old, right?"

"You can understand it that way," Clea chuckled, her voice like the tinkling of a silver bell. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the others too."

Aaron gave a bitter smile, feeling utterly speechless.

He felt like a naive and innocent little white rabbit being watched closely by one, or rather, several big gray wolves.

No wonder my dad used to say that boys should be careful to protect themselves when they're out in the world; there's a reason for that!

"Alright, alright, let's get back to the point," Clea laughed. "Your second deal is fine, but the first one was laughable to some people."

In exchange for your enduring glory on the path to Albus, Voldemort will be unable to harm you before the deaths of Dumbledore and Harry Potter.

It sounded like a good deal, but Grandpa Tepler almost cried while laughing, and Uncle Vico and Aunt Lisana were also at a loss for words. Do you know why?

"Why?"

"Because Dumbledore has less than a year left to live," Clea said solemnly. "You saw his hands, too. They were dry, charred, and exuded a strong aura of death. That's clear evidence."

Upon hearing this, Aaron nearly coughed up blood.

He never expected that the shield he had painstakingly arranged would not be as sturdy as he had thought, and was even covered with cracks.

Dumbledore, that old codger, so unreliable? He was unscathed in the previous two Warlock Wars, so why is he so unreliable when it comes to him?

A year? He wouldn't even be developed enough to defeat Voldemort!

As for Harry Potter, he simply ignored him. Without Dumbledore's protection, he couldn't even defeat a few Death Eater, so expecting him to stall for time was basically impossible.

"Now you understand?" Clea asked. "A year, no, there isn't even a year left now. Dumbledore will die in six months."

It would be meaningless for an ordinary person to have their life taken by Death God, but it's a different story if their death earned Professor Snape Voldemort's trust, making them one of the most important figures among the Death Eater.

"You old codger!" Aaron cursed through gritted teeth. "Couldn't he have held on for a few more years?"

"This may have indeed disrupted your plans, but in some ways Dumbledore still very admirable."

"That's because you haven't been tricked by him before," Aaron said irritably. "Our headmaster is no ordinary ruthless man. He'll stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and he'll even arrange his own death."

But what about Professor Snape? Did he ever consider how much inner turmoil Professor Snape must have been going through?

He had thought about it, but he didn't care, because he knew that Professor Snape would definitely agree in order to protect Harry Potter.

Now it seems that this is indeed the case; Unbreakable Vow! Professor Snape has directly cut off his own escape route.

"So what do you want to do?"

"It's not that I want to do something, it's that I can't do anything."

One was destined to die, the other had Unbreakable Vow. They should thank Merlin that their plan could proceed normally. If Aaron interfered, it might backfire. "All I can do now is make the most of these six months. As for what happens after six months, we'll see how it goes. I just hope Harry Potter so soon."

"You can extend this time a little bit," Clea said meaningfully.

"What's the meaning?"

Clea pointed to the treasure vault, "Just borrow a few items from there..."

"No." Aaron immediately refused. "I'm not that stingy, but these are rare items that I went through a lot of trouble to get. Why should I lend them to him?"

"Okay! Then never mind."

"But if Harry Potter dies, you'll probably have to face the Dark Lord again." Clea said very casually, "I don't doubt that you have a clearer method for immortality, but Voldemort won't let you go after you've shown it. He's not that merciful; on the contrary..."

"On the contrary, he will lay an ambush beforehand, preparing a trap for me to fall into." Aaron said solemnly, "He will definitely do that."

"Good to know."

"But I never imagined Dumbledore would only live for a year!" Aaron said, sounding aggrieved. "Isn't this just bullying an honest person?"

"An honest person? Are you sure you're an honest person?" Clea scoffed. "If you had that attribute, Uncle Vico wouldn't have felt comfortable letting you leave home."

"Uh... at least when I made a pact with Voldemort, my thoughts were still very simple and unpretentious."

"Tch! I've already given you all the reminders. Whether you want to support Harry Potter or not is up to you."

"Support, I'll provide support," Aaron said wearily, then waved his Wand, and all the treasures in the vault flew out and floated in mid-air.

"I think he needs this mask," Clea said, removing the Nika Mask. "Some of the ninja soldiers can buy him a chance to escape."

"Also, a revolver, and a box of enchanted bullets," Aaron said somewhat reluctantly. "I can only give him three enchanted bullets at most; I'll have to be careful with the four enchanted bullets."

"Okay." Clea nodded, then looked at the medicine bottles floating in mid-air. "Felix Felicis, twelve pills per bottle, prepare half a bottle; healing medicine, twelve pills per bottle, prepare two bottles; antidote, twenty pills per bottle, prepare one bottle; Calming Potion, thirty pills per bottle..."

Seeing that Clea had filled a box, Aaron felt inexplicably heartbroken. This was something that the Thought Form had painstakingly created, but it had just gone to Harry Potter.

"It's a pity you don't have any defensive magic items here, otherwise it would be perfect."

"Maybe there will be some later," Aaron said nonchalantly. "It's Christmas, so let's consider it a Christmas present for Harry Potter."

This is outrageous! I don't even know if I'll receive a present this Christmas, but I'm already preparing them for him.

"You will receive a gift, and it's not just me who will give it to you; I can guarantee that." Clea chuckled softly, then turned and left the Divine Thunder Hall.

The next morning, several gift boxes were placed at the foot of Aaron's bed, just as they had in previous years.

The gifts were a postcard from her father, cherry blossoms from Clea, lavender from Hermione... but the most important gift was a spellbook from Jeans.

When Aaron received the magic book, he almost didn't realize that it was signed by Weihert Gaius.

Logically speaking, they should have no connection after being expelled from the family. It's understandable that Vico and Lisana sent postcards, since one or two photos aren't worth much.

But the magic book is different; it's priceless, and its help to him is self-evident.

"Could it be that our ancestor Weihert is also going to break the ancestral teachings?" A big question mark appeared in Aaron's mind as he opened the book with curiosity and confusion.

The first page contains only one line: You can learn it, but you can't do it for now.

"Good heavens, really good heavens." Aaron rolled his eyes dismissively. Learning without doing is not strictly speaking a violation of family rules.

But he's not stupid. Studying is very time-consuming. What's the difference between studying without learning and not learning at all?

But when Aaron turned to the second page, his little scheme vanished instantly.

A contract states that no magic can be used on this book until the war in the Magic World ends, and the rest of the book can only be viewed by signing the contract.

"Of course, my ancestors are still my ancestors."

"This is no ordinary book!" Aaron chuckled, patting his head as he looked at the book. He then gritted his teeth. "I'll just look at it; I won't study it for now."

As a drop of blood fell onto the contract, the second page turned to ashes and vanished, revealing the contents of the next page.

Fusion Magic grants an element one or more attributes in addition to its own...

Aaron slammed the spellbook shut, feeling his heart race and his blood boil.

It was intentional. That old fox, Weihert, was definitely doing it on purpose.

He has already learned a few Forbidden Magic, but he is not yet proficient and needs a lot of time to activate them. However, this book can maximize the sublimation of elemental magic, making its power multiply, and even comparable to higher-level elemental magic.

But it would be too unfair to only allow learning and not practice. This is something he desperately needs, something that is within his reach yet out of reach. One can only say that his ancestors were shrewd in their ways.

Aaron took several deep breaths to suppress the restlessness in his heart and put the magic book into his Costume Change Space.

It's not the right time yet. Instead of learning it, you should focus your energy on combining and stacking ultimate Magic Array.

The Burrow.

Besides the Weasley family, Lupin and Tonks are also here.

Harry took the opportunity to tell them that he had overheard Snape and Draco talking. "I know it sounds crazy, but I promise I'm not lying."

Voldemort assigned Draco some kind of task, and Snape was helping him.

"Have you ever considered that Snape was just pretending to help Draco in order to extract information?" Lupin said.

"It doesn't sound like it."

"Perhaps Harry is right," Tonks said. "Unbreakable Vow is..."

"Ultimately, it comes down to whether you believe Dumbledore's judgment," Lupin interrupted. "Dumbledore believes Snape, so I believe him too."

"Dumbledore," Harry said resentfully, his disbelief in Lupin making him somewhat hopeless.

"You are blinded by hatred."

"I don't."

"You are it."

"People are tracking him every day, Harry."

"We only have a handful of people we can trust left. If we start fighting amongst ourselves now, we're doomed," Lupin said earnestly.

Upon hearing this, Harry fell silent. He still firmly believed in his own judgment, but he also knew that this was not the time to dampen the morale of his own side.

It's pointless for him to doubt now, but when he returns to school he can tell Dumbledore that he'll surely be on his side.

"Harry, come with me."

Mr. Weasley brought Harry to the warehouse, and after confirming that there were two of them, he said, "Please be sure to forgive Harley; his current situation comes at a price."

"Are you alright, Mr. Weasley?"

"Being followed, Molly doesn't dare to go out most of the time, and life is indeed not easy."

"Did you receive my owl? What is Draco's interest in at Borgin Burke's shop?"

"Judging from your description, the thing you and Ron saw in the summer was probably Vanishing Cabinet," Mr. Weasley said in a deep voice. "That was a popular thing when Voldemort first came to power."

You can imagine its allure; if Death Eater come knocking, you can simply hide in the closet and kill time for an hour or two.

These cabinets can take you to almost any corner, but they're not very reliable and their effectiveness is intermittent.

"How's that cabinet from Borgin Burke coming along?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's still there."