Why Voldemort Cross-Dressed

"Alright, we should head out now."

Dumbledore took Harry's arm by the shoulder and led him out of that memory.

The scenes of memory recede like the tide.

Harry gasped for breath, as if he had been holding it in for a long time.

He looked at Dumbledore, whose face was more severe than ever before, and whose eyes behind his Half-moon Spectacles gleamed with worry.

"One seeks immortality and absolute power, mastering the most evil Dark Arts; the other carries centuries of hatred, wielding powerful Ancient Magic— "

Dumbledore said softly, his voice heavy with weight, "Harry, what we face may not just be Voldemort's return—but a dark marriage that transcends time and race. What they plot is likely far more terrifying than we imagine."

Harry's expression turned strange.

"A marriage alliance?" he asked Dumbledore suspiciously. "You mean—a marriage alliance?"

"I was just using a metaphor." Dumbledore didn't think anything of it.

But Harry's next words caused Dumbledore's brain to freeze.

"No, your analogy perfectly explains why Voldemort was addicted to cross-dressing." Harry looked up and thought for a moment, then said, "Perhaps deep down, this is actually the real reason Voldemort wanted to cross-dress? In his relationship with Runcorn, he was actually the one playing the female role?"

Dumbledore paused briefly, then immediately went to the bookshelf, pressed the hidden compartment, took out a bottle of rum, unscrewed the cork, and took a big gulp.

"You're still drinking?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"I want to forget that horrible image." Dumbledore put the bottle back. "I hope you won't talk about such unbearable images again."

Then, a silence fell between them.

"That box they took," Harry suddenly asked, "What's that?"

"I can't be sure, Harry."

Dumbledore slowly walked to the window, gazing at the calm surface of the Black Lake in the distance, and the flickering lights of Hogsmeade.

"While the archives of the American Ministry of Magic don't have such a long history, they contain many long-forgotten secrets, even secrets considered best left buried forever. These may be related to the origins of Ancient Magic, to a sealed, forbidden entity, or perhaps some kind of artifact or knowledge that can greatly amplify their power."

He turned, his gaze sharp. "The key lies in their mode of cooperation. Tom has always viewed other Magical Creatures as tools or even servants, but he has shown an unusual attitude of equality towards Runcorn. This means that Runcorn possesses something he desperately needs and cannot forcibly take—likely some kind of power or knowledge that only Goblin proficient in Ancient Magic can safely wield or activate."

"Couldn't it be my guess?" Harry said innocently. "It seems only my guess can explain why Voldemort maintains that female disguise, and why the usually arrogant Voldemort treats Runcorn as an equal—"

"Alright, that's enough." Dumbledore's face turned pale, then red. "This is just your conjecture; I don't believe it to be true."

Harry turned his head away, thinking to himself that this was absolutely true.

"And Runcorn," Dumbledore continued, his fingertips lightly tapping Fawkes ' perch, "Hates wizards and yearns to make Goblin great again. His collaboration with Tom allows him to gain the power and resources to destroy the modern wizarding order. It's a dangerous deal; both sides are using each other, but their temporary shared goal has made them our worst nightmare."

"So, does anyone else know about this?" Harry asked, frowning. "I haven't heard Veratia mention it."

"What else could it be? Because the American Ministry of Magic has blocked most of the information." Dumbledore sighed deeply. "On one hand, it's out of dignity and to avoid panic; on the other hand, I suspect there are problems within their ranks, otherwise the invasion wouldn't have gone so smoothly. This memory was passed on to me through secret channels by an official who realized the seriousness of the situation far exceeded the official narrative, at great risk."

He walked to the desk, picked up a blank piece of Parchment, tapped it with his wand, and a few lines of writing quickly appeared and disappeared.

"I've contacted several reliable old friends, including Nicolas Flamel. We need to find out the origin of that box and the purple crystal on that Battle Axe. At the same time, the International Confederation of Wizards must be mobilized; things have reached a critical point, and we must unite and work together!"

Harry nodded thoughtfully, then said to Dumbledore, "Regarding that purple crystal, I actually have some guesses—I remember it was something artificially synthesized by Goblin, and it seemed to have good conductivity for magic—"

"Yes, I understand." Dumbledore. "Finally, we need to consider their next objective. Tom's return to Britain is inevitable, but he will return with new power and allies. What does Runcorn crave? Besides destruction, is he searching for something specific? Something that exists in Britain, related to the era he was sealed away?"

"Oh, I know that," Harry said. "He was the leader of the Goblin Rebellion, and as for his demands—all I know is that he wanted to break free from the wizards' control over the Goblin and steal the power of Ancient Magic. But I don't know anything more about his deeper motives."

"It seems he's halfway there," Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "However, I think Tom and Runcorn will ultimately not end up together. After all, Tom's personality doesn't seem suited to tolerate Runcorn's ideas."

"This is just speculation. Maybe they're mutually attracted?" Once Harry accepted this possibility, he couldn't help but start daydreaming.

Why mention Le Zong?

That's just a wild idea.

"But then again," Harry said, "Even if your guess is right, they won't turn against us until they join forces and defeat us."

"You're right," Dumbledore said, nodding solemnly.

"Alright, Professor," Harry said, standing up. "I won't bother you any longer. It's getting late; you should get some rest. Oh, and give me another day off; I need to go to Vienna."

"Hmm," Dumbledore nodded, "Alright, I'll give you plenty of time off."

After leaving Dumbledore's Headmaster's Office, Harry went back to his dormitory.

When Harry entered the dormitory, he found several guys leaning against their beds, playing video games intensely.

"Hey, you guys are still playing?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Replenishing happiness," Seamus said without looking up. "Playing games releases dopamine, which works much faster than eating chocolate. You should know how much happiness those Dementor drained from us."

"Alright," Harry nodded. "Oh, and remember to let the other students know that the upcoming events are temporarily canceled; something's come up."

Upon hearing that the event was canceled, Ron looked up and asked, "What happened? Why was it canceled?"

Even though they were incredibly excited inside, they still showed an expression of "Oh, what a pity the event was canceled."

"Something's happened in America," Harry sighed. "Voldemort attacked the American Ministry of Magic, and they succeeded."

"Huh?" Ron frowned and asked, "When did this happen? Why didn't we know about it? Logically, something this big should have been in the Daily Prophet, right?"

"About last week," Harry said, stroking his chin. "The American Ministry of Magic felt ashamed, so they didn't report it. They suppressed it. If it weren't for Dumbledore's informant, we'd still be in the dark."

"What should we do?" Seamus asked anxiously. "The Dark Lord is about to make a comeback. He won't go back to Britain, will he? He shouldn't, right?"

"Hard to say," Harry shrugged. "I think it's only a matter of time before they go back to Britain, but this isn't something that can be resolved overnight. Let's get some sleep—I have to go out for a bit."

"Be careful," Ron waved to him.

Harry left the castle, went to the Black Lake, and used Apparition to travel to Vienna.

As soon as Harry entered the castle, he noticed that even though it was late at night, the European Ministry of Magic was still operating at full speed, with many hurried and anxious wizards running around inside, seemingly in a hurry.

When Harry arrived at Veratia's office, he found Ms. Rosier reporting to Veratia with documents in hand, while Veratia held her forehead with one hand, looking very tired.

Hearing Harry's voice, Veratia looked up, smiled, and said, "It seems you know about that matter too, don't you?"

"Yes, Dumbledore told me," Harry nodded.

"These useless fools!" Veratia said angrily. "I warned them about Voldemort long ago, but what did they do? They thought I was just spreading alarmist rumors, trying to do something like Seele in the Magical World —they're just being petty and judging me!"

"Alright, don't be angry, Veratia." Harry walked to her side and reached out to ruffle her hair. "The most important thing right now is to figure out a way to restrict Runcorn and Tom's movements—"

"It's too late," Veratia sighed.

"Even if it's late, we at least need to let everyone know about Amei's reactionary nature," Harry said righteously. "You see, we need to launch a media offensive to let everyone know how they dragged things out to this point step by step."

"Speaking of which, isn't this just your Britain four-step strategy?" Veratia raised her head and glanced at Harry sideways.

"Huh?" Harry didn't react for a moment.

"In the first phase, we said nothing had happened; in the second phase, we said something might be happening, but we didn't need to do anything."

At this point, Veratia snorted and crossed her arms.

"In the third phase, we say that something is indeed happening, but there's nothing we can do about it;"

In the fourth stage, we said that perhaps something should have been done back then, but now it's too late.

"Then America should be in the fourth phase right now." Harry shrugged. "I'll contact Rita Skeeter and have her report this in the Daily Prophet —oh, and I also need to show her the relevant memories. I'll go ask Dumbledore for the memories—"

"No need," Veratia said, sending Harry a video file. "It's all in this video. If you want Rita to write something, just send her this video."

Harry sent the video file to Rita Skeeter and then said, "Next, we should clean up the mess America left behind—"

"What are your plans?" Veratia asked.

"Not yet, things happened so suddenly." Harry thought for a moment, then said, "But I need to check with the Goblin Brotherhood. Remember ' Bodric the Cross-Eyes'?"

"I remember," Veratia nodded.

"We need to win over the Goblin, lest they all side with Runcorn," Harry said. "Of course, we also need to inform other intelligent beings, such as Centaurs, who will also be our allies."

"Personally, I think most of the Goblin in America have already pledged allegiance to Runcorn," Veratia said after a moment's thought. "But you're absolutely right. We need to win over the other Goblin, lest they really do something rash and join Runcorn and Voldemort."

Harry's expression turned strange at this point.

"Tell me," he said, scratching his head, "Why did these two people end up together?"

"Because they share the same goal," Veratia said with a sneer. "They both crave revenge. You see— Voldemort's enemy is you, and Runcorn's enemy, guess who?"

"Oh, it's me too," Harry said, suddenly realizing.

"As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so Potter's enemies are certainly friends too," Veratia said with a smile. "Otherwise, do you think there are any other reasons?"

Harry's expression turned strange again.

"Actually, there are other possibilities," he said.

"Go ahead," Veratia said, picking up her teacup.

So Harry recounted his earlier speculations to Veratia Dumbledore detail.

At the same time, Veratia's expression turned strange. When she heard Harry recounting Voldemort and Runcorn's love-hate relationship in a very convincing manner, she couldn't hold back any longer and spat tea all over Harry's face.

Harry wiped his face and smacked his lips.

"So you think that makes sense, don't you?" he asked.

"No." Veratia expressionlessly took out a handkerchief to wipe Harry's face. "I just feel like I'll never be able to look Runcorn and Voldemort in the eye again—good heavens, is that really their relationship?"