When everything had settled down.
The real Dumbledore spoke his thanks.
For the greater good.
That was absolutely not just a slogan.
It was a choice Dumbledore knew that any version of himself, in any possibility, would make.
Retracting his gaze.
The real Dumbledore looked at the two people beside him.
"Legilimency." Snape's voice seemed steeped in poison. He turned toward the real Dumbledore, cold fury burning in his eyes. "Has the other version of you become completely reckless? Is there nothing he cares about anymore?"
Compared to Hermione.
Snape seemed to have guessed something as well.
He just had not guessed much.
So he wanted to seek confirmation from the suspicious, though not quite suspicious enough, Dumbledore beside him. His method of confirmation was simply rather distinctive, very much in character.
Dumbledore gave a bitter smile.
"Professor." Hermione's voice was as light as a feather.
"Who exactly was that person?"
She still felt as though they had run into a counterfeit Dumbledore.
Her confusion was the same as Snape's.
"Another me, created by every wrong choice." Dumbledore put away his wand and turned toward the Bronze Door, which had stopped spinning and producing other versions of himself.
"In a sense, he really was me—another possible me." Hermione might not have understood that answer, but Snape's heart was already in turmoil.
Even his expressionless face could not conceal those raging emotions.
"How could something like that be possible!"
Snape's voice trembled, as though his entire worldview was being rebuilt. Before the explanation, he could not make sense of it. But now that Dumbledore had explained, of course he understood immediately. Hogwarts' Potions Professor was merely standing on a lower level; it was not that he lacked intelligence, nor was it that he lacked a wizard's way of thinking.
"This world