Following the Old Man Paid Off

Edgar's humanity was something that shone through: kindness, resilience, loyalty, and an unwavering commitment to not hurting others.

Dumbledore illuminated these points, but humanity is far more than that.

Greed, jealousy, hatred, cruelty, paranoia, fear, tyranny, selfishness, control, and sadism—these are also human traits.

The only difference is that, in this situation, both he and the old man chose to light up the good side, but this action itself has no moral attributes.

A shell can protect kindness, but it can also protect greed. A flame can be a heart that refuses to hurt others, or it can be a pent-up hatred that has been suppressed for half a lifetime.

Everyone has a dark side. Some people suppress it with reason, some with morality, some with faith, and some with habit and education, sealing it deep inside and never touching it in their lives.

Many people are completely unaware of what's hidden in their hearts; it's buried so deep that even the host themselves are unaware of it.

But what if we used the same method to find those deep-seated evil thoughts, suppressed hatred, hidden greed, restrained violence, unspoken jealousy, and fears tightly locked by reason, and protected them like Edgar's humanity, igniting and amplifying them?

A complete set of dark-version Protection operations.

Find the anchor of evil: a Ministry of Magic official's jealousy of a colleague, a Muggle-borns's hatred of Pure-bloods, a Death Eaters's fear of Voldemort, and envelop it with the Guardian Will.

We must not let reason prevail, nor let time dilute the effects, nor allow any external interference.

It will stay safely inside its shell, protected like a flame, and then light it.

Evil will grow on its own within the shell, transforming from an object being Protection into a core capable of emitting its own light.

It will form a new balance with the host; amplified hatred will make the host more paranoid, ignited jealousy will make the host more ruthless, and activated fear will make the host more timid.

In one cycle, the host won't feel anything is wrong, because it was originally his own thing, just suppressed before and now released.

A die-hard Death Eaters, his mind filled with Pure-bloods fanaticism, protects that fanaticism, ignites it, and amplifies it.

He will become a more devout believer, but that's not bad enough.

Instead, try a different approach. Find someone who harbors fear and ignite their fear of Voldemort.

Will he back down or even betray us at some crucial moment?

Or find a Death Eaters harboring jealousy, ignite his envy of his colleagues, and see if he'll stab you in the back?

Amplify what's already in a person's heart; they won't feel manipulated, but rather feel they've finally found their true self, and might even feel grateful.

This method is much cleaner and more thorough than the Imperius Curse. The Imperius Curse is an external form of control; it leaves traces, can be detected, and can be resisted.

The same applies to the reverse.

Even a villain has a soft spot in their soul: childhood memories, someone's smiling face, a moment of hesitation, a moment of weakness.

Those things were buried at the bottom by evil, hatred, enmity, and self-interest, covered in dust.

Dig those things out, protect them, light them, and let them burn.

Imagine a ruthless killer suddenly remembering a cat he had as a child in the dead of night. The thought causes his heart to ache, his hands to tremble, and he can't lift his wand.

Instead of reforming him, they lit a fire in his soul, letting his own softness burn through him.

Regulus's lips curled into a smirk.

The things that Guardian Will protect are neither light nor darkness, nor good nor bad; those are distinctions made by people themselves.

Human nature is human nature; it is born with two faces, and it can choose which one to protect, which one to illuminate, and which one to amplify.

An interesting, extreme hypothetical scenario.

There is still much potential to be tapped in Protection this path; protect the good, protect the bad, illuminate the good, and illuminate the bad.

It can even selectively protect only a part of humanity while suppressing another, altering the balance of light and darkness within a person's soul.

He can't do Dumbledore's "lighting up" operation for now; that path is too far, but he can find another way.

Both Light Magic and Guardian Will have limitations when used alone.

Light sources can implant ideas, but once implanted, they cannot withstand rational cleansing. Protection can protect what already exists, but they cannot create something from nothing.

Combine the two items, each managing a section.

The light source is responsible for implanting a false idea into the target consciousness, Protection is responsible for protecting it and preventing rationality from erasing it.

False thoughts reside within the shell, growing alongside true thoughts, and over time become indistinguishable.

He already had a foundation in Light Magic, having tested the implantation of false information on Bellatrix, though its effects were not direct on intelligent beings.

He also became skilled at Guardian Will, and by merging the two paths into one, he could do more things.

These ideas just popped into my head tonight; I haven't thought about them in detail yet, but I have a direction.

Let's find a lucky wizard to do it.

Following the old man on that trip proved to be very rewarding.

He dismissed these random thoughts.

Dumbledore pulled out his wand, and Regulus's gaze followed.

The staff in my hand is rather long, feels light in my hand, and is quite old, with a warm, smooth sheen on its surface.

It's not the Elder Wand.

Dumbledore turned around, blinked his blue eyes, then raised his wand and waved it above his head.

The movements were relaxed and effortless; no incantations were chanted, only the wrist made a complete arc.

Dozens of tiny Light Point emanated from the tip of the staff, silently disappearing into the bodies of each Werewolf.

Those that were biting, those that were howling, those that were rolling on the ground, those that were chasing their tails—one of them all fell.

The Werewolf didn't react at all; those who wanted to howl continued to howl, those who wanted to fight continued to fight, and those who wanted to dig continued to dig.

Regulus's Magic Perception swept over.

Tracking Magic.

The Light Point are attached to the Magic Core of each Werewolf; they are small, hidden, do not interfere with any function, and cannot be detected by conventional methods.

It only activates and sends out changes when the Werewolf's Magic Power changes, such as when its location changes, its quantity increases or decreases, or its Magic Fluctuation abnormally.

A long-term monitoring method to track when the camp expanded, when it moved, and when Greyback left.

Intelligence operations are conducted quietly, precisely, and sustainably.

The old man was indeed meticulous in his work; he came over, saw Edgar, and also picked up the intelligence.

He understood Dumbledore's actions.

Dispersing this camp is technically easy, but it's not feasible.

Greyback will regroup his wolf pack, attack more people, and then move to a new location to continue camping.

As long as Voldemort exists, and as long as the Ministry of Magic remains inactive, the Werewolf population can continue to grow indefinitely.

Even if you kill them all, it won't make a difference. Werewolf are something you can get as many as you want if you want them; the only real problem is managing them.

But Voldemort always managed to get his hands on a large Werewolf, and then bite out the next batch.

Moreover, it's hard to say whether the old man would have done it unless absolutely necessary.

Dumbledore wouldn't hesitate to use force on the battlefield, but this wasn't a battlefield. Most of these Werewolf were victims—bitten, wandering, and with nowhere to go.

Killing them is tantamount to punishing the victims.

There's nowhere to lock them up; no prison can hold over sixty Werewolf, and Azkaban wouldn't take them.

And there's an even more practical question: if they're all killed or scattered, how will Voldemort react?

The Werewolf camp was wiped out, and more than sixty Werewolf disappeared overnight. Voldemort would immediately conclude that Dumbledore's forces were intensifying, and the Order of the Phoenix was beginning to use lethal force.

He will only focus on massing troops, creating Werewolf regardless of losses, to accelerate the war.

Trading a camp for the premature outbreak of full-scale war is simply not worth it by any measure.

Strategic patience was Dumbledore excelled at.

Moreover, looking at it from another perspective, the sixty-odd Werewolf were Voldemort's resources, but they weren't necessarily Voldemort's only resources.

Greyback is the leader, but the pack also includes people like Edgar, who were forced to join, retained their humanity, and could potentially be turned against them.

Not all Werewolf embrace their animalistic instincts like Greyback; many do so simply because they have nowhere else to go, because they are ostracized, because there is nowhere else to take them in.

If all goes well, and with some human intervention, Edgar could become a pivotal figure within the wolf pack.

A rational Werewolf can influence other Werewolf.

There's no need to turn everyone against him; just a few key moments are enough to break Voldemort's Werewolf army from its monolithic state.

Of course, that's a matter for the future; it takes time, luck, and Edgar's own perseverance.

Another crucial issue is that Voldemort traces the source of information.

Only members of the Death Eaters knew the location of this camp. Lucius was the one who handled it; Lucius had brought him here before, and Greyback had seen his face.

If Voldemort had discovered even the Dumbledore's Magic Power here, even if it was just a guess, the nature of the problem would have been completely different.

He would investigate back to find out who leaked the information, who had recently been involved in Werewolf- related matters, and who knew the location of the camp.

The names Lucius Malfoy Regulus Black will appear.

There was no evidence to prove that he leaked the information, but Voldemort didn't need evidence; in his logic, suspicion itself was a crime.

As soon as Voldemort begins to suspect some connection between him and Dumbledore, regardless of whether there is evidence, the Black family will go from being trusted allies to being monitored.

This is fatal to the family's current balancing act.

The Black family is in a delicate position; outwardly they side with Voldemort, but secretly they're keeping a secret connection with Dumbledore.

If Voldemort begins to have doubts, this connection must be severed; once severed, the Black family will lose its strategic flexibility in the war.

Therefore, not a single trace of what happened tonight can be left unsaid.

Dumbledore clever enough to integrate the tracking Magic deep into the Werewolf's Magic Power, so that it wouldn't be revealed unless triggered, and ordinary Death Eaters wouldn't be able to detect it.

Voldemort wouldn't come to a place like this himself. He wouldn't even bother to see his own Death Eaters, let alone go to an abandoned mining village to smell the stench of Werewolf urine.

Of course, if he were to burn the Werewolf down himself, like last time, with a single, Fiendfyre and decisive burst of flames.

Voldemort will get angry, he'll think the Black family brat is being reckless, and he'll punish him, but he won't really do anything to him.

Given the size and reputation of the Black family, he was practically the face of Voldemort's side as a junior wizard, and to a large extent, Voldemort's attitude towards him reflected his attitude towards other Pure-bloods heirs.

A thirteen-year-old heir, strong enough and with a big temper, what's burning down a Werewolf camp?

There's no need to smooth things over when it comes to saving face, at least not now.

Dumbledore away his wand, glanced at Regulus, and looked at him with a questioning gaze.

All done, shall we go?

Regulus snapped out of his thoughts, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, and nodded to the old man.

The two walked towards the edge of the camp, passing through the wolf pack and avoiding the gray shadows that chased and tore at them.

Moonlight spilled across the Wasteland, where distant hills stretched endlessly.

As Regulus reached the edge of the camp, he looked back.

In front of the broken wall, the gray wolf squatted in place, raised its head and glanced at the moon in the sky.

Its tail lightly swept across the mud, then retracted and wrapped around its front paws.

He lowered his head again and stayed quietly.

Regulus looked away, Dumbledore reached out his arm, which he placed on top of.

Snap, the two disappeared.