An Evening Talk with Dumbledore

"The Mirror of Erised can show us our deepest, strongest desires..." Dumbledore said unhurriedly. "You saw yourself on a peaceful street..."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful, seemingly considering how best to help Matthew interpret what he had seen.

"Professor, I think—perhaps my past experiences made me yearn for peace and tranquility deep down, which is why I saw myself on a peaceful street."

Matthew seemed lost in his memories as he spoke slowly.

"I once heard Harry talk about his life before he came to Hogwarts, while I was chatting with him and Ron.

In many ways, my experiences were similar to Harry's. After my parents were killed by Death Eaters, I lived with my aunt for a long time.

Fortunately, though, my aunt and uncle, like Harry's aunt and uncle, were Muggles, but they weren't opposed to magic. They loved me and treated me very well.

And when it came to magic, my grandparents taught me through their Magic Portraits.

So even though I lost my parents at a young age, my childhood was still meant to be full and happy."

"Oh—sorry—I didn't know, my boy. You can consider Hogwarts your home, too. You're always welcome here." Dumbledore patted Matthew on the back of the shoulder, seemingly trying to comfort him.

"I'm fine now. But what you just said..." Matthew didn't dwell on whether Dumbledore truly hadn't known. He smiled and said, "Can I take that to mean that if I can't find a job after graduation, I can come straight to Hogwarts and get hired?"

Dumbledore blinked and didn't answer directly. "I don't think an outstanding Hogwarts graduate would have trouble finding a job."

Matthew seemed to have collected himself and continued with the topic at hand. "Professor, do you know about the Middle East War in the Muggle World?"

Dumbledore nodded. "The Middle East Wars had a great impact. They even affected the local Wizarding World, and many wizards fled from there to Britain to seek refuge."

"My childhood was just as I described: full and happy. But..."

Dumbledore listened intently, not wanting to miss a single detail.

Matthew paused, then continued,

"My uncle worked for the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After the Fifth Middle East War ended, he was sent to the Middle East as an overseas official. The country he was sent to hadn't been a major participant in the war and had suffered relatively little from it, so he took my aunt and me with him.

War is cruel. Even though we weren't in a country that had taken part in the fighting, I saw another side of the world there.

There wasn't enough food or warm clothing, and even fresh water was scarce. The place was full of Muggle refugees who had lost their homes.

Most people can hardly imagine what kind of living hell they had fled.

But I once saw photographs taken by war correspondents in my uncle's study. In them, I saw a glimpse of that living hell."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, seemingly picturing the scene in his mind.

Matthew wasn't making anything up. These were all things he had really experienced. After his Muggle uncle returned home from the Middle East, his career took off. Word was that he was about to be promoted to Cabinet Minister.

"Professor..." Matthew waited until Dumbledore opened his eyes, then spoke slowly. "That's when I understood something."

"What did you understand?" Dumbledore looked into Matthew's bright, alert eyes, as if trying to find the answer there.

"What we have now isn't something we can take for granted.

Those Muggle refugees who lost their homes hadn't done anything wrong. They suffered simply because they had been born there."

Matthew's expression turned serious.

"I once heard a saying in the Muggle World: 'The weak get bullied.'

If you study human history, you'll find that this saying applies to all of humanity.

I think it's the same in the Wizarding World. If we want to protect the peace and tranquility in our hearts, we need the strength to stand on our own.

Maybe that's why I've never let up over the years and have worked so hard to study magic."

Tonight's chance encounter couldn't have been an accident. Matthew would have a hard time fooling Dumbledore. Some parts of his past were similar to Harry Potter's, but he wasn't Harry Potter, and Dumbledore wouldn't treat him as if he were. Whatever Matthew said now, Dumbledore wouldn't believe all of it.

It was easy to be found out when lying to Dumbledore. Rather than give him reason to become suspicious, Matthew thought it would be better to reveal a little of what he was thinking.

Dumbledore looked conflicted. He hadn't expected Matthew to say all that tonight. After a moment's silence, he said, "There's no need to be so pessimistic. You should believe that Hogwarts will always have your back."

Matthew smiled faintly.

"My uncle once said, 'When you become strong, you'll find that everyone around you is a good person.'

I agree with him. Your own strength is what matters most.

You're the best example of that. Becoming a great wizard like you is the dream of many people."

"I'm just an ordinary old man who's lived a little longer than most." Dumbledore smiled. "It's getting late. You should head back and get some rest."

Based on his observations over the past little while, Dumbledore didn't think Matthew was an extremist. But he had learned from past experience—Voldemort had been very good at putting on an act even as a student. Dumbledore felt he needed to pay more attention to his students' state of mind, to keep such a tragedy from happening again. Tonight's "chance encounter" had been one attempt to do just that.

After saying goodbye to Dumbledore, Matthew didn't go back to the Room of Requirement. He returned to his dormitory instead.

Wizarding World, on the outskirts of Whitestone Town.

In front of a tree so thick that three people could barely wrap their arms around it, a naked corpse knelt, bent over at its base.

Her hands were clasped together, and her wrists were bound with hemp rope to a raised tree root. Her forehead rested against the root, pressed tightly to her arms.

There were marks around her wrists, ankles, and knees. A strange circular pattern had been drawn on her back, and she wore a headband with deer antlers tied to it.

The corpse's pose was extremely strange, as if she were kneeling in worship before the tree.

"Just the ones we found today make seven..." Link murmured. "Add the six victims we found over the past two days, and that makes thirteen cases. There may be others we haven't found yet."

They had come across many strange corpses like this over the past few days. The first had been found in town, and today they had discovered another in the outskirts of Whitestone Town.

Matthew thought this was probably some kind of Evil Ritual, and that the victims might have been sacrifices. He compared it to the Dream Ritual he had found out about from Jack, but couldn't find anything in common between them.