Finding Old Dumbledore as Muscle and a Portrait

Before he had learned enough, Vaughn had never considered facing Voldemort alone.

But that did not mean he intended to give up the task.

The system task only said to save the unicorn in the Forbidden Forest; it never said he had to do it himself!

This was Hogwarts. With old Dumbledore around, why would he lose his mind and take Voldemort head-on?

That evening, after several hours of walking, the two finally emerged from the Forbidden Forest and parted ways at Hagrid's hut.

Vaughn adjusted his expression, making himself look serious and nervous, as though something major had happened.

Then he went to find Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Weasley, you..."

"Professor, please take me to see Headmaster Dumbledore. I have something important to tell him!"

Professor McGonagall was startled by his expression. After standing there in a daze for quite some time, she hesitantly led him to the eighth floor.

As Deputy Headmistress, she naturally knew the password to Dumbledore's office.

"Chocolate Frogs!"

Following Professor McGonagall into the Headmaster's office, Vaughn was visiting for the first time. The circular office was brightly lit and warm as spring.

The moment one entered, a spiral staircase could be seen leading upstairs, where Dumbledore's quarters presumably were.

A broad semicircular shelving unit stood flush against the wall, filled with books and unfamiliar alchemical objects.

The long desk before the office's enormous floor-to-ceiling windows was likewise piled high with miscellaneous items.

Only in one corner stood a perch, where Fawkes the phoenix rested with its eyes closed.

Hearing the sound, it opened its eyes and looked over. So did the portraits of former headmasters hanging on the walls.

"Look, Slytherin's genius has arrived. How wonderful," one portrait said delightedly.

Vaughn looked at him and guessed that he was likely the only headmaster to have come from Slytherin, Phineas Black!

The man with the worst reputation among all the former headmasters.

More tragically, the Black Family of that headmaster was nearly extinct...

Vaughn gave him a hurried bow, then looked toward the fireplace—

Dumbledore was sitting there, still dressed in a pinkish-purple nightgown, knitting a sweater.

He turned around and greeted them with a wave of his knitting needles. "Minerva, Mr. Weasley, good evening. Perfect timing—you can help me see whether this knitting pattern looks nice. I spent half a day choosing it at a Muggle shopping mall the day before yesterday and nearly went cross-eyed..."

"Ahem, Albus!"

Professor McGonagall shot him a glare. "Mr. Weasley says he has something important to tell you."

Dumbledore looked at Vaughn curiously.

Their sole previous encounter had not been particularly pleasant from Dumbledore's perspective. Vaughn, a boy with strong opinions, had decisively rejected his probing.

He had thought Vaughn would avoid him for quite a while.

Vaughn nodded. Under the watchful gazes of Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, and the many portraits, he took the bottle from his satchel and placed it on the Headmaster's desk.

Dumbledore asked curiously, "Mr. Weasley, what is this?"

"Unicorn blood, Headmaster."

With that, Vaughn took out his wand and cast the Revealing Charm.

The scene from several hours earlier appeared once more. When gray mist emerged from the white light, many of the portraits immediately gasped.

The inquisitive smile on Dumbledore's face vanished as well.

He rose and walked over to the desk. As he leaned close to inspect the bottle of soil, he waved to the stunned Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, you should get back to your work. Mr. Weasley has indeed brought me a major matter."

Only after Professor McGonagall left did he raise his head again and look at Vaughn.

"Mr. Weasley, where did you find this?"

Those eyes, without the slightest trace of age, were so bright they seemed capable of piercing straight into one's heart!

Hmph, Legilimency? Vaughn, who had maintained Occlumency the entire time, could sense a strange magical force spreading from Dumbledore's eyes.

But it did not charge directly into his mind. Instead, it continued to linger around the edges.

He's only using Legilimency to sense my emotions and determine whether I'm lying?

Vaughn kept his expression calm and answered, "In the Forbidden Forest..."

Then he told him how he had gone to see Hagrid that day and had "accidentally" discovered that the blood shed by an injured unicorn was abnormal, bearing traces of dark magic.

"...Whether werewolves in the Forbidden Forest or other creatures, none of them could use dark magic to harm a unicorn. Only wizards could do something like this!"

"You know, I've achieved a little in the field of potions. Although unicorn blood carries a curse, from ancient times to the present, there has never been a shortage of bold people who wanted to brew it into a potion. Usually, such potions are..."

"...the Elixir of Life!"

Dumbledore murmured as he finished Vaughn's words. He raised a hand gently, without chanting or using his wand, and reached directly for the bottle.

His hand passed through the white light, drawing out those wisps of gray mist and clasping them in his palm.

Vaughn watched in amazement. Wandless and silent—the spellcasting technique was flawless. He had not even sensed the slightest fluctuation of magic.

Dumbledore observed it intently for a while. After a long time, he waved the gray mist away and looked at Vaughn. "What you discovered is very important, but I still need to inspect the scene myself..."

He held out his hand. "Fawkes!"

With a cry, Fawkes the phoenix flew onto his arm, gripping him tightly.

"Mr. Weasley, there are sweets and pastries on the desk. Please wait a moment. I'll be back soon."

With that, he Apparated away. Vaughn was not surprised. Although Hogwarts had anti-Apparition wards, such spells did not apply to systems outside those of wizards, such as magical creatures like Fawkes or house-elves.

Without standing on ceremony, he walked behind the desk, found a few pieces of chocolate in the candy dish that floated over to him, and began eating.

After walking for most of the day, he had long since grown hungry.

As he ate, Vaughn heard a voice calling to him amid the quiet chatter of the portraits around him. "Hey, boy from the Weasley Family."

Vaughn looked up.

It was Headmaster Black.

The sinister-looking old man waggled his brows at him. "To notice the dark magic in unicorn blood, you're not such an obedient little fellow yourself, are you? Oh, don't look at me like that. I've never discriminated against dark magic. I'm even glad you study it. What Slytherin genius deserves the title if he can't use dark magic?"

"I just... want to make a deal with you!"

He blinked and lowered his voice. "Do you want to master greater dark power? As long as you do one thing for me, I'll tell you where the Black Family's old house is. Merlin bear witness, the Black Family has hidden plenty of dark, vicious forbidden knowledge. As long as you—"

Before he could finish, a white-bearded old man suddenly burst into his portrait, pounced on him, pinned him down, and began beating him furiously.

"You bastard! You accomplished nothing while you were alive, and now that you're dead, you still want to harm the younger generation? I'll beat you to death!"

"Teacher, Teacher... enough! You old mad dog, I'm already dead. How are you going to beat me to death?"

The two of them began grappling.

Vaughn watched with great interest.