Dumbledore rolled up the newspaper, placed it together with the Release Order, and gave Gavin a deep look.
"I'm afraid that won't do; many people are waiting for you."
Gavin shrugged, as he was only joking anyway.
"Does that include you?"
"Of course." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Why ask?"
Gavin pointed toward Fawkes outside the door.
"You have a phoenix and can come and go as you please, yet you never once came to visit."
This time, Dumbledore understood what he meant.
"If I had come earlier, I could only have sat here with you for a while," he said, looking at Gavin. "Staying in London was the only way to get you out today."
Gavin did not press further.
It seemed that the window of opportunity for using PUA tactics on the headmaster had passed, and the White Wizard, who was immune to pressure, stood before him now.
He could not rely on past habits; he would have to change his approach hereafter.
With that, Gavin packed his things, hoisted his Dragon Hide Bag, pushed open the cell door, and walked out.
The New Dementor Chief was waiting outside. Seeing Gavin emerge, it immediately straightened its posture and slightly lowered its hood toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's gaze fell upon it, and after hesitating for a moment, he finally could not help speaking.
"How did you get it to listen to you? It even seems to be actively holding back its chill; I have never seen a Dementor behave like this."
"Listen to me?" Gavin shook his head. "No, Professor, we are merely in a cooperative relationship."
"Azkaban has long suffered from a severe problem of unfair distribution of happiness. The positive emotions that frontline Dementors worked hard to accumulate were ultimately harvested uniformly by the old-regime chief—it was too feudal.