Dumbledore did not look at Gavin again. Instead, he stared elsewhere, as though he had suddenly discovered a fascinating pattern in the familiar Headmaster's Office.
"I only said if."
"Heh."
Gavin gave a cold laugh.
"I don't think you'd waste time on an impossible hypothetical. You wouldn't ask without a reason."
Dumbledore looked at Gavin and tried to offer his usual gentle smile to break the tension. But Gavin remained unmoved. He watched him without a flicker of expression.
Dumbledore let the smile fade and said helplessly, "Sometimes I do wish you weren't so perceptive, Gavin."
"Life taught me to be, Professor." Gavin showed no pride, his face still expressionless. "The last thing I got from you nearly killed me. I have to be careful."
"..."
Dumbledore was at a loss for words. He had never expected to become an unreliable old man in someone else's eyes.
At that thought, he gave Gavin a wounded look.
A moment later, the old man sighed.
"All right, I admit it. The Philosopher's Stone wasn't destroyed. It's safe."
Hearing him confirm it, Gavin could not help taking a deep breath.
This was another major change, greater than all the others before it, at least in Gavin's eyes.
If, as he suspected, this world had some balancing force or predetermined course of fate, the Philosopher's Stone surviving was not necessarily good news. Some force might have intervened.
If that was true, and Dumbledore had the Philosopher's Stone, other factions might have changed from the original story as well.
Deepwater Group? Slytherin? That landmass in the Mediterranean Sea? Or—
All of them?
He also wondered whether he could distance himself from Dumbledore for now, then pledge allegiance once the White Wizard had grown stronger.
"Why wasn't it destroyed?" Gavin asked with a frown.
"Because of