Dumbledore simply reached out and caught the brilliant rainbow.
He pulled it outward, and the rainbow quivered gently, like water, like smoke.
Zhang Xiao knew what he meant by the Gaunt Shack. It was there that he had learned magic was never merely a matter of mechanically reciting spells.
It was a manifestation of will, of making the heart's desires reality.
Voldemort had shown him the splendor of magic, while Dumbledore had told him there that every wondrous piece of magic embodied its caster's thoughts and reasoning.
Dumbledore tugged on the ribbon of color and said casually:
"All magic has a basic foundation. Even the magic the goblins use to conceal their doors is made up of individual spells.
"So-we need to find what lies at the very bottom and work out exactly what this magic is!"
As he spoke, Dumbledore suddenly gave a forceful tug, as though he had triggered something. Shapes flickered in and out of sight in the surrounding air.
Then Zhang Xiao felt his surroundings brighten. He raised his head. Everything around him seemed dreamlike and unreal. An enormous net woven from light floated around them, with streams of radiance flowing along its mesh.
"Professor, this is..." Zhang Xiao murmured, gazing upward. Beside him, Grindelwald and Newt were equally stunned.
Neither of them could remember ever seeing anything like it.
"The magic network..." The answer came from Nicolas Flamel through the earrings, his voice slightly dazed. Even Nicolas Flamel trembled at the sight before him. It was what he had always sought, what he had always longed to see.
It was excitement and exhilaration, mingled with the bewilderment and wistfulness that came from finally seeing something he had dreamed of.
"Albus, you... you finally completed it?"
Dumbledore nodded gently and said:
"Yes. I have Tom to