Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 40 Fellow Travelers
"Well, it's getting late, so I'll take my leave now."

After fully understanding Dumbledore's plans, Li Wei got up to leave.

"Li Wei".

Just as he was about to open the door, Dumbledore suddenly called out to him.

"There's one last small favor I'd like to ask of you—it's not related to our plans, but rather a personal matter of mine. I hope you can take good care of Harry in your spare time."

"How do you want me to take care of him? Do you want me to mentor him as a side project, or do you want me to treat him preferentially?"

"Hmm—it all sounds very tempting. If he can receive your careful guidance, he might completely exceed my expectations."

Dumbledore originally wanted Li Weikuan to take care of Harry—after all, this boy was destined to face extremely difficult challenges in the future, so at least he could have a happy and fulfilling school life.

But Dumbledore also watched Livy grow up – although he rarely paid much attention to Livy during his student years, he was fully aware of Livy's growth history – absolutely brilliant!

Unlike Voldemort, who relied on innate talent, Levi reached his current level entirely through extreme self-discipline and self-taught learning methodologies, which is precisely why his achievements are so remarkable.

Even if Dumbledore were to switch places with him, he wouldn't be confident that he could achieve what Dumbledore has today.

If Dumbledore were to hand Harry over to Levi for training, he couldn't even imagine how good the results would be.
Seeing that Li Wei was still looking at him, Dumbledore surprisingly hesitated.
"I'd like to ask for your opinion."

"My opinion is not important; what's important is what effect you want to achieve?"

"."

Dumbledore would rather Livy not be so understanding at this moment and could just give a direct solution.

After much deliberation, he still couldn't make a decision. Even Levi himself didn't understand why this question made Dumbledore so conflicted.

“If it’s really that hard to choose—” Levi offered a suggestion, “how about we give the problem to Harry and let him choose for himself?”

"Let him choose for himself?"

"Yes, his father and I were classmates, so he's practically a good friend of mine. If he wants to slack off, I'll take care of him."

On the contrary, if he wants to work harder, I'll help him grow faster. What do you think?

Dumbledore was still somewhat hesitant.

He was unsure whether Harry had the maturity to make the right choice.

But then I thought, so what if I made the wrong choice? It just means everything will go back to the way it was before.

Thinking of this, Dumbledore spoke:

"It's a very thoughtful approach; I don't think I have any reason to refuse."

“Then let’s do it that way, but—I don’t like the feeling of dragging someone along, and I won’t go to Harry until he shows a willingness to improve.”

It's getting late, Professor. You should get some rest.

Li Wei waved his hand and turned to leave.

“Crack.”

After he left.

In the now quiet headmaster's office, Dumbledore let out a deep breath and sat back down in his chair.

"Li Wei."

As Dumbledore reflected on his encounter with this remarkable young man earlier that day, a long-lost sense of exhilaration welled up in his chest. How long had it been since he had interacted with anyone like this?
Not to mention, the other party also had the ability to discuss the essence of magic with him.
"Do you view all magic as a phenomenon that can be dismantled?"

Dumbledore stood up again and extended his right hand.

Above his large palm, firefly-like points of light gradually gathered and soon coalesced into a sphere.

Dumbledore stared silently at the orb of light—in another mind, this orb forged by the spell appeared to him as something entirely different.

He didn't stop; his palm remained turned upwards. The points of light continued to converge, but the sphere never grew larger; only the light grew brighter.

Gradually, the converging points of light increased their speed and connected into lines. The lines quickly converged into thick pillars. In the end, no more points of light were generated, but the orb of light in Dumbledore's palm flickered faster and faster, as if new energy was constantly gathering inside it.

"Gurgle—gurgle—"

The sphere of light kept bubbling, as if something was gathering inside.

The sound grew more and more rapid as the energy was compressed—more and more rapid—

"Snapped!!!"

The intense light filled the entire office, illuminating it like daytime in the desert, and lingered for a long time.

Dumbledore raised his wand and waved it gently, and the light that filled the room dissipated.

He quietly sat back down.

Not a word.

Some time later, a pleasant chuckle suddenly rang out in the office.

"interesting."

"Didn't I already warn you to be careful?"

As soon as Li Wei stepped out of Dumbledore's office, he heard an impatient voice.

A tall figure, blending into the shadows, silently emerged from beside the corridor window—he was so silent that it was as if he had always been standing there.

"Snape? How long have you been here?"

"answer my question!"

Snape's voice carried a hint of barely suppressed anger.

If they weren't outside Dumbledore's office, he would have already roared in anger.

Faced with all this, Li Wei felt completely bewildered.

He couldn't help but frown and say, "Can't you be a little more rational?"

"Reason? What reason do you want me to have!"
I already warned you like that, but you still made the same mistake!

Snape seemed to be having a breakdown.

He paced back and forth anxiously, seemingly trying to find a solution, but the next moment, he stomped forward in frustration, his head almost hitting Li Wei's nose.

"What were you thinking?! Making such a scene at school, setting your sights on a cat? Did you even consider the consequences?!"

"Snape, don't panic."

Li Wei soothed the fuming Snape, still speaking in that infuriating tone.

“How could I possibly experiment on a cat—and even if I did, you wouldn’t have found out—didn’t you see the bloody writing on the wall?”

"The Chamber of Secrets? You expect to exonerate yourself with some vague legend? There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Slytherin ever built even a secret broom shed or anything like that!"
"Let me tell you, McGonagall won't believe that. She's very wary of you right now!"

"Really? That's what she really thinks? This is the saddest news I've heard today."

"Is this the time to be talking about these things?!"

Snape is really about to break down!
He grabbed Li Wei's collar and asked anxiously:
"So what? What did Dumbledore say? What is he planning to do with you? Revoke your professorship and send you back to Azkaban? Speak!"

"No, we reached a consensus."

"?"

(End of this chapter)