American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Dumbledore sat behind his large, ancient desk, his wise eyes slightly narrowed, his long silver beard falling to his chest, trembling slightly with his soft breathing. He reached out and took a lemon-shabu-shabu from a delicate little jar, then leaned all his weight into his chair.

Dumbledore smiled and held the lemon shambles up to the candlelight. The translucent candy cast a bright yellow glow, with white carbonated powder in the center.

This was his favorite candy, enough to make Dumbledore temporarily abandon his precious spirit of sharing. He opened the outer wrapper, contentedly placed the exquisite candy in his mouth, and slowly chewed it, seemingly savoring every bit of sweetness and memory that the Olaf candy brought. Even the magical aura around him seemed to soften, as if infected by this simple sweetness.

At this moment, the orders from the Ministry of Magic and the school's approvals temporarily faded away, leaving only the pure joy brought by this little piece of Olaf candy.

Just then, a deep, hoarse voice with a cold, austere quality came from outside the door. It was a hellish voice, as if it were being slowly squeezed from the depths of a throat, saying the password to enter Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore hurriedly put away the Snowball Candy, brushed off the imaginary crumbs, and then sat up straight, his expression becoming serious. When Professor Snape entered the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore had his hands folded on his knees, his gaze intently fixed on the documents on the table, his long silver eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if he were pondering some important matter.

"Rune is getting more and more outrageous." This pale-faced, greasy-haired man with a high and sharp nose, sharp eyes, and a cold smile always on his lips said, but his face did not show the anger he had when he first came to complain about Rune.

Snape witnessed the student who came to complain being dragged away by the Summoning Charm. He pretended not to notice the spell in time and let the rune drag him back.

But in fact, as someone who had been passionate about dark magic since childhood, Snape had a deep understanding of it. He invented several powerful spells, such as "Shadowless," and later joined the Death Eaters, becoming Voldemort's confidant and frequently receiving various dark magic spells from the Dark Lord.

Furthermore, he was skilled in wandless magic and silent spells, allowing him to cast spells without a wand. Many of the techniques for silent and wandless spellcasting were taught to Rune by Professor Snape. Therefore, it was impossible for him not to have noticed Rune's spell. At the time, he had three ways to directly free the student, but he chose not to.

Who gave them the audacity to use the word "Mudblood"?

To some extent, Snape's feelings for Rune were complicated. As a professor, he liked Rune because he learned quickly and well, and was willing to delve into things. In comparison, only Hermione from Gryffindor could be considered comparable in terms of studiousness, but Hermione could only be described as good at reading and memorizing. She could memorize the contents of all the books in a short time, know them by heart, and easily answer Snape's questions, but she couldn't delve into them deeply.

But Rune was able to raise his own questions, was good at research, and always came up with some ingenious ideas; I don't know how his brain was structured.

However, Snape had another identity. As a Death Eater, especially a confidant of Mystic, he had a strange sense of awe for Rune. This awe actually stemmed from a sense of déjà vu—the resemblance between Rune and Voldemort.

Snape knew all too well the steps Voldemort had taken to rise to power. At school, he presented himself as an innocent and well-behaved student, appearing calm and polite, which made a good impression on almost everyone. Within Slytherin, he used Dark Magic and pure-blood supremacy to intimidate and attract a large following of pure-blood followers, while in front of others, Voldemort maintained the facade of a model student.

After graduation, this dreadful man hoped to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but was rejected by the headmaster at the time. He then chose to work at Borgin Burke, but this job didn't last long. It makes sense; if his leader were working in a shop selling dark magic items, he would naturally feel ashamed, leading to resentment and even disdain for Voldemort.

After leaving Borgin Burke, Voldemort traveled the world, studying Dark Arts. Ten years later, the once handsome man had become the noseless Voldemort. He returned to Hogwarts, hoping to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but was rejected again. He then began to recruit followers, and his former friends from the school became his first Death Eaters.

Therefore, the difference between Rune and Voldemort isn't that significant; both were power-hungry individuals. However, one cultivated many friendships, while the other refused to form factions, but this isn't really a problem. Even without those friends at school, Voldemort was able to use methods like the theory of pure-blood wizards and terrifying dark magic to either entice or coerce wizards into joining the Death Eaters.

Furthermore, Voldemort exploited the hatred that marginalized magical creatures, such as giants and werewolves, harbored towards the mainstream magical world, allying with them and making them his own forces.

Rune could certainly do it too, especially since Snape believed that Rune's current abilities were already stronger than Voldemort's at the same age, perhaps even much stronger. Even Voldemort couldn't overwhelm the entire Slytherin class with sheer power in his third year.

Snape also went to check on the prefect's injuries, and combined with the statements of several Slytherins who complained, Snape came to a terrible conclusion: the runes were incredibly powerful, and there was at least one highly effective defensive item that could withstand multiple dark magic attacks at the same time.

Snape still couldn't believe that a prefect could be defeated by a third-year student with such a rudimentary display of magic. What was Snape doing in his third year? Probably fighting against James and Sirius.

Since Snape could think of it, he didn't believe Dumbledore hadn't. If Rune really wanted to recruit a group of followers, those Slytherin students who hadn't been forced by Rune to apologize to others would be his natural supporters, not to mention the students who had just received an apology from Slytherin. It could be said that Rune had won over the hearts of the vast majority of the house students with just this one event.

There's no need for any secret notes hidden in foxes or fish. Now, if Rune wants to become a prefect or student council president, all he has to do is say the word. Even if he's underage, most students will still respect and even adore him, regarding him as their prefect or student council president. Thinking about it this way, Rune is far more terrifying than Voldemort.

"I think Rune did the right thing this time, Snape," Dumbledore smiled, then said softly, "In any case, that word was far too harsh, wasn't it?"

Although the headmaster refrained from using the word "Mudblood" to avoid hurting his feelings, Snape still glared at Dumbledore.

Snape actually felt that Rune hadn't done anything wrong; if he weren't the Headmaster, he would most likely have given Slytherin a severe dressing down. But Dumbledore was clearly dodging the question. Was he referring to the right or wrong of this operation? Or was he referring to the fact that Rune's magic was currently too powerful, to the point that Snape had no idea where the Rune's power came from, or even where Rune would go next?

"I still want to ask, how do you guarantee that Rune won't become the next Dark Lord?" Snape asked softly.

The portraits hanging on the wall seemed to be whispering among themselves in their frames, except for the most disliked principal, who was simply resting with his eyes closed.