Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

It can only be said that it was a misstep.

When a man over a hundred years old is faced with the choice between happiness and dignity, he will definitely be shameless...

Christmas is a day that should be joyful. Although everyone criticizes the principal's mental state, given that he has never been quite like a normal person, it seems understandable that the holidays are occasionally a little crazy.

The mood was cheerful again as Fred and George brought in a pile of Cribbage brand wizarding cheer-bag firecrackers.

The colorful firecrackers were similar to Muggle fireworks. When they were detonated, some strange little gifts would burst out from inside. Fred and George picked up one happily and detonated it towards the professor's seat.

There was a deafening bang and blue smoke exploded.

A few white mice and captain's hats exploded from the smoke.

No one blamed the twins for being naughty. Dumbledore picked up a captain's hat and put it on Professor McGonagall's head. Professor McGonagall took a sip of wine and her face turned slightly red.

Professor Flitwick happily turned the little white mice into puppets, which danced passionately around the professor's chair.

Hagrid stroked his smooth beard and chatted with Snape in a low voice. The Potions Professor, who was always sharp-tongued and indifferent, actually accepted the wine handed to him by Hagrid, although he still had a cold face and only said a word occasionally.

Vaughn also blew up a colorful firecracker, and the little white mouse that exploded made Guo Guocha extremely excited, running around at his feet.

Everyone was immersed in happiness, and Harry felt as if he had forgotten all his troubles, eating, drinking and laughing heartily.

The dinner lasted for more than an hour. It was getting late, so everyone left one after another and returned to their respective colleges.

Ron, with a stomach full of meat and juice, returned to the dormitory and started snoring as soon as he got into bed. The excited Harry couldn't fall asleep for a while.

This was the first time he had spent such a lively Christmas. It was no longer a small storage room. There were many people around him, many things happened, and he received many real gifts.

Thinking of the gift, Harry lay down for a while, feeling more and more energetic, and took out the invisibility cloak again.

The moonlight coming in from the window illuminated the falling notes.

The last line, which Vaughan said was Dumbledore's, read clearly:

Please use it well!

Please use it well...

Recalling the prank he had played on Malfoy that afternoon, Harry suddenly had an idea. He looked down at the cloak in his hand, which felt cool and smooth, and seemed lighter than light. An idea came to his mind:

From today on, I will be the king of night tours!

With this thing on, he no longer had to fear the patrolling professors, let alone Filch, nor did he have to worry about running into Mrs. Norris around a corner.

He can wander around Hogwarts to his heart's content!

In an instant, his mind flashed to the mysterious Restricted Books Section, the unknown black-robed figure, and the room on the fourth floor where the Philosopher's Stone might be hidden...

Harry's heart was beating like a drum.

……

After leaving the Great Hall and returning to the Slytherin Common Room, Vaughan suddenly realized that a translucent phoenix patronus had landed on his shoulder.

The Patronus opened its mouth and emitted Dumbledore's cheerful voice: "Vaughn, please come to my office. Password: Fudge."

After saying that, it disappeared.

Vaughn sighed and rubbed Guo Guocha's soft belly: "Well, you go back and rest first, I'll go see what that old guy wants to do."

"Meow~"

Guo Guocha turned over to expose her belly, hugged his hand with the pads of her folded paws, and called out coquettishly - Don't worry about the old man, grandpa, just keep playing!

Unfortunately, its owner was a heartless scumbag who took it back to the dormitory and left.

Arriving at the headmaster's office on the eighth floor, Vaughan discovered that Dumbledore was no longer as crazy as he had been in the auditorium. He was neatly dressed and was putting a wand with protruding knobs into his sleeve.

Vaughn glanced at him without further consideration: "Why did you call me over here? Are you going out?"

"Of course not, Vaughan." Dumbledore blinked. "I just want to talk to you about something, but staying in the office all the time is not good for the health of an elderly person. So, dear, can you accompany me to stroll around Hogwarts late at night? I heard that you are an expert at night walks."

Vaughan flatly denied the allegations: "Don't slander me. I am a good student who abides by the school rules."

Dumbledore laughed, took his hand, and whispered a few spells.

The air thickened for a moment, and an inexplicable force enveloped the two of them. Although the discomfort soon dissipated, Vaughn still noticed something strange.

The air and light around them were distorted, and a powerful magic concealed the two people's figures, completely isolating them from the outside world.

"This is an ancient magic. I heard from Filius that he gave you a book introducing ancient magic. How about it? Are you interested in learning it?"

Vaughn curiously sensed the magic cast by Dumbledore. Hearing this, he shrugged and said, "I don't know. I don't know much about ancient magic yet. I'll tell you after I get started!"

Then he asked maliciously, "Professor Flitwick gave me that book. Was it you who instructed me to do so?"

Then Dumbledore shamelessly admitted: "Yes, I said to Filius, Filius, how can I prevent a child who pursues magic from falling into the quagmire of the Dark Arts?"

"Filius replied to me, Albus, let him learn ancient magic. It is powerful and difficult to learn. I guarantee that it will consume his entire life!"

Dumbledore imitated Professor Flitwick's spy voice, and Vaughn rolled his eyes.

The old guy is testing him again!

At this time, the two had left the principal's office and walked down the deep and winding stairs. The power of magic made them disappear into the air, and even their sound and smell could not be heard.

Vaughn let Dumbledore lead him and retorted maliciously: "Albus, instead of being on guard all the time, I think you should think about it. Can you really prevent a wizard from ever coming into contact with the dark arts?"

"Impossible. Putting aside other things, as long as he waits patiently until graduation, gets good grades, and then passes the Auror exam, he will be able to learn the three Unforgivable Curses by then - Aurors don't have as many taboos as you."

This is obvious.

Aurors are a violent agency used by the Ministry of Magic to maintain its rule. Its enemy is dark wizards, not dark magic.

Just like during the last wizarding war, Barty Crouch, then Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, issued a law requiring Aurors to use any means, including the Unforgivable Curses, when facing Death Eaters.

Dumbledore was speechless for a moment, and Vaughn said nothing more.

After a long while, Dumbledore spoke again: "You should know the dangers of dark magic..."

Before he could finish, Vaughan interrupted, "Of course I know. That's why I never asked you or Professor Snape to teach me the Dark Arts, Albus. I'm more wary of it than you think. I won't touch it until I resolve the problem of its corruption of the human mind."

Dumbledore sometimes knew that his behavior was annoying.

But one Tom Riddle was enough to make him regret and worry.

Thinking back to Vaughan's analysis and decision on the effects of the wolfsbane potion that he had heard from Snape when he returned to Hogwarts in the afternoon, his mood became more complicated.

Now in his eyes, Vaughn was no longer associated with the image of Voldemort.

In the afternoon, he sat in his office, looking at the falling snow outside the window. His memories always automatically jumped to the man who had met him decades ago in Godric's Hollow, made a blood pact with him, and finally parted ways with him.

Vaughn… a lot like that guy!

Ambitious, smart, and resourceful, he pursues power and fame.

Thinking of Snape's retelling of the development process of the wolfsbane potion, Vaughan was rational and ruthless when facing Greyback's lackeys, and showed limited sympathy and gentleness when dealing with stray werewolves.

That behavior, which seems like a split personality, just illustrates the many sides of human nature.

There's no doubt that Vaughan Weasley was a complex man.

Snape told Dumbledore that Vaughan's behavior made sense and that the wolfsbane potion should not be left in the hands of the Ministry of Magic. Werewolves should be allowed to take the initiative and fight for their rights.

But Dumbledore could see that it was just Vaughan's sophistry - because there were indeed many practical difficulties in promoting the wolfsbane potion, which forced Vaughan to choose to make the formula public, but at the same time, he did not want any person or organization to dominate the formula, because that would weaken his halo as the "inventor of wolfsbane potion"!

His concern had never been about the plight of werewolves, or whether the Ministry of Magic would grow in power.

Vaughn's whole purpose is for himself!

Just like Getter Grindelwald...

However, there were some differences between the two. Dumbledore remembered that during this trip to the Balkan Peninsula, he should have left Romania long ago and rushed to Albania to continue searching for Quirrell's whereabouts.

But after hearing that the Weasleys were planning to come visit Charlie for Christmas, he stayed a little longer.

Arthur and Molly, as always, had no wariness of him at all, and when he turned the subject to Vaughan, the proud parents began to talk non-stop.

Dumbledore learned many details about Vaughn's life from them.

What he found interesting was that, as a pure-blood wizard who had never lived with Muggles, Vaughan did not discriminate against them.

In Romania, he had the opportunity to taste the food called "hot pot" made by Molly.

It is impossible for wizards who discriminate against Muggles to "restore" the dishes invented by Muggles, not to mention that hot pot originated in the Far East, thousands of miles away from England. As the head of the International Confederation of Wizards, Dumbledore has tasted food from all over the world.

Dumbledore turned his head to look at Vaughn who was walking beside him. The light on the stairs was dim and only a few braziers provided illumination. The flickering flames made his face flicker and obscure, just like Dumbledore's understanding of Vaughn. Since he met him, he had never seen through this child.

It has nothing to do with Occlumency, but rather the mature and complex humanity of this child.

"human nature……"

He murmured the word in his mind, and suddenly asked, "Vaughn, what do you think of human nature?"

Is this another test...

Vaughn curled his lips, but after a moment's thought, he replied, "I don't have any profound opinions. In my opinion, a person has both unimaginable good and unimaginable evil sides. To borrow a phrase I agree with, human nature is the sum of divine and animal nature!"

Dumbledore was somewhat moved. "Oh—that's a very clever summary. Where did you read that?"

"In a Muggle movie."

Of course, it was the previous life!

It seemed that Dumbledore liked this sentence very much. He muttered it several times and sighed: "Many times, I am amazed at the wisdom of Muggles."

Next, he did not test Vaughan again, nor did he talk about the topic of wolfsbane potion, but instead began to discuss Muggles with Vaughan.

As the wizard who is considered by the outside world to be the most pro-Muggle, Dumbledore actually did not know much about Muggles. In other words, his kindness towards Muggles was actually a kind of protective psychology towards the weak and the mentally retarded.

Vaughan noticed this during their conversation, but he did not think there was anything wrong with Dumbledore's attitude. In Vaughan's view, everyone's views on things were based on their own experiences.

Because of his past life, he was accustomed to looking at things from the Muggle perspective, but Dumbledore was different.

Many years ago, Dumbledore's sister Ariana accidentally revealed her magic in front of Muggles and was tortured and bullied by the terrified Muggles.

In order to avenge his daughter, their father cast a curse on the Muggles and eventually died in Azkaban. All this caused young Ariana to begin to hate herself. Her inner rejection and fear polluted her magic, causing it to fall into darkness and become an Obscurus.

So Dumbledore was once very hostile to Muggles. Even though the "power of love" awakened him later, because of these experiences, it was impossible for him to take the initiative to understand Muggles in depth.

The knot in the heart is difficult to untie.

Vaughn casually answered Dumbledore's various strange questions about Muggles. Originally, Vaughn was secretly wondering, was Dumbledore taking him out for a night outing just to chat?

It wasn't until the two of them arrived at the library on the second floor and saw a light floating in the air that they sneaked into the restricted books area.

Vaughn, who had just used the invisibility cloak that afternoon, of course knew who the invisible person holding the lamp was.