Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

Vaughn, who lost the verbal exchange, gave up competing with a shameless old lunatic.

At this time, the two had become invisible under Dumbledore's magic. They walked slowly in Hogwarts, which was gradually falling into silence as night fell.

Hearing his question, Dumbledore winked at him and said, "I helped you, so you should help me."

As they were talking, they had already reached the fifth floor. Vaughn immediately reacted, "Harry still comes here every day to look in the mirror?"

"yes……"

Dumbledore sighed, "Because I was helping you a few days ago, I didn't have time to control him. Now he's becoming more and more addicted to it."

Vaughn couldn't help but sneer, "So, why did you want to show him this in the first place?"

"This involves some of my little plans!"

Dumbledore was very childish and kept the secret.

Vaughn sneered. He certainly knew why. Dumbledore wanted to confirm whether Harry's inner desire had deviated from his expectations, and he was also making arrangements for the subsequent test.

Only by making Harry familiar with the Mirror of Erised and then revealing that everything it reflects is false, can Harry finally find the correct answer to pass the level.

But in Vaughan's view, this kind of artificial test is meaningless. Everything is under control, which means there are no variables.

But the fact is, when a person really faces danger and the tricks of fate, variables are everywhere.

People can only grow after making mistakes, which actually means learning to deal with those variables.

Old Deng will probably only understand after this time, so the so-called test will only happen once in the first grade.

Vaughn was too lazy to say more. Since Dumbledore asked him to help, he would of course help out of the principle of integrity in the transaction.

"what do you want to do?"

"Warn Harry, just as you warned me, tell him that what the magic mirror shows is just an illusory dream, and he should return to reality."

Vaughn's face turned serious. "Why don't you say these things yourself?"

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Don't be so repulsive, Vaughn. Harry has always regarded you as his good friend. You two should be closer."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. After all, the old man still wanted to turn the iron triangle into an iron square.

Dream on!

As the two were talking, there was movement in the corridor in the distance. Although no one could be seen, footsteps and faint voices could be heard:

"Ron, you stepped on my foot again."

"Sorry Harry, I'm a little nervous."

"You weren't like this last time, Ron. Honestly, I'm a little worried about you."

"What? Don't worry, I just want to take a look, just one look."

Ron?

Vaughn looked at Dumbledore and found that Dumbledore was also a little confused. It seemed that he didn't know that Ron had come with him today.

Words of warning to Harry would be more appropriate when he was privately obsessed with it. Now that Ron was around, it was impossible for Harry to be obsessed with the Mirror of Erised.

Thinking of this, Vaughan's mood became cheerful again: "Looks like I won't be needed today. Let's go, Albus. I'm going back to rest."

Dumbledore shook his beard in frustration. "Well, let's wait until they finish watching before we leave. At least we can make sure they don't run into Quirinus."

Vaughan shrugged and didn't push any further.

While the two were talking, Harry and Ron also walked into the classroom. As they took off their invisibility cloaks, the moment their figures appeared, Ron couldn't wait to lie on the mirror.

As Harry put away the Invisibility Cloak, he worriedly reminded, "Be careful not to break it. This might be Dumbledore's."

"No, I can't bear to break it."

Ron stared at the mirror obsessively.

"Um, Ron, what did you see?"

"I saw... a lot of people surrounding me to take pictures..." Ron murmured, the freckles on his face gradually turning red. "I saw it. It turns out that I invented a super powerful potion. Everyone is looking at me in admiration. Merlin! Harry, I got the Order of Merlin, First Class! First Class!"

Ah this...

Harry had a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn't this the same picture of Vaughan they had seen in the newspaper that morning?

He suddenly wanted to complain.

To what extent was Ron envious of Vaughn that even his inner desires imitated Vaughn's?

In the corner of the room, Vaughn and Dumbledore also had strange expressions on their faces.

"Hmm--Vaughn, it seems like you brothers have a very good relationship..."

"You are old and confused. He is just jealous."

“Jealousy can sometimes be a driving force!”

The two were bickering as usual in front of the Mirror of Erised. Looking at Ron who was almost lying on the mirror, Harry suddenly bit his lip, walked forward and pulled Ron away, then pulled off the black cloth and covered the mirror.

Ron suddenly woke up from the dream and was still a little confused: "Harry...?"

Harry glared, "There's something wrong with you, Ron!"

"Uh, I..."

"You know what's in the mirror is fake, right? You were the one who told me last time that these magic mirrors are usually not good."

Ron was a little unconvinced: "I just wanted to take a look. You've been watching for several days, isn't it okay?"

"You didn't look as relaxed as you say now." Harry said seriously. He took a deep breath, "Besides, I've decided not to come again!"

"……what?"

Harry sat down next to Ron, staring blankly at the ground. "Yes, I've been obsessed with the images in the mirror these days. In it, my parents are not dead, and there is still a whole family... But Ron, they don't exist in reality. When I was reading the newspaper this morning, I suddenly realized that I have been completely out of touch with reality these days."

"Hermione is right. Vaughn is doing a great thing. He's the same age as us, but he's already working hard to save others. What about me? I actually spend every day lying on the mirror..."

As he spoke, he pulled out the folded morning newspaper from his pocket and said to Ron, "You said I've become a little fan of Vaughn, and that's right. He made me realize that I can't indulge in illusions anymore. I should learn from him and do something more meaningful!"

Ron was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Like, finish your homework, right?"

Harry was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter with Ron.

What a youthful picture! The young man suddenly realizes his mistakes and turns over a new leaf.

Unfortunately, a burst of applause ruined the scene. Dumbledore withdrew the magic at some point. He clapped vigorously while wiping his eyes: "How touching, Vaughan! Look, Harry followed your example and broke free from the lies of the Mirror of Erised!"

He also blew his nose hard.

But the two young boys in front of the mirror were stunned. They looked at Dumbledore who appeared in the corner, and Vaughn who stood beside him with a stern face.

Harry's face flushed red, and Ron almost groaned as he asked subconsciously, "When...when did you get here?"

Vaughn's face was expressionless: "Always here, the Honorable Ronald Weasley, Order of Merlin, First Class!"

"what--"

Ron screamed and scrambled out, while Harry covered his face with his sleeves and hurriedly followed behind him.

Looking at their fleeing backs, Dumbledore laughed.

Vaughn complained, "You old pervert, is this how you train your savior? Be careful, Harry will die socially and turn evil!"

Dumbledore blinked. "With you as an example, I believe he won't."

“…Shut up!”

Dumbledore smiled for a moment longer, his mouth shut. He looked at the Mirror of Erised, which was covered with a black cloth, and suddenly said, "You and Harry are both braver than I am..."

He shook his head, stopped looking at the mirror, waved his hand, and moved it to an unknown place.

He turned and left. Before leaving, he said to Vaughan, "I heard from Severus that you are going to practice spells next. I suggest you try memory magic. In fact, you already know the answer you are looking for!"

"You already know the answer you're looking for."

Throughout the night, Dumbledore's words kept echoing in Vaughn's mind.

What answer is he looking for?

The problem is obvious – the effect of negative emotions on the mind required to resolve black magic.

This was the problem that had troubled Vaughan the most. He had mentioned this to Dumbledore a few days ago when he was chatting with him and Dumbledore advised him to learn ancient magic.

If Vaughn really wanted to learn the Dark Arts a few years ago, he would have had a way to get it, and the underground block of Knockturn Alley was a good choice.

There are many black wizards over there. Although they have no integrity, there are many counterfeits and they always try to rob each other.

But if you try a few more times, you will have no problem picking up the three unforgivable curses, not to mention all kinds of black magic.

The main reason why Vaughn hadn't considered it was that he was somewhat afraid of the mind-distorting nature of black magic.

They require an extremely strong dose of malice.

This doesn't seem to reflect the difficulty. Let's take an example. Vaughn clearly remembered that in the original book, Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black, Harry's only remaining relative.

Harry witnessed the death of his godfather with his own eyes. At that moment, I believe his anger, violence, hatred and other negative emotions towards Bella must have reached the peak of his life.

Driven by that emotion, he cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bella.

But even with such strong negative emotions, his Cruciatus Curse was still ridiculed by Bella as "weak and powerless."

At that time, Harry was almost an adult and his magic power was not weak. What Bella laughed at was not his magic power, but the darkness in his heart.

Even the Cruciatus Curse cast in such an extreme state was not strong enough or dark enough in Bella's eyes. It is conceivable how terrifying the negative emotions required for the Unforgivable Curse must be.

Vaughn didn't think any normal person could maintain sanity and normal thinking with such terrible negative emotions accumulating in their brain all day long.

He really wanted to learn the dark arts, but if the price was to turn himself into a madman, then he would decline.

Lying in bed, Vaughan thought about Dumbledore's words:

"From what he said, the solution to the dark magic affecting the mind is memory magic?"

As he was thinking, he suddenly sat up and took out the magic book given to him by Dumbledore, which was titled "A Journey Through the Past and Present of Memory Magic".

I opened the title page and looked at the author's handwritten cursive words:

【Memory is the coat of the soul】

At that time, he had just come into contact with memory magic. At first, he thought this passage was the author's literary complex. Later, when he found out that advanced transfiguration required the application of memory magic to simulate the soul, he thought the author was hinting at its versatility.

And now, his understanding of this sentence has changed again.