Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

Scrimgeour apologized, his eyes never leaving Vaughn. "But as an Auror, I have reason to be suspicious of doubts. Especially, if a high-ranking Ministry official like Barty Crouch is under the Imperius Curse..."

"That's enough, you're going too far, Rufus!" Amelia didn't want to listen anymore and was about to yell at Scrimgeour to leave.

Vaughn raised his hand. "It's okay, Amelia."

He looked at Scrimgeour, who looked like an old lion, with a head of messy gray hair, with great interest, and smiled, "What would you do if I didn't want to tell you?"

Scrimgeour still had that pouty expression on his face. "If you don't want to tell me, I can't force you to, but you will come into my sight, and I will watch your every move!"

"Of course, you can put pressure on me through other important figures. I know that Dumbledore supports you behind the scenes. Yes, this gossip has spread throughout the entire wizarding world."

He pulled the corners of his mouth, seemingly smiling, "But as long as I sit in the position of the head of the Auror Office, you have to be careful, there are eyes behind you!"

After saying that, he turned and left without any hesitation.

It seemed as if he appeared just to say these words of warning.

After he left, Vaughn looked at Amelia strangely: "Is he always like this?"

"Ugh……"

Amelia sighed, "You should ask how many people in the entire Auror Office are left who don't have this style."

"Okay, how many are left?"

"...The first person I can think of is Kingsley Shacklebolt..."

After complaining, Amelia defended Scrimgeour, saying, "Aurors are always on the front lines against Dark wizards, so they can be very direct and rude at times. Alastor Moody is a representative figure in this regard. Believe me, one day when you see him you'll understand that Scrimgeour is actually quite gentle."

Vaughn smiled and said jokingly, "Ah, it seems that the Ministry of Magic still has many systems that need improvement. I think it is necessary to set up a psychological counseling agency for the Auror Office. I have some attainments in memory magic. Amelia, would you consider hiring me?"

Seeing that Vaughn didn't seem to care much about Scrimgeour's offense, Amelia secretly breathed a sigh of relief and joked back, "If I ever become Minister of Magic, I might consider it."

Vaughn responded with a smile.

He really didn't take Scrimgeour's threat seriously.

This old lion is undoubtedly a qualified Auror, with a sense of justice and a strong mind.

Even if Voldemort captured and tortured Harry in the future, his whereabouts would not be revealed.

But his talent is limited to this.

In the original novel, with Voldemort's resurrection, Fudge's resignation, and Amelia's murder, he did not make any effective decisions after becoming Minister of Magic until his death in battle.

The only achievement in his career as a minister was distributing defense pamphlets to the wizarding residents...

Amelia didn't want to talk about Scrimgeour any more, so she changed the subject and asked, "What has Dumbledore been busy with lately? I've hardly seen him lately."

"He... is probably investigating a case in some primeval forest right now!"

"?"

……

Snape, with a stern face and the long hem of his robe dragging behind him, exchanged secret signals with the extremely ugly dripping stone beast and came to the principal's office.

Then he saw Dumbledore, who was covered in dust, with his beard and hair covered in dead branches and leaves.

"what……"

Snape laughed expressionlessly, emphasizing his sarcasm. "Respected White Lord, you've been gone for over half a month. I thought you were busy with some major event in the wizarding world, but now it seems you might have just drunk too much and fallen into a tree."

Shamelessly, Dumbledore pretended not to understand and said with a friendly smile, "Severus, long time no see. How is everything going recently? How is Harry?"

"Not very good. Your great savior has disguised himself as an owl, a Ravenclaw student, a hamster, a madman... and a stag in order to attract attention!"

When he mentioned the last word "stag", Snape's face darkened, as if he had thought of something that disgusted him.

Dumbledore shrugged, "What a vibrant youth, isn't it? Um...how's Vaughn?"

It has to be said that the person who knows Snape best is Dumbledore.

Snape's expression relaxed visibly. He didn't say anything, but took out a newspaper from his pocket and handed it over.

"Ha, it seems you've been paying attention to your dear students."

"I just want to see him kill himself!"

"Don't say one thing and mean another. If you don't care about him, with your temper, you wouldn't carry a newspaper with you... Oh—the inquiry meeting is over? Crouch actually supported Vaughan at the meeting? I seem to have missed a lot of exciting scenes!"

After quickly browsing the report in the newspaper, Dumbledore narrowed his blue eyes slightly, but said nothing more.

Snape couldn't help but feel a little strange: "Aren't you curious about why he was able to convince Crouch? Many people are very confused."

"Of course I'm curious." Dumbledore took off his glasses and wiped them, his expression calm. "But we have an agreement to protect the trust we have now and focus on more important things."

"For Vaughn, the Werewolf Affairs Committee is his most important priority right now. All his goals are to serve the establishment of the committee. I have no reason and no desire to interfere."

"Just like when he needed me to show up in person the most, I chose to do what I thought was important, and he didn't interfere with me. This is a compromise and trust between two smart people, which is very precious!"

Snape narrowed his eyes.

Humph, I don’t really understand you smart people!

He didn't bother to ask what kind of agreement the two foxes, one big and one small, had made. He simply said, "Are you done asking? I still have to go back and correct your savior's paper. Tsk, tsk, it took me an hour to force myself to read that piece of garbage without vomiting."

What surprised him was that Dumbledore didn't say anything and seemed to be thinking about something.

After a moment, he said, "Severus, find some time to force Quirinus."

Hearing this, Snape frowned: "You want to speed up the process? Why?"

According to the previously adjusted plan, he should force Quirrell again at the end of the semester, thereby alerting the Dark Lord and forcing him to break through with his will.

That node was chosen just to wait for Harry to master Occlumency.

Chapter 81: Tom's Mystery and Return to Hogwarts

Snape didn't know why Dumbledore wanted Harry to learn Occlumency.

The reason Dumbledore gave him was that the Dark Lord and Harry's fates were intertwined, and that they might have some connection on the occult and spiritual level.

Dumbledore told him that Vaughan believed this connection would allow the Dark Lord to read Harry's memories and thoughts.

This reason sounded quite reasonable - at least to Snape, who knew nothing about fate and was in awe of it, he thought it was very reasonable.

Snape used to be a person who despised fate.

Until the year Harry was born.

He overheard Shelby Trelawney's prophecy.

The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches... born into a family that has thrice resisted him, born at the end of July...

After hearing only these three sentences, Snape, who was worried about his master's cause, hurried back to tell Voldemort without listening to the whole prophecy.

Everything seemed like a mockery and joke of fate.

The true prophecy is... the Dark Lord can choose his enemies, and once chosen, his enemies will have powers beyond his comprehension.

The Dark Lord, who was inadvertently misled by Snape, chose his own mortal enemy, and his killing curse was rebounded upon himself by the "magic of love" that he could not understand.

He died, and so did Lily, who cast the spell.

Memories of the past emerged in his cold brain. Snape, who now kept his distance from fate, trembled in his heart as he looked at Dumbledore's pensive expression.

He clenched his hands quietly in his sleeves: "Is it...a change of fate?"

"what?"

Dumbledore suddenly woke up and quickly realized: "No, Severus, of course not. It's just that I found something when I went out this time, and I hope to verify it as soon as possible."

Snape secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then he regained his cold voice and reminded, "But Potter hasn't fully mastered Occlumency yet."

"It's okay. I will urge Vaughn to speed up the process. Besides, it will take some time for Quirinus to prepare."

"...I hope you know what you are doing."

Dumbledore started to act crazy again. He wiped his eyes with emotion and said, "Dear Severus, you still say you don't care about Harry?"

Snape's cheeks trembled, he snorted coldly, and left quickly.

When he was the only one left in the office, Dumbledore's smile faded and he put on his glasses again.

He opened the map, and magic automatically drew a path on the map - all the places he had been in the past few months.

That path extends from France, jumping directly to Croatia, Hungary, then Romania, Bulgaria...

In the end, the little footprint-like mark stopped in Albania!

Dumbledore looked at Albania on the map, lost in thought:

"Have you been hiding here all these years? Why? Tom..."

……

As a big figure involved in politics today, Vaughan was briefly given the privilege of not returning to school.

So after the questioning meeting, while waiting for the Wizengamot's resolution - which usually takes some time, the old wizards with an extremely slow pace of life need to go home and rest to make up for the energy loss caused by several days of meetings, and then send letters to vote.

Vaughan did not return to Hogwarts for the time being.

He found a luxury hotel on Whitehall Street, above the Ministry of Magic.

He used the wizarding world's waste paper, pounds, to book himself a luxury suite, which was said to be a filming location for 007.

Vaughan, who has never lived in London in his past or present life, rarely indulges himself.

Unfortunately, the experience was not pleasant. He even felt that it was not as good as Snape's home in Cokeworth. At least there was an iron that could iron clothes automatically, and the clothes would be put on him by themselves, making him look clean and tidy.

From a purely enjoyment perspective, Muggles are no match for wizards who have all sorts of household spells at their disposal.

In addition to the consideration for the pound, the service is meticulous.

The next day, Vaughn made up his mind for the third time to learn household spells when he returned. Then, with the help of the butler, he tied his tie, went downstairs, and got into the luxury car arranged by the hotel.

The driver asked, "Mr. Weasley, where are you going?"

Vaughan handed over a note.

He had no plans to travel to the wizarding world today, but instead tried his best to dress like a Muggle. He was going to Granger's house to deliver a letter for Hermione.

The driver took the note, looked at it, said a few more words of greeting, and started the car.

Looking at the scenery slowly receding outside the window, Vaughn resisted the urge to chant a spell and felt a little emotional.