Chapter 39: Asking Old Dumbledore To Be A Thug And Portraits
Before he had achieved anything, Vaughn had not thought of facing Voldemort alone.
However, this did not mean he was prepared to give up the mission.
The System’s mission only said to save the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest; it didn’t say he had to complete it himself!
This is Hogwarts, with Old Dumbledore here, why would he clear his head to confront Voldemort head-on?
In the evening, after walking for several hours to get out of the Forbidden Forest, the two parted ways at Hagrid’s Hut.
Vaughn adjusted his expression, making himself look very serious and nervous, as if he had encountered something major.
Then he found Professor McGonagall.
“Mr. Weasley, you…”
“Professor, please take me to see Headmaster Dumbledore. I have something important to tell him!”
Professor McGonagall was startled by his expression, and after a pause, she hesitantly brought him to the Eighth Floor.
As Deputy Headmaster, she naturally knew the password to Headmaster Dumbledore’s office.
“Chocolate Frog!”
Following Professor McGonagall into the Headmaster’s Office, this was Vaughn’s first time here. The circular office was brightly lit and warm as spring.
Upon entering, one could see a spiral staircase leading upstairs, which should be Dumbledore’s common room.
A very wide semicircular shelf was nestled against the wall, filled with books and unknown alchemy items.
In front of the office’s huge floor-to-ceiling window, a long table was also piled with clutter.
In one corner, a stand was placed, and the phoenix Fawkes stood on it, resting with closed eyes.
Hearing the sound, it opened its eyes to look over, as did the portraits of past headmasters hanging on the wall.
“Look, our Slytherin genius has arrived, this is wonderful,” one portrait said with surprise.
Vaughn looked at him, guessing he might be the only headmaster from Slytherin, Phineas Black!
The one with the worst reputation among all past headmasters.
Even more tragically, this headmaster’s Black family was almost extinct…
Vaughn gave him a hurried bow, then looked towards the fireplace—
Dumbledore was sitting there, still in his plum-colored pajamas, knitting a sweater.
He looked back and waved his knitting needles, greeting them, “Minerva, Mr. Weasley, good evening. Just as you’ve arrived, help me see if this knitting pattern looks good? I spent a long time choosing it at a Muggle mall the day before yesterday, and almost got dazzled…”
“Ahem, Albus!”
Professor McGonagall glared at him, “Mr. Weasley says he has something important to tell you.”
Dumbledore looked at Vaughn curiously.
The only time they had interacted was not very pleasant from Dumbledore’s perspective; the opinionated Vaughn had decisively refused his probing.
He had thought the other party would hide from him for a long time.
Vaughn nodded, and under the gaze of Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, and a host of portraits, he took out the bottle from his satchel and placed it on the Headmaster’s desk.
Dumbledore asked curiously, “Mr. Weasley, what is this?”
“Unicorn bloodstains, Headmaster.”
Having said that, Vaughn took out his wand and cast a revealing spell.
The scene they had seen a few hours ago reappeared. As the gray mist emerged from the white light, many portraits let out gasps.
Dumbledore’s speculative smile also disappeared.
He stood up and walked to the desk, peering at the bottle of soil as he waved dismissively at the shocked Professor McGonagall, “Minerva, you go attend to your duties. Mr. Weasley has indeed found a major issue for me.”
After Professor McGonagall left, he raised his head again and looked at Vaughn.
“Mr. Weasley, where did you find this?”
Those eyes, devoid of any trace of age, were as bright as if they could pierce a person’s soul!
Hmph, Legilimency? Vaughn, who had maintained Occlumency, could sense a peculiar magic emanating from Dumbledore’s eyes.
But it did not directly enter his mind; it kept lingering on the periphery.
“Is he just using Legilimency to sense my emotions to determine if I’m lying?”
Vaughn replied calmly, “In the Forbidden Forest…”
Afterward, he recounted how he went to see Hagrid today and “accidentally” discovered that the unicorn’s wound was bleeding unusually, with traces of dark magic.
“…whether it’s a werewolf in the Forbidden Forest or other creatures, they couldn’t have used dark magic to harm a unicorn. Only a wizard could do something like this!”
“You know, I’ve had some success in Potions. Although unicorn blood has a curse, from ancient times to the present, there have never been a lack of daring individuals who wanted to brew it into a potion. Usually, such potions are…”
“…The Elixir of Life!”
Dumbledore murmured, finishing his sentence. He gently raised his hand, without incantation or wand, and reached directly for the bottle.
His hand passed through the white light, and he grasped the wisps of gray mist in his palm.
Vaughn watched this with amazement. No wand, no incantation, and he hadn’t even sensed any magical fluctuation.
Dumbledore observed intently for a while. After a long time, he waved away the gray mist and looked at Vaughn, “The issue you’ve discovered is very important, but I still need to go and see the scene myself…”
He extended his hand, “Fawkes!”
The phoenix Fawkes let out a cry and flew to his arm, gripping him.
“Mr. Weasley, there are candies and pastries on the table. Please wait a moment, I’ll be right back.”
With that, he Apparated away directly. Vaughn was not surprised; although Hogwarts was enchanted with anti-Apparition spells, these spells did not target beings outside of wizards, such as magical creatures like Fawkes or house-elves.
He did not stand on ceremony, walked behind the desk, found a few chocolates from the candy dish that floated to him, and began to eat.
He had been walking for most of the day and was very hungry.
While he was eating, Vaughn heard a voice among the softly chattering portraits calling his name: “Hey, Weasley’s boy.”
Vaughn looked up.
It was Headmaster Black.
The old man with a grim countenance winked at him, “To be able to detect dark magic in unicorn blood, you’re not exactly an innocent little thing, are you? Oh, don’t look at me like that. I never discriminate against dark magic. In fact, I’m happy you’re learning dark magic. What kind of Slytherin wouldn’t know dark magic and still call themselves a genius?”
“I just… want to make a transaction with you!”
He blinked and said in a low voice, “Don’t you want to learn more about dark power? As long as you do one thing for me, I’ll tell you where the old Black manor is. Merlin be my witness, the Black family hides a lot of dark, wicked, forbidden knowledge. As long as you…”
Before he could finish speaking, a white-bearded old man suddenly burst into his frame and tackled him, pinning him down and beating him severely.
“Bastard, you were useless in life, and now you want to harm the younger generation after death? I’ll beat you to death!”
“Teacher, teacher… that’s enough, you old mad dog. I’m already dead, how can you beat me to death?”
The two began to wrestle.
Vaughn watched with great interest.
