Chapter 75: Ron And Harry’s Socially Awkward Moment
In the evening, Vaughn, who was still trying out various spells, received a letter from Zhu Wei Qiong.
The letter was from his mother, containing only a piece of parchment that read, “Throw me into the fireplace.”
This was, of course, not Molly going mad and asking her son to burn her, but rather that the parchment was named “Throw Me Into The Fireplace,” which was a type of Alchemical prop used for fireplace communication.
The thrifty Weasley family rarely used such flashy items. This time, it was likely due to the significant impact of the Wolfsbane Potion incident, and Molly and Arthur felt that a few letters couldn’t explain everything, so they opted for a fireplace call.
The dormitory had a small fireplace, but it couldn’t be used for communication because Alchemical props like “Throw Me Into The Fireplace” utilized the Floo Network.
At Hogwarts, only the large fireplaces in the common rooms of each house and the fireplaces in the professors’ offices were connected to the Floo Network.
Vaughn didn’t go to the common room but directly found Snape.
The professor was still dressed in his usual grim attire, standing amidst a dense collection of Potion Ingredients, his eyes narrowed. He slowly spoke in his classic sarcastic tone, “Well—the now-famous Vaughn Weasley, the new Potions Master. Why have you graced the humble office of the Potions Professor instead of accepting the worship and flattery of those little fools?”
Vaughn’s gaze swept over the prepared ingredients next to Snape, knowing that this arrogant professor was actually waiting for him.
But, unfortunately, he wasn’t here to study Potions today.
Vaughn took out “Throw Me Into The Fireplace” and said sincerely, “Professor, I’d like to borrow the fireplace.”
“…”
Vaughn seemed to see dark clouds gathering above Snape’s head. The Potions Professor’s cheeks stiffened for a moment, and he finally let out a cold hmph, flicking his robe as he walked away.
Seeing that he was in such a bad mood, Vaughn delivered another blow before he left the office: “Oh, Professor, I’ve been wanting to practice Charms lately, so I won’t be coming for a while. Don’t wait for me!”
Snape stumbled.
The next moment, the door slammed shut with a heavy bang.
With such a temper, who knew who would be unlucky next.
Vaughn offered a moment of silence for the unknown unlucky soul, then walked to the fireplace, pulled over Snape’s favorite lounge chair, sat down comfortably, and then threw the parchment into the fire.
The parchment immediately ignited, and the flames in the fireplace seemed to receive some kind of catalyst, rapidly expanding.
Before long, three human figures began to form within the flames.
“Vaughn—my darling boy!”
Molly shrieked.
Vaughn rubbed his forehead. This was why he didn’t want to have the conversation in the common room…
“Mom, Dad, and Ginny, have you returned home? How is Charlie in Romania?”
He quickly asked, lest his mother become emotional and talk endlessly.
Molly was indeed distracted, “We just got back, dear. Mom and Dad are so sorry we weren’t by your side. Seeing the newspaper, you have no idea how worried I was. Merlin, to think you had to face so many adults’ difficulties, I—”
Plump Molly clutched her chest, looking as if she was about to faint.
Arthur beside her quickly patted her back.
Vaughn said helplessly, “Mom, the newspaper exaggerates everything. Besides, Dumbledore was with me at the time, and Uncle Oliver was there too.”
“I wasn’t angry until you mentioned them!” Molly miraculously recovered and put her hands on her hips, shouting, “How could Dumbledore let a child like you take the lead? And Oliver! He actually had the nerve to brag to the whole family about you defeating Selwyn! As an uncle, how could he let his own nephew face an adult wizard? He’d better pray I don’t find him the next time I visit Uncle’s house!”
Molly and Oliver were not biological siblings; she only had two older brothers.
Molly continued her incessant scolding of Dumbledore and Oliver. Arthur on the side looked increasingly dazed, until Ginny, stamping her feet anxiously, said, “Mom, let me talk to Vaughn!”
Only then did Molly reluctantly stop, still full of things to say.
“Wait, dear, Mom isn’t finished yet… Vaughn, Mom is proud of your kindness and persistence, child. I read the reports, and I truly can’t imagine that there are such kind wanderers among werewolves. It was right of you to help them. Don’t worry about the opposition and threats from those who speak against you. Mom and Dad will always support you in doing the right thing!”
“…Thank you, Mom.”
Vaughn said, then looked at Arthur, “It might have some impact on Dad, though. I tricked Fudge with Dumbledore; he is Dad’s boss, after all.”
Arthur, however, showed no fear of his concern, “Don’t worry, son. I’ve found that short, fat man unpleasant for a long time anyway. The worst that could happen is I’d resign. Besides, the Weasleys are a Pure-blood family.”
Pure-blood families in the Wizarding World represented many things, the most typical being the intricate relationships between families.
Outsiders would probably find it hard to imagine that the feuding Weasleys and Malfoys were actually related.
Targeting one Pure-blood could lead to a cascade effect, implicating another group of Pure-bloods. This was the secret to the longevity of Pure-blood families in the Wizarding World.
Vaughn remembered from the original work that even after Voldemort’s resurrection and his control of the Ministry of Magic, Arthur still casually went to work at the Ministry.
He was slightly reassured.
After that, he spoke with his parents for a while longer. Although their rambling was mostly disorganized, Vaughn was not impatient.
He cherished their concern.
They didn’t care about his achievements; they only worried if he had been wronged. For what he wanted to do, as long as it was right, they would support him.
Especially when Ginny, impatient, began kicking her parents’ legs and finally got her chance to speak, crying that she missed him, Vaughn felt his heart suddenly at peace.
“Vaughn, when can you come home?”
“Hmm—about ten more weeks.”
Vaughn played a little trick with time. As expected, upon hearing “weeks,” Ginny, who felt it wasn’t that long, immediately felt less sad.
She happily hopped away and soon returned, holding a fluffy ball. “Vaughn, I received your Christmas gift, and I like it very much. What do you think we should name it?”
The fluffy ball nestled in her arms, sticking out its tongue in a daze.
It was a Puffskein, a very gentle Magical Creature. Vaughn had asked Newt for one after seeing it at the Scamander’s house last time.
This type of Magical Creature was very suitable as a gift for children and was a legal pet.
After discussing the pet’s name with his sister for a while, the duration of “Throw Me Into The Fireplace” was also nearing its end.
Bidding farewell to a reluctant Ginny and arranging to write to his parents if anything came up, Vaughn watched as the flames in the fireplace receded, bringing the call to a close.
Vaughn sighed, suddenly feeling as if time had passed too quickly.
A little melancholic.
Then, this melancholy vanished without a trace as he walked out of the Potions Office.
In the dark corner by the door, an old man in a pale pink robe was standing there, smiling…
“Albus, if the students knew that their beloved Headmaster was actually an old pervert who liked to spy, what would they think?”
“They would understand, Vaughn. You have no idea how happy I was to see a child whose maturity was so concerning able to patiently talk with his family.”
“Then you should be careful. That child might just curse you from behind one day.”
“I’d be happy to be cursed!”
“How come I never noticed you had such a peculiar habit before?”
“Child, when an old man decides to shed all pretense of shame, you can never win an argument against him.”
“…Fine, you win. Where are we going now?”
Having lost this verbal skirmish, Vaughn gave up on arguing with a shameless old lunatic.
At this point, they were both invisible under Dumbledore’s magic, walking slowly through the increasingly silent Hogwarts as night fell.
Hearing his question, Dumbledore winked at him, “I’ll help you, and you should help me.”
As they spoke, they reached the fifth floor. Vaughn immediately reacted, “Is Harry still looking in the mirror every day?”
“Yes…”
Dumbledore sighed, “A few days ago, I was too busy helping you to pay attention to him, and now he’s becoming more and more obsessed with it.”
Vaughn couldn’t help but mock, “So, why did you first think of letting him look into this thing?”
“This involves some of my little plans!”
Dumbledore playfully withheld information.
Vaughn scoffed. He knew very well why. Old Dumbledore wanted to confirm if Harry’s innermost desires deviated from his expectations and was also making arrangements for the upcoming trials.
Only by familiarizing Harry with the Mirror of Erised and then exposing that everything it reflected was false could Harry finally find the correct answer to pass.
However, in Vaughn’s opinion, such artificial trials were meaningless. Everything being under control meant a lack of variables.
The truth was that when a person truly faced danger and destiny’s jests, variables were everywhere.
People only grew after making mistakes, which was essentially learning to deal with those variables.
Old Dumbledore would probably understand this after this time, so the so-called trial would only be for the first years.
Vaughn didn’t want to say more. Since Dumbledore asked for his help, out of principle of transactional integrity, he would naturally help.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Admonish Harry, just as you warned me back then, tell him that what the Mirror shows is just an illusory dream, and he should return to reality.”
Vaughn put on a stern face, “Why don’t you say these words yourself?”
Dumbledore smiled, “Don’t be so resistant, Vaughn. Harry has always considered you his good friend. You should be closer.”
Vaughn rolled his eyes. In the end, the old man still wanted to turn the Golden Trio into a Quartet.
Dream on!
As the two spoke, sounds came from the corridor in the distance. Although they couldn’t see anyone, they could hear footsteps and faint voices:
“Ron, you stepped on my foot again.”
“Sorry, Harry, I’m a bit 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 he didn’t know Ron was coming today either.
The words to admonish Harry were more suitable for when he was indulging in private. Now that Ron was here, Harry wouldn’t be able to get lost in the Mirror of Erised.
Thinking of this, Vaughn’s mood brightened again, “It seems I’m not needed today. Let’s go, Albus. I need to go back and rest.”
Dumbledore shook his beard dejectedly, “Alas, let’s wait until they’ve finished looking. At least let’s ensure they don’t encounter Quirinus.”
Vaughn shrugged and didn’t urge him further.
While they were talking, Harry and Ron also entered the classroom. As they took off their Invisibility Cloak, Ron, upon appearing, immediately scrambled to the mirror.
Harry, while putting away the Invisibility Cloak, reminded him worriedly, “Be careful not to break it. This might be Dumbledore’s.”
“No, how could I bear to break it?”
Ron stared at the mirror in fascination.
“Uh, Ron, what do you see?”
“I see… lots of people taking pictures of me…” Ron mumbled, the freckles on his face gradually turning red. “I see it! It turns out I invented a super-powerful potion, and everyone is looking at me with admiration. Merlin! Harry, I received the Order of Merlin, First Class! First Class!”
Oh, this…
Harry had a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn’t this the picture of Vaughn they saw in the newspaper that morning?
He suddenly felt like complaining.
To what extent was Ron envious and jealous of Vaughn that even his innermost desires mimicked Vaughn’s?
In the corner of the room, Vaughn and Dumbledore also had strange expressions.
“Hmm—Vaughn, it seems you brothers have a good relationship…”
“You’re senile, he’s just jealous.”
“Jealousy can sometimes be a form of motivation!”
As the two were bickering, Harry, looking at Ron, who was almost entirely pressed against the Mirror of Erised, suddenly bit his lip, pulled Ron away, then snatched the black cloth and covered the mirror.
Suddenly awakened from his illusion, Ron was still a little dazed, “Harry…?”
Harry glared, “You’re acting strangely, Ron!”
“Uh, I…”
“You know that what’s in the mirror is false, right? You were the one who told me last time that this kind of magic mirror is usually not a good thing.”
Ron was a little indignant, “I just wanted to take a look. You’ve been looking for days, and nothing’s happened, right?”
“You didn’t seem so casual just now,” Harry said seriously. He took a deep breath, “And, I’ve decided I’m not coming back anymore!”
“…What?”
Harry sat next to Ron, staring blankly at the ground, “That’s right, these past few days I’ve been lost in the mirror’s images. In there, my parents weren’t dead, and there was a whole family… But Ron, they aren’t real. This morning, when I read the newspaper, I suddenly realized that I’ve been completely detached from reality these past few days.”
“Hermione was right. Vaughn is doing something great. He’s the same age as us, yet he’s already working hard to save others. And me? My every day has been spent staring at a mirror…”
Saying this, he pulled out the newspaper he had folded that morning and said to Ron, “You’re right to call me Vaughn’s little fan. He made me realize I can’t dwell in illusions anymore. I should learn from him and do something more meaningful!”
Ron was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “Like, finish our homework, right?”
Harry blinked, and then he and Ron burst into laughter.
What a youthful scene, a young man awakened by his mistakes, a prodigal son returning.
Unfortunately, a round of applause shattered the scene. Dumbledore, having removed his magic at some point, was clapping vigorously while wiping his eyes, “How touching, Vaughn. Look, Harry is taking you as a role model and has broken free from the illusory lies of the Mirror of Erised!”
He even blew his nose forcefully.
But the two young boys in front of the mirror were stunned. They looked at Dumbledore, who had reappeared in the corner, and Vaughn, standing next to him with a stern face.
Harry’s face turned red, and Ron almost moaned as he instinctively asked, “When… when did you get here?”
Vaughn said expressionlessly, “We’ve been here the whole time, respected Ronald Weasley, Order of Merlin, First Class recipient!”
“Ah—”
Ron screamed and scrambled away, scrambling out of the room. Harry covered his face with his sleeve and hurried after him.
Watching their hasty retreat, Dumbledore burst into laughter.
Vaughn complained, “You old scoundrel, is this how you raise your Savior? Be careful Harry doesn’t suffer social death and turn evil!”
Dumbledore winked, “With you as his role model, I believe he won’t.”
“…Shut up!”
Dumbledore, now silent, laughed for a while longer, then looked at the Mirror of Erised, now covered with a black cloth, and suddenly said, “You and Harry are braver than I am…”
He shook his head, no longer looking at the mirror, and waved his hand, sending it off to an unknown location.
He turned to leave, and before going, he said to Vaughn, “Severus told me you’re going to practice Charms next. I suggest you try Memory Magic more. The answer you’re looking for, you already know!”
“The answer you’re looking for, you already know.”
That night, Dumbledore’s words echoed in Vaughn’s mind.
What was the answer he was looking for?
The question was obvious—how to resolve the negative emotions from Dark Magic’s influence on the mind.
This had always been Vaughn’s most troubling issue. A few days ago, when he was talking with Dumbledore, Old Dumbledore had advised him to study Ancient Magic, and he had mentioned this matter.
For years now, if Vaughn had truly wanted to study Dark Magic, he would have had a way to obtain it. Knockturn Alley’s Underground District was a good choice.
Dark wizards were rampant there, and although they lacked integrity and were prone to double-crossing,
with a few more attempts, one could at least acquire the three Unforgivable Curses, if not choose from a variety of Dark Arts.
The main reason Vaughn hadn’t considered it was his fear of Dark Magic’s tendency to twist the mind.
They required extremely intense malice.
This might not illustrate the difficulty. For example, Vaughn clearly remembered from the original work that Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius, Harry’s only remaining relative.
Harry witnessed his godfather’s death with his own eyes. At that moment, he believed his anger, ferocity, hatred, and other negative emotions towards Bellatrix must have reached their peak in his life.
Fueled by those emotions, he cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix.
Yet, even with such intense negative emotions, his Cruciatus Curse was still mocked by Bellatrix as “weak and feeble.”
Harry was already close to adulthood at that time, and his magic was not weak. Bellatrix wasn’t mocking his magic, but the darkness within him.
Even the Cruciatus Curse cast in that extreme state was not powerful or dark enough for Bellatrix, which made one wonder how terrifying the negative emotions required for the Unforgivable Curses must be.
Vaughn didn’t believe any normal person could accumulate such terrifying negative emotions in their mind all day and still maintain sanity and normal thought processes.
He did want to learn Dark Magic, but if the price was turning himself into a lunatic, then he would politely decline.
Lying in bed, Vaughn thought about Dumbledore’s words:
“Going by his meaning, the solution to Dark Magic’s influence on the mind is Memory Magic?”
Thinking this, he suddenly sat up and found the magic book Dumbledore had given him, titled 《Journey Through Memory Magic, Past and Present》.
He opened the flyleaf and looked at the author’s handwritten calligraphy:
【Memory is the soul’s outer garment】
At that time, he had just started learning Memory Magic. Initially, he thought this sentence was the author’s artistic flair. Later, when he realized advanced Transfiguration required applying Memory Magic to simulate the soul, he thought the author was hinting at its versatility.
Now, his understanding of this sentence had changed again.
“So the answer has always been before my eyes… Memory is the soul’s outer garment. The purpose of an outer garment is to shield from wind, rain, and dust. When it gets dirty or contaminated, it can be replaced, and the soul behind the garment remains pure and untainted…”
“But, how does one weave this outer garment?”
Vaughn now had some understanding of Memory Magic. Emotions and memories are not isolated, independent entities but different manifestations of subjective cognition during brain activity.
They are essentially one. It’s not as simple as separating them and weaving a false memory to produce corresponding emotions.
The emergence of emotions might actually draw upon all memories. For example, when a person feels humiliated and angry, they will recall all humiliating experiences, even tracing back to the beginning of their memories.
If one wants to deceive oneself with a false memory, it means modifying all memories in one’s mind, weaving a sufficiently realistic life. Otherwise, one’s own cognitive abilities will tell you that what you’re thinking is fake.
Vaughn opened the System Panel and browsed all the Memory Spells he had learned.
Legilimency, Obliviation, Sweet Dreams Charm, Nightmare Charm, False Memory Charm…
Looking at each spell, Vaughn pondered for a long time and finally came up with some ideas:
“If I want to weave an outer garment for myself, first, I can use the False Memory Charm to create a sufficiently vast framework. This framework needs to accommodate the entire life of a dark wizard, making it reasonable and logical, such as the reasons for his descent into darkness, why he succumbed to Dark Magic, why he went mad…”
“…The Sweet Dreams Charm and Nightmare Charm will be responsible for amplifying the memory effects, making the good profound and then destroying it to make the pain unforgettable, providing a believable reason for the fall. Finally, the Obliviation Charm, to ensure that when this ‘outer garment’ is sufficiently contaminated, it can be ‘destroyed with one click’…”
Legilimency will be involved in the entire weaving process, and then Occlumency, which will protect the true memories!
After planning this far, Vaughn was a little taken aback.
He calculated that to complete this Dark Magic outer garment, he would need about ten Memory Spells, and not just at a basic level, but at least LV3.
This was undoubtedly a massive undertaking, and he couldn’t verify its effectiveness yet.
Although, in his opinion, the approach was sound.
“It seems this can’t be solved quickly. It will require a large number of test subjects to verify if my idea is correct…”
Vaughn felt a bit of a headache. If this were an ordinary wizard, they might spend their entire lives on it, which explained why this method was rarely heard of in the Wizarding World.
The road ahead was difficult, but Vaughn’s mood was still good.
Even the most difficult path is better than no path at all. To be able to casually wield great power in the future, while still young and able to frolic, working hard was not unacceptable.
What made him happier was that after lying in the darkness for a while longer, the time passed midnight, and 1991 completely became the past, officially entering January 1, 1992.
The system silently displayed a message before his eyes:
【Last month’s Reputation Points have been settled】
Vaughn opened the System Panel.
【Host: Vaughn Weasley】
【Magic Power Scale: 456 (Normal Adult Wizard is 500)】
【Talents: Charms Mastery 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 8, Potions Mastery 10, Herbology 6, Divination 2 (Max is 10)】
【Spells: Occlumency LV5(MAX), Evanesco LV4（11/16）, Levitation Charm LV4（9/16）, Full Body-Bind Curse LV4(9/16), Disarming Charm LV4(8/16)…Sectumsempra LV1（4/6）, Sweet Dreams Charm LV1（3/4）, Patronus Charm LV1（4/8）, Vanishing Spell LV1（2/6）, Legilimency LV1(3/8)…】
【Potions: “Vaughn’s Beauty” series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc…】
【Reputation Points: 22 points】
The last time Vaughn added points was on November 1st. He had kept 1 point from then. He also continued to hold onto the 6 points settled from the previous month in December.
In retrospect, the Wolfsbane Potion incident had directly increased his monthly Reputation Points settlement to 15 points!
That’s an increase of 9 points from before. One event exceeded his efforts over the past few years!
Vaughn subconsciously hugged Guo Guo Cha, suddenly having an illusion of being very wealthy…
