Chapter 109 The Born Leader
Werewolf Affairs Committee!
The most popular organization in the wizarding world this year is still small compared to the massive Ministry of Magic, and its functions are relatively simple. However, anyone with a discerning eye can see its vibrant energy and the potential that has been subtly revealed during its formation.
Dumbledore, Wizengamor, and Barty Crouch, who suddenly joined two months ago, along with his Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation.
Almost under everyone's watchful eyes, it gradually tore apart the power structure of the Ministry of Magic, giving everyone a glimpse into Fudge's weakness and incompetence, while also highlighting Vaughn Weasley's genius Potions Mastery, his shrewdness, cunning, and ruthlessness in manipulating politics.
It must be said that Vaughn's actions in promoting the establishment of the "Werewolf Affairs Committee" hit every sore spot for the Slytherins.
Slytherins generally have a strong admiration for strength, and Vaughn is seen by them as a natural leader, a powerful, cunning, and ruthless man.
Considering his age, these restless and quick-witted individuals have already begun to place bets.
Whether the Slytherin team wins or loses, or whether they need to celebrate, is unimportant and has almost nothing to do with them as they are about to leave school. Their hard work in preparing the banquet is simply for this occasion to interact with Vaughn!
Surrounded by this group of elite-looking guys, Vaughn made no comment and rarely spoke, simply enjoying his food slowly.
In his eyes, these "little wizards" who hadn't even graduated yet were too inexperienced.
Although they try their best to imitate the mannerisms of their parents, their inherent immaturity and shallowness are on full display, and their speech is nothing but empty flattery with no real substance.
Not really interested.
She seemed to sense that he wasn't in a good mood.
At that moment, a handsome young man with slicked-back hair, a sharp suit, and a smooth, soft velvet robe approached Vaughn with a smile, no longer beating around the bush:
"Mr. Weasley, I wonder if the 'Werewolf Affairs Committee' has any plans for external recruitment? As you know, we will be graduating soon, and if we could participate in your great cause, it would be an unforgettable honor for us."
His bluntness made the people around him blush a little.
It's too unreserved. Students who have always lived a comfortable life and have never seen the dangers of society are not very accepting of it.
Vaughn, however, finally looked up and curiously asked, "What's your name?"
The young man maintained a smile and a respectful attitude: "Mr. Weasley, my name is Phil Travers."
A familiar surname.
His superb memory magic ensures that Vaughn will never forget anything again; all his experiences are stored in his memory archive, which he can easily access.
After thinking for a moment, Vaughn realized where the familiar feeling came from and asked, "Alred Travers, is that you...?"
Alred Travers was someone Vaughn had met a few months earlier at the Wizengamo Inquiry. During the inquiry, Travers asked Vaughn a question that wasn't particularly offensive, probably a plant arranged by Amelia.
The Travers family is one of the 28 Holy Clans. They have little ambition and their current survival strategy in the magical world is to bet on multiple fronts.
With its numerous branches of blood, some supporting pure-bloods and others aligned with Dumbledore and Amelia, the Traverse family can remain standing no matter how things evolve in the future.
In Vaughn's mind, Phil Travers's willingness to approach him must be related to Ald Travers.
Sure enough, Phil replied, "It's my grandfather, Mr. Weasley. He greatly admires you and often tells me to learn from you. He also especially hopes that after I graduate, I can join the Werewolf Affairs Committee and become an officer, working under you."
Vaughn remained noncommittal: "The Werewolf Affairs Committee is not my private company. It is governed by the committee. I am just an ordinary member. Don't say things that are so ambiguous next time."
Although he was refuted, Phil was delighted, knowing that this meant Vaughn had agreed to his request.
"Yes, sir. I promise there won't be a next time, Mr. Weasley."
Seeing that Phil had successfully climbed up to Vaughn, the other snakes who had felt ashamed just moments before immediately abandoned their coyness and expressed their desire to join the werewolf affairs committee.
Vaughn did not refuse, although nominally he was not in charge of the committee's recruitment work, so he left Remus Lupin's contact information.
The Werewolf Affairs Committee, as the name suggests, is led by its members, and below them, there will certainly be a large number of front-line staff.
The committee already had plans to recruit from the public, and Lupin had even worried that the stigma surrounding wolf disease might prevent them from recruiting wizards.
So it's a good thing that someone wants to join.
Having achieved their goal, the group didn't linger. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they made way for others who wanted to come over!
Of course, not everyone came for the "Werewolf Affairs Committee." Some simply wanted to take advantage of the festive occasion to get to know Vaughn. Even though Vaughn seemed rather indifferent, it didn't dampen their enthusiasm.
Throughout the rest of the banquet, Vaughn was surrounded by busy people, though he himself didn't seem to notice it; most of the time, his attention was focused on the food.
The bustling, multifaceted dinner party finally came to an end late into the night.
When Vaughn returned to his dorm, Guoguocha came out to greet him, clinging to his feet and rubbing against him affectionately.
Bending down to pick up Guoguocha, Vaughn brushed his fur with his fingers as he frowned and looked toward the corner of the dorm room: "When are you going to get rid of your bad habit of barging into other people's rooms, Albus?"
Familiar magical fluctuations rolled in the shadows of the corner.
Before long, as if squeezed out of thin air, Dumbledore, dressed in his pajamas, appeared.
Fruit Tea's eyes widened: "Meow!"
Vaughn patted it and comforted it, "It's not your fault. He's been doing this kind of shameless and despicable thing for a hundred years. How old are you? How could you possibly find out about him?"
Dumbledore, unfazed by Vaughn's insult of "shameless," smiled and said, "The dormitory doesn't belong to you, Vaughn. It belongs to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, as the headmaster, I have the right to enter and leave any dormitory at any time."
"So, you've been inside the girls' dormitory too? Does Professor McGonagall know about this?"
Dumbledore: "..."
He casually choked Old Deng into silence. Vaughn sat down on the edge of the bed with the fruit tea in his arms and asked, "What brings you here today?"
Old Deng was a little depressed, perhaps because he didn't expect that in Vaughn's eyes, he was actually an old bastard who broke into the girls' dormitory.
He felt he needed to explain himself: "Don't spread rumors, kid, I've never been there..."
Vaughn interrupted impatiently, "Alright, I believe you. Just tell me what it is."
Dumbledore, of course, never entered the girls' dormitory.
This isn't Vaughn believing in his character, but rather in his...psychological gender...
Dumbledore grew increasingly frustrated by his words, but unable to continue, he could only sigh and say, "My dear, can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong? It's so sad that you always have prejudices against me."
Vaughn sneered: "Is that so? We beat Gryffindor today, and the banquet that just ended was also quite good. I'm in a very good mood right now. You see, you can leave now, right?"
How could I possibly leave?
Dumbledore walked up to Vaughn with a smile, conjured a chair, and sat down. As if he hadn't heard the last sentence, he asked with great interest, "Was the banquet pleasant? Did something interesting happen? Would you mind telling me?"
"I mind, but I don't want to talk about it!"
"..."
Vaughn knew what Dumbledore wanted to hear.
The old man probably noticed the Slytherin students approaching him, which is why he rushed over.
Because something like this has happened before, a snake who was still a student brought all his classmates under his command and formed an organization called Death Eaters!
This is why Vaughn was impatient with Dumbledore when he found him in his room.
"I've told you many times, Albus, I'm not Tom Riddle," Vaughn soothed the wide-eyed old man who was about to pounce on him and bite his fruit tea. "I also don't like having someone constantly monitoring my every move. It makes me very uncomfortable, you understand?"
Dumbledore was speechless for a moment, then decisively apologized: "I'm sorry, you know I'm a bit sensitive about this..."
"No need to apologize," Vaughn interrupted him. "You'll just do it again next time anyway."
After spending several months together, Vaughn had come to understand Dumbledore's personality better and better.
He was actually a very suspicious person. Of course, it could also be because he was old. Aging made his grasp of things less accurate. He must have realized the problem himself, so he was no longer as confident as he was when he was young. When he was young, Dumbledore never nipped danger in the bud.
The atmosphere became somewhat tense for a moment.
However, both of them are very mature in their thinking. Although they have some conflicts, they are not irreconcilable. In other words, their relationship has been complicated since the day they decided to cooperate.
Sometimes they act like a mentor and apprentice, or friends, with one supporting the other and the other providing assistance.
At times, they are like rivals and potential enemies, watching and being wary of each other's actions.
After a long silence, Dumbledore took the initiative to ease the atmosphere, and said with a smile, "It seems that I need to reflect on myself more in the future. I should give you more trust and care, and chat with you more often... talk about Harry, Ron and Miss Granger."
Vaughn remained noncommittal, but also softened his tone, changing the subject: "How's Harry? Is he still crying?"
"Of course not, that boy is still very strong. He, Ron, and Miss Granger are in the Forbidden Forest now, three reckless little fellows."
"Forbidden Forest? What are they doing there?"
Dumbledore gave Vaughn a strange look and said, "I think... this defeat may have hit him too hard, and he's starting to have some strange ideas."
Vaughn: "?"
"He's getting proactive on the Quirinas issue, Vaughn. He seems to want to get a reward from me by getting Quirinas on his side... like, giving Gryffindor a few hundred points so they can win the House Cup!"
"..." Vaughn was stunned.
This idea is... whimsical, yet somewhat reasonable.
The problem is that Harry probably never imagined that his plans had already been thwarted by Vaughn.
Dumbledore's strange expression stemmed from this. He looked at Vaughn and said, "Remember when we first discussed our collaboration? You asked me not to give Harry and the others extra points for reasons outside of their studies. I wondered why you made that request. Now, Vaughn, sometimes I really suspect you have a talent for divination!"
Does having a talent for divination (level 2) count? Absolutely!
Vaughn remained expressionless and ignored Dumbledore's latest probing, simply asking:
"What does his desire to capture Quirrell have to do with going to the Forbidden Forest?"
"They want to consult a centaur for divination!"
...
"Merlin... Harry, you actually know centaurs?"
The Forbidden Forest at night is almost a completely different place from the one during the day.
Pitch black, eerie, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, the strangely shaped trees all around, the faint sounds of nocturnal animals, and the glowing eyes peeking out from the bushes made everything in the forest mysterious, unknown, and terrifying.
Ron's attention wasn't on that; he held up his lantern and stared excitedly at Harry: "When did this happen? I've never heard you mention it before!"
Harry rubbed his nose awkwardly: "Because I'm embarrassed to say it, do you guys remember that time when Vaughn put a fake personality in my head to force me to learn Occlumency?"
"I remember, you were in terrible shape during that time."
Yes, it was terrible, Harry didn't want to recall it now, but to explain to his friends, he said, "One day, for breaking the rules, a false personality punished me, making me think I was a horse... I was Ferrenze, whom I met that day."
"Wait, what about the details?"
"No details!"
Harry was so ashamed he could barely lift his head.
Ron was about to ask another question when Hermione, who hadn't really wanted to come and had barely spoken the whole way, suddenly stopped and whispered at the two of them, "Shh, keep your voices down, didn't you hear me?"
"What?"
Caught up in her emotions, Harry and Ron listened intently, and the next moment, they heard a faint rustling sound sliding through the surrounding darkness.
Ron held the lantern high in his hand, trying to see what it was.
But as the firelight spread, beyond the gradually blurring circle of light, there was only deep darkness.
A gentle breeze blew from the depths of the forest, brushing against their hair and rustling through the branches of the trees overhead.
But the rustling sound disappeared.
Harry quietly drew his wand, swallowed hard, and asked, "Can you still hear me?"
"It seems not…" Ron turned to talk to Harry and saw Harry and Hermione's blurry figures a few steps away, shrouded in darkness. He suddenly realized he had done something stupid—he was in the dangerous Forbidden Forest, holding his lantern high as if afraid that nothing else could see him.
Ron's heart pounded. He quickly put down the lantern and forced a smile, saying, "Perhaps it's just the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves..."
Hermione interrupted him: "There was no wind just now, Ron."
"...That might have been some animal we scared away...What is this, Hermione?"
Ron, who was still scared a second ago, immediately shifted his attention when he saw Hermione pull a palm-sized, seemingly exquisite Muggle machine out of her purse.
Harry followed the gaze and recognized it, "A Walkman?"
What is that?
"Uh, a machine that can record and play music. I've only ever seen those on TV before. You know, Aunt Penny would never buy me something so expensive..."
Hermione, who was clutching her Walkman tightly, was speechless.
These two guys actually started chatting. Do they think they're still in the castle?
Just as she was about to scold them, the rustling sounds she had heard earlier came again.
This time, it didn't disappear; instead, it rapidly approached this direction, faster and faster.
Ron and Harry finally realized what was happening and immediately shut their mouths. They hurriedly squeezed next to Hermione and shielded her behind them.
Harry raised his wand shakily.
Ron tried to adjust the angle to help provide lighting.
As the rustling sound drew closer, the dense bushes ahead parted, revealing a slender snake, about a foot long, with wings on its back, slowly emerging.
The dim light shone on it, making it look like a piece of jade. Its fine scales reflected the light, showing a greenish-blue color with hints of golden-red.
It looks absolutely stunning!
Harry's mouth gaped slightly as he instinctively lowered his wand in the face of such a beautiful creature.
Ron, who was standing beside him and had finally seen the small snake clearly, exclaimed in surprise, "Merlin! It's a bird serpent! There are bird serpents in the Forbidden Forest!"
"Bird snake?"
Harry curiously examined the seemingly harmless little creature, feeling that its name was quite fitting, matching its physical characteristics and sounding cute.
But to his surprise, Ron's expression of delight vanished in an instant: "Damn it, normally a bird-snake shouldn't approach humans unless... unless its nest is nearby and it thinks we want to steal its eggs!"
"?"
Before Harry could express his doubts, he immediately understood why Ron had said something was wrong and why his expression of surprise had suddenly turned into horror!
call--
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the woods. Harry could feel the previously calm air around him suddenly turn violent, the sticky currents rubbing against his skin before being swallowed by the bird-snake.
In an instant, a gale howled, and an invisible vortex formed, with the bird-snake at its center.
Harry's eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.
Astonished, I watched as the bird-snake suddenly expanded, expanded—within the turbulent vortex of airflow.
In the blink of an eye, his vision was filled with a colossal creature. Harry struggled to lift his head and saw a monster suddenly magnified a thousand times... no, perhaps even ten thousand times, looking down at him.
Its mouth was open, the scales under its jaw trembled, and it emitted a piercing scream.
Even Harry, a complete novice in the wizarding world, understood from its actions that it was probably not meant to greet the three of them in a friendly manner.
Harry's hands trembled as he tried to raise his wand, but he suddenly realized with dismay what magic he could use to fight such a huge monster.
Just when he was at his wit's end and began to consider whether turning around and running away would be of any use.
Hermione, who had just been blocked behind them, stepped forward, raised her Walkman, and turned it on:
"Yo yo—"
A clear, crisp sound, like the call of a deer, was played from the Walkman.
Then, Harry, unsure of Hermione's intentions and about to reach out to pull her back, was astonished to find that, amidst the scream, the enormous, terrifying monster above them suddenly stopped its intimidating flapping of wings.
The howling wind in the forest also stopped abruptly.
The giant bird-snake tilted its head, its eyes, almost larger than the three of them combined, staring down in confusion.
"Hermione, this..."
"Shh—" Hermione gestured for Harry to shut up, then turned on the Walkman to rewind and start playing again, and the "yo-yo" sound rang out once more.
The serpent's moon-like eyes grew increasingly confused as it stared intently at Hermione.
But to Harry and Ron's delight, its body began to shrink as if a balloon were deflating.
Before long, it returned to its previous slender size of less than a foot long, coiled around a bush, gazing at the Walkman in Hermione's hand.
"Merlin's beard…" Ron breathed a sigh of relief; he had almost wet himself in fright. "This is the first time I've ever seen a bird-snake transform; it was terrifying."
Harry also felt a bit like he had just escaped a disaster, but his attention was now more focused on Hermione, or rather, on the Walkman in her hand.
"Hermione, what was that sound?"
Hermione was about to answer when a deep voice came from the darkness outside the light: "That's the cry of a unicorn. Someone has imprinted the cry of a unicorn into the Muggle machine she's holding!"
"Who!" Ron exclaimed, raising his lantern in alarm.
But Harry's face lit up with joy, and he called out, "Frenzer, is that you?"
The bushes swayed, and the person who had spoken earlier stepped out... No, it wasn't actually a person. He had a human-like upper body, half-naked, with only a few pieces of animal skin wrapped around his shoulders. The most striking feature was his hair, which was platinum blonde and seemed to glow in the swaying moonlight in the forest.
Even shinier than his hair was his lower body, a body like that of a silver-maned horse, the luster of its silvery-white fur undiminished even in the darkness.
Looking at him, Ron let out a groan: "Oh—centaur!"
The centaur named Frenzer glanced at Ron, then bent down and gently embraced Harry as he trotted over.
"Ference, it's been a long time. I've missed you."
"I miss you too, Harry, but like I warned you before, you shouldn't come to the Forbidden Forest!"
Harry felt a little embarrassed by Frenze's reproachful expression.
However, he knew that the other party meant well, and he had indeed just experienced danger and realized for the first time that the Forbidden Forest was not an ordinary forest that could be trespassed in.
Thinking of the danger, Harry asked, "Frenzer, you just said that the Walkman Hermione was holding was playing the sound of a unicorn?"
"Yes," Ferencze nodded in reply, then pushed Harry aside. "We'll talk about the details later. Let me first calm down the bird-snake you've disturbed…"
As he spoke, he slowly walked to the bird-snake, knelt down, made a strange sound, dug an insect out of the soil, and gently offered it to the bird-snake's mouth.
The serpent hesitated for a moment, then looked at Hermione and the Walkman in her hand before opening its mouth and eating the worm.
Harry noticed that Ferrenze breathed a sigh of relief when the bird-snake ate the worm.
After the bird-snake finished eating the insects, Ferenze called out twice more. The bird-snake, which was now completely calm, responded with a few clear chirps before turning and leaving.
Only after watching it disappear did Ferenze turn around and scold, "You guys were too reckless! If it weren't for that little girl's Muggle machine, Elena probably would have destroyed everything around here before things calmed down!"
"Elena?"
"That bird snake, Elena is her name, a young mother who laid her first eggs this year. Her babies won't hatch until next month, and this is the most sensitive time for her."
Ron quietly added, "It's said that the eggshells of bird snakes are made of pure silver, and many hunters steal bird snake eggs."
Ferenze glanced at him again and nodded: "Yes, the greed of human hunters has almost led to the extinction of the bird-snake, which is why Elena went mad when she saw you... How did you end up near her lair?"
"Uh…" Harry scratched his head and said in a low voice, "My friends and I wanted to come find you. I distinctly remember taking this route last time…"
"No, you've taken the wrong way, Harry, you're the little pony who lives in the castle..."
Ferenze sighed, but didn't continue to criticize. Instead, he said, "Come with me. Let's get out of here first. This road is a beast trail; it's not safe."
He turned and pushed aside the bushes, and the trio quickly followed.
Harry walked quickly to Ferenczek's side and asked curiously:
"Ferrenzer, you haven't mentioned the unicorns yet… Oh, right, I haven't introduced you to them yet. These two are my good friends, Ron and Hermione."
"Hello, little ponies!"
Ron and Hermione were a little confused by the centaur's unique way of addressing them, and greeted him awkwardly.
Ferrenzer glanced at the Walkman that Hermione was still holding: "Unicorns are the spirits of the forest, the guardians of nature. Their calls have magical power to soothe the hearts of animals. You should thank Hermione, Harry. If it weren't for her, I can't guarantee I could have calmed Elena down."
Then, he asked curiously, "Hermione, why is there a unicorn's cry in your Muggle machine? I can tell it's a sentence, and you know a unicorn?"
Hermione hesitated for a moment, but under the questioning gazes of the three, she still said, "No, it was recorded by my boyfriend. He speaks the language of unicorns."
Hermione didn't tell the whole story; Vaughn actually gave her quite a few strange things.
This is also why she didn't firmly stop Harry and Ron from coming to the Forbidden Forest today.
But what she said was enough to shock the three of them.
"A human wizard who speaks the language of unicorns?" Ferenze shook his head. "I've never heard of such a thing!"
Ron was completely dumbfounded. He had lived with Vaughn for over ten years and had never known that Vaughn had this trick up his sleeve!
Wizards speaking magical creature languages is not uncommon in the magical world, but as far as he knew, it was usually related to the wizard's bloodline.
Did the Weasleys have unicorn blood in their ancestors?
this...
Ron's mind was immediately filled with all sorts of terrible imaginings.
In contrast, Harry, the novice in magic, didn't think that far ahead. He was more interested in the unicorn itself, this legendary creature that was very famous even in Muggle society.
"Ferencer, are there unicorns in the Forbidden Forest?"
"There was," Ferenczek replied.
"Ah…" Harry was speechless. The story was already unfolding like a BBC documentary, a heartbreaking ending.
Seemingly sensing his thoughts, Ferenc smiled: "Kind little ponies, they didn't die, they were just moved away. It was probably last year, not long after you started school, when an evil fellow attacked the unicorns..."
Hermione, who had barely spoken all night, finally encountered something she recognized: "For unicorn blood?"
"Yes!"
Seeing Harry and Ron looking at her curiously, Hermione said irritably, "Unicorn blood has the power to bring the dead back to life. It's mentioned in 'A Thousand Magical Herbs and Mushrooms,' but of course, it tells us not to try to use it because it's cursed!"
"A knowledgeable little pony," Ferenze praised. "Indeed, unicorns are pure and sacred creatures, the embodiment of kindness and beauty. To kill them is like killing one's conscience, and will inevitably suffer the backlash of nature and the stars."
Harry didn't quite understand what was being said, but he knew the consequences would be dire. He asked, puzzled, "Then why does that evil guy need unicorn blood?"
Ferenze shook his head and sighed: "When a despicable soul has nothing and nowhere to turn, he can't care about anything else. Even if it's blasphemous and sacred, even if he knows it's poison, he will drink it in order to continue living, even at the cost of his humanity."
What kind of person, under what circumstances, would go to such an extreme?
Harry felt a chill run down his spine.
As Ferenze led the way through the bushes, he continued, "We were all very nervous. The tribe had lived in the Forbidden Forest for hundreds of years and had never heard of anyone attacking a unicorn. That kind of evil that completely abandoned humanity and left no trace of goodness was truly terrifying."
"Fortunately, not long after the attack, a..."
At this point, Ferenczek glanced at Ron again, or rather, at his red hair: "A handsome red-haired pony who investigated the matter with Hagrid, and then he and Dumbledore moved all the unicorns away."
"It's Vaughn!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, Vaughn Weasley, that's what I heard Dumbledore call him… What's your relationship with him, Ron the Pony?"
"..."
Ron never expected that after listening to the story for so long, it would seem to be related to Vaughn again.
hateful!
Does that guy have the ability to create clones? How come he seems to be everywhere?
Seeing Ron's dark expression and reluctance to speak, Harry briefly explained the relationship between Vaughn and Ron to Ferrenzer, but his main attention was elsewhere.
Harry had a sudden intuition after hearing Ferrenze's description of that "evil guy".
Following his intuition, he asked, "Ferencer, have you seen the man who attacked the unicorn?"
"I didn't. Ronan saw it, but he said he could only see a black robe."
A black robe!
The trio exchanged a glance:
The man in black! Quirrell!
Chapter 110 Fate is not terrifying, what is terrifying is the unknown.
Evil, terrifying, wearing black robes, and at Hogwarts... The trio couldn't think of anyone else who fit these criteria.
"We always thought Quirrell wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone to make gold…" Ron's voice was low and hoarse, his tone heavy: "But now it seems he probably wants to use the Philosopher's Stone to prolong his life."
Harry and Hermione nodded. They hadn't considered the possibility of prolonging life before, after all, Quirrell looked so young, who could have imagined such a development?
This new discovery weighed heavily on their minds.
Because the nature of the issue had suddenly changed, even though the three were still young, they were able to distinguish which was more important, the economic issue or the life issue.
Ron gritted his teeth: "I should have known. Last year, he dared to cast the Killing Curse on Vaughn in the castle. How could it be just for the gold? Murder and theft are completely different things. Theft only gets you locked up in Azkaban, but murder gets you the kiss of a Dementor!"
It was another language Harry couldn't understand.
He wasn't in the mood to ask what Azkaban was or what the Dementor's Kiss was; he just felt that he should brush up on some basic knowledge of the magical world during his summer vacation.
He simply asked anxiously, "So what do we do now?"
Because he suddenly realized that his plan seemed to be unable to proceed.
Compared to his and Ron's panic and anger, Hermione remained calm. After thinking for a moment, she said, "This is no longer something we can handle, Harry. We must inform Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore as soon as possible."
"But..."
"No buts, and don't use finding evidence as an excuse anymore!" Hermione said sternly. "Quirok dared to drink unicorn blood; his health must be in terrible shape. It's unimaginable that we've been living with such a ticking time bomb in the same school for a whole year!"
"A person driven to the brink of desperation like this, no one knows when he will be pushed to his limit, or what kind of madness he will go through. I wouldn't be surprised if he blew up Hogwarts right now. You can't imagine how ruthless a person would be to survive!"
"I know you want to catch him and ask Dumbledore for a reward to give Gryffindor points, but things are different now, Harry. Are you going to put the lives of the entire school at risk?"
"I…" Harry's lips twitched a few times, but he couldn't bring himself to say the selfish words.
He knew Hermione was right. Even a fish thrown into a pot of boiling oil would thrash about to survive, let alone a person, a dark wizard.
Although it was painful to give up the last chance, Harry knew he couldn't stand by and watch his classmates stay with a volcano that was about to erupt.
He nodded vigorously: "Okay, let's go back now!"
To his surprise, Ron stopped him: "Wait, now that you're here, you can have Ferrenze use centaur divination to predict Quirrell's plans. It's not urgent, it won't take more than a few minutes."
Nearby, Ferenze, who had been silently listening to the trio's "confidential" conversation for a while, hesitated when the three looked at him. Instead of refusing or agreeing, he asked:
"Harry, haven't you always wondered why we all knew you when you broke into the tribe?"
"In fact, we have long foreseen your destiny, Harry Potter, the boy who survived. From the day you stepped into Hogwarts, the stars of your destiny began to twinkle."
"you..."
"Ference, you damn bastard, do you know what you're doing?"
A furious, savage roar from afar interrupted Ferenczec's words.
Harry and his two companions were startled. They quickly looked in the direction of the sound and saw a burly centaur covered in black fur, looking very savage, running towards them from a distance. Behind him was a much thinner centaur.
Two centaurs quickly approached the group. The hot-tempered, savage black-haired centaur raised his hoof at Frenzer: "We swore an oath never to defy the will of Heaven. Are you going to break your oath?"
"Bane, don't slander me!" Ferenz said angrily. "I haven't agreed to Harry Potter yet!"
"But you've already said it, you're going to tell him the trajectory of the stars, this little colt chosen by fate!"
"I was just hesitating..."
The sudden appearance of two centaurs and the unexpected argument left the trio bewildered.
They didn't even understand why asking Quirrell to do a divination about Quirrell sounded like it was related to Harry.
...
Let's rewind to a short time ago, to the treetops above Harry and his friends.
A vast amount of magic enveloped the space, obscuring the figures of Dumbledore and Vaughn, who sat on the magic carpet, looking down below.
Hermione plays the unicorn's voice to soothe the bird-snake, and Harry asks about the unicorn in Ferrenze, which leads to the events of last year.
Dumbledore exclaimed, "Beautiful fate, unpredictable fate, isn't it, Vaughn?"
"...Yes, everything seems to have been arranged..."
Even after analyzing it many times, Vaughn is still terrified by the unpredictability and strangeness of fate, just as he said, everything seems to be arranged.
Harry lost the Quidditch match, and he "reasonably" tried to seize one last chance.
They then "reasonably" prepared to consult a centaur for divination, hoping to pinpoint Quirrell's timing.
Then, in the dangerous forbidden forest, they "reasonably" encountered danger.
Hermione, just as logically, used the Walkman Vaughn had prepared for her, which contained a recording of unicorn language, to resolve the danger.
Then, by discussing unicorns, the reasons for their disappearance are brought up.
Step by step, the information that had been concealed was unexpectedly revealed to Harry in a way that seemed to follow the logic of events, helping him to reconstruct the whole incident and determine Quirrell's condition.
It's like... there's an invisible script pushing Harry to meet his destined other half as soon as possible!
Vaughn even discovered that he himself was involved in those events and played a decisive role.
Normally, since he decided to intervene last year and move the unicorn away, Harry's fate should have already been altered by him.
Without the unicorn, Quirrell wouldn't have come to the Forbidden Forest; without the incident of delivering Norbert and being discovered while out at night, Harry wouldn't have come to the Forbidden Forest, and he certainly wouldn't have met the centaurs.
Originally, with Vaughn's interference and Dumbledore's deliberate concealment, Harry and Voldemort, who was parasitizing Quirrell's brain, should have been on two parallel paths.
But today, these two parallel lines suddenly closed!
Vaughn only just realized that the foreshadowing of their closure had been planted a long time ago—on Halloween last year, the day he tried to take advantage of Voldemort!
That day marked the beginning of everything that followed.
If he hadn't wanted to use Voldemort to get the Philosopher's Stone, there wouldn't have been the later incident where Harry and Hermione wanted to find him and Ron.
Without the search for Harry, Harry wouldn't have suddenly encountered Voldemort, causing the connection between the Horcruxes to be activated prematurely.
There's even less chance that Harry would be taught Occlumency in advance to prevent him from being influenced by Voldemort.
It was while teaching Harry Occlumency that Vaughn, in order to speed up his progress, inserted an experimental personality implant into his brain.
The punishment mechanism of the virtual personality led Harry to believe he was a horse one day, and he secretly ran into the Forbidden Forest, where fate decreed that he would meet the centaur Frenzel!
The centaur Frenzier was a crucial turning point in Harry's original destiny, as he was the one who told Harry that Voldemort was still alive.
Harry, who harbors a deep hatred for Voldemort, also began to shift from being passive to being active from that day on. Like a moth drawn to a flame, he actively rushed towards anything related to his mortal enemy, Voldemort, pushing their intertwined fates to gradually form a storm that swept everything!
"I, and my persona... have become tools of fate!"
Vaughn couldn't quite describe his feelings. Was it excitement? Fear? Shame and anger at being used and fooled? It seemed to be a combination of all of them, yet there was something else entirely.
All he knew was that beneath the solid shell forged by his maxed-out brain-sealing technique, his inner world was already a raging storm. The storm of various negative emotions gave him an impulse to destroy everything.
And he can do it!
With just a flick of his wand, he could kill Ferenze and halt the course of fate.
But his remaining reason told him that such behavior was meaningless, and that Frenze was just a link in the chain of fate. Or rather, the only protagonists in the vortex of fate were Harry and Voldemort, and everyone else was just a pawn to help them complete their grand performance!
Including him, Vaughn Weasley!
Holding his wand, Vaughn remained expressionless. He was used to hiding and suppressing his emotions, and even in this situation, he had enough rationality to control himself.
But he couldn't hide it from Dumbledore.
"Is it hard to accept? Are you angry?" Dumbledore suddenly asked, looking at the trio below who were gathered together, discussing Quirrell's life status.
Vaughn glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Not receiving a reply, Dumbledore didn't mind and continued, "I used to be like you. To be precise, intelligent people like us seem to have a particularly hard time accepting that our actions become part of a certain concept or thing."
"That would make us feel that our talents and efforts have suddenly become meaningless... Mediocre people don't have this kind of trouble, because only intelligent people are so proud, so proud to believe in themselves, even more so than in fate!"
This was the first time Vaughn had ever heard Dumbledore say that he was a proud man.
Although Vaughn had already noticed it during their long-term interactions.
However, he was in a bad mood and said sarcastically, "Didn't you always advocate the idea of equality for all? Why are you distinguishing between mediocre and intelligent people today?"
Dumbledore knew he was taking his anger out on someone, but he didn't mind. He just smiled and said, "It seems you also admit that we are the same. Well then, why don't you listen to some small experiences I, someone who has been through it all, have about dealing with fate?"
Vaughn didn't say anything more.
Dumbledore didn't stop there: "I've said it before, I've had a period like yours. When I first came to know the power of fate, for a long time I became paranoid."
"Back then, I kept wondering, were my actions really what I felt in my heart? Were my thoughts pre-planned? Perhaps my plans weren't even based on my free will?"
"When you question the facts with a skeptical attitude, everything in front of you will be full of doubts. That's a terrible situation. You'll start to question everything, even your own existence. You'll feel like you're immersed in despair, not wanting to think about tomorrow or the future, and then you'll slowly wear yourself down..."
"Perhaps this is fate's punishment for those wise people who are wary of it!"
Listening to Dumbledore's story, Vaughn wasn't sure if he would end up like that, but just now, he did question the meaning of his actions and thoughts.
He finally spoke, asking, "And then?"
"Later? Later I started to learn to be an ordinary person!" Old Deng winked at him. "Look, I still believe that people are equal. From the perspective of fate, what's the difference between an ordinary person and a smart person? But if you look at it from your own perspective, ordinary people are actually happier. It's a mindset worth learning, and it's a positive thing!"
Vaughn was speechless, not expecting him to suddenly retaliate against his earlier taunts.
I couldn't help but complain, "So your solution is to just lie flat?"
"Ha, lying flat, an interesting way of putting it… Of course not!" Dumbledore shook his head. "That's just the first step. Learn the mindset of the mediocre, learn to get rid of fear, and then you must begin to try to guide and control your destiny!"
Upon hearing this, Vaughn was surprised: "You can control fate?"
"Of course not!" Dumbledore said matter-of-factly, then laughed heartily, "But I have magic!"
As he spoke, he drew his wand and pointed it downwards.
A terrifying surge of magical energy emanated from him. He didn't chant any spells, but Vaughn could clearly sense that a spell had been cast the instant he pointed downwards.
It was just an ordinary Confusion Charm, but in the hands of this legendary wizard, it was like some incomprehensible concept that suddenly covered the earth below.
Spread, expand, grow!
The power of the curse spread in all directions, like ink spilled into a pool.
"We are wizards, and in the eyes of wizards, nothing is nobler than magic, not even fate!"
"My dear, do you remember what I told you? Fate is not immutable; it has variables, as Muggles say!"
"Fate needs Harry to know the truth that Tom is still alive, but all it needs is the result. The process that leads to that result could happen today or a month from now. This kind of variable is what our magic can leverage."
"Like now, I don't like to put things off until a month later; I want it to happen now!"
As Dumbledore finished speaking, Vaughn noticed that two centaurs, who shouldn't have been there, were running towards Harry and his friends from afar and soon arrived in front of them.
He heard Ferenczer call the two centaurs Bain and Ronan.
Upon hearing Bain's accusations against Ferencze, Ferencze initially defended himself, but gradually grew impatient and eventually lost his temper.
"I'm fed up with your cowardice, like ostriches in the Muggle world burying their heads in the sand, thinking that if you don't see or hear, the danger will disappear."
"Listen, Harry Potter, the one whose name you can't speak, the one who killed your family and ultimately died by your hand, he's still alive, he's hiding in Hogwarts, he's the evil wizard who attacked the unicorn!"
"Ferenze!"
"I don't want to keep lying anymore, lying to others, lying to myself, I don't want to! Bane, Ronan, do you think we'll let us go if we don't tell him when the Man from Darkness returns? You know the prophecy, he and Harry Potter are twins of destiny, only when they decide the victor will the wizarding world be at peace!"
The sounds of the centaurs arguing echoed through the woods, reaching the ears of the stunned Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Above, Dumbledore's sigh also reached Vaughn's ears:
"Everything makes perfect sense. A centaur, questioned and slandered by his companions, impulsively reveals a secret that should be kept hidden. His motives are also very logical, because he loves the tribe, loves the forest, loves peace, and is brave enough to face difficulties."
"Vaughn, your fear of fate stems from its unknown nature, but in reality, fate can only reveal its power to things that truly exist, and magic can do the same!"
Listening to Dumbledore's words and looking at what was happening below, Vaughn fell into deep thought.
For a fleeting moment, he suddenly wondered if Dumbledore's idea of using magic to manipulate variables was also an arrangement of fate.
But he quickly suppressed his thoughts.
Dumbledore was right; he shouldn't have used doubt to question the facts, as that would only have led him further down the path of questioning.
Vaughn was lost in thought, oblivious to the shock that Harry and his two companions were experiencing upon hearing the bombshell news.
"So, from today onwards, I have to learn to be an ordinary person... A persona armor seems like a good tool, but its appearance seems to be related to fate... Wait, stop thinking about it..."
Taking a deep breath, Vaughn pulled himself out of his thoughts. The full-force Brain Lock spell was only moderately effective at suppressing his own distracting thoughts, since it was a spell to defend against external prying eyes, not to defend himself.
To avoid overthinking, Vaughn looked at Dumbledore: "What's next? Harry already knows the truth, are your challenges ready?"
Dumbledore smiled: "Of course!"
...
Everything that happened tonight was so sudden.
It caught people off guard.
Harry only remembers Ferrenze arguing with Bane and Ronan. Bane accused Ferrenze of betraying his oath and the Horde. Enraged, Ferrenze suddenly revealed the true identity of the man in black—Voldemort—and Harry's entangled fate with him!
Shocked by those truths, Harry's mind was buzzing, and he was almost unable to make a clear response or think clearly.
In a daze, he felt Ferenze pick him up and put him on his back, and heard Bain's angry roar:
"Damn Ferenze, you not only betrayed your oath, but you also tarnished the reputation of the centaurs. You let humans ride on your backs like riding a damned mule!"
Mules are mostly considered a highly insulting term among centaurs, and Harry could sense that Ferrenzer's broad, powerful body was throbbing with rage and burning with intense heat.
"Then go back to your tribe and let the elders expel me. I've had enough of your stupid and barbaric face, and I've had enough of your cowardly ways. Or do you want to keep blocking my way and taste the arrows in my hand?"
Bane let out a terrifying scream, and Harry's vision went blank, as if his brain was in chaos, and he could see nothing clearly except that Bane seemed to be raising a bow.
Then Ronan ran between the two: "Enough, put down your arrows. Bane, you've been hurling insults at me. And Ferenze, you... you really shouldn't have made the prophecy, and you certainly shouldn't have carried a human foal."
Ferenc's breathing was like a bellows: "Because of your pedantry, I'm starting to worry about the safety of these foals. I'm going to send them away from the Forbidden Forest. Ronan, don't stop me!"
"Ference..."
Ferenze ignored him, reared up, neighed, and with the trio on his back, turned and rushed into the forest.
Harry didn't know if Bane and Ronan had caught up. All he knew was that Ferrenze was running very fast, moving through the dense forest as if it were flat ground. Trees, bushes, and the faintly glowing eyes of nocturnal animals hiding in the darkness were quickly left behind.
A cool breeze blew in my face.
He didn't know how long he had been exposed to the cold wind before his speed gradually slowed down. Only then did his dazed mind clear up a bit. When he came to his senses, he noticed Ron leaning against Ferrenzer's upper body in front of him, and Hermione tugging at his robe behind him, both looking at him with complicated expressions.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.
He turned his head and looked ahead.
The trees gradually thinned out, and it seemed they had reached the edge of the forbidden forest. After walking for a while, when the moon was clearly visible overhead, Ferenze stopped, half-squatted down, and put the three of them down.
"It's safe here now. You can use your wands to set off fireworks. Hagrid will see them and escort you safely back to the castle."
"Frenzer…" Harry's voice was hoarse, "What about you? What are you going to do?"
The centaur, who looked as pure as a unicorn, smiled, stretched out his huge hand, and ruffled Harry's hair: "Of course I have to return to the tribe. I am a centaur and should not set foot in human territory. This is required by the Law of Secrecy. We have sworn an oath, and we must keep our oath!"
Harry, anxious and impulsive, said, "Haven't you already broken your oath? What good will it do to go back now? Bane practically wanted to kill you before!"
"Not all vows are the same, Harry Potter."
Ferenze smiled gently: "The oath of the Secrecy Law concerns the survival of all centaurs and must be strictly observed. The oath to conceal one's fate is merely because the tribe fears the one whose name cannot be spoken. It is dishonorable and stems from cowardice and weakness."
He crouched down, looking directly into Harry's emerald eyes, and gripped his shoulders firmly with his large hands: "Running away won't solve the problem, so I'd rather go against it and tell you the truth of the prophecy, because, Harry, you can defeat it."
"I firmly believe this!"
"I…" Harry was speechless. He looked at Frenze's firm and trusting expression, and no matter what he did, he couldn't bring himself to say anything dejected.
When the centaurs argued and revealed that the man in black was Voldemort, Harry couldn't help but recall the twisted, malevolent figure he had seen in the fourth-floor corridor last year.
So terrifying, so powerful, even the mere overflow of magical energy caused the walls and flames to lose their color and distort the light.
Previously, when people mentioned his "great achievement" of killing Voldemort when he was only 1 year old, Harry didn't really feel it because he had no memory of it at all.
To him, Voldemort was merely an abstract concept that had died, a symbol that would never stand before him again.
At least, when he occasionally became arrogant and indulged in praise and flattery, he never imagined that Voldemort would one day stand in front of him again.
During the time Harry was being carried on Ferrenze's back, intense fear gripped his heart.
Last year's Halloween scenes flashed before my eyes frame by frame: Quirrell's magic, Vaughn's magic, and that terrifying green light at the end.
He had never imagined he might experience such a scene again, after all, there was Vaughn, professors, and Dumbledore at the school.
He thought he was a nobody, only needing to expose the man in black robes at crucial moments, while the adults would naturally deal with the man in black robes himself.
He never imagined he would become the protagonist!
A jumble of emotions overwhelmed his fragile mind—a mixture of confusion, excitement, sadness, and—fear and shame…
Harry discovers that he is not as great as everyone says, and he is actually afraid when faced with the sudden revelation of the truth about his destiny.
Because Voldemort was no longer an abstract symbol to him, but a dark wizard whose terrifying power he had personally experienced.
Seeing that Harry hesitated and didn't speak, Ferrenze didn't say anything more. He just ruffled Harry's hair again, then got up, waved to them, and walked back into the Forbidden Forest where the mist was beginning to rise.
Before long, his figure could no longer be seen in the night.
Harry stared in that direction for a long time, stunned, and murmured, "I wonder what kind of punishment he will receive when he goes back?"
Ron, who had just been scolded by Hermione for failing to set off fireworks several times, scratched his face upon hearing this: "It's probably not a good idea. The centaur tribe is very closed off and barbaric. Bane's temperament is basically the wizards' impression of centaurs. When Frenzer goes back, he will definitely suffer."
But Ferenczek was not afraid!
For some reason, Harry suddenly realized that the fear that had been plaguing him had somehow dissipated.
He took one last look at the Forbidden Forest.
He didn't know when he would see Ferenczi again, but he remembered what the other man had said.
Running away won't solve the problem!
Harry Potter, you have to be brave!
Bang!
Harry, who had just been cheering himself on, was startled by a loud noise in his ear. It was Hermione, who was setting off fireworks with her wand.
In the distance, Hagrid's hut, whose outline and lights were only faintly visible, was accompanied by loud barking.
...
Da da—
The crisp sound of shoes hitting the floor echoed in the empty corridor.
Vaughn walked through the utterly silent castle, ignoring the complaints of the portraits that had been awakened, and made his way to the basement.
Arrive at Snape's office and knock.
Normally, professors would be asleep by this time to prepare for the next day's classes, but Snape was an exception. He was a bit like a nerdy Muggle, who loved to study things that interested him late at night.
It is said that it would give him a burst of inspiration.
Sure enough, the door opened quickly, and Snape, dressed in his ever-present plain black robes, stood inside with his perpetually expressionless and stiff face.
"What's up?"
"The plan has been moved up, Professor!"
"...What do you need me to do?"
Vaughn chuckled: "Of course, it's to guide Quirrell and Harry. Dumbledore and I are planning to leave tonight. The representative from Evamony has been left hanging for many days and must be getting impatient. Unfortunately, I only finished dealing with school matters tonight—well, Quidditch is a good excuse—to express our apologies and to show how much we value Evamony, we've decided to rush to meet them tonight. I'm sure that representative will be very moved!"
Snape's lips twitched. That representative must have been incredibly unlucky to have encountered Vaughn and Dumbledore in his past life.
"So, I should inform Quirrell and Potter of this news?"
"Yes, thank you for your hard work, Professor. I believe that with your acting skills and intelligence, they will definitely not be able to tell... By the way, should we bring a camera? I ordered a batch of miniature cameras a while ago. You can hide them in your clothes and film this part to make the story complete."
"No need!" Snape said coldly.
Although the change in expression from numb and stiff to cold was very small, it was still very noticeable on Snape's face.
Vaughn shook his head regretfully: "Tsk, that would make the Savior Trial Plan's plot less than perfect, a bit of a shame... But then again, you'll still have to be an undercover agent in the future, you can't be exposed."
"...Is there anything else?"
"That's all. I won't bother you any longer. Goodnight, Professor."
Vaughn gave a slight bow and turned to leave, but Snape called out to him, "Wait!"
"professor?"
Snape's dark eyes fixed on Vaughn. After a moment's hesitation, he said softly, "You and Dumbledore are getting closer and closer. I don't know what you're thinking, but I just want to remind you to be careful..."
Vaughn was taken aback by what he heard, and then smiled again: "Thank you for your concern, Professor. I will be careful."
Snape turned his face away and snorted coldly: "This isn't concern, I'm just afraid you'll become a terrible person like him in the future."
Ha, so arrogant!
Vaughn smiled, said nothing more, bowed again in farewell, and quickly left.
Emerging from the basement, Vaughn went straight to the eighth floor, where Dumbledore was already waiting, along with Professor McGonagall, the stern vice-principal who looked quite displeased.
"Albus, why must it be tonight? Couldn't we have arranged the meeting in the morning or at noon? It's already late at night. Isn't it impolite to disturb the rest of Iphamoni's representatives?"
"Besides, your notification was too sudden. There's a ton of stuff going on at school. Recently, those cheating devices and substandard potions used by the young wizards have resurfaced, and I'm about to arrange a crackdown!"
Professor McGonagall wasn't really involved in the plan because of her fair and protective nature towards young wizards; she was unlikely to agree to Dumbledore's plan, so everyone kept it from her.
However, she obviously cannot stay; according to the plan, she needs to leave Hogwarts as well.
Seeing the two from afar, Vaughn was just about to go over when he heard Dumbledore say with a smile and an innocent expression, "Minerva, it's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that, Vaughn, you know, that kid has to review his lessons and do Quidditch training lately, I bet he's been itching to get back to school."