"Alright, I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer." Karkaroff also stood up, patted his sleeves, and cast a cleaning charm on them to remove oil and dust. Then he complained, "If this tavern were in Durmstrang, I wouldn't use my wand; I'd just punch him in the face. The environment here is just awful."
"Well, you might not be able to beat him," Dumbledore said with a somewhat complex tone, his long white beard shaking on his chest, as if he had thought of something.
"What?" Karkaroff asked, suspecting he had misheard.
"Never mind, let's go," Dumbledore changed the subject, then led the two out of the noisy tavern and towards their destination.
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"So, you want to exonerate this half-giant named Hagrid?" Karkaroff stood in front of Dumbledore's desk, staring at him with an unfriendly expression.
Dumbledore raised his hand, about to speak, but Karkaroff interrupted him again.
"Let me tell you, I have absolutely no interest in your ridiculous affairs. You can do the righteous thing yourself. Besides, he's just a mixed-bl..." Karkaroff felt offended, and his tone became increasingly impolite.
But once the words were out, he knew he had misspoke.
Madame Maxime also seemed to be a mixed-blood giant, so he stopped the word "mongrel" at the tip of his tongue.
However, it was too late.
Karkaroff could clearly see that Madame Maxime's face immediately darkened. She wasn't stupid; she could guess what he wanted to say. Whether he said it or not made no difference.
"The old fox tricked me again," Karkaroff cursed inwardly, preparing to change his attitude. He had no choice but to accept being played.
Just a few hours earlier, the three of them had arrived directly at the Headmaster's office (Dumbledore's privilege) through the Floo Network. Dumbledore didn't waste any time and told Karkaroff his idea directly.
The gist was: Black magic is not my area of expertise, although I simply disdain to study it, so now I need your help.
Now that the recognized greatest wizard was asking for his help, Karkaroff was naturally very pleased. Moreover, the fluctuations emitted by this diary, even after being damaged, were still extremely strong. He suspected it was the work of a dark wizard ancestor, and he might even benefit from it.
Durmstrang's teaching even included dark magic, not to mention that he had been a Death Eater himself, so he felt no psychological pressure at all.
The noonday sun outside the window slowly fell below the horizon. Several hours had passed.
Karkaroff had used all his knowledge, but only managed to restore a few scenes of the memories remaining in the diary, and imported them into Dumbledore's Pensieve.
From the limited fragments, it seemed that the half-giant named Hagrid had been framed. That was all. Moreover, these remaining soul fragments were not only small in quantity, but also riddled with holes. He had reached his limit.
Karkaroff, who had been busy for half a day, obviously couldn't accept this ending, so the opening scene happened.
"But this is not entirely unrelated to you. Besides Hagrid, you should also know the mastermind behind this," Dumbledore explained unhurriedly.
"Heh," Karkaroff chuckled, then said, "Not to mention the distance between Hogwarts and Durmstrang, the only exchange, the Triwizard Tournament, has been suspended for many years.
I would know a Hogwarts student? What a joke."
"This happened fifty years ago," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Fifty years ago, what di..." Karkaroff seemed to have thought of something, and the rest of his words got stuck in his throat, his expression suddenly stiffening, his eyes full of disbelief.
"Impossible, he must be dead!" Karkaroff didn't want to believe it, and didn't dare to believe that person was still alive.
He then muttered to himself, "This is just a magical item he made. He has disappeared for so long. He won't come back, he won't come back."
For a moment, Karkaroff seemed to be possessed, repeatedly muttering the same few words.
"Calm down, Karkaroff," Dumbledore's kind voice had a kind of magic that calmed people's minds. After Karkaroff met Dumbledore's sharp blue eyes, he unconsciously calmed down.
Dumbledore then used the benefits brought by Legilimency. Even if he didn't actively use it, it would invisibly affect others.
"Last year, he personally sneaked into Hogwarts, wanting to steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to revive his body, and killed a unicorn to prolong his life."
"This year, I am still trying to track him down. I have traveled all over the Albanian forest, but I have found nothing."
"I think you should be more afraid of his return than I am."
"So I need your help."
Dumbledore pressed on step by step, not giving Karkaroff time to think. He wanted to leave a deep impression on him when his defenses collapsed.
Double agents rarely have good endings.
If other Death Eaters in Azkaban or fleeing outside could rely on Voldemort's wings again after his return, then Lucius Malfoy, who had an unstable position, would be in a difficult situation in Voldemort's team.
Fortunately, Malfoy had left him with a good impression at their first meeting.
As for Karkaroff, a character who could never be redeemed in Voldemort's camp, a green light might be the best destination. After all, there are not a few dark magic spells that torture people.
I lost my body and was forced to wander around. My loyal subordinates suffered unbearable imprisonment for me, but you chose to betray my loyal followers in exchange for your own safety, and even transformed into the headmaster of Durmstrang?
Even a clay figure has three parts of fire, not to mention the brutal and neurotic Dark Lord?
This is the root cause of Karkaroff's fear.
"I will stand on your side." Madame Maxime, who had reached the level of headmaster, was also shrewd. It was not difficult to find clues from their conversation, and she immediately expressed her attitude.
"Thank you very much. Beauxbatons will be proud to have a headmaster like you," Dumbledore complimented Madame Maxime.
In this way, the three giants of the European wizarding education world reached a united front against the Dark Lord in Dumbledore's office.
"Oops," Madame Maxime patted her head in annoyance. "I forgot something," she said.
"Is it urgent?" Dumbledore stroked his wand, ready to get up at any time, seemingly wanting to fulfill his duty as a host and help people solve their problems.
"It's not that urgent," Madame Maxime said with a slightly embarrassed
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