Dumbledore slowly walked down the ladder, and when he saw the waterfall archway standing in the distance, his smile faded considerably.
The fact that they had managed to enlist gnomes and giants to stand guard was enough to show how serious the situation was.
"It seems... the Department of Mysteries has lost something very important." Dumbledore looked at the phoenix beside him. "Fawkes, thank you for letting me board the ship. Go and take a good rest!"
Fawkes, hovering in mid-air, tilted his head, a questioning look in his eyes.
"I'm afraid not for now, since they're on vacation!" Dumbledore smiled slightly. "But I think you might need to go find him later."
Fawkes nodded in a human-like manner, flapped its wings, and soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
After watching Fawkes leave, Dumbledore took out a piece of paper to examine, and his body was immediately drawn into a vortex...
The vortex receded, and he walked into a bright reception room. The note in his hand burned away, and he had already forgotten the address on it.
Light-colored hardwood floors covered with handwoven linen rugs, frosty white walls, and sleek, upholstered solid wood chairs...
Simple and practical, yet with clever touches in the linen rug, this was a living room with a distinctly Scandinavian style.
Most importantly, the beautiful semi-circular wooden reception table was covered with all sorts of candies.
An Unspeakable greeted him, "Mr. Dumbledore, it's a pleasure that you could take time out of your busy schedule to come here."
Regardless of the country, the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic possessed a high degree of autonomy and could disregard the Minister of Magic's interference.
The wizards who worked here were also extremely mysterious, known as the "Unspeakables," and were responsible for the most secretive magical research.
Dumbledore smiled and shook hands. "It's clear this matter is not simple. May I ask your name?"
"Just call me Bjorn." The Unspeakable said seriously, "Mr. Dumbledore, shall we begin?"
Dumbledore sat down and picked up a candy. "The Aurors from Sweden were known for their swiftness before, so why are they so... flustered this time?"
Bjorn suddenly seemed a little uncomfortable, and cleared his throat, saying, "Mr. Dumbledore, since you've already signed the Magical Secrets Pact, I'll get straight to the point..."
"The lost magical artifact is the Eye of Odin, which is the guarantee of the Aurors' swift action... It can make accurate predictions for a short period of time to a certain extent."
Dumbledore said knowingly, "In other words, you are quite familiar with the practice of using short-term prophecy to lay in ambush at the appropriate locations in advance, thereby improving the efficiency of your investigations."
He was very familiar with this method of using prophecy; Gellert, who once led Grindelwald's movement, had used a similar technique.
"That's right!" Bjorn nodded. "The English Department of Mysteries also has similar tools. As far as I know, it should be able to… collect and record the real prophecies."
"It has a wider reach than the Eye of Odin, and can collect prophecies from around the world. However, those prophecies come from real prophets, are vague in content, and are not very practical."
Dumbledore remained noncommittal, glancing down at the photographs before asking, "How did you determine that the Eye of Odin is still in Sweden?"
Bjorn explained, "Once it leaves Sweden, the Eye of Odin will immediately return to the Ministry of Magic. This is a protective measure that has existed since the establishment of the Department of Mysteries."
"If the Eye of Odin is used again, we can still pinpoint the location." He took out several pieces of parchment. "Mr. Dumbledore, you can take a look at this."
"The most troublesome thing right now was that the Eye of Odin had not responded, which put them in a very passive position and made it difficult to grasp its specific movements."
After reviewing the information, Dumbledore thought, "The other party seems to know a lot about the 'Eye of Odin.' Could they be... an insider?"
Bjorn said firmly, "Impossible! We've checked the Unspeakables inside; they all passed through the Thief's Downfall, and none of them showed any signs of mental instability."
"Understood." Dumbledore had also entered into a magical secret pact, so he naturally understood what "mental disorder" meant.
This was a form of punishment under the contract, which even he could not avoid; he could only recover through a long period of rest.
This indicated that the Unspeakables had not rebelled, but rather that another force had intervened.
Dumbledore's eyes were clear, and he crossed his fingers in front of him. "His enthusiasm for playing 'games' with you is not a good sign."
"What is the function of the 'Spear of Gungnir'? The information doesn't go into detail; it's only mentioned briefly, so you don't seem to value it?"
Bjorn replied, "The secrets of the 'Gungnir Spear' are numerous, but those that have been studied have already been put into practice."
"Its function is similar to a wand, easily manipulating lightning and water. Magic such as the Water Charm and the earliest Weather Charms were developed based on its research."
"To uncover more of its secrets, we need the help of 'ancient magical power.' Therefore, our focus is mainly on the 'Eye of Odin.'"
"It seems I've heard a remarkable truth." Dumbledore showed no surprise. "Could you elaborate on the 'ancient magical powers'?"
"This is an eternal and confidential topic." Bjorn's expression was extremely serious. "The ultimate research direction of all departments of mysticism is 'ancient magical power'."
"According to past records, all the magical items in the Department of Mysteries can exert power beyond the ordinary through ancient magical forces."
"This power is too ancient...it can even be traced back to the very beginning of wizarding! Yet very few people possess it. Mr. Dumbledore, you should understand what I mean, right?"
Dumbledore blinked. "I checked the records, and wizards who possessed 'ancient magical powers' did indeed appear at Hogwarts."
"Perhaps it is because of the magic of this power that they have been able to hide their whereabouts so well." He stretched out his index finger and thumb. "I am certain that I know very little."
"I'm actually very curious why you know so much about 'ancient magical power'? Could it be that... someone in the Department of Mysteries once possessed this power?"
"You're right," Bjorn affirmed. "The Department of Mysteries has a long history. Mr. Dumbledore, you must know that as well."
"Of course, it lasted much longer than the Ministry of Magic... or its predecessor, the 'Wizards Council'."
"That's because the people who established the Departments of Mystic Affairs in various countries were a group of wizards who possessed this power! They wanted to understand this power more deeply, which is why this organization came into being."
Genuine surprise appeared in Dumbledore's eyes, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "I see, no wonder the Department of Mysteries holds such a special position..."
"By the way, is there any information about the same ancient organization? Perhaps we can get some interesting clues from there."
Bjorn replied, "We are already searching… not only the English Department of Mysteries, but we have also requested assistance from the Departments of Mysteries in other countries."
Dumbledore nodded. "That would be perfect."
Bjorn stood up. "Mr. Dumbledore, shall we begin? If this continues, I fear the Swedish Ministry of Magic will take drastic measures."
He then pulled out a few more photos, including one of the corpse of a fair-skinned man. "This is the corpse we found earlier; there are magical traces of a cutting spell on its hair."
"Polyjuice Potion?" Dumbledore also stood up. "Would the Ministry of Magic prevent me from seeing the body myself?"
Bjorn said helplessly, "Not yet, but in a couple of days... they'll probably be even less cooperative, since we've never cooperated with them before."
Dumbledore stroked his beard; the situation was quite clear.
Due to the special nature of the Department of Mysteries, they were unable to disclose the truth to the Ministry of Magic.
The loss of the Eye of Odin left the Swedish Ministry of Magic completely bewildered, unable to quickly locate the attackers.
The Obscurus was also a key clue, so the Swedish Ministry of Magic approached Newt, hoping to use this clue to catch the attacker as soon as possible.
"It's the search for the Obscurial again... Newt, you should be very familiar with this part, right?" Dumbledore shook his head slightly and left the drawing room with Bjorn...
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