Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

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 was a little stiff for a while.

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 level 2 in divination 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 looked in the direction he saw and recognized it. "A Walkman?" "What's 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-red luster.

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:
"YoYo--"

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!

(End of this chapter)