Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 153 Vaughn Emptys Hogwarts

As a result, the North American wizarding community has effectively split, with multiple civilian wizarding militias fighting against the Magical Congress and the Secrets Act in various locations!
In other words, they are also opposing the International Federation!

Vaughn was unsure of the International Federation's views on the situation in North America, but so far, they had no intention of deploying a permanent special operations force—this was another example of checks and balances; the Magic Congress would absolutely not allow the Federation to station troops until it was completely unable to hold on!

At least for now, mixed-race and Muggle wizards only want to overthrow the pure-blood policy.

And the Federation's garrison... they really want their political lives!
Under these circumstances, some forces in the North American magical community are very likely to be natural partners of the WAC. At least, Ivermony sent representatives to express their willingness to cooperate, even though they misjudged their partners...

Old Barty, who had been listless, suddenly brightened up when he grasped Vaughn's idea. He quickly said, "I'll contact those families, and Joshua Potter too."

So he prepared to leave.

Vaughn stopped him: "By the way, have those families find out about the banquet at Malfoy Manor tonight."

"it is good!"

He agreed and Apparated away. It wasn't until he manifested at the Ministry of Magic that he suddenly realized—why am I the one running errands again?
At night, Malfoy Manor is brightly lit.

In the magnificent hall, Draco followed his mother like a puppet, a polite yet stiff smile on his face, as he met one familiar or unfamiliar adult after another.

“Draco, this is Mr. Selwyn, your father’s best friend from his school days. Our two families have a friendship dating back to our ancestors.”

Draco smiled sweetly: "Uncle Selwyn."

“What an adorable little guy, Narcissa, you should bring him to visit us more often.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Narcissa led Draco away from Mr. Lucius Malfoy's "best friend," and whispered a warning to Draco:

"Don't get too close to the Selwyn family. Almost all of their members are either dead or captured. They've long since fallen from grace."

Draco's smile nearly crumbled.

He admired his mother's poise and acting skills, and now she had brought him to a blond middle-aged man.

“Greengrass, long time no see. Oh—is this Daphne or Astoria?”

Hearing his mother's words, Draco noticed that there was a little girl with Mr. Greengrass.

He looked over curiously and saw a little girl who looked like a porcelain doll. Under the bright lights of the hall, her golden hair, as dazzling as her father's, cascaded down like gold leaf.

Noticing his gaze, the little girl shyly hid behind her father.

“This is my youngest daughter, Astoria, and over there, madam, Daphne and the Parkinson’s daughter are playing.” Mr. Greengrass was just like all the purebloods Draco had ever seen.

He spoke in a affected tone and maintained a reserved demeanor.

For some reason, Draco never thought there was anything wrong with this posture before, and he would even imitate it.

But ever since he spent a lot of time with Vaughn Weasley at Hogwarts and got used to Vaughn's words and actions, Draco always felt that his father, as well as the other pure-bloods, had a kind of pretentious arrogance that was... superficial?
He couldn't describe the feeling in detail, only that he hadn't looked down on people in a long time.

While his mother was still exchanging pleasantries with Mr. Greengrass, Draco politely greeted Mr. Greengrass with a smile as requested by his mother, and then his attention turned to Astoria.

He knew Daphne, the eldest daughter of the Greengrass family.

Although she and Draco weren't close, she was Pansy Parkinson's best friend—this is often how relationships are between pure-blood families, where they form small circles based on family lineage and then filter by gender.

Draco had a rather so-so impression of Daphne; she was a girl with a bad temper, just like Pansy, who looked down on everyone.

How boring!
If those people were truly capable, why didn't any of them dare to speak loudly in front of Vaughn Weasley?

Lost in thought, the girl opposite Mr. Greengrass peeked out from behind him, the lamplight blurring her shy, bewildered eyes.

Like a gemstone.

For some reason, Draco suddenly felt a strong urge to talk to her.

Unfortunately, by then, Narcissa had already finished talking with Mr. Greengrass.

“Let’s go, Draco, we’re going to find your father. He’s entertaining Mr. Babajid Akinbad right now. You need to get to know more important people like that…”

Draco was pulled away by his mother. He didn't want to go, but he had no power to resist.

All he could do was quietly turn around and glance at the girl one last time.

The crowd mingled as people passed by, and in the dim, amber-colored light, the girl with bright eyes was also looking at him.

Suddenly, she smiled.

She smiled shyly, her lips slightly pursed, revealing dimples.

Draco's mind suddenly went blank at that smile...

When he regained consciousness, he found himself being led by his mother to his father's side. There were many people around, including Mr. Selwyn, whom he had seen before, as well as Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle, the fathers of Vincent and Gregory (Draco's two henchmen).

And then there's Mr. Nott, the head of the Nott family, Theodore Nott's father, a sinister-looking old wizard!
They were gathered around a tall, black wizard, listening quietly to him speak:
"...The Federation is of course responsible for reviewing all magical organizations. Please trust in the Federation's impartiality. If the WAC has violated any rules, I will swear on my honor to investigate to the end, and even President Dumbledore cannot stop me!"

"But gentlemen, the WAC hasn't even been established yet. Its bylaws, program, and so on are not yet finalized. It's an organization that's still just on paper, and the federation has sent representatives to participate in the formation of the committee. You have no grounds to ban it..."

“But, sir.”

Draco heard the familiar voice and looked up to see his father speaking slowly and deliberately to the black wizard: "Are we just going to let Dumbledore control so many werewolves? Everyone knows the dangers of wolfification. Yes, now we have wolfsbane, and they are no longer mindless beasts, but what if one day Dumbledore suddenly cuts off the supply of wolfsbane..."

Lucius paused perfectly before finishing his sentence.

The sheer horror implied in those words was enough for those around them to fill in the blanks in their minds. Often, people's imaginations are more terrifying than words and text.

The purebloods around them immediately became noisy.

Some of them were just going through the motions, while others were genuinely terrified.

Draco couldn't understand the adults' thoughts. Still a child, he felt nothing for those words. Compared to these boring things, he wanted to see the girl again.

Until one moment, his mother once again took his hand and led him to the black wizard: "Mr. Akinbad, this is my son Draco Malfoy."

Akinbad lowered his head.

Draco's pupils reflected that imposing figure, and a sense of danger gripped his heart. In that instant, all thoughts of girls and play vanished.

He trembled like a quail being watched by its natural enemy, stammering, "You... hello, Mr. Akimbard..."

Akinbad grinned, but Draco could only see a row of gleaming teeth: "Oh—great lad, going to school?"

“He enrolled at Hogwarts last year,” Lucius quickly said. “Actually, we originally wanted to send him to Vargado, a place with a long history that has nurtured countless outstanding wizards over the millennia. Draco also liked it there. Unfortunately, England doesn’t have any Dream Messengers (Vargado recruiters).”

Draco opened his mouth, but this wasn't what he'd heard last year; his father actually wanted to send him to Durmstrang.

He didn't understand why his father lied.

But clearly, Mr. Akimbard smiled kindly for the first time after hearing this, and even patted his head: "Hogwarts is not bad either. Study hard, son. Of course, don't try to emulate that guy named Vaughn Weasley who entered school in the same year as you."

Draco spent the latter half of the banquet in a daze.

Draco was very uncomfortable with his father’s behavior in front of Mr. Arkinbard, but he also understood that his father’s actions likely meant that Mr. Arkinbard was stronger than the Malfoys!
Just like the Gore and Crabbe families, who always had to be subservient to their father.

He didn't want to comment on it. Lacking experience, he couldn't offer any clear thoughts. In the time that followed, he continued to be a "puppet," being taken by his mother to meet all sorts of people.

There is a pure-blooded family that I've heard of before, but rarely interact with.

There were also officials from the Ministry of Magic.

At the lavish banquet, Draco saw many people trying to curry favor with his father, and he also saw his father and many others trying to curry favor with Mr. Akimbard.

It wasn't until late at night, when the banquet ended and Mr. Akimbard left, that he heard faint complaints coming from his father's study on the second floor, as his mother sent him home to rest.

"...He was as slippery as a fish, offering no promises, no guarantees, and not even acknowledging our hints!"

"Yes, he's always kept at arm's length, and we can't find out what he's really thinking."

"Lucius, are you really sure he'll side with us?"

“No one can guarantee this, Louis, but I can say for sure that we want the WAC, and he, or the Federation, definitely wants it too… Who can refuse to control a pack of werewolves?”

"So when exactly can we expect to get accurate results?"

"Don't rush, my friends, we need to be patient. This is England. Even the Federation can't get rid of us and do anything. They're just waiting for the right price. Let's let them fight Dumbledore first."

"Why do you keep bringing up Dumbledore? I heard that the first president the WAC is going to elect is that Vaughn Weasley!"

"Ha, that kid? Do you really believe he has that much power?"

A faint burst of laughter could be heard coming from the study.

Ignorant adults!

Draco thought to himself, and stopped listening. Unlike the adults who had never even met Vaughn, he had personally experienced how powerful Vaughn was.

However, no one took his words seriously.

In the eyes of adults, he was just a short-sighted child!

On his way back to his room, Draco saw Dobby.

The little sprite who had "eavesdropped" on his parents' conversation with him last time and shared a secret was now standing in the hallway, lost in thought, holding a rag.

Draco used to not care about house-elves, after all, he had been used to being served by them since he was a child and to their status as servants.

Perhaps because of a shared secret, Draco recently realized that this wrinkled-skinned fellow also possessed wisdom.

Dobby, what are you doing?

Dobby was startled and quickly knelt down: "I'm sorry, little master, Dobby shouldn't have been spacing out, you bad Dobby!"

He frantically banged his head against the ground.

Draco scratched his head in annoyance, but wasn't surprised, and said, "I forgive you, as long as you tell me why you were spacing out just now?"

Dobby hesitated for a moment, but the deep-rooted contract made it impossible for him to lie to his master: "Dobby is worried about Harry Potter, young master, because you want to harm him!"

Draco's handsome face flushed red.

He remembered the night before last, and the notebook his parents had summoned. Dobby had told him that the notebook was a powerful dark magic item.

Any child from a wizarding family knows that dark magic items should never be touched carelessly. After all, you can't expect a dark wizard to be a kind person, and no one knows what kind of curse a dark wizard might cast on their own items!
Dad and Mom wanted to give that notebook to Scarface; they definitely had ulterior motives.

Draco originally thought he hated Scarface so much that he wished the other man were dead.

But that night, when he realized his parents were going to harm Scarface, he didn't feel happy.

He just felt that kind of behavior was...

despicable!

The word struggled to pop into his mind, and Draco was speechless for a moment. After a long silence, he asked, "What are you going to do?"

"what?"

Dobby looked at his little master with a blank expression.

Draco glared at him, annoyed. "Weren't you afraid Scarface would get hurt? Didn't you think about saving him?"

Dobby's large, clear eyes immediately lit up: "Little master, are you also worried about Harry Potter..."

"Shut up, I'm not worried about him!"

"But you..."

Draco, enraged, retorted, "If you say another word, I'll tell Mom and Dad, and you can just watch Scarface die!"

This threat was more effective than anything else; Dobby immediately covered his mouth.

Draco couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Why was his little elf the one who cared most about the annoying Potter?

In fact, he was also confused about his choice.

He was equally unclear why he had chosen to help Scarface...

hateful!

……

Late at night, Crouch's mansion.

Vaughn, who had just finished his treatment for the day, came out of the basement and saw Old Barty sitting on the sofa, holding a bottle of sherry and lost in thought.

The old wizard was already quite drunk and looked rather颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it conveys a sense of listlessness, apathy, and apathy). Upon seeing Vaughn, his alcohol-numbed eyes stared at him for a moment before he suddenly asked, "Do you think he can still be saved? I mean, if... if one day you really can cleanse the black magic from its contamination, can my son return to his former self?"

Before Vaughn came, he had entered his son's mind more than once over the past decade.

But in Little Barty's memory, all he saw was distortion, anger, and hatred...

In the world of magic, there are no born dark wizards; the fall of each dark wizard is the result of a series of subjective choices.

Their corruption and taint by dark magic was merely the end result, not the cause.

Old Barty's son was always a well-behaved and obedient child with a bright future and noble character, but the reality was that his son actively embraced the darkness.

Can such people really be "saved"?

Faced with Old Barty's dejection and growing despair, Vaughn thought for a moment and asked in return, "Do you believe in the inherent goodness or inherent evil of human nature?"

Old Barty was stunned and couldn't answer for a moment.

This is a question without a real answer; different people will give different results, and many people cannot give a result at all.

Old Barty was the latter. Having lived for decades, he had encountered all sorts of people, from cruel thugs to saints who dedicated their lives to good deeds.

With his extensive experience, such a seemingly simple question is actually difficult to answer.

Vaughn didn't seem to expect an answer from him, and continued, "I don't believe in any of them. In my opinion, human nature is formed after birth. It can be interfered with, influenced, and modified. That's why Muggles invented psychology and wizards invented memory magic!"

Vaughn spoke these words calmly, even somewhat coldly.

His indifference was so cold that it even woke up Old Barty from his drunken stupor.

He stared at Vaughn, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind—if he held this belief, how many people had he actually used memory magic on?

Vaughn noticed Old Barty's gaze.

But he didn't say anything.

In fact, if you want to delve into memory magic and make progress in it, you need a lot of hands-on practice and a sufficient number of samples and test subjects.

This is also why Hogwarts and even the Ministry of Magic restrict the spread of memory magic.

Its harm cannot be avoided simply by not using it, after all, the learning process is also a process of practice.

After parting ways with Old Barty, Vaughn took a shower, returned to his room, and immersed himself in his inner world.

Since learning memory magic, Vaughn has modified his mental world, unifying all his memories into the Memory Archive.

Meanwhile, the random thoughts and ideas that arise in daily life are isolated in a deeper area by the brain shut-off technique.

Now, his inner world is nothing but darkness.

The pure blackness was like a vast, boundless curtain, without a single impurity. The "ground" had shallow pools of water, calm and still.

Vaughn's consciousness stood on the surface of the water, looking down at his own reflection.

He crouched down, dipped one hand into the water, and gently lifted it out.

His entire inner world flipped like a kaleidoscope changing scenes, and he appeared "underwater." He raised his head and floated behind the water curtain above, where another "self" was still standing.

It was a personification device responsible for maintaining the stability of the external mental world while Vaughn's consciousness sank into some "isolation zones" deep within his mind; it also served as bait.

If someone were to enter Vaughn's mental world at this time, its presence would attract the enemy's attack, thus buying time for Vaughn's main consciousness to return.

Of course, this setting is only a precaution.

In fact, given Vaughn's current mastery of Occlumency, it would be difficult for anyone to break through his mental defenses.

The inner world beneath the "water surface" is an "isolation zone".

Vaughn looked around. The area was also vast and empty, but unlike the "water surface," this space contained some smoke-like humanoid silhouettes of varying heights.

A cold, invisible force bound them.

That's the effect of Occlumency surgery!

Vaughn walked up to a personification device that was bound by Occlumency magic. This personification device was much taller than Vaughn, but rather thin and looked like a rather frail adult.

A faint, dull color floats on its surface.

Vaughn stopped in front of it, shook his finger, and a wisp of gray-black mist separated from his consciousness and was controlled by him to merge into the persona!
The moment of merging was like pouring water into a pan of oil; countless ripples and tentacles emerged from the dull-colored surface of the personification suit.

A mournful howl, seemingly from a great distance, echoed throughout the space.

But the cold power of the brain-blocking technique firmly locked away its abnormal movement.

Vaughn watched it calmly until it struggled repeatedly but could not break free of the brain-sealing spell and had to fall silent again, before he looked away.

This is a copy of the personality suit implanted into Barty Crouch Jr.'s brain.

The raw materials used to weave it are extracted from Little Barty's inner world, so they can preserve Little Barty's inner world intact and for a long time, such as memories and thoughts.

Each time he performed a "treatment," Vaughn would store the treatment process, along with some of Barty's memories, here for backup and research.

And the other personifications around them all serve almost the same purpose!
For example, next to "Little Barty" is a short, thin persona with a faint, almost invisible lightning bolt scar on its forehead, which appears and disappears as the smoke billows.

It belongs to Harry.

Next to "Harry" was a short, chubby guy, who belonged to Peter. Also present were Ron, Hermione, Fruit Tea, Draco...

If Barty gets inside, he'll find that his guess about Vaughn wasn't wrong.

Vaughn is indeed abusing memory magic!
But Vaughn himself obviously didn't think that way; to him, these were simply necessary for studying "personality armor."

The development of personification devices has been ongoing, and this demand will naturally continue.

Of course, for some people, it's not just for research purposes; implanting personality suits in them actually serves another purpose.

Thinking about it, he looked at "Peter Pettigrew" and "Draco"!
With almost all of Voldemort's Death Eaters wiped out, Peter is key to Voldemort's future resurrection, so Vaughn will naturally not loosen his control over him.

As for Draco Malfoy...

This relates to the first Horcrux Voldemort created, Tom Riddle's notebook.

No one could have imagined that Voldemort would entrust one of his most important treasures to Lucius Malfoy for safekeeping, and even more so, no one could have imagined that even though Voldemort had been "dead" for 11 years, Lucius still feared his former master and dared not destroy the notebook.

More than two months ago, Vaughn found an opportunity to implant a personality suit into Draco.

The future had changed, and Vaughn was unsure how Lucius would handle the notebook.

He certainly wouldn't dare destroy it, but similarly, he wouldn't necessarily sneak the notebook to Ginny like he did in Vaughn's memory of the "future."

After all, there were too many rumors about Vaughn. Even if Lucius didn't believe that Vaughn, this redhead, had grown into a powerful wizard at such a young age, he would definitely avoid the Weasleys out of caution.

Unlike several other well-known Horcruxes, Tom Riddle's notebook is too ordinary, and once it is lost, it is very difficult to find again.

So Vaughn simply addressed the problem at its source.

The personality implanted in Draco, hidden deep within his mind, doesn't have many functions. It simply subtly guides him to be more active at Malfoy Manor and uses "notebook" as a keyword.

Once Draco discovers the notebook, his Persona will influence him, drawing him closer to the notebook and ultimately allowing him to obtain it.

As for how it will affect things, and what Draco's reasons for wanting the laptop, that depends on his own thoughts.

Personality implants can currently only amplify certain factors based on the host's own thoughts.

It can be evil to seize it for oneself.

It could also be out of kindness for the sake of others.

"The bill Dad submitted to investigate magical items has reached the Ministry of Magic. Once it passes, Lucius will probably be itching to throw his notebook away... Draco, what will you do?"

Although he always bullies Draco.

But whether in memory or in actual interactions, Vaughn has always admired him.

No one is born a villain or a loser; their downfall is simply due to a lack of guidance.

Despite a night of heavy drinking, Old Barty was back to his usual energetic self the next day.

The WAC conference will begin tonight.

All members of the WAC committee, werewolves, Wizengamot, and representatives from the International Wizarding Federation will be present.

At the same time, as a formal organization in the magical world, and given the importance of such an important event as the founding conference, representatives from the Ministry of Magic, the London offices of various national Ministries of Magic, as well as members of the public, media reporters, and so on, will be invited.

Even if those people don't necessarily come, the necessary preparations are still essential.

So I have a lot to do today.

As for why Barty, a Ministry of Magic official, would be so busy with WAC affairs... it's obviously because of Vaughn's "invitation," and officially speaking, the International Magical Exchange and Cooperation Division is also a partner department of WAC, a sister unit.

My brother's in trouble, it wouldn't be right for you not to come and help, would it?

Therefore, although Barty refused several times, he eventually succumbed to Vaughn's tyranny.

That's why the Crouch family was so busy this morning.

After tidying up her hair and trimming her beard, Shan Shan dug out Crouch's long-forgotten, almost moldy suit last night, washed it thoroughly several times, and got up in the early morning to iron it straight.

By the light of the morning lamp, as she helped Old Barty, who had just finished cleaning, get dressed, she wiped away her tears: "Sparkling has finally seen the familiar master again, serious, confident, and meticulous, not a homeless man clutching a bottle of liquor... Whoosh—"

Shanshan blew her nose hard and burst into tears.

Old Barty awkwardly turned his head away.

In the hallway outside, Vaughn, dressed in a purple velvet robe and wearing the Order of Merlin's badge, watched all this with great interest.

After getting dressed, Old Barty stepped out of the room and glared at Vaughn with annoyance:
I shouldn't have agreed to that!

Vaughn laughed heartily: "Isn't this a good thing? I think it's quite meaningful for Shining to see you cheer up."

Old Barty didn't want to pay any attention to this guy with such a wicked sense of humor.

Although I haven't attended a formal occasion in a long time, I always feel awkward in my formal attire. After all, I was once the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and led the Aurors in their fight against the Death Eaters.

By the time Old Barty enjoyed the breakfast prepared by Sparkling at the restaurant, he had already adapted to his role for the day.

He even took out paper and pen and carefully confirmed the process with Vaughn:

"...I saw the process sheet that WAC gave me, and it didn't mention hosting members of the public or media reporters?"

"Ah, William is in charge of this. He has experience organizing large-scale events in the Muggle community. If you have any questions, you can check with him when you get to headquarters later."

"Only have experience in Muggle society? Then I suggest adding another person."

"Who?"

"Ludo Bagman of the Department of Magical Sports, although I've always thought he's a scoundrel, there's no denying that he's done a very good job in the Department of Sports, and he's organized quite a few magical sports events well."

Vaughn had no requirements for this kind of thing, so he nodded and said, "Okay, you can contact him and see if he's willing to come over."

Old Barty curled his lip: "He'll definitely come, even if it's just for the banquet after the conference... Speaking of the banquet, which staff did you hire? Don't tell me it's those werewolves. I don't discriminate against anyone, but werewolves will definitely mess everything up!"

Unlike Muggle society, the wizarding world does not have companies that specialize in event planning and management.

Ordinary wizarding families don't have the means to organize banquets, so they naturally don't have this need. Pure-blood families may have this need, but they usually have butlers, elves, and other service personnel who receive professional training from a young age, so they don't need to find a separate team.

The same applies to the Ministry of Magic.

However, this did not stump Vaughn, who replied matter-of-factly, "I borrowed all the house-elves from Hogwarts from Dumbledore. No one in all of England has more experience than them!"

Old Barty: "..."

Yes, the elves at Hogwarts organize several banquets for the school every year, so how could they not be very experienced?

To his dismay, no one had ever dared to ask Hogwarts for a team of house-elves before; only Vaughn Weasley had the audacity and influence to do so!
He was a little annoyed and complained, "But we're still missing a manager..."

"I've also called Professor McGonagall. She's managed Hogwarts for decades; she's more than capable!"

"……Fine……"

Those who are favored become fearless; what can Old Batistuta say?

(End of this chapter)