Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 75 Ron and Harry's Social Death Time
At night, Vaughn, who was still trying various spells, received a letter from Zhu Weijuan.

The letter was from my mother, and inside it was just a piece of parchment with the words "Throw me into the fireplace" written on it.

This is certainly not because Molly is crazy and asks her son to burn her, but the name of the parchment is "Throw me into the fireplace". It is an alchemical prop used for fireplace communication.

The frugal Weasley family rarely used such fancy things. This time, perhaps because the wolfsbane potion incident had a huge impact, Molly and Arthur felt that a few letters could not make things clear, so they simply had a fireplace conversation.

There is a small fireplace in the dormitory, but it cannot be used for communication because alchemical props such as "Throw me into the fireplace" utilize the Floo Network.

At Hogwarts, only the large fireplaces in the common rooms of each college and the fireplaces in the professors' offices were connected to the Floo Network.

Vaughan didn't go to the common room, but went straight to Snape.

The professor was still dressed in his gloomy attire. He stood among the densely packed potion materials, his eyes half closed. He slowly said in his classic sarcastic tone, "Well—famous Vaughn Weasley, the new Potions Master, why are you visiting the tiny Potions Professor's office instead of accepting the admiration and flattery of those little idiots?"

Vaughn glanced at the prepared materials around Snape and knew that this arrogant professor had actually been waiting for him.

But sorry, he is not here to study potions today.

Vaughan took out "Throw Me Into the Fireplace" and said sincerely, "Professor, I'd like to borrow the fireplace for a moment."

"..."

Vaughan seemed to see dark clouds gathering above Snape's head. The Potions Professor's face stiffened for a moment, and finally he snorted coldly and walked away, swinging his robe.

Seeing that he was in such a bad mood, Vaughn added another stab before he walked out of the office: "By the way, Professor, I want to practice spells recently, so I won't be coming for a while, so don't wait for me!"

Snape stumbled.

The next moment the door was slammed shut.

With such a bad temper, I wonder who will be in trouble next.

Vaughan observed a moment of silence for the unknown unfortunate person, walked to the fireplace, pulled over Snape's favorite recliner, sat comfortably, and then threw the parchment into the fire.

The parchment immediately caught fire, and the fire in the fireplace expanded rapidly as if it had been catalyzed by something.

Soon, three human figures were outlined in the fire.

"Vaughan—darling!"

Molly screamed.

Vaughan rubbed his forehead. This was why he didn't want to talk on the phone in the common room...

"Mom, Dad, and Ginny, are you home now? How is Charlie in Romania?"

He quickly asked first to prevent his mother from becoming sentimental and talking endlessly.

Molly was distracted. "We just got back, dear. Mom and Dad are so sorry for not being with you. You have no idea how worried I was when I saw the newspaper. Merlin, thinking about you having to face so many adults' difficulties, I—"

Fat Molly touched her chest and was about to faint.

Arthur, who was beside her, quickly patted her on the back.

Vaughn said helplessly: "Mom, the newspapers are all exaggerated. Besides, Dumbledore was with me at the time, and Uncle Oliver was there too."

"I wouldn't be angry if you didn't mention them!" Molly miraculously recovered and shouted with her hands on her hips, "How could Dumbledore let a child like you stand up for yourself? And Oliver, he actually had the nerve to tell the whole family that you defeated Selwyn. As an uncle, how could he let his nephew face an adult wizard? He'd better pray that I can't find him the next time I go to my uncle's house!"

Molly and Oliver are not biological siblings, she only has two biological brothers.

Molly kept on blaming Dumbledore and Oliver, while Arthur's expression gradually became dull, until Ginny jumped up and down anxiously, "Mom, let me talk to Vaughn!"

Molly finally stopped with a feeling of being unsatisfied.

"Wait, honey, Mommy hasn't finished yet... Vaughn, Mommy is proud of your kindness and persistence. Son, I read the report, and it's hard to imagine that there are such kind wanderers among the werewolves. You are right to help them. Don't worry about the obstruction and threats from those who sing the opposite tune. Mommy and Daddy will always support you in doing the right thing!"

"...Thank you, Mom."

Vaughan said, looking at Arthur again: "It may have some impact on Dad. Dumbledore and I played a trick on Fudge. After all, he is Dad's boss."

Arthur showed no fear of his worry. "Don't worry, son. I've already disliked that short, fat guy. The worst that can happen is I'll just resign. Besides, the Weasleys are a pure-blood family after all."

Pure-blood families represent many things in the wizarding world, the most typical of which is the complex relationship between families.

It is probably difficult for outsiders to imagine that Weasley and Malfoy, who do not get along with each other, are actually relatives.

Targeting one pure-blood may lead to the emergence of another group of pure-bloods. This is the secret of the pure-blood families that have continued to exist in the wizarding world to this day.

Vaughan recalled that in the original book, even after Voldemort was resurrected and took control of the Ministry of Magic, Arthur still went to work leisurely at the Ministry of Magic.

He felt a little relieved.

After that, he talked to his parents for a while. Although most of their chatter was disorganized, Vaughn did not feel impatient.

He liked their concern.

They don't care what achievements he has made, they only care about whether he has been wronged. They will support him in doing what he wants as long as it is right.

Especially when Ginny was so anxious that she started kicking her parents' legs, and finally got a chance to speak and cried and said she missed him, Vaughn felt his heart suddenly at peace.

"Vaughn, when can you come home?"

"Well—about a dozen weeks."

Vaughan played a little trick on time, and sure enough, when Ginny heard the word "week", she felt that it didn't seem so long, and she immediately felt less sad.

She ran away happily and soon came back with a furry thing in her arms: "Vaughn, I received your Christmas present. I like it very much. What do you think of naming it?"

The furry thing huddled in her arms and stuck out its tongue stupidly.

It was a cattail, a very docile magical creature. Vaughn had asked Newt for one after seeing it at the Scamanders' house last time.

This amazing animal is perfect for giving to children and is a legal pet.

I discussed the issue of naming the pet with my sister for a while, and the duration of "throwing me into the fireplace" is about to end.

After saying goodbye to Ginny who was reluctant to leave, he agreed with his parents to write to him if he had any problems. As the blazing flames in the fireplace receded, the conversation came to an end.

Vaughn sighed, suddenly feeling that time seemed to pass too quickly.

A little melancholy.

Then, this trace of melancholy disappeared as soon as he walked out of the Potions Office.

In the dark corner of the door, an old man in a light pink robe stood there with a smile...

"Albus, what would the students think if they knew that their beloved headmaster was actually a peeping old bastard?"

"Everyone will understand, Vaughn. You don't know how happy I am when I see a child who is so mature that it makes us worry, can still take the time to talk to his family."

"Then you have to be careful. That kid might cast a spell on you from behind one day."

"I'm happy even if I'm cursed!"

"Why didn't I notice you had this quirk before?"

"Kid, when an old man decides to lose his face, you can't argue with him no matter what."

"...Okay, you win, where are we going now?"

Vaughn, who lost the verbal exchange, gave up competing with a shameless old lunatic.

At this time, the two had become invisible under Dumbledore's magic. They walked slowly in Hogwarts, which was gradually falling into silence as night fell.

Hearing his question, Dumbledore winked at him and said, "I helped you, so you should help me."

As they were talking, they had already reached the fifth floor. Vaughn immediately reacted, "Harry still comes here every day to look in the mirror?"

"yes……"

Dumbledore sighed, "Because I was helping you a few days ago, I didn't have time to control him. Now he's becoming more and more addicted to it."

Vaughn couldn't help but sneer, "So, why did you want to show him this in the first place?"

"This involves some of my little plans!"

Dumbledore was very childish and kept the secret.

Vaughn sneered. He certainly knew why. Dumbledore wanted to confirm whether Harry's inner desire had deviated from his expectations, and he was also making arrangements for the subsequent test.

Only by making Harry familiar with the Mirror of Erised and then revealing that everything it reflects is false, can Harry finally find the correct answer to pass the level.

But in Vaughan's view, this kind of artificial test is meaningless. Everything is under control, which means there are no variables.

But the fact is, when a person really faces danger and the tricks of fate, variables are everywhere.

People can only grow after making mistakes, which actually means learning to deal with those variables.

Old Deng will probably only understand after this time, so the so-called test will only happen once in the first grade.

Vaughn was too lazy to say more. Since Dumbledore asked him to help, he would of course help out of the principle of integrity in the transaction.

"what do you want to do?"

"Warn Harry, just as you warned me, tell him that what the magic mirror shows is just an illusory dream, and he should return to reality."

Vaughn's face turned serious. "Why don't you say these things yourself?"

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Don't be so repulsive, Vaughn. Harry has always regarded you as his good friend. You two should be closer."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. After all, the old man still wanted to turn the iron triangle into an iron square.

Dream on!
As the two were talking, there was movement in the corridor in the distance. Although no one could be seen, footsteps and faint voices could be heard:
"Ron, you stepped on my foot again."

"Sorry Harry, I'm a little nervous."

"You weren't like this last time, Ron. Honestly, I'm a little worried about you."

"What? Don't worry, I just want to take a look, just one look."

Ron?

Vaughn looked at Dumbledore and found that Dumbledore was also a little confused. It seemed that he didn't know that Ron had come with him today.

Words of warning to Harry would be more appropriate when he was privately obsessed with it. Now that Ron was around, it was impossible for Harry to be obsessed with the Mirror of Erised.

Thinking of this, Vaughan's mood became cheerful again: "Looks like I won't be needed today. Let's go, Albus. I'm going back to rest."

Dumbledore shook his beard in frustration. "Well, let's wait until they finish watching before we leave. At least we can make sure they don't run into Quirinus."

Vaughan shrugged and didn't push any further.

As the two were talking, Harry and Ron entered the classroom. The moment they appeared after removing their Invisibility Cloaks, Ron eagerly pressed his face against the mirror. Harry, while putting away the Invisibility Cloak, worriedly reminded him, "Be careful, don't break it. This might be Dumbledore's stuff."

"No, I can't bear to break it."

Ron stared at the mirror obsessively.

"Um, Ron, what did you see?"

"I saw... a lot of people surrounding me to take pictures..." Ron murmured, the freckles on his face gradually turning red. "I saw it. It turns out that I invented a super powerful potion. Everyone is looking at me in admiration. Merlin! Harry, I got the Order of Merlin, First Class! First Class!"

Ah this...

Harry had a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn't this the same picture of Vaughan they had seen in the newspaper that morning?

He suddenly wanted to complain.

To what extent was Ron envious of Vaughn that even his inner desires imitated Vaughn's?
In the corner of the room, Vaughn and Dumbledore also had strange expressions on their faces.

"Hmm--Vaughn, it seems like you brothers have a very good relationship..."

"You are old and confused. He is just jealous."

“Jealousy can sometimes be a driving force!”

The two were bickering as usual in front of the Mirror of Erised. Looking at Ron who was almost lying on the mirror, Harry suddenly bit his lip, walked forward and pulled Ron away, then pulled off the black cloth and covered the mirror.

Ron suddenly woke up from the dream and was still a little confused: "Harry...?"

Harry glared, "There's something wrong with you, Ron!"

"Uh, I..."

"You know what's in the mirror is fake, right? You were the one who told me last time that these magic mirrors are usually not good."

Ron was a little unconvinced: "I just wanted to take a look. You've been watching for several days, isn't it okay?"

"You didn't look as relaxed as you say now." Harry said seriously. He took a deep breath, "Besides, I've decided not to come again!"

"……what?"

Harry sat down next to Ron, staring blankly at the ground. "Yes, I've been obsessed with the images in the mirror these days. In it, my parents are not dead, and there is still a whole family... But Ron, they don't exist in reality. When I was reading the newspaper this morning, I suddenly realized that I have been completely out of touch with reality these days."

"Hermione is right. Vaughn is doing a great thing. He's the same age as us, but he's already working hard to save others. What about me? I actually spend every day lying on the mirror..."

As he spoke, he pulled out the folded morning newspaper from his pocket and said to Ron, "You said I've become a little fan of Vaughn, and that's right. He made me realize that I can't indulge in illusions anymore. I should learn from him and do something more meaningful!"

Ron was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Like, finish your homework, right?"

Harry was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter with Ron.

What a youthful picture! The young man suddenly realizes his mistakes and turns over a new leaf.

Unfortunately, a burst of applause ruined the scene. Dumbledore withdrew the magic at some point. He clapped vigorously while wiping his eyes: "How touching, Vaughan! Look, Harry followed your example and broke free from the lies of the Mirror of Erised!"

He also blew his nose hard.

But the two young boys in front of the mirror were stunned. They looked at Dumbledore who appeared in the corner, and Vaughn who stood beside him with a stern face.

Harry's face flushed red, and Ron almost groaned as he asked subconsciously, "When...when did you get here?"

Vaughn's face was expressionless: "Always here, the Honorable Ronald Weasley, Order of Merlin, First Class!"

"what--"

Ron screamed and scrambled out, while Harry covered his face with his sleeves and hurriedly followed behind him.

Looking at their fleeing backs, Dumbledore laughed.

Vaughn complained, "You old pervert, is this how you train your savior? Be careful, Harry will die socially and turn evil!"

Dumbledore blinked. "With you as an example, I believe he won't."

“…Shut up!”

Dumbledore smiled for a moment longer, his mouth shut. He looked at the Mirror of Erised, which was covered with a black cloth, and suddenly said, "You and Harry are both braver than I am..."

He shook his head, stopped looking at the mirror, waved his hand, and moved it to an unknown place.

He turned and left. Before leaving, he said to Vaughan, "I heard from Severus that you are going to practice spells next. I suggest you try memory magic. In fact, you already know the answer you are looking for!"

"You already know the answer you're looking for."

Throughout the night, Dumbledore's words kept echoing in Vaughn's mind.

What answer is he looking for?
The problem is obvious – the effect of negative emotions on the mind required to resolve black magic.

This was the problem that had troubled Vaughan the most. He had mentioned this to Dumbledore a few days ago when he was chatting with him and Dumbledore advised him to learn ancient magic.

If Vaughn really wanted to learn the Dark Arts a few years ago, he would have had a way to get it, and the underground block of Knockturn Alley was a good choice.

There are many black wizards over there. Although they have no integrity, there are many counterfeits and they always try to rob each other.

But if you try a few more times, you will have no problem picking up the three unforgivable curses, not to mention all kinds of black magic.

The main reason why Vaughn hadn't considered it was that he was somewhat afraid of the mind-distorting nature of black magic.

They require an extremely strong dose of malice.

This doesn't seem to reflect the difficulty. Let's take an example. Vaughn clearly remembered that in the original book, Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black, Harry's only remaining relative.

Harry witnessed the death of his godfather with his own eyes. At that moment, I believe his anger, violence, hatred and other negative emotions towards Bella must have reached the peak of his life.

Driven by that emotion, he cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bella.

But even with such strong negative emotions, his Cruciatus Curse was still ridiculed by Bella as "weak and powerless."

At that time, Harry was almost an adult and his magic power was not weak. What Bella laughed at was not his magic power, but the darkness in his heart.

Even the Cruciatus Curse cast in such an extreme state was not strong enough or dark enough in Bella's eyes. It is conceivable how terrifying the negative emotions required for the Unforgivable Curse must be.

Vaughn didn't think any normal person could maintain sanity and normal thinking with such terrible negative emotions accumulating in their brain all day long.

He really wanted to learn the dark arts, but if the price was to turn himself into a madman, then he would decline.

Lying in bed, Vaughan thought about Dumbledore's words:

"From what he said, the solution to the dark magic affecting the mind is memory magic?"

As he was thinking, he suddenly sat up and took out the magic book given to him by Dumbledore, which was titled "A Journey Through the Past and Present of Memory Magic".

I opened the title page and looked at the author's handwritten cursive words:
【Memory is the coat of the soul】

At that time, he had just come into contact with memory magic. At first, he thought this passage was the author's literary complex. Later, when he found out that advanced transfiguration required the application of memory magic to simulate the soul, he thought the author was hinting at its versatility.

And now, his understanding of this sentence has changed again.

"It turns out the answer has been right in front of me all along... Memory is the outer garment of the soul. The outer garment's function is to protect it from wind, rain, and dust. When it becomes dirty and polluted, it can be replaced with another one, and the soul behind the garment remains pure and flawless..."

"But how do I weave this coat?"

Now Vaughan has some understanding of memory magic. The so-called emotions and memories are not independent entities that exist independently of each other, but different manifestations of subjective cognition when the human brain is active.

They are essentially one and the same. It is not possible to separate them and create a false memory to produce corresponding emotions.

The emergence of emotions may actually call upon all memories. For example, when a person feels humiliated and angry, he will remember all the humiliating experiences and even trace them back to the beginning of his memory.

If you want to deceive yourself with false memories, it means you have to modify all the memories in your mind and make up a life that is real enough. Otherwise, your own cognitive ability will tell you that everything you think of is fake.

Vaughn opened the system panel and browsed through all the memory magic he had learned.

Legilimency, Memory Charm, Dream Charm, Nightmare Charm, False Memory Charm...

Looking at the spells one by one, Vaughn pondered for a long time and finally came up with some ideas:
"If I were to weave a coat for myself, first, I could use a fake memory charm to create a large enough framework. This framework needs to be able to accommodate the life of a dark wizard and be reasonable, such as the reason why he fell into darkness, why he indulged in dark magic, and why he went crazy..."

"...The Dream and Nightmare spells are responsible for amplifying the effect of the memory, making the beauty profound enough, and then destroying it, making the pain unforgettable, providing a reason enough for depravity to be mistaken for reality. Finally, there's the Oblivion spell, which ensures that once this 'outer garment' is contaminated to a certain degree, it can be 'destroyed with a single click'..."

Legilimency will be involved in the entire weaving process, followed by Occlumency, which is responsible for protecting the real memories!
At this point in the plan, Vaughn was a little stunned.

He calculated that to complete this black magic coat, he would need to use about ten kinds of memory spells, and they must not be the kind that can be mastered roughly, but at least level 3.

This is undoubtedly a huge project, and he has no way to verify whether it is effective for the time being.

Although in his opinion, there is nothing wrong with this idea.

"It seems that this problem cannot be solved in a short time. I need a large number of experimental samples to verify whether my idea is correct..."

Vaughn felt a bit of a headache. If it were an ordinary wizard, he might have to spend his entire life on this. No wonder this method was rarely heard of in the magical world.

The road ahead is difficult, but Vaughan is in a good mood.

No matter how difficult the road is, it is always better than having no road at all. In order to be able to enjoy the big melons in the future, while you are young and can still have fun, no matter how hard it is, it is not unacceptable.

What made him feel better was that after lying in the dark for a while, the time passed midnight, 0 became completely a thing of the past, and it was officially January 1991, 1992.

The system silently popped up a message in front of my eyes:

【Last month's reputation points have been settled】

Vaughn opened the system panel.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 456 (500 for an ordinary adult wizard)]

【天赋：魔咒学7、黑魔法6、变形术8、魔药学10、草药学6、占卜学2 (满值为10)】

【魔咒：大脑封闭术LV5(MAX)、飞走咒LV4（11/16）、漂浮咒LV4（9/16）、铁甲咒LV4(9/16)、缴械咒LV4(8/16)……神锋无影LV1（4/6）、美梦咒LV1（3/4）、呼神护卫LV1（4/8）、消失咒LV1（2/6）、摄神取念LV1(3/8)……】

[Potions: "Vaughn Beauty" series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc....]

【Reputation Points: 22】

The last time Vaughn added points was on November 11st, when he kept 1 point. He also kept the 1 points from the previous month when the December settlement was made.

All in all, the wolfsbane potion incident directly raised his monthly reputation points to 15 points!
An increase of 9 points compared to before, one event, exceeded his efforts in the past few years!

Vaughn subconsciously hugged Guo Guo Cha tightly. He suddenly had the illusion that he was very wealthy...

(End of this chapter)