Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

"Two mysterious men—two!"

He looked like he was having a heart attack; his chest was heaving and he was breathing heavily.

“You still don’t understand, Severus. I mean, Tom Riddle might not be the Mystic. They’re different,” Dumbledore explained softly, as if speaking to a child, his tone remarkably calm.

"I can't see the difference!" Snape said sarcastically. "To carry out a terrorist attack at Hogwarts, to trespass on the Ministry of Magic, to blow up half the coast..."

“The difference is that Tom Riddle, or perhaps I should call him Cyrus,” Dumbledore said softly, “is benevolent.”

"Mercy? Killed nine wizards and a goblin?"

“It’s nine evil dark wizards and a goblin attempting a rebellion,” Dumbledore emphasized again. “You’ll find him merciful to the innocent. Of course, I’m not saying he’s good, just merciful compared to the Mystic. You should know that better than I do. And—”

"what?"

"I guess he didn't summon any Death Eaters after his resurrection?"

Snape instinctively gripped the inside of his left arm: "Perhaps he just feels the time isn't right yet."

“Lily’s magic had no effect on him.” Dumbledore’s crescent-shaped spectacles gleamed.

Snape's body swayed violently, as if he had been struck by something.

"When Lily defeated Voldemort with the magic of love, she left a protective layer on Harry. When Harry was in his first year, it was because of this protection that Quirrell, who was possessed by Voldemort, couldn't even touch him. But Cyrus could; he never intended to hurt the child."

Snape remained silent for a long time before speaking in a low, slow voice, "But he could still be a threat."

“Yes, but if he’s not aligned with Voldemort himself, I think we can use him against Voldemort,” Dumbledore said calmly. He sat behind the table, looking like an ordinary old man, but Snape sensed his terrifying presence.

"Aren't the living always more useful than the dead?"

Snape was speechless. But this seemed far too risky to him. What if Tom Riddle had allied with the Dark Lord? What if he too had become the Dark Lord? What if this so-called mercy was just a facade?

Snape had so many worries in his heart, and he wanted to question Dumbledore about them one by one, but in the end, he couldn't say anything, leaving only one sentence:

"You'll regret this, Dumbledore."

Then he left like a bat, just as he had come.

-

Harry and his friends were also keeping a close eye on Cyrus's every move, so much so that they didn't miss a single day of the Daily Prophet.

"Tom Riddle has killed nine dark wizards on the Scottish coast..." Hermione put down her newspaper, her face full of worry. "What happened to Mr. Cyrus? He actually..."

"They actually killed someone?" Harry added.

“Of course not!” Hermione immediately shook her head. “I mean he should at least hide himself.”

Harry looked at her in surprise, seemingly not expecting Hermione to say such a thing.

“Don’t overthink it, Harry. The ones who were killed were dark wizards, and they deserved to die,” Ron said while eating his bacon toast. “Didn’t you see what the newspapers said? These dark wizards were planning to sacrifice an Auror. If it weren’t for Mr. Cyrus, she might be dead.”

“And the goblins!” Hermione said. “The books say they’re incredibly greedy and have started several goblin rebellions that have killed many people. They want the wand too, and if they succeed, who knows what will happen. Have you forgotten the Hog’s Head goblin rebellion from centuries ago, mentioned in the history of magic? That was a massive bloodbath.”

"These dark wizards, humph, it's only because Mystic fell that they are all Death Eaters."

Ron knew better than Harry and Hermione how terrible and hateful dark wizards were, so he changed the subject and continued in a low voice, "By the way, Harry, how's the thing Mr. Cyrus asked you to keep an eye on? I mean, the prophecy."

Upon hearing this, Hermione and her husband immediately perked up their ears.

“Aren’t you guys in class with me?” Harry rolled his eyes. “I haven’t heard her say anything serious, except for that ominous one. Oh, and another one, today is October 16th, and she said that what you’re most worried about will happen.”

Harry looked to the other side of the Great Hall and saw a girl named Draven crying bitterly. She had just received a letter saying that her pet rabbit had been killed by a fox, and she was convinced that this was her biggest fear.

Ron shuddered at the mention of misfortune, but Hermione scoffed.

“If Mr. Cyrus has ever been wrong about anything, it’s that he’s mistaken about Sybil Trelawney!” Hermione said angrily. “Those prophecies are all nonsense! Professor McGonagall said she predicts someone’s death every year!”

“You underestimate Omens, Hermione!” Ron said, displeased. “You’re always so self-righteous! You don’t take anything seriously just because you think it’s wrong, but this is Harry’s life! Do you understand? My uncle saw an Omen and then he died!”

"And Banban, how many times have I told you to keep an eye on that nasty cat!"

“Your uncle just scared himself to death, not to mention Draven, who only received the letter today, which means her rabbit died at least several days ago, and she only found out today,” Hermione said rationally. “Besides, what are you most afraid of? Seeing Mr. Cyrus’s name in the newspaper?”

“I don’t want to talk to you about Hermione! You should pay more attention to other people’s business!” Ron’s tone was harsh. After saying that, he ignored Hermione and turned to look at Harry.

“Harry, I think you should talk to Mr. Cyrus about this and ask Ginny to borrow the diary.”

Hermione looked very angry, her eyes were red, but she probably kept quiet because she thought that if she got the diary she could talk to Cyrus.

Thank you for the 2000-point reward! It's such a hassle to come up with a name. Thank you, boss!

Chapter 124 "Deli's" Alibi

"But how am I supposed to tell Ginny? She values ​​that diary more than anything."

Harry said somewhat awkwardly, "To be honest, I already feel really bad about keeping Mr. Cyrus's existence a secret from her."

“But this is Mr. Cyrus’s request. To be honest, although Ginny is my sister, I completely understand Mr. Cyrus. I would also go crazy if a girl kept talking in my ear 24 hours a day!” Ron said seriously. “And she still writes in her diary from time to time.”

“You two have no idea what girls are thinking.” Hermione shook her head in disdain, then stood up. “Let me go. I can tell her I can use the diary to study.”

After saying that, Hermione walked away.

Ron leaned close to Harry's ear: "I bet she wanted to talk to Mr. Cyrus herself."

“You’d better shut up,” Harry nudged him with his elbow.

The atmosphere between Ron and Hermione had been giving him a headache lately. Crookshanks—the cat Hermione had bought—had been staring at Ron's Scabbers, which was causing them to argue constantly.

Harry often had to endure their torment after a long day of training.

-

“Tonks, Deluxe, now we need you two to recount what happened.”

Shortly after Tonks regained consciousness, Auror Office Chief Scrimgeour arrived with Fudge. As soon as he entered the ward, he said with a stern face, "It's mainly you, Tonks. I've already read through Deluxe's ​​report."

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, there’s no need to rush.” Fudge came out and tucked his green hat under his arm. “Dumbledore said he’ll be here soon. He wants to know some details. Let’s wait until he gets here.”

Is Dumbledore coming over?

Although this was not unexpected for Cyrus, he still couldn't help but sit up straight.

Only those who have truly faced that old man will know just how terrifying he is. His eyes seem to see through everything, revealing a person completely, inside and out, leaving even the most hidden secrets of the heart completely unguarded in his presence.

In particular, he had spent a lot of time subduing that fire dragon, and by the time the Auror's men arrived, he no longer had time to alter Tonks' memories.

A moment later, Dumbledore walked in with light steps.

He was very tall, with a long beard that reached his waist, and looked extremely wise and kind. Every gesture he made seemed to contain immense magical power.

As soon as he entered, his gaze swept over everyone present. His eyes hardly lingered, but Cyrus felt that he paused on him.

Cyrus even began to suspect that the other party had already figured something out, and started to get nervous.

Of course, he remained outwardly calm and composed, much like Delilah himself, and didn't say much.

Finally, Dumbledore's gaze settled on Tonks, who was lying on the sickbed.

"How are you feeling, Tonks?" He walked kindly to the bedside, and Cyrus stood up from one of the only two chairs to give him his place. "Oh, thank you, Delis. I'm so glad you care about a centenarian like this."

Dumbledore accepted the chair without hesitation and sat down.

“I’m fine, Professor Dumbledore,” Tonks said, shaking his head.

“Like the Aurors who were knocked unconscious at the Ministry of Magic before, it’s not a serious injury. It just took a little time for the hospital to break the spell.” Moody glanced at Scrimgeour before speaking to Dumbledore.

Scrimgeour was, after all, his former colleague, and now the head of the Auror's office, so they still had some connection.

As for Fudge?

I'm so unfamiliar!

Dumbledore listened and nodded with a half-smile.

He increasingly felt that Cyrus was different from Tom Riddell.

While at school, Cyrus could be said to have been afraid of him and therefore dared not kill. But after leaving Hogwarts, although the other party still acted eccentrically, he didn't kill many people, only eliminating a group of dark wizards, which was very strange.

However, Dumbledore was still somewhat puzzled as to why Cyrus was on the Scottish coastline.

"Miss Tonks, could you tell me what you saw at the time?"

Tonks glanced at Cyrus immediately, then nodded cautiously. She too had only graduated a couple of years ago; Dumbledore's aura as the headmaster hadn't faded yet.

"Delix and I were originally keeping watch at the Pig's Head, but then Delix probably got bored and started going to the Three Brooms every day to flirt with the proprietress..." Tonks said resentfully.

Cyrus: ? ? ?

When did I ever flirt with the landlady who owns three brooms?

Feeling five pairs of eyes fixed on him in the ward, especially Tonks's smug expression of relief, Cyrus knew he had to defend himself.

“Haha, I understand, Lady Rosmerta is indeed beautiful,” Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes narrowed.

"Is this true, Delilah?" Moody asked immediately in an unfriendly tone.

He already gripped his cane in one hand, as if he would immediately use it to cast a spell on Cyrus if Cyrus did not give him a satisfactory answer.

Scrimgeour remained relatively composed, but his expression was equally solemn.

A genius who can disguise himself as Magus is an extremely rare find in the Auror ranks; otherwise, there would be no need to specially hire Moody to train him.

“Of course not. From the beginning, I suspected that the fairy and the dark wizard were very wary. I’m not Tonks; if I showed up at the bar every day, it would arouse suspicion. You know, I’m not good at shapeshifting,” Cyrus said immediately.