The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 217 Divination of Fate and Diviners

12 Morig Place

Regulus's remains were temporarily placed in the garden behind the old house.

Sirius Black has scheduled the funeral for tomorrow.

Sirius Black probably didn't want Regulus to be too lonely, so he wrote letters to as many people as possible, including Lupin, the Weasleys, and Regulus's two cousins...

……

In the living room of Blake's old house.

Ino and Dumbledore sat facing each other, with an exquisite locket between them.

The box was about the size of an egg. A large letter 'S' was carved into the front, and many green gemstones were inlaid around it, shimmering faintly under the light.

"This is it. Young Master Regulus instructed old Kreacher to destroy it by any means necessary..."

Kreacher's voice was still sharp, but it had lost some of its previous madness, as if bringing back Regulus's remains had a great effect on it.

"Professor! What are you planning to do?" Ino glanced at the pendant on the table; the intense malice emanating from it could be felt even without an oil lamp.

When Ino asked him a question, Dumbledore did not answer directly. Instead, he gently tapped the pendant with the Elder Wand, as if confirming something.

After a long pause, Dumbledore sighed with relief and said, "You handle it!"

"I'll handle it?" Ino asked, somewhat surprised.

"What? Don't tell me you didn't plan on?" Dumbledore blinked, his tone mocking. "If it weren't for Sirius's last-minute intervention, you might have already handled everything. What would I be doing then!"

"Alright then! Give me a minute!" Ino shrugged, then used his wand to pick up the pendant on the table, and his figure disappeared from the spot.

It takes less than ten seconds to go in and out.

When they reappeared, Ino tossed the pendant in her hand to Dumbledore.

"It's all taken care of! But I want to give this to Professor Snape... after all, it's a Slytherin relic, so it should be given to the Head of Slytherin."

After a moment's hesitation, Ino also expressed her thoughts: the pendant should not be allowed to be taken away by Dumbledore yet.

We should let him study it properly after the Christmas holidays are over.

"I already said, this is your responsibility." Dumbledore glanced at the pendant, which looked as if it had been purified, and couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Upon hearing this, Ino remained silent for a moment.

"You trust me that much? You didn't even ask how I knew all this?"

"Why ask? Isn't a good result enough?" Dumbledore asked calmly, leaning back on the sofa.

"A friend of mine once told me that divination and prophecy are far too powerful, almost surpassing magic..."

Hearing this explanation, Ino became interested. Having studied magic for so long, divination was the only subject she had never truly understood.

Dumbledore noticed the change in Ino's expression, but since he could bring up this pretext, he didn't intend to hide it.

"My friend once said that divination and prophecy are divided into two levels: one is genuine divination with talent, and the other is divination as a joke without talent..."

As Dumbledore explained, Ino roughly understood the power of divination and prophecy, and at the same time, she understood why people respected prophets so much throughout the vast history of magic.

A simple example is when an ordinary person tries to predict the future direction of the London stock market, but whether they predict a drop or a rise, it will not affect the market's performance the next day.

The stock market will behave as it is, and it won't change because of one person's divination; so-called input and output are irrelevant.

However, if we replace the diviner with Buffett, regardless of Buffett's judgment, his input has already been incorporated into the output due to his reputation.

The moment he made his prediction, it had already influenced the outcome of the London stock market the following day.

This is undoubtedly a powerful force.

This power belongs only to gifted diviners.

As the most outstanding diviners, the prophets of the magical world are able to wield this power autonomously, which is the fundamental reason why each prophet is so highly respected.

But like everything, there is a price to pay.

Diviners who cannot utilize their talents often meet with unfortunate ends.

In layman's terms, it means talking too much, spouting nonsense, and making wild guesses.

The seemingly frivolous predictions of mediocre fortune tellers actually influence the outcome of events due to their own lack of talent.

The price was already paid the moment the fortune teller spoke.

……

About fifteen minutes.

Dumbledore finished telling everything.

Similarly, Ino understood the old principal's good intentions.

Perhaps in the other party's eyes, whether it was Peter Pettigrew before or the Horcrux now, it was all known by him through the power of divination.

Today, Dumbledore is telling this story probably to serve as a warning, to remind him that the power of divination should not be used indiscriminately.

"I understand! Thank you, Professor!" Ino said solemnly.

Although he didn't use divination at all, Dumbledore's words were still very helpful, especially since the motivation behind it was out of concern.

"Good that you understand!" Dumbledore nodded gently. "Too many talented diviners have realized this too late, which is why their endings were not very perfect."

"What about Professor Trelawney?" Ino thought of the mad professor in the original story, whose ending also seemed tragic.

"Sybil? I told her that, and I promised she wouldn't need to do fortune-telling at Hogwarts!"

At this point, Dumbledore seemed to have thought of something as well, and his tone became inexplicably hesitant.

"I brought her to Hogwarts to protect her..."

……

The village of Hogsmeade appeared peaceful and serene at dusk.

Ino leaned back calmly in his chair. After talking with Dumbledore that afternoon, he returned to his cabin.

After all, Regulus's funeral was the next day, and he had no reason to stay at Black's old house.

Looking at the exquisite pendant on the table, he lost all interest in studying it at that moment.

Today's conversation felt like an invisible hand lifting a long-sealed veil.

It seems that in any story, one can always see the shadow of fate and divination.

It's the beginning of the month! Xiao Di is begging for votes! Please vote! Please vote, everyone! Please cast your vote!

Xiao Di's sharing today: Pixie the Little Elf

British Magic Classification Level: xxx

Origin and Distribution: Elf-like creatures are mainly found in Cornwall, England. Appearance: Elf-like creatures are dark blue-green and can grow up to 8 inches (approximately 20.3 cm) tall. They do not have wings but can fly.

Habits: Elves are viviparous animals. They are mischievous by nature and love to play pranks. They will grab people by the ear when they are not paying attention and lift them up and throw them to the treetops or rooftops.

(End of this chapter)