Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 222 Dumbledore's Doubts

Ron paused, taken aback: "What are you looking at?"

Before him, Harry suddenly became excited for some reason. The white mist, imperceptible to the two young wizards, rippled endlessly in his eyes and mind: "Look at Malfoy, see what that guy is up to."

Ron wanted to refuse, but the next second, for some reason, he found Harry's suggestion quite interesting.

Yes!

Malfoy is so annoying, why don't you go with him and see what's going on? Maybe you can uncover their conspiracy?

No one noticed that a white mist was also quietly emerging in his inner world —

Draco doesn't like Harry Potter.

From the very first day they met, when Harry rejected his friendship, he particularly hated that scarred guy who made him lose face in front of his followers!

Especially after entering Hogwarts, Harry Potter became like a star in Muggle society, attracting everyone's attention and becoming the center of everyone's gaze.

He, a noble pureblood, who used to be the center of attention wherever he went, the eldest son of the Malfoy family, could only be like a transparent person, with all his glory stolen by Harry Potter.

Many times, he really wished that scar would disappear!

But for some reason, when he secretly saw his parents take out a notebook emitting black smoke during summer vacation, preparing to give it to Harry at some opportunity, he inexplicably began to resist.

He knew that notebook wasn't anything good.

He knew his father wanted to harm Harry.

Shouldn't he have been happy about this? He should have been happy that Scarface was going to be in trouble, and he should have been pleased that his parents had helped him "fulfill his dream".

But for some reason, he felt very uncomfortable.

In the days following the discovery of the secret, he tossed and turned, suffering mental torment. A voice seemed to constantly echo in his mind, saying, "You're not a bad person, Draco Malfoy. Your conflict with Harry Potter shouldn't have escalated to this point—"

"What Mom and Dad did was wrong. They shouldn't take their anger out on a child. You have to stop them—you have to stop them—"

It's strange that he actually felt sad and guilty because his father wanted to harm Scarface.

Why is this happening?

Many times he would resist thinking like this, but soon, that resistance was suppressed and worn away. He gradually stopped questioning the voice in his heart and listened to it and obeyed it. After all, that was his truest thought, right?

He started to focus on the notebook; he wanted to steal it from his father.

Unfortunately, his father valued the notebook far more than he expected. Throughout the summer vacation, he and Dobby tried many times, but they still couldn't find where their father had hidden the notebook.

He would only summon the notebook occasionally when discussing it with his mother, but even then, he couldn't access it at all.

He had no choice but to settle for second best and start secretly monitoring his father. When his father wanted to harm Harry, he couldn't just keep it hidden, could he?

As long as I keep an eye on my father's movements, I can just seize the opportunity to steal the notebook once he starts implementing his plan to transfer it to Harry.

He monitored them for the entire summer vacation.

Today, he finally got to see his father take action!

However, Draco didn't expect that when he rushed to Diagon Alley, the first people he would encounter were Scarface and that idiot Weasley.

Walking through the bustling streets, Draco was a little annoyed. He had been helping Scarface the whole time, but that wretched guy didn't appreciate it at all. He had just been laughing at him along with that idiot Ron!

Why should I help?

Just as his anger was rising, a glint of white flashed in Draco's eyes, and his fury vanished instantly. He rubbed his head in confusion, his mood improving in a flash: "Well, I can't just let him be harmed by dark magic artifacts because he's blind and not very bright—speaking of which, did Dad suddenly start implementing his plan because Harry and the Weasleys finally came to Diagon Alley?"

As he pondered this, he squeezed through the bustling crowd and finally, he saw his father in the distance.

The father and Gore's father stood in front of Flourish and Blotts, looking somewhat nervous. The father kept looking into the depths of Diagon Alley, as if waiting for someone.

Draco pulled his cloak tighter, covering his hair and face, and slipped into a nearby alley to secretly observe the other side.

Soon, he realized who his father was waiting for. In the distance, a red-haired wizard, leading a red-haired little witch, and a short, plump witch, walked over from Ollivander's direction.

Draco saw his father's eyes light up the moment he noticed the other man.

Then, unsurprisingly, when the two met at the entrance of Flourish and Blotts, the father provoked the other, and a verbal altercation ensued. Before long, Arthur Weasley and his father, two wizards, started fighting each other like foolish Muggles.

Draco paid no attention to the fight between the two middle-aged men.

He knows his father too well; when his father does something foolish, there must be some ulterior motive.

Sure enough, in the midst of the chaotic "battlefield," Goyle's father, a vassal of the Malfoy family, did not participate in the fight but instead quietly walked up to the red-haired little girl.

Then, he took a notebook out of his robe and quietly slipped it into the little girl's schoolbag.

Upon seeing the notebook, Draco's eyes lit up, and the white mist in his pupils thickened even more—

As all these events unfolded, the cruise ship carrying North Sea, Vaughn, and others was gradually approaching the Port of London.

Everyone came out of the cabin.

Isabella, Pandora, Lupin, Matthew, and other WAC executives, along with the accompanying Aurors Kingsley, Tonks, Umbridge, and others, all wore expressions of delight.

With their hometown so close at hand, everyone's longing suddenly intensified, and they all wanted to dock as soon as possible and go home.

The North American werewolves "lured" by Vaughn looked uneasy. They were now homeless, having left their familiar North America, and were bound to live in a foreign land, which made them anxious.

Vaughn and Dumbledore were also on deck.

Noticing the expressions of the North American werewolves, Dumbledore felt a sense of unease. These werewolves were all wizards, and for England, where the wizard population was only tens of thousands, they represented a formidable foreign force.

What if it's not handled properly—

He asked Vaughn, who was gazing out over London Harbour, "Where are you planning to put them?"

"It will be placed in the Muggle community for the time being."

Vaughn said, "The werewolf community that William and his team have built can easily absorb this population. We need to solve their living problems first, and then consider integrating them."

Dumbledore nodded, about to say something more, but suddenly stopped.

He abruptly turned his head, looking towards the center of London, his expression one of surprise.

Noticing his unusual behavior, Vaughn asked curiously, "What's wrong with you—"

Before he finished speaking, Vaughn also sensed it, but what he sensed was different from what Dumbledore sensed. To be precise, his persona received information sent by other personas.

Very faint, but with distinct characteristics, these fluctuations emanated from Harry, Ron, and Draco —

As the sea breeze blew and his red hair swayed, a smile crept onto Vaughn's lips.

Ah, fate has struck again!

Dumbledore once described fate to Vaughn.

In a broad sense, it is a concept without a physical entity, a collection of many events and their operating rules, and a general theory of the trajectory of things.

From this perspective, fate should be an objective law without consciousness or wisdom, and the true nature of things detached from the meaning given to them by the outside world.

However, in Dumbledore's original description, he portrayed certain details of fate as a web.

It is described as a "god" with a wicked personality.

Fate must have its purpose, and when it appears, that purpose must be achieved. Anyone who tries to defy or disrupt it will suffer misfortune!

Dumbledore didn't say what doom was, and Vaughn didn't want to try things he couldn't understand.

But that doesn't mean he's afraid, or that he's willing to watch fate unfold and do nothing.

Wherever there is a purpose, there must be a pattern. In his first year, even though he knew very well that fate required Harry and Voldemort to meet, he still, with Dumbledore's help, made limited interference with the outcome of fate, ensuring that Voldemort and Harry Potter, these twins of destiny, had to step onto the stage that "it" had already prepared.

Fighting for destiny.

At the time, Dumbledore said that was its purpose, and as for the outcome of the battle, this "bad-natured" god did not seem to have considered it, or rather, it was just having fun with it.

So Vaughn got involved and, in the final battle, took control of the entire situation.

For safety's sake, he and Dumbledore created a separate space to test spacetime and destiny.

However, until the very end, they were unsure whether the independent space had played a role in their destiny, or whether the opportunity for the final battle had not yet arrived, or whether fate simply did not care who defeated Voldemort.

However, some results have been achieved in the testing of spacetime.

There exists a spacetime loop in the real world, meaning that everything he experiences in the "present" is absolutely unchanging from the perspective of the "future".

Even if they had a time-travel converter that could go back in time, they couldn't change anything from the past.

If you connect the past, present, and future, it forms a circle with a single path. No matter which node you jump to, you are still inside this circle, and nothing changes!

This is undoubtedly very frustrating, giving one the feeling that it was all orchestrated by a "mastermind."

Until that independent space test, the Norwegian Spinosaurus Norbeta rotated the time converter, successfully transforming itself from an adult dragon into a juvenile dragon, and successfully reversing the events that had already occurred.

The experiment was a success!

Neither Dumbledore nor Vaughn knew the specific principle that led to this result. Was it the independence of space? Or—the force of fate that existed in that independent space at the time?

They had no answers.

Dumbledore quickly abandoned further experiments; he had studied fate his entire life without achieving any significant results.

But Vaughn never gave up!

Of course, he didn't want to, and wasn't confident, to go against fate for the time being, but unlike Dumbledore and everyone else in the world, he knew about the "future".

He knew at what point fate would "appear" again, urging the Gemini he had chosen to continue their destiny-bound clash!

The first grader is Quirrell.

Second grade, without a doubt, it's Tom Riddle's notebook!

So, back when he first developed the Personality Manifestation last semester, he implanted it into people who might come into contact with the notebook at the turning point of their destiny.

Draco, Harry, Ron!

"Based on the pattern of Fate being active in the first year, this time, its goal is probably to get the notebook into Harry's hands—in my past life, Fate achieved this goal through Ginny, but now, of course, I can't allow it to continue using Ginny."

On the ship's side, Vaughn looked up and gazed at London in the distance.

Beside him, Dumbledore also gazed into the distance, lost in thought.

Vaughn didn't know what he was seeing. Perhaps it was the same kind of web of fate that he had demonstrated before? That didn't matter. For Vaughn, all he needed to know was that fate had indeed appeared as he had predicted, and its purpose was clear.

"Since you want Harry to get the notebook, then don't rely on anyone else. I'll help you get it directly to Harry—"

As he was thinking, a wisp of white mist swayed on his body.

A faint ripple emanated from him.

Seemingly noticing the ripples, Dumbledore, who was gazing blankly at London, suddenly snapped back to reality and glanced down at Vaughn.

Vaughn remained unmoved.

"Shall we go take a look?" Dumbledore suddenly asked out of the blue.

This wasn't a test; Dumbledore had always suspected that Vaughn might possess some kind of prophetic ability, or a chain gold artifact with prophetic capabilities.

Moreover, its prophetic abilities and interpretations of the Trelawney family's proverbs are completely different from the centaurs' astrological interpretations; it is extremely powerful, capable of accurately predicting and pinpointing specific events—

This realization became even more ingrained in his mind after Vaughn fulfilled his promise during the last transaction and helped him find the Gaunt Ring.

He believed that Vaughn had just sensed the signs of fate as well!

But when faced with his invitation, Vaughn showed little interest: "Go by yourself, I have a lot of important things to do."

With a sigh, Dumbledore didn't press the matter further.

With a crackling sound, the old wizard twisted and disappeared into the air. The commotion was noticed by many people on the deck, but no one knew what had happened and no one dared to say anything.

Until Vaughn turned around: "Matthew!"

"I'm here, Mr. Chairman."

"Lead all the committee members and Aurors to keep those North American werewolves in check—we're almost home, and we can't afford to cause any trouble on this last stretch of the journey."

"yes!"

Matthew agreed and turned to leave. Before long, the deck became lively. The WAC committee members and Aurors worked together to gather the scattered North American werewolves together and confiscated their wands.

There were naturally some who resisted, but they were only a minority and were quickly suppressed by the WAC committee and the Aurors.

Most people obediently followed orders, after all, many had witnessed Vaughn use a strange, wide-range, lethal spell to slaughter all the wizards of the Magic Council in the Alabacia Mountains!

Especially for the werewolf wizards who participated in the cleanup of the battlefield, even after these past few days, the gruesome sight of those wizards from the Magic Council bleeding from all seven orifices still occasionally comes to mind.

Some of the corpses were even swollen all over, with ruptured blood vessels under the seemingly intact skin, making them look like bloated tomato sauce bags or balloons filled with liquid.

It's as if they would burst open with a bang if you just pressed them lightly!

Just thinking about it sends chills down your spine!

"Damn redhead Weasley, barbarian, pure-blood scum!"

"You're the one who deserves to die, you damned white-haired idiot who only knows how to spout nonsense about pure blood!"

A sudden brawl outside Flourish and Blotts attracted the attention of almost all the wizards, proving that whether in the East or the West, whether Muggles or wizards, everyone loves a good show.

The scene was particularly comical, with one or two pure-blooded figures, Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley, wrestling in the street like foolish Muggles.

You pinch me, I'll kick you.

If you pull my hair, I'll pull yours too.

It's even more ridiculous than a Muggle.

This was such a rare occurrence that the onlookers were even more anxious than the two fighters themselves, eager to see the conflict escalate further, with some even offering encouragement and suggestions.

"Hey Arthur, left hook, punch Malfoy in the chin!"

This is probably Arthur's colleague.

Meanwhile, some purebloods were cheering Malfoy on: "Lucius, don't give up! Arthur Weasley is a short, fat guy. You should use your height advantage to lock his arms!"

Some disagreed: "With Lucius locking Arthur's arm, how can they fight back?"

"Bite it with your teeth!"

"Use a headbutt!"

The entire street was filled with the sounds of people brainstorming and making noise, which made it easier for Draco to act. He pulled his cloak tighter and, taking advantage of his short stature, weaved through the crowd, quickly squeezing up to Ginny Weasley.

Quietly opening the schoolbag, he gently pulled out the notebook that Gao's father had put in a moment earlier.

Then, he turned around and squeezed back into the crowd, and soon slipped out. He nervously clutched the notebook, quickly moved away from the crowd, and found a dark alley where no one was around, so that he had time to examine it carefully.

The notebook had a very simple and old-fashioned design. Draco had seen a similar cover in his father's study; that notebook belonged to his grandfather.

It's probably been decades!

Who did this thing belong to?

Why did it appear so ferocious the last time I saw it, but now it appears so plain?

Driven by intense curiosity, he wanted to open the notebook to take a look, but before he could even begin, a snapping sound rang out in the air.

Dobby, covered by a pillowcase, squeezed out of the air and nearly turned pale with fright when he saw the notebook Draco was holding.

It stared nervously at Draco, and cried out in a shrill voice, "Master, please don't open it!"

"Dobby? How did you get here?" Draco frowned, but quickly changed his attention, looking at Dobby with interest. "You recognize this notebook, don't you? Who owns it?"

Dobby's lips trembled: "Dobby—Dobby can't say—"

Why?

"There's no reason! You can't say!"

"Hmph, Dobby, I am your master! You—"

'

Draco scoffed, but before he could utter the order, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from the dark alleyway entrance behind him: "Expelliarmus!"

A flash of red light appeared, and Draco felt a powerful force suddenly strike him, causing the laptop to slip from his grasp.

At the same time, he was also launched into the air, soaring more than ten feet before crashing heavily into the garbage heap at the bottom of the dark alley!

"Damn Scarface!"

As he was thrown into the air, his changing perspective revealed the attacker's identity. Draco gritted his teeth, enduring the stench as he crawled out of the garbage heap, while simultaneously drawing his wand.

Meanwhile, Harry, who had parted ways with Ron—who had gone to Flourish and Blotts—was chasing after Draco Malfoy alone. He looked at the notebook that he had "disarmed" with his own Disarming Charm with curiosity.

"Give me back my notebook, Scarface!"

Hearing the voice, Harry looked up and saw Draco, covered in trash and looking quite disheveled. A surge of satisfaction welled up inside him: "Return it to you? Ha, Malfoy, I saw it with my own eyes! You stole the notebook from Ginny's bag!"

Draco's face flushed red: "I didn't steal it! I was saving her, and I was saving you too, you idiot!"

"You're the idiot!"

The two exchanged insults, neither willing to back down. Draco knew the notebook was no good, especially since he couldn't let Scarface get his hands on it.

Harry was very curious about what this notebook was that made Malfoy so nervous.

Neither of them noticed that as the notebook fell into Harry's hands, the dense white mist that permeated their memories and wandered through their minds, both in their eyes and in their mental world, dissipated once more.

As the fog dissipated, the two people's distorted and guided thoughts gradually returned to normal.

Draco began to dislike Harry again, and his patience quickly vanished.

When words fail to resolve conflicts, resorting to force becomes inevitable.

Soon, magical light shone in the dark alley.

Draco, who has regained his normal thinking ability, has always looked down on Scarface and Ron, two academic failures, even though he himself is also a complete mess in his studies!

But when the battle actually began, Draco was horrified to discover that the damned scarred man opposite him was far stronger than he had imagined.

Disarming spell, Stunning spell —

Harry used a variety of basic but useful spells in actual combat, though he stumbled a bit. However, his choice and combination of spells were quite skillful.

He, however, had learned some of his family's inherited magic, including even black magic.

But he was no match for Harry at all!

How could this happen?

Why is Scarface so powerful?

If Draco was getting more and more frustrated as the fight went on, then Harry was getting more and more exhilarated. Don't forget, he had just undergone Vaughn's hellish training at the beginning of the year.

Although the training at the time was mainly to teach him Occlumency, Vaughn attacked him frequently for a period of time in order to strengthen his control over Occlumency. The attacks were cunning, swift, and sudden.

If he is unable to maintain his brain shut-off during a sudden attack, the personality implanted by Vaughn will manipulate him into doing something suicidal.

Harry felt very frustrated during that time because no matter what he did, he couldn't withstand Vaughn's attacks.

He always thought he was stupid.

Until this moment!

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