Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 74 The White Demon King!

Breaking News: Hundreds of werewolves gather in Diagon Alley, Vaughn Weasley's investiture ceremony suffers numerous mishaps!

"Fudge's reputation is ruined; he was beaten by a mob of Wessengamo at his medal-awarding ceremony!"

"The Werewolf Affairs Committee: Is it truly for the benefit of werewolves, or is it actually tearing apart the Ministry of Magic's authority? — The love-hate relationship between Dumbledore and Fudge!"

"Vaughn Weasley, a boy whom everyone underestimated, was kind, intelligent, and compassionate. The werewolves held him in high esteem. According to the werewolves interviewed, Mr. Weasley gave them hope and even paid for their recent living expenses out of his own pocket..."

"Vaughn Weasley, a hypocritical, cunning viper who uses the appearance of a child to disguise himself—behold, readers, he has summoned those savage werewolves, his ruthless army. Wolfsbane is not the dawn of the wizarding world, but poisoned bait for Weasley to realize his personal ambitions!"

"Is Dumbledore the kind-hearted headmaster of Hogwarts, or the White Hound plotting to overthrow the Ministry of Magic?"

Late at night, in the principal's office, Vaughn chuckled as he looked at the newspaper.

He peeked out and looked at Dumbledore, who was fiddling with a plate of candy on the other side, and teased, "See that, Albus? Someone's calling you the White Demon. That reporter has some nerve."

Dumbledore's beard twitched, and he kept a straight face, not wanting to speak.

He's very frustrated now. He had agreed to cooperate with Vaughn in promoting the establishment of the "Werewolf Affairs Committee" and, in order to minimize resistance, he agreed to Vaughn's request to bring in the International Confederation of Wizards.

Although he had anticipated that his actions might draw criticism, he did not expect the criticism to be far greater than he had imagined.

He underestimated his influence in the wizarding world as the most powerful wizard of his time, an influence that he could not easily diminish by hiding in Hogwarts.

People will naturally pay close attention to the details of such a great person's every move.

At this point, half a day had passed since the medal-awarding ceremony.

From the moment the werewolves appeared in Diagon Alley, the ceremony itself lost its meaning. Wizengamo did not respond to Vaughn's final proposal, so the ceremony could not continue.

As the council and highest court of the magical world, Wizengamor is both a judicial and legislative body.

Its organization is loose, but it wields immense power, and any decision it makes will be supported by the entire magical world.

This is why Vaughn insisted on holding the event at his own award ceremony, because at other times it would be difficult for him to gather so many Wizengamo members. Without the support of the Wizengamo, the "Werewolf Affairs Committee" could not succeed!

However, on the other hand, such great power must be subject to a set of procedures to constrain it.

Therefore, any decision made by Wissengamo must be discussed and voted on by all members, and it is impossible to get a result in a short period of time.

Dumbledore ate a pile of cockroaches, which cheered him up a bit: "Amelia has sent letters to all Wizengamo members, preparing for a general meeting in two weeks. You should receive the letter tomorrow, since you are now part of Wizengamo."

Vaughn shrugged. "Just an ordinary member."

"Ordinary members wouldn't cause something this big..." Dumbledore rubbed his temples and asked, "Are those werewolves still in London? What are your plans?"

"I instructed Remus to take them to Muggle society for a while. Many of them are Muggles or Squibs. Once they have legitimate identities in Muggle society and there is no risk of them going out of control during their Full Moon transformation, they can support themselves."

At this point, Vaughn held out his hand to Dumbledore: "Give me 5000 Galleons!"

Old Deng was stunned: "...What?"

"5000! Galons! Before the Werewolf Affairs Committee is established, I need to prepare enough wolfsbane potion for them to survive two full moons... Tsk tsk, Your Excellency White Demon King, you're not expecting me to foot the bill, are you?"

"..."

After a long pause, Dumbledore finally couldn't stand idly by.

He muttered something, slowly went back to the bedroom, and came back with a bag.

Without batting an eye, Vaughn stuffed the spell-enchanted, palm-sized, and weightless pouch into his satchel: "Don't feel bad about it. Think about it, you stay at Hogwarts all day, eating and lodging without spending a single knaut. What's the use of money? You might as well use it to do something meaningful."

"...Go away, I'm sleepy!"

Vaughn didn't mind, patted his satchel, and said goodbye to Dumbledore.

Following the awarding ceremony, various newspapers urgently published additional reports on the werewolf's appearance in Diagon Alley, Fudge's house collapse, and the establishment of the Werewolf Affairs Committee, making the topic extremely popular.

This also put him in a very good mood.

His original purpose was to make a big fuss about the wolf poison and werewolves, so as to alleviate the plight of those homeless werewolves and promote his own fame.

So whether he's praised or criticized, it doesn't matter to him—being infamous is still being famous!

The day after tomorrow is January 1992, the day the system's reputation points are settled. This "hype" at the end of this month will definitely bring a big increase in his reputation points!

With a hint of anticipation, Vaughn decided to take a good rest for the next two days to recharge.

After Vaughn left, in the portrait in the Headmaster's office, Headmaster Black sarcastically mocked Dumbledore: "Ignorant, foolish old man, completely fooled by a child, ruining his lifelong reputation, and now even losing money!"

"Regret it now? Serves you right! I knew he was no good all along. Only you bunch of pedantic idiots said I seduced him—a guy like that, 12 years old and full of scheming, did he need me to seduce him?"

As Black continued his rambling, Dumbledore paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "At least what he's doing is meaningful!"

He could tell that Vaughn felt sympathy for those wandering werewolves, perhaps not intensely, but it was real—otherwise, Vaughn wouldn't have needed to offend Fudge; if he wanted to become famous, cooperating with Fudge wouldn't have cost him anything.

Only someone with sympathy for werewolves would push so hard to establish the "Werewolf Affairs Committee"!

Dumbledore felt that this alone made the loss of his reputation and the 5000 Galleons worthwhile.

Principal Blake, enraged, roared, "Nonsense! Stupidity! To be a principal alongside a bunch of fools like you is the greatest disgrace of my life—"

Dumbledore let him insult him, only saying when he went too far, "Phineas, no matter how much you curse, I will not let you go. Sirius is guilty of many sins, and staying in Azkaban is the most suitable end for him. Don't even think about rescuing him."

Principal Blake, with his serious expression, gradually fell silent. After a long while, he broke down in tears.

"That's the Black family, the last of their bloodline... The Black family is going to die out, Albus..."

"...Alas, take heart, Phineas. You are dead. Don't concern yourself with the affairs of the younger generation."

Early morning, Gryffindor Tower.

Harry was awakened by Seamus Finnigan's screams.

"Merlin—did you see that? Ronnie, Ronnie, did you see that? Your brother caused such a huge mess yesterday!"

Harry fumbled to put on his glasses, just in time to see Ron next door leap up.

He yelled angrily, "Seamus! How many times have I told you not to call me Ronnie! Damn it, one day I'm going to kill Fred and George!"

Yesterday, Vaughn was awarded the medal, and Ron, as his younger brother, was disappointed that he was not invited to attend.

The twins never miss an opportunity to cheer on their younger brother. Yesterday, they made a point of loudly comforting Ron in a crowded place, calling him by his nickname, and encouraging him to work hard to catch up, saying that there was only a small gap between him and Vaughn—not much, probably a Bill, a Charlie, and a Percy!

Thanks to them, everyone now knows Ron's nickname, and to make matters worse, Malfoy was there at the time.

Thinking back to last night at dinner, that guy was jumping around on the Slytherin table, squeaking out "Ronnie Ronnie."

Ron felt so nauseous that he couldn't eat.

An excited Seamus ignored his protests and slapped a newspaper at Ron's face.

Ron grabbed the newspaper in frustration, about to throw it away, when his eyes were drawn to the photos on it—

Against a somber backdrop, Vaughn stood before a magnificent auditorium, while a fierce wind howled through Diagon Alley, whipping up snowflakes. A group of ragged people stood in the snowstorm, surrounding and huddling around him.

They cheered, their eyes filled with fervent reverence as they looked at Vaughn. Many others, dressed in purple robes and befitting important figures, including Dumbledore and a stern witch, stood solemnly on the periphery of the crowd, as if witnessing some momentous occasion.

The photographer was very perceptive; while capturing this important moment, he also remembered to include the esteemed minister.

A disheveled Fudge and his chubby assistant in a pink knitted dress are squeezed in the corner of the photo, looking panicked and helpless.

Looking at the photo of Vaughn surrounded by crowds and flashing lights, Ron's lips immediately welled up with tears.

Damn it!

It looks really glamorous...

Harry peeked over from the side and saw the photo too, exclaiming, "It looks really impressive..."

Ron retorted defiantly, "Hmph, it's nothing special!"

Despite saying that, he still carefully read the newspaper; below the photo was a shocking headline:

"The Rise of a New Wizarding Star: The Ministry of Magic is Falling Apart!"

The huge, bright red exclamation mark was eye-catching!

On the other side, an excited Seamus was already pulling along Dean Thomas, who had just been startled awake and was still sleepy, and Neville, who looked completely bewildered, and loudly reading the contents of the newspaper:

"...Wolfsbane was Mr. Vaughn Weasley's weapon in his attack on the Ministry of Magic. He incisively pointed out the backwardness and flaws in the Ministry's system. In contrast, Fudge, who held a high position, failed to offer any impressive counterattack. He seemed to be indulging in some kind of fantasy. Even when he uttered the accusation, 'Weasley, you are tearing the Ministry apart,' it sounded weak and superficial..."

"Vaughn is amazing!" Seamus exclaimed. "My uncle always hated that short, fat guy, saying he was the most incompetent Minister of Magic, a lucky guy who got hit on the head by a windfall!"

Hearing Vaughn's name, Neville, whose mind finally cleared a bit, was happy for his friend. Although he didn't know what had happened, he added, "My grandma doesn't like him either."

Soon, their conversation veered to how Vaughn would deal with Fudge, leaving only Muggle-born Dean Thomas completely bewildered.

Harry and Ron ignored what was happening over there and quickly finished reading the newspaper, finally understanding the whole incident from yesterday.

"Vaughn actually recruited werewolves!"

When he repeated the sentence again, the two were already sitting in the dining room, where a fragrant breakfast was piled up on the Gryffindor table. Ron, who had been starving all night, was stuffing pies into his mouth while still incredulous.

Sitting opposite her, Hermione, her head buried behind a newspaper, said with dissatisfaction, "It's not about incorporating them; Vaughn is fighting for their rights!"

I don't understand what rights are at all!

Ron, with his boyish idealism, dreamt of "werewolf armies" and "armed forces." He boasted to Harry, "There are probably tens of thousands of werewolves in all of England. If Vaughn could recruit them all... Merlin—"

Hermione slammed her hand on the table in anger. "Ronald! Good heavens, I can't believe Vaughn and you are brothers... Your brother is doing something great, and you're still describing werewolves as animals!"

She paused, then added carefully, "And there aren't that many werewolves in England. There's an interview with a werewolf wizard named Remus Lupin, who said there are probably around two thousand in total!"

Ron blushed with anger at her retort, and knowing he was in the wrong, he finally fell silent.

Harry, who was listening silently to the conversation between the two, didn't quite understand what Vaughn was doing. After all, he came from Muggle society, and his impression of werewolves was based on Ron's description of Greyback's cruelty, as well as what he had just read in the newspaper about the hardships of wandering werewolves who exiled themselves to the wilderness to avoid harming others.

Only now did he understand how true Vaughn's words in the newspaper were—prejudice is the poison in the human heart!

Ron subconsciously viewed werewolves as animals, and Harry couldn't imagine what werewolves were like in other wizarding families, in the minds of the adults who influenced their children.

This made Harry suddenly understand the significance of what Vaughn had done.

Throughout breakfast, Harry seemed lost in thought. He flipped through the newspaper several times, and finally folded it up and put it in his pocket.

Seeing all this, Ron couldn't help but say sourly, "Harry, you've become a little Vaughn fan too? Planning to cut out his pictures and stick them on your bedside table like those other girls?"

"……Shut up!"

Harry, embarrassed and annoyed, prepared to walk away.

"Wait a minute, are you going again tonight..." Ron grabbed him, glancing around instinctively before lowering his voice, "Are you going to see that mirror again? Take me with you!"

Harry looked at him questioningly: "Didn't you say you didn't want to see it?"

He had taken Ron to see that mirror a few days ago. Ron thought it was a bit eerie, as it could actually see into people's hearts. That day, Ron saw himself in the mirror as the prefect, with everyone in his family proudly applauding him—

Harry realized what was happening, "Ron, you..."

Ron stammered, "I want to think about it some more... just treat it like a beautiful dream, right?"

Harry suddenly became very worried about his best friend. He had seen similar examples on Muggle television, where some people gradually became psychologically abnormal due to long-term repression and jealousy.

He thought about it and agreed.

..............................

"Disappeared (Evanesco)!"

As the incantation was chanted, a mouse that was sniffing around on the table suddenly disappeared.

The soft shimmering waters of Black Lake in winter made the bedroom appear to blend seamlessly with the underwater world outside the window. In the center of the room, Vaughn gently held his wand, closing his eyes to sense the surroundings.

In his perception, an obscure magical power was enveloping countless fine "dust particles," which were scattered throughout the indoor air.

They are so small that they are completely invisible to the naked eye. If the spell was not cast by him, and there is a magical and mystical connection between him and the spell, he would not be able to perceive it.

The term "microscopic" refers to the feedback he receives from his perception; these feedbacks seem to penetrate the pores between every molecule, and no macroscopic object, whether it be air, a table, or a bed sheet, can block them.

They were evenly scattered throughout the dormitory, with only a trace of the Vanishing Curse's residual power maintaining their fragile presence.

Waiting for the curse to be reversed or the spell to be lifted.

However, this power is so weak that it requires only a tiny bit of magical interference—

Vaughn gently traced an arc with his wand, releasing a meaningless burst of magic that rippled through the air.

But to Vaughn, at the microscopic level, it felt like a raging storm.

The remaining power of the Vanishing Curse surged and collapsed amidst the turbulent waves of magic. The countless "dust particles" it twisted and projected into his perception, like stars obscured by dark clouds, extinguished one by one after the ripples subsided.

Vaughn opened his eyes, looked at the spot where the rat had disappeared, and cast a vanishing spell in reverse.

But nothing happened.

The remaining power of the spell was destroyed. Without its protection, the rat had transformed into the most basic unit of matter, becoming a member of the ocean of particles.

Just as Professor McGonagall said, it becomes everything!

"A terrible curse..."

Vaughn's expression was somewhat grave. He tried several more uncurse-breaking and resurrection spells to confirm that the rat had completely disappeared and could never be brought back to life.

I couldn't help but think of a certain ability I saw in an anime in my previous life: Dust Release—a powerful force that breaks matter down into atomic states.

The Vanishing Charm has a very similar effect.

This is also why Vaughn was interested in the Vanishing Charm.

Vaughn prefers a structured life, and with the Wolfsbane Potion incident behind him, he has no plans to develop any new potions until the Werewolf Affairs Committee is established and operational.

The growth of reputation points cannot be achieved by blindly piling up fame.

He had tested it two years ago.

When he published his paper on magic extraction methods in "Extraordinary Potions," he attracted a lot of attention from pharmacists because he was testing the system's definition of "reputation."

He guessed that the reputation required by the system was similar to a force that drives magic in this world—emotion. Emotion could also be regarded as a kind of power in this world, even though it had no quantitative standard and was invisible.

Reputation may be the emotional response others have to him when they hear or think of his name. This response can be joy or admiration, or it can be disgust or hatred.

This is the conclusion Vaughn reached after a period of time when he became a troll, sending letters to hundreds of pharmacists and engaging in heated debates with them.

Starting in the second month after the test, his monthly reputation points increased by 1 point.

However, Vaughn also discovered that this emotional feedback was not limitless. He later tested it again, expanding the scope of the "victims" of the criticism to the magical communities of countries like France. The result was that they did not add another reputation point to him.

Vaughn was unclear about the specifics, but he guessed that the spread and growth of fame might involve some more hidden aspects of the world's mysterious system.

There is a threshold limit to it. Just like when you throw a stone into a lake, the ripples it creates shake the water plants. The shaking of the water plants is the feedback given by the things affected by the ripples.

But this ripple will eventually dissipate and disappear, and the place where the ripple finally disappears is the upper limit of the threshold that it can affect.

From that moment on, Vaughn began to focus on one of the most unpredictable forces in the world—fate!

Vaughn believes that the reason those foreign pharmacists couldn't give him reputation points was likely due to real-world national boundaries, which prevented him from forming a connection with them in terms of fate.

In practical terms, his influence couldn't reach beyond England, and he couldn't interfere with the lives of those apothecaries. So even if they disliked or hated him, it wouldn't be reflected in the system's calculations.

Perhaps only a connection of fate can explain this phenomenon.

Vaughn's choice of Wolfsbane Potion as his trump card for advancing to Potions Master is still a test.

The wolfsbane medicine itself is unlikely to cause a sensation; only through his hype can it influence the fate of many people, and it even has a good chance of going abroad and influencing even more people.

But it was precisely because this project was so intense and eye-catching that Vaughn felt that any of his recent achievements in potions could be overshadowed by the emotional response to the "Wolfsbane Potion Incident."

So he decided to temporarily put aside the potion and focus his energy on improving his own power.

Tomorrow is the day the reputation points are settled.

This morning, Vaughn began to review the spells he knew, preparing to select some to practice and study in depth over the next few days, using his reputation points.

The "Iron Armor Curse" and "Disarming Curse" definitely need to be explored further.

He had never let his guard down with these two spells since he learned them a few years ago. The "Ironclad Spell" goes without saying; this seemingly simple spell is the only means of protection for wizards. Apart from some powerful black magic, it can block most spells.

The "Disarming Charm" is a very effective attack method, since most people, except for a small number of powerful wizards, cannot do without a wand.

He lost most of his abilities after confiscating a wizard's wand.

After deciding on these two spells, Vaughn found himself in a dilemma when choosing other directions, as he wanted to enrich his offensive and defensive methods.

In terms of defense, we can continue to study Polymorphism to supplement the defense in addition to "Ironclad Charm".

But when it came to offense, he was unsure which option to choose.

He currently has two directions: one is to study memory magic such as "Leech" to attack, harass, and control enemies through memory, in order to assist "Disarming Charm" and "Stunning Charm".

Another direction is to strive to develop a powerful spell that the enemy cannot resist.

That's how the "Disappearance Spell" came into his view.

"Tsk, how come I never noticed before that I actually have a bit of decision-making difficulties..."

Vaughn stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the open system panel, unable to make a decision for a moment.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Once memory magic is mastered to a certain level, it can be activated silently and without a wand, making it an ideal tool for ambushing others. However, it lacks strong destructive power and is also countered by skilled memory magic users. If you encounter Voldemort, it will likely be useless.

The Vanishing Curse is powerful enough, but it originated from Transfiguration and was not originally intended for destruction. Not only is there a counter-curse, but it is also countered by Transfiguration. According to Vaughn's tests, the life that vanishes still retains memories and thinking abilities. If it encounters a master of Transfiguration, such as Dumbledore, the master can restore it on its own.

Vaughn was in a bad mood and in distress, so when he was about to go to the dining hall and passed by the common room and saw the prefect, he cast a Stunning Charm on him.

Before the prefect could even mount a resistance, his eyes rolled back and he fell off the sofa.

The snakes fell silent, and Malfoy buried his face in the sofa cushions, trembling like an ostrich.

All of this left Vaughn feeling utterly bored. He could only bully these weaklings. When would he ever be able to punch Voldemort and kick Dumbledore?

Selwyn, the weakling who was once defeated by his Disarming Charm, and Lupin, the weakling who was pushed out the door by his Silent Wandless Flight Charm, both expressed that they had something to say...

(End of this chapter)