Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 75 Ron and Harry's Social Time

That evening, while Vaughn was still trying out various spells, he received a letter from Zhu Weiqiong.

The letter was from my mother; it contained only a piece of parchment that read, "Throw me into the fireplace."

This was certainly not because Molly had gone mad and demanded that her son burn her; rather, the parchment was called "Throw Me into the Fireplace," and it was an alchemical artifact used for fireplace communication.

The thrifty Weasleys rarely used such fancy things. This time, probably because the wolfsbane incident had such a great impact, Molly and Arthur felt that a few letters couldn't explain things clearly, so they simply decided to have a fireplace call.

There's a small fireplace in the dorm room, but it can't be used for communication because alchemy items like "throw me into the fireplace" utilize the Floo Network.

Only the large fireplaces in the common rooms of the various houses and the fireplaces in the professors' offices are connected to the Floo Network at Hogwarts.

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

The professor, still dressed in his usual sinister attire, stood amidst a dense array of potion-making ingredients, squinting, and slowly spoke in his classic sarcastic tone: "Hmm—the renowned Vaughn Weasley, the newly crowned Potions Master, why aren't you enjoying the adoration and flattery of those little fools, instead of gracing your humble Potions Professor's office?"

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

But I'm sorry, he's not here to study potions today.

Vaughn pulled out "Throw Me into the Fireplace" and said earnestly, "Professor, I'd like to borrow the fireplace for a moment."

"..."

Vaughn seemed to see dark clouds gathering above Snape's head. The Potions Professor's face stiffened for a moment, then he gave a cold snort, flicked his robes, and walked away.

Seeing how bad his mood was, Vaughn added insult to injury before he left the office: "By the way, Professor, I want to practice spells recently, so I won't be coming for a while. Don't wait for me!"

Snape stumbled.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang the next moment.

With such a bad temper, I wonder who's going to be in trouble next.

Vaughn paused to mourn for the unknown unfortunate soul, walked to the fireplace, pulled over Snape's favorite recliner, settled comfortably, and then tossed the parchment into the fire.

The parchment immediately burst into flames, and the fire in the fireplace seemed to be catalyzed, expanding rapidly.

Before long, three human figures emerged from the fire.

"Vaughn—my darling!"

Molly screamed.

Vaughn rubbed his temples; this was why he didn't want to make a call in the common room...

"Mom and Dad, and Ginny, are you home yet? How's Charlie doing in Romania?"

He quickly asked first, lest his mother get emotional and start nagging again.

Molly's attention was indeed diverted: "We just got back, darling. Mom and Dad are so sorry we weren't with you. After seeing the newspaper, you have no idea how worried I was, Merlin. Just thinking about all the difficult things you had to face from the adults, I—"

The chubby Molly clutched her chest, on the verge of fainting.

Arthur, who was standing next to her, quickly patted her back.

Vaughn said helplessly, "Mom, the newspapers are exaggerating. Besides, Dumbledore was with me, and Uncle Oliver was there too."

"I wouldn't be angry if you hadn't mentioned them!" Molly miraculously recovered, hands on her hips, and exclaimed, "How could Dumbledore let a child like you stand up for him? 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 a grown wizard? He better pray I don't find him next time I go to my uncle's house!"

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

Molly continued her incessant rant against Dumbledore and Oliver, while Arthur's expression gradually turned dazed, until Ginny, in a panic, cried out, "Mama, let me talk to Vaughn!"

Mo Li finally stopped, still wanting more.

"Wait, baby, Mommy isn't finished yet... Vaughn, Mommy is so proud of your kindness and perseverance, my child. I read the report, and it's hard to imagine that there are such kind wanderers among werewolves. You did the right thing by helping them. Don't worry about those who disagree or threaten you. Mommy and Daddy will always support you in doing the right thing!"

"...Thank you, Mom."

Vaughn said, then looked at Arthur: "It might have some impact on Dad. Dumbledore and I messed with Fudge, who is Dad's boss after all."

Despite his concern, Arthur showed no fear: "Don't worry, son. I've disliked that short, fat guy for a long time anyway. I can just quit. Besides, the Weasleys are a pure-blood family."

In the magical world, pure-blood families represent many things, most notably the intricate relationships between them.

Outsiders would probably find it hard to imagine that Weasley and Malfoy, who are at odds with each other, are actually relatives.

Targeting one pureblood could lead to the emergence of another group of purebloods, which is the secret behind the continued existence of pureblood families in the magical world.

Vaughn recalled Arthur from the original story, who still leisurely went to work at the Ministry of Magic even after Voldemort was resurrected and took control of it.

He felt a little relieved.

Afterwards, he talked with his parents for a while. Although their rambling was mostly disorganized, Vaughn was not impatient.

He appreciated their concern.

They don't care what achievements he has made, they only worry about whether he has been wronged. As long as what he wants to do is right, they will support him.

Especially when Ginny started kicking her parents' legs in her anxiety, finally getting a chance to speak and crying that she missed him, Vaughn felt his heart suddenly find peace.

"Vaughn, when are you coming home?"

"Hmm—about another ten weeks or so."

Vaughn played a little trick with the timing, and sure enough, when Ginny heard "week" and felt that it wasn't a long time, she immediately felt less sad.

She ran off happily, then quickly returned carrying a fluffy little thing: "Vaughn, I received your Christmas present! I love it! What do you think we should name it?"

The furry thing nestled in her arms, sticking out its tongue blankly.

It was a fluffy creature, a very gentle magical animal. Vaughn had seen one at the Scamander's house last time and then asked Newt for one.

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

After discussing pet names with my sister for a while, the "throw me into the fireplace" phase was almost over.

After saying a reluctant goodbye to Ginny and promising her parents that she could write to them if anything came up, the phone call ended as the flames in the fireplace receded.

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

I feel a little melancholy.

Then, that lingering melancholy vanished without a trace after he left the potions office.

In the dimly lit corner by the door, an old man in a light pink bathrobe stood there with a smile...

"Albus, what would the students think if they knew that their beloved principal was actually a voyeuristic old scoundrel?"

"Everyone will understand, Vaughn. You have no idea how happy I am when I see a child who is so mature that it's worrying, able to patiently talk to his family."

"Then you'd better be careful, that child might cast a curse on you from behind one day."

"I'd be happy to be cursed!"

"How come I never noticed you had this strange quirk before?"

"Child, when an old man decides to be shameless, there's no way you can argue with him."

"...Fine, you win. Where do we go now?"

Having lost this verbal exchange, Vaughn gave up on competing with a shameless old madman.

By this time, the two had become invisible under Dumbledore's magic, and they walked slowly through Hogwarts, which was gradually falling silent as night fell.

Hearing his question, Dumbledore winked at him: "I'll help you, so you should help me too."

As they spoke, they had already reached the fifth floor. Vaughn immediately realized, "Harry still comes to look in the mirror every day?"

"yes……"

Dumbledore sighed. "I was busy helping you the other day and didn't have time to keep an eye on him. Now he's getting more and more addicted to it."

Vaughn couldn't help but sneer, "So, why did you even think of showing him this in the first place?"

"This involves some of my little plans!"

Dumbledore, in a childlike manner, kept everyone in suspense.

Vaughn scoffed. Of course he knew why: Dumbledore wanted to confirm whether Harry's inner desires had deviated from his expectations, and he was also making arrangements for the tests to come.

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

But in Vaughn's view, such artificial tests are meaningless; everything is under control, which means there are no variables.

The truth is, when a person truly faces danger and the cruel tricks of fate, variables are everywhere.

People can only grow by making mistakes; in fact, they are learning to cope with those variables.

Old Deng will probably only understand after this, so the so-called test is only this one time in the first year.

Vaughn didn't bother to say more. Since Dumbledore had asked him for help, he would naturally help out of good faith in the transaction.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tell Harry, just as you warned me before, that what the Magic Mirror shows is just an illusion, a dream, and that he should return to reality."

Vaughn hardened his expression: "Why don't you say these things yourself?"

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Don't be so resistant, Vaughn. Harry has always considered you a good friend. You two should be closer."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. In the end, the old man still wanted to turn the Iron Triangle into the Iron Quadrangle.

Dream on!

As the two were talking, they heard movement in the distance down the corridor. Although they couldn't see anyone, they could hear footsteps and faint voices.

"Ron, you stepped on my foot again."

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

"You weren't like this last time, Ron. To be honest, 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 along today.

The advice to Harry would be more appropriate to say when he's indulging in it in private. With Ron around, Harry is unlikely to become addicted to the Mirror of Erised.

Thinking this, Vaughn's mood brightened again: "Looks like I won't be needed today. Let's go, Albus, I need to go back and rest."

Dumbledore twitched his beard in frustration. "Well, let's wait until they've finished reading before we leave, at least to make sure they don't run into Quirinus."

Vaughn shrugged and didn't press him further.

As the two were talking, Harry and Ron also entered the classroom. The moment they appeared after removing their Invisibility Cloaks, Ron couldn't wait to lean over the mirror.

As Harry put away the Invisibility Cloak, he worriedly reminded him, "Be careful not to break it; this might be Dumbledore's."

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

Ron stared at himself in the mirror, mesmerized.

"Uh, Ron, what did you see?"

"I see... lots of people are taking pictures of me..." Ron murmured, his freckles gradually reddening. "I see! It turns out I invented a super powerful potion! Everyone's looking at me with adoration. 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 picture of Vaughn they had seen in the newspaper that morning?

He suddenly felt like complaining.

Just how much did Ron envy and be jealous of Vaughn that he even imitated Vaughn's shape in his innermost desires?

In the corner of the room, Vaughn and Dumbledore also wore strange expressions.

"Hmm—Vaughn, it seems you brothers have a good relationship..."

"You're getting senile; he's just jealous."

"Jealousy can sometimes be a motivating force!"

The two were bickering as usual when Harry, looking at Ron who was practically lying on the mirror, suddenly bit his lip, stepped forward, pulled Ron away, and then tore off the black cloth to cover the mirror.

Suddenly waking from his dream, Ron was still a little dazed: "Harry...?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Something's wrong with you, Ron!"

"Uh, I..."

"You know that mirrors are all fake, right? You were the one who told me last time that these magic mirrors are usually not good things."

Ron retorted, a little indignant: "I just wanted to take a look. You've been looking for days, and nothing's happened."

"You didn't seem as relaxed as you are now," Harry said seriously, taking a deep breath. "And I've decided I'm not coming back!"

"...What?"

Harry sat down next to Ron, staring blankly at the ground. "That's right. I've been obsessed with the reflection in the mirror these past few days. In it, my mom and dad aren't dead, and there's a whole family... But Ron, they're not real. This morning when I was reading the newspaper, I suddenly realized that I've been completely out of touch with reality these past few days."

"Hermione's right. Vaughn is doing something great. He's the same age as us, yet he's already working to save others. And me? I spend every single day looking at myself in the mirror..."

As he spoke, he pulled out the newspaper he had folded that morning from his pocket and said to Ron, "You're not wrong to say I've become a little fan of Vaughn. He made me realize that I can no longer indulge in fantasy. I should learn from him and do something more meaningful!"

Ron was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "For example, finishing your homework, right?"

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

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

Unfortunately, a burst of applause ruined the moment. Dumbledore, having somehow dispelled the magic, clapped vigorously while wiping his eyes, exclaiming, "How touching, Vaughn! Look, Harry, following your example, has broken free from the illusory lies of the Mirror of Erised!"

He also blew his nose forcefully.

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

Harry blushed, and Ron almost groaned as he subconsciously asked, "When...when did you get here?"

Vaughn said expressionlessly, "I've always been here, Your Excellency Ronald Weasley, recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class!"

"ah--"

Ron screamed and scrambled away, Harry covering his face with his sleeve and hurriedly following behind.

Watching their hasty retreat, Dumbledore burst into laughter.

Vaughn scoffed, "You old lecher, is this how you raise your savior? Be careful Harry doesn't socially die and turn to the dark side!"

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

"...Shut up!"

Dumbledore, who had shut his mouth, laughed for a while longer. Looking at the Mirror of Erised, now covered by a black cloth, he suddenly said, "You and Harry are both braver than me..."

He shook his head, stopped looking at the mirror, waved his hand, and moved it somewhere.

He turned and left, saying to Vaughn before he did, "Severus told me you're going to practice spells next. I suggest you try memory magic more. The answer you're looking for, you already know it!"

"The answer you're looking for, you already know it."

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

What answer is he looking for?

The problem is obvious—the impact of negative emotions on the mind required to resolve black magic.

This has been the most troubling problem for Vaughn. A few days ago, when he was chatting with Dumbledore and Dumbledore was urging him to learn ancient magic, he mentioned this very issue.

For the past few years, if Vaughn really wanted to learn dark magic, he had a way to get his hands on it; the Knockturn Alley underground district was a good option.

Black magic is rampant over there. Although black magicians have little integrity, sell a lot of counterfeit goods, and often try to double-cross others.

However, if you try a few more times, you can not only choose from various dark magic spells, but you should at least have no problem acquiring the three Unforgivable Curses.

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

They require extremely strong malice.

This explanation might not fully capture the difficulty, but an example will make it clear: Vaughn clearly remembers that in the original story, Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black, Harry's only remaining family member.

Harry witnessed his godfather's death, and at that moment, his anger, brutality, hatred, and other negative emotions towards Bella must have reached the peak of his life.

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

Even under such intense negative emotions, his Cruciatus Curse was still mocked by Bella for being "weak and powerless".

Harry was nearly an adult at the time, and his magic was not weak. Bella mocked not his magic, but the darkness in his heart.

Even the Cruciatus Curse unleashed under such extreme conditions seemed insufficiently powerful and dark to Bella, which gives an idea of ​​just how terrifying the negative emotions required for the Unforgivable Curse must be.

Vaughn doesn't believe any normal person could maintain their rationality and normal thinking while having such terrifying negative emotions accumulating in their mind all day long.

He did want to learn dark magic, but if the price was turning himself into a madman, then he'd rather not.

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

"From what he's saying, the way to counteract the mind-altering effects of dark magic is memory magic?"

Thinking about it, he suddenly sat up and took out the magic book that Dumbledore had given him, titled "A Journey Through the Past and Present of Memory Magic".

Turning to the title page, I saw the author's handwritten cursive script:

Memory is the outer garment of the soul.

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

Now, his understanding of that statement has changed once again.

"The answer has always been right in front of me... Memory is the outer garment of the soul, and the purpose of the garment is to shield it from wind, rain, and dust. When it becomes dirty or polluted, it can be replaced, while the soul behind the garment remains pure and flawless..."

"But how should I knit this coat?"

Now Vaughn has some understanding of memory magic. So-called emotions and memories are not separate entities that do not affect each other, but rather different manifestations of subjective cognition when a person's brain is active.

They are essentially one entity; it's not that you can separate them, fabricate a false memory, and generate the corresponding emotions.

The emergence of emotions can actually trigger all memories. For example, when a person feels humiliated and angry, he will recall all his humiliating experiences, and may even be able to 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 create a life that is realistic enough. Otherwise, your own cognitive abilities will tell you that what you are thinking is fake.

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

Spells of Mind Control, Oblivion, Sweet Dreams, Nightmares, False Memories...

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 an outer garment for myself, firstly, I would use a false memory charm to create a sufficiently large framework. This framework would need to be able to accommodate the entire life of a dark wizard, and it would need to be logical and reasonable, such as the reasons for his fall into darkness, why he became enslaved by dark magic, why he went mad..."

"...The Dream Charm and Nightmare Charm amplify the effects of memories, making the beautiful ones profound enough before destroying them, making the pain unforgettable, providing a convincing reason for the fall. Finally, there's the Forgetfulness Charm, which ensures that once this 'outer garment' is corrupted to a certain degree, it can be 'destroyed with a single click'..."

Legilimency will participate in the entire weaving process, followed by Occlumency, which is responsible for protecting the true memories!

Having come this far in the planning, Vaughn was already somewhat taken aback.

He calculated that to complete this dark magic cloak, he would need to use about a dozen memory spells, and not just the kind he had a rough grasp of, but at least level 3.

This is undoubtedly a huge undertaking, and he has no way of verifying its effectiveness at the moment.

Although in his view, there was nothing wrong with this line of thinking.

"It seems this won't be resolved quickly; we'll need a large number of test subjects to verify if my ideas are correct..."

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

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

Even the hardest road is better than no road at all. In order to be able to enjoy gossip at will in the future, while I'm still young and can still have fun, I can accept working hard.

What made him feel even better was that after lying in the dark for a while, the clock struck midnight, 1991 became a thing of the past, and January 1, 1992 officially began.

The system silently popped up a message in front of me:

[Previous month's reputation points have been settled]

Warn opened the system panel.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 456 (500 for a typical 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: "Vorn Beauty" series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc...]

[Reputation Points: 22]

The last time Vaughn added points was on November 1st, when he kept 1 point. He also kept the 6 points from the previous month when the December settlement was completed.

In total, the Wolfsbane Potion incident will directly boost his monthly reputation points to 15 points!

This is a full nine points more than before, one event, exceeding his efforts over the past few years!

Vaughn instinctively hugged the fruit tea tightly, and he suddenly had the illusion that he was very wealthy...

(End of this chapter)