Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 81 The Time of Transition

No one can criticize Dumbledore's actions.

Albusford runs the Pig's Head pub, and the two brothers are estranged. Grindelwald is imprisoned in Nurmengard, and the two may never see each other again.

Fate has never been kind to Dumbledore, neither in terms of family nor love.

Even in the deepest darkness, he still shines with the light of a flame.

Dumbledore sat silently on the sofa, looking at Loren, or perhaps looking through Loren into some unknown place.

Loren said nothing. He tiptoed back to his bedroom, closed the door, and left Dumbledore alone in his memories.

The next day, Dumbledore ate and talked with Loren as usual. But unlike usual, Dumbledore no longer winked mischievously; his actions were decisive, and his spells were executed swiftly. He was completely unlike the old headmaster.

Loren didn't like Dumbledore's mature and composed demeanor.

The two stayed in Albania for several days. During the day, Dumbledore led Loren through the mountains and fields, searching for clues related to the prophecy. At night, they looked out the window at the flashing lights of spells that occasionally appeared in the forest.

Loren already knew that this small country was bordered by Serbia and Yugoslavia to the north, Greece to the west, and Italy to the other side of the strait. Compared to these two countries, Albania was more like a backward village, showing no signs of modernization.

12 month 31 day.

The wind blowing down from Albania's highest peak, Jezelça, is still cold, and sorcerers with various motives continue to linger there as the New Year approaches.

Dumbledore took Loren to the shore of Lake Ohrid early in the morning to wait. Over the next few days, they left their footprints in every corner of the forest, but found nothing.

As the prophecy foretold, we need to wait for the right moment, at the turn of the old and the new.

Gazing at the calm lake, Loren occasionally glanced at Dumbledore.

He still trusted Dumbledore, knowing that the centenarian, ill-fated wizard would always be a pillar of Hogwarts.

Loren could sense that Dumbledore still cared for him.

The conversation that day was as if it had never happened, but a sad barrier separated them.

The sunlight rises from the bottom of the lake and then sets.

Just as the sunlight sank into the lake, Loren turned to look behind him.

In Loren's view, in the forest, vast blue beams of light, like flowing galaxies, connected the starry sky and the earth.

He had seen this blue light for the first time when he entered the Room of Requirement, from the Ravenclaw tiara.

"What did you see?" Dumbledore noticed Loren's actions.

Loren pointed to the source of the blue light. "There."

Dumbledore pulled Loren away from where they stood, and after a few quick movements, the two landed in front of a tree.

Even in winter, the sturdy old tree remains lush and verdant, its trunk exposed by ice and snow, revealing a dark hole in its bark.

As he got closer, the blue river of light became even more dazzling in Loren's eyes, yet it wasn't blinding at all. "There's something glowing inside the cave."

Dumbledore gently patted the tree trunk, and a hollow echo came from inside.

This is a hollow tree, its interior long since hollowed out for some unknown reason, yet it still stubbornly lives on.

He waved his hand, and the Transfiguration spell was applied to the tree, causing the hollow to extend and expand downwards, revealing the scene inside.

A twelve-foot-long, red and yellow python was coiled up inside, hibernating. Its back was covered with a net-like pattern, and a blue gemstone was resting under its head.

The moment Loren's gaze fell upon the sapphire, the river of light connecting the starry sky and the earth gradually receded.

"Headmaster Dumbledore." Loren's legs went weak. Anyone would feel weak in the knees the first time they got this close to a python; it's written in their genes.

"You're a Gryffindor, after all."

Dumbledore's voice was calm and showed no sign of tension. He placed his hand on Loren's shoulder, which reassured Loren.

"This snake has a scarlet glow on its body." Loren guessed that it might also be an Animagus.

Dumbledore clearly understood Loren's idea and waved his elder wand.

"[The True Form Revealed]"

The spell was fired at the sleeping python, but it was deflected by its thick scales.

The animals that Animagus transforms into do not possess any magical abilities, let alone the ability to deflect spells.

Besides, this is Dumbledore's spell, this is the spell of the Elder Wand.

Dumbledore's expression darkened as he watched this scene, his voice hoarse, "It cannot be restored. This is not Animagus, it is a Blood Curse Orc."

He told Loren about the Blood Curse Orcs, a cursed race of beings who initially control their transformation between humans and animals, but over time they lose control, becoming forever trapped in animal bodies, forgetting all their memories as humans, and becoming true animals.

Loren suddenly understood the meaning of a despairing soul, a despair that transcended the distance between life and death.

Death row inmates gradually descend into madness as their sentence nears its end; the blood curse is another vicious form of execution. They gradually dissipate as part of themselves, and before they completely vanish, every remaining part of them is filled with despair, reason, memory, and emotion.

The sleeping python was awakened by the incantation and voices. The eyelids on its thick, ferocious head blinked, revealing pure black eyes, not the vertical pupils of a python.

The scene was somewhat eerie; Loren even felt it resembled a young girl waking up from a deep sleep.

Nagini opened his eyes and saw the young Dumbledore; the python suddenly shed tears.

She had been wandering in the forest for who knows how long, and in this state she dared not face anyone. She had abandoned all her friends and come here to find a cemetery where no one would disturb her.

This forest is rarely visited, it's deserted and perfect for hiding, and none of the people she knows would come here.

A woman named Nagini will die here alone, losing her human form and becoming forever a snake named Nagini.

No memory, no emotions, no reason. All that remains is the instinct for bloodlust.

It wasn't until she touched the blue gem in the tree hole that she awoke from the darkness, but after waking up came endless pain, forever living as a snake, suffering in this way.

A python in the forest, whose age was unknown, only knew that the sun had risen and set countless times. The snow had fallen and melted, and she had slept through dozens of long naps.

She had been to Hogwarts and watched Dumbledore from afar.

Dumbledore also noticed the tear, and a strange feeling arose in his heart. The man and the snake gazed at each other like that.

Do we know each other?

The python couldn't speak, and another tear slid off its scales.

"It seems to still be rational; can we save her?"

Loren's words weren't born of a thirst for the Philosopher's Stone, but merely of pity. He thought of Nagini, the boa constrictor beside Voldemort.

Loren, who had only seen the movie series, was unaware that a python had such a story. At this time, the python did not yet have the black aura on its body, and it had not yet been made into a Horcrux.

What kind of villain could a python that can shed tears be? If it knew it would become a bloodthirsty, flesh-eating beast, and ultimately be beheaded by Neville, what would it be thinking now?

Dumbledore recalled Nicolas Flamel's words and Trelawney's prophecy.

Nicolas Flamel: "To redeem a desperate soul."

Trelawney: "...The blue-black man...the wave..."

"You are the one who can save her, Loren." He stared into the little wizard's blue eyes, eyes so innocent and full of life.

He had been observing the magical world for over a hundred years; how could he not know the sins of wizards, the conflicts stemming from this distorted social structure? The ambitions of purebloods, the greed of goblins, the humility of elves, the independent actions of other races, and the rise of Muggles.

He and Gellert once shared the same ideas, so how come he can't see the problem?

He's just too old. He can put the shackles on himself, but he shouldn't put them on them, whether it's Loren or Harry.

Dumbledore asked himself, how could he have said those things to such a child?

He thought to himself, "I should drink less butterbeer from now on. I'm getting older; I can't do what I used to."

Loren was still thinking about what he had just said. He stared at Dumbledore with dead fish eyes and said, "Do you want to hear what you're saying? You can't do anything about this, so why should I, a first-year wizard, do it?"

You really think highly of me.

Without elaborating on the prophecy or paying attention to Loren's complex emotions, Dumbledore looked at the sapphire Nagini was using as a pillow. "Do you know what that is?"

Loren snapped out of his reverie and recounted seeing Ravenclaw's crown in the Room of Requirement: "...there was a layer of black mist on it, it didn't look quite right, so I didn't touch the crown."

"The brilliance of this gem is the same as that of the crown, but even more dazzling."

On the day Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts to apply for a job, he thought he finally understood why Tom had come back—to hide the Horcrux made from Ravenclaw's crown.

The mystery was solved. Dumbledore smiled. "Do you know what Lady Ravenclaw's most famous line is?"

"Exceptional wisdom is the most precious treasure of mankind."

"I think Voldemort found Ravenclaw's crown here, but left his wisdom behind."

Dumbledore looked at Nagini, "And you, you have guarded the most precious treasure."

Miss Helena stole Ravenclaw's crown and hid it inside a hollow tree in Albania. She was eventually killed by Barrow the Blood and returned to Hogwarts to become Lady Grey, Ravenclaw's ghost.

The silver-tongued Tom tricked Lady Grey into revealing the location of the crown, turned it into a Horcrux, and hid it in the Room of Requirement on the night he returned to Hogwarts to apply for a job.

In fact, Nagini had obtained this gem long before Voldemort. The sapphire, symbolizing human wisdom, preserved Nagini's remaining sanity, but could not turn her back into a human.

Nagini, with a human consciousness and a snake's body, roamed the forests of Albania for decades.

Perhaps it was fate's favor, but Voldemort has yet to discover Nagini and find the sapphire.

Dumbledore took off his hat, pointing the brim towards Nagini, gesturing for her to come in.

Loren watched this scene with a puzzled expression.

Nagini's tail curled up the sapphire, and the huge python's head gradually shrank as it approached the hat, eventually retracting into the hat, transforming the python into a pet snake.

Dumbledore put his hat back on, which made Loren's eyes twitch.

"To be honest, I have a friend who can carry far more animals than I can," Dumbledore said, winking mischievously at Loren once again, as if he had just come to a realization.

The two decided to take Nagini back to Hogwarts first and discuss with Nicole whether there was a solution.

Walking in the moonlit forest, the moonlight and snow reflected each other, and the silvery light intertwined the shadows of trees and people.

"Harry speaks Parseltongue, so when he gets back we can talk to this big snake."

Loren's voice was filled with joy. His prophecy had no danger whatsoever, and he had even found a desperate soul. Grandpa Bates' werewolf disease was now curable.

Dumbledore froze upon hearing this. "Harry speaks Parsley?"

Loren tilted his head and looked at him. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Probably not."

"You must be mistaken."

"Well, that's possible. You have to understand that I'm over a hundred years old."

"I'll repeat this a few more times next time."

……

Dumbledore's silver-grey fur coat gradually loosened and transformed into a white robe, and his beard and hair grew back.

Loren held his hand and they hopped and skipped in the snow.

People far away are celebrating the new year, fireworks are going off, it's the time of transition between the old and the new.

[Postscript: I was really hesitant about this part of the plot, and I did a lot of research.]

When Voldemort first wreaked havoc, Nagini was not with him, which means he did not encounter Nagini on his journey to retrieve the crown in Albania.

Then, when he possessed Quirrell to obtain the Philosopher's Stone, if Voldemort, in his ghostly state before 1991, had encountered Nagini and subdued her, he would have brought such a powerful ally along. Quirrell could even let trolls into the castle, let alone an obedient snake.

In 1994, Voldemort killed Bertha Jorkins and turned Nagini into a Horcrux. Based on this, it can be inferred that Nagini met Voldemort after 1991.

The problem with the Blood Curse arose decades after 1927. I needed to find a reason to preserve Nagini's sanity, and in the end, I put it on Ravenclaw.

This is such a perfect match. The crown has been in the Albanian forest for thousands of years, and the crown represents human wisdom, which is exactly what Nagini lacks.

Lady Grey's attitude toward the crown was also very strange. Logically, she should have been furious after the crown was defiled and should have sought Dumbledore's help, but she did not.

When school started in '91, Mrs. Grey appeared at the dinner table. She also strolled through the corridors where Harry became the Seeker, seemingly listening to gossip. When the trio found Professor McGonagall and told her Quirrell was planning to steal the Philosopher's Stone, Mrs. Grey was leisurely taking notes in the Transfiguration classroom. All these signs suggest that Mrs. Grey didn't seem to care much, or rather, wasn't overly concerned.

I made an assumption: Tom only tarnished the crown's form, while the sapphire, which truly represents wisdom, remained inside the hollow tree, thus supporting Ms. Grey's stance.

Finally, there's the fear of being betrayed by Rowling. Given Rowling's usual style, she might ignore Nagini and keep her alive to use against her later. However, while researching, I also saw accounts of Dumbledore separating Nagini's human and snake forms.

The sequels to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" haven't been released yet, but who knows, it might actually happen. Help! Rowling might be about to stab me in the back.

I don't care anymore, this is how I'm going to write it. Glory to Rowling, OOC is mine!

(End of this chapter)