Chapter 450

Dumbledore’s blue eyes blinked behind his lenses.

“A very interesting question, Felix. It’s not that often I was asked so bluntly.”

“What I mean is that … Voldemort has done no harm to Hogwarts during the war, and he seems … well … very wary of someone in the school … And in the eyes of the world, it is clear that these two individuals had never fought each other.” Felix said wordily.

“Maybe that’s the truth.” Dumbledore said with a smile.

“Or maybe it’s only partially true.” Felix said immediately, “The truth that some people see – they only see the result, or a few points of the process, but not a glimpse of the whole picture.”

Dumbledore’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, his mouth slightly open as if he was choosing the right words to use.

Felix knew he got to do something, say something … or else by the time the old man made his call, he would simply be left in suspense about the outcome. So he cleared his throat and said, “Albus, we are all aware that Voldemort and Crouch Jr. are hiding somewhere and the Ministry of Magic has sent a large number of Aurors and Hit Wizards but found nothing … I’m afraid we have to consider the possibility of his successful resurrection, and I need to be clear about his strength. ”

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore seemed to be convinced –

“I can assure you, Felix, although I have never seen him die in front of me, but I have indeed broken and destroyed his body more than once, leaving him with wounds that are normally incurable.”

Dumbledore calmly stated a long-buried mystery.

“Normally incurable?” Felix asked keenly.

“I remember I mentioned to you … I had interviewed him?” Dumbledore said quietly, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling.

“… That’s true.” Felix said slowly, suppressing the interest in his heart.

“This is what he looked like at the time–”

Dumbledore waved his wand sharply, a somewhat illusory figure gradually defined. His face seemed to have been burned, his features were a blurry mess with almost no angular features, and the skin on his face appeared like solidified white wax that was oddly misshapen. The whites of his eyes seemed chronically filled with blood, and his black pupils glittered with a cold gleam.

Felix carefully examined Dumbledore’s recollection of Voldemort, he is not unfamiliar with this image – he had seen it once when he found the locket – but it was clear that Voldemort looked even less human than he did then.

‘This might indicate that Voldemort had finished making the locket Horcrux way before the interview.’ This thought flashed through Felix’s mind. Linking to Dumbledore’s words just now, he tentatively asked: “Is it the effect of dark magic? Or is it the influence of the Horcrux?”

Dumbledore looked at him approvingly and waved his hand to disperse the virtual image in the air.

“Both possibilities exist, I personally lean toward the former … of course we can not rule out the impact on the body due to the lack of soul caused by multiple Horcruxes. After all, no one in history has ever done what he did.”

“So Voldemort’s body is different from normal? He combines the bloodline magic of Salazar Slytherin with his own dark magic, which leads to what would normally be considered a fatal wound being ineffective against him?” Felix combined Dumbledore’s words and analysed them.

He could not help but frown, how can we still fight in this case?

He suddenly thought of a possibility. Felix jerked to look at Dumbledore, it was hard to hide the surprise in his heart, as he blurted out, “Magic being?” Voldemort reached the realm of Lady Ravenclaw?

At the same time, he recalled what Dumbledore had said when he heard the word ‘magical being’ last time –

“Felix, I can’t really give you much useful insight; when I was younger, I truly thought I could do anything at one point for a not-so-short period of time … magical being? That’s an overly modest term, to be honest, I was too arrogant at that time.”

At the same time, Dumbledore showed him the “trick” of flicking a magic spell with his fingers …

Dumbledore straightened his body from the back of the chair, with his hands on the table, then slowly but firmly he shook his head: “I do not think that is the reason, at least I have never had such an ability. Even … the other founders of the school had no similar records, on the contrary, Salazar Slytherin – as far as I know – had been known suspected of possessing magic that could draw on the life force to heal himself.”

“Diary?” Felix asked with alarm. Two years ago, the diary Horcrux had bewitched Ginny Weasley and absorbed some of her life force, but fortunately not much, and it had been discovered in time to be fixed by Madame Pomfrey using her superior healing skills.

“It may as well have been.” Dumbledore nodded gently: “Magic that makes people lose their life force is rare but not unheard of, but transferring life force from one person (Ginny) to another piece of soul is something I’ve never heard of.”

“Is it the effect of the Horcrux?” Felix speculated about another possibility, “Maybe the Horcrux has the characteristic of absorbing life force.” But he realized it isn’t right, he had read a chapter about Horcruxes in Black’s old mansion – it is an antique book called Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled – and his knowledge of Horcruxes is not considered that lacking.

Dumbledore also dismissed this speculation.

“A Horcrux is a piece of soul that is stripped away and left somewhere in the world as a means of keeping the user who made it from getting completely wiped out. In short, it is to prevent one from dying.” Dumbledore said, “For this goal, the stripped soul should be in a state of slumber, or at least very inactive state – except the time when mortal crisis near the Horcrux when it will arouse to defend itself – this is why the Horcrux is considered safe.”

Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with Dumbledore’s words. No one in their right mind would want to have an active, independently conscious soul fragment in their Horcrux, what would happen if it got into trouble and got destroyed?

Moreover, only a small piece of soul is sufficient for Horcrux, so it would be hard for this soul to do much.

“… but that diary should be special?” He pondered.

“Exactly.” Dumbledore nodded and said: “When Ginny Weasley first wrote in that diary and received a response, she already fell into Voldemort’s carefully woven trap … I can pretty much conclude that Voldemort did not consider it as a life-saving Horcrux, in fact, it should have been created as a key to the Chamber of Secrets, so he empowered the diary with many perks; such as his memory up to age 16, sufficient activity … naturally he also included the knowledge he inherited from his Slytherin ancestors in the Chamber of Secrets.”

“But it’s all speculation.” Felix said with a frown, a wave of vexation raisied in his heart, Dumbledore’s tone of voice though sounded conclusive, how could he be so sure?

He roughly combed through the information. Dumbledore had many secret fights with Voldemort during the war, and more than once he had dealt Voldemort a serious injury, but soon Voldemort came back alive and kicking; he figured Dumbledore would have investigated the reason behind it, because Dumbledore considered it an effect of dark magic and bloodline magic, on the basis that it was documented that Salazar Slytherin possessed the magic of drawing life force to heal his injuries and the fact that Ginny’s life force had been absorbed … But there is still one more possibility, Felix couldn’t help but wonder -why not?

So he asked out, ” And why it couldn’t be that he had been resurrected with a Horcrux?”

Dumbledore’s gaze returned as he asked calmly, “Why do you assume so?”

“Just an educated guess,” Felix shrugged, “maybe he did use dark magic to remodel his body, but there should be limits, no? Like he merely stalled his demise and found a loyal servant to perform a resurrection ritual for him after he escaped … Well, he would have used the Confundus Charm or an Obliviate to erase any loose ends afterward? Or maybe he will just discard them …”

Dumbledore lowered his head in silence.

“The situation you describe indeed exists, Felix.” He said. “But in any case, the information we have at hand is rather limited.” He looked thoughtfully at the table leg before saying in a faintly audible voice, “Perhaps I should be more proactive.”

“What?” Felix didn’t catch his words.

“Thank you for reminding me this, Felix.” Dumbledore smiled and said, “I almost neglected this point. Instinct tells me that this piece of information is particularly useful.”

Felix knew this signalled the end of the conversation, maybe he should go find Professor Marchbanks, or perhaps it would be more fun to banter with Clammy’s grandfather … but he felt a little reluctant, as he still failed to find out about Voldemort’s strength.

He got up from the couch and said, “One last question, Albus, can I take it that your strength is far greater than Voldemort’s?”

There was another silence –

“I am old,” Dumbledore said seriously, ” Even twenty years ago, I could barely gain an upper hand over him, and if he resurrects again, the victory is difficult to predict.”

“Barely gain an upper hand?” Felix asked with confusion, Dumbledore previously stated that he had ” broken and destroyed Voldemort’s body ” more than once, this more than once, is worth pondering.

“I used a special method,” Dumbledore winked his azure eyes gaily, ” So Voldemort believed that I had hidden my strength with the purpose of setting up a trap … and the fact is, we were not that far apart in strength.”

“A special method …,” Felix repeated slowly.

“A little trick that can temporarily bring me back to my prime.” Dumbledore replied with a smirk in a childish tone.

…

It was completely dark when he came out of the Headmaster’s office. Felix felt his mind is slightly disorganized, and he urgently needs to sort out the information he gained today. So he hurried back to his office and closed the door. As for Professor Marchbanks, she could wait till tomorrow, since Dumbledore had mentioned that she would be staying for some time anyhow.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore still sitting in his armchair in the circular office, as he opened the left drawer, where a locket case and a wand are placed.

Phoenix Fawkes from its perch landed on Dumbledore’s shoulder and cried softly.

————

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