Professor Dumbledore's gaze swept across the students at the four long tables below. The smile on his face grew ever more gentle, and the wrinkles around his eyes filled with warm kindness. His long white beard shifted slightly, and his eyes held a look of deep acceptance and approval for all the children.
"Likewise, no matter what position your House ultimately finishes in the House Cup, it can't take away the points you've earned throughout the year. Every single one of those points represents the hard work and sweat you've put in for your House's honor. They are all real contributions."
"No matter how many points you have, you should be proud of them."
He turned and looked at the teachers' table behind him, then slowly spread his hands as if to embrace every student in the room.
"Of course, I, and all the professors here, feel a genuine sense of pride in every effort you've made and every bit of progress you've achieved!"
As Professor Dumbledore's words faded, a smattering of applause broke out in the Great Hall. It quickly swelled into a wave of enthusiastic cheering. The students clapped with all their might, many with a flushed excitement on their faces. The professors at the teachers' table also smiled and clapped softly, their applause filled with sincere appreciation.
This was especially true for the four Heads of House. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout were all visibly moved, their eyes a little misty, clearly touched by his words. And even the usually gloomy Professor Snape's lips curled upward in a tiny, almost imperceptible smile.
Yet, that fleeting expression was still caught by a few sharp-eyed people, stunning them so much they almost forgot to clap. Harry, in particular, widened his eyes and instinctively rubbed them, wondering if he'd seen it wrong.
— Professor Snape actually smiled?
He quietly turned to look at Ron and Hermione beside him, only to find them also staring in disbelief at the teachers' table.
Harry had seen Snape smile a few times before, but each time it was with undisguised malice—a vicious grin, a cold smirk, or a sneering laugh full of ridicule. Or even a cruel, savage smile.
But never had he seen such a normal, peaceful one.
This sudden expression left him a bit stunned, and his clapping slowed to half a beat.
In contrast, Dylan was more accepting of Snape's rare smile. After all, he was a student who had been acknowledged by the professor himself. He had even used Legilimency to enter Snape's mind, so he knew that the seemingly cold professor wasn't entirely without feeling for his students. He simply mused to himself that he never would have expected Snape to express his emotions so openly.
Just then, Dylan felt an incredibly weak but very real force quietly permeate the entire Great Hall, gently enveloping everyone present. The feeling was so fleeting that if he hadn't had absolute confidence in his senses and the ability to clearly recall his memories, he would have thought it was a momentary hallucination.
"Is this the greatest power in the world—'love'?" Dylan wondered to himself. He scanned the faces in the Great Hall, some excited, some moved, some warm, and he grew pensive.
In this world, the power of love isn't just an empty slogan from a hot-blooded fantasy comic that lets the hero inexplicably burst with amazing power to defeat the villain. It's a real and incredibly powerful force. Harry's mother's protective charm, created with her life, was powered by love. That defense was impossibly strong, able to repel even the Killing Curse, which no other ultimate defensive spell could withstand. This was something no amount of pure magical power could achieve.
Furthermore, in a locked room in the Department of Mysteries, the force known as love can even be stored through some unknown means, which further proves its reality and power.
The Ministry of Magic... The Department of Mysteries... The Unspeakables...
Dylan's mind jumped through a series of fragmented thoughts. He remembered bits of information. The Department of Mysteries is on the ninth underground level of the Ministry of Magic. Even within the Ministry, it's an extremely secretive and little-known department. Few people know what its employees do, and even fewer can say for sure what it's in charge of. They only know it's a place that deals with various mysterious forces and unknown domains.
Wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries have a special name: Unspeakables. This name comes from the strict ban they're under, forbidding them from ever discussing anything related to their work. Not even the most minor departmental details can be revealed to outsiders, as if their lips have been sealed by an invisible curse.
The Unspeakables have great autonomy in their work. In certain situations, they can even disregard the Minister of Magic's orders to a certain extent. The root of all this lies in the subjects they study. These are the most highly-guarded secrets, the most mysterious, powerful, and dangerous forces in the world: Love, Time, Thought, the Future, the Stars, and the revered power of Death.
Each of these topics concerns the fundamental secrets of the world. The slightest mistake could trigger unimaginable consequences. They are like explorers walking on the edge of a knife, guarding these forbidden secrets while constantly pushing the boundaries of the unknown.
Oh, this vast world of magic is like a sea of twinkling stars. The deeper you delve, the more you realize how insignificant you are.
Even though Dylan believed his current strength was enough to stand against the top wizards in the world today—that he might not be at a disadvantage in a duel against old Dumbledore with the Elder Wand—he never felt he had the right to act recklessly. For example, when raising magical creatures, he has always followed legal channels. He plans to use his connection with Cedric and Luna to expand his avenues for this later, rather than acting like a poacher, using divination to find their habitats and then sneaking in to capture them.
The same goes for his use of magic. Although he can cast dark magic without emotional support and avoid negative side effects with a bit of care, Dylan still consciously avoids using magic that's difficult for the public to accept, like the unforgivable curses. He never uses them lightly.
—Of course, when absolutely necessary, he'll use them.
Right now, Dylan is still an underage wizard, but his strength is growing rapidly with age, and he's gained various boosts from his achievements. His abilities in all areas are relatively mature. In this era, even if Dylan were to openly break the law, there aren't many people who could actually stop him. But he's never openly done anything illegal. This is partly due to the emotional ties that influence him, but there's another reason: Dylan's mind is always filled with a sense of caution.
Voldemort, who once cast a shadow over the entire British wizarding world, gathered the power of many pure-blood families under his command. The magical skills he mastered alone were enough to open Dylan's eyes. Not to mention the vast knowledge that couldn't be simply categorized as skills.
And Professor Dumbledore, who was able to hold off Voldemort, is over a hundred years old. He defeated Grindelwald, a dark wizard who had swept across Europe, and is hailed as the most powerful wizard of the century. Is everything he's shown truly the full extent of his power? No one can say for sure.
Besides Professor Dumbledore, there's the question of ancient magic that seems to have been lost to time. Is it still being practiced by someone in a hidden way? And what about the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries? Dylan can't be sure whether they've mastered some secret powers that surpass his current strength. After all, they deal with the most fundamental and dangerous secrets every day. No one can claim for sure that they aren't hiding something that could completely change everything we know.
Of course, in a head-on confrontation, a fully mastered, carefully studied Killing Curse with special properties is enough to show any wizard what it means to be killed with a single blow. But in this world of magic, the most powerful forces are never just limited to direct combat.
The powers of Time, Dimensions, and Causality are far more profound and awe-inspiring.
Dylan has had some limited contact with the power of Time, but he only knows enough to get by. He can't even fully create a perfect Time-Turner on his own. But the Unspeakables in the Time Room have been studying Time for far longer than a year or two. Their exploration of this field goes far beyond what a normal person can imagine. For instance, the strict rules for using Time-Turners were set by the Unspeakables of the Time Room, and the devices are all kept there.
Some might wonder why the Ministry of Magic would give such a powerful magical device to a student with only a professor's letter. The answer is simple: everyone who has tried to turn back time for more than five hours has failed. They all died. No, to be more precise, death was probably the kindest outcome for them. Those who dared to touch the forbidden power of Time often met a fate more terrifying than death. They might have completely vanished into the flow of time, or they might have been trapped in an endless time paradox, never to be free.
Eloise Mintumble, an Unspeakable from the Time Room, once conducted an experiment to return to the past. In that experiment, Eloise was trapped in the year 1402 for five days. When she finally managed to return to the present, her physical age had increased by five centuries, and she had suffered irreparable, permanent damage. She passed away in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in 1899.
In addition to her own death, her trip to the past caused the lives of those she met to change. At least 25 of their descendants completely vanished from the present, as if they had never existed. And it didn't stop there. Some unsettling signs showed that the past had also been interfered with. The Tuesday she returned to the present lasted for two and a half days, while the following Thursday was only four hours long.
This is the terrifying power of time. Even someone as strong as Dylan seems small in the face of such a great force.
As for the power of space, Dylan is relatively familiar with it, since he frequently uses the Spatial Transfiguration spell and even has a whole world of his own. With his achievements and investments, his pet space has become quite large.
And when it comes to destiny, Dylan knows a bit of divination, but he isn't sure if the Department of Mysteries has any counter-measures. Because of this, he wouldn't be surprised if there were ways to sacrifice the entire world to destroy an opponent.
As for why Voldemort and the Death Eaters didn't use these methods during the raid on the Department of Mysteries... maybe they didn't think it was necessary? Or maybe they had already foreseen that this Dark Lord wouldn't be able to cause much trouble, and in the end, some people would just have to die. But that price would be far less than the cost of using those forbidden powers. Don't forget the Hall of Prophecies. The Unspeakables might have already seen everything, just waiting for Voldemort to walk into his own demise. Not to mention the prophecy made by Trelawney.
Of course, it's also possible that Dylan is just fighting against an imaginary opponent, that these powers have never been mastered, and that the Department of Mysteries has no secret cards to play. But regardless of whether anyone else has these powers, their existence is certain.
So, Dylan maintains a sense of awe and caution towards the hidden powers of this world.
But Dylan thinks this might be a good thing in a way. If a person has nothing to worry about, they might act rashly one day and do something they'll regret later.
This can be explained by his experience in his past life. For example, you know you shouldn't do something, but late at night, your mind gets foggy, and you open various apps. Those seemingly good deals and enticing recommendations always lead you to unconsciously order a bunch of useless things with a flick of your finger. At least with those things, you can always return them. But apps aren't just for shopping. There are also food delivery apps. And once you've eaten something, it's very hard to get rid of it.