"Intimidate Malfoy, monitor Crouch!"
After a moment of thought, Dudley offered his advice. "Lucius is a coward at heart, Dumbledore. If you pressure him a bit, he'll hand over Voldemort's Horcrux without a fight.
As for Barty, we need to investigate and monitor him first! Go yourself and confirm whether Barty Jr. is still alive and hidden at home.
If he is, assign some capable and trustworthy people to keep an eye on him. If Voldemort's main soul doesn't show up soon, we might need to use Barty Jr. as bait.
If Barty Jr. has already escaped, then we'll have to resort to the tedious method of sending people to hunt him down worldwide."
"Understood. I'll get to it right away."
Dumbledore turned to leave.
"Wait!" Dudley called out to him.
Seeing Dumbledore pause and look back, Dudley spoke with a serious tone:
"Dumbledore, you've been shifting toward being decisive, straightforward, and uncompromising, which is good.
But while you're growing more confident, remember to stay humble and cautious. Don't let it turn into arrogance.
You're powerful, but you're not invincible. Don't rush into situations you're not entirely sure about, especially when it comes to dealing with Voldemort and collecting Horcruxes. If you have the time, always discuss it with me.
I don't want to have to clean up your mess, and I certainly don't want to see all the hard work we've put into building this advantage go to waste!"
From Dumbledore's recent actions—storming Gringotts to retrieve the Hufflepuff Cup Horcrux without consulting him—Dudley sensed danger.
In the original story, Dumbledore had fallen victim to Voldemort's trap when he retrieved the Resurrection Stone Horcrux from the Gaunt shack. Overcome by the temptation to use the stone to bring back his loved ones, he had put on the ring and triggered a deadly curse, leaving him with only a year to live.
Therefore, Dudley felt it necessary to remind Dumbledore not to swing too far in the opposite direction, becoming overconfident and making reckless mistakes.
"I understand, Dudley. Thank you for your concern. I'll be fine—at least until I see you completely transform the magical world!"
Dumbledore smiled warmly, as if recalling something, then Disapparated with a soft pop.
"Did he even understand what I was trying to say?"
Dudley muttered under his breath, staring at the spot where Dumbledore had vanished.
"Cousin, what did you say?" Harry asked curiously.
"Nothing important. Harry, go downstairs and help Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Hagrid review the spells they've learned. I need to handle something and will join you later."
Dudley had an idea in mind and dismissed Harry.
"Alright, cousin. I'll let Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon know that Dumbledore won't be able to finish today's lesson either!"
Harry tucked his small black notebook and textbooks under his arm and headed downstairs with a slightly lighter step.
Once Harry was gone, Dudley took out his D-grade poplar wand, which had reached 100% compatibility after being nourished by his magic.
He then walked over to the bookshelf and picked up the C-grade expanded magical suitcase, now emptied of its contents.
"Fuse!"
Dudley issued the command to the system in his mind.
In an instant, the poplar wand and the magical suitcase vanished, transforming into two intangible waves that merged with Dudley.
**[Command executed! Consumed D-grade fusion opportunity 1, C-grade fusion opportunity 1.]
*[Remaining fusion opportunities: C-grade 1.]
[Congratulations, Host! You have fused with a high-quality wand perfectly compatible with you!]
[Acquired Perfect Wandless Magic!]
[From this moment on, your body and soul inherently function as a wand, allowing you to cast spells with unparalleled ease.]
[Unlike other wizards who learn wandless magic through practice, your wandless magic still benefits from the enhancements provided by the poplar wand itself.]
[Acquired Trace Detection and Placement Ability!]
[You can now create, place, and remove magical traces using your magic. You can sense the location of any target marked with your trace, provided they haven't removed it.]
[Acquired Partial Wandmaking Knowledge and Skills!]
[You now understand the basic principles of wandmaking and have learned the Ollivander family's secret techniques for processing poplar wood and dragon heartstring cores.]
[Congratulations, Host! You have fused with a magical suitcase with a capacity of 1,000 cubic meters!]
[Acquired Personal Storage Space (1,000 cubic meters)!]
[You can now open a spatial portal at any time to store or retrieve items that fit within the storage space, whether living or inanimate.]
[Items stored in your personal storage space will not burden you with their weight. Inanimate objects stored inside will decay, spoil, or rust at a significantly reduced rate.]
[If you wish to store living creatures without suffocating them, remember to also store the necessities to sustain their lives, such as air, water, and food.]
[In the future, you can expand the capacity or add special effects to your personal storage space by casting spells on yourself or fusing with other space-related magical items.]
[Detected that the Host has fused with a space-related magical item. The personal storage space has automatically acquired system space characteristics.]
[System Space Characteristics: ① Indestructible—Unless the Host's will and spirit are completely extinguished, the system space will remain intact. ② Isolated—Unless the Host consciously allows it, no entity or object can enter or exit the system space.]
[Acquired Partial Knowledge of Creating Space-Related Magical Items!]
[You now understand advanced spells such as the Extension Charm, Weight-Reduction Charm, Preservation Charm, and Spell Permanence.]
Dudley closed his eyes and took a moment to feel his new state.
It felt amazing! So fluid and natural!
He casually waved his hand and cast the Levitation Charm and Summoning Charm.
A large wooden box containing Harry's hair, the Hufflepuff Cup on the desk, a withered Bowtruckle limb and a Fwooper feather hidden in a drawer under the bed, along with a large amount of Galleons and gold bars, all floated into the air and hovered in front of Dudley.
Dudley then drew a large circle in the air, and an irregularly shaped spatial portal appeared.
With another wave of his hand, the floating objects争先恐后地 flew into his personal storage space.
After storing these items, Dudley pulled out Quirrell's cracked wand (B-grade) and Diggle's wand (C-grade) from his coat pocket and tossed them into the spatial portal as well.
The portal then closed and vanished according to his will.
Since forming an alliance with Dumbledore and gaining a powerful and efficient ally, Dudley had postponed his plan to fuse with Quirrell's cracked wand to quickly acquire a wide range of dark and light magic spells.
Instead, he had devised a new fusion plan.
Now that Dumbledore had unexpectedly retrieved Voldemort's Horcrux early—and the Hufflepuff Cup, no less, which was tied to an SS-level regret event—and his poplar wand had reached full compatibility, Dudley no longer hesitated to execute his new fusion plan.
After all, keeping important items close at hand was always safer.
To his surprise, after fusing with the magical suitcase, the system had given him an unexpected bonus!
Now, the safekeeping of the Horcrux was even more foolproof.