That night, in the now-Great Russia, on the border of Koldovstoretz, the Russian wizarding school, Dumbledore held a newly opened letter and gazed at the stars, his mind lost in thought.
Just then, a dignitary from the International Confederation of Wizards walked over and said softly, "Professor Dumbledore, everything has been negotiated. Koldovstoretz will be temporarily taken over by the Confederation, and once everything has settled down, we will discuss its final ownership."
"How many people voted for and against?" Dumbledore asked without turning his head.
"Almost seventy percent of the people…"
"Everton…"
The dignitary, named Everton Mosley, was interrupted by Dumbledore. "Don't think for a second that I don't know what's on their minds. But no matter what, a wizarding school is a place for teaching and nurturing young wizards, not someone's private property, and certainly not a tool for seizing power."
"So, please tell me the truth…"
Facing Dumbledore's invisible pressure, a drop of cold sweat dripped down Everton's forehead. He nervously rubbed his fingers together and then explained in a low voice, "Professor, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, all of Eastern Europe is in chaos. The main problem now is with the internal issues of the Russian Ministry of Magic. After that is…"
Everton trailed off, but Dumbledore understood the meaning behind his words. Not only were some people in the Confederation harboring ulterior motives, but the higher-ups in the Russian Ministry of Magic also seemed to be selling out Koldovstoretz for their own personal gain.
Thinking of this, Dumbledore was silent for a moment before he began to suggest, "It has been over half a year since this incident occurred. The Confederation's temporary management of Koldovstoretz cannot be permanent. You should consider handing the management back to the newly established local Ministry of Magic in one to two years and electing a new Headmaster."
"I will report this to the higher-ups…" Everton nodded.
"In that case, my mission is pretty much complete." Dumbledore lowered his head and looked at the time on his pocket watch. "There are some things at Hogwarts that require my attention. If there are any other emergencies, contact me via owl."
"Understood!" Everton took two steps back.
Immediately, a melodious cry sounded, and a golden-red flash of fire suddenly appeared in the night sky. Fawkes, shrouded in flames, flew toward Dumbledore. The three men and the phoenix instantly disappeared.
.....
On the other side, inside Hogwarts castle, the trio had been in Professor McGonagall's office for almost an entire day. During this time, they had been tormenting themselves. The feeling of waiting for their 'death sentence' to arrive was excruciating.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" Ron asked weakly, holding a piece of toast that he had only taken one bite out of.
"Can you shut up? I don't know how many times you've asked that question today!" Hermione glared at him.
"I just want this to be over already..." Ron replied, taking a bite out of the nonexistent toast.
"You can do it, Ron!" Harry encouraged his friend, not realizing he had said the same thing countless times today.
However, as time slowly passed, the trio finally welcomed the moment that would end their day of torment. The office door creaked open, and Professor McGonagall walked in. She said to the three of them, "You three, come with me!"
The trio looked at each other and saw a hint of relief in each other's eyes. They got up and quickly followed Professor McGonagall, finally arriving at the Hogwarts Headmaster's office.
Pushing open the gleaming oak door and walking into the office, they saw Dumbledore with his back to them, eating liquorice wands from a cabinet.
Can't my old colleague be a bit more proper in front of students?! Professor McGonagall sighed silently at the sight and then spoke up to get his attention. "Albus, Mr. Potter and the others are here!"
Dumbledore turned around at the sound, wiping the sugar off his hands with a napkin. "Oh, welcome!"
"Would you like to try a liquorice wand?"
The strangely relaxed atmosphere made the trio, who had been bracing themselves for a storm of anger, pause. Harry was the first to react and stepped forward. "I… I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore. We… we came to admit our mistakes. We were wrong!"
"Oh, yes, that's right, you did something wrong," Dumbledore nodded with a hint of a smile. "But Harry, from another perspective, you didn't actually do anything wrong. You just lacked a little more mature thinking."
"You wanted to protect the Philosopher's Stone from falling into the wrong hands."
"In that regard, you were brave."
Upon hearing that Dumbledore wasn't blaming them but was actually praising them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other in disbelief.
"Then, Professor, will the school expel us?" Ron asked cautiously.
"Oh, of course not, Mr. Weasley! Although you made a mistake, your intentions were good. And besides, the Philosopher's Stone wasn't even lost, was it?" Dumbledore winked mischievously.
The trio felt the huge rock in their hearts fall, and their faces instantly turned from cloudy to sunny, with happy smiles.
"Given the special circumstances this time, I will not be deducting any points from Gryffindor either," Dumbledore said, looking at the trio. He then held up a finger. "However, you still can't avoid the punishment for violating the school rules."
"What's the punishment?" Hermione immediately asked. It was strange, but she felt a sense of relief when she asked this question.
"Oh, for that, we must invite our other guest over!"
As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, a ball of golden-red flames suddenly appeared in the middle of the large office. But contrary to Dumbledore's expectations, a terrified voice came from within the flames.
"Bloody hell! Watch out!"
A green, lightning-like spell shot out from the flames, blasting a huge hole in one of the office walls. Everyone looked on in shock as Victor appeared from the flames. He was desperately trying to maintain a broken magical array that looked like a Death Eater's mark with both hands. Green lightning bolts kept trying to break through Victor's powerful magical restraints and unleash the vast power they contained.
Dumbledore squinted at the sight. It was the first time he had seen a magical array, and he could also feel the power of the Killing Curse within the array in Victor's hands.
After an unknown amount of time, the shattered magical array in Victor's hands gradually became whole, and the green lightning bolts it was emitting slowly retracted.
Seeing that the magical array was finally stable, Victor let out a long sigh of relief, then clapped his hands. The magical power that had constructed the array immediately turned into raw magical power and dissipated into the air.
Having dealt with the immediate crisis, Victor immediately turned his attention to the culprit who had almost caused his magical array to go out of control. He flashed in front of Dumbledore at an speed that was impossible for an ordinary person to achieve, then grabbed the long white beard and shouted with fiery eyes:
"You old coot! I've had enough of you!"
"How many times have I told you that you only have to send Fawkes to notify me if you need something? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to merge and reconstruct two magical arrays?!!!"
"Ow, ow, ow… Let go! Let go!" Dumbledore was caught off guard by Victor's outburst and immediately grabbed his own beard and pulled back with all his might to prevent his years-long beard from being ripped out.
However, Victor clearly wasn't going to let him off that easily. He tightened his grip on the beard and shouted loudly, "I can't calm down!!!"
"It's because you suddenly had Fawkes transport me over here without warning that the magical array almost went out of control! If I hadn't reacted quickly enough, you and everyone in this office would have been dead!!! And I worked so hard all day! My new magic was almost finished, and because of you, all my hard work was almost for nothing!!!" With that, he leaned back, looking as if he wouldn't stop until he had ripped out Dumbledore's entire beard.
"Ow, ow, ow…" Dumbledore cried out in pain. He never would have thought that a 12-year-old child could have such great strength in his hands.
At this moment, Professor McGonagall and the trio, who had been watching the farce in a daze, finally snapped out of it. Professor McGonagall and Hermione immediately went to pull the two apart.
"Mr. Dreyar, let go! Albus's beard is about to snap off!"
"Victor, don't be rash! This is Headmaster Dumbledore!"
"You let go of me! I'm going to rip off this old coot's beard!!!"
"…" Harry and Ron, who were also in the office, watched all of this helplessly, not knowing if they should go up and help or not.
After an unknown amount of time, Victor finally let go of Dumbledore's beard under the constant persuasion of the two of them. But Hermione, seeing that Victor was still in an agitated state, hugged him around the waist from the front and kept trying to calm him down. "Calm down! Calm down!"
On the other side, Professor McGonagall checked Dumbledore's reddened chin and then looked at the few strands of beard on the floor, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Dumbledore also had a look of grievance on his face. He touched his stinging chin and complained, "I've had this beard for a very long time…"
"It's a good thing I'm going to burn it all off!" Victor said, his eyes glowing red as fierce flames erupted from his hands.
This scared Hermione, who immediately hugged his waist tighter and pushed him forward a few steps. At the same time, Hermione unintentionally brushed against something in Victor's pants…
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