Dumbledore still smiled without speaking. No, he did speak: "A storm is brewing… If you want to escape, resigning would be safer. If you wish to remain in office, then that's another matter."
Fudge's face cycled between green and red. He wrestled with himself for a while, and ultimately, the politician's ambition triumphed over his human instinct for survival.
"I will not resign."
"Then congratulations, Minister… And… be prepared." Dumbledore smiled.
"If you could tell me what this so-called war is," Fudge said dryly.
"One day, you will know."
With Fudge's departure, Sirius's countdown to rehabilitation gradually began. Next was a simple Wizengamot vote, which was quite straightforward.
"All right, Sirius and the children, perhaps you can change locations," Dumbledore said.
Sirius looked at Kayson, who shrugged: "The office isn't locked, go ahead, but remember to lock it once you're inside. Some Little Wizardss come to chat with me."
Soon, only three people remained in the office: Kayson, Dumbledore, and Peter Pettigrew, who lay on the floor still unable to move a muscle.
Dumbledore waved his wand, and Peter Pettigrew stiffened like a mummy. Then, a tall cabinet nearby opened, and another mummy floated out.
Well, it wasn't a mummy, but an old acquaintance, Karkaroff.
After throwing Peter Pettigrew into the cabinet, Dumbledore removed the magical restraints on Karkaroff.
"I'm still curious, how did you come to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.
"I really just…"
Before Karkaroff could finish, Dumbledore mercilessly interrupted him. He glanced at Kayson, who awkwardly pointed to himself: "I don't look like someone good at torture, do I? And don't you extract other people's memories?"
Dumbledore opened one eye and squinted at Kayson: "Pure beating."
"...Alright."
Kayson produced blocks and redstone. Soon, a sticky piston had an End Rod attached to it, followed by a simple high-frequency device that made The End Rod move back and forth rapidly.
"What's that for?" Dumbledore asked.
"You just need to put Karkaroff in a fixed pose on this machine's…."
"Wuwuwu!!!" Karkaroff, who had been feigning death, actually broke free from Dumbledore's control with great effort. Although only his mouth moved, it still gave a tremendous shock.
Mainly because the sound Karkaroff made was just too… that.
"Can you speak now?" Dumbledore smiled.
"You could have just extracted my memories, or used Legilimency, why torture me!" Karkaroff shrieked.
"Because I need your help, your sincere help." Dumbledore said.
"How do you want me to help you?"
"Do you still remember your master? Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle." Dumbledore's voice at this moment was like a devil's.
"He… I… He will kill me."
"Kayson, what kind of pose do you need?"
"I… You know it's impossible, the Dark Lord can tell!"
"You only need to say yes or no." Dumbledore said concisely.
Karkaroff looked at The End Rod frantically moving with the piston, then looked at Dumbledore.
"Pull me up."
Dumbledore unfastened the restraints on him and extended his hand.
"You've made the right decision. I think we need an Unbreakable Vow."
Karkaroff gritted his teeth: "Hehe…"
"Kayson, you be the witness… Never mind, go fetch Severus."
Karkaroff instinctively felt something was off when he heard Severus's name, but he quickly realized that whether Severus was an informant for either side had nothing to do with him, and he didn't need to know that much.
Surviving was enough, at least at this point in time.
Soon, Kayson brought Snape to the office, and the latter then saw a somewhat dishevelled Karkaroff. Karkaroff, in his heart, prayed to Merlin that Snape absolutely had to be on Dumbledore's side, otherwise, wouldn't he be dragged out to be sacrificed the very first day the Dark Lord returned?
However, he quickly had no time to think about such things. As Dumbledore and Karkaroff's hands clasped tightly together, a host of unequal agreements transformed from Dumbledore's mouth and Snape's wand into strands of light, coiling around their arms.
Karkaroff could only hope that when the time came, he could pull out his wand and end himself quickly before Lord Voldemort could kill him.
As Karkaroff was released, Kayson also asked curiously: "Is this Unbreakable Vow really useful? I'm not questioning the vow, it's just that what you just said still had quite a few logical loopholes, and you didn't seem to care when I pointed them out."
Dumbledore pulled a wet wipe from his desk and wiped his hands: "I never intended for him to actually do anything for me. He's just a tool to disrupt Tom's command decisions. If necessary, I can even use his life and false memories to direct Lord Voldemort, and incidentally, help Severus gain Tom's trust."
".....Your heart is so dirty, does Grindelwald know?"
"As if his heart is clean."
Dumbledore retorted.
"If there's nothing else for me here, I'll leave," Snape said.
"Please do… Oh, by the way, take this. This is my Christmas gift to you, but the sky over Spinner's End was covered in a large number of bird nets by Muggles, so the poor owl had to turn back."
Kayson watched Dumbledore pull a large bag of candy from under his desk and couldn't help but feel that he had simply forgotten to send it to Snape and was only making up for it now.
And earlier, Sirius had told him that owls could use small spatial magic…
And his own owl had not returned empty-handed.
Snape obviously realized this too, looking at Dumbledore with a disgusted expression. The latter shrugged helplessly: "Alright, alright, you have to be understanding of an old man's memory. I forgot everyone's, not just yours."
Kayson touched his nose with a look of disgust. Just now, Harry had shared the wool socks Dumbledore gave him…
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