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X_
[Poppy Pomfrey]
Okay, if she were younger, she might not have minded being dragged away like this, but… she thought as Albus practically hauled her from her infirmary into the corridor.
"Albus…" she said, her tone firm. "I have students to attend to in my hospital wing. So whatever this is, it needs to be quick."
Albus looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about? We have a meeting right now. Besides, the children are perfectly fine," he stated, not breaking his stride.
"What meeting?" she asked, her irritation growing.
"Um, didn't I send the message using the Archive?" Albus asked, more to himself, as he glanced at her. "I'm sure I told Minerva there was no need for her to come and to gather everyone else instead."
"Albus…" she warned, not in the mood for games. Students were in her care, and even if Dumbledore declared them fine, she needed to see to their recovery herself.
A light, golden interface materialized in front of Albus, making her blink.
"What's that?" she asked.
"???" Albus looked at her in bewilderment, as if she'd asked something unthinkable, before blinking owlishly. "Oh, Merlin. How could I have forgotten?" she heard him mutter. "Forgive me, Poppy. These past few days have been so hectic that I forgot to connect you to the Archive, as I did with the rest." He apologized, and he genuinely looked sorry.
He then proceeded to connect her magic to the Archive and explain how it worked, detailing some of its finer points as they continued towards his office. "… so yes, there are levels of access depending on how advanced your knowledge is and how much you choose to share, among other factors. You'll find an icon there that looks like a book; that's where all the information is cataloged."
It was a truly remarkable piece of magic. At least, she thought so.
"Still, I now need to find a way to check for false information and incorrect data. I had a plan for that, but today that plan was thrown out the window, so now I have to figure out how to create something else…" Albus continued to talk, but she was no longer paying attention.
She was focused on her own interface. There, she found different options: something called 'Full-Sync,' where she could add everything she knew, or 'Partial-Sync,' where she uploaded only what she chose.
She clicked on both options to see the benefits of each and, after a few seconds of reading, decided to go with Full-Sync. As a medi-witch, the value of a perfect, immutable record was paramount; the 'Full-Sync' option felt less like a choice and more like a professional necessity. Thus she decided to go with Full-Sync.
She was sold the moment she read that it gave her the ability to review her memories again—a full dive that would allow her to re-experience everything from her first memory until now, whenever she wanted—now that sounded as exhilarating as it was terrifying.
It could lead a lot of people to be stuck in the past due to several reasons such as regret yet it was also very much a boon.
'Maybe I'll be the second Dumbledore', she joked to herself. Yet, she couldn't deny the flicker of hope she felt. Maybe she, too, could regain her youth…
Everyone, including her, might have been busy these past couple of days, but even she knew about what supposedly happened to Dumbledore. Everyone knew that.
As she was lost in her thoughts while navigating the interface, she heard Albus announce, "Turkish Delight," and refocused only to find herself in front of the headmaster's office.
Have I been so deep in thought that I skipped the entire journey here? And why is he using a password to enter his own office? she thought, looking at him strangely, only now noticing the new energy and vigor he carried in his footsteps. Did something good happen today?
She couldn't ask her questions, though, because as soon as she followed him inside, she saw almost all of the Hogwarts staff already assembled and waiting for them.
"Hello, everyone," Albus greeted cheerfully, completely ignoring Minerva, who was glaring at him for some reason.
Poppy decided not to ask and sat down between Pomona and Horace, greeting them as she did so.
'Sigh, let's see what Albus dragged me here for'
X_
[Albus Dumbledore]
"Before we start anything today, I would like to give you some good news, which will hopefully stop Minerva from chewing my ears off later…" I announced as I sat down, not forgetting to give her a wink.
She didn't seem as amused as I had hoped.
I shook my head slightly and returned my attention to the table. "I would like to congratulate you all in advance, because as of a few minutes ago, Voldemort officially ceased to exist."
I noticed the way they still flinched or grimaced at the name, but all of them fell silent, likely processing what I had just told them.
"So you found his soul anchors and destroyed them?" Filius asked. Clearly, someone had been using his Archive well.
"Yep, I destroyed every last one of them today, which was the reason Harriet had a magical backlash in the first place," I revealed and watched as Minerva's face turned ashen. She might not know the actual situation, but magical backlash is crippling most of the time. There's a reason rituals were prohibited, even the 'light' ones…
I would have let them stew for a few more seconds, but it's better to clarify things before they start jumping to conclusions.
"Nothing to worry about, though," I elaborated. "She had a Horcrux inside her scar, but with a little help, she destroyed it." I smiled and said, "Here, you can see the memories yourselves. It's quite amusing."
I called up my Archive, which prompted them to do the same, and sent the memory to them. Soon, everyone had their attention on their own interface as they watched everything that had happened in Harriet's mindscape.
Different emotions flashed across their faces, but no matter how much I downplayed it, the relief they felt was genuine.
I swear I saw Horace's belly seem to gain new volume from his relieved sigh… Does that mean I relieved somebody so much he became fatter?—Okay, that sentence sounded bad… even in my head that sounded really bad.
Let's forget about that.
I exhaled slowly, feeling genuinely refreshed. Today had been very hectic but also very liberating in a way that is hard to describe. I had started to actually feel more like myself than just 'Dumbledore' now—or more accurately, I started feeling less old, tired, and weary.
"So, now that everyone is caught up, let's start with the actual reason for our meeting," I stated, seeing my staff begin to re-watch the scene from the memory. This could go on for a while if I let them…
"Okay, Albus, let's start with why Amelia called me through the Floo, complaining about how you forced the Ministry's hand in the compensation matter," Pomona was the one who started.
"I was thinking about just informing you, but okay, we can do a Q&A too," I muttered, though I am sure everyone heard me. "As for your question, that happened because I was… emotional at the time. The scene there was not something I would recommend watching, let alone physically witnessing." I sighed deeply as the memory flashed in my mind.
I used my Bright essence to soothe my spirit, making me glow slightly golden. "Most of the casualties were either Hogwarts' recent graduates or veterans. All of whom have walked through these halls. It really made me wonder if we weren't teaching them enough…"
"Albus, none of us thought anything like that would happen…" Minerva said, but I just shook my head.
"It doesn't really matter what we thought. It's plenty obvious to me that the coming years will be very troubling and might even threaten our existence as a whole. So we need to step up our efforts and do absolutely everything we can if we want a chance to survive," I said with a serious tone, my expression showing just how serious I am.
"We need to revamp the whole education system because, let's be honest, there are some very concerning inconsistencies in our magical education system as a whole…" I prepared to drop the bomb on them.
Everyone was paying their utmost attention; Filius was sitting with his back straight even with nothing supporting it.
Of course there's nothing supporting his back, the guy was sitting on books… My books, my mind supplied, but I ignored the stray thought as I observed how Minerva had her eyes on me with laser focus, as did the rest.
"Let me ask you first: why does our education start at sixteen? I know that it's tradition, law, and everything, but why sixteen? When we know that wizards of old used to be trained much younger?"
"Because their magic is more responsive and they have more magical growth during these years," Poppy answered, looking at me weirdly.
I didn't comment and looked at the rest. "Because they're more mature and responsible with wands," Minerva answered.
The rest gave different answers, but none that was actually accurate.
"Hmm, I can see why you'd think that, but our magic starts to stabilize by the age of eleven, as most of you know. So why is it that we start practicing magic by the age of sixteen?" I saw multiple eyebrows furrow as they started thinking about it.
I could have waited for them to come up with theories, but… "I believe that my theory of our universe merging with foreign ones is correct, and I think that this merger has done more to our universe than we've noticed."
"What do you mean?" Filius, Horace, Pomona, and Septima asked at the same time.
"I believe this merger has somehow altered our history as we know it. I am talking universal-scale reality alteration." There were several gasps of disbelief. "I know it's hard to believe, and this is still a theory for now, but there's no reason to discard anything before it's proven incorrect, right?"
"Albus, you are a dear friend and colleague, and I truly want to believe you, but you have to understand how utterly crazy that sounds, right?" Horace asked, gaining a few nods from the rest of the staff—except for Filius.
"I don't know, I think Albus has a point," Filius interjected. "I mean, that would explain the constant Obscurial problem we have around the world. If we start to train them younger, then we could, at least theoretically, minimize the numbers…"
"True, but that theory still sounds crazy…" Poppy agreed.
"It's more than just crazy, it's terrifying," Professor Vector added, her face pale, slightly hyperventilating. "If our very history is mutable, what else have we lost? What else have we forgotten? Did we have a family that was suddenly erased? What…"
I sent a pulse of magic through the office, calming everyone down as I continued "And that's why we will treat it like any theory we have and test it. Still, that's something to figure out later. For now, we need to start discussing the new changes I want to implement, as well as several other things…"
"And those are?" was the shared sentiment if the raised eyebrows were any indication.
"Well, let's start with accepting students, the younger ones, like eleven and older…" I shared my thought with them.
"And pray tell, how are you going to do that?" Minerva asked while glaring at me.
'Oh, yeah, her workload is going to be doubled if I did that, isn't it?' The answer came to me when I wondered why she was glaring at me again.
"I am glad you asked. I was thinking of modifying the Quill of Acceptance and making it send invitations to those who are eleven and older…" I explained, smiling widely while doing so…
"Albus, we have neither the time nor the capacity to accept new students, and children at that…" Horace came to the rescue before Minerva started hexing me. His interruption was very timely.
"Oh, don't worry about that, we won't be doing this immediately. We still have to iron out the details first. And true, we are going to need new professors too, I guess." I watched as my so-called colleagues sighed in relief when they heard that. I guess they were not "enthused" by my proposal. Too bad this wasn't optional.
"Be that as it may, we still need to increase the current level of education and practice, so let's solve this problem first." Filius said, gaining the attention of everyone at the table. "I was thinking, we could distribute the Archive to the students, which will save us a lot of time when it comes to assignments and will help their education be accelerated further."
I was going to say that next, but it's good that it came from him.
"Hmmm, that's a good idea. I can get that done tomorrow during my lecture," I nodded at him.
"You are still doing that? Do you even have the time? Because I doubt the ICW and the Wizengamot will let you rest tomorrow," Minerva stated, earning a raised eyebrow from me.
Since when did McGonagall start to care about the politics? Didn't she believe it to be too Slytherin for her taste not too long ago?
"Those can wait. I promised the students a lecture, and they will get it," I shrugged at her.
"That still leaves the issue of the practical portion of the curriculum unsolved," Flitwick reminded us.
"Oh, leave that to me. I will be the one taking care of that. We have more unused classrooms than we know what to do with, so I will be recycling them for better use," I informed them, gaining a nod from Filius and the rest.
"In the meantime, try to add ten to fifteen minutes of practice to your lecture time, and maybe select the top students to supervise the younger ones. We could award them with access to more advanced knowledge depending on how well they do," I suggested, which earned me a few thoughtful "ahs" and sighs.
"That could work, but it will take at least one week before we get a system like that ready between students," Horace said, and I agreed with his estimate. We need to evaluate the students more closely before choosing them, after all.
We continued to talk about the topic for some more time, along with other topics as well. We even talked about my decision to put wizarding Britain under war laws, which some of them agreed with while others, like Horace, didn't.
He did point out that such a thing will be used against me on a global scale, as political parties will try to either vilify me or use me for their own agenda.
He had a point, but I assured him that I will try my best to negotiate with everyone and try to raise their alertness and awareness level.
'He doesn't know that the world will soon be busy tracking Gellert, which gives me more leeway and opportunities,' I smiled inwardly.
I might have a lot of different reasons to get Gellert out, but the wizarding world has more reasons to keep him in or see him dead.
Everyone will try to gain more power once he's out, and that will allow me to spread the Archive faster. They had done so much to erase his ideology from the wizarding world that the younger generation doesn't know anything about him beyond the basics.
That's why I believe all those in charge will try to get their armed forces to connect with the Archive, or even connect themselves.
This will allow me to spread my influence without being forceful, alleviate my image, and give me access to more data and a direct way to influence the minds of the wizarding world.
I just need to use my Bright Lord's essence to bless those who are trying to become better, and slowly but surely the belief that wizards gain power through enough knowledge and practice will be cemented in the minds of everyone.
'I don't need wizards to go and become slaves for a scrap of power. Me doing this will cut the chances significantly,' I thought to myself with a smirk.
I watched as everyone left, heads full of different things. This was going to be a long night for them.
I myself started heading towards my room, where I saw the artifacts that used to house the Horcruxes still levitating in the air.
I chuckled slightly as I walked towards them, slowly using my essence to purify any lingering dark and corrupted taints before waving my hand and sending them to the shelf by the door.
I snapped my fingers as I laid down on the bed, which started my clothes-changing process. Now, I could have done so like normal, but I was the Archmage; I should act like one and use magic for my convenience.
I stared as my clothes started to come off, and my pajamas floated out of the closet and came to me.
It didn't take more than thirty seconds for me to be fully ready for bed, and that includes magical body cleaning and mouth-washing.
"Sigh, I am still not satisfied with what I have now. I need to create more magic and magical spells. Why wait thirty seconds when I can make the process instantaneous?" I mumbled to myself.
Still, all this is future Dumbledore's problem. For now, I need to sleep. Voldemort is gone, and all is right with the world.
As Dumbledore joined Morpheus on his realm, his archive, active as always, registered a faint energy, a dissonance frequency that hadn't been there before… still the phenomenon was so brief that the archive couldn't analyze it fast enough…
X_
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