Chapter 40
"Well then, it's getting late. I'll take my leave for today." After thoroughly clarifying Dumbledore's intentions, Lucian stood up, preparing to depart.
"Lucian." Just as he was about to open the door, Dumbledore suddenly called out to him "There's one last small matter I'd like to ask of you—this has nothing to do with our plan. It's a personal request of mine. I hope you can look after Harry a bit more in your daily life."
"What kind of looking after? Do you want me to train him on the side, or do you want me to go easy on him?" Lucian asked with a raised brow.
"Hmm... both sound quite tempting. If he could receive your dedicated guidance, perhaps he might exceed my expectations entirely." Dumbledore had originally intended for Lucian to treat Harry leniently—after all, the boy was destined to face extremely difficult challenges in the future. At the very least, he should be allowed to enjoy a happy and complete school life.
But Lucian was someone Dumbledore had watched grow up. Although during Lucian's student years, he had rarely invested much effort in this particular student, Dumbledore was now fully aware of Lucian's growth history—absolutely brilliant and dazzling!
It wasn't like Voldemort's innate talent; Lucian had reached his current level purely through extreme self-discipline and self-developed learning methodologies. That was precisely what made it so impressive. Even if he himself swapped places with Lucian, he wasn't confident he could achieve the same accomplishments.
If Harry were also handed over to Lucian for training, Dumbledore couldn't even imagine how remarkable the results might be.
Seeing that Lucian was still looking at him, Dumbledore, unusually, hesitated for a moment "I'd like to hear your opinion."
"My opinion isn't important. What's important is what outcome you want to achieve."
"..."
Dumbledore almost wished Lucian weren't so perceptive at that moment and would just give a direct suggestion.
After thinking it over, he still couldn't make a decision. Even Lucian himself didn't understand why this issue was causing Dumbledore such difficulty.
"If it's really that hard to choose—" Lucian offered a suggestion, "why not leave the decision to Harry? Let him choose for himself?"
"Let him choose?"
"Yes. After all, his father and I were classmates, so he's practically like a nephew to me. If he wants to slack off, I'll take care of him. On the other hand, if he wants to work harder, I'll help him grow as quickly as possible. What do you think?"
Dumbledore still hesitated. He wasn't sure if the current Harry had the maturity to make the right choice but then he thought 'even if he chose wrong, what difference would it make? Things would simply follow their original path.'
With that in mind, Dumbledore spoke "That's quite a thoughtful approach. I don't see any reason to refuse."
"Then we'll do that. However—I don't like the feeling of dragging someone along against their will. Until Harry shows a desire to improve, I won't approach him. It's getting late. Get some rest, Professor."
Lucian waved his hand and turned to leave.
"Creak."
After he left, the headmaster's office returned to silence. Dumbledore let out a deep breath and sat back down in his chair.
"Lucian..."
Recalling his exchange today with this remarkable young man, Dumbledore felt a long-forgotten sense of exhilaration in his chest. How long had it been since he'd had a conversation like this with someone? Not to mention, the other party possessed the ability to discuss the essence of magic with him.
"To view all magic as phenomena that can be broken down and analyzed, hmm?" Dumbledore stood up again and extended his right hand.
Above his broad palm, tiny glowing points like fireflies gradually gathered, soon forming a sphere.
Dumbledore quietly gazed at this orb of light—in a different mindset, this spell-constructed sphere appeared entirely different in his eyes.
He didn't stop the process; his palm remained upturned. The glowing points continued to gather, but the sphere didn't grow larger—only its brilliance intensified.
Gradually, the gathering points accelerated, connecting into lines. The lines soon merged into thick beams. In the end, no new points were forming, but the orb in Dumbledore's palm flickered faster and faster, as if new energy was constantly accumulating inside it.
"Glug... glug..."
The orb began emitting bubbling sounds, as if something was condensing within. The noise grew more urgent with the increasing compression of energy—more urgent—
"BANG!!!"
Intense light instantly filled the entire office, illuminating it like midday in the desert, lingering for a long time. Dumbledore raised his wand and gently waved it, dissipating the light throughout the room and he quietly sat back down.
Silent.
After an unknown amount of time, a pleased chuckle suddenly echoed in the office.
"Interesting."
...
"Have I not already warned you to be more careful?" As soon as Lucian stepped out of Dumbledore's office, an impatient voice rang in his ear.
A tall figure emerged silently from the shadows by the corridor window—as if he had been standing there all along.
"Snape? How long have you been here?"
"Answer my question!" Snape's voice carried barely suppressed anger.
If they weren't right outside Dumbledore's office, he would have already roared.
Faced with all this, Lucian only felt bewildered, he couldn't help frowning: "Can you be rational about this?"
"Rational? How am I supposed to be rational! I already warned you so clearly, and yet you still made such a mistake!" Snape seemed on the verge of breaking down.
He paced back and forth anxiously, as if trying to think of a solution. But in the next moment, he stomped forward in frustration, his head nearly colliding with Lucian's nose.
"What on earth were you thinking? Hmm—?! Causing such a huge commotion in the school and targeting a cat? Have you considered the consequences?!"
"Snape, calm down first." Lucian soothed the fuming Snape, his tone still infuriatingly nonchalant.
"How could I possibly experiment on a cat—and even if I did, there's no way you or anyone else would discover it. Didn't you see the bloody writing on the wall?"
"The Chamber? You expect to pin this on some vague, baseless legend? There's not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom closet! Let me tell you, McGonagall won't buy it. She's very wary of you right now!"
"Is that so? That's the saddest news I've heard all day."
"Is this the time for sarcasm!" Snape was truly on the brink of collapse!
He grabbed Lucian's collar and demanded anxiously "So? What did Dumbledore say? How does he plan to deal with you? Revoke your professorship and send you back to Azkaban? Speak!"
"No, we reached an understanding." Lucian mumbled, looking at Snape who was acting crazy all of a sudden.
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