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A steady, gentle voice sounded. Gandalf... no, Dumbledore, dressed in snow-white robes, had appeared in the headmaster's office at some point.
Forgive Dudley's eyes. He really had almost mistaken him for someone else.
The resemblance was truly strong. Unfortunately, they were not the same person.
When Fawkes heard Dumbledore talking about him, he stuck his head out and cried at him in dissatisfaction, then continued eating.
"It seems I returned at exactly the right time." Dumbledore walked over. "It appears you have already resolved the problem."
Dudley stared at Dumbledore's white robes and said, "Professor, appearing at such a perfect moment really makes me suspect you did it on purpose."
If he wanted to film a Lord of the Rings movie series, he could ask old Dumbledore to make a cameo.
"How could that be? How could I possibly watch my own student take risks?"
As Dumbledore spoke, he winked at Dudley again. No matter how you looked at it, he was completely unconvincing.
Seeing Dudley continue staring at him, Dumbledore said helplessly, "I left you powerful helpers."
Dudley nodded. "Fawkes was indeed an excellent helper."
"Hey."
A dissatisfied voice cut in. The Sorting Hat, which had been placed on a cabinet, opened its mouth with a frown, if that truly counted as a frown and not a crease.
"I believe there is another good helper here, but you did not take me at all."
Dumbledore had left Dudley two tools in total. One was Fawkes, and the other was the Sword of Gryffindor inside the Sorting Hat. In the end, Dudley had not brought the Sorting Hat at all, much less used the Sword of Gryffindor.
Although the sword was gorgeous, Dudley unfortunately did not know how to use it.
In his skill pool, the only thing missing was swordsmanship. He truly had not learned even a little.
A thought suddenly flashed through Dudley's mind. Why did it feel as if old Dumbledore had arranged the plot that originally belonged to Harry for him instead?
"What a pity."
Dumbledore sat down in his chair as he spoke. "Then who was the culprit?"
"Senior Tom and his basilisk pet."
"You know?"
Hearing Dudley mention Tom, Dumbledore asked.
Dudley's fingertip brushed across the headmaster's desk, and his other hand snapped its fingers.
Several letters appeared, forming one name. Then they scattered and rearranged.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE.
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.
"Very fine wandless magic."
Dumbledore praised him. He only thought this was Dudley's special casting technique.
Then he looked at Dudley and said, "Knowing his identity, you are not afraid?"
At these words, Dudley's eyebrows rose slightly. Why did this tone feel like a test?
"At his peak, Harry still brought him down. In my first year, I already defeated him. Now that he can only cling to life, what is there to fear?"
Because of Harry's relationship with Voldemort, Dudley was destined to stand opposite him.
The residual soul had been destroyed, one Horcrux had been destroyed, and one Horcrux had been captured. The current Voldemort was exceptionally weak.
Unless he seized an opportunity to resurrect, there was nothing frightening about him.
"You really should have come to Gryffindor."
Courage was a necessary condition for Gryffindor, and Dudley was full of courage. Muscle-shaped courage.
"Actually, Slytherin is not bad either." Dudley looked seriously at Dumbledore. "They are also part of Hogwarts, members of this big family."
If their path had gone crooked, then make them correct it. If they refused to correct it, use Face-Breaking Fist, the physical version, to correct them.
They valued profit, bloodline, schemes, and calculations. Could that not be corrected into valuing honor, fairness, manners, and a little tsundere pride?
No matter how you thought about it, leaving them alone was the wrong choice.
If even Dumbledore, as headmaster, gave up, then who else would persist?
"You are right." Dumbledore smiled.
Dudley resembled that person, but not completely.
"Professor Dumbledore, there is something I need your help with." As Dudley spoke, he took Ravenclaw's Diadem from his waist pouch. "This is Senior Tom. He seems to have some special obsession with things left by Rowena Ravenclaw. Do you have a way to separate them?"
Dudley still very much wanted an intact Ravenclaw's Diadem.
No one would complain about having too many magical items. Even if he did not use it, keeping it would still look good.
"A Horcrux."
Seeing the wisps of black energy coming from the diadem, Dumbledore's eyes grew slightly grave.
A Horcrux was an extremely evil thing. Every time one was made, a person had to be killed, and the maker also had to split their own soul once.
In theory, Horcruxes could be created without limit. As long as one Horcrux remained, the maker could be reborn.
It sounded somewhat similar to a lich's phylactery, but it was also different.
Dumbledore had long suspected that Voldemort had created Horcruxes, but he had never had evidence. After seeing the diadem, he confirmed it.
After staring at the diadem for a long time, Dumbledore sighed helplessly. "I have no way either."
Voldemort's soul fragment had already fused tightly with the diadem. Trying to separate only the soul without harming the diadem was impossible.
Perhaps a top alchemy master could do it. Unfortunately, the strongest alchemy master of this century, the last century, the century before that, and the one before that had already passed away. He might have had a way.
"What a pity. Such a treasure can only be destroyed."
Hearing that even Dumbledore had no method, Dudley said this regretfully.
Very decisively, he drew a transmutation circle, placed the diadem inside, pressed his hands together, and activated it at full force.
Red light emerged.
Accompanied by Voldemort's familiar scream, the diadem turned into a Philosopher's Stone, a magic crystal, an emerald that had been material from the diadem, a lump of metal that had also been material from the diadem, and a few miscellaneous bits and pieces, also from the diadem.
"That ability is truly useful."
Dumbledore sighed again.
After being made into a Horcrux, even an ordinary object was no longer easy to destroy. Even Dumbledore would need to borrow certain other items, let alone destroy a Horcrux as casually as Dudley, with only a raise of his hands.
It was not that he had not tried Dudley's transmutation circles. They simply produced no reaction at all. Dumbledore could not see anything special in those patterns. They looked like ordinary doodles. Even if they were quite orderly, they were still only orderly doodles.
It seemed only Dudley could activate them. They were an ability unique to him.
Exclusive abilities among wizards were not especially rare. Many wizards possessed unique abilities, such as Metamorphmagi, who were rare but not unique, half-Veela allure, and Parseltongue, also rare but not unique. It was only that none of them resembled Dudley's ability, which fell within the category of spellcraft.
Perhaps the Dursley and Evans families had once been wizards long, long ago, and a certain special bloodline flowed in Dudley's body.
Dumbledore did not intend to dig to the bottom of it, so he did not dwell on the issue.
"Oh, right. There is one more thing, Professor."
As if suddenly remembering something, Dudley said to Dumbledore, "There is a younger student possessed by Senior Tom, and she is still lying in the Chamber of Secrets."
"I think she probably needs help."
Whether Dudley had deliberately forgotten or accidentally forgotten, no one knew.
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