Chapter 59. A Revenge Delayed for Ten Years (Part 7)
"My...secret? Haha..."
Professor Fawkes could still laugh even at this moment.
"Actually, what secret do I have? Just some unbearable memories."
As if in a final burst of energy, his voice suddenly became coherent again.
Although Lynn's physique had been enhanced, it was only barely comparable to that of an adult.
Moreover, he hadn't grown tall enough; his legs were short and small, making it difficult for him to pull an adult like Professor Fawkes through the Forbidden Forest.
Furthermore, although he had learned a lot of magic from the professor, it was all dark magic, capable only of harming, not healing.
The only magic he could use now was the Levitation Charm, which made pulling the planks easier.
"Even if it's some unbearable memory, I want to hear it. Otherwise, what should I carve on your tombstone after you die?
Adrian Fawkes, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, killed by a unicorn in 1990?"
Lynn threatened viciously.
The wooden planks were stained crimson with blood, and Professor Fawkes' wounds, where the potion had stopped the bleeding, were beginning to ooze blood again.
"Alright, since you want to know, I have nothing to hide."
He opened his lips, pale from blood loss, and began to tell Lynn his story.
"I was born into a typical pure-blood family, but by my father's generation, he was the only one left in the Fawkes family. My parents were fanatical wizard supremacists, and because of this, they later died in an internal wizarding war.
I wasn't a student at Hogwarts; Durmstrang accepted me when I was 11.
It wasn't like Hogwarts; the conflicts among young wizards were intense, and the academic life was quite oppressive. But for me, life there was quite good because Durmstrang's academic atmosphere was more open. Professors could openly conduct research on dark magic, and young wizards could apply to take it as an elective if they were interested."
It was then that I came into contact with Dark Magic. I disliked the then-popular Grindelwald ideology, and I didn't want to join Dumbledore's philosophy, which was an opposing one. Dark Magic piqued my interest greatly, and I devoted almost all my time and energy to it.
After I graduated from Durmstrang, my parents stopped staying at home altogether.
They became staunch followers of Grindelwald, calling themselves saints, and they tried to brainwash me into becoming a Grindelwald diehard.
But at that time, I was only focused on my Dark Magic research. I and a few like-minded friends set up a laboratory in Iceland, specializing in the modification and research of Dark Magic.
I stayed there for seven years. In 1947, I returned to Europe and learned that my parents had died in the final battle of 1945.
Haha, they weren't very good parents, and I wasn't a very good son either. After visiting their graves once, I returned to Iceland and devoted myself wholeheartedly to my Dark Magic research.
If it weren't for that accident, I might have stayed there for the rest of my life.
In 1953, a friend of mine went mad. He killed three people with an incompletely modified Killing Curse, and then another friend and I killed him.
We sealed up the laboratory, left that place of sorrow, and returned to Europe.
My friend and I got married, became husband and wife, and eventually settled in England.
It was there that we met Dumbledore, who had become the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Because he was my wife's distant uncle, he helped us a lot and allowed us to live a stable life.
Later, we even had our own child, a girl. Ah, those were the happiest times of my life."
Professor Fawkes' voice was gentle as he said this.
Lynn had been listening silently to his story, but at this point, Professor Fawkes suddenly fell silent for a long time.
Lynn didn't urge him; he knew the story had reached a point Professor Fawkes least wanted to recall.
After a long while, just as Lynn was about to speak to test whether Professor Fawkes was still lucid, the professor finally continued.
"Later...then the wizarding world was thrown into turmoil again.
Not many years later, another Dark Lord emerged. But compared to Grindelwald, his ideas were far too crude, and his vision too small.
However, he was far more insane and dangerous than Grindelwald.
Fortunately, our family were all pure-bloods, so we escaped persecution. Our daughter grew up smoothly, graduated from Hogwarts, and eventually started her own family.
After that, my nightmare began.
Those Death Eaters somehow learned of my past research. They tried to force me to hand over my research data and join them to curry favor with their Dark Lord.
I refused, and they then captured my wife, tortured her, and tried to obtain our past through her." Research into black magic.
My wife eventually died; she couldn't withstand their torture.
I hated them so much then, I wanted revenge, but they didn't give up either, capturing my daughter and my newborn grandson.
I'll never forget that day.
Right there in London, in the London sky, six of them rode flying broomsticks, my daughter holding her child in their arms.
They were laughing maniacally, laughing as they asked me if I dared to say no, laughing as they asked if I wanted to be all alone in the future.
My daughter was terrified; she was crying, desperately pleading with me, saying she couldn't die, her child couldn't die either…"
Professor Fawkes's voice was calm, as calm as if he were telling someone else's story.
"I gave in. I yelled that I agreed. I gave you the research data, and I joined the Death Eaters to serve that so-called Dark Lord.
But…
one of them slipped, and my daughter, holding her child, kept falling. I chased after them desperately on my flying broomstick, trying to catch them…
but they still fell to their deaths right before my eyes. Yes, right before my eyes. I was so close I could even touch the hem of her clothes.
I lay on the ground, burying my face in my hands and crying. I tried to piece their bodies back together, but they could never come back to life…"
Lynn listened to Professor Fawkes's story as he struggled forward, feeling a chill run through him.
He couldn't imagine how he would go mad if he were in Professor Fawkes's situation.
No wonder the professor had said he was afraid of heights when they first met; that was probably the trauma he'd developed.
"You already know what happened after that.
I began my revenge, seeking them out one by one. I tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse, torturing them to death.
But after I caught five people killed, the Ministry of Magic arrested me and imprisoned me in Azkaban, allowing the sixth to escape.
But how could I let him go so easily?
Dumbledore lobbied on my behalf, and I was released by the Ministry after only eight years. I searched the world for him, but without a single clue.
Then, by chance, I found the ghost of his father. I tortured him in various ways until he couldn't take it anymore and told me his son was hiding at Hogwarts.
So I came here, became a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and it was because of this that I met you, Lynn."
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(End of Chapter)