Chapter 614: The Past
Chapter 614: The Past
"Alright, the man has been delivered. We'll continue our patrol now." After making Lucius Malfoy stand in the center of the hall and removing his handcuffs and leg irons, the grizzled male wizard waved to the others in the hall and left.
Lucius looked rather listless, his entire demeanor wooden, showing no reaction to his surroundings. This was quite normal after spending an entire year with Dementors.
"Let's go. I believe Lucius will recover once he's back with his wife and child." Professor Dumbledore said to Liam, and they bid farewell to the guards before leaving Azkaban.
"Lucius, how are you?" When Liam and the others knocked on the door at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Narcissa Malfoy immediately opened it. She had been waiting there all morning, having learned that Lucius was to be released that day.
"Mrs. Malfoy", Professor Dumbledore stepped back, leaving it to Liam to speak. "He's just been with the Dementors for too long. He'll be fine with some rest."
"That's good, that's good—" Narcissa murmured, then helped Lucius into the house. Draco Malfoy, who followed behind, earnestly thanked Liam. Since the drastic changes in their family, Draco had undergone a significant transformation. As Sirius Black had said, the young Malfoy seemed much better than his father, at least less detestable.
After Professor Dumbledore dropped Liam off at The Burrow, he left. As soon as the Headmaster was gone, Harry emerged from the corner, his face showing a complex expression. "Liam—can I talk to you about something?"
"What's on your mind?" Liam felt a chill run down his spine at Harry's expression, fearing that Harry might have been influenced by the numerous weddings yesterday and awakened some strange new awareness. Fortunately, things didn't take an odd turn.
"I just want to talk about Headmaster Dumbledore", Harry said, sounding somewhat uneasy. "At the wedding yesterday, I overheard some old folks talking about the Headmaster's younger days. There were things we've never heard before, and I think—"
"Things about the Headmaster's younger days?" Liam recalled something from the original story. Harry had indeed heard some information about Professor Dumbledore's past at the wedding, but it was incomplete and heavily biased. Liam knew he needed to tell Harry the truth, as any small rift during the war could lead to serious problems.
"I know a bit more about the Headmaster's younger days than you do", Liam said. "From some special sources (the seven books, nine films, and a lot of information from Pottermore), I've learned about some of the things that happened to our Headmaster when he was young. He wasn't a perfect person, but he was certainly not evil."
"What about his sister?" Harry blurted out, then added sheepishly, "I heard this from Ron's Aunt Muriel at the wedding. She told me Dumbledore kept his sister locked up at home because she was a Squib, and he was afraid she would bring shame to the family."
"Liam, Harry, what are you two doing out here?" Hermione's voice interrupted them. She had noticed the two standing at the door and found it strange, so she came out to call them.
"Nothing, we were just talking", Liam replied to Hermione, then turned to Harry. "Let's go inside. Standing out here looks a bit silly."
Harry agreed. The Weasley brothers and Ginny were all at Bill's new home, so the house was mostly empty, with only the sound of Mrs. Weasley cooking in the kitchen.
"You can go upstairs to talk. Standing in the yard looks strange. I'll go help Mrs. Weasley, or lunch might not be ready on time. Oh, and Liam, how did things go this morning?" Hermione asked as they walked inside.
"Very smoothly", Liam nodded. "Lucius Malfoy has been taken to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Luckily, Sirius Black and his wife, along with the Lupins, are on a trip to Northern Europe. Otherwise, I'm sure there would have been quite a commotion."
After Liam and Harry entered Ron’s room and closed the door, Liam began recounting the past events to Harry. This included why Headmaster Dumbledore’s father was imprisoned, how his sister was an Obscurus, and the young Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald.
The amount of information in this conversation was overwhelming, leaving Harry in a daze even during lunch.
“Harry, what’s wrong with you?” Ginny asked during lunch. “You seem very distracted, and you’ve been like this since this morning.”
“Ah—nothing.” Harry snapped back to reality and calmed down. “I just played too hard at the wedding yesterday and couldn’t resist Sirius Black’s invitation to drink half a glass of Firewhisky.”
“Sirius Black went too far,” Mrs. Weasley said disapprovingly. “Harry is only just of age; he shouldn’t be drinking such strong alcohol.”
“It’s fine. I don’t think it’s the alcohol. I just need a bit of rest,” Harry said, trying to find a plausible excuse for his state. However, he hadn’t expected to implicate Sirius Black, so he quickly defended him. Mrs. Weasley, however, didn’t seem to think Sirius was innocent and looked like she planned to discuss child-rearing with Little Wolf once he returned.
After lunch, Liam and the other students gathered to work on their summer homework. As they were writing, Harry suddenly asked Hermione, “Hermione, have you heard of an Obscurial?”
“Of course,” Hermione replied, pulling a book from her backpack. “This isn’t part of the curriculum, but it’s covered in the supplementary reading for Defense Against the Dark Arts—here it is.”
Hermione took out a large black book titled The Origins and Evolution of Dark Magic and flipped to a page. She read, “Young wizards, to escape their fate, suppress their magical powers. Due to lack of guidance, they fail to learn how to control their magic, leading to the formation of a parasitic dark magical force, the Obscurus. This is an extremely unstable and uncontrollable form of Dark Magic. It moves quickly and can detach from the host to attack others. Historical records show no cases of Obscurials surviving past the age of ten.”
“An Obscurial is the host, possessed by the dark magical force known as Obscurus. When a wizard experiences intense emotional turmoil, the Obscurus within them erupts, transforming the Obscurial into a black, formless mist with immense destructive power. If they continue to suppress their magic, the Obscurus will eventually backfire, taking over the host’s body and causing chaos.”
“Fortunately, with the separation of the magical and Muggle worlds, children are no longer forced to hide their true nature. As a result, the number of Obscurials has drastically decreased. Today, we almost never encounter them.”
“What was done in the past when an Obscurial was discovered?” Harry asked, and Hermione gave him a curious look, as Harry wasn’t usually this inquisitive. However, since he asked, she felt she should answer.
“In the early days, they were executed for safety reasons,” Hermione explained. “But by the 20th century, out of humanitarian concerns, wizards would place Obscurials in preventive custody, usually in the country’s wizard prison.”
“I see, I see. It all makes sense now,” Harry said, standing up excitedly. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione looked at him with confusion, unsure of his sudden outburst. Only Liam understood that Harry had finally pieced together the puzzle of Professor Dumbledore’s past and was no longer plagued by doubt and bewilderment.
“Alright, nothing’s wrong,” Harry quickly explained, noticing everyone staring at him with odd expressions. “I just figured out something important. Let’s get back to our homework.”
(End of Chapter)
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