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Chapter 933: Dumbledore, a Ghost?
Chapter 933: Dumbledore, a Ghost?
"Are you... really?"
After a brief moment of shock, Harry looked at Dumbledore with hopeful eyes and asked.
"You can think of it that way..." Dumbledore said after a moment's thought.
Harry seemed excited, and Kyle could only imagine how everyone would feel if Dumbledore could return.
Kyle stood by, observing them without speaking.
Ever since he had seen Dumbledore, his doubts had only grown, and it all stemmed from Dumbledore's weak excuse.
To be honest, Dumbledore wasn't a perfect wizard, and at times, he could even be a little cruel...
For instance, to keep Harry away from the adulation and glory of the magical world, he had let him live with his Muggle-hating aunt and uncle for ten years.
But the idea that Dumbledore would stand by and watch as students and professors were slaughtered by Death Eaters just to ensure a peaceful retirement was something even Ron wouldn't believe, let alone Kyle.
It was a terrible excuse.
If it weren't for the lack of reaction from the phoenix, Kyle would have had the snake monster finish off this Dumbledore right then and there.
But the phoenix's lack of response indicated that the person before them was indeed Dumbledore, and an imposter wouldn't have known about Harry being a Horcrux.
Yet, this was also the part that Kyle found most incomprehensible.
Just as he was about to ask, he was interrupted by Harry and the others.
"Harry, he's not Professor Dumbledore," Hermione suddenly said, snapping everyone back to attention.
"How is that possible, Hermione? He's clearly Professor Dumbledore," Harry said, puzzled. "I remember you saying that the Polyjuice Potion could only be made with hair from a living person, so he can't be fake, right?"
"No, what I mean is, he's a ghost!" Hermione pointed, "Look, he doesn't have a shadow."
A shadow...
Everyone's gaze immediately shifted to Dumbledore.
Kyle's pupils constricted.
The room was well-lit, and under the glow of the lamps, five long shadows were clearly projected onto the floor and walls.
At first glance, everything seemed normal, but upon closer inspection, one of the shadows wasn't human—it was the shadow of a long stool... the very stool Dumbledore was sitting on.
As for Dumbledore himself, he had no shadow.
The stool seemed to have been deliberately positioned to elongate its shadow, and if not for Hermione's reminder, Kyle wouldn't have noticed anything amiss.
"Professor, you..."
"Ah, don't be alarmed," Dumbledore waved his hand, interrupting Kyle, "I'm still alive, for now. I thought I could get away with it, but Miss Granger discovered the truth."
As he spoke, he stood up and walked into the light.
Now it was clear to see that he indeed had no shadow, a characteristic unique to ghosts.
"I know what you want to ask," Dumbledore turned to Kyle, "I can only say that my current state is special, and I'm not a true ghost in the traditional sense."
"But you're not truly alive either, are you?" Kyle countered.
Dumbledore remained silent, effectively acknowledging it.
After a long while, he spoke in a tone that sounded almost like a joke: "This isn't something hard to understand, Kyle. Remember, time-turning only allows one to go back to the past; it doesn't create time out of thin air... I think you know what I mean."
This time, it was Kyle's turn to fall silent.
Of course, he understood. Dumbledore had been rejected by time in 1899, experiencing countless repetitions and an unknown number of years.
This time wasn't created out of nothing, and it couldn't just disappear.
In other words, Dumbledore's actual age was much older than he appeared... but he hadn't mentioned it since his return, and Kyle didn't want to dwell on it.
The silence between the two men made Harry, standing beside them, anxious. He looked at Dumbledore, then at Kyle, feeling like his head was spinning, unable to comprehend what they were talking about.
"I'll explain later," Dumbledore spoke again, "Whatever you want to know, I won't hide anything from you. But right now, the most crucial question is how we can completely destroy Tom."
Hearing this, Harry finally snapped out of his daze, temporarily forgetting about Dumbledore's ghostly state. He raised his voice and asked, "Professor, am I really... am I..."
"A Horcrux," Dumbledore finished for him, "Yes, in a sense, you are indeed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes... I'm sorry, child. I never told you the truth."
"I... I..." Harry looked lost, his mouth agape, not knowing what to say.
"Wait a moment." Kyle stepped forward, "Professor, does that mean that once we resolve the soul fragment in Harry's body, we can continue our previous conversation?"
"You could say that," Dumbledore nodded. "But it's not easy. Harry is different from the other Horcruxes; we can't kill Tom's soul by destroying the vessel like we did with the others."
"The only way I can think of is for Tom to do it himself, to kill the other soul through the special connection between the two souls."
"But Voldemort has escaped," Hermione said.
"Yes, he has," Dumbledore said gravely, "It's my fault. I stubbornly believed that only when Harry could face everything calmly would he have the prerequisites to defeat Tom."
"I didn't expect Tom to lose..." Dumbledore looked at Harry, "Forgive me, I really should have told you all this sooner."
Harry stood there, head bowed.
It was clear that he harbored some resentment towards Dumbledore, but the unique circumstances of their meeting left him at a loss for words.
"It's just a fragment of a soul; it's not that complicated," Kyle suddenly spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.
"Do you have a solution?" Dumbledore was taken aback, "I've inquired, and Nicole's method of purifying Horcruxes isn't suitable for Harry."
"That's not what I meant." Kyle shook his head, "When I first sent the Horcrux crown to Nicole, we discussed ways to deal with Horcruxes."
Kyle gently moved his fingers, unlocking the box and leaning half his body inside.
"To be honest, this seems tricky, but there are many solutions... Fiery Flame, Basilisk Venom, Killing Curse are all viable options."
Kyle's voice sounded somewhat muffled from inside the box,
"These, without exception, can affect the soul... If that's the case, I thought of something else that's related to the soul, and you've all seen it."
"Oh, I found it!" Kyle stood up.
At the same time, the temperature in the room dropped sharply, and the air seemed to freeze...
Harry saw something floating out of the box, its face hidden by a hood, emitting a rattling sound.
"Dementor..." Harry clutched his chest, as painful memories flooded his mind.
"Expecto Patronum..."
"Expelliarmus!"
Hermione's wand spun and landed in Kyle's hand.
"Don't be alarmed, it's the key to solving the problem." Kyle returned the wand to Hermione and directed the Dementor towards Harry.
Dumbledore seemed to understand Kyle's intention, and his blue eyes lit up.
However, Kyle didn't notice this, as he continued explaining to Harry.
"Do you remember what the Dementor's kiss does?"
Harry felt frozen all over, but he still managed to stutter, "Dementors... devour souls... leaving behind... a living body."
"That's right," Kyle said, "and Horcruxes are precisely fragments of souls."
At this point, everyone in the room, including Ron, understood Kyle's intention.
The idea was to use the Dementor's ability to suck out souls to deal with Voldemort's soul fragment.
"Brilliant idea!" Dumbledore exclaimed sincerely, as he had never thought of this before.
"I've always wanted to try this method, but I was concerned that the Dementor might negatively impact the crown carrying the soul fragment, so I never made up my mind."
Kyle stopped in front of Harry and said, "This is a perfect opportunity to test my idea."
Harry blinked, feeling that something was amiss.
If he was worried about the Dementor affecting the crown, wouldn't he be concerned about it affecting him as well?
Was he not as important as a mere crown?
"Wait..." Hermione hurriedly stopped Kyle, "You haven't tested this method yet, have you? No, it's too risky! What if the Dementor devours Harry's soul? I disagree!"
"You're so kind, Hermione!" Harry was on the verge of tears, as this was exactly what he wanted to say...
"So, you're saying it's less risky to let Voldemort kill Harry?" Kyle asked.
"I, I didn't mean that, I just..." Hermione tried to explain.
"Stupefy!" Kyle waved his wand lightly, and without warning, Hermione fell into a deep slumber, lying motionless on the ground.
"Kyle, you..."
"Stupefy!"
Ron also became still.
"Good, now we won't be disturbed." Kyle said, staring intently at Harry, "Relax, it won't hurt a bit."
Harry's throat moved, wanting to refuse Kyle's proposal, but the words stuck in his throat.
The Dementor leaned in, and Harry felt his throat freeze, unable to speak. In a daze, he caught a glimpse of what was under the Dementor's hood.
It was a hole that seemed to suck away all happiness.
Harry once thought he had overcome the fear brought on by Dementors, but now he felt he was wrong. He heard the scream again, identical to the first time he encountered a Dementor on the train.
This time, the scream was even clearer, as if it were right next to his ear.
Harry instinctively wanted to use the Patronus Charm, but his fingers felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, unable to lift the wand.
Harry's eyes grew more vacant, his face turning ashen like a faded portrait, and he felt something squeezing out of his throat.
From the perspective of the others, it was a ball of light of an indescribable color, perhaps white, or a pale yellow, or blue, or red...
Its color seemed to constantly change, yet it also seemed unchanging.
After this ball of light appeared, the Dementor became visibly excited, wanting to swallow it whole, but at that moment, a long silvery tentacle appeared behind it.
It was a tentacle of the jellyfish, coiling around the Dementor's neck, causing it to abandon its meal and instead suck harder.
Finally, another ball of light appeared, much smaller than the first and with a darker color.
"This is it..." Dumbledore exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, Tom's soul fragment!"
"Eat it!" The jellyfish commanded the Dementor, and its tentacles wrapped around Harry's soul, forming a protective layer.
But the Dementor didn't move. For a moment, a clear look of surprise appeared in its eye sockets, which were covered in a thin layer of gray scabs.
It wasn't until Kyle repeated himself that the Dementor suddenly leaned down, aiming the shapeless hole beneath its hood at the slightly smaller orb of light, which had no protection.
"Wooo!"
A dark wind seemed to blow through the room, and the orb was enveloped in dark smoke. From within, various bone-chilling howls could be heard.
But soon, these sounds and the smoke were sucked into the Dementor's mouth, along with the orb, which flashed a couple of times before going completely dark.
The Dementor hovered there, radiating a sense of satisfaction.
"This..." Kyle looked at Dumbledore in confusion, "Is this considered resolved?"
"It should be, I suppose," Dumbledore replied, also a bit uncertain.
The main reason was that it was too simple. After all, it was a fragment of Voldemort's soul, and it had just been eaten by the Dementor like a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?
He could feel that when the orb was sucked into the Dementor's mouth, the soul's presence on it had completely dissipated.
Who could have guessed that the Dementor, the most evil of creatures, was naturally the bane of the most evil Dark Magic Horcruxes?
"I knew this would work," Kyle said as he returned the Dementor to the box and came over to check on Harry.
Fortunately, after the Dementor disappeared, the orb representing Harry's soul sank and returned to his body.
Harry's body suddenly shook, and his face regained some color in an instant. Although he was still unconscious, he would wake up soon.
Knowing that Harry was fine, Kyle turned his attention to Dumbledore.
"Okay, what do you want to know?" Dumbledore seemed to still be recovering from the shock of the Dementor consuming the Horcrux, but he didn't seem to be going back on his word.
"When did this happen?"
"After I took Draco Malfoy to Severus's office," Dumbledore replied.
"Was it the day of your funeral?"
"Yes, and a few days after that," Dumbledore said.
"So, you rescued Malfoy?" Kyle asked, "And you knocked out Professor Flitwick, too?"
"That was Aberforth's doing," Dumbledore corrected, "He ambushed Filius, it had nothing to do with me."
"No wonder," Kyle narrowed his eyes, "After that, you never appeared again, as if you had disappeared."
"I had no choice," Dumbledore smiled wryly, "I thought I could wait for this final battle."
"So, what are you now...?" Kyle examined Dumbledore closely.
He was a ghost, but his current appearance was almost indistinguishable from a real person, which was why Kyle hadn't noticed anything amiss at first.
"Consider it a price to pay," Dumbledore said, "That day, I met Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, and I begged her to help me, at least to allow me to do one last thing for Hogwarts. She agreed."
Kyle's eyes flickered; he hadn't expected Rowena Ravenclaw to be involved in this.
"What did she do?"
"I'm sorry, but this is the one thing I can't tell you," Dumbledore said.
"Alright, then what do you want to do?" Kyle didn't press further and changed the subject, "Is it to help my mom?"
"That's just a side task, not part of my plan," Dumbledore said.
"To help defeat Voldemort?"
"That was my initial thought," Dumbledore said, "I wanted to save some strength to help you at a critical moment, but later I realized that even without my help, you could still defeat Tom."
"So, it was... telling me that Harry was a Horcrux?"
"Not exactly," Dumbledore shook his head again.
This time, Kyle couldn't guess.
"It's your business," Dumbledore reminded him, "Do you remember what we all said before Harry arrived?"
"Of course," Kyle nodded, "You said you wanted to retire and deliberately watched as the Death Eaters stirred up trouble at Hogwarts."
"Exactly," Dumbledore said, "Tomorrow, I'll appear before everyone and repeat those words."
"Then you'll be flooded with Howlers," Kyle exclaimed, raising his head, "Plus, with the fake funeral that fooled everyone, Professor Dumbledore, you'll become a disgrace to the British magical community overnight."
"Ah, that's exactly what I want," Dumbledore chuckled, "If I can draw everyone's attention and hatred towards me, no one will notice what you've done."
"Huh?" Kyle pointed at himself, "What did I do?"
"The Death Eaters who died in the Fiery Blast," Dumbledore said, "Many people heard what Tom and you said. Once they calm down, they'll inevitably suspect you."
"Oh, and the large patch of Mandrakes behind the castle... that was your doing, too, right? Have you ever thought about how many wizards you've killed in this war?"
Kyle pursed his lips; he hadn't realized that, aside from the one or two here and there, the two biggest incidents were mentioned by Dumbledore.
The Fiery Blast had only killed about a hundred Death Eaters, and more were injured.
As for the Mandrakes... well, those Death Eaters weren't fools who didn't know how to run away, so probably not many...
"Two hundred and sixty..." Dumbledore spoke the number for Kyle, "And that's just an estimate."
"So, there must be a big enough target to attract all the attention and hatred, making people subconsciously forget about other things."
"I think I'm just right for that."
...
(End of Chapter)
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