HP/LOTM: Visionary - 380

Chapter 380: Lessons End, Separate Battles

"All right, make the most of the time. There is one last memory," Aiden said.

With a wave of his hand, a strand of silver thread flowed into the Pensieve.

Harry felt that familiar lurch again. When he opened his eyes, he saw a young Dumbledore.

On a night as black as ink, Dumbledore sat in the Headmaster’s office, waiting for a visitor.

A man stepped out of the fireplace, and Dumbledore spoke his name.

"Tom."

Voldemort was no longer the handsome boy of old. His features looked as if scorched by fire, wax-like and twisted, his eyes bloodshot, his face deathly pale.

Dumbledore paid no mind to his appearance. He took out the wine and poured a glass for them both.

"Dumbledore really does like to drink. And sweets. Is that the secret to wizard longevity?" Harry muttered as he watched Dumbledore drinking again in the middle of the night.

"Possibly," Aiden said with mock solemnity.

"It has been a long time, Professor Dumbledore," said Tom, who had now formally taken the name Voldemort.

He had gathered followers and courted allies, commanding tremendous power in the wizarding world. But it was not enough. He wanted the future.

He wanted to retrace the path of the White Wizard before him: to spread his creed through teaching, to root the idea that magic is power across all of Hogwarts, then use Britain as a springboard to influence the entire wizarding world.

But seated across from him was Dumbledore.

"Tom, you are a wizard of exceptional talent and profound mastery," Dumbledore said, glancing at the job application in his hand. The elegant hand and polished style would have been hard for anyone else to refuse.

"Then you agree to my joining the staff?" Voldemort smiled.

"You may join, but only if you make an Unbreakable Vow with me, ensuring that in no way whatsoever will you spread your ideology to students while teaching," Dumbledore said, sitting up straighter. His deep blue eyes pierced Tom to his core.

Voldemort clenched his fists. "You know that is impossible, Professor. And besides..."

"Do you intend to make trouble with those dear friends of yours at the Hog’s Head?" Dumbledore narrowed his eyes.

Planting his followers at the Hog’s Head had become the fatal weakness in Voldemort’s plan tonight. The barman had been sending word to Dumbledore since the moment they gathered.

The initiative shifted entirely to Dumbledore, and Voldemort found himself on the back foot.

“So you would refuse me for this? Refuse a wizard destined for legend?”

Voldemort shot Dumbledore a look full of hate.

"If you still carry a heart steeped in darkness, I cannot let you have this post," Dumbledore said, voice firm. The air between them grew taut.

"So that is your final decision?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said, rising to his feet.

"Then we have nothing more to discuss."

"Indeed, nothing..." Dumbledore said, deep sorrow crossing his face. "Tom, the time when I could frighten you with a blazing wardrobe and force you to repent has passed. But I hope you might... I hope you will..."

Tom did not let Dumbledore finish. He turned and left the office without looking back.

At the same time, he hid a diadem in the Room of Requirement.

Before leaving the school grounds, he used his founder-level permissions to lay a curse upon Hogwarts’ Defence Against the Dark Arts post, forcing the school to change professors ceaselessly for decades to come.

"That was the final lesson. From here on, all that can be said is good luck, Harry," Aiden said.

He stepped forward and pulled Harry into a hug. Harry had never seen such a complicated expression on Aiden’s face.

"Ai—" Harry began, but Aiden vanished from the office.

On the school rooftop, Aiden sat on the railing, gazing at the round moon.

"Reluctant to leave?" an aged voice sounded behind him.

"When did you return?" Aiden glanced back.

"Just now. You still haven’t answered me. Are you reluctant to leave?" Dumbledore teased.

"Of course. He counts as my student, after all," Aiden said, glaring at Dumbledore.

"Then help him a little more, as his teacher," Dumbledore said with a wink.

"Oh, so you are maneuvering me," Aiden arched a brow.

"Now we are even."

Dumbledore popped a sweet into his mouth and strolled back into the school.

The next day, the Apparition exam that all the students had been anticipating finally arrived.

Harry and Draco’s ‘friends’, being under seventeen, could not take the exam and had to remain in class for Slughorn’s Potions.

Since most students had gone to take the Apparition licence test, Slughorn had nothing new to teach and let the class work freely.

Harry rummaged for a while and found a spell in his textbook called Sectumsempra. He dared not try it in class, so he memorized it instead.

He finally settled on brewing a modified Euphoria Elixir.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, why are you adding mint to the Euphoria Elixir?" Slughorn asked, curious.

"I want to try improving it, sir, see if I can offset the side effects."

Harry bottled the cauldron of golden liquid, hoping that after Slughorn tasted it, he might let something slip.

Unfortunately, Slughorn did not take a sip. He simply went off to advise other students. Clearly, he trusted his prized pupil enough to accept success without tasting it.

After class, Malfoy and his two shadows were nowhere to be found.

To catch him, Harry staked out the corridor outside the Room of Requirement for an hour and finally intercepted Malfoy as he left.

He followed at a distance, watching Malfoy duck into a public bathroom on the fourth floor.

At last, only Harry and Draco remained in the bathroom. Harry took off his Invisibility Cloak and confronted him.

"I know what you did. You cursed Katie, and the poisoned mead was yours too, wasn’t it?" Harry said, appearing behind Draco.

At the same moment, a black box flickered into Draco’s vision with the word Expelliarmus written on it.

Draco did not hesitate. A spell flashed from his wand. Harry dodged left.

The curse blasted the wooden door behind him to splinters. Harry lifted his wand and hurled Expelliarmus back.

Draco ducked with his head down, weaving past Harry’s hexes. Harry’s spell shattered a sink.

Water gushed from a snapped pipe, drenching Draco from head to toe.

Both boys took cover, panting hard, the air in the bathroom thick with the reek of battle.