In the end, he silently increased Professor White's salary by five Galleons.
It might not seem like much, but percentage-wise, it was a 5% raise—over the course of a year, that meant an extra sixty Galleons, which Hufflepuff was quite satisfied with.
Dumbledore paid the price for his mouth. But looking at it from another angle—hiring someone at a Founder's level to work for you for a whole year for less than two thousand Galleons? That was a deal of a lifetime.
If an organization like the Secret Society had the means, they'd sell everything they owned to secure even a fifty-year contract.
In other words, Dumbledore should count himself lucky to even be able to pay that sum—there were plenty of people out there who'd throw money at the opportunity and still find no way in.
With Professor White's demands settled, Dumbledore began seriously contemplating the contents of the prophecy.
The first half of the prophecy was fairly encouraging: Voldemort was currently in a dire state, abandoned and betrayed. But the latter part was far more troubling—it implied that he would return, and this time, he would be stronger than before.
Dumbledore had mentally prepared for Voldemort's return, so the key takeaway from the prophecy lay in the change in Voldemort's identity and the thread that seemed to guide him—perhaps hinting at something deeper.
With his intellect, it didn't take Dumbledore long to figure it out: as of this moment, Voldemort had most likely already escaped his predicament, but he had paid a price for it—he had become a "puppet" of another organization.
Calling him a puppet might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but saying he had fallen from "boss" to "employee" was quite accurate.
With that in mind, the prophecy's content suggested that a certain scheming organization had already revived, or was attempting to revive, Voldemort—planning to use him to carry out some unspeakable agenda.
Dumbledore recalled the organization he had encountered before—one known as the Secret Society.
His brow furrowed. The feeling was truly dreadful. He had once believed Voldemort was the only enemy, but now it seemed Voldemort was merely the beginning—and his own time was running short.
A faint sense of urgency rose in Dumbledore's heart.
Standing nearby, Helga keenly noticed Dumbledore's shift in mood, and seized the opportunity to propose a further loosening of restrictions on the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum.
Helga had long been dissatisfied with the way Defense Against the Dark Arts was currently taught—how could students defend themselves against Dark magic if they had never seen it?
If they didn't even understand Dark magic, how were they supposed to defend against it?
That's why she believed that in order to defend against Dark magic, you needed to understand it—and understand it better than the Dark wizards themselves.
Unfortunately, mainstream thought in the modern magical world was in mild conflict with her beliefs, making it difficult for her to push forward in her work. But now, Dumbledore's shift in attitude gave her an opening.
At this very moment, thanks to Professor White's timely suggestion, a small crack appeared in Dumbledore's mental defenses.
He began to seriously consider Professor White's suggestion, and soon realized it might be the best course of action: while he still had a few years left, he could train a "Golden Generation" capable of standing on their own to face the upcoming challenges—beginning with Voldemort.
And with himself around, he could also keep a close watch on Professor White's lessons to ensure she didn't go overboard.
So he approved Professor White's request and agreed to loosen restrictions on the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts. However, he only allowed most Dark curses to be taught in theory—students were still forbidden from casting them in practice. Otherwise, it would be no different from large-scale Dark magic instruction.
Helga blinked and asked, "Then can I use Dark magic on the students?"
A question mark slowly formed on Dumbledore's forehead: Professor White, do you hear yourself?!
Seeing that there may have been a misunderstanding, Helga quickly explained that she only wanted to show the students what Dark magic looked like. She absolutely wouldn't harm them, nor was she trying to use class time as an excuse to abuse Dark magic for fun.
Dumbledore found her reasoning acceptable, so he allowed it—as long as it didn't cause any physical or psychological harm to the students.
With his approval, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Helga's lips. This was just—wonderful!
Once all the serious business was wrapped up, Helga began observing the Headmaster's office with interest. Then, her gaze fell on the phoenix perched on a sycamore branch behind the door.
"His name is Fawkes. He's a friend of mine," Dumbledore introduced his phoenix.
"Such a rare magical creature—I'm surprised you actually gained a phoenix's recognition," Helga exclaimed in amazement.
Phoenixes were incredibly powerful magical beasts, and almost no wizard had ever been able to tame one. Or rather, the moment someone used the word 'tame', they would forever lose the chance to win a phoenix's trust. Only those who genuinely regarded the phoenix as a friend and partner stood the slightest chance of being acknowledged by one.
Dumbledore didn't respond, but the sparkle of joy in his eyes made it clear that he truly took pride in it.
Helga took two steps toward Fawkes. The scarlet-gold bird, which had been resting with its head tucked under its wing, instantly roused and stared at her with a blazing gaze.
Dumbledore smiled. "Looks like you haven't earned its trust yet. Though your situation's still considered good—whenever Fawkes sees Mr. Ollivander, he lets out an ear-piercing cry."
The wandmaker Ollivander only used three magical substances as wand cores.
Unicorn tail hair and dragon heartstring were manageable, but phoenix feather? That could only be "supplied" by Dumbledore, which often led to spats between him and Fawkes.
As she looked at the phoenix before her, Helga was suddenly reminded of her old friend, Salazar.
His method of achieving immortality bore a strange resemblance to the phoenix's rebirth—only stretched out across an impossibly long timespan.
"After a phoenix is reborn through fire, is it still the same phoenix—or a new one carrying the old one's memories?" she couldn't help but ask.
Dumbledore took a moment to seriously ponder the question, then told Helga that he believed Fawkes was still Fawkes after each rebirth.
"As long as the memories are carried over and the emotions are preserved, then it's still the same phoenix, isn't it? I believe the core of both humans and creatures is the soul. The vessel of the soul isn't nearly as important. And the soul itself is made up of countless fragments of memory."
Helga agreed with Dumbledore's view.
Before leaving the Headmaster's office, she glanced around once more at the portraits left behind by past headmasters, but none were of anyone she recognized.
That was to be expected. Not every headmaster chose to leave behind a portrait, especially in the early days of the school's founding. Many successors had followed the founders' example—leaving no portraits or statues behind.
The so-called portraits and statues of the founders currently in Hogwarts were all created by later generations based on legendary descriptions of their appearance, and they bore little resemblance to how they actually looked.
"See your headmaster among them?" Dumbledore asked casually.
"I told you—I never studied at Hogwarts," Helga replied, and with that, she walked straight out of the Headmaster's office.
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