"I didn't expect you could resist attacking Fudge."
Atop the Hogwarts tower, Dumbledore and Damon sat, overlooking the entire grounds. Valentine's Day was the day after tomorrow, and excited young wizards could be seen everywhere.
"I'd be surprised if I attacked you. You even had your wand in hand. We were going to settle the outcome right then and there?"
Damon's voice drifted high in the air, and Dumbledore couldn't quite make out the meaning behind his words.
"..."
He had a clear conscience about what had happened.
But after hearing Mortos's passionate speech, seeing Fudge's distressed state, and seeing Damon's now carefree attitude,
he admitted that he felt a pang of guilt.
And that guilt only grew stronger.
Facing a student he had barely taught, he was at a loss for words. Was he grateful for the silent end of a war?
Or, like his colleagues at the Wizengamot, did he believe that the Ministry of Magic had lost a treasure forever?
"Has Mortos left the Ministry of Magic?"
Dumbledore couldn't help but ask. He couldn't understand the implication of his own words.
He recalled the figure standing at the judgment table and Fudge's trembling legs. How could he have thought such a fool was the Ministry's best choice?
Perhaps he was truly senile.
"Let him go," Damon said, not regretting it. "The Death Eaters have been mostly wiped out anyway, so it would be difficult for me to find them again."
"Peace has returned to the wizarding world. The radical Caliban Mortos has not become an ambitious usurper. The dangerous third turmoil in the wizarding world has been stopped at the most critical moment. Everyone is happy and joyful."
The young man stood up and clapped his hands.
He jumped with joy, like a diver about to take off.
Dumbledore was even more confused.
"No regrets?"
"What if I do? You, my teacher, won't help me. I can't just kill
my own family for the sake of justice, can I?" "Why, have you changed your mind? Then let's return to the Ministry now and round up those with ulterior motives. Anyone who opposes us will be slaughtered! I'll do the slaughtering, you do the killing!"
As if getting excited, the young man punched and kicked the air, as if there were a real enemy before him.
If you ignored the fact that he was a wizard, he looked quite capable.
His appearance reminded Dumbledore of the Duelling Club, where a group of young wizards, not even wands in hand, grappled with their opponents with bare hands.
Anyone who saw this scene probably wouldn't have connected Damon with the killer who intimidated everyone in the Ministry.
Dumbledore couldn't quite believe it either.
But at that moment, he felt a surge of new energy flowing through his old body, causing him to stand up and shout softly.
"Okay, if you want, we'll go back to the Ministry now!"
Even Dumbledore was surprised to hear such words.
"What are you going back to the Ministry for?"
Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, then said decisively, "Do what you want to do."
"What do you think I want to do?"
"Well, maybe kick Fudge's ass hard with my leather shoes and tell him who did the wrong thing?"
Damon shook his head.
Dumbledore raised his brows, leaning in closer and whispering,
"Perhaps you'd like to be Minister of Magic?"
Damon shook his head again.
The tall old man was now in a dilemma.
"You can't possibly want to kill them all, can you? I don't think they've offended you to this extent."
"I'm Damon White now, and Damon White doesn't kill."
Damon shook his head, his smile suddenly fading as he looked at the old man seriously.
"To me, none of that matters—"
Dumbledore hadn't expected him to say that, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face. For some reason, his heart suddenly began to beat violently.
He looked at Damon, a look he hadn't seen in a long time, watching the young man stare at him, and said word by word,
"In this whole matter, there's only one thing that matters to me—whether Albus Dumbledore approves of my approach and is willing to support me.
That's what matters most."
Dumbledore was stunned.
Seeing his expression, which seemed to be lost for words, Damon laughed again, shaking his head, and said,
"Now I finally understand what you're thinking. You're the kind of person who would sacrifice your own family for the sake of justice in a crucial moment. I can't get too close to you in the future, or if you try to kill me one day, I won't be able to bear to kill you. "
The young man said this with a smile, as if it were just a joke - but whether it was a joke or not, he probably didn't even know.
"No."
Dumbledore subconsciously denied it.
But then he suddenly remembered the battle of the century. Even he himself didn't understand how he had defeated Gellert, who possessed the Elder Wand, in that crucial battle. Could it be that
... Dumbledore's nose suddenly felt sore!
He tried his best to control it, but he couldn't suppress the overflowing emotions. There were emotions about Gellert and about Damon.
Damon sensed that the atmosphere was not right and turned his head abruptly to see Dumbledore, who was already in tears.
"What's wrong?" "
No," Dumbledore repeated again.
With tears on his face, he approached Damon with a forced smile, his voice so hoarse that it was almost incoherent:
"In Interrogation Room Nine, I did hold my wand tightly, but not when you broke free from your restraints. Fudge said he would put you in Azkaban for twenty years. I wondered how he dared to do that? If you had wanted to do it then, I..."
At the last moment, Dumbledore paused again.
Help Damon take control of the entire Ministry of Magic? This was definitely not something he would do.
"Okay, okay, I get it."
Damon stretched out his hand to stop it all.
The smile on his face became much more sincere, and he stood on tiptoe and patted the old man's shoulder:
"Don't worry, I know what you mean. It's enough that you have such an idea for me. We have the closest master-disciple relationship. How could I possibly make things difficult for you as a teacher?
Never mind the Ministry of Magic. With us here, Voldemort can't make any waves. Maybe, as you said, Fudge, this waste, is actually quite suitable for the Ministry of Magic? "
No, he is not suitable." Dumbledore shook his head firmly, "When you graduate, I will support you to become the new Minister of Magic - if you still want to by then."
"That will take a lot of work to do - well, so I still have five years to play? Not bad, not bad." Meng patted the old man's shoulder gently, "Okay, don't cry, Valentine's Day is coming soon, think about something happy.
Otherwise, you also go to celebrate Valentine's Day, what do you think?"
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(End of this chapter)