Watching his son's actions, Old Tom suddenly understood—was this… his son's attempt to get to know him? But the method seemed a little too clumsy…
Old Tom thought for a moment, then set down the book he had just picked up and said, "Tom…"
Tom looked at his father.
"You're reading my book, so… may I take a look at yours?" Old Tom asked.
Tom glanced at the stack of magic books on his desk, then nodded. "Of course… though you might not understand them."
"That's alright. I can give it a try," Old Tom said with a smile.
Tom froze slightly at those words—that was exactly what he had said earlier.
He picked up his wand and tapped it lightly, and the books he had brought with him floated over to Old Tom's desk.
"Thank you…" Old Tom said, curiously picking up the books and flipping through them. From the stack of spellbooks, he chose the thickest one, A History of Magic, and began to read with interest.
The room fell silent again, the only sound the occasional rustle of turning pages.
Old Tom read quickly, especially with a history book like A History of Magic, which didn't require much contemplation.
In about an hour, Old Tom had completely finished the thick volume of A History of Magic.
After that, he picked up Advanced Spell Analysis and began reading.
Compared to Old Tom's reading pace, Tom's side looked rather slow.
The Republic, with its discussions of philosophy, politics, art, and education, left Tom utterly bewildered…
He simply lacked the background knowledge in these areas, so much of it was difficult to understand.
This content was nothing like the straightforward explanations in spellbooks…
By the time Tom forced himself to the end, he realized it was already noon.
Old Tom had long since finished Tom's book and returned to reading his own.
Sensing Tom's gaze, Old Tom said, "It's noon. Let's eat first."
"Alright…" Tom didn't refuse.
The two of them left the study and headed to the dining room outside.
Old Tom pressed the bell on the dining table.
The servants immediately brought out lunch for the two of them…
Lunch was simple: a perfectly grilled steak for each, along with a few pieces of soft, fragrant bread.
There was also some fresh milk to go with it.
As they ate, Old Tom suddenly asked, "So? Could you understand it?"
"Not really…" Tom shook his head honestly.
"That's perfectly normal, Tom. If you don't understand the history of the Muggle world, it's indeed very difficult to grasp the ideas mentioned in it." Old Tom smiled. "Of course, once you have enough knowledge, you'll find that the thoughts it provokes are actually very interesting…"
"Then… when you read my books, could you understand them?" Tom asked casually.
"They were alright. Aside from A History of Magic, which talked about the history of the wizarding world, the rest mostly explained how to use spells… Nothing that required any deep thought," Old Tom replied.
To him, those wizarding books were basically like reference manuals.
They just taught how to use magic—very little was said about the actual principles behind it.
"Pretty dull, isn't it? Especially A History of Magic…" Tom couldn't help saying.
"Not at all. I only just realized that wizarding history is actually quite fascinating… Mm, though your system of government is rather crude… And the spells—although I can't cast them myself—it's interesting that so many are tied to a wizard's emotions. But…"
Old Tom paused before continuing, "those spells called 'Dark Arts' really are rather terrifying…"
It was only then that Tom realized the notebook Dumbledore had sent him on the Dark Arts had somehow ended up among the books Old Tom had just been reading.
"Everything that exists has its reason… Magic is like a sword—it cuts both ways. True, some of it has negative effects and might even harm the caster, but when dealing with enemies, it's far more effective than other spells. You could say Dark Arts are the most powerful magic. They're a wizard's strongest weapon," Tom said matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?" Old Tom thought back to the torture he'd suffered that night. According to the notebook, the spell he'd been struck with had been called the Cruciatus Curse, hadn't it? Its power had indeed been dreadful…
"Then… I suppose the most powerful wizards in your world must all be very skilled in the Dark Arts?" Old Tom asked.
"Yes… There are few truly powerful wizards who aren't adept at them," Tom said. "Though… there are some who, despite their mastery, never use them. Even so, they're still frighteningly powerful…"
Old Tom asked curiously, "And who might that be?"
"The one you met at St Mungo's, Professor Dumbledore…" Tom sighed. "He's probably the most powerful wizard I've ever seen… Even Grindelwald—oh, he's the most powerful Dark wizard in the wizarding world—he isn't Dumbledore's match."
"A Dark wizard—does that just mean a wizard skilled in using Dark Arts?"
"You could put it that way…"
"But you said that Professor Dumbledore doesn't use Dark Arts?"
"Yes."
"And just now you also said Dark Arts are stronger than other spells?"
"Yes…"
"Then isn't it strange? Why is it that Grindelwald, the wizard most skilled in Dark Arts—wielding what you called the strongest 'weapon'—still isn't a match for Dumbledore, who never uses them?"
"Uh…" Tom was caught off guard by his father's question.
Old Tom went on, "I don't really understand magic, but from what you've said… in your wizarding world, it seems strength lies with the person, not the magic itself."
Hearing this, Tom fell into deep thought…
So is it the magic that's powerful, or the one who wields it? The question sounded almost like philosophy.
But it struck a heavy blow to Tom's values.
Even after he had come to understand the power of love, Tom still believed that Dark Arts were far stronger than ordinary spells.
Sectumsempra was undeniably more powerful than a simple Severing Charm—that was a fact.
And when fighting against many opponents at once, Dark Arts like Confringo were far more useful than a Disarming Charm…
But now, after Old Tom's reminder, Tom realized a paradox.
If Dark Arts truly were stronger, then… why had Grindelwald lost when fighting Dumbledore?
"Yes… why?" Tom couldn't make sense of it.
He recalled that battle in the chamber, when Grindelwald and Dumbledore had fought.
From Tom's perspective, Grindelwald had unleashed the immensely powerful Fiendfyre in the end.
But Dumbledore had countered it effortlessly with a fire spell of his own.
According to what Wade later said, the fire magic Dumbledore used at that time was an extremely advanced spell called Gubraithian Fire.
But Gubraithian Fire itself wasn't offensive at all. It only had one property: once ignited, it would never go out.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't Dark magic…
Yet with that supposedly harmless Gubraithian Fire, combined with Transfiguration at that moment, Dumbledore used fire against fire and managed to hold back the invasion of Fiendfyre!
In other words, on the night Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, none of the magic he used was Dark Arts!
What Dumbledore relied on had always been his superior magical skill, and of course, his greater magical power.
"So… it's the wizard who's powerful, not Dark Arts…" Tom muttered over and over.
At this moment Old Tom said, "So, the reason Professor Dumbledore sent you those Dark Arts manuscripts to study was probably so that once you understood them, you'd be better prepared to defend against them—not so you'd think about how to use them."
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