Chapter 217: Old Dumbledore Might Even Die
Dylan looked at Cedric, a slight smile on his lips.
"Are you here to ask me about your future?"
Cedric's eyes shifted, and he pressed his lips together before nodding.
"Yes."
Dylan smiled. "The future is always changing. How do you think you would become a treeman? Aren't you a badger?"
Cedric was stunned. "You know what I wanted to ask..."
Dylan interrupted him. "I do know what you want to ask, but..." Dylan paused slightly. "The future cannot be defined. I can only tell you this:"
"Life is a brief candlelight, and death is an inevitable gust of wind."
"People always leave this world."
Cedric's face instantly went pale. The ground beneath his feet felt suddenly soft and unsteady, and the whole world swayed violently before his eyes. He had to reach out and steady himself against the table in front of Dylan. He wanted to say something, but his throat was tight, and no sound came out.
Cedric lowered his head, his light-gold hair falling messily. After a long moment, he took a deep breath, gradually calming his breathing and steadying his trembling body.
Dylan blinked. This guy was a little stronger than he had expected.
Finally, Cedric slowly raised his head. The terror hadn't completely vanished from his eyes, but a hint of stubbornness and determination quickly gathered. He looked directly at Dylan.
"Can the future really be changed? Do I have a chance not to become that terrifying thing, and not to die?"
—He had heard many rumors about how ugly and disgusting the treeman from Dylan's Boggart was. He wasn't afraid of becoming ugly; he was afraid of becoming something that wasn't even human anymore. It was hard for him to imagine what he would encounter in the future to cause him to become a treeman.
However, even the Divination professor had praised Dylan with such exaggeration. Plus, he had asked the Weasley brothers from Gryffindor. They told him that Dylan had shown a remarkably accurate ability for prophecy in their home. Not to mention that Dylan was a recognized talent among the heads of all the houses. His magical talent and power were very strong.
—Anyone who could get a pleasant expression from Professor Snape was not to be underestimated.
So, even though Dylan was only a third-year wizard, Cedric inexplicably chose to trust him.
Dylan nodded. "Of course. The loom of fate never stops. It will weave new, unknown tapestries based on your choices."
"The future isn't a prophecy carved in stone; it's sand held in your palm. You can decide your own future."
"I... can decide my own future?" Cedric frowned slightly.
Professor Trelawney had once made a very great prophecy, and it had been fulfilled. The Dark Lord would die at the hands of the Savior. In fact, the Dark Lord was indeed defeated by Harry. As for how an infant could cause a merciless, lawless, illogical, and magically powerful wizard—one who could make the entire wizarding world tremble with a stomp of his foot—to die silently overnight, well, you'd have to ask "love" about that.
"Maybe some love hex took effect."
Dylan reined in his scattered thoughts and looked at Cedric. "Don't worry. My prophecies aren't necessarily one hundred percent accurate, especially—what if that treeman just looked like you? Like I said last time."
Cedric sniffed softly. "Is that so?" He hesitated. "Whether I end up like that or not, I will do my best to change it."
"But... I really want to know, if the future can't be changed, what about my parents? Will they..."
Dylan naturally knew what Cedric was going to ask. He shook his head gently.
"Don't worry, your parents are safe—from what I've seen. But of course, you know that if you became that thing, your parents would be heartbroken for you."
Cedric raised his left hand, covering his face and gently rubbing his thumb and index finger together. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
"I know. They've always told me that I'm the child who can make them proud, and I've always tried my best to do that."
After wiping his face, Cedric felt much better, though his cheeks were a little red and his hair had become even more dishevelled.
"Although students aren't allowed to wander around outside right now, you'd better go wash your face before you go back so no one sees you like this—I don't want to hear any more gossip about you and me." Dylan joked with a smile. "You know, after that Defence Against the Dark Arts class, rumors that the treeman was you spread through the school. Do you know how many girls came to ask me about you?"
Cedric's lips curled into a smile as well. "I'm so sorry. Also, while I don't support dating at a young age in principle, if you're interested in having a relationship in school, I could recommend some girls for you. They're all very sweet, and some of them even have a crush on you, you know?"
Dylan raised an eyebrow. Huh? Someone has a crush on him? Who?
Dylan was suddenly a little curious, but he didn't want to press for details. So, he didn't ask Cedric and didn't use divination. Instead, he smiled and shook his head.
"Thank you for the kind offer, but I share your view. As students, how can we have early relationships? Right now, I just want to focus on studying magic."
Cedric agreed, looking at Dylan. "No wonder the professors praise you so much. Your current spirit alone is worthy of commendation."
Cedric didn't beg Dylan to perform another divination to find out what changes he should make to avert that terrifying future. In his mind, prying into the information of the river of time couldn't be a simple matter, let alone helping someone change their fate. Cedric didn't want Dylan to pay any price for it. First, he couldn't afford it. Second, he didn't want to trouble Dylan too much.
"Thank you for telling me all this. It wasn't a wasted trip." Cedric bowed slightly to Dylan. "I won't bother you anymore."
Dylan nodded. "I don't mind you bothering me. If you have any other questions, you can come and talk to me again. But don't worry, I don't think you'll turn into that monstrous thing."
—The Boggart had been deliberately made to look that way by Dylan to prevent it from revealing any information about himself. So, Dylan wasn't wrong when he said that Cedric wouldn't become a treeman. He would just die in the future. But Dylan was still hoping for Cedric to join the Ministry of Magic and become his confidant, helping him with both public and secret affairs. He'd use his identity as Karthus to eventually unite the wizarding world one day!
"Hmm, I just want to unite the wizarding world so everyone can work for me. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"
There were already so many capitalists; what's one more?
—And no one could hang him from a lamppost!
"Thank you. I think after I've adjusted my mood, I might come to see you again in the next few days. I hope you won't be too annoyed."
"Feel free to."
After Cedric left, Dylan went back to flipping through his book.
"That idiot Voldy only thinks about killing his enemies. If he had chosen to win everyone over with love, he would have united the wizarding world long ago."
People are what create value. If everyone is killed, what's the point of uniting the wizarding world, or even the world itself? He just wants people to submit to him, but if there are no people left, who's going to submit?
—"But Voldemort does act like a ghost. Killing everyone, turning them into ghosts, and then having them submit—that actually sounds pretty logical for a lunatic like Voldemort."
Dylan hadn't originally had any thoughts of uniting the world. Of course, his interest in the idea wasn't very high even now. He just wanted to absorb as much knowledge and learn as much magic as possible. If one day he mastered most of the knowledge, like Voldemort, and had a solid understanding of almost all the dark magic in the world, then his thoughts about uniting the world might grow, just as Voldemort's did with his increase in power.
But even then, all he'd want is for others to work for him, creating Galleons and providing experimental materials to support his complex experiments.
"I'm only at the beginning of my journey in magic. There's still so much to do."
Dylan flipped through the book. He had just put the matter of Cedric out of his mind when another image popped into his head: an old man with a full head of white hair and a long beard falling from a high tower.
Dylan's hand, turning the page, paused.
"Hmm... Before Sirius Black dies, I can just pull him into my world to do odd jobs for me, but old Dumbledore is looking for his own death. I can't just drag him into my world too, can I?"
With Dumbledore around, would his world be taken over by the old man? Dylan really didn't know.
But Dumbledore seeking his own death was something for the future. Dumbledore wanted to die to protect Harry and to allow Snape to regain Voldemort's complete trust. Besides that, there was another reason: Dumbledore had been seriously injured by a curse after putting on the cursed ring while searching for a Horcrux and was already close to death. It was only after realizing his time was limited that he chose to end his life in a way that would turn the tide of the war in favor of justice.
But, as for the "little Voldy"... one of his soul fragments was already locked away in Dylan's world. Dylan was actually looking forward to seeing what kind of waves Voldemort could stir up after this. He wanted to see how Voldemort's use and understanding of dark magic, with his soul split into so many pieces and his mind twisted and his soul gradually going insane, would differ from that of the young Riddle.
—This was one of the experiments he had always wanted to do.
Even though Dylan had unlocked Voldemort's skill library, learning spells and truly understanding magic were two completely different things.
"When that time comes, Dumbledore might not be sacrificing his life to have Snape gain Voldemort's trust, but to have Snape infiltrate Karthus's side and gain Karthus's trust instead."
Dylan clicked his tongue.
After spending the evening in the library, Dylan went to the Owlery. He fed some meat strips to Luna and also fed some to Luna Lovegood's owl, Smog.
"Hoo-hoo—"
Luna's Tawny Owl hooted happily, then shared one of the meat strips Dylan had fed it with Luna. Dylan noticed that his snowy owl and Luna's owl were getting along well, and he narrowed his eyes.
"You little rascal..."
Dylan wouldn't stop "love" between pets—if they had it. Plus, Dylan didn't use owls for mail very often, especially since he'd advised Ron's dad, Mr. Arthur Weasley, on how to make a magic telephone.
If anything important came up, he could just call his parents. Sending letters was a bit of a hassle. And, in terms of time, even though the owls of the magical world were specially trained, they were still fundamentally non-magical. So even if they could deliver letters accurately, it would still take a while for the letter to reach the recipient. How could that compare to the convenience of a phone call?
After feeding the two owls, Dylan had dinner and then returned to his dorm. The day after Cedric came to find him, in the evening, Dylan and Cedric ran into each other in the corridor again.
Dylan just wanted to say hello, but Cedric pulled him aside into a corner and asked him some more questions. This time, he was mainly asking about his parents. He didn't want to trouble Dylan about his own safety, but he wanted to ask more about his parents' safety.
Dylan, of course, gave him a reassuring three-part answer—Don't worry, it's fine, it'll be okay—and brushed him off. After getting an answer that put his mind at ease, Cedric left.
For a while after that, whenever Cedric and Dylan met, they would greet each other, just like friends who were on good terms. But in reality, their interactions were just a little more frequent. Dylan thought their relationship was similar to his and Luna's. They were all classmates and could be considered friends. And since Dylan had the idea of turning Cedric into one of his subordinates, he naturally wouldn't refuse to become closer to him.
This change was noticed by the other students in the school.
Until the weekend...
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