great-warnovel Chapter 156 Heart-to-Heart Talk
Chapter 156 Heart-to-Heart Talk
Chapter 156 Heart-to-Heart Talk
The field trip ended smoothly, and Draco gained the initial trust of the Carol siblings. Now, all that was left was to wait for the next field trip, which would take about a month.
This period was the final sprint for Harry and his friends, but Hermione didn't intend to tell them what they were about to face, just as she didn't intend to tell Lockhart, preparing him to deal with the Basilisk alone.
Unexpected situations are a better test of a person's true abilities, and deep down, Hermione was actually quite angry.
Because the Lockhart she previously admired was not the real Lockhart, but a fabricated personality, she felt deceived. However, Lockhart did not intentionally deceive anyone; it was just his way of escaping his painful memories. Moreover, his behavior did not harm anyone; in fact, it could be said that he harmed himself. The long-term dormancy of the real personality is not a healthy behavior.
This gave Hermione a strange feeling of suppressed anger that she couldn't vent. Perhaps this stemmed more from the little girl part of her soul, like a fan who had chased an idol for a long time, only to suddenly discover that it was a virtual idol and everything was an act. She couldn't find the right words for a moment and just felt like her house had collapsed.
Therefore, Draco underwent a special brain-locking course for this trial, Harry and the others suffered in the Pensieve Area, but Lockhart was still happily chuckling every day, believing that he and Hermione could easily and quietly resolve the incident without the school professors noticing.
He even planned that after a few years, when all these people and things had settled down, he could write a book called "The Message: My Hidden War at Hogwarts".
Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed. Dumbledore and McGonagall were playing along with him like monkeys, and it was estimated that after killing the Basilisk, they would have to report these stories to the other professors, which would truly be a public execution.
During the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall secretly examined Draco's body and concluded that it was indeed a harmless Tracking and Manifestation Charm, probably because Alexios was worried that mixing it with a curse would allow him to be discovered.
During this time, Hermione hesitated about whether to tell Professor Lily the truth. After all, her son was going to face considerable danger, and it seemed a bit excessive for them to keep it from her mother.
From both a moral and contractual standpoint, no school has the right to test its students and professors in this way.
Hermione is the same; to be honest, she's just Harry's classmate.
But in this respect, Dumbledore seems to have less moral pressure, or perhaps he is just old and shrewd, and he doesn't care about using others, and can use others as pawns without too much psychological burden.
"Indeed, it is unjust," he said.
"But what can I do now that I'm dead? Let me handle all the complaints and blame that might come up later." The old man shrugged nonchalantly.
"In a sense, Gellert and I are the same kind of people; we can both strive for something greater."
"And at the cost of others." His pale eyes were like a calm lake.
"The future of this school, the future of this world. Our generation destroyed everything, so I have an obligation to rebuild it. Even if I can't do it, I can at least train qualified rebuilders."
"This is my responsibility, because I failed to save the world."
Hermione finally gained a deeper understanding of the old man who had already died. He was filled with guilt and self-blame. Every time someone died, every war broke out, and every tragedy occurred, he would blame himself for it—because he had failed to defeat Grindelwald.
It's not about being a savior, nor about fame or status, but simply a hope that the world can return to its rightful state.
Ghosts are all paranoid. Dumbledore struggled between life and death for half a century. Every day of that half-century, every crime committed after Grindelwald, was a form of torture and torment for him.
Therefore, in a sense, he was also insane. Rebuilding all of this became his obsession. Perhaps he didn't even need Hermione's soul-binding ritual. Just relying on this obsession, he couldn't go on, couldn't overcome death, and instead, like other ghosts, lingered in the world for a long time.
For such a ghost, if a trial could help his successors grow, he would not hesitate to carry it out even if he had no qualifications or authority to do so.
Just like when Hermione told him that there was a ritual with no way out and only a slightly more than 50% chance of success that could bring him back to his peak, even if the price was real death, he dared to burn himself to death without any hesitation.
In order to rebuild this world, he can utilize everyone, including himself, of course.
"During the time I was a ghost, I visited all the wizarding leaders who were on our side," Dumbledore said softly.
"Some of them haven't seen me for many years, while others have died and been replaced by their successors."
"To be honest, I'm disappointed." A hint of weariness was visible in Ghost's eyes.
"Most people just drift along, and even become the very thing they hated most during their student days."
"I originally thought that with me in the front, these children we've nurtured for decades would build everything up even better from the back." He shook his head indifferently; the scenes in those wizarding settlements did not satisfy him.
But what I see is still the spread of oppression, hatred, and separation, unchanged for fifty years, and the ideals of the past have become empty talk.
Hermione wanted to say that Godric Cliffs did a great job, but that was probably just an exception. Cliffs didn't even have a real leader; many things were decided through discussion among the residents.
She hadn't been to many other settlements and didn't know what society was like there, but judging from Dumbledore's expression, it probably wasn't much better than Malfoy Castle.
"They always have their own difficulties and too many problems, but I am always willing to believe in them and give them more time and more opportunities."
Dumbledore shook his head: "Sometimes I even wonder if Gellert was right?"
Magnu pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something but held back.
"But I can't forget how Ariana died. Our radicalism killed her, and Gellert's radicalism killed even more people."
"This makes me hesitate, always hovering outside the door of destiny. I'm probably why many people no longer believe in me. I'm no longer a qualified leader." He sighed, then looked up at Hermione.
"However, your arrival has brought new vitality to us. This castle, and even the wizarding world, has been stirred up because of you." The little witch who saved Hogwarts in her first year; the little witch who invented groundbreaking brilliance stone magic; the little witch who held firm to her heart even when faced with power within her grasp—he smiled at the girl: "Perhaps this is an opportunity, an opportunity for change to begin with you, and we old folks should remove any potential obstacles."
"I'm sorry, Professor, you have to take responsibility for my little act of willfulness," Hermione apologized sincerely.
She suddenly realized another difference between herself and the people in this world.
She didn't have such a strong moral compass; she only had a simple, self-centered logic of good and evil.
She would help the weak and kind, and punish the evil and tyrannical, but she only cared about her own inner peace. She didn't deliberately consider whether she was qualified to make such judgments.
At the border, everyone is a judge and a perpetrator. No one thinks about whether they have the right to decide the life or death of others, because everyone is doing so. Excessive moral constraints make it difficult for people to move an inch on that broken land.
While the world is also broken, it is clear that fifty years is not enough time for morality to completely disappear. Whether it is the old people like McGonagall from before the war, or the generation like Lily and the others who grew up in the post-war reconstruction, they still retain extremely high moral standards. So much so that many times, it is not the external environment that affects them, but themselves.
Even someone like Dumbledore, who could ruthlessly exploit others, hesitated when making choices because of past inner conflicts.
Perhaps in the wasteland, Muggles have lost their useless morality, but the wizards' civilization is more intact; they still have society, schools, and families.
For Hermione, she subconsciously identified herself as the Finger Witch of the Borderlands, arranging a path for the Faded to become stronger. Her training and education did not include "what if the Faded don't want to become stronger?"
In that world, if you don't want to become stronger, you might as well just die.
Upon arriving here, when McGonagall hesitated and hesitated, her first reaction was the same as at the border.
Since we don't know their strength, let's just have a fight.
She arranged trials for everyone around her, and kept the difficulty level to what she considered "challenging".
As a finger witch, this is what she does best.
"Your self-reflection makes me look like a rigid old lady," McGonagall teased, her thin lips pressed together and her face serious.
She then sighed, "As you all say, what we did may not be so honorable, like the mastermind behind everything in a chivalric romance novel."
"But the world is changing every day. Fifty years ago, becoming an Animagus was a rare genius, one in a thousand."
"But nowadays, we have children applying for body transformation almost every year."
"It seems like everything is speeding up. Now, even the second graders are almost finished with their own animal forms." She looked at Hermione, never forgetting to ask about her progress after each class.
"We must let go of the past, and change always brings pain, which is perhaps what we should bear."
"In a more difficult world, let's be the heartless villains."
The three exchanged a smile. In the principal's office, the other principal portraits were quiet. They hadn't spoken much for many years, perhaps because they knew that their experience was no longer applicable to this era.