Something was clearly off with Dumbledore.
It wasn't that some unknown magic had altered his mind, but his thoughts were chaotic, his words disjointed, jumping from one idea to another as if he couldn't help but blurt out whatever came to mind. He was also unusually agitated.
"So, I'm part of the prophecy too, am I?" Dumbledore raised his head, his eyes fixed on the stone archway beside him and the black curtains draped on either side, now drawn open.
Just as Nico's prophecy had foretold, the curtains—once constantly rippling as if stirred by an invisible breeze—now hung still, no longer swaying. The center of the archway was empty, lacking only the gray-white light of the portal described in the vision.
"We've come this far. Let's leave for now," Harry said, unable to respond to Dumbledore's question. He reached down to help Dumbledore up from the ground. "I broke in illegally. Do you have the strength to walk? Where's Fawkes?"
"Oh, I hope Viktor doesn't get too upset. He's always been particular about this place," Dumbledore said with a chuckle, showing no trace of anger. "As for Fawkes, she's awaiting her rebirth, so I'm afraid we can't rely on her to get out of here. I know you have many questions, Harry, but let's leave first."
Leave it was, then. Harry had no desire to clash with the Unspeakables, but fortunately, as he supported Dumbledore and used a Disillusionment Charm to slip out of the Ministry of Magic and back to Hogwarts' Great Totem, no Unspeakables or Aurors emerged to apprehend them.
The Ministry remained as noisy as when Harry had first entered, with no signs of anything amiss.
"That's not surprising," Dumbledore said with a smile, reclining on a conjured sofa-bed. "Viktor must have seen something that made him hold back. You know about the Department of Mysteries' Time Room, don't you? The Unspeakables study the secrets of time there."
"…So, you're saying Viktor might have sent someone to stop us, but they were defeated, possibly with serious consequences, so he chose not to interfere?" Harry mused. "But aren't events that have already happened unchangeable? How could he alter things based on a future he saw? Is that prophecy or just glimpsing the future?"
"A glimpsed future isn't set in stone, Harry," Dumbledore said, winking. "You never know what lies beneath a seemingly calm surface… But that's not what we should discuss today. Can you tell me what happened at Hogwarts? When I came in, I noticed many of the castle's walls seem to have been damaged."
"Hogwarts… was attacked by demons…"
Harry thought for a moment before deciding to recount everything that had happened recently, including the Board of Governors' invitation and the requests from Fudge and Scrimgeour. He had no reason to hide anything.
"Is that so?" Dumbledore's eyes dimmed. "Lockhart summoned demons and tried to use sacrifices to steal the students' talents… I made a grave mistake…"
"You didn't exactly consider character when hiring professors," Harry said earnestly. "That's pretty important."
"No, I did consider it," Dumbledore sighed. "I read Lockhart's books. Some of the experiences he described were strikingly similar to those of old friends I know. But when I visited those friends, they had no memory of those events."
"So you knew Lockhart was a fraud?" Harry asked.
"Only a suspicion," Dumbledore shook his head. "That's why I needed to keep him close. By putting him in the spotlight, he'd reveal his flaws. And the facts proved me right, didn't they? The students have learned that hollow fame means nothing."
"It was certainly educational," Harry nodded, "but his actions caused greater harm."
"I won't deny my mistakes," Dumbledore said, his posture slumping slightly. "I never imagined Voldemort would have two Horcruxes at Hogwarts at the same time, or those demons… I'm sorry, Harry. As Hogwarts' headmaster, I failed in my duties, leaving you and the others to bear this burden."
"No need for that," Harry shook his head. "Whether it's me or the other professors, we're all part of this school. Protecting it and the students is our duty, just as it is for the Aurors and Hit Wizards." He walked to a cabinet by his desk, retrieved the damaged diadem and diary, and handed them to Dumbledore.
"Two more Horcruxes?" Dumbledore stared at the objects in his hands. The tattered pages of the diary and the broken edges of the diadem revealed the violence their owner had endured.
After a long pause, Dumbledore suddenly laughed.
"Do you know, Harry?" he said, turning to him. "Before you came along, I spent years searching through every possible method and channel for the secret of Voldemort's immortality and power. But in all that time, I never found a single Horcrux—not even proof that he used them. That is, until you appeared."
"Two Horcruxes and his main soul," Dumbledore said, waving the objects with a pleased expression. "Perhaps I should call you the Voldemort Slayer, as Professor Trelawney's prophecy foretold. You're steadily fulfilling it… Fate is truly marvelous, isn't it?"
"A prophecy about me?" Harry froze.
"Yes, a prophecy about you—the one that led to the tragedy of the Potter family," Dumbledore said softly. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…
And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives…"
"The seventh month… Neville's birthday is also at the end of July, just a day apart from mine," Harry said after a moment of silence.
"Yes, so the key to the prophecy is that the Dark Lord marks him as his equal," Dumbledore said gently. "Neville's parents also defied him thrice, but Voldemort chose you over the Longbottoms. I don't know if my Potions professor ever told you about the crime he committed. He overheard the first half of the prophecy and reported it to Voldemort, never imagining it would lead to the death of the woman he loved most."
"So that's why he's been consumed by guilt," Harry said, shaking his head slightly. "They never told me."
"That's the wonder of prophecies," Dumbledore said wistfully. "Voldemort chose his own enemy, and you indeed possess a power he doesn't understand. People like me searched for years without uncovering even a hint of his immortality, yet in less than two years, you've destroyed two of his Horcruxes and his main soul. You truly are the one destined to kill him, Harry."
"Or be killed by him… But that doesn't matter. I won't lose," Harry said calmly. "Anyway, I've told you everything that happened while you were gone. Now it's your turn. Where did you go? Why did you come out of the Veil in the Death Chamber?"
"Fair enough," Dumbledore nodded. "I almost forgot—why did you go to the Death Chamber to find me?"
"I wasn't looking for you," Harry said, exasperated. "I was checking the place to figure out why the Black Knight Order was coming through there. Who could've guessed you'd emerge from it?"
"I was following Gellert's trail to Egypt. You know the Department of Mysteries predates the Ministry of Magic, don't you?" After Harry nodded, Dumbledore continued, "The Department, though it wasn't called that back then, was built atop an ancient ruin. There are many such ruins across the world, actually."
He's calling him Gellert now, not Grindelwald… Harry thought, amused. These two old men might really be having a second spring.
"So where's your Gellert? Why did only you come out?" Harry asked. "What did you find in the ruins?"
"It was extraordinary, Harry. Beneath a pyramid in Egypt, we discovered a remarkable stone tablet inscribed with symbols we couldn't decipher—whether they were a language or some kind of runic magic," Dumbledore said, his voice tinged with recollection. "I don't know what Gellert did. You know how seers are—they often act in ways that seem incomprehensible to others, guided by the futures they see."
"Anyway, the ancient tablet suddenly came to life. Some of the stones floated upward, separate yet part of a whole. Then I saw that gray-white light on the tablet—the same light as the portal in Nico's prophecy."
"And you entered the portal?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Dumbledore said frankly. "All I can say for certain is that we were no longer in that pyramid. Don't ask where we went—when I woke up, I was alone. Gellert wasn't with me."
"I've never seen such beautiful scenery, Harry," Dumbledore said, his expression dreamy, as if part of him lingered in that unknown world. "A sky of deep blue, with soft golden light flickering through it, and clouds like flowing glass."
"Golden grasslands and trees, and those majestic, towering buildings… I might have been in paradise, Harry. I never thought the Muggle tales of heaven could be real," Dumbledore said earnestly. "The people flying overhead had beautiful white wings—not feathers, but something that turned into crystalline fragments when they fell. And their skin—blue, like in fairy tales, or even pure energy. Ha!"
It wasn't a long story, but it wasn't short either.
Dumbledore's tale sounded like something out of a fantasy book. It was hard to imagine the expression on his face as he recounted his adventure. For a man over a hundred years old, he gestured with his hands like an excited child, his face alight with enthusiasm.
"They didn't tell you where you were?" Harry asked, not dismissing Dumbledore's words as a magical illusion but analyzing the information seriously. "You could communicate with them?"
"Of course not," Dumbledore shook his head. "But the Kyrian—that's what they called themselves—said they could communicate effortlessly with any intelligent being. Fascinating, isn't it?"
"They called the place I arrived at… Bastion."
Dumbledore paused, and Harry waited a few seconds.
"And then?"
"That's it," Dumbledore shook his head. "I wanted to learn more about that world, but before I could get to know the Kyrian better, I heard your voice. Then it was like falling from a great height, with mist swirling around me… When my old eyes cleared, I was with you in the Death Chamber, surrounded by those stones."
"…I see," Harry said, thinking for a long moment. "Can you recall every specific term they mentioned?"
"You mean Azeroth?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I didn't get the chance to ask about that, and they didn't mention anything like it. Are you thinking that place might be connected to our world and the Azeroth that taught you your skills?"
"It's possible," Harry nodded. "If that really was a portal… otherwise, how could I have gone to Azeroth myself?"
"But where did Grindelwald go? If you were together, and so much has happened in this world without him reappearing, did he really disappear with you?"
"A good question," Dumbledore said after a moment's thought, then shook his head. "But for now, it remains unknown. More pressing for me, as Hogwarts' headmaster, is fulfilling my responsibilities."
"I know I've said it already, but I must say it again—thank you, Harry," Dumbledore said, struggling to his feet and bowing. "Thank you for protecting the students. Thank you for protecting Hogwarts."
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