"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore."
Dudley greeted him and walked forward.
"I brought you some dessert."
After speaking, Dudley placed a piece of tiramisu cake in front of Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Dudley. I was just considering whether to go down and get a piece of dessert, and you brought it to me."
Dumbledore said with a smile, picking it up to taste.
"Mm, Hogwarts' desserts are truly delicious. I always want to eat some, but unfortunately I'm getting old and need to restrain myself a bit."
Dumbledore winked at Dudley.
Dudley smiled.
Bribery successful.
As a Briber, he only needed to symbolically give the bribed person some items to weaken their attacks and generate strong goodwill from them.
Regarding Dumbledore, Dudley didn't dare use overly powerful abilities, but a little guidance was still possible. Just generating some goodwill to make Dumbledore willing to answer his questions—in this situation, Dumbledore basically wouldn't notice any abnormalities.
"Go ahead, what do you need? I think you're not just here to bring me a piece of cake."
After eating two bites of cake, Dumbledore looked at Dudley with a peaceful expression.
"I wanted to ask about Professor Quirrell," Dudley said. "As you know, I reported his problems to you last time, but you don't seem to have taken any action against him."
Dumbledore looked at Dudley without speaking immediately.
Dudley also said nothing more.
After a while, Dumbledore said slowly, "I've already conducted some investigation into Professor Quirrell. He does indeed have certain problems, and I'm handling it, but there hasn't been a suitable opportunity yet."
Dudley frowned and said, "I don't quite understand."
"Shouldn't we immediately bring bad people to justice? Allowing such a person to freely enter and exit Hogwarts is very unsafe for ordinary students like us."
Dumbledore smiled, "You're quite right, Dudley, but currently Quirrell hasn't done anything to harm the school. Besides, you can rest assured—with me at Hogwarts, even if Professor Quirrell really has problems, I can handle it."
Dudley looked at Dumbledore. He could sense that Dumbledore wasn't telling the truth.
His bribery effect was too weak to have much influence on Dumbledore, and Dudley didn't dare fully activate this ability, or it would be easily detected by Dumbledore.
"Alright, I understand."
Dudley said nothing more.
"You should rest early. I'll go back first."
Since Dumbledore wasn't willing to tell the truth, there was no point in him staying here any longer.
"Dudley."
Just as Dudley was about to leave the office, Dumbledore suddenly called out to him.
"Professor?"
Dudley turned to look at Dumbledore.
"Please rest assured, you and Harry are both safe at Hogwarts. Don't be too anxious."
Dudley nodded thoughtfully and left Dumbledore's office.
After Dudley left, Dumbledore picked up the remaining half piece of cake and slowly ate it.
"Dudley is one of only two blood relatives Harry has in this world. As long as they stay together, there won't be any problems."
Dumbledore murmured to himself.
Meanwhile, after leaving Dumbledore's office, Dudley frowned slightly.
"How can he be so certain that Harry and I won't have any trouble at Hogwarts?"
Dudley shook his head. He was still accustomed to keeping his fate in his own hands. Since he couldn't rely on official channels, he could only find his own solution.
Dudley pondered for a moment, then instead of returning to Gryffindor Tower, he headed straight for the Owlery.
"Hedwig."
Dudley called out in the darkness, and immediately a white snowy owl fluttered over and perched on Dudley's shoulder.
"Good girl, help me deliver a letter."
Dudley tied the envelope in his hand to Hedwig's leg.
"This is a snack for you."
Dudley took out a small piece of fish from his pocket and handed it to Hedwig.
Hedwig picked up the meat, fluttered happily twice, and flew off into the darkness.
After finishing this, Dudley returned to Gryffindor Tower.
Seeing Dudley return, Harry immediately came over.
"How was it? Did you enjoy your celebration?"
Dudley asked with a smile.
"It was alright. But never mind that—when you went to see Professor Dumbledore, did you tell him about Snape?"
Harry asked. He was still very suspicious of Snape.
Dudley pondered for a moment, then said, "I mentioned it, but unfortunately Professor Dumbledore doesn't believe it."
Harry sighed helplessly.
"I should have known. Adults never want to believe what we children say. They only believe themselves."
Dudley patted Harry's shoulder and said nothing more.
The next day, Dudley didn't go to the Great Hall for breakfast with Harry and the others but came early to the grounds outside the castle. If Hedwig returned, this would be her route.
Sure enough, Dudley hadn't waited long before he saw Hedwig diving down from the sky. She noticed Dudley standing outside and flew straight over.
"Thank you, Hedwig. Good girl. This is your reward."
Dudley untied the package from Hedwig's leg and fed her a piece of meat.
Hedwig called out happily twice, took the meat, and flew away.
Dudley put the small package in his pocket and hurried back to attend class with Harry and the others.
Today there was a Potions class, again with Slytherin.
Malfoy seemed to have restrained himself a lot recently. Although he still looked down on Dudley and Harry, he no longer actively provoked them. Instead, he was dedicated to becoming the leader of this year's Slytherins.
Although his methods looked quite childish, he had indeed gathered many Slytherin students around him. Now, wherever Malfoy went, he was followed by at least ten people, a dark mass that looked like a group of bodyguards from a distance.
Harry and Ron were somewhat nervous about this. They thought this was Malfoy developing his own power, preparing to oppose Gryffindor. Only Dudley roughly guessed what Malfoy was doing.
However, Dudley hadn't contacted Malfoy again. Since he had given Malfoy the honorific name last time, Malfoy had never recited it. In the short term, this matter hadn't caused any ripples.
The day passed quickly, and night fell, shrouding the entire Hogwarts Castle.
Late at night, Dudley sat up from his bed, and after confirming that everyone else was asleep, he slowly put on his black robe and quietly left Gryffindor Tower.
"It's been a while since I've caused any trouble."
[Chapter Complete]
***
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