"It seems my guess was correct. Only you, Victor Dreyar, could cause such a ruckus around Hogwarts."
The lava orb, now without the magical energy to sustain it, fell to the ground, creating a sticky, hot pool of lava in the Forbidden Forest. Victor turned his head to the familiar voice and, rolling his eyes, said, "Professor, you could have arrived a bit slower."
"Oh, you know, being a 109-year-old man, I need my beauty sleep, and I also had to change my clothes before going out at this hour." Dumbledore walked up to Victor and looked at the hot lava pool. "How is he?"
"I don't know. He might have escaped. I don't know what he did, but I lost my sense of him!" Victor shrugged, replying calmly. "However, even if he escaped, the body of Professor Quirrell must be useless after being so badly burned. Professor, I suggest that for the next few months, you let Professor Snape teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. He's been eyeing that position for a long time."
"I'll make the arrangements…" Dumbledore nodded, and his expression became a little complicated. "I suppose you didn't expect him to be able to do something like that in his half-dead state, did you?"
"I was a bit surprised. If that fireball had exploded, its power could have at least turned half of Hogwarts into a ruin." Victor put his wand back into his belt. "But he could only do that by absorbing a large amount of fire from the trees. To be honest, if he hadn't split his soul to create Horcruxes all those years ago, could you have beaten him, Professor?"
"Oh, I daresay we would have been evenly matched!" Dumbledore recalled some past events, answering truthfully. "Splitting one's soul greatly reduces a person's control over magic. Given Tom's talent at Hogwarts back then, if he hadn't made the Horcruxes, I couldn't have said that I could beat him."
"So, you're saying that Voldemort's failure was ultimately due to his fear of death." Victor curled his lip, a look of disdain on his face. "That's why I really don't understand. Why do we revere three cowards?"
Dumbledore was taken aback by Victor's assessment of Voldemort, then he seemed to realize something and began to mumble softly, "Yes… to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure, and perhaps Tom's courage is not even on par with our little Gryffindor students."
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione, who had been hiding behind the giant tree, had just witnessed the spectacular lava orb when they suddenly saw a tall figure appear beside Victor. They thought it was another enemy and quickly ducked their heads back behind the tree. But after a while, they didn't hear any more commotion, so they slowly peeked out again.
"I think that's… Professor Dumbledore?" Harry guessed.
"Of course it is. With a battle that loud, they must have heard it at Hogwarts," Hermione said with certainty. "Let's go out!" With that, she led the way out from behind the tree.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione said, walking up to him. Harry followed closely behind.
"Good evening, you two!" Dumbledore turned to look at Hermione and Harry. "On behalf of Hogwarts, I must apologize to you. I am very sorry that you had to face such danger in the Forbidden Forest."
"We're alright, Professor!" Harry shook his head, then glanced at Victor with a complicated look in his eyes. "Thanks to Dreyar, we might have been killed by Voldemort if it wasn't for him."
"You two are lucky. If I hadn't been in the Forbidden Forest looking for food for Helena, you two would have been dead by now!" Victor grumbled, holding Helena in his arms. He had actually remembered that there was a scene in the original book where they faced danger in the Forbidden Forest.
But it just so happened that he had been training Helena in the Forbidden Forest these past two days and only went back late at night, while the classes at Hogwarts were being attended by a Thought Projection, so he hadn't known that Harry and the others would be coming to the Forbidden Forest tonight.
"But let's not talk about Voldemort for a moment! Let's talk about this detention problem!"
Just then, for some reason, Victor's demeanor suddenly changed, and he looked at Dumbledore with a reproachful expression. "Professor, you know how dangerous the Forbidden Forest is. Is it not a bit inappropriate for Hogwarts to send these young wizards here as a form of punishment? Just as I said last time, Hogwarts's school policy…"
Listening to Victor's incessant complaints, Dumbledore's head started to ache again. Every time Victor got an opportunity, he would bring up various unreasonable things at the school and bombard Dumbledore with his ideas for school reform.
And just as Victor began to lecture the old man, Harry and Hermione, watching everything, were once again stunned. They couldn't understand why Victor was so brazen with his headmaster, and why Dumbledore seemed to have no choice but to listen…
Woof! Woof! Woof!
But just as Dumbledore's head was aching, the sound of a dog barking came from not far away, which instantly saved him. Hagrid and the other two had arrived late. Fang ran from a distance and began to wag his tail around Dumbledore.
Hagrid, who was out of breath and carrying his crossbow, ran up and, seeing the lava pool in the distance, said in shock, "Blimey! What in the world happened?!"
Then he saw Dumbledore there and, in addition to his shock, immediately went up to him and said, "Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, what on earth…" and then he looked at the wreckage again.
"Good evening, Hagrid," Dumbledore replied, then he gave Harry a meaningful look. "I'm afraid something happened tonight. Could I trouble you to take these four children back to Hogwarts?"
"Uh, yes… Of course, no problem!" Hagrid instantly understood the meaning behind Dumbledore's words. He then looked at Harry and Hermione. "Alright, let's go, or you'll be sleepy in class tomorrow!"
With that, he immediately pulled the two of them and started walking in the direction of Hogwarts.
However, Ron and Draco on the other side were slow to move, because they were still in shock from the lava pool.
"Ron, let's go!" Harry saw this and grabbed Ron's arm, dragging him away, and you could still see Ron turning his head back every few steps. Draco was exactly the same as Ron, but he was kicked by Hermione to get him moving.
Watching Hagrid and the others slowly walk away, Dumbledore looked at the mess in the Forbidden Forest and suddenly sighed, "What a shame. This large area of forest was the habitat for many creatures in the Forbidden Forest."
"What's a shame?" Victor yawned, and then the Nature Magic circle on the ground instantly spread out. Under the power of the magic, the lava pool instantly cooled, and new plants sprouted from the ground that had been affected by the battle, as if after a spring rain.
In a short while, except for the hard obsidian, the destroyed Forbidden Forest was restored to its original lush and vibrant appearance.
"Professor, I forgot to tell you, I'm a big fan of nature." Victor said with a smile, then disappeared from the Forbidden Forest.
Dumbledore looked at the Forbidden Forest, which had been restored to its original appearance, his heart a mix of emotions.
From tonight's battle, he could see that Victor's abilities had far exceeded his imagination. Although in terms of magical destructive power, he could have achieved the same effect, it would have never been so easy.
Moreover, thinking of Victor's uninhibited personality and seeing the scene of the battle just now, he understood that there was something a little wicked about this student, which made him think even more…
Dumbledore helplessly shook his head, putting aside his thoughts on how to handle his relationship with Victor, then he used Apparition and returned to his office. As soon as he landed, he saw a familiar figure in the office.
"Good evening, Minerva!"
"Oh, Albus, you're finally back. It seems something happened in the Forbidden Forest…" Professor McGonagall said anxiously, but then she saw that Dumbledore was wearing his magical robes, clearly having just returned from outside, so she added, "I suppose you already know."
"Don't worry, everything is fine now," Dumbledore explained calmly. "How are things at the school?"
"The students are fine, just a little frightened by the explosion just now," Professor McGonagall said with a worried expression. "How are Harry and the others?" She had personally given the four young wizards detention last night.
"They are all fine. Hagrid should be on his way to take them back to their dorms now," Dumbledore replied.
"That's good." Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since the unusual explosion from the Forbidden Forest, she had been on edge. "So, Albus, what exactly happened in the Forbidden Forest?"
Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Tom was in the Forbidden Forest!"
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