"It's nothing, I just think the medicine might be a bit too potent," Victor waved his hand dismissively and then asked, "Professor, you asked me to come here, does that mean I can finally see your family's manor?"
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "My other family member has given his permission. You may read the Dumbledore family's collection of books to your heart's content."
"That's fantastic!" Victor rubbed his hands together. "There's no time to waste, shall we go now?"
"Yes." And with that, the flames of a phoenix instantly wrapped around the two, and they vanished from the spot.
The Dumbledore family manor was built in a river valley in the Scottish Highlands. Perched on the edge of a cliff, it was as high as the mountain itself, with a deep river valley on one side and a lush, green broadleaf forest on the other.
The manor was a small to medium-sized old European castle, built from huge, solid rocks. The ancient aura it gave off was even heavier than that of Hogwarts Castle.
The castle seemed to have been built with a unique architectural technique. The grayish-white exterior was covered in dark green moss and vines, making the entire castle look as if it had grown naturally from the stone. There was no jarring color. It blended in seamlessly with its surroundings.
"Wow, Professor, you have such a wonderful place! Why do you stay at Hogwarts during the holidays? What a waste!" Victor exclaimed, looking at the castle. It was a shame for such a magnificent castle to be abandoned here.
He scanned the surroundings, which were incredibly breathtaking. Not far away, a waterfall's mist refracted the sunlight into a brilliant rainbow. Below the waterfall was a deep green pool, and he could see many wild fish swimming in it. They looked quite delicious.
"This castle is over 1,200 years old. I came here a few times as a child, but ever since my family and I moved to Godric's Hollow, I haven't been back," Dumbledore said calmly, looking at the castle. "It's simply too far and too quiet. What's the point of an old man staying in a castle this big?"
As he spoke, he took out an old brass key and unlocked the manor's nanmu door. As they pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered the ground floor, the space inside was much larger than expected. It must have been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm or a similar spell.
The first thing they saw was a large oval-shaped hall. A light yellow rug with a phoenix pattern was laid in the center of the hall, and phoenix-perched light fixtures hung from the ceiling. There were also half-burned candles on them.
To the left of the hall was an old-fashioned kitchen with several pale wooden cabinets, a stone sink, and a cooking hearth. The kitchen was connected to the dining room, where a long marble table with yellow patterns sat in the middle. On either side were a dozen chairs inlaid with various colorful crystals.
To the right of the hall was a living room, for the family to rest in. It had wooden tables and chairs, padded with the complete furs of some unknown animals. On one of the tables was a set of delicate porcelain teacups covered with a red cloth.
Walking past the living room, they reached the stairs leading to the second floor. A dozen large square niches were carved into the stone wall next to the stairs, used to display exquisite collections: a golden phoenix, silk robes, precious gems, and other artifacts.
"There are eight large bedrooms and a living room on the second floor. It's said that when esteemed guests visited, the Dumbledore family would invite them to the second floor. It's the most luxurious and lavish part of the entire castle," Dumbledore said.
"On the next floor, the third floor has a very large room and a living room with a marble fireplace. The room has a large window that overlooks the entire river valley. My grandparents used to live there."
"The fourth floor is an empty attic. There's nothing in there."
Dumbledore calmly introduced his family's old manor, as if everything here had nothing to do with him.
Just then, Victor noticed a flaw in Dumbledore's introduction and asked, "Professor, you said the upper floors are all living spaces. So where are your family's books kept?"
"Follow me," Dumbledore simply said, then walked towards the stone wall with the collections. He took out his wand and muttered a spell at the wall. With a strange noise, the entire stone wall slowly opened on both sides, revealing a staircase leading down.
"The Dumbledore family's books are all down here," Dumbledore said, stepping onto the stairs. The candles on the wall automatically lit up, and Victor eagerly followed behind him.
A moment later, the two descended into the castle's underground library. Dumbledore opened the long-sealed door, and the sight that greeted Victor made him exclaim under his breath in his native language. "Sugoi!"
The library was huge, almost half the size of the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. Huge, endless rows of bookshelves were neatly arranged, scattered with all sorts of ancient books and scrolls. On the floor, many loose books and scrolls were piled up. One of the piles was already half as tall as a bookshelf.
You have to admit, this truly was the Dumbledore family, one of the oldest families in the wizarding world. Their legacy was truly deep!
It was just a shame that the current generation's members liked men. He didn't know if this family would be able to continue its lineage.
Victor walked forward and randomly pulled a book from a shelf, which kicked up a cloud of dust and made him choke. "Cough, cough, cough..."
Victor waved the dust away from his face in disgust, then looked at the clear fingerprints on the book and complained, "Professor, how long has it been since this castle was cleaned? Don't you have house-elves in your family?"
"A large portion of these books are from the goblin race," Dumbledore explained. "More than two hundred years ago, during the goblin rebellion started by the goblin named Raggedy, my great-grandfather was one of the leaders who suppressed the rebellion."
"After the humans won the war, my great-grandfather brought all the goblin books he had collected and stored them here. Ever since then, the Dumbledore family has never allowed house-elves into the library."
"And the last house-elf to serve the Dumbledore family was named Sangu. It died in an accident while protecting my mother. It was then buried in the cemetery at Godric's Hollow."
"I see..." Victor nodded in realization.
Throughout history, the goblin race had always been fickle, greedy, and selfish. Although the two goblin rebellions failed, and most of the goblins were tamed into house-elves, and their history was taken and burned by the human wizards, it was not impossible for some renegades to appear among these house-elves.
If that renegade was the one who was in charge of the Dumbledore family's books, who knew if it would lead to a third goblin rebellion?
Furthermore, the only wizarding bank in all of Europe, Gringotts, was controlled by goblins. According to their nature, if a third goblin rebellion were to happen, Victor didn't know if they would turn the entire wizarding world upside down, but at the very least, the entire European monetary system would be paralyzed.
But then someone said, if you can't use house-elves, you can hire human wizards!
To be honest, a library this big contained a fortune. If you were to let someone outside the family take care of it, you never knew if something greedy might happen. Secretly taking some ancient spells and selling them would certainly bring in a hefty profit.
So in the end, the small Dumbledore family could only take care of the family's books themselves. It had probably been over a hundred years since anyone had cleaned the library.
"Here's the key. You can use this castle as you wish," Dumbledore said, suddenly handing the brass key to Victor. "I'll have to go to Albania for a while. When I get back, I might need your help with something."
"I don't need the key. Once I've been to a place, I can always go back there with magic," Victor said with a smile. "As for needing my help, I'll help with whatever I can."
"Thank you," Dumbledore nodded, but he didn't take the key back. "But you should still take the key. To be honest, this castle and these books are of no use to me or the Dumbledore family anymore."
"They've been sitting here for over eighty years. I don't want this precious fortune to be buried in the wilderness after I'm gone."
"So, you're saying you're giving me the entire castle?!" Victor's face instantly filled with shock, and his mind swirled with questions. He was getting a free castle!
"Yes, consider it a reward for helping me," Dumbledore said.
"Oh, no need to talk about rewards, Professor! You're too kind!" Victor took the key without hesitation, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Just tell me what you need, and I'll help you with anything. Even if you told me to find all of Voldemort's Horcruxes right now, I'd get them for you in no time."
"..." Dumbledore looked at the shameless man in front of him, whose expression changed faster than he could change clothes. He shook his head helplessly, and without another word to Victor, he turned and left the library.
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