"I really didn't expect that Lockhart—Professor Lockhart—would actually be such a rare master of mental magic."
"Cough, cough. You're still focused on Professor Lockhart? Shouldn't you be paying attention to that person's name?"
"What's there to focus on? Didn't you all question Professor Lockhart before? So what do you say now?"
"His performance in class really was terrible. Who would've thought he was actually that powerful?"
The once-divided crowd—skeptics on one side and devoted admirers on the other—was no longer clearly split.
Now, after seeing the evaluation given by the question-and-answer space, many felt that Gilderoy Lockhart's reputation as a famous adventurer might truly be deserved.
Lockhart still wore his dazzling smile, white teeth flashing confidently.
But there was a trace of seriousness in his eyes.
He was worried.
If certain students repeated this information to their families, someone might begin piecing together truths he would rather keep buried.
Ron Weasley stared at Lockhart blankly, his expression complicated.
For reasons he couldn't fully explain, Ron had always disliked Lockhart. He had considered him nothing more than a fraud—a swindler who relied on dramatic flair and self-promotion.
He had never imagined Lockhart might actually be powerful.
Even if Ron didn't fully understand what "mental magic" meant, being called a master of it proved that Lockhart was far more capable than he had assumed.
"Maybe Professor Lockhart isn't a fraud after all. Who knows? What if he still can't actually do anything?"
Ron stubbornly tried to persuade Harry Potter, but Harry merely shook his head.
He had his own judgment.
Lockhart's classroom performance had already cost him a significant amount of public support.
And Lockhart's overwhelming enthusiasm toward Harry made him deeply uncomfortable.
It wasn't that Harry disliked him.
It was just… the way Lockhart looked at him.
Like a dragon staring at its favorite pile of glittering gold.
It made Harry feel as though he were being completely examined and evaluated.
"Next, we move on to the final question of our first round of Quiz live broadcast. As the grand finale, this is a question the question-and-answer space has carefully selected. I hope everyone looks forward to it."
The sudden voice snapped Harry out of his thoughts. He remembered he was still standing on the high platform inside the question-and-answer space.
Aiden glanced down at the card in his hand, a flicker of anticipation stirring in his heart.
When the Quiz ended, he would also receive a reward.
He had always been curious about what it might be.
The gazes of the seven figures on the platform—along with the Hogwarts professors and students watching the live broadcast outside the space—all settled on Aiden's milky-white, glowing humanoid form.
Everyone was eager to know what the final question would be.
Some whispered that it would likely concern Harry and You-Know-Who.
Others speculated that it might expose the Ministry of Magic's darkest secrets.
Hearing those guesses among the Hufflepuffs, Aiden nearly laughed.
Still, he focused on the task at hand.
"First, allow me to speak in riddles.
The next question concerns the most powerful wizard in the British wizarding world in the past century—Albus Dumbledore."
As Aiden spoke, the other six figures on the platform turned their gazes toward Dumbledore.
Severus Snape made no attempt to conceal the curiosity in his eyes.
Earlier, the question-and-answer space had exposed his own secret, leaving him deeply displeased.
Now that it was Dumbledore's turn, Snape's expression was filled with undisguised schadenfreude.
Unlike Snape, most others were simply curious.
What secret of Professor Dumbledore would be revealed?
Dumbledore's eyes flickered faintly beneath the weight of their gazes.
"Very well," Aiden continued. "Please listen carefully."
[When Albus Dumbledore was young, he met a blond young man and instantly felt a deep connection. In the words of Bathilda Bagshot:
"These two children, who tasted the vicissitudes of life too early, immediately felt a bond." They "hit it off like fire and a cauldron,"
and the two young souls, drawn together, planned to establish a wizarding organization and search for the Deathly Hallows.]
[Among them, who first proposed the phrase "For the Greater Good" together with Albus Dumbledore?]
A. Gellert Grindelwald
B. Tom Riddle
C. Newt Scamander
D. Armando Dippet
When the six people on the platform—and the entire Hogwarts audience—finished reading the question, silence fell.
No one dared speak.
Snape's eyes widened as he stared at Dumbledore.
Very few knew of Albus Dumbledore's youth.
The wizarding world remembered him as the benevolent headmaster who defeated Gellert Grindelwald and led Hogwarts for decades.
Almost no one associated him with the phrase For the Greater Good.
Yet even from the literal meaning, one could sense the weight behind those words.
Dumbledore remained still, immersed in the question.
He seemed unaware of the eyes upon him.
Or perhaps he noticed them and simply did not care.
His thoughts had already drifted elsewhere—
To the summer when he was eighteen.
To the brilliant blond boy he had met.
And to the greatest regret and deepest pain of his life—an event that unfolded barely two months later.
Sometimes, in the quiet hours of the night, he wondered:
If he had never met that person… would his sister, Ariana Dumbledore, still be alive?
But the past could not be changed.
Time moved only forward.
And some regrets could never be undone.