Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 504: Top Ten Fight for Hegemony? ?
After Harry and the others left, McGuffin sat on the hospital bed blankly.

Do nothing, think nothing.

Apparently just now... or until now, these Little Guffins are still deeply affecting him.

The McGuffins who were being sucked into the sacks kept screaming and whispering.

To others, it sounds like extremely subtle, irrational shouting.

But in the ears of the MacGuffin...

"--what!"

"—Gah!"

"Fuck!"

"Help!"

All kinds of repeated shouts tortured his ears and brain.

As a result, McGuffin had no choice but to use [Close Ears and Listen] on his ears... Otherwise, if he continued like this, even if he could get rid of the crazy mess in his brain, he would slowly go crazy because of this torture.

Dumbledore and Fudge didn't come in directly after Harry left. Instead, they came in... a combination that McGuffin had never thought of.

Or it makes sense...

Snape, Horace Slughorn, and Black...

Of course, the three of them knew each other...

However, when McGuffin saw Horace dragging Black in, the expression on his face was also extremely surprised. It seemed that he had only just learned of Black's true identity.

(McGuffin had no choice but to lift the [Ear Shut Curse])

"It's a wonderful disguise! Blake... really surprised me! I really didn't expect..."

"I already knew that you were innocent...but...in Hogwarts, Snape and Black, who were at odds with each other, would actually be together...I can't even imagine that..."

Horace talked on and on, and McGuffin felt an indescribable excitement in his voice.

This old spider seems to have found another great prey.

Hear Horace bringing himself and the other side together.

Black and Snape didn't retort, their faces stretched long, and they each shook their heads and spat lightly at the opposite foot.

until the McGuffin's bed was reached,
Seeing the burlap bag on his head, and the endless little Geffen being sucked into it.

Horace stopped his chatter and focused his attention on the strange scene in front of him.

"No, that's all I said..." Blake pulled the blond wig on his head unnaturally, and said dryly.

Snape and Horace stopped, looking up and down at the McGuffins...or...the little Guffins on his head.

Snape even took out his wand directly, picked a small Guffin from the top of the McGuffin, grabbed it and studied it carefully. (Horace also moves closer)

"Excellent, how did this happen?"

"Although the two of us were preparing [Badley's Brain Refreshing Potion], we heard that a very special thing happened in [St. Mungo's Magical Hospital]... But I didn't expect it to be such an incredible magical miracle... And I heard that today because of this little thing, it caused a lot of commotion..."

When Horace stretched out his hand and was about to touch the little Geffen, he was directly shocked by the little thing with his wand, and he immediately cried out in pain.

"Ouch!...to be able to use magic power..."

With a gloomy face, Snape directly grasped it firmly in his hand, and the small thing directly turned into a silver thread of strong memory.

Although Blake had seen it before, when he saw this situation again, he still couldn't figure out how it was done.

"This, this... this..." Horace was speechless in surprise.

"Do I know what this is?"

Black and Horace turned to stare at Snape instantly.

Snape spat out a word coldly, "Horcrux!"

"No, no—impossible!"

Horace Slughorn turned pale with fright, and could no longer keep the old smile on his face.

His fat and stocky body staggered back and forth again and again, as if he was about to fall to the ground.

At this time, the door opened again.

Dumbledore walked in with his new long brown beard and... long hair of the same colour.

Not to mention, now that everything has calmed down, looking at the image of this old fox, he actually looks a few years younger out of thin air.

Horace held up his stubby fingers as if grasping at straws, and pointed tremblingly at Dumbledore who was approaching.

He stammered, and said eagerly, "It's you...is it you? Albus?"

"I know you've been trying to push that on me..."

"Dumbledore... did you make Severus say that?"

"What—" Dumbledore asked.

"..." Horace opened his mouth, and after a long time, he whispered the word just now, "—Horcrux!"

The word seemed to absorb all of Horace's energy.

After saying this word, his body trembled, and he approached McGuffin's bed weakly, and sat down on it... He buried his face deeply in his hands, and rubbed them hard.

Then he let go, took a few deep breaths, and finally pulled himself together again, glaring at Dumbledore and Snape.

Blake became even more curious about everything in front of him.

He turned to look at the McGuffin.

— Horcruxes!
MacGuffin Albert had told Harry once, and he knew a thing or two.

Isn't this thing the Dark Lord's undead reliance?Why did it involve Albert himself again?

"Nothing! Horace...you know me...I won't test you like this, you should know my style of doing things!" Dumbledore shook his head slowly and said with great certainty.

At this time, Snape also spoke, "Professor Horace, what do you mean, I mean... this thing looks like a Horcrux."

Snape picked up the silver thread-like memory with his wand and displayed it in front of everyone.

"Ah? Oh... so it's like this!" Horace realized that he had overreacted.

Dumbledore then explained that McGuffin's current [Occlumency] results and various coincidences caused everything to happen. Finally, he talked about his research and understanding of this thing...guessing how these little things appeared.

"Split from the human body...has a certain degree of intelligence...and can use magic power...has a connection with the body...conventional magic can't trap, can't kill..."

"Indeed, it is exactly the same as the characteristics of the [Horcrux] in the rumors." Snape counted them one by one, explaining his opinion.

"No,—no! How is this possible!!" Horace exclaimed.

Horace's eyes moved, and he looked at the top of the McGuffins... the kind of little Guffins who were constantly rushing towards the sack.

"[Horcrux] is not like this. It is an evil magic that splits the soul...accompanied by killing and despair...not to mention that the human soul has a certain quality, it has a limit...it cannot withstand such endless divisions..."

Horace seemed to realize something when he came back while talking, and immediately shut his mouth.

He turned his head and saw the old fox Dumbledore staring at him with a 'smile'... the smile was like catching a fat old hen.

After cursing secretly, Horace looked away, not knowing what to say for a while.

He himself clearly decided not to talk about the [Horcrux] anymore, and he rotted in his stomach about Tom Riddle asking him about the [Horcrux]...how come he said it all again.

Going on, the old guy will definitely let the old guy know his unbearable memory.

Fortunately, Dumbledore did not hold on to this topic.

He picked up his wand, pushed the memory off Snape's wand, and let it return to McGuffin's mind.

Then he said, "Horace, Snape... have you got it?"

"Ok?"

"That potion!"

"On Professor Slughorn!" said Snape.

"Oh, oh...here it is!"

Horace took out a glass bottle like a small wine bottle from his pocket, which was filled with something like jelly gel.

Trembling slightly in a transparent wine bottle,

Still glowing with golden light.

"This is..." Black was somewhat impressed, such a special potion is extremely rare in the magic world.

"Well, [Badrin's Brain Refreshing Potion]... Now that the sequelae on McGuffin's body are under control, he can start using this thing again."

"After all, those messy memories and thoughts are still occupying his brain. Once they are not cleared...Albert may still go crazy. Now, he is not the time to relax..."

"Go on!" Dumbledore threw it directly to McGuffin.

McGuffin, who originally wanted to play dumb and avoid these troublesome things, had no choice but to reach out and catch her.

"All right!"

Dumbledore's voice became a little louder, and his tone became more serious, and he was no longer so gentle and relaxed.

"I want to discuss one thing here..."

"...You should also know...or want to know such a thing. ——That is, what happened in the Ministry of Magic some time ago!"

"McGuffin, as the first party... tell them something?"

Black's gloomy eyes, Snape's goldfish eyes, and Horace's probing and curious eyes... Facing everyone's probing,

McGuffin had no choice but to speak, and then told his unlucky encounters in the Ministry of Magic...the black mist, the wrinkled skin monster, the Hall of Prophecy...until Voldemort's appearance...he said them all.

When Harry's prophecy ball was about to arrive, Dumbledore coughed twice and stopped him from continuing.

"Well, the next thing... is that I got there in time and drove Voldemort away!" said Dumbledore.

Hearing this name, Horace Slughorn trembled all over. He kept swallowing his saliva, and reconfirmed, "So? The rumors are right... That man has indeed returned!"

Horace stared at the MacGuffin as if contemplating some unimaginable miracle.

"You, you survived? You escaped from that person!"

McGuffin pointed at the top of his head with a wry smile, "If the mysterious man hadn't thought I was hopeless and completely crazy...I'm afraid he would never let me go!"

"Ah, that's right! That's right!" Horace reacted as he watched the Little Guffins constantly tumbling into the sack.

Then the chubby old guy reacted immediately, and he glared at Dumbledore, "No, no, no...I see, Albus, you want to pull me into your organization [Order of the Phoenix]...to fight against the mysterious man..."

"Albus, tell you, I won't join your Order of the Phoenix...you are crazy, I don't want to face that person...you can do whatever you want! Don't get involved with me...at worst, I'll go to North America...no, I'll go to East Asia! Go to those Chinese wizard's territory...It should be safe there, even Grindelwald's forces didn't touch it in the first place.”

With that said, Horace turned around and walked quickly to the door, ready to leave here.

"Professor Slughorn! I didn't intend to recruit you!" said Dumbledore.

"Just trying to use your memory and your wits... to figure out what really happened that night at the Ministry of Magic?"

"is it?"

Horace stopped immediately.

McGuffin saw it, the old guy was waiting for Dumbledore's words.

It seemed that the old spider also wanted to know what was going on with the Ministry of Magic, and he also wanted to know more information about the Dark Lord, just in case...it might be useful in the future.

Then, Snape, Horace, and Dumbledore began to explore the various magics that the Dark Lord had cast in the Ministry of Magic,
They asked McGuffin about the details of everything in the Ministry of Magic at the beginning.

Especially those new,...unheard, never-before-seen magic...

... black mist, wrinkled skin monster ...

"Horace, Fudge, have you studied the two patients in the ward next door? Gingrick and Ms. Hopekirk..." Dumbledore asked.

"No, but I got the details of those two patients from a healer in this hospital..."

"You guessed it right, Albus! It is indeed a contagious black magic curse... Of course it is not as strong and deadly as the [Black Death] hundreds of years ago; it is not the unsolvable transformation curse of [Lust Disease]; it is not even as good as the curse of [Haemophilia] or [Wendigorization]..."

"It's just a curse disease below the third level... It is spread through saliva in bites and scratches... It is the same level as Egyptian brain-eating worm disease, or Hydeia flesh-eating fungus... You don't have to worry about it." Horace said.

Snape nodded grimly in agreement.

"That's what I'm worried about! Although Voldemort's mana has not fully recovered, just looking at the black mist magic...you can know that he is capable of creating a more perfect contagious curse...He is not the kind of wizard who wastes his time creating such an inferior curse..."

"You mean?"

"This thing...isn't over!" Dumbledore showed a trace of worry in his eyes.

"Or...it's a half-finished product!" Snape said doubtfully as if recalling something.

"Perhaps!" Horace had to agree.

"Okay, don't talk about it, anyway, according to Fuji's character, it's impossible for us to get in touch with those two patients...It's useless to guess here!...Okay, let's go out and have a drink!"

"By the way, when did you two get your haircut...Dumbledore, you have a nice haircut! You look a lot younger..." Horace said, looking at Black and Dumbledore.

This made Blake very uncomfortable. He pressed the back of his head, for fear that the wig would fall off directly.

Dumbledore was calm, as if nothing had happened, he turned to McGuffin and said, "Albert...you can only drop two drops of [Badrin's Brain Rejuvenation Potion] in your hand...three times...mix it with water and drink it each time."

"I think you also know the terrible consequences of improper use of this medicine!"

"I know, Professor!"

"Well, school is about to start, especially this semester...Professor Snape, Horace and I will be very busy, and we won't be able to stay here after today. That's why I gave you this potion in advance, you have to be careful with it," Dumbledore instructed.

"Take good care of your illness, maybe you can catch up with... the top ten competition."

"Top ten???"

McGuffin was so surprised that he thought he had heard wrong.

"That's right, the Top Ten Tournament!!... The ten most outstanding magic schools in the world will gather at Hogwarts to decide... the best young wizards in the contemporary wizarding world..."

"This is...the biggest event in the history of the wizarding world!" Dumbledore said quite excitedly.

(End of this chapter)