While the whole of England was shrouded in a gloomy mist, there was only one place left that Voldemort and his henchmen could not touch, and that was Hogwarts, hundreds of miles away from London, hidden in the mountains and forests of Scotland.

And at this moment when the sun is setting, Hogwarts is welcoming several wizards wearing standard robes, and from the insignia on their robes, it can be guessed that they should be wizards from the Ministry of Magic in London.

The closed doors of Hogwarts slowly opened, and the professors, led by Professor McGonagall, greeted the visitors from London.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor McGonagall." It was a strong, capable wizard, who looked like an old lion with a brown mane, and a pair of sharp yellow eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses, and he held out his rough hand to shake Professor McGonagall's hand.

"Welcome, Mr. Scrimgeour," Professor McGonagall said, "did you bring the entire Auror office with you?"

"That's pretty much it, ma'am, and some experts in spells," Scrimgeour glared at every professor present, "I'm here to introduce you, this is Gadvin. Robaz, he's ready to take over the position of Director of the Auror Office, and Hogwarts security will be in his hands."

"So, should I call you 'Minister'? So the rumors are true, Minister," a flash of disdain flashed in Professor McGonagall's eyes, "while the man who can't even name us threatens us, our Ministry of Magic is still fighting for power for that position?"

"It is because of times like these that we need stronger leaders, ma'am." Scrimgeour replied forcefully, "Ms. Bones was mistaken a week ago, so who better fit than me?"

"What?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, the hat on her head even crooked, and the professors behind her uneasy to turn their heads to each other, the news was terrible,

"No wonder she didn't attend these meetings......" Professor McGonagall muttered to herself, her eyes a little dazed,

"I think tomorrow's Daily Prophet will report on this," Scrimgeour looked at Professor McGonagall, "and now, I think you've received our owls, and the manpower Gadwin and I have brought will strengthen the campus, and we need the help of the professors."

"Yes, of course," Professor McGonagall nodded, recovering from Ms. Bones' bad news, and Professor Flitwick stepped forward, "That's what we're waiting here for."

"Very well," Scrimgeour nodded, and he stepped into the campus, his leg a little lame, but the way he walked was reminiscent of a lion patrolling the territory, and Professor McGonagall led the new Minister of Magic to the castle,

The professors and the wizards of the Ministry of Magic followed closely behind, with a little awkward detachment from each other, and the Ministry of Magic had not been very friendly to the teachers at Hogwarts for the past year, as most of the professors were always close to Dumbledore.

"I must apologize," Scrimgeer said, gesturing across the lawn outside the campus, "I heard that just a few weeks ago, my men injured you here."

"What are you talking about, Minister?" Professor McGonagall looked like she really didn't know and asked,

Scrimgeour was choking on what he was about to say, and it was clear that he hadn't expected Professor McGonagall to say that,

"I'm talking about the one in mid-June...... My Aurors at Hogwarts 'self-defense measures taken without proper procedures.'" Scrimgeour said slowly, word by word,

"I see," Professor McGonagall said, as if in a flash of dawn, "I don't think we agree on that, Minister."

"The people involved have been punished, ma'am, and it doesn't really help them to throw them into Azkaban," Scrimgeour stressed, "and it is necessary for them to contribute their strength in this critical moment."

"Do what you have to do, Minister," Professor McGonagall replied lightly, "I think the late Miss Bones would have had a different opinion, and that's the difference between you, don't you think?"

"Lady Bones is a great witch, and we are all sorry to pass her away." Scrimgeour responded equally coldly,

"I don't think you've spent a whole week regretting this." Professor McGonagall said contemptuously, which made Scrimgeour furious, and his mane-like hair seemed to stand on end.

Scrimgeour didn't like the topic at all, as it was a sign that the Ministry of Magic was unable to protect its important officials, and he shuddered at the discovery, and if he could, he didn't want to make the news of Lady Burns' murder public.

But as time passed, Ms. Bones, who was the head of the Department of Magical Law, never came to work, and the news could no longer be hidden.

"Of course it's more than that, ma'am," Scrimgeour tried to show patience, "we've done a lot of investigating, we've got some suspicious targets, and our Ministry of Magic is still strong."

"I hope your suspicious target isn't Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said, "Dlux should be drinking in Hogmund by now, I think he lost Dumbledore again today."

"Merlin, ma'am, don't you think Dumbledore should tell us what he's planning?" Scrimgeour's face fell, and a cold emotion flashed in his eyes, "He didn't even participate in strengthening the defense of the campus, what the hell was he thinking?"

"I suggest you ask him personally, Minister." Professor McGonagall replied calmly, undeterred by Scrimgeour's attitude,

"Good advice." Scrimgeour squeezed the words out of his lips as the group stepped into the castle's vestibule, and Professor McGonagall glanced up in the direction of the Headmaster's Tower and quickly lowered her head,

She was a little surprised at what she found, because she had just seen the flash of the phoenix, could it be that Dumbledore, who had left Hogwarts early this morning, had already returned to school?

A hint of worry flashed in Professor McGonagall's eyes. Snape didn't come with the professors to greet the officials of the Ministry of Magic, could these things be related?

But she couldn't ask Dumbledore now, and the magic circle that had set up the protective spell with the officials of the Ministry of Magic was the most important thing she needed to concentrate on right now.

───────

Sweat was sliding down Lawrence's cheeks, Dumbledore was curled up in the chair of the headmaster's room, in a semi-unconscious state, Dumbledore's right hand was charred like a dead object, the ring finger on the top was wearing a ring, and the gem on the top had a clear crack,

Lawrence carefully controlled his wand and removed the cursed ring from Dumbledore's finger, he didn't dare touch it with his hands, but placed the ring on Dumbledore's table along with Gryffindor's sword.

Lawrence spun his wand and whispered a spell, complex syllables coming out of his mouth, and mysterious words with a halo swirled and fell on Dumbledore's terrifying black right hand, and the incantation surveyed to stop the spread of the curse,

Fortunately, Dumbledore himself was an extremely powerful wizard, otherwise such a curse would probably kill him the moment it was contaminated, but Lawrence was not optimistic, because he felt that the power of the curse was getting stronger,

Lawrence beckoned, and a silver cauldron flew out of a storage cupboard, and Lawrence couldn't control his strength, and accidentally swept a silver vessel on Dumbledore's desk to the ground.

Then the various cardboard boxes containing the materials were rudely removed from the storage cabinet, and Lawrence lit the flames and began to boil the life-sustaining potion for two purposes, which he could only do, and hoped that Dumbledore would wake up or Snape would return to school,

The silver cauldron was not easy to control, especially when he had to be distracted and recite the spell, time passed quickly, he didn't know that he had boiled the first few life-sustaining potions, and each time the potions took effect became shorter and shorter.

When Fawkes entered the headmaster's room with Snape, Lawrence swore that he had never been so happy to see his dead man's expression, and he finally closed his eyes and sat down in the armchair opposite Dumbledore to rest.

When Snape poured a full cup of golden potion into Dumbledore's throat, the wrinkles in the corners of Dumbledore's eyes trembled, and he opened his eyes and woke up,

"You said you'd be there next week," Snape angrily pointed to the ring on the table, "and you know there's a curse on it, so why wear it?"

"This is the Gaunt ring...... I...... It's stupid, I'm so tempted......

"Tempted by something, what's in this ring?" Snape asked, and Lawrence looked up, both of them looking at Dumbledore's pained expression, but Dumbledore didn't answer the question,

"It's a miracle you're still alive!" Snape flew into a rage, "If Fawkes hadn't found Rovander, or if I had come a little later, you'd have died."

Dumbledore raised his blackened right hand as if he was studying something interesting,

"You've done a good job, and now that it's come to this, how long do you think I'll live?" Dumbledore asked in a calm tone, as if asking about tomorrow's weather, Lawrence and Snape exchanged a gloomy look,

"A year? No, maybe two years?" Snape replied hesitantly,

"Two years at most, I think," Lawrence agreed, "the power of the spell will get stronger and stronger, and as it spreads, you'll get weaker and weaker, Professor."

Dumbledore smiled, it seemed that such bad news did not hurt his mood too much,

"Much better than I thought," Dumbledore said briskly, "I'm lucky, really lucky."

"Not at all, Dumbledore," Snape said viciously, "I mentioned to you earlier that the Dark Lord's plan, and just this morning, Draco had been branded with his mark."

"Well, it's a lot simpler, right?" Looking at Lawrence and Snape in bewilderment, Dumbledore smiled happily, "Isn't it just that Voldemort is going to let that Malfoy kid kill me?"

Snape frowned and sat down in another armchair next to Lawrence, and they and Dumbledore looked across the desk.

"The Dark Lord didn't expect Draco to succeed, he was just punishing Lucius for his failures, and he was expecting Draco to be caught and tormented by the Malfoys."

"That is, that kid was sentenced to death like me," Dumbledore said, "If Draco fails, you'll be the one to succeed him, right?"

Snape's throat moved, as if swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and finally he admitted,

"I think that's the Dark Lord's final plan."

"Seems Voldemort has foreseen that he will no longer need an agent hidden in Hogwarts in the near future?"

"Yes, he believes he'll be able to take over the school soon."

"And once the school does fall into his clutches," Dumbledore whispered, "you swore to me that you would do everything in your power to protect the students of Hogwarts, right?"

Snape nodded forcefully, as if he had exhausted his strength,

"Very well, then your first task is to figure out what Draco wants to do, a frightened kid can cause harm to others or to himself, help him, protect him, he will accept it, he likes you-"

"He doesn't like me that much since his father fell out of power, and Decora thinks it's all my fault, he thinks I've usurped Lucius's place."

"Try your best, that kid's plan might hurt other innocent people, and that was more important than my life, but in the end, there was only one way to save him from Voldemort's wrath."

"You want him to kill you?" Snape raised an eyebrow,

Lawrence coughed lightly, Dumbledore moved his gaze to Lawrence slightly, he smiled and blinked, Lawrence couldn't understand why Dumbledore could discuss his death so calmly,

"Of course not. I want you to kill me."

There was a long silence in the principal's room, until Fawkes bit in

His own dinner, there was a strange click, and the silence was broken,

"How about I do it now?" There was a deep sarcasm in Snape's voice, "Or wait a little longer, and I'll do it when you've written your own epitaph?"

"Oh, not now, Severus," Dumbledore said with a smile, "I dare say that the moment will come when it should be, as it should be tonight." He held up his withered right hand and said, "I'm sure I won't live, a year is no different from two."

Lawrence coughed lightly again, but was muffled by Snape's gruff voice,

"If you're not afraid of death," Snape roared, "why don't you just let Draco do it?"

"That child's soul hasn't fallen to that point," Dumbledore said, "I can't let his soul be ruined because of me."

"So my soul is hopelessly degenerated, isn't it, Dumbledore?" Snape roared, "So my soul should continue to fall, right?"

"You know very well that helping an old man to relieve pain and humiliation will not degrade your soul." Dumbledore said gently,

"I beg you to do me this favor, Severus, for I'm as sure I'm dead, just as the Chadley Artillery will certainly continue to be at the bottom of the league, and I confess that I want to die a happy death, so that I can be relieved of all the troubles—"

"Huh?" Lawrence let out a loud, Umbridge-like snort, which caused Snape to glare at him,

"Philosopher's Stone." Lawrence said,

"What?" Snape was stunned, then he understood and shut his mouth,

"I seem to have something they need," Lawrence tapped on the arm of his chair, "Why don't I react rather than wait for them to come to me when they're ready?"

"Looks like you're not going to free me from this mass of troubles, Lawrence." Dumbledore smiled, the twinkle in his eyes, and he thought for a moment before asking, "What are you going to do?"

"First, I need to know what they want from me," Lawrence said, "and then devise a plan from that—"

"So you want?"

"I need the location of the Lemay in Devonshire Manor." Lawrence said,

"There's a protective charm hiding it." Dumbledore's serene countenance,

"If the thirteenth Hydro is dead, the manor should be ownerless according to the conditions of the original inheritance, and the protective charm will be weakened accordingly."

"And what if he doesn't die?"

"If he's smart enough to hide the fact that he's not dead—" Lawrence said, "he should give up the inheritance of the manor in due course, and the protective charm will weaken when the manor becomes ownerless."

"Quite right." Dumbledore approving, "I'm not sure if there will be any clues left in the manor, but it's certainly a good place to start."

"They've reconciled with the Dark Lord." Snape snapped, "The Dark Lord seems to have sent his most loyal servants to contact them, and Selwyn is no longer a target for the Death Eaters."

"Things change so fast, don't they...... So," Dumbledore said slowly, "we need to have a backup plan, if I don't die - to protect the Malfoys."