The rain crackled on the window edge of Dumbledore's office, and the gray sky was full of dark clouds, like dead wood scorched by charcoal fire, and Fawkes was asleep on the perch, and on a rainy day, both humans and animals would unconsciously get sleepy.

Wrapped in a blue robe of the stars and moon, Dumbledore did not have the grace of the tall wizard on his head, and naturally let his white hair and beard hang down together, and he paced through the room, passing through the smoky silverware.

At this time, there was a knock on the door, and he said, "Come in." ”

"Excuse me."

Ning An Shi Ran walked into the headmaster's office at Hogwarts, he looked up and down this room, as if it was the first time to come here, because of the rain outside the window, the room was half bright and half dark, and the portraits of the previous headmasters on the wall were sleeping soundly in the picture frame, but it was Fawkes, a beautiful and extraordinary bird, after seeing Ning An's arrival, stuck his head out from under his wings, woke up, and looked at him vigilantly.

"Good afternoon, Ning An, sit down." Dumbledore said lightly.

"Thank you." Ning An sat down on the chair that Dumbledore was pointing at, retracting his gaze from the perimeter of the office, and colliding his gaze with Dumbledore, "I'm glad you're willing to teach me ancient magical knowledge, it's really rare, at least in my opinion, it's- a very respectable choice." ”

"I'm glad you're willing to learn." Dumbledore smiled, "Would you like something to drink?" ”

"Thank you so much," said Ningan, "I have a lot of Aquavit in my office in Durmstrang, and I entertained him with Karkaroff's treasures the last time Professor Snape came to visit." ”

"Severus isn't good at drinking," Dumbledore turned and walked briskly to a tall cabinet with a shallow stone basin and many wine bottles, he took it out, handed Ning An a glass of wine, poured it himself, and then returned to his desk.

"Is that a meditation basin?" Ning An asked.

"Ah, yes, you know this thing—" Dumbledore narrowed, "an ancient thing, used to store thoughts that can't fit in your head." ”

"Read on ancient literature." Ning An took a sip of wine and said quietly: "Many ancient skills, those skills that belong to the old wizards, are now circulating less and less, I think you are one of the few people who are still proficient and master these skills——"

"That's the teacher's job, to teach ancient skills and train young minds, to ensure this inheritance, and you are also the headmaster of the magic school, Ning An, I think you should understand the attraction of the profession of a teacher." Dumbledore was still smiling, "This should be what we have in common. ”

"So you're going to teach it to me now?"

Ning An dangled the wine glass, naturally put one leg on the other, he looked up at the hanging portrait on the wall, in a certain picture frame, a yellow-faced wizard with short black hair on his forehead, was secretly looking at him from under his nose, when Ning An looked over, he hurriedly closed his eyes again, snoring realistically.

"Not exactly," said Dumbledore, "love cannot be taught, Ning'an, and since you are aware of its existence, you should understand that love can only be felt, and so is the magic of love." ”

Ning An lowered his head thoughtfully, took another sip of wine, and fell into a brief silence between the two, Dumbledore did not break this silence, but waited for Ning An to speak with a happy expression.

"Let's get to the point, Professor Dumbledore," after a moment, Ning An said, "You must know that since I left here, I have seen a lot, and I have done a lot, many things that have never been heard of, and I have never seen it, and now I need this power, and this magic means a lot to me, even to you-"

Dumbledore looked at Ning An from his cup for a moment before speaking.

"Yes, I know you must have seen a lot, done a lot, and even done a lot when you were in school, I'm afraid you have already done a lot." He said calmly:

"Until now, I think about it, and I think maybe there would have been a better way to deal with it, and if half of what you did was real, then I would be very sorry."

"You think I'm Voldemort?" Ning An asked with an interesting smile.

"No, you won't be Voldemort, Ning'an, you're not that crazy yet, that's why you're still sitting in this office today." Dumbledore said elegantly:

"But the way you deal with the problem, on some issues, IMHO...... A very serious mistake was made. ”

"So, you're going to go back?" Ning An smiled, without a half-displeased expression, "You won't teach me those magics anymore?" ”

"Love is power, and it can't be summed up in magic." Dumbledore corrected calmly, "I'm already teaching you, Ning'an. ”

"I don't know if you know about the experiments I've done." Ning An said, gradually losing his smile, "I have done a lot of experiments, and the experiments that can bring the dead souls back to the world are very close...... It's close...... It's just one step away......"

"Maybe you shouldn't have done this kind of experiment at all." Dumbledore reminded: "Interfering with the freedom of life and death will only bring endless disasters to yourself, even if you are a wizard with high mana, you should not challenge some bottom lines, you should know this truth." ”

Ning An stood up from his chair, no longer chuckling, but maintained a peaceful serenity, pacing, circling around Dumbledore's desk, and quickly turned his gaze to the cabinet behind him where the meditation basin was placed, and above the wine bottles above the cabinet, in a small cubicle, there were old picture frames.

In the frame is a young girl, looking timid, with braided hair and a pair of large eyes that are smart and lovely.

"Familiar people."

Ning An sighed, "You're a true wizard with high mana, Professor Dumbledore—didn't you ever think of retrieving those who really matter to you?" You must know that the world of life and death is not so far apart, maybe just standing at opposite ends of the door. ”

Dumbledore's shoulders shook silently, and he paused for a moment and said, "What exactly do you want?" Ning'an, maybe we should be really frank for once. ”

"You know, Mr. Professor, creating a new wizarding order, establishing a higher purpose, for the greater good, these things have never been the first thing for me......"

Ning An turned around and gently put the wine glass in his hand on the table, those silver instruments started to run at some point, making a rhythmic ding-dong sound, and the small silver pipe at the top spewed out wisps of pale green light smoke, gathering in the air...... But it has never been able to converge into a useful image.

"I only focus on my family, my friends, and that's what I've always been aiming for."

"I hope you understand your family differently than another student I taught." Dumbledore also put down the empty cup, put his hands together in a customary position.

"I think we can work together." Ning An stood still and said lightly: "I have a way to resurrect the person you want to resurrect, of course, the premise is that you also need some special powers, such as the magic of love I said, you are better at this than me...... So, Mr. Professor, what should you think about......"

Ning An's gaze drifted to the photo frame placed at the top of the cabinet, intentionally or unintentionally.

For a moment, Dumbledore's body was like a leaf falling in the wind, giving people a sense of disillusionment that was about to drift away, he twisted his body and looked back at Ning An with difficulty, an expression of incredible surprise flashed on his face, as if he was shocked at how Ning An could know so many things, or explore the most secret emotions in his heart.

The light smoke from the instrument turned into a steady puff of smoke at this time, thicker and thicker, swirling in the air, vaguely changing into the appearance of a human face, which seemed to be a girl, and then into a handsome young wizard, before the smoke finally turned into the thin face of Dumbledore as if he was young, a wand tapped the instrument, and the sound slowed down, and the face faded into invisible smoke and disappeared.

Dumbledore looked at Ning An with a scrutinizing gaze, his eyes full of incredible amazement, as if something incomprehensible had happened.

"Is this some kind of Spiritual Psychic that I don't understand?" He spoke slowly, with a hint of relief and more admiration and surprise.

"That's not the professor."

Ning An shook his head a little weakly, he could know about Dumbledore's sister Ariana, purely because of his understanding of this world, it was hard to imagine that any wizard's dementorship could break through Dumbledore's brain blockage and go through his mind and memories.

"Let's get back to business." Dumbledore sighed deeply:

"I'm sorry, Ning An, I'm afraid I can't cooperate with you, I've made it very clear, it's dangerous, it's taboo-breaking, some costs won't be in plain sight, when you can't see it, it doesn't mean they don't exist, and this price is usually unbearable."

"That's your decision, right? Even that doesn't make you tickle? Ning An walked back to where he had stood when he entered, looking at Dumbledore calmly.

"Yes." Dumbledore also returned to his desk, standing in front of his high back chair.

"Then we don't have anything to talk about? It seems that I can only come on my own-" Ning An shook his head and said jokingly, "I don't know if Voldemort will be interested in working with me in this regard." ”

"With all due respect, he knows very little about certain magic." Dumbledore said sadly.

"Haha, so that's why you never worry about going to the other side, that's why you refuse to cooperate with me, Professor?"

"No, I've been trying to get you, Ning'an, whether it's Durmstrang's exchange or the lecture you want, but obviously it's a better decision." There was a certain mixture of grief and sadness on his face

"Not everything can be reversed, and if you can't learn to suffer the consequences of your own misdeeds, you'll never become a truly qualified wizard."

"Thank you, thank you for keeping me here for so long, Professor." Ning An didn't say anything more, he saluted Dumbledore, "Thank you for saying so much to me—"

"Of course I can't use magic to intimidate you, Ning'an." Dumbledore said sincerely, "You are so gifted, unprecedented, that it will give you a unique understanding of magic...... But I hope ...... Ning An, I hope you can give up such thoughts...... That will only drag you to hell. ”

"It's not a big deal, Professor Dumbledore." Ning An had already walked to the door of the office, Phoenix Fawkes had already woken up, its golden feathers standing up, it raised its beautiful head and neck, and looked at him with bright black eyes.

"I've been in hell." Ning An said and pushed the door open, and when the door closed again, he was gone.

Dumbledore slowly sat back in the high-backed chair behind his desk, the clouds outside the window were thicker, or maybe the sun was about to set, in short, the sky seemed to suddenly turn dark, and the room was about to lose its last bit of light, but the candle on the table suddenly burned on its own.

The candlelight flickered, and Dumbledore sighed softly.

"I said you should have taken that wizard more seriously," a shrewd-eyed witch suddenly opened her eyes in the portrait behind her, "and it's clear that you're not leading talented wizards to the right path right now." ”

"He can't be blamed for that." An old wizard who looked frail shouted, as if he was actively defending Dumbledore, was that the former Headmaster of Hogwarts, Armando? "That kid is as proud and untamed as Voldemort, and the first time I saw it, I was sure that it was exactly the same, exactly the same—"

"I think he noticed that we were pretending to be asleep." The yellow-faced wizard with short black hair said with palpitations: "The way he looks at me is stinging, and I haven't seen such eyes for a long time." ”

"You're getting useless, Evra." A lazy taunt rang out from another frame, "I think he's a good fit to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts, if Dumbledore is willing to abdicate and make way for ......."

"Shut up, Phineas!" Next to Evra's frame, an old witch with long silver curls reprimanded, and the wizard known as Phineas snorted, then lost his voice and hid behind the frame.

"Do you need our help, Dumbledore—" The old witch with long silver hair asked Dumbledore who was leaning back in his high-backed chair with concern, and the latter's face was slightly tired.

"Thank you, Dalys." The current principal thanked him softly, "Not for now. ”

The witch named Dalyse in the frame looked at Dumbledore worriedly, and said worriedly, "What do you think...... That one...... What will you do, child? Dumbledore? ”

Dumbledore didn't answer her words, but sat in a high-backed chair, looked at the empty office door in front of him, and suddenly muttered to himself

"Department of Mysteries...... The most mysterious of the rooms......"