In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 58: Banquet Hall and Headmaster's Office (2)

It was only then that the wizards in the banquet hall realized that this evening's banquet was actually a welcome reception.

The noble-born wizards and witches listened to the great sir narrate to them how their former head had managed to stay dormant under that wizard sinner, obtaining his trust and retrieving the lost philosopher's stone spectacularly.

The crowd in the banquet hall admired Slughorn's patience, and complimented Sir's far-sightedness, all the while scorning Dumbledore's vile and brazen attempt to steal his friend's treasure.

After all, on the surface, when Nicolas Flamel's philosopher's stone was stolen, he personally came to the Ministry of Magic to report it, and now the stone was brought back by Slughorn from Dumbledore's possession, the crime of theft, as well as the murder, of course, should be rightfully placed on his head.

The sir kindly supported the arm of the fat walrus and asked with a smile on his face.

"I actually always miss Professor Dumbledore, when I was in school, in addition to you, only he took good care of me, but unfortunately there was not much opportunity to see him again over the years, I wonder if he is living well recently?"

Slughorn smiled joyfully, his kind face appeared as if it would never show any dark expression.

"Albus is getting old after all, and he has spent all day in the wagon travelling without much free time, I heard that he has been suffering from serious insomnia lately, he can't even eat much; for a good piece of steak, he can only move his fork at most twice before he can't eat it anymore."

A light laugh rang out in the banquet hall, and by the tone of Slughorn's voice, they could all picture the image of a teetering, dying old man struggling to support that band of rebels in their minds.

The great sir also laughed, or the whole banquet hall actually was catering to the expression on his face, as if, if he was laughing, others would also laugh, if he was unhappy, all others would also be gloomy and silent.

"Ah, that's really unfortunate." He laughed lightly, "I just ate a plate of beef ribs with Cornelius, Professor Dumbledore should be like me and eat a little more normally, health is the most important thing."

Minister of Magic Fudge quickly chimed in to agree.

"Or sir's appetite is excellent, I have been suffering from stomach problems in the past two days, just now I have not eaten more than a few pieces at all."

The great sir just patted his shoulder, as he smiled and said.

"Professor Dumbledore has suffered, I will pick him up later so that he can enjoy his old age, otherwise he has to run around like a child at such an old age, what is the point of torturing himself like this?"

Another burst of undisguised laughter rang out in the banquet hall, that laughter was full of mockery.

---

"But there's one thing I don't understand, Professor."

Jon frowned, wanting to ask all his unanswered questions today.

"If the Dark Lord could let Teacher steal the philosopher's stone from the wagon, why not let him do something more worthwhile? For instance, the teacher has revealed our exact location to him three times in a row, so why didn't he come over himself?"

Dumbledore blinked as the dim light reflected off his moon-shaped glasses.

"So what you're really trying to ask is why he didn't just wipe us out when he obviously had the opportunity to do so, right?"

Jon nodded, in fact, he can feel that as long as Voldemort came to block Dumbledore for some time, there is no need to defeat him, as long as he can hold him for a while, then with the absolute numerical superiority of Aurors and Death Eaters, it will be easy to solve them all.

"Jon, as I told you before, he's not worried about the philosopher's stone creating wealth for Hogwarts or anyone else around me, he's afraid that I'll be able to rely on that stone to continue to live, and the answer to your question is actually the same."

With this simple reminder from Dumbledore, Jon's mind clicked and came up with his own answer!

Hogwarts in exile and the resistance force of the Order of the Phoenix, it does not matter in the eyes of Voldemort, all that matters is the person who leads these two organizations to go on!

In this world without the saviour, if Hogwarts even lost Dumbledore, then there is really no future.

At the same time, now Dumbledore is treated as the only spiritual pillar of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix.

If Voldemort truly destroys the wagon, the Vitality of the Order of the Phoenix will be extinguished, then what will Dumbledore do when there is no attachment and considerations to hold him back?

Desperate people will always be ten thousand times more frightening than those who have hope.

The Hogwarts with only a few dozen students would be left alone til Dumbledore's death, it would be like putting shackles on Dumbledore, for the sake of these children, he would not take any major risks, and would not have any deadly ideas.

As long as they didn't extinguish his hope which is as feeble as a candle flame, then Dumbledore would simply try to play it safe, and it is also the best bet for Voldemort.

As for the only remaining muggle students on the wagon who are not oppressed and enslaved, Dumbledore is their last protective barrier, if one day in the future, the old man is also gone, then the magical world's sky will be completely blacked out.

Voldemort's best choice now is to make a quantitative suppression on Hogwarts, to keep it from developing and growing too much at the same time without letting it completely destroyed.

Jon even started to suspect that this Hogwarts is still able to snatch Muggle-born students from that Hogwarts castle every year until now, most likely because Voldemort intended to allow it.

He wants to keep the candle flame kept lit until Dumbledore's life completely burned out for the sake of this flickering candle flame which is about to die out!

After thinking about this point, Jon fell silent.

He looked at the old man with white hair and beard and knew very well that even if wizards can generally live more than one or two hundred years, the constant strain caused by fighting against two generations of Dark Lords almost all his life, exhausted a lot of his vigour.

Dumbledore seems to have sensed Jon's somewhat distressed mood and smiled brightly.

"No need to feel bad for me, Jon, I'm not doing this for anyone, it's just something I want to do. Just like your teacher, if it was in the past, who would have believed he actually had the guts to go undercover?"

Jon hesitated, and after a moment of hesitation, he finally decided to ask, the question he had actually always wanted to ask since the day he was brought to this wagon by Lily.

"Professor, I want to know, how did you lose to the Dark Lord at that time? Is he really so powerful that no one can defeat him?

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