Chapter 40: The Headmaster

Arthur was taken back.

He immediately recognized the owner of the voice - the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore.

Arthur was sure he hadn't seen anyone in the classroom when he entered.

'Probably he used a Disillusionment Charm' Arthur thought silently, but he did not say anything about it.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Professor Dumbledore," Arthur said with a smile, not bothering to answer the headmaster's question.

Dumbledore, still smiling, walked over to Arthur's side and explained why he had come.

"I originally came to persuade Mr. Potter, as he has been coming here for three days in a row, but I happened to accidentally heard your conversation on the way."

"What you said was right. We can't always live in fantasies. We have to face reality," Dumbledore continued.

Arthur cursed the old man secretly after hearing this.

'What do you mean 'happened to accidentally hear'? You've been following Harry all the way, haven't you?'

He cursed silently in his heart but put on a smile and replied, "Professor, what I said was my honest opinion, but I am also very curious about what this mirror can show."

Arthur didn't hide anything from this old fox, knowing that lying to him would be useless, even though he was confident in his own Occlumency.

But this old fox could read a person's qualities simply through observation.

After listening, Dumbledore showed great interest.

"Mr. Gaunt, I am actually very curious about what the most brilliant wizard of Hogwarts in the last 50 years can see in this mirror. Can you tell me more about it?"

"Sorry, Professor, you appeared before I saw it," Arthur said, feeling that the man appeared too fast. He himself didn't even know what was in the mirror yet.

After he finished speaking, he looked towards the mirror, and the picture inside slowly appeared, becoming clear from being blurry.

Finally, Arthur saw it. It turned out that the thing he had been longing for the most was...

He was speechless for a long time.

Dumbledore curiously asked, "Mr. Gaunt, what did you see?"

Looking at himself in the mirror, he was surrounded by Cho, Hermione who had grown up, and several other women living happily together in a manor.

Arthur's face turned red.

'This was definitely fake. How could he be so playboy?'

However, looking at the image in the mirror, this kind of life didn't seem too bad...

He shook his head, shaking off some wrong thoughts for his age.

Now the most important thing is to deal with Dumbledore.

"Professor, I saw Cho in the mirror, and we have a very good relationship," Arthur told the truth, but not completely.

Dumbledore was an old and experienced man, how could he not see that Arthur was holding something back? The brief expression on Arthur's face earlier could not deceive him.

He didn't expose Arthur, instead, he nodded in agreement.

"Young people are full of energy these days. As an old man, all I see in the mirror is my woolen socks. I never have enough socks to wear each year. By the way, thank you for the Christmas gift, Mr. Gaunt. I have never received a pair of red woolen socks before. They are very nice."

Arthur thought to himself, 'Dumbledore, you old cunning fox. If what you saw in the mirror wasn't your sister or Grindelwald, I would go find Voldemort right now."

But he couldn't say that out loud. He didn't want to spend any more time with Professor Dumbledore.

His Occlumency was working at full speed, making sure that his sarcastic thoughts were not caught in his words.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way, Professor. As you know, the Christmas homework isn't easy."

With a random excuse, Arthur was ready to leave.

Dumbledore didn't stop him and nodded in understanding.

"If you have time, you can come to my office for a visit. The password is Sherbet Lemon. It would be even better if you could bring your phoenix. Fawkes hasn't seen his races in many years."

Arthur agreed and turned and left the classroom.

At least Arthur could tell from their conversation that Dumbledore was still fairly friendly towards him. Arthur wasn't afraid of Dumbledore, but he didn't want to lose his peaceful life now.

In this school, he had Cho, many friends, and a group of good professors. For Arthur, who was an orphan in two worlds, this was the warmth of family that he had never felt before.

Arthur knew that he had too many secrets, and Dumbledore would eventually catch him.

However, it seemed that Dumbledore had been keeping an eye on him for a while now, and the fact that he hadn't approached him for a conversation or caused any trouble showed that Arthur's actions hadn't had a useful impact on his plans.

'Still not strong enough. If I had enough power, Dumbledore wouldn't easily make an enemy of me, even if he knew there was a Voldemort' Arthur thought, and his desire for strength deepened.

But he also knew that he had already made great progress in his strength, and he could not improve much through training at this level. But He still needed Gacha System's help.

For the next few days, Arthur barely left his room, consumed by the study of alchemy in his mind.

In this case, the Christmas holidays quickly ended, and Cho was finally returning to Hogwarts.

...

https://www.patreon.com/Abyssuit

You can find up to 35 advance chapters at my patreon.