Chapter 144: The man behind the curtain (Edited)

With all his attention on Quirrell, Dumbledore didn't notice that Fish was hiding something, or didn't care what information Fish was hiding.

He narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Attack the unicorns, get their blood... and..."

"You mean there was another voice in Quirinus' body, right?" confirmed Dumbledore to Fish with a serious look.

Fish nodded vigorously, "Aha! And Stinky Guy called him 'master', meow."

If Dumbledore couldn't guess what was going on, then he was truly confused.

"I thought Quirinus was only tempted by Tom... I didn't think he would join Quirinus..." Dumbledore lowered his head and muttered softly.

And then he was heard by Professor McGonagall at his side.

"What? you already knew something was wrong with Quirrell? and yet you hired him to teach at Hogwarts?!!!"

Despite being the headmaster, Professor McGonagall rebuked loudly without hesitation.

"I need a reason that convinces me, otherwise I will resign my post next year and take Fish with me and transfer to Beauxbatons or Ilvermorny." Said Professor McGonagall.

"Minerva~ Minerva~Will there be less homework at those two schools nya?" ? (●?ω?●)?

Hearing that there were other schools, Fish couldn't resist grabbing Professor McGonagall's robe and asking.

"I can't bear to lose a great student like you," Dumbledore smiled and patted Fish's head, "So I'll do my best to convince Minerva to stay, and as far as I know, the work at those two schools is no easier than at Hogwarts."

"Yes? So Minerva, let's not go, I'm a little sad about Lochlin and the Big Man..."

With Fish's words, Professor McGonagall was finally less angry, but she still needed an explanation from Dumbledore.

"Don't worry, Minerva," Dumbledore's tone was calm, "I'll tell you all about it later."

But before he could do that, he had to get rid of little Fish.

"You did a great job last night, Fish, I'll give you a dragon egg for your birthday, and remember to keep last night a secret and not tell anyone else." Dumbledore patted Fish's little head and instructed.

Fish looked at Professor McGonagall, and when he nodded, he agreed.

"Well meow, Fish keeps his mouth shut!" ?(●Φ×Φ●)?

After explaining to Fish, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall dismissed him.

Then Professor McGonagall, still furious, stared at Dumbledore, waiting for the explanation.

"At first, I didn't know there was anything wrong with Quirinus."

Dumbledore was the first to deny that he had recruited Quirrell to Hogwarts when he knew there was something wrong with him.

It was also true that Quirrell had been a Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts before he was possessed by Voldemort, and it was because he knew he was going to change to Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that he had taken a year off to gain practical experience.

When he traveled to Albania, he was unlucky enough to be tricked and possessed by Voldemort.

Professor McGonagall agrees, as she has worked with Quirrell for some time and knows that it was this year when he started wearing that huge scarf and stuttering.

It seemed to be his disguise after being possessed by Voldemort.

"Then, I found out that someone was after the Philosopher's Stone that Nicolas Flamel had given me, and that someone was at Hogwarts..."

Dumbledore continued.

"So I began to investigate secretly, and Quirinus, who had changed the most, was the most suspicious of all."

"But, I couldn't be sure," Dumbledore sighed, "Or rather, I didn't want to believe that Quirinus could have fallen for the Philosopher's Stone..."

"Until this moment, I had no idea he was involved with Voldemort, I thought he was just... confused."

Dumbledore's words were filled with regret and loss.

Professor McGonagall, who had been teaching for decades and had also taught Quirrell, understood Dumbledore perfectly, neither of them wanted to see their student go down the wrong path.

"So I started, trying to get Quirinus to see the error of his ways, however, I soon discovered again, that he had been seduced by Voldemort..... you know how good Tom is at that."

Professor McGonagall nodded silently, Voldemort was very good at seducing people, otherwise he wouldn't have formed the terrible group of Death Eaters when he was a student.

"Tom has never given up on coming back, I have a feeling he will get it one day."

At Dumbledore's words, Professor McGonagall let out a gasp.

Every wizard will have a bit of special ability, though not every wizard has the gift of prophecy, but as the greatest white wizard of our time, Dumbledore's premonition was not something that could be ignored.

And Dumbledore said to himself, "And it just so happens that Harry is enrolled in school this year, so I was thinking, using the fallen Quirinus, to give Harry a good workout, and to give him an idea of what the future holds..."

Professor McGonagall frowned and pursed her lips, she didn't really approve of Dumbledore's approach, but after years of working together she had learned long ago that that was what Dumbledore had always done.

There was nothing wrong with Dumbledore doing this if he didn't know that Voldemort was in possession of Quirrell, and Professor McGonagall didn't think Quirrell was capable of creating any problems with Dumbledore present.

So, although Professor McGonagall had a problem with this, she reluctantly accepted Dumbledore's reasoning and did not interrupt him.

Dumbledore then explained to Professor McGonagall everything he had done, such as inviting them to participate in the level design, guiding Harry Potter to the Mirror of Oesed, having Snape keep an eye on Quirrell, etc.

Dumbledore told Professor McGonagall all of his plans, except for the fact that Harry had the Invisibility Cloak in his hands, which he kept to himself.

"Severus? I see..."

Professor McGonagall remembered the time Snape had been bitten by Fluffy, had said that Dumbledore knew about it, and that it was probably because he had been injured by mistake while spying on Quirrell.

He had gone to Dumbledore and asked him about it, and the old man had lied to him and told him that he had sent Snape to complete the barrier and that he had been bitten by accident.

After staring at Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall accepted his explanation.

If Voldemort had not possessed Quirrell, Dumbledore's plan would have left Fish intact and Harry in no danger.

"In fact, had Fish not encountered Quirrell in the Forbidden Forest, I would have been able to roughly guess Quirrell's condition when I learned of the unicorn attack in the Forbidden Forest."

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head, "Now that was a mistake on my part."

In fact, Dumbledore secretly regretted that Voldemort was on his last legs and might have let Harry confront him, with that guardian spell in place it would have been difficult for Voldemort to harm Harry anyway.

It's a shame Fish stepped in and ruined it.

"No, Dumbledore, who would have thought Quirrell would be possessed by Voldemort."

Professor McGonagall, who had no idea what the old bad guy in front of her was thinking, comforted him after he calmed down.

Dumbledore hesitated, but decided to sell Fish.

Who had asked him to blame him? So it's only natural that he, the mean old man, would take revenge, right?

"I have to apologize for one thing, Minerva, I already knew about Fish escaping from the castle and going to the Forbidden Forest."

Dumbledore smiled at Professor McGonagall's murderous look and explained, "As you know, most of the animals in the Forbidden Forest are unlikely to harm Fish and, with your protection, it is almost impossible for anything to happen to his in the Forbidden Forest, so I didn't try to stop..."

"Then you should have warned me too!!!"

Professor McGonagall snarled at Dumbledore again.

Dumbledore, who knew he was wrong, stood there honestly, allowing Professor McGonagall to point at his crooked nose and scold him, completely lacking the demeanor of the headmaster of Hogwarts and the greatest white wizard of our time.

After scolding her immediate superior for a while, Professor McGonagall, still angry, stormed out of the Headmaster's office in a huff.

"Humph! Shame on you!"

As Professor McGonagall left, Phineas, who had been pretending to sleep in his portrait, opened his eyes and sneered.

Several other principals spoke as well. Dumbledore's plan had not been hidden from them from the beginning. Some of them were for it and some of them were against it, and it wasn't the first time they had argued among themselves.

But at this point...

"You've lost the villain you had in mind for the boy, are you still going to go through with the plan?"

One of the directors, who had been against Dumbledore from the beginning, spoke up.

"Of course," smiled Dumbledore, "After all the preparations I've made, I can't waste them, can I? But whether they can be used in the end depends on whether Harry and the others are clever enough."