At this moment, an uninvited guest arrived in the empty principal's office. The stone statue guarding the entrance to the principal's office was unable to stop the guest and was easily dealt with by a Confusion Spell.
"Harry has come to Hogwarts to look for Ravenclaw's diadem."
Standing in front of the principal's desk, Albert looked up at the sleeping old man in the frame.
"You told him?"
Dumbledore's portrait opened its eyes, looked at Albert standing in front of it, and guessed the other party's purpose in coming to see him.
"What are you going to do?" Albert asked directly.
Dumbledore's portrait murmured, "How rare, you would hesitate. I thought..."
"You are already dead, so there is no need to worry."
Albert winked at the portraits of past headmasters who had opened their eyes and pricked up their ears to eavesdrop, and raised his index finger to his mouth in a hushing gesture.
"The current situation in the British wizarding world is worse than I expected, and the You-Know-Who has become more difficult to deal with."
"You pushed Voldemort too far." Dumbledore knew the reason.
"Maybe," Albert said noncommittally, "but war is never a dinner party, it's about death."
"Isn't this a dinner treat?"
Dumbledore heard Albert's sarcasm and dissatisfaction in this, but he did not deny that it was right.
“You can’t expect one savior to solve the problem.”
"You seem very dissatisfied with the current situation. What happened?"
Dumbledore was surprised by Albert's reaction. It didn't seem like he came to discuss something with him. Instead, he came to complain to him. He complained about the original decision, complained that he died so early, and complained that he had thrown most of the burden on him.
"Harry Potter is not a fool. I believe it won't take long for him to guess the true identity of Ms. Grey." Albert reminded, "Maybe Ms. Grey promised us to keep the secret of the crown, but Harry and Hermione will definitely go to Mr. Binns to prove it, and guess that Ms. Grey is lying. If they can see this, how can we not see it?"
"Harry will soon realize what I am hiding and figure out that the tiara may be hidden in the school by a You-Know-Who."
"It's too early now." Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry needs time, and..."
"Are you afraid that Harry will follow in your footsteps?"
Looking at the silent old man in front of him, Albert suddenly said, "I wonder if Snape told you that Rita Skeeter used truth serum to pry open Bathilda Bagshot's mouth and got a lot of secrets about you from her, and wrote "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" based on it."
"Now everyone knows about your feud with Grindelwald."
"I never went out of my way to hide this." Dumbledore shook his head. "You knew it a long time ago, didn't you?"
"I know it's no use."
"They will be here soon, you can tell them." Albert reminded, "This is your plan, the choice is yours."
choose
There was no choice from the beginning.
Dumbledore guessed that Harry's change was definitely related to Albert. He asked, "Have you found the whereabouts of the Hufflepuff Cup?"
"It should be hidden in a Death Eater's Gringotts vault."
"If it is true as you say, it is probably only those few families." Dumbledore murmured, "This is really terrible."
"What are you worried about?" Albert asked back.
"I never worried that Harry would not find the Hufflepuff cup," Dumbledore said. "I was just a little worried about Harry's situation. I was worried that Harry would make the same mistake as I did, at the wrong time and for the wrong reason. Not everyone can resist temptation like you."
"Resist the temptation. No, I am afraid of the old wand." Albert shook his head. "It was a mistake for you to give it to me from the beginning. It is too powerful. I have tried to use it. You can hardly imagine... It is like creating a miracle."
"Believe me, you are more qualified than anyone else to own and keep it." Dumbledore smiled and said, "In fact, you completely underestimate yourself. You are actually equally qualified to own all the Deathly Hallows."
"I never thought of becoming the master of the god of death." Albert said self-deprecatingly.
"I know," Dumbledore said softly, "I just hope that Harry can truly conquer death, but it won't be easy."
"Are you worried that Potter will not die at the appropriate time as you have arranged?"
"Few have the courage to accept their mortality," Dumbledore admitted.
"Anyway, I definitely don't want to die, and I hate having my life arranged by others." Albert said self-deprecatingly, "Okay, I know what you are worried about, but believe me, no one wants to be deceived. It's best not to let Potter develop a rebellious mentality."
Dumbledore was silent, as if considering Albert's words, but then shook his head and said, "I still think it is not the right time yet. When the time comes, I believe Harry will arrange everything properly and face his fate calmly."
"That also means the true end of Tom Riddle."
Dumbledore looked at the best student in history and said, "I hope you will tell him in person when the time comes."
"I thought it would be Snape." Albert raised his eyebrows.
"I did speak to Severus about that."
"He must be very excited."
"It seems you know a lot." Dumbledore was not surprised.
"I think your worries are unnecessary." Albert suddenly said, "Not long ago, Harry cracked the secret of the Deathly Hallows in the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard that you left for Hermione. After he figured out that you left the Resurrection Stone in the Golden Snitch, he knew that the enemy he had to defeat in the end was Death."
"You told him?"
Dumbledore frowned slightly, realizing that Harry's progress was much faster than he had expected.
"I just told him some insignificant information, and a lot of it was speculated by them themselves." Albert asked back, "I'm actually very curious, why don't you just tell Potter the truth?"
"the truth?"
"If Harry knew that letting the You-Know-Who personally cast Avada Kedavra would not necessarily kill him, and could also remove the Horcrux left by the You-Know-Who, I believe he would be happy to try it, since he would die in the end anyway."
"It seems that something has happened that makes you unhappy." Dumbledore suddenly changed the subject.
"You want to know?" Albert raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Perhaps speaking out will make you feel better." Dumbledore listened attentively.
"It's nothing, I just saw too much evil, too much death, too much humanity and too much hypocrisy during this period of time."
Albert briefly told Dumbledore about recent events, including the complete fall of Draco Malfoy.
Yes, he killed someone.
Although there was no emotion in Albert's words, Dumbledore could hear his disgust and dissatisfaction.
"Honestly, you shouldn't have chosen to face death, otherwise the situation would be much better than it is now." Albert looked at Dumbledore who was silent.
"You probably have no idea how much Scrimgeour hates you."
"But now you should explain it to Harry yourself."