Chapter 657: Strength and Memory (2 in 1)

"Happy birthday, Ron." The next day Harry woke up with a yawn, and subconsciously closed his mouth halfway through it, alertly sensing the mandrake leaf in his mouth with his tongue. He looked around the dormitory; Seamus and Dean had gone out and Neville was not there, which he found odd, but then it occurred to him that Neville was going to Professor McGonagall's office this morning to receive guidance on Animagus.

"With pleasure, with pleasure." At that moment, Ron said in a daze, stepping on a small pile of packages as he put his feet on the floor. In an instant he became awake, "Presents!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs and started to open the presents without even changing out of his pyjamas.

Harry tossed a fancy-wrapped box onto his bed, "Your present." Then began to change.

It only took him two minutes to remove his pyjamas and change into his robes, and when he had finished this he glanced at his watch and breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully, he had made it in time.

"Where are you going - heh, thanks Harry, this is a great present." Ron said as he waved the Quidditch keeper's dragon hide gloves that Harry had given him, he sat on the floor with a pile of wrapping paper scattered around him and said with a raised eyebrow, "This year has been a bumper harvest, all the presents I've received have gone up a notch, I really hope to be an adult again next year - where are you going? "

He asked again, this time he finally averted his eyes from a heavy gold watch.

"I've got an appointment with Professor Bagshot." Harry muttered.

"Oh what a bummer, I was hoping to go to Hogsmeade with you," Ron said, " If Fred and George had a shred of conscience, they would consider giving their brother a discount on his coming of age day ... " He counted the presents again and said disgruntledly, "Maybe I'm overthinking it, they didn't even send a present."

"Maybe they are planning to personally hand it to you." Harry reminded.

Ron thought about it and cheered up again, "You're right ... but it's best not to get my hopes up, they've been quite busy lately, I guess they just dropped off a box of Dungbombs at the Hogsmeade branch."

Harry and Ron parted at the castle gates, "I'll bring you the Honeydukes sweets." Ron said, walking towards Filch as Harry descended the stone steps and made his way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Grindelwald was already waiting there.

They strolled slowly through the grass, the soft sunlight spilling over the treetops, the air mixed with a damp vapour and the scent of fresh grass, and Harry saw the whomping willow from a distance, it looked harmless, swaying gently in the breeze.

"Harry," Grindelwald said, "you have learned a few spells, but I have noticed that you are far from being truly powerful."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, somewhat uncomfortably, "I'm not very skilled ... yet."

"That's not the reason." Grindelwald whispered, "Although I teach the theories, the models of the spell in class, it is to take care the progress of the average person, of the ... mediocre students."

Harry looked at him in surprise.

"People are different, and most of the people you meet - if there are no accidents - will just spend their whole lives bumbling along, their greatest use being to keep magic alive."

Grindelwald walked slowly forward and Harry followed, and he said, "Sir, I disagree with that." Grindelwald glanced at him, "Then tell me what you think."

"Er -" Harry quipped, "Wouldn't it be nice to bumble around and be peaceful, that's the way I like to live, and I think judging someone's worth based on their magic abilities is too, too... ..."

"Utilitarian?" Grindelwald asked with interest.

"A bit." Harry said honestly, thinking that Professor Bagshot must have been influenced by the ideas of the dark wizard Grindelwald, as he had read a similar description in the travelogue he had found in the library.

"I don't think - well, there's no need to divide people up in terms of their usefulness. Like my friend Ron's family, Mr. Weasley works at the Ministry of Magic, and he's recently been preparing a new Muggle Protection Act, and I think this whole thing would be kind of significant, but it doesn't have much to do with magic, does it? And Mrs. Weasley, she's a housewife and a wonderful person who looks after the whole family ..."

"Their eldest son, Bill, used to work as a Curse-Breaker at the Gringotts, but he applied for an office job because of the war, I think with his personality he'd like to do something more adventurous, oh, not now ... his girlfriend's there too; their second son, Charlie, is raising dragons in Romania, and their third son Percy, just like Mr. Weasley, works in the Ministry of Magic, but I reckon his job consists of writing reports all day long ..."

"The only ones who have continued to study magic after graduation might be Fred and George, who runs a joke shop and spend their days working on various prank props; Ron dreams of becoming an Auror, and Ginny is still too young, but I think she has the potential to be a professional Quidditch player ... "

Harry snapped his fingers and listed the members of the Weasley family one by one.

"If we go by your idea, most of them would be classified in the useless group, but I don't think they would even care about such a rating, they just want to go on with their lives."

Harry said it in one breath and took a few deep breaths after finishing it. Professor Bagshot didn't say anything for a long time, which made Harry wonder if his tone was too harsh and aggressive, he didn't quite dare to look the professor in the eye and lowered his head to stare at a small patch of plants on the ground.

"That makes me a little envious of their family, Harry." Grindelwald said, and then he turned the tables, "I just have a question, when that Voldemort was wreaking havoc, did your dear Weasley family also lead their little lives without a care in the world?"

"Imagine what the scenario would have been without Dumbledore, and without Felix Hap. Oh, if I remember correctly, the Weasleys are purebloods, and if they displayed compliance to Voldemort, they should be able to lead a good life ..."

"They wouldn't submit to Voldemort's evil rule!" Harry retorted in a loud voice.

"Then they would be killed." Grindelwald said faintly, "As weak as this little plant." He walked over to Harry and crushed the plant Harry had been staring at earlier under his feet, a surge of anger welled up inside Harry, but then he suddenly thought of something ...

It was the scene where he was practicing the Patronus Charm in Professor Hap's office. To inspire the will to fight, he had entered a vision set up by the professor, in which he had seen many terrible events, where everyone had fallen and Voldemort had won, and it was that time that he had inspired the immensely powerful Patronus.

"If you don't want your fate to be at the mercy of others, you must wield great strength, like Hap, there are few people in the world who can threaten him. But if he is cold enough to not leave even one last weakness." Grindelwald's eyes glinted strangely, " I am darn curious."

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Harry quickly stopped talking to stop himself from spilling the secret that Voldemort is in Classroom Seven. Professor Bagshot didn't seem to notice his slip of the tongue though, and continued in a flat tone, "There will always be conflict, can you guarantee that a terrible dark lord won't arise among your classmates? And never underestimate the warlike nature of Muggles; look up their history, and you'll find it's a history of war."

"There won't be a war," Harry said urgently, bringing up what Sirius had told him earlier, "The Ministry of Magic has found a way, and the Minister of Magic and the Muggle Prime Minister are in constant contact, as long as- "

"What about the influence of the populace?"

"-both sides are able to, er, what?" Harry asked, a little confused.

"You're ignoring the influence of the populace on the Muggle government, I know how those politicians roll, they may deceive, incite and seduce the masses, but they will never allow themselves to be put on the wrong side of them, and if a significant number of Muggles are in opposition towards the wizards, there is absolutely no shortage of despicable politicians that do not have the ruling position, they will use that opportunity to stand by them and to speak for them. It would only take a small spark ... puff, with the careful design of a thoughtful person, the so-called peace you are talking about would instantly be reduced to ashes." Grindelwald stated icily, "It's all too easy, and it is bound to happen."

Harry listened in shock, they had discussed the subject of muggles and wizards before, but never with such a blunt and even bloody tone as today. He gulped and tried to speak, only to find that he seemed to have lost his vocal cord.

"Wizards are the true peace-loving community, for thousands of years we have not needed strict order to be at peace, we have mastered great powers without abusing them; on the other hand Muggles, their civilization was born out of war, however, it is absurd that ... wizards when they should have established order, chose to stand back because there were always foolish muggles who would harm our children when we weren't looking ... This made the muggles arrogantly think that they are the masters of the land. The wizards have become the outliers in turn."

"With Professor Hap ...," Harry said in a hoarse voice.

"Do you think he'll succeed?" Grindelwald glanced at him calmly, making Harry wince as he feared the professor would say something even more dreadful, but Professor Bagshot simply said gently, "Well, maybe he will. Is that why you're planning to pin your hopes on someone else and close the door yourself and pretend everything is peaceful? Sounds good, I remember that's what that Potions class professor did." He was referring to Slughorn.

Harry's face burned, a little ashamed of himself, but it was more mixed with fear.

Because he knew that even Professor Hap was not certain, so theoretically what Professor Bagshot had said was entirely possible, and at that moment he thought of the Dursleys, of Uncle Vernon, and if wizards were really exposed to the world at large volume, would they allow a wizard to come into their lives openly and brightly?

Harry didn't need any hesitation at all to answer that question; when he thought about the way Uncle Vernon treated the bums on the street, the way he treated himself ... well, he would have absolutely blown up the government hotline.

How many people like him are out there? If they got together, there would be protests accompanying them, and after that would things go the way Professor Bagshot had predicted, with some of the government officials taking the lead in compromising and the situation going in an unknown direction ... Harry recalled the muggle parade in the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and those icy stares seemed to fall on him again as if they had crossed the time.

Harry's expression became heavy, and his limbs felt like lead as he followed the professor in a daze. He couldn't think of any good way out of it, and then he suddenly noticed Professor Bagshot stop and say, "We are here."

Harry looked around in bewilderment; they are standing deep in the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by tall trees, but it is only March and the foliage is not exactly that thick yet, so he can see the sky overhead through the sparse foliage.

"Remember the magic I taught you, try it." Grindelwald said calmly as if those previous conversations hadn't ever happened.

Harry waved his wand carelessly and the spell hit the trunk of an enormous tree and the trunk shook for a moment. Which he didn't consider decent enough, "Oh, sorry, I will try again." He tried to calm down and waved his wand a second time, this time the powerful spell broke the thick bark of the tree in two.

Harry looked over at Professor Bagshot with a touch of satisfaction. The professor's earlier words had still worked, and Harry still hadn't come up with a foolproof solution, but he felt that he would never stand by and hide if things did go in the worst possible direction.

Not to mention that Harry thought he might well be Auror at that time, with his loved ones and everything he valued standing behind him, and there would be no turning back.

"Not enough," Grindelwald said aloud, looking unimpressed, "You can do better than that."

"I did my best." Harry said.

"Do you think I'm playing house with you?" Grindelwald reprimanded him, "Why didn't I find that little muggle-born girl who does so much better than you in class."

"I wonder about that too." Harry said stiffly.

"If you didn't have the potential I wouldn't have bothered wasting my time at all, there aren't many in the whole school that could surpass your magic power and that's including the Professors, your biggest problem is that you never once considered how far you could go! Magic isn't a rigid thing, you're shackling your own powers."

"I don't have-"

"Then show some real power, or go back and pray that bad luck won't befall you and pray like a coward that you will be shown mercy by the big man-"

A sudden explosion came from the forest. The tremendous impact churned hundreds of huge trees into pieces as if there had been a massive explosion. The space within a radius of two or three hundred feet was flattened, and further away the trees swayed east and west as if they had experienced a violent typhoon.

Broken wood and branches were falling in droves, and Harry stared in disbelief at what he had done.

"Look at that, Harry! Look at that!" Grindelwald said in a loud voice, his eyes sweeping over the vast expanse of the debris before him, "That's what you're really good at."

...

In the evening, Harry showed up at the Headmaster's office.

"Harry, you're here." Dumbledore said gently, as usual, Harry noticed the Pensieve placed on the table, the silver substance inside swirling rapidly, and he guessed that the Headmaster had probably just used it.

Dumbledore held his wand against his forehead and drew out a new memory, and placed it in the Pensieve, before attempting to grab Harry's hand.

"We have to speed things up, we have a lot to do today."

Harry avoided it. He lowered his head to not look at Dumbledore and gazed into the Pensieve.

"But, sir, I'm not sure of the point of doing this. I know it's a lot of trouble to deal with the soul fragment in my head, but I can't figure out - what's the point of just looking at all these things that have happened when I can't even use magic?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said in a slightly distressed tone, "It seems I must reveal some information so that what we are doing now will become more valuable in your mind ... In short, I want you to have the ability to know right from wrong, and the courage to make the right choice when it matters. "

Harry sat there staring dully, feeling insulted, what image did he really have in Dumbledore's mind?

"Don't get me wrong, Harry." Dumbledore said, "You are one of the people I have ever met who have come closest to possessing saint-like qualities, one of a kind even. Given that I've seen too many students in my fairly long life, that's actually quite a remarkable assessment."

Harry fidgeted a little, his face burning, he hadn't expected to hear such a blunt and welcoming compliment from Dumbledore, especially since he had just lost his temper, and he tried to look softer.

"Of course, I'm not saying that you don't have flaws and problems, in my opinion, it's a good thing that you're still a normal person and hasn't become arrogant because of your fame or because of the strength you have beyond your peers. Because of this, I expect more from you and I will not treat you as an ordinary student. As an example-"

Dumbledore held up a finger.

"Did you feel fearful of your own abilities, even a little, when you were learning magic with Professor Bagshot?"

Harry was a little lost in thought as he thought about how easily he had destroyed a small block of Forbidden Forest during the morning under Professor Bagshot's tutelage. He did feel incredulous along with a twinge of fear and even wondered for a moment if he had been possessed by Voldemort.

"I - you know, sir?"

"Yes, I know." Dumbledore said calmly.

"That is an ability you have in your own body," he said, seeming to read Harry's thoughts, "and I'm sure Professor Bagshot has relieved you, although I'm not sure what reasons he used, but his ideas are not necessarily suitable for you."

"Not necessarily suitable for me?" Harry muttered and repeated.

"Only you can find the answer to your question, Harry." Dumbledore said seriously, "I can't help you on that point, other than borrowing Alastor's mantra: Constant Vigilance, Harry. Force without thought can easily devolve into violence."

Harry was struck by a flash of clarity.

"So you're showing me those memories because you want me to harness my power?"

"That's a question we can leave for the later part of the discussion. In fact, I would prefer for you to pay more attention to the choices made by the different people in my memory, and especially to the situations they faced at the time. It would be nice to generate some useful reflections." Dumbledore said, "The reason for using my memories - forgive my arrogance - is that I have seen too many men and women in both their sorrows and joys."

As he watched Harry fall into contemplation, Dumbledore said cheerfully, "So - let's get into today's lesson."

He stood up and bowed slightly as if preparing for a magnificent feast.

"I shall have the pleasure of sharing with you the insights I had as a student, you will find them slightly trivial as more than one person is involved, some of whom I still keep in touch to this day, perhaps you have even heard a name or two!"

"Let the adventure begin!"

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