Chapter 1138： something to crave for

 Chapter 1138: The Desired Thing

“Calm down, calm down, we’ll see them again soon.” Dumbledore suppressed his anxiety and comforted himself.

At this moment, he remembered Albert's warning and realized that he was too anxious.

Even if there are no traces of magic left on the door in front of you, it is still not a wise move to reach out and touch it directly. What's more, the door in front of you is just a wooden door. After a long time, it can be preserved relatively well. It would be unusual to come down rather than completely rot.

Dumbledore muttered a spell in a low voice and poked the wooden door in front of him with his wand, but there was no response.

 “Am I worrying too much?” Dumbledore murmured.

However, he still didn't intend to reach out and touch it. Instead, he waved his wand and let the wooden door in front of him open by itself.

 A ball of light flew out from the tip of the wand and floated directly into the dark house in front, completely illuminating the inside.

This house is completely abandoned, with thick cobwebs on the ceiling. The walls and roof of the house have collapsed to varying degrees. A rotten rafter has fallen down, giving people the feeling that it only takes a light touch. , the illusion that the whole house will completely collapse.

Dumbledore walked in cautiously and carefully observed the situation inside. However, he did not find any traces of magic left behind.

 The Horcrux is not here?

The old man turned his attention back to the strange wooden door at the entrance. When he stretched out his hand wearing dragon skin gloves to touch the wooden door, there was still no reaction.

After carefully studying the wooden door for a while, he confirmed that there were no traces of black magic on it. Then he took off his gloves again and stretched out his hand to touch the wooden door. It was as if a magical suction spread from the wooden door, sucking Dumbledore in. Go in.

After coming back to his senses, Dumbledore found himself standing in a dark room.

As if someone had intruded, some kind of creepy blue magic flame suddenly burned in front of him, and the blue magic potion began to spread around, as if it would completely burn the intruder to ashes.

If it were just an ordinary wizard who accidentally encountered this situation, he would probably panic quickly and be directly burned to ashes by the magic flame.

Even if you can calm down, you can't solve the problem of approaching death.

However, the person standing here was Dumbledore. He calmly raised his wand and began to recite a series of strange spells quickly. When the wand pointed forward, the original blue magic flame suddenly started to billow, and then it was completely extinguished. Falling back into a lifeless darkness.

 A ball of light suddenly flew out from the tip of the wand, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness.

Dumbledore looked around with the help of the glowing spell. His eyes fell on the strange statue in front of him, but he quickly moved away from the statue and continued to observe the surrounding environment.

The area here is not large, surrounded by rough walls. The entrance is the wooden door behind him. What surprised Dumbledore the most is that he actually saw traces of dark magic on the wooden door. This means that if someone tries to open the door and leave, they may fall into Voldemort's trap.

That's right. With Voldemort's character, it is impossible for anyone who breaks into this place to leave easily.

Dumbledore did not continue to pay attention to the door, but turned his attention again to the strange statue in front of him. He seemed to hear a whisper coming from the statue, as if someone was talking to him.

However, Dumbledore seemed not to be affected by the whispers, and kept staring at a ring on the statue with a focused and sad expression. His blue eyes were no longer full of wisdom, but full of sorrow.

He walked slowly towards the statue, staring at the black gemstone on the ring without blinking, trying to identify whether it was the resurrection stone he had dreamed of.

 That’s right, the black gem has the Deathly Hallows mark on it.

 “Ariana!”

Dumbledore's lips trembled slightly, and his eyes were wet with tears at some point. He stretched out his arms tremblingly. He had been waiting for this moment for too long. He wanted to see Ariana, he wanted to see his dead parents, he wanted to...

Dumbledore took out the ring from the statue with his gloved hands. When he tried to put it on his finger, the movement of his hand suddenly stopped.

 “We should return to Hogwarts immediately,” Dumbledore suppressed the pent-up desire deep in his heart and held the ring tightly in his hand.

 “Fox!” the old man summoned his phoenix.

 A ball of golden-red flame appeared out of thin air, and Fawkes responded to Dumbledore's call.

 “Quick, take me back to Hogwarts.”

Dumbledore's eyes were always fixed on the ring firmly in his hand, and he left with the help of Fawkes.

After returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The familiar environment relaxed his tense nerves. He put down his wand, still staring at the ring in his hand.

At this moment, Dumbledore couldn't wait to see his family.

 He has been waiting for this moment for too long.

The old man took out the Gryffindor sword from the cabinet and slashed it **** the ring on the table. A terrifying black shadow surged out from the ring and dissipated with a long scream.

 That's Voldemort's soul kept in the ring.

Dumbledore finally succeeded in destroying a Horcrux again.

However, this is not what Dumbledore cares about the most. He has put down the Gryffindor sword in his hand and keeps talking about how to use the Resurrection Stone, intending to use the Resurrection Stone to summon his long-dead parents and sister Ariana.

When Dumbledore reached out to pick up the destroyed ring, an accident happened.

A heartbreaking pain spread from his fingertips throughout his body, almost to the point of losing consciousness.

The ring also fell off the tip of his finger and fell on the table. The portraits who had originally planned to watch the melon eating silently were all awakened.

The severe pain made Dumbledore recover from his grief. He looked down at the three black fingers that were burnt, and his lips trembled slightly, "I was careless. I have made no progress at all over the years."

He actually naively thought that as long as the Horcrux was completely destroyed, it would be safe. However, Voldemort would certainly place a curse on the Horcruxes. "

Dumbledore picked up the wand and tried to lift the curse on his hand, but the effect was not obvious. The curse left by Voldemort on the Horcrux was slowly eroding his vitality and not taking away more of his life at once. Probably Voldemort did not want to let him go. The intruder must die immediately!

"Severus, I need your help. Please come to the principal's office immediately." Dumbledore held the table and walked towards the fireplace. He grabbed a handful of road powder and sprinkled it into the fireplace. Shortly after the flames ignited, Snake Pu stepped out of the fireplace.

 “What happened, Dumbledore.”

Snape stepped out of the green flames and looked at the weak Dumbledore in shock. He had never seen the old man in front of him so weak.

"I seem to have been struck by a vicious curse. Is there anything you can do..." Dumbledore raised his charred palms.

"I can easily guarantee that it looks like a particularly powerful spell." After Snape checked Dumbledore's palm, he pointed the wand at that hand and muttered the spell in a low voice.

Dumbledore looked at his withered palm and asked softly: "Did it succeed?"

"No, I just suppressed the spell temporarily and temporarily imprisoned the curse in your palm. Sooner or later, it will continue to spread, and this curse will continue to strengthen as time goes by." Snape said Looking down at the broken ring and the Gryffindor sword, he asked angrily, "Do you think destroying the ring can break the curse on it?"

"Absolutely...I must have lost my mind..." Dumbledore changed the subject and asked, "Severus, how much time do you think I have?"

 Snape hesitated for a moment and replied: "About two or three years."

 “Time is enough.”

 “Have you had enough time?”

Snape was irritated by Dumbledore's casual tone and asked angrily, "Why do you wear that ring? You must know that there is a charm on it, why do you touch it?"

Dumbledore smiled bitterly: "The temptation is too great!"

 “What temptation?”

 Dumbledore did not answer.

"I'm going to make some potion for you to help you contain your injuries." Seeing that Dumbledore didn't intend to answer, Snape didn't intend to continue asking. He frowned and said, "You can contact that magical guy. Maybe he There is a way to help heal your injury."

"You have done a great job, Severus." Dumbledore said calmly: "Please help me keep this matter a secret."

 “I’m afraid it won’t be easy, and everyone will notice it soon.”

 Snape turned and disappeared into the fireplace.

“So, is this what Albert is referring to?”

After Snape disappeared behind the fireplace, Dumbledore looked at the ring on the table and murmured: "What a fool I am."

Dumbledore picked up the ring and walked towards his bedroom.

After closing the bedroom door, he closed his eyes, followed the instructions for using the Resurrection Stone, and turned the ring three times in his hand.

Three figures appeared next to Dumbledore. They were neither ghosts nor living people of flesh and blood, but more like memories that had become entities. They were surrounding Dumbledore, with smiles on their faces after reunion.

"I'm sorry, Ariana, I didn't take good care of you." Dumbledore raised his head and apologized to his sister with tears in his eyes, "Aberforth is right, it's all my fault, everything is mine. Wrong, I killed you!"

"I never blame you." Ariana reached out and touched the old man's head, as if comforting a sad child.

"I shouldn't have done that in the first place." Dumbledore said sadly, "I know you are not in good health..."

"Sorry, Albus, it's our fault for leaving this burden to you." Mr. Dumbledore looked at his older son, feeling filled with guilt.

If he hadn't been imprisoned in Azkaban out of spite, maybe it wouldn't have turned out like this.

The shackles of life trapped his most talented son, who should have spread his wings like a bird.

 (End of this chapter)