The lush willow branches sway with the cool wind at midnight. The moonlight illuminates the ruffled lake, and apart from the lights of the school hospital, Hogwarts Castle regains its joyous and harmonious atmosphere. The clouds that covered the castle at dusk have now been swept away completely.
Dumbledore and Amortens walked side by side by the lake, neither in a hurry to speak, but quietly savoring the rare tranquility of the moment.
"The matters of the Chamber of Secrets have been resolved, Professor Dumbledore. I am afraid I will have to leave soon."
Five minutes later, Amortens stopped his steps under a crooked willow tree. He faced the rippling waves of the lake, carefully savoring the complex emotions surging in his chest.
"Are you not reconsidering, Amortens?"
Dumbledore seemed not to be surprised, but there was a noticeable regret in his aged face as he sincerely said,
In my opinion, you are an extremely qualified professor. You have been getting along well with this school, and the young wizards really like you. If possible, I do not want to lose this excellent educator of yours."
Amortens smiled but did not speak, believing that Dumbledore should be able to guess his choice.
Dumbledore looked more tired than at any time this semester. He did not continue the topic, for he knew that life has endowed him with wisdom that none can match. He knew what could be changed and what could not be altered. Dumbledore saw things more clearly than anyone else.
"Then--"
Dumbledore took out the ragged diary from his pocket, which he had taken out of the Chamber of Secrets earlier. Under the moonlight, a droplet of water leapt into the air and precisely landed on the diary, leaving a clear water stain on it.
"I assume you recognize what this is, Amortens?"
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore, you may be giving me too much credit. I have no knowledge of soul objects."
Amortens winked playfully at Dumbledore, who was smiling bitterly. It was not easy for Amortens to conceal something in front of Dumbledore, a master of Occlumency and with an inexhaustible wealth of life experience. Amortens simply used a jest to express his reluctance to delve into the topic of soul objects.
"Let's just say that."
Dumbledore placed the diary back in his pocket and took a deep breath, gazing towards the edge of the boundless forest. The little wooden cottage with dimmed lights was visible in the distance.
"There is one thing, I fear you cannot pretend to be ignorant of, Amortens--"
Dumbledore's tone grew slightly more solemn.
"I hope you can return the snake monster to me that was in the Chamber of Secrets."
Plash!
The fierce wind, with its gusts and surging waves, crashed against the lake shore, also disheveled Amortens' neatly combed gray hair. He reached up to his head, his hand pressing down as he sighed heavily against the howling wind.
Dumbledore knew he had not killed the snake monster, of course. There was no way to deceive him. Amortens even suspected that the unique gaze of this great schoolmaster by his side had seen the snake monster lying in his arms.
Amortens had said that in the Chamber of Secrets only to tell Dumbledore that he wanted to keep the snake monster. He thought that he had solved the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore should not refuse this 'insignificant' request.
"I hope you can understand my predicament, Amortens."
The 'stubborn' Amortens made Dumbledore feel helpless.
"Hagrid is now being held in Azkaban, and I must present some evidence to the Ministry of Magic to prove that the beast that attacked the students fifty years ago and now is not Hagrid's pet arachnid named Aragog, this diary has been destroyed..."
"And I believe Voldemort's Horcruxes are not suitable to be displayed as evidence either... that snake monster is a powerful piece of proof..."
Amortens' expression darkened. To be honest, he had not considered Hagrid.
The situation was a bit tricky. As Dumbledore's most loyal confidant, Amortens knew that Dumbledore would never just let Hagrid stay in Azkaban.
But if he handed over the snake, what would he do with his mission? After all, had he not spent several months and used a very precious voodoo doll to ward off Voldemort's curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? Only to have it all be in vain?
No, this is absolutely impossible.
Dumbledore understood Amortens' attitude from his silence and continued to say,
"This snake monster needs to be turned over to the Ministry of Magic...last semester's two attacks on young wizards, Conolly ordered the Prophet Daily to keep silent..."
Oh!
Amortens laughed, still without speaking, but in his mind he was already calculating what he would do if the situation truly got out of hand.
Amortens would not be overconfident that he could defeat Dumbledore, but since he had been studying at Hogwarts for all these years, working hard for so long, if he couldn't escape from Dumbledore's presence, then he would be too weak.
Even since he took on this task and decided to enter Hogwarts, Amortens had already anticipated the current awkward situation.
Amortens stared at the increasingly turbulent lake surface with a menacing gaze, and his peripheral vision swept towards the grand iron gates of the school. He had already planned it: if he acted, he would use the quickest means to escape from the Hogwarts campus and then vanish far away through apparition.
Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge had mutual understanding and nothing to do with him. As for Hagrid, he felt a bit sorry for him, but he believed that Dumbledore could handle the matter. If not, he would go to Azkaban after handing over the mission to Cactus Phrygian.
The only thing is, not having the chance to properly say goodbye to Professor Snape and Hermione, and Harry, did give him a sense of regret.
The countless layers of water on the shore collided with the riverbank, causing Dumbledore to shake off the sparkling droplets on his silver beard. He had already sensed Amortens' hostility and his expression looked even more helpless. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if he was also thinking about how to solve the current contradiction.
"Amortens..."
After a long while, Dumbledore's expression suddenly brightened as if he had made up his mind about something. He softly called out Amortens' name and took out a moneybag from his breast, handing it in front of Amortens. The appearance of the moneybag was not the same as the one Dumbledore had distributed at the beginning of the term; it seemed more like a personal item.
"What does that mean, Professor Dumbledore?"
Amortens squinted his eyes, only glanced at the moneybag before looking away, focusing instead on Dumbledore's slightly smiling eyes.
"Because there's no special contribution medal to give me, so it's been replaced with galleons as a reward?"
"Not like that, Amortens,"
Dumbledore's uniquely styled beard reflected the clean white moonlight, as if he was emitting light himself. He winked his brilliant blue eyes in a playful manner, imitating Amortens' previous gesture.
"Well, actually, I never intended to reveal this matter--"
In the eyes of Amortens' puzzled gaze, Dumbledore spoke lightly,
"It's not a special contribution bonus, Mr. Golden Viper, this is your fee for the task you accepted--"
