Harry Potter: The Bard of Hogwarts

Eighth Floor of the Castle

In the most special room at Hogwarts.

After Dumbledore nodded, Ino couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He was really afraid that the old headmaster would have other ideas—a Slytherin orphan with exceptional talent who, even in his second year, had gathered people for private lessons...

With all these halos stacked together, to be honest, putting himself in Dumbledore's shoes, he would be somewhat cautious. After all, the precedent was right in front of him.

However, Dumbledore had always maintained a trusting attitude, almost a blind and mysterious trust.

This baffled Ino greatly; he was not Harry, and his way of doing things was not so black-and-white.

"Professor, don't you want to say anything more?"

"Say what?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in confusion, "That? Should I urge you to hurry up and produce the second episode of Tom and Jerry?"

"Oh! Alright then!" Ino looked aside speechlessly, feeling helpless as the old headmaster played dumb.

"Hahaha, don't be angry." Dumbledore laughed heartily.

"What do you want me to say? I am just an old man, perhaps I should have retired from the stage long ago, just like in the book you wrote."

Dumbledore tapped his fingers, and a light blue-covered book flew from the bookshelf, opening itself mid-flight.

When Ino caught the book, it had opened to the story of the Thunder Sword: Bitterness and the proverb on the equipment—

"The brighter the light, the shorter the life."

Seeing the contents of the book, Ino roughly understood Dumbledore's thoughts.

Perhaps burdened with too much, the legendary white wizard who had been active for a century might have long been exhausted.

Although he understood this, there were some things that could not do without Dumbledore. For instance, Tom. Even though Tom's intentions were almost clear, if the cards were too good, even an open hand would be difficult to beat.

The known Horcruxes of Voldemort could be rendered harmless, but the only variable was Nagini.

A few days ago, when Ino felt the original story was becoming vague, he spent half a day carefully combing through it.

However, he discovered that despite all his calculations, there was still one Horcrux missing. According to the original timeline, Nagini had not yet been made into a Horcrux.

Missing one Horcrux was almost like missing them all.

Especially with a wizard like Voldemort, even one useful Horcrux was enough.

After all, those capable of suppressing him didn't care how many Horcruxes he had, and those incapable of suppressing him couldn't do anything even if he had none, as was evident fourteen years ago.

Sitting in the headmaster's office, Ino's thoughts drifted, unconsciously stepping into Dumbledore's shoes.

The unknown seventh Horcrux, and another one living in the castle, were like sticking plasters that couldn't be shaken off.

Really, it was a mess that couldn't be cut clear.

In the headmaster's office on the eighth floor

As Ino sank into thought, Dumbledore didn't break the silence but watched the mirror with interest, seemingly pondering something amusing.

Despite being a centenarian, he could always show a childlike smile.

Especially when his eyes moved between the portraits of the previous headmasters and the mirror, it was as if he had discovered something amusing, curling his mouth into a considerable smile.

Similarly, this trace of a smile did not escape Ino's notice.

"Professor! I've always been curious, can Tom really do whatever he wants? Just because he's big? Are there no other magical creatures in the valley that can compare to a giant?"

Faced with these sudden questions, Dumbledore was stunned for a moment. When he came to, he didn't answer directly.

"Ino, there's one thing you might need to know: no one can do whatever they want. Not giants, not dragons, not phoenixes... So, giants aren't scary."

At this point, Dumbledore paused for a moment, his half-moon glasses reflecting a nostalgic look.

"I remember History of Magic has always been your strong point, so you should know that creatures more terrifying than giants have appeared in history, like the Dementors that left people helpless. But what was the result?"

Castle corridor

Ino held the mirror, walking aimlessly back to his dormitory.

The conversation just now made him recognize once again the power of magic. Although Professor Binns had said it before, this time Dumbledore's words were more direct.

It was a kind of unreasonable, illogical power.

Dementors appeared, and the Patronus Charm was quietly born. Similarly, as Voldemort became more insane, prophecy and the savior appeared.

It seemed as if there was an invisible yardstick, allowing for a range of arbitrary actions, but if crossed, someone would come out to stop it.

This wasn't a baseless guess. Besides Harry and Voldemort, the most direct example was the great fire in Paris, which even brought out Nicolas Flamel, who had stayed out of the world for centuries.

But what truly puzzled him was whether this yardstick was similar to the rules of a fantasy world.

Unbridled actions would ultimately lead to one's downfall.

Ino walked alone through the corridor.

But on this path, there was no loneliness of a person walking alone.

Because many young wizards, upon seeing the mirror, instinctively turned around, posing what they thought was an elegant and beautiful stance, and 'naturally' walked past the mirror.

At the same time, they glanced back inadvertently, revealing a charming smile.

However, most of these actions were performed by students below the third year, with the majority being girls.

Faced with such an amusing scene, Ino temporarily cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, deciding to enjoy his school life as a student.

Thinking too much ahead about some things was purely adding to his worries.

This lively scene continued all the way to the castle basement.

Upon turning into the right corridor, there were only Slytherin students left. If he had turned left, it would have been Hufflepuff territory, but the two houses always took the staircase as the dividing line.

One left, one right, splitting the corridor evenly, maintaining a non-interfering attitude.

After correctly answering the password, Ino walked into the common room.

Nowadays, the common room resembled a Muggle arcade. There were always some lower-year students gathered around the mirror, repeatedly watching stories they had already seen but never grew tired of.

"Maybe I could shoot something..."

Ino suddenly realized that it was hard for him alone to produce interesting films.

Although the magically altered Tom and Jerry was fun, it couldn't last long. Moreover, he didn't have much energy to devote to creation.

His eyes landed on Draco, who was talking loudly.

For this sometimes clever, sometimes childish, and attention-seeking roommate, he might be quite happy to accept the role of Hogwarts' director.