Chapter 49 Love is the greatest magic

"Wait, Severus."

When Snape was about to turn around and leave, Dumbledore stopped him and asked frankly: "What is this?"

He raised the parchment in his hand.

Snape was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes became a little strange.

"You don't know?"

"Obviously - I'm not as omniscient as people boast. In fact, I often feel that I know too little."

Snape looked up and down at Dumbledore, as if he saw a giant monster dancing ballet on tiptoe. The corners of his mouth curved slightly, as if mocking or gloating:

"It's really strange - someone actually gave me a Christmas present, but not to the great Dumbledore?"

Snape's harsh tone did not change Dumbledore's color. The old headmaster just drew out his wand and waved it at the gift boxes in the room. The Potions Professor couldn't help but look over his shoulder.

The gift boxes swayed slightly, and then stopped.

Dumbledore sighed regretfully and said, "It seems that there really is none."

"Oh." Snape responded dryly.

He had just seen it - Dumbledore's room was piled high with gifts, almost to the ceiling. Thinking of the few gift boxes in his bedroom, Snape suddenly lost the mood to laugh.

In fact, he didn't care about the number of gifts at all - he just didn't want to see other people's unintentional boasting faces -

Snape flicked his finger, and a note shot at Dumbledore like a bullet.

"This is the instruction manual."

When Dumbledore caught the note, Snape had already turned around and strode away. The white-bearded headmaster pushed his glasses, then looked down, and soon figured out how to use it.

"Oh - can it replace the invention of the Muggle phone? Very interesting idea -"

He chanted a spell and checked the magic on the parchment - or the friend's book.

"Ingenious idea, genius combination... It seems that Mr. Gray's study of alchemy has begun to bear fruit - and he is very talented - no wonder Murray is so proud -"

Thinking that he was the only one who did not receive a gift, Dumbledore recalled the expressions of several children that day and vaguely understood something.

"So that's it... A smart and sensitive child... Is that so? Unlike Harry, this child should not like to be guided by others -"

He seemed to be talking to himself, but soon, an old, subtle voice sounded in the room.

"Ralph rarely sees such an eleven-year-old child." The voice said: "A bit like Albus Dumbledore at the time; also like Tom Riddle at the time - smart, insightful, and different."

Dumbledore looked down and said modestly: "Oh, then you have overestimated me a bit. When I was eleven years old, I knew as much about alchemy as all ordinary children."

At the point where his eyes fell, standing in front of the fireplace was a very old house elf. His skin was wrinkled, and he was wrapped in a tea towel with the Hogwarts emblem. His ears were full of fluffy white hair. He was so thin that his body seemed to be easily broken, but his big green eyes were very clear.

He said in a whispering voice: "Albus Dumbledore is so arrogant. He said this, which means he is different from others and thinks he should know everything."

"Don't be so blunt, dear Ralph." Dumbledore said helplessly: "You see me too clearly, and often make me feel ashamed."

He wiped his glasses, sat in front of the table, and asked softly: "Help me sort out these gifts, okay? I need to write something."

"Ralph is willing to serve, master."

The house elf bowed, stepped back a few steps, and stretched out his slender fingers.

The gift boxes piled in the room unpacked themselves, the books quickly got into the bookshelf and arranged neatly, and the clean food jumped into the cabinet, and the cabinet door closed with a "click". Various greeting cards and letters fell into several boxes and were neatly stacked on the table, waiting for Dumbledore to check them when he had time. Other items were placed in various corners of the room.

As for the problematic gifts, they gathered together and were ruthlessly squeezed and crushed by magic.

Not long after, Ralph disappeared from the room with these "garbage" and things like wrapping paper.

There were only two or three gift boxes left on the table that were not opened - only Dumbledore could open them personally.

While the elves were busy, Dumbledore wrote his name on each friend's book - [Albus Dumbledore].

All the professors who stayed in school during the Christmas holidays had no family, and they might not even have relatives. They all chose to give one of their friend's books, which were limited to one-to-one contact, to Dumbledore.

So Dumbledore, who did not receive a friend's book as a gift on Christmas, still had a thicker "Friend's Book" than anyone else this morning.

After putting away the friend book, Dumbledore sat at the table and thought for a long time. The light and shadow of the years passed before his eyes, creating ripples in the depths of his blue eyes.

Are they similar? Of course they are very similar.

Thinking back carefully, the look in the eyes of Weed Grey in the crowd that day was so similar to his younger self.

But Dumbledore would never forget how he had messed up his life.

After pondering for a long time, he carefully picked up the pen and wrote a letter——

[Dear Murray:

I have received the gift brought by your owl. I have to say that it is very clever - even great. It is hard to imagine that this is the work of an eleven-year-old child... Of course, its composition is actually simple and easy to understand to some extent. But it is even more amazing because of its simplicity. I think you can understand what I mean... I can almost see that it will bring earth-shaking changes to the wizarding world in the future...

To be honest, this makes me happy and scared - for such a talented child, what kind of education should we give him?

The last time I met such a smart and terrifying student was fifty years ago... You should also remember that student - Tom Riddle... I will not be so arrogant as to think that my personal attitude determines Voldemort's life. But I have to admit that my education of him was undoubtedly a failure...

A talented precocious person, his emotions were restrained by his thoughts, and he was isolated by his own wisdom... Even if he stood among countless people, he was lonely, because his mind and sharpness would make it easier for him to see the selfishness, greed, ugly desires, and paranoid arrogance in human nature... He would keep a certain distance from others, and use humor, kindness, or politeness to disguise his inner disappointment and indifference to human nature... He would be more likely to lose his way than those clumsy children...

You know, I'm not just talking about Tom Riddle, nor just Wade Grey.

Therefore, I have some perhaps immature suggestions for your student Wade...

Dear friend, when we adults face children who are much younger than us, we often become unconsciously arrogant because we have more knowledge and experience... We look down on those children with a sense of superiority, holding absolute power like a monarch, instilling the information we want them to know, keeping the information we think they should not know, manipulating them with words, and guiding them in the direction we want to see...

What arrogance is this!

What's more dangerous is that we often don't realize this arrogance.

Because we think we are making the right decisions to make them "better people"...

I can't say that this is absolutely wrong, because children's thoughts are often immature, and they don't know how to restrain their words and actions. If they are not properly guided, they can easily go astray and cause harm to themselves and others... But for students like Wade Grey, ordinary education may only have the opposite effect...

If I have learned anything from my many years of failed education, it is that love is the most difficult and powerful magic in the world. It is mysterious and hard to guess, but it can change everything and decide everything...】