Hogwarts Outsider Chapter 184: His struggle
"I have really thought about many, many possibilities, Horace..."
Gellert Grindelwald waved the Elder Wand lightly, and then conjured up a soft armchair, and then sat in front of Horace Slughorn without hesitation. down.
Slughorn remained motionless the whole time, continuing to taste his delicious candied pineapple.
The two don't look like enemies at all, but seem to be old friends who have been friends for many years.
Grindelwald continued: "I once doubted many people in Hogwarts...whether it is Frius, Pomona or even Aurora, they all have reasons and possibilities to betray me... Only you, I never thought about the possibility of you betraying me..."
"Treachery?" Horace Slughorn sneered, then stood up, opened a new bottle of mead, and poured himself a glass.
He said calmly: "The last headmaster of Hogwarts that I served so far was Professor Armando Dippet...he passed away fifty years ago, almost All the evidence points to that murder being yours, Grindelwald... I should have continued my allegiance to the next headmaster chosen by Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, and then he was in Nurmengard You have been imprisoned in prison for fifty years... If I choose to swear allegiance to you to the death, that would be a betrayal!"
"So, from the first day I came to Hogwarts, you have been a secret spy of the Order of the Phoenix?" Grindelwald asked curiously.
"Of course!" Slughorn nodded as a matter of course, "From the time I learned about the death of Principal Armando Dippet, when I saw with my own eyes that Professor Yusuf Shaker died in your When I saw any trace of Albus Dumbledore being washed away... Horace Slughorn had made up his mind!"
"It seems that your status in the Order of the Phoenix is not low?" Grindelwald asked with some interest.
"The status within the Order of the Phoenix is not high or low," Slughorn spread his hands, "there is only one upline I can contact, don't worry, you won't be able to find that person... ...At the same time, Minerva is the only one on the line, so you don't need to waste your time interrogating her, you won't get anything out of it..."
"Of course I know..." Grindelwald nodded.
"Thank you!" Slughorn muttered, before draining the mead in his glass.
…
"Speaking of which, Horace, you have really caused me a lot of trouble these years..."
Grindelwald conjured up a goblet again, and just as he was about to pour himself a glass of Slughorn's mead, he was stopped by the Potions teacher...
"You drink this bottle!" Horace Slughorn threw the unfinished bottle of mead to Grindelwald, and then put the bottle of mead that was just opened later, and Poured himself a large glass.
"Okay!" Grindelwald's expression changed slightly, but he seemed to have no problem with it.
While pouring himself a glass of mead, he continued: "Thinking about it now, there are indeed a lot of troubles, the black hand behind you, Horace..."
"It's like the informer fifteen years ago. Looking back now, you should have done it, Horace... Remus Lupine came to tell me about the children's plan. I ordered all the teachers to block any exits of Hogwarts (mainly secret passages) and not let anyone leave, I am afraid that you were the first to realize that something was wrong, and then reminded those children!"
"Of course!" Slughorn said with some pride:
"Honestly speaking, I almost had no hope of whether they could escape from Hogwarts at that time...But I didn't want them to give me a surprise. Clothes, it really is a good thing... But I really can't figure out how so many of them are squeezed under a small invisibility cloak..."
"It is indeed a special invisibility cloak!" Grindelwald narrowed his eyes and commented.
"I'm afraid that invisibility cloak has already fallen into your hands, Grindelwald... since the last time you arrested James Potter..." Slughorn teased.
Grindelwald did not speak, and acquiesced.
"Those young and newly developed members of the Order of the Phoenix are probably from your club, Horace... To be honest, when Lily Evans blatantly stood up against me, I should have thought Young souls are a blank sheet of paper, if they get dirty, someone must have deliberately splashed stains on them..."
"Of course!" Slughorn still did not deny:
"As you said, Grindelwald... young souls are a blank slate, they only need a little guidance, and they will go in the direction of justice; they are always full of vigor, never lacking Faith... only needs to have a correct goal..."
His voice was full of pride again: "It's not just that you didn't find out, even they themselves don't know... If Lily Evans finds out that she and I are members of the Order of the Phoenix, I'm afraid She will be very surprised too! I am afraid that in their eyes, Horace Slughorn has always been regarded as a greedy, slippery, evil old man!"
"It's commendable!" Gellert Grindelwald couldn't help giving a thumbs up.
"If you don't do this, how can you deceive your eyes?" Slughorn also complimented politely, "Especially those eyes in your heart..."
"I can indeed see the future..." Grindelwald shook his head, "But I never believed in it... The future is just a warning, if it is used as a guide, it is undoubtedly the act of a fool! "
The headmaster of Hogwarts paused, and then continued to ask:
"Dirk Cresswell, is he also a member of your Order of the Phoenix?"
Slughorn was stunned, and he fell silent for a moment.
"Don't blame yourself, Horace... don't think you exposed him!" Grindelwald comforted, "A few hours ago, before I guessed your identity, the Auror of the Ministry of Magic They have already arrested him... As the Director of the Goblin Liaison Office of the Department of Management and Control of Fantastic Beasts, a sub-division of the Office of Outliers, he guarded himself and secretly led the goblin rebellion... When the goblins of Gringotts fell silent After that, his identity was exposed without any surprise..."
Slughorn asked in a low voice: "Dirk...he...what will happen to him?"
"Azkaban... life imprisonment... no parole!" Gellert Grindelwald said without thinking:
"It's not just him, all the participants in this rebellion have this ending...whether it's Dirk Cresswell, Potter, the three of them, or Elaine Shafik... "
…
The two were silent for a moment, drinking mead over there sullenly.
"The number of wizards is very small!" Grindelwald said suddenly, "Every wizard is precious... I never want to deprive any wizard of their lives, no matter what they do... in my In my eyes, they are undoubtedly like relatives and children who have done something wrong..."
"Then you will send your relatives and children to Azkaban to join the dementors?" Slughorn couldn't help but sarcastically.
"But you can stop this, Horace!" Grindelwald's expression suddenly became serious.
He straightforwardly stated the real purpose of his trip.
"Tell me... tell me what you have done in the past year, what are you hiding?" Grindelwald asked softly.
"You know, that's impossible, Grindelwald..." Slughorn's voice was firm.
"Of course I know... Any memory related to the incident may have been modified by you a long time ago; your Occlumency is also very good... As for things like Veritaserum, for your Potions For experts, it will not make any sense..."
Slughorn said nothing.
"If you say it, I can forgive you all..." Grindelwald continued, "Whether it's Dirk Cresswell, Elaine Shafik... or you, Miller The three of them, Baby and Potter, can all regain their freedom...I can forgive you for what you have done...I assure you, I think my words still have a little credibility..."
"... Horace... I beg you..."
Horace Slughorn shook his head expressionlessly:
"That's impossible!"
…
In this way, he was firmly rejected.
Grindelwald was not angry, but calmly poured himself another glass of mead.
"To be honest, I've gotten used to it over the years..." He said calmly, "You people in the Order of the Phoenix, at least those I've come into contact with, are as stubborn as Albus Dumbledore. It's unbelievable...Obviously what I did was only for the benefit of wizards..."
"...Wizard, we are the most powerful creatures in this world...The bloom of magic can only exist in our very few souls...So we deserve to control this world, and we deserve a higher goal Equality should be more noble..."
"Stop your rhetoric, Grindelwald!" Horace Slughorn sneered, "Don't think that your words can deceive everyone..."
"...The interests of wizards, you don't need to represent them...Before you were born, before you came to England, wizards have always lived freely..." Slughorn said loudly , his voice was a little excited:
"...The blooming of magic has brought us a lot... We don't need to run around for life like Muggles, we just need to use magic to enjoy our life... It's like drinking honey What a wonderful and happy life to drink while eating candied pineapple..."
"...We don't need to enslave Muggles, they will not have any impact on our wonderful and happy life...The same goes for the horses and house elves..."
"...It was you, Grindelwald, who really ruined all this peace!" Slughorn continued to roar:
"...you brought us the war, you destroyed everything we cherished..."
"Those are nothing more than sacrifices," Gellert Grindelwald responded calmly, "In order to achieve the greater good, we need some small sacrifices... of course!"
"Greater interests..." Slughorn sneered, "This is just your excuse...the so-called greater interests only exist in your fantasy..."
"Maybe so!" Grindelwald did not deny this:
"The greater good is indeed my ideal; I have been striving for it all my life..."
"For the greater good... I have sacrificed much... I have been fighting for it since 1897, almost a hundred years ago... because of it, I have lost everything I have... I turned against my best friend, and I witnessed my loyal subordinates die in front of me... Of course, there are also my years, my life..."
"So, Horace..." Gellert Grindelwald shrugged:
"Actually, I can't go back... I sacrificed everything for the greater good; if I go back, it means denying my life... Don't feel like this~IndoMTL.com ~ will be able to dispel my belief..."
"I think Albus Dumbledore is right about you, Grindelwald!" Slughorn said suddenly.
"Oh?" Gellert Grindelwald frowned with some interest.
"He said, you are crazy!"
"Indeed..." Someone in Grindelwald nodded unexpectedly, and he said with a smile:
"It's not just me, he's the same... Sometimes, both of us are crazy!"
…
Both bottles of mead are almost empty.
The conversation between Gellert Grindelwald and Horace Slughorn also came to an end.
After a moment of silence... Slughorn suddenly lay down on the chair, his eyes slowly closed, as if falling asleep.
Looking at the colleague who has worked with him for nearly fifty years, he glanced at the mead bottle in his hand...
Grindelwald sighed, and he shook his head regretfully.
"Farewell, Horace!"
He poured the last bit of mead in his bottle onto the floor in front of him.
Then, he turned and left, walking out of the Potions teacher's office.
Professor Vita Rozier, the vice-principal, was waiting for Slughorn in front of his office.
"How's it going, Master Grindelwald?" Seeing Grindelwald walk out, she asked quickly.
Grindelwald sighed again.
Then, he shook his head again, and at the same time said in a low voice:
"Professor Horace Eugene Flacus Slughorn, head of Slytherin House and Potions teacher at Hogwarts... Just now, he accidentally took poison , passed away!"