Chapter 17 A Conversation with Dumbledore

"Mango pudding."

In front of the entrance to the headmaster's office, Professor McGonagall uttered today's password. The stone statue at the entrance sprang to life, and the stone wall behind it split in half, revealing a spiral staircase leading to the headmaster's office.

The staircase rotated automatically, carrying the group of people to the entrance of the headmaster's office.

"Come in." Dumbledore, as if knowing they were coming, spoke before anyone had a chance to knock on the door, his voice sounding old and wise.

Professor McGonagall pushed open the door, and Maca and Snape followed her inside.

"How's the situation?" Dumbledore smiled at Maca, then turned to Professor McGonagall.

"The students have all returned, and the giant has been dealt with — by Mr. Maclean." Professor McGonagall glanced at Maca and then recounted the details to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded as he listened, and when Professor McGonagall finished speaking, he began to talk.

"Oh, I see." Dumbledore said, "Minerva, you go continue the search, see if there are any students still outside."

"Severus, go help Professor Quirrel get rid of the giant."

"I don't think it's necessary. Quirrel can handle it alone." Snape said expressionlessly.

"I think it is necessary." Dumbledore looked at Snape and said.

"...If you insist." Snape stared at Dumbledore for a moment before turning and leaving.

Maca noticed that there were only two people left in the room, himself and Dumbledore, which made him feel a little uneasy, but he didn't show it.

"Would you like some mango pudding?" Dumbledore smiled and asked.

"Uh, why not?" Maca adjusted his mood and tried not to think too much about things.

It must be said that the headmaster's taste was quite good. In no time, a pudding entered Maca's stomach, during which Dumbledore just smiled at him, not saying a word.

"Well, it tastes good." After waiting for a while, Maca said somewhat awkwardly.

"I think so too." Dumbledore finally spoke, "So, how do you feel about life at Hogwarts?"

"It's interesting and fulfilling, and I've made quite a few friends." Maca tried to give optimistic answers, although he wasn't sure if it mattered.

"To be honest, you are one of the cleverest children I've ever met, if not the cleverest." Dumbledore shook his head, seeming not to care about Maca's answer, "No one has learned as much as you at the age of eleven, not during my tenure as a teacher. And in the teaching history of Hogwarts, I've never heard of such a thing."

"Uh, thank you for your praise, but... isn't that a bit exaggerated? For example, my Transfiguration is just average." Maca tried to recall his situation.

"I don't think so," Dumbledore said, "I've been paying attention to you since your first magical outburst. Regarding your behavior and experiences, I think we can communicate on a relatively equal adult level."

This time, Maca couldn't hold back his surprise. "Magical outburst? Actually, I've been wanting to ask about this since I received my acceptance letter. How come I don't remember having a magical outburst?"

"Oh, yes, because your magical outburst happened at a very inappropriate time." Dumbledore sighed, "Although I'm not sure if I should say..."

Maca was stunned at the words, then suddenly stood up. "Was it my mother... at that time?"

"Yes, when the accident happened, your magic suddenly erupted to protect yourself." Dumbledore looked at Maca kindly, with a hint of pity in his eyes.

"So, even if she hadn't rushed up..." Maca murmured with a trembling voice, as if losing all strength and falling back into the chair.

Dumbledore looked at Maca in silence, seeming to regret it, and seemed to be observing his reaction.

Suddenly, Maca came to his senses and sighed heavily.

"The deceased has passed away... that's why I am even more eager to gain the power to protect others." Maca suddenly looked up, facing Dumbledore directly for the first time, and said firmly.

"That's your true intention, and I can feel it." Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction, showing a gentle and wise smile again, "Death is often the end of life, but it also becomes the beginning for others. Remember, death is not actually scary."

Maca knew that Dumbledore saw the shadow of Voldemort in him, but fortunately he didn't have any evil intentions, so he passed this test.

Dumbledore and Snape were actually the same kind of people. They never lacked power and ambition, but they would give up everything for "love", including their own lives. The difference between the two was that Dumbledore's love was universal, while Snape's love was only for Lily.

And Maca didn't know, what kind of person he would be?

That night, Maca lay in bed, his mind racing. He had encountered many things today, and learned a shocking fact from Dumbledore, which made him think endlessly until he finally fell into a deep sleep.

...

After entering November, the weather became very cold. The mountains surrounding the school were gray, covered with ice and snow, and the lake was as cold and hard as tempered steel. Every morning, there was frost on the ground, and students had to be careful not to slip and fall.

Maca sat at the breakfast table, eating today's breakfast, surrounded by people.

It's not clear who said it — probably Ron, anyway, almost half of the students had heard of Maca's glorious deeds, defeating a twelve-foot tall giant single-handedly! This was simply unbelievable!

Now, Maca had become a celebrity, many students came up to talk to him, and even a few first-year girls came to ask for his autograph!

Maca felt quite enjoying being surrounded by people, not just because of vanity, but also because he felt warm!

This is not an excuse, believe me! I mean it! If you don't believe it, try being surrounded by a bunch of people!

Recently, Hagrid was wrapped in a long mole skin coat, wearing rabbit fur gloves, and wearing huge beaver fur boots, defrosting the flying brooms on the Quidditch pitch.

This clearly indicated one thing — the Quidditch season had begun!

To be honest, Maca really wanted to join the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, but unfortunately, he had been too busy. Moreover, Quidditch teams generally did not allow first-year students to participate.

"I guess Harry is just an exception." Maca looked at the Gryffindor table, where Harry and Ron were whispering, guessing they were talking about this.

But what Maca cared more about was that he hadn't heard any news about Harry joining the Gryffindor team as a Seeker. Could it be that Wood, the Gryffindor team captain, planned to use Harry as a secret weapon or something?

"The secrecy measures are well done." Maca muttered vaguely, chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth.

However, when the day of the match came, Maca was a little dumbfounded when he saw Harry walking towards the Gryffindor viewing stand just like him.

"What's going on?" Maca looked at Harry disappearing up the stairs leading to the Gryffindor viewing stand, his face full of undisguised surprise.

"What's wrong? What are you looking at, Mr. Knight?" Charlotte, a senior student, hooked Maca's shoulder and smiled, "Are you looking at your Gryffindor princess?"

"Uh, ah—no." Maca shook his head, glanced at the Gryffindor viewing stand again, then turned around and climbed up the stairs with Charlotte to their own side.

The Quidditch match was very exciting, but Maca didn't have much mood to watch.

From time to time, he glanced at the teachers' viewing stand — without Harry's Quidditch match, he didn't know if Quirrel's actions would change.

Until the match was over, there were no surprises in this game. Without Harry's presence, it seemed that the possibility of Quirrel taking action was fundamentally cut off, but Maca couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't look for another opportunity to target Harry.

"At least, Harry avoided an inevitable crisis, which is a good thing, right?" Maca couldn't be sure if this was the case, but he temporarily had no clue about this matter.

The Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match ended, and as Maca glanced at the scoreboard before leaving, it was sixty to two hundred and ten. When the scores were tied, Slytherin's Seeker caught the Snitch, ending the close match.

Maca didn't have time to care about this, he just glanced at it, then walked towards the crowd of Gryffindors.

"Hey, Harry!" Maca tried to look as normal as possible, "Don't worry, the match isn't over yet, it's just beginning."

"Oh, yeah. But losing to Slytherin is still disappointing." Harry sighed.

It seemed that even if he didn't join the Quidditch team, he still liked this sport very much.

"Yeah," Maca sorted out the speculations he had just made during the match, and then asked, "I heard that Neville almost fell off during your first flying lesson, is that true?"

Harry nodded, "Yes! If it weren't for Madam Hooch's quick reaction, Neville would have definitely ended up in the hospital, I'm sure."

"Yeah! He went so high!" Ron laughed and gestured beside him.

"What about afterwards? Did Malfoy give him a hard time?"

"Oh, yes, that bastard always mocks others. I wish I could cast a jinx on him!"

"The duel that night was because we had a quarrel in class." Harry added angrily.

"Yeah, that guy is really not a good person."

While Maca echoed casually, he gradually sorted out the causes and consequences of this incident — so that's how it happened!