"Serious business? What serious business?"
Slughorn was still emotional. "Link, you're one of Hogwarts' board members. You should really do something about Snape!"
Link looked at Slughorn coldly and said, "You could've mentioned those things briefly, but you shouldn't have gone into such detail, especially in front of Harry."
"You were tearing open Professor Snape's old wounds. Snape's a proud man. It'd be stranger if he hadn't blown up at you."
"So what if I did? Do you know how terrible his reputation is among the students? I was helping him!", Slughorn waved his arms as he spoke.
"And no matter what, I'm still his professor! If it weren't for me, would he have achieved so much in Potions? Would he have been able to return to Hogwarts as a professor?"
"Fine! Now that he's successful, he can just ignore me, his old teacher. I bet he doesn't even know how to write the words 'respect your elders' anymore!"
"I'm very angry about what happened today!"
"Snape treated me with that attitude and humiliated me in public."
"I'll be blunt with you. He must apologize. Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to continue serving as the Potions professor!"
Link silently stared at Slughorn until the man finished everything in one breath. Only then did he say coldly, "So… are you threatening me?"
There wasn't a trace of expression on Link's face, nor was there any emotion in his voice. He was as cold as a block of ice.
Yet it was precisely that attitude that made Slughorn sense something deeply wrong.
Awkwardly, he waved his hands.
"No, that's not what I meant. Link, what I'm saying is, since you invited me back to Hogwarts, you should at least guarantee some degree of dignity for me. Like what happened today…"
"Know yourself!", Link cut him off harshly.
"That's one of the three maxims carved into the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. For a very long time, I repeated that phrase to myself several times every single day. And today, I'm giving those words to you."
Link paused, then lightly patted Slughorn's face, which had already gone from flushed red with anger to deathly pale.
"You don't seriously think you're somebody important now, do you? That you actually have the right to choose?"
"When we treat you politely, we call you 'Professor' and personally invite you out of your safe house. But if we stopped being polite, do you think you could refuse to come?"
Slughorn's face turned pale, and his legs trembled.
At this moment, Link had completely shed the skin of a student. Standing before Slughorn now was a savage yet composed super predator that could swallow him whole without leaving even a scrap of bone behind.
Only now did Slughorn realize just how naïve he had been.
In the past, profit had blinded him.
All he saw were the prestige and fame Link's halo and countless titles could bring him.
But he had ignored one thing.
Could someone who sat in that kind of position possibly be easy to deal with?
In terms of sheer power and influence, Link was even stronger than Voldemort had once been!
And yet he had lost his sense of fear toward someone like that!
That was his greatest mistake!
"So… do you know yourself now?"
Link's voice sounded again.
Compared to before, there was a faint trace of amusement in it this time.
Slughorn shuddered violently and hurriedly lowered his head.
"Of course! Of course I do!"
"That's good, then." Link smiled. "In that case, tell me about Tom Riddle. How much do you know about him? You were once his professor, and he even joined the Slug Club, didn't he?"
"Tom… Tom Riddle?"
Slughorn's expression changed drastically.
That was Voldemort's real name!
Was Link trying to use him to gather intelligence against Voldemort?
Slughorn stared blankly at Link, his expression ugly beyond compare.
He truly did not want to get involved in something like this.
Neither Link nor Voldemort were people he could afford to offend. Either one of them could crush him to death with the flick of a finger!
"Link, honestly, I'm too old now. My memory of him has become very vague. I can barely even remember such a person existed." Slughorn forced out a smile. "So I'm sorry, Link, but I probably can't help you much."
As if afraid Link wouldn't believe him, Slughorn quickly added, "I swear everything I'm saying is true. If you don't believe me, you can use Legilimency or Veritaserum on me!"
"Don't do that, Professor Slughorn. I know perfectly well that you're also quite skilled in Occlumency."
"You may even have sealed away all memories related to Voldemort long ago. Ordinary Legilimency and Veritaserum probably won't work well on you."
Link shook his head.
"But there's something you need to understand. Coming to teach at Hogwarts was not the result of us begging you to do so, nor do we owe you any additional compensation because of it.
"While you enjoy the glory of being my professor and the honor of having me join the Slug Club, you also have to pay a corresponding price."
"That's the most basic form of exchange of interests. And in that field, you're an expert."
"So go on. This is the only value you can offer me."
Hearing that, a bitter smile curled onto Slughorn's lips.
Link understood him far better than he had ever imagined.
At this moment, Slughorn felt like a transparent man. Everything he tried to hide was laid bare before Link's eyes.
He shook his head and finally said helplessly,
"You should at least tell me what you want to know. That way I'll know where to begin."
"Just tell me your impressions of him, then expand from there. Once you start talking, I'm sure there'll be plenty more you'll want to say. After all, no matter how evil Voldemort was, he was still a legendary figure, wasn't he?"
As Link spoke, he helped Slughorn over to a nearby sofa and even poured him a glass of red wine.
Perhaps to suppress the fear in his heart, Slughorn downed the entire glass in one gulp before tremblingly saying,
"He was a nightmare. A nightmare that haunted me for decades. Link, can you understand how I feel? I taught a devil."
"He used everything I taught him to commit evil across the world, and eventually became the greatest evil in existence!"
"What exactly are you referring to?"
"Horcruxes! Knowledge about Horcruxes!" Slughorn said uneasily. "Since you already drove him out of Britain, you must know that he possesses Horcruxes, right? As long as the Horcruxes exist, he can never truly be killed!"
Link nodded.
"We've known that for a long time. In fact, up to now, we've already destroyed four of Voldemort's Horcruxes. But judging from the fact that he still hasn't been eliminated, he should have even more."
Slughorn sucked in a cold breath.
His eyes lit up briefly as he looked at Link, only to dim again moments later.
"I never imagined you'd already progressed this far. Even more shocking is that Voldemort was insane enough to make that many Horcruxes!"
Slughorn clutched at his sparse hair in agony. "This is all my fault! If it weren't for me, he never would've grown so powerful!"
Link helplessly curled his lips.
In his view, Slughorn's arrogance was acting up again.
Saying Voldemort became so unstoppable because of his teaching.
Was that even possible?
How could an earthworm teach a venomous snake how to hunt?
Voldemort's power had clearly been acquired through his own efforts and other channels.
Even the knowledge about Horcruxes had come from Secrets of the Darkest Art, hadn't it?
According to Link's memories of the original story, Voldemort had indeed asked Slughorn about Horcruxes during his student years.
But that had merely been a probing question to confirm his own theories.
How had it turned into Slughorn "teaching" him?
Slughorn really loved putting crowns on himself.
While Link's thoughts wandered, Slughorn seemed to recover from his self-reproach. He grabbed Link's arm like a drowning man clinging to hope and said slowly, "But you've already done very well!"
"No matter how powerful Voldemort is, he's still only one person. The number of Horcruxes he can make can't possibly reach double digits!"
"Since you've already destroyed four, as long as you stay determined, you'll definitely destroy the rest too! And when that day comes, you'll be the saviors of the entire wizarding world!"
Without changing expression, Link withdrew his arm.
"Of course we'll do it. That's our responsibility."
Slughorn paid no attention to whether Link's action was rude. Licking his lips, he said, "And another thing, your luck is truly excellent. The current Voldemort is actually far from his most terrifying form!"
"The process of endlessly splitting his soul to create Horcruxes has already damaged his mind and sanity. He's nowhere near as formidable as he once was!"
"We already know that as well. Voldemort has become a madman now, relying entirely on violence to control his followers…"
"No! You know nothing at all!"
Slughorn interrupted.
"Voldemort's most terrifying form was when he was still at Hogwarts! Back then, although he hadn't mastered power as terrifying as he has now, he still possessed a longing for love!"
"Perhaps you still don't understand how powerful love truly is, but as a current member of the Ministry, you should know that there's a permanently locked room in the Department of Mysteries that contains the power of 'love,' right?"
"That room does indeed exist. But it's classified at the highest security level. The Ministry doesn't even possess a key capable of opening it, and its sealing system is extraordinarily powerful."
"Unless someone destroyed the entire Department of Mysteries, breaking into it would be impossible."
"Exactly! That was the wisest decision made by generations of Ministry elders! Because the power of love is simply too terrifying!"
"It may not possess much direct destructive force, but it can manipulate and unite people's hearts and desires, transforming them into a horrifying energy we currently can't even comprehend!"
"That power can be used to save the world, but it can also destroy it entirely!"
"The student Voldemort possessed that kind of power. Though, like most ordinary people, he didn't realize how terrifying it was at the time, he still possessed it."
"And the most crucial point was this, the love he held and pursued was pure yet twisted. It was true love meant for destruction and ruin!"
"In front of that kind of love, every magic in the world is trash!"
Slughorn became inexplicably excited. He eagerly continued, "That's why I was so terrified when I heard Tom Riddle had returned as Voldemort."
"I knew too well that with Voldemort's talent, sooner or later he would unravel the power of love and use that twisted love to destroy the world!"
"But as more and more news about Voldemort spread, I discovered something astonishing!"
"This returned Tom, or rather Voldemort…"
"He was still just as powerful, just as good at disguising himself and manipulating hearts. He looked just as perfect as before."
"But he had lost the most important thing of all."
"Love!"
"Can you imagine how I felt at that moment?"
"Voldemort lost the ability to love!"
"Although I don't understand how it happened, it was unquestionably fantastic news for us!"
"Listen to me, Link!"
"A Voldemort without love isn't frightening. All he has is dry magical power. That means all you need to do is stack enough combat strength."
"Voldemort could never become a terrifying figure like Grindelwald. Love is the greatest difference between the two!"
Slughorn rambled on endlessly, becoming so emotional he was practically talking to himself.
And as he spoke, Link's brows furrowed deeply.
Because the "love" Slughorn described reminded him of Professor Liro at Beauxbatons.
When the man used that bizarre power of his, the term he used for it had seemed to be... Desire.
The way that power manifested almost perfectly matched Slughorn's description.
Terrifying. Strange. Great. Twisted. Nearly impossible to counter…
This seemed to be the power of "love."
Did that mean the Voldemort they were facing now was a Voldemort who had regained "love"?
A true devil in his strongest possible state.
———
The next day, Link walked out of the classroom alone.
Perhaps those matters had been buried in Slughorn's heart for far too long.
In any case, just as Link had said at the beginning, once Slughorn started talking, he simply couldn't stop.
For the entire night, Slughorn drank endlessly while constantly talking about his fear of Voldemort.
Toward the end, Link didn't even want to listen anymore, but Slughorn practically dragged him there by force and insisted on continuing.
It left Link speechless.
Still, the lengthy conversation wasn't entirely without gain.
At the very least, during the course of that night, Slughorn revealed almost every detail he remembered about Voldemort.
It gave Link a much clearer and more concrete understanding of him.
To summarize it simply, it was yet another cliché story of an unfortunate childhood turning a child who should have grown up innocent, lively, and gifted into a psychopathic murderer.
In Link's opinion, Voldemort becoming this insane and even losing the power of love was only natural.
Because his misfortune had been incredibly pure.
Harry had also been an orphan, but at least he had Sirius, Hagrid, Lupin, and others who loved him.
Even the aunt and uncle he constantly complained about weren't actually all that cruel to him.
Link had heard Harry complain more than once that his aunt's family despised and even feared magic.
When Harry first received his Hogwarts acceptance letter, his aunt's family had gone so far as to move to a barren isolated island just to escape those bizarre owl-delivered letters from the magical world.
That wasn't a normal reaction at all.
A normal person, upon encountering such strange events, would've immediately thrown Harry out of the house.
After all, those letters were aimed at Harry. As long as they got rid of him, they would naturally escape the weird magic too.
But throughout that entire escape, not one member of Harry's aunt's family ever suggested abandoning him.
Even when Hagrid burst into their shack on the island, Harry's uncle still tried to stop Hagrid from taking Harry away.
That alone proved they did love Harry.
Though that love was tiny compared to what they gave Dudley, wasn't that only natural?
After all, Dudley was their biological son, while Harry was merely a poor relative who had freeloaded in their house for over ten years.
So Harry had essentially grown up surrounded by love.
But Voldemort?
That guy was the ultimate unlucky bastard.
His father didn't love him.
Because his father had been bewitched by his mother using a love potion.
His mother didn't love him either.
That much was obvious from the fact that she died in childbirth after being abandoned.
Though her magical power was pitifully weak, she was still a witch. For a witch to die from childbirth was utterly absurd.
So the most likely explanation was that Voldemort's mother had completely given up the will to live.
And abandoned her child as well.
As a mother, the only person she loved was her husband, not her child.
As for the orphanage, there was even less worth mentioning.
Though Link had never lived in one, he still knew a bit about them.
To orphanages, orphans were nothing but burdens or livestock that could be used to make money.
The chaos of London orphanages over the past several decades had been appalling.
Using orphans to scam subsidies or forcing them into prostitution was only the most basic level.
Some places even trafficked people and sold organs.
Growing up in that kind of extreme environment, Voldemort becoming insane was only natural.
Rather, the truly strange thing was that he still possessed love after entering Hogwarts.
According to Link's speculation, that love was probably his attachment to his mother.
At the time, he still held beautiful fantasies about her.
That was why, after gaining power, he immediately slaughtered the Gaunt family who had driven his mother away.
It was revenge for his mother.
And the reason he later lost the ability to love, just as Slughorn described…
Was probably because he eventually realized that his mother might never have loved him at all.
That realization plunged him into complete despair.
"Haah…"
Link let out a deep sigh.
The yolk-colored sun slowly rose above the horizon, gentle morning light piercing through the mist and falling across his body.
Yet he felt no warmth whatsoever.
Only coldness.
Winter was coming.
"Slughorn told you everything already?"
Dumbledore's voice suddenly came from the shadows.
"Yes."
Link answered flatly and turned around, only to see Dumbledore wearing an extremely complicated expression, one filled with both guilt and regret.
"This was my failure as an educator." Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows and stood beside Link, watching the sunrise with him.
"If I had observed more carefully back then, if I had given Tom more love, perhaps he wouldn't have become Voldemort."
Link expressionlessly glanced at Dumbledore.
Of course he knew what Dumbledore meant.
Voldemort had once been Dumbledore's student too.
And not just any student, but the most outstanding one.
Strictly speaking, Dumbledore was the teacher who had taught Voldemort how to use power.
Though the real reason Dumbledore felt so guilty was probably his method of educating Voldemort.
Back then, Dumbledore hadn't yet become headmaster, and the old headmaster's teaching philosophy had leaned toward the Black family style.
Naturally, Dumbledore had been influenced by it as well. The current version of Dumbledore, who gently joked with students after they made mistakes or even helped excuse them, absolutely did not exist back then.
If you made a mistake, you got beaten.
Especially Voldemort.
Dumbledore truly embodied the saying, "A father sees his son misbehaving and immediately pulls out the belt."
Later, Voldemort's rise had simply left too great a psychological shadow on Dumbledore. Otherwise, would Dumbledore really have changed his educational philosophy and let students live so comfortably?
Dream on.
But was Dumbledore truly wrong?
"Heh. Doesn't seem like this was really your fault either."
Link chuckled softly and voiced his opinion.
That answer clearly surprised Dumbledore.
He turned his head in astonishment, only to see Link already looking back toward the rising sun as he continued,
"You think Voldemort became what he is now because your education back then contained too much violence."
"You think your method of forcing obedience through violence made him believe that once he possessed enough violence himself, he could force others to submit too."
Dumbledore silently nodded.
Link's words had struck directly at his thoughts.
That was exactly what he believed.
"But I don't think this is your fault."
Link shook his head.
"Some bratty kids simply need strict discipline. You never gave him any special or targeted corporal punishment. No matter how you look at it, the responsibility can't be pinned on you."
Link genuinely looked down on Voldemort.
Sure, his background was tragic, but even as a child he already displayed a kind of malice.
According to Slughorn's descriptions, Voldemort had already been using his Parseltongue abilities for theft, revenge, and harming others while living in the orphanage.
After arriving at Hogwarts, he constantly framed people and committed all kinds of schemes within the limits of the rules.
To Link, this kind of brat simply deserved a beating.
In fact, the fact that Dumbledore and the old Hogwarts headmaster hadn't expelled him already counted as incredible mercy.
"You have a point. There was indeed a period when I thought the same way," Dumbledore sighed.
"But no matter what, I must admit that if I had noticed Tom's uniqueness earlier and guided him in a more targeted way, perhaps I could have changed him."
Hearing that, Link smiled.
If. Suppose. What if.
Those words represented nothing but meaningless regret.
Because there was no such thing as medicine for regret in this world, and thus no hypothetical scenario could ever come true.
Besides, Link didn't believe Voldemort could have been corrected simply through the kind of gentle guidance Dumbledore used on Harry.
After all, growing up in such an extreme environment had already twisted Voldemort's worldview from the start.
For Dumbledore to think he could straighten it out through sheer personal effort alone was simply overestimating himself.
"Slughorn told me Voldemort's most terrifying state was when he still possessed 'love.' And now, Voldemort has clearly already regained control over that power." Link's smile faded. "What do you think we should do now?"
"What should we do? Why would you ask something so strange?"
Dumbledore paid no attention to Link's abrupt change of topic and instead smiled as he replied, "Just because Tom Riddle possesses the power of love and desire, does that mean we don't?"
Link narrowed his eyes.
"You mean..."
"What I mean is that every one of us carries love and strength within our hearts. Those who don't are the rare exception." Dumbledore pressed a hand against Link's chest.
"So don't worry. At most, he's merely mastered one method of using the power of 'love and desire,' and it's the most twisted kind possible."
"And yet we're still inferior to him, aren't we? At the very least, he knows how to use it. We can't even perceive that power."
"And yet we're still inferior to him, aren't we? At the very least, he knows how to use it. We can't even perceive that power."
"Don't worry, child. You'll perceive it eventually. You simply lack the proper trigger. When the time is right, the power of love and desire will naturally become yours in your own way. That's inevitable. And it won't take long before that opportunity arrives."
A radiant smile suddenly bloomed across Dumbledore's face.
"As for now, the thing you should really be worrying about is the mediation conference the International Confederation of Wizards is holding between us and the French Ministry of Magic."
"Last night, they already sent notice specifically requesting your attendance as the true controller of the British Ministry of Magic!"