After Dumbledore arrived, the group, with Harry's assistance, made many more attempts.
"Who is this?" Howl asked Nagini, holding up an old photograph.
Under Harry's command, "Be honest with me, answer whatever my uncle asks," Nagini could only swallow her saliva and answer the questions.
"Credence," Nagini replied, a flicker of struggle in her eyes, which Dumbledore keenly noticed.
Then, Dumbledore continued to ask, "What does it feel like? Your innermost thoughts, the core idea, the touch!"
"…"
"Can… can I eat him? I'm starving!"
Howl had to suppress his amusement at Dumbledore's words at that moment and instead said, "The bestial nature is growing too fast; her state seems orderly but is actually chaotic, like a tumor. Even with memories, there's no emotion yet."
"That doesn't make sense. At first, deep in her soul, there were still some basic human concepts belonging to that girl, weren't there?" Dumbledore murmured.
Howl also stroked his beard and began a discussion with Dumbledore.
"It hasn't fermented yet," he said lightly after a moment. "Have you ever made sauerkraut or pickled cucumbers?"
"Um, Howl, what analogy are you going to use now?" Dumbledore smiled helplessly.
On the other side, Aberforth was getting excited. He wasn't professionally trained, so he couldn't really contribute to discussions about magic theory.
But when it came to pickling cucumbers, he was an expert.
"To make pickles, you need to seal them and let them ferment," Howl explained.
"The current Nagini is like that because she hasn't been properly sealed, so she just stinks.
But once she's properly sealed, we can use that lingering trace of humanity as a starter, allowing it to ferment slowly."
With this simple concept, Harry immediately understood by replacing the previously mentioned 'skin' with 'pickle jar'.
Hmm… thanks to Petunia often asking him for help when she made such things.
Then, Howl quickly set out the basic approach.
Harry's Parseltongue would act as a starter, luring out the bestial nature in her soul.
Howl would clear the bestial nature, performing "disinfection" before sealing.
Dumbledore would then complete her memories, including many missing ones that were unrelated to Nagini's past experiences but were basic cognitions belonging to normal humans.
These were the "seasonings."
Finally, Howl would add restraints, which meant sealing her in a jar.
Lastly, it would be left to time.
By the time all this was done, it was already past midnight.
The workload this time was indeed substantial.
On the way back, there were only Dumbledore and Harry.
Howl had directly slipped back to the Shrieking Shack.
Looking at Hogwarts under the moonlight, Dumbledore lowered his head: "Harry, please forgive my abruptness, but I want to ask, do you also feel tired?"
Harry immediately became alert. He remembered what Uncle Howl had told him before: when dealing with Dumbledore, always be extra careful.
"Haha," Dumbledore laughed, not minding at all. "No need to be wary."
Harry immediately felt a bit awkward.
"I didn't use Legilimency. Firstly, I've already learned my lesson from Howl.
Besides, you can trust my judgment, which I've honed over a hundred years.
Also, I think Howl's arrangement for practicing Occlumency is indeed a bit late. I hope you don't mind; I'm not criticizing."
Dumbledore ended the topic cleanly.
Then, he looked at the towering Castle.
Spring was coming, winter was leaving. The entire night sky was quiet, yet there were no stars visible when looking up.
Only pure, desolate night remained.
"My point is, Harry, you don't need to put too much pressure on yourself. You've already done very well.
As for anything else, as long as I'm in this Castle for one more day, Hogwarts will not fall into chaos!"
Dumbledore's words were surprisingly domineering.
Harry remained silent, not answering.
After a long while, he finally nodded and said softly, "Thank you for your concern, Professor."
Dumbledore smiled and took off the ring on his hand.
"Here, take this."
Harry took the ring with some confusion, then looked closely and saw it was a snake ring.
It also had an inexplicably familiar feeling.
"This is…"
"This is the Basilisk; Howl and I sealed it together," Dumbledore said with the sly chuckle of a child gossiping behind someone's back.
"Howl didn't take it back. Honestly, I've been waiting for him to ask for it, since he always acts so greedy. Then I could use the opportunity to tease him."
Harry also smiled awkwardly. He knew the playful meaning in Dumbledore's words, otherwise, he wouldn't have said this to him.
"Later, he never asked, so perhaps he doesn't care about this thing after all.
It made it meaningless for me to hold onto it, so now I'll just give it to you," Dumbledore continued.
"Professor…" Harry hesitated.
"Take it. Otherwise, you can give it to Howl."
Harry was silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.
Soon, the old man and the young boy arrived in the Castle and parted ways.
Howl's voice rang in Dumbledore's ear.
"You deliberately triggered the array on the ring in reverse, attracting my attention here, just for these trivial, nonsensical matters?" Howl's voice asked.
"Howl," Dumbledore sighed, his voice sounding incredibly desolate in the dark, desolate, wide corridor.
"You have no demands on that child, which worries me greatly," he said. "In fact, you basically let him choose everything for himself."
"Uh-huh, is there a problem?" Howl said, "Isn't that good?!"
"No demands is the biggest demand!" Dumbledore shook his head helplessly. "Howl, anyone can see your efforts, I cannot deny that.
But your words and actions, perhaps… perhaps they are a bit too distant and rigid?"
"…"
"Howl, allow me to boldly guess, your responses to most of his actions are probably 'Oh,' 'Uh-huh,' 'Not bad,' reflecting a sense of what's expected.
However… at least from my perspective, he has achieved results far beyond any of his peers."
"…He's not a little girl," Howl's voice was a little helpless.
"He's a child," Dumbledore emphasized. "He's only twelve. What were you doing when you were twelve?"
"Killing people," Howl said calmly. "My village was destroyed by war. After signing a contract with Lucifer, I killed all those enemy soldiers.
Later, the ruins of the village houses and the war machines left by those soldiers were divided between Hal and me, and that's how we got two mobile 'homes' that always accompany us on our journey!"
Now it was Dumbledore's turn to be silent. He had seen what Moonlight Castle looked like, as if it were pieced together from small houses.
He hadn't realized that behind it lay the meaning of "home."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know about your past. If you mind—"
"If I minded, I wouldn't have said anything," Howl said calmly. "Just a casual remark."
A moment later, Dumbledore continued, "I'm very worried that this child, one day in the future, might force himself to do things he shouldn't, all because of some so-called 'not wanting to disappoint my uncle'."
"…"
"A year ago, I promised that I would no longer treat this child with extreme motives and self-interest. Now, I am fulfilling that promise. I apologize, I hope you don't think I'm meddling."
"…"
"No," Howl's voice was a little low. "Perhaps it is indeed my problem. Thank you."
"Aha!" Dumbledore chuckled, gently clapping his hands in the corridor, the sound echoing. "It's not easy to get your praise."
"Heh heh, old man!" Howl sneered twice, cutting the connection.
Dumbledore felt Howl's sudden departure and froze for a moment.
There was still the matter of the Horcrux that hadn't been discussed, and it was rare to have made some progress…
On the other side, Howl rested his hand on the sofa, gazing at Lucifer's flame, somewhat lost in thought.
"Damn it!"
He looked at Lucifer and suddenly remembered.
"You were the one who called that brat here for Christmas back then, right?!"
Lucifer groggily opened his eyes: "Uh… who? Harry?"
Howl nodded.
"That was indeed me, after all, you're not that kind of person," Lucifer smiled mockingly. "You, Mu En Jones, don't even have that concept in your head."
Howl's mouth twitched, and he smiled, "Thank you, someone just made a similar comment."
"Oh? Who is this person? To have the same sharp and incisive insight as me, the great one," Lucifer perked up, laughing merrily.
"Your father-in-law," Howl said irritably.
"…Uh… that's true."
"?"
Lucifer then explained, "You see, he's good to Fawkes, and I'm good to Fawkes! It's all perfectly natural!"
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