The Headmaster's Office was silent.
Fawkes, having just been reborn, seemed to be recovering his strength, huddled in his nest and fast asleep. On the wall covered with portraits, every former Headmaster was feigning sleep with their eyes closed, but none of them made the slightest sound of snoring.
Sherlock stared blankly ahead, clearly shocked beyond measure by these words.
"You mean my mother is not dead yet!"
Dumbledore gently rubbed the back of his hand with his fingers and said calmly,
"I wish that were the case, but the truth is that Sally died when you were three years old."
"Then what is that which you said is lurking in Lord Voldemort's main soul?"
Dumbledore did not answer his question directly, but suddenly clasped his hands together and asked in return,
"Do you know how ghosts are formed?"
Sherlock muttered to himself,
"Because of a great obsession before death, unwilling to leave the world of the living..."
"The soul is truly wondrous," Dumbledore said softly. "Sally wanted to use her own soul, which had already been split, to drag Tom into the world of the dead with her. But after she discovered she could not do that, the soul that should have departed to walk the journey on the other side remained in the world of the living out of unwillingness."
"This world is divided into three categories: the world of the living, the world of the dead, and the world of the spirit, which only Wizards can see."
"Magic stems from emotions, emotions come from the soul, and the soul and spirit arrive at the same destination by different paths. Muggles are solely of the living; what the dead are, they do not know. Wizards are a combination of the living and the spirit, while ghosts are a combination of the dead and the spirit."
"Whether it is a Wizard or a ghost, the spirit is the dominant force. When the spirit—which can also be called emotion—is persistent enough and powerful enough, it can influence both the living and the dead."
"This is a power that Tom will never understand, and it is also the most powerful magic."
Dumbledore's voice was low, but his blue eyes were shining, as if he were recounting an unknown greatness.
Sherlock pursed his lips and slowly uttered a single word.
"Love."
The white-bearded old man sitting opposite him laughed heartily.
"Many people have asked me what the most powerful magic in the world is, and I have told them without holding anything back about the powerful forces I know of. But you are the first, Sherlock, the first to say this word to me."
"Everyone knows that emotion is the key to unleashing magic, but what emotion is the most intense, the greatest, and the most selfless? This question is placed before every Wizard, but those who can truly see the answer are few and far between in the entire history of magic."
"And your mother was the one who saw it most clearly. Whether it was what she left for you or what she wanted to do, she utilised that powerful force."
"The part of Sally's soul that she split off to try and drag Tom into the world of the dead was able to lie dormant by relying on this power. But after all, it was only a part of the soul that Sally had discarded, intended to drag Tom down with her to their mutual destruction."
Dumbledore's voice gradually faded.
"And the real Sally was the one who had countless resentments and hateful memories forcibly instilled into her, was driven completely insane, and was finally released. In the end, she died on a hospital bed at St Mungo's with those memories, and with her incomplete soul, she embarked on a greater journey to the other side."
Sherlock's lips moved, making no sound, but those familiar with him could tell from the shape of his mouth that he was saying the name "Bella".
He recorded another debt against this woman in his heart; now it was two debts.
"Then why do you say that after Lord Voldemort knows my identity, he will place me on the same level as Harry and want to kill me?"
Dumbledore said with extreme seriousness,
"Tom is very clear about what Sally did, and he is also very clear that there is an extra ghost in his soul that has always wanted to drag him into the world of the dead. But he has no way to solve it. A Horcrux splits the soul, allowing him to live forever, but at the same time, his soul has become shattered and fragmented. Even the main soul, which can be reborn after death, is just as broken."
"He has no way to rid himself of Sally's entanglement on his own. But once he knows that Sally actually has a son—you—who has been hidden so deeply and is still alive, he will inevitably make an attempt."
"Just like that year, when he decided to go to the Potters' based on that prophecy, gambling that young Harry was the one from the prophecy who could kill him, he will certainly gamble on whether you are that obsession of Sally's hidden in his soul."
At this moment, Sherlock finally understood everything Dumbledore had been hiding, and he took a deep breath.
"So you all made a pact to keep this matter hidden, just to prevent the news that she had a son—me—still alive from spreading. Otherwise, before Lord Voldemort went to the Potters' and lost his power, he would have killed me at any cost."
Dumbledore's gaze was deep and profound.
"When Tom lost his power and everyone else in the Wizarding World thought he would never return, no one who had made the pact at that time had any intention of revealing the truth. Sally's actions were not recorded in any archives."
"In the eyes of Tom and his followers, this daring and overreaching Witch was always alone. I have been doing my best to maintain this image of her, and I have never revealed even the slightest bit of information about your relationship with your father and Sally."
"But no one who knows about this will ever forget what your brave mother did. I, even less, will forget that within Tom's soul, there is still one of the most talented students to ever graduate from Hogwarts, and the thing she is most obsessed with still remains there."
He blinked calmly at Sherlock and said indifferently,
"No one should have to die as a matter of course, nor is anyone unworthy of death, and I am no exception. When the day comes that I need to die, I will not hesitate, just like your mother. But before that time comes, there are some things you need to know."
"I hadn't thought about when that time would be; I only considered that if you were truly unsuited for the Wizarding World ahead, I would tell you all this after everything had settled."
"But your performance has exceeded everyone's expectations. Not just me, but Kingsley, Minerva, Arthur, Molly, and Alastor—they all hold you in high regard."
"So, today is perhaps the most appropriate time for you to know these things."
"Your mother, Sally Helena Forrest, was not an unreasonable lunatic; she was the bravest, greatest, and most loving mother in this world."