[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-hogwarts-learning-panel":3,"chapter-hogwarts-learning-panel-hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-449":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Hogwarts Learning Panel",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2250687,4210,"Chapter 449: Idle Chat","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-449",449,"\u003Cp>“Walk with me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean nodded; the house before him had been reduced to a blackened frame, radiating intense heat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Professor Quirrell made a tiny motion with his wand, subtly burying a ring that had not been fully consumed by fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cast a sidelong glance at Wizard Sean, and the young wizard lifted a finger, quietly stowing the tattered ring into the Wizard’s Book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, Wizard Sean would have to find a way to break Voldemort’s curse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Professor, thank you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean said to Quirrell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, ah… no, Mr. Green, I didn’t really help at all…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Quirrell stammered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You faced Voldemort. You defeated him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, no… it was… it was yes, I destroyed part of him, only part…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Quirrell’s knuckles whitened around his wand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The truth is, you did it, Professor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone told me that what matters is to keep fighting, fighting, and fighting again—only then can evil be contained, though it can never be fully eradicated…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean spoke slowly, his gaze fixed on the quiet night, on the ground where the ring had just been buried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bloodlike, black, viscous substance seeped from the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a fragment of the ring, shattered into pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it cracked, all three of them heard that terrible, agonized scream—not just from the black mist, but from the broken object itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Quirrell stood frozen, staring at the eerie ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your will is Quirrell’s will.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He finally said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A short distance away, Dumbledore watched their exchange with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was calm, unhurried, even intrigued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after Quirrell Apparated away and Mr. Puckett entered the Wizard’s Book did Dumbledore tap his fingers lightly, igniting his wand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come along, dear Mr. Green.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore raised his wand; his tall silhouette glowed with a soft radiance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Hangleton had been battered by northwest winds for two days; even the barking of dogs was barely audible in the tiny village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky was an endless expanse of leaden gray, save for a faint yellow haze along the eastern horizon, feeble yet stubborn, as if trying to slowly melt away the leaden canopy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seven or eight low cottages huddled on the ground, like beetles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New stacks of straw resembled withered wild mushrooms; near them and farther along the riverbank, the scent of earth carried the breath of spring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You must know the tale of the three brothers—Peverell made it clear: the elder brother’s lost love was never truly revived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was sent by Death to lure the elder brother into its grasp, and so she was cold, distant, elusive, and maddening.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean spoke slowly in the dim night, just before dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you think I should have realized that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean thought for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know either, child. Those without hope can only endure life… you’ve done well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I know some people’s promised futures are sweet lies, but look—I’m willing to be fooled again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore’s gaze was deep; his robes stirred in the dawn breeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, the Invisibility Cloak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They may be useful—I once seized them at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now I don’t know how much I’ve truly grown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I’ve understood one thing: I can never become Death’s true conqueror, because the true conqueror never tries to flee Death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He accepts his mortal fate gladly, knowing that in the world of the living, there are far worse things than death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans always choose what is most detrimental to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even I, Albus Dumbledore, find the Invisibility Cloak the easiest to refuse. That only proves that even a clever man like me is just as foolish as anyone else.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore and Wizard Sean stepped over the haystack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They also found a snake frozen solid before spring had arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re not a fool.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m glad you see it that way. But today, my dear student has treated me like a fool—keeping secrets from an old man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It disappoints me that young voices won’t speak to aged ears.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean fell silent; Dumbledore’s bright smile turned toward him, revealing faint redness along his ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A light breeze stirred; dawn was coming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The faint yellow haze on the horizon finally dissolved the leaden sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I once thought this was life’s suffering, but look—this is what life is.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even if life is suffering, that’s fine…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore spoke slowly, chatting idly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean asked softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t imagine how Headmaster Dumbledore had resisted the temptation of the Resurrection Stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Resurrection Stone, no matter how heartbreakingly hollow its results, could indeed summon souls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Headmaster Dumbledore, this meant he would see Ariana, his mother, his father—tell them how deeply, how endlessly he regretted everything…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because… I set out again with my broken oar.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hogwarts Castle had just heard its first rooster crow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Few young wizards here woke at this hour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, only those who had been out after curfew or had stayed awake all night could hear it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean heard it—he had just returned to Hogwarts Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using Phoenix Fawkes’s Apparition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a curious thing: Wizard Sean felt himself become a flame, spreading with the wind to Hogwarts Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even more interesting, more delightful to Wizard Sean, was that Headmaster Dumbledore had let go of his obsession with the Resurrection Stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It meant Wizard Sean now had enough time to break the curse and test its efficacy in the soul realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ravenclaw Tower was silent; Wizard Sean read books on the Resurrection Stone while observing a “little phoenix” that had appeared on his desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few seconds later, the “little phoenix” slipped into a special photograph.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, Dumbledore was smiling and winking—his first appearance in color.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, the “phoenix” flew out from his position and played with a squirrel that had emerged from Quirrell’s location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean gazed out the window, his deep green eyes like a still Black Lake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in the Headmaster’s Office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rare owl flew out, its claws clutching letters that had not been sent in many years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【…I write to you this Easter… perhaps I’ve met a lucky black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surprisingly, it does not promise us glory or joy, but it guards our hope…】\u003C\u002Fp>",1049,"2026-06-19T10:00:42.198Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b1feb14c6cf974fe1113d8ce2177b31181b32dd13fd34f894d7fbc95a4403fd3","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-450","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-448",526,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fhogwarts-learning-panel-cover.jpg"]