[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts":3,"chapter-the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-chapter-60":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Transfiguration Master of Hogwarts",{"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},2320765,4539,"Chapter 60: Dumbledore's Question","the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-chapter-60",60,"\u003Cp>The next morning, the snow had not yet melted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen, Ron, and Hermione continued enjoying their Christmas break, but Harry seemed distracted, uninterested in everything he did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen and Ron immediately guessed what was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Ron suggested visiting Hagrid, but Harry refused outright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ron decided to speak plainly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I know what you’re thinking, Harry—you’re thinking about that mirror. Don’t go back tonight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why not?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling—and you’ve barely escaped so many times. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are patrolling everywhere. What if they see you? What if they bump into you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You sound like Hermione.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not joking, Harry. Really, don’t go.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Harry’s mind was fixed on one thought: returning to the mirror. Ron couldn’t stop him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Ron left to attend to other matters, Allen approached, also eager to see the mirror again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s wait until Ron’s asleep, then sneak off to see the mirror together,” Allen whispered to Harry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry frowned, remembering last night’s ambush, still uneasy, and replied coldly: “If I want to go, I’ll go alone. Why should I take you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen was unmoved by Harry’s tone and pleaded: “You forgot about Mrs. Norris last night—you get so lost in the mirror you ignore everything around you. I can keep watch for you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry was visibly swayed, hesitating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen carefully studied Harry’s expression, sensing an opening, and pressed on: “Today, you look for twenty minutes, then I get fifteen—we take turns keeping watch!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry chuckled at Allen and declared firmly: “I get twenty minutes. You get ten.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Deal!” Allen agreed without hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No more ambushes!” Harry glared at Allen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whoever ambushes the other is a puppy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, Harry and Allen moved with practiced ease, both eager to see the mirror. They hurried beneath the Invisibility Cloak, unaware of the loud noise they made—but encountered no one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they entered the classroom, Harry burst out from under the Cloak and plopped down on the floor before the mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah—his mother and father smiled at him again, and his grandfather nodded cheerfully. Harry stared, entranced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen carefully stowed the Cloak, locked the door, and waited patiently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After twenty minutes, Harry still showed no sign of rising. Allen confronted him; Harry told him to wait another ten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen waited another ten minutes—but Harry still refused to move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen then lost patience, effortlessly knocked Harry down...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry lay on the wooden floor, blinking furiously at Allen, his eyes filled with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Woof! Woof! Woof!” Allen understood what Harry wanted to say and replied bluntly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry glared, eyes wide with anger—but it did no good. Allen ignored him completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen once again opened his mind, letting the mirror reveal the magical script’s glowing screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Allen focused on recording the most frequently appearing ancient magical runes in the second key-value pair; based on his programming experience, these most common runes were likely control flow statements, critically important for programming—he planned to copy and study them first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he intended to transcribe a complete segment of the ancient magical runes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To study their programming syntax—since programming syntax is rarely complex, he was confident he could deduce it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re back again, Harry. Allen.” A voice suddenly came from behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen spun around instantly; by the time he finished turning, his wand was already in hand, pointed at the source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting at a table against the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, his white beard glowing clearly in the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Harry felt his body regain control. He trembled as he rose from the floor, feeling as if his organs had frozen solid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen also dropped his wand, stunned, staring helplessly at Dumbledore, who had appeared out of nowhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So,” Dumbledore said, sliding off the table and joining Harry and Allen on the floor, “you, like countless others before you, have discovered the pleasure of the Mirror of Erised.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen noticed Dumbledore glancing at him subtly as he spoke, his tension deepening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It—it oh—it shows me my family—and Ron sees himself as Head Boy—and Allen... oh, Allen, what did you see?” Harry stammered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen had lowered his head, staring at his shoes as if fascinated by their laces. Hearing Harry’s question, he mumbled: “I saw myself as I am—no transformation at all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry’s breath caught at this answer; for a moment, he felt a pang of sympathy for Allen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And you’re holding that notebook to sketch your normal appearance? I just saw you writing and drawing on it,” Dumbledore asked with interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen broke into a cold sweat—this question was dangerous. He had to change the subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Professor, you said ‘again’—did you know we came here yesterday?” Allen tried to deflect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore gave Allen a long, deep look and said lightly: “Yes. You know, elderly people rarely sleep well—I often walk through the castle, and happened to catch you two arguing...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Petrificus Totalus was very well done!” Dumbledore paused, then added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen felt even more awkward—he sensed Dumbledore’s words carried hidden meaning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you for the compliment!” Allen said boldly, choosing not to engage further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Mirror of Erised shows us nothing more than our deepest, most desperate desires. You have never known your family, so you see them surrounding you. Ron Weasley has always lived in the shadow of his brothers, so he sees himself standing alone, the greatest among them. But this mirror gives no knowledge or truth. People waste their lives before it, obsessed by what they see, even driven mad by it.” Dumbledore spoke softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen instantly understood the hidden message: Dumbledore had only mentioned what Harry and Ron saw, not what he himself saw—he knew Allen had lied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Allen had no choice but to press on. For a moment, he wanted to tell Dumbledore everything he had seen—but he held back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not unconditionally trust someone he’d met only a few times, even if, in his past-life memories, that person was good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He continued playing dumb, pretending he hadn’t understood Dumbledore’s implication.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tomorrow, the mirror will be moved to a new location, Harry. Allen. I ask you not to seek it again. If you happen to find it someday, be prepared. To drown in illusions and forget reality serves no purpose—remember that well. Now, why not put on your marvelous Invisibility Cloak and go to bed?” Dumbledore was letting them go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry and Allen exhaled deeply, thanked Dumbledore, and prepared to leave. They pulled on the Cloak and reached the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Allen,” Dumbledore’s voice came from behind, “is there anything you’d like to say to me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Allen froze, didn't dare to turn around, and quickly replied: \"No.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, if there is, you may come to me anytime.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1121,"2026-06-20T16:09:23.977Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","629914bf099cbde8e39d7f60f2e239c07b65eb74f2695eadda51047f92d2d6e0","the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-chapter-61","the-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-chapter-59",284,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-transfiguration-master-of-hogwarts-cover.jpg"]