[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-wizard-war-at-hogwarts":3,"chapter-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-173":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Wizard War at 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},2358146,4612,"Chapter 173","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-173",173,"\u003Cp>“First, let’s talk about the poison—how long do you think I’ve been poisoned?” Dumbledore extended his hand, examining the withered little finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A few months?” Harry guessed uncertainly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Two years,” Dumbledore said softly. “When you were in your first year, I couldn’t resist searching for the Resurrection Stone again. This time, I succeeded—the Gaunt bloodline ultimately merged into the Riddle family. Another surname vanished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed his investigation into the Deathly Hallows had once again stirred Dumbledore’s desire; Harry felt a pang of guilt. Then he couldn’t help but recall Tom Riddle from the diary—now even the second brother’s line was extinct. Perhaps he himself was the last surviving heir of the Peverells, and thus, legally, he held full inheritance rights to all three Hallows…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I found the Resurrection Stone in the Gaunt shack. I was too excited—I thought I’d see Ariana at once, so I turned the stone. But I didn’t notice it had already been turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort,” Dumbledore whispered. “I was cursed almost instantly—it consumed my longing for my family and turned it into poison that attacked me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl in the Realm of Life and Death was named Ariana, Harry speculated irresponsibly—was she Dumbledore’s sister? Or his early-dead lover?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snape has no cure. He can only suppress the poison for a year,” Dumbledore said. “But a year is too short. I’ve only just begun to understand the secret of Horcruxes—I need time to investigate. So I turned to Xuan Jun.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xuan Jun excels in spells related to time and fate. He couldn’t break the curse, but he thought of a solution that wasn’t really a solution—the Yanwang Tie,” Dumbledore smiled bitterly. “It’s a divination spell that marks a person’s destined death. When the hour arrives, I will die without fail—as they say, if Death plans to take you at three, no one can keep you alive until five.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But conversely, if Death plans to take you at three, then at one you are certainly not dead,” Dumbledore offered a sly smile. “That’s the other use of the Yanwang Tie. Xuan Jun marked my destined death for 1997—so until that year arrives, the poison cannot harm me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry stared, wide-eyed, at Dumbledore. So the coming battle would be between two wizards who could not die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Voldemort believes he has gone far on the path to immortality, but Xuan Jun understands more than he does,” Dumbledore’s smile grew gentle. “So don’t worry about me. Before 1997 arrives, neither the Killing Curse nor this poison can touch me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry lowered his head uncomfortably, remembering the Philosopher’s Stone. There were many ways to achieve immortality—but as Dumbledore said, death was merely the beginning of another adventure. Perhaps what Voldemort so desperately sought was precisely what other powerful wizards scorned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, about the wand—why do you think Voldemort went to buy a foreign wand?” Dumbledore gently drew out his own wand; Harry noticed it was covered in knuckles. “Because he fears—fears this wand in my hand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, the Elder Wand was in Dumbledore’s possession, yet Harry couldn’t help saying, “But clearly, the Elder Wand’s true purpose isn’t invincibility.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Setting aside the Hallows, it remains an extremely powerful wand,” Dumbledore placed it on the table. He knew Harry was among the few in the world unaffected by the Elder Wand’s allure. “Enough to defeat Voldemort.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You are immortal—that is our guarantee of invincibility,” Harry said softly. “And Voldemort doesn’t know this. Nor does he know we’ve uncovered the secret of his immortality. That is our advantage.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct,” Dumbledore tucked the Elder Wand away. “But I cannot guarantee I’ll capture Voldemort. We must still focus on the Horcruxes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Actually, I’ve begun to get an idea,” Harry mused. “You said Voldemort turned the Resurrection Stone into a Horcrux because it was ancestral to him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded. “That’s why he buried it in the Gaunt shack.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But that means he’s also a descendant of Slytherin,” Harry asked. “Do you know Voldemort’s real name?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tom Marvolo Riddle. Rearrange the letters—it becomes ‘I am Lord Voldemort,’” Dumbledore said easily. “You look like you’ve remembered something.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The diary—it’s definitely a Horcrux!” Harry declared firmly. “I nearly overlooked it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh…” Dumbledore sank into memory. “That was likely his first Horcrux, created during his school years—a practice run. He opened the Chamber of Secrets, killed Moaning Myrtle, and framed Hagrid. Unfortunately, I was just an ordinary Transfiguration professor then, unable to gather enough evidence—I could only keep watch to prevent him from committing further crimes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now the diary is stored at Torchwood Club,” Harry said, puzzled. “But the reason I kept ignoring it was that it never showed malice or conspiracy—it actually helped us quite a bit…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because it contains the soul of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle,” Dumbledore said. “At that age, Voldemort may not have had ambitions of world domination—he was still obsessed with vanity, focused only on Hogwarts. For him then, proving his superiority might have been enough—he didn’t necessarily need to kill many.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought then that this boy might still be saved,” he added. Harry suspected this was Dumbledore’s excuse for not killing Voldemort outright fifty years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the diadem is also a Horcrux, we now know of at least two,” Harry said optimistically. “Add the destroyed ring—if Voldemort truly intended only seven Horcruxes, we’ve quietly gained a great advantage.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But more likely, Voldemort plans nine Horcruxes,” Dumbledore calculated. “On top of the original seven, add the diary as his practice piece—and you, Harry, as his accidental one. Xuan Jun said nine is a magical number, but Voldemort may not understand Chinese culture—he might favor twelve or thirteen instead…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, besides the four known relics and three Hallows—though Voldemort hasn’t fully collected them,” Harry felt a flicker of pessimism, “he may well create more Horcruxes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not necessarily,” Dumbledore comforted him. “Voldemort places great importance on ceremony. He won’t turn ordinary objects into Horcruxes—that’s a major flaw in his character. Otherwise, he could just pick up a stone, make it a Horcrux, and toss it into the Thames—we’d be powerless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But we should still prioritize sealing him,” Harry didn’t mention the Stasis Charm or the drawings yet—he needed Sirius’s experiments to conclude before formulating a plan. “If we imprison Voldemort permanently, no matter how many Horcruxes he makes, they’ll be useless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The plan is clearer now. I’ll discuss it again with Snape,” Dumbledore stood. “You can go watch the World Cup. An old man like me would only spoil your fun.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please don’t say that…” Harry felt embarrassed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I must leave—I think I’ve found a clue about where he hid the locket,” Dumbledore took a deep breath. “I need to find it first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t feel pressured, Harry,” Dumbledore said before leaving, patting his head. “I still have three years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dumbledore walked out the manor’s gate, and with a sharp crack, the strongest wizard in the magical world vanished from Harry’s side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Harry sometimes wished Dumbledore were near when discussing Voldemort, objectively speaking, children and their headmaster sharing the same room always felt slightly awkward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Early the next morning, after reading the Prophet’s odd stories, Harry noticed beneath them a folded copy of the Morning Star. Curious, he picked it up and skimmed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper carried an interview with Yanayev, who stated, “Some Western nations arrogantly presume to decide for humanity, especially by forcing their values on everyone.” Yanayev harshly criticized NASA’s Voyager One and Two, arguing they might provoke alien invasion—after all, the universe might not be friendly; it could well be a Dark Forest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry wasn’t particularly interested in sci-fi tales about aliens—his worldview had long been shaped by magic. He skimmed rapidly, then his pupils contracted—a troubling suspicion rose in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The article mentioned Yanayev had ordered the Space Administration to develop a new probe, tasked with chasing and destroying NASA’s Voyagers, with plans to launch at least twelve before 1997. Yanayev revealed in the interview that the probe’s preliminary designation was—Cadmus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry rushed back to his study, comparing letter by letter, and finally confirmed: the Muggle world’s most advanced spacecraft bore the same name as the medieval European figure, the second brother of the Three Brothers tale, Voldemort’s ancestor—Cadmus Peverell.\u003C\u002Fp>",1364,"2026-06-21T04:54:27.874Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","50a7bd5c314927f4db527bd9f6fb7b0ed9f1d0bc1cb48aa18335ead108505b5c","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-174","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-172",528,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwizard-war-at-hogwarts-cover.jpg"]