Chapter 283: Credence

After a day of classes, what Harry looked forward to most was not the delicious food on the Great Hall tables, but sitting in the library after dinner and doing homework with Zhang Qiu. Although there was plenty of homework this week, clearly, the focus was not on the homework.

When Harry sat down in that familiar spot, Zhang Qiu said in a slightly serious tone: "The investigation has results."

"What investigation?" Harry was stunned for a moment.

"News about Aurelius Deng Buliduo. The security clearance for this within the Magical Congress doesn't seem very high; Tang Tang Nade told me all the information very easily," Zhang Qiu said. "And he hinted to me that all this information can be verified by Newt Scamander, which means this information should be accurate."

"Alright, so what is going on with Aurelius?" Harry also became serious. This person is related to the Death Eaters' conspiracy, and they are preparing to use this person to smear Deng Buliduo's reputation.

"He didn't know his background at first. A Muggle adopted him and named him Credence Barebone," Zhang Qiu flipped through her notebook. "In his early years, he lived in an anti-magic community, which led him to extremely suppress his talent, and eventually formed an Obscurus."

"Anti-magic community?" This was the first time Harry had heard this argument.

"His adoptive mother, Mary Lou Barebone, was the leader of the New York anti-magic community 'New Salem Philanthropic Society', a woman who hated magic extremely and wasn't quite right in the head," Zhang Qiu curled her lips with a hint of sympathy. "Mary Lou knew his witch mother and often used this to insult and abuse him."

Harry involuntarily thought of his experience at the Dursleys', and his mood was somewhat complicated.

"After one beating, Credence could no longer suppress his Obscurus. The explosion of the Obscurus not only killed his adoptive mother but also caused considerable destruction," Zhang Qiu calmly recounted the experience of this poor person. "This matter was noticed by Grindelwald, who was in the limelight at the time, but he didn't think Credence was that Obscurial; he felt an Obscurial couldn't live to his age."

"Grindelwald?" Harry recalled the memories he had seen; he hadn't mentioned Credence.

"Yes, he disguised himself as an official of the Magical Congress to approach him, and then because of a misjudgment, he prepared to abandon Credence. This again induced Credence's Obscurus, and this time he almost destroyed half of New York, which is the New York Obscurial incident that many people know," Zhang Qiu said. "Some people thought he died, but actually he didn't. He has been actively investigating his background until Grindelwald, in order to use him, found him again and said his real name—Aurelius Deng Buliduo."

"But Grindelwald might be lying in order to use him, right?" Harry frowned and said. "He might not really be surnamed Deng Buliduo."

"He is indeed of the Deng Buliduo bloodline because he can summon a phoenix," Zhang Qiu pursed her lips and said. "Later Deng Buliduo, I mean Aberforth Deng Buliduo, also admitted his identity; he is Aberforth's son."

"But looking at Aberforth's situation, I really can't imagine who his mother would be," Harry felt there were even more puzzles.

"No one knows. Albus once vaguely mentioned that his mother was a girl from Godric's Hollow," Zhang Qiu shrugged. "And the story that followed is very simple. After Aurelius and Aberforth recognized each other as father and son, they lived together for a period of time, but unfortunately, he eventually died from the Obscurus."

"Aberforth once said that Aurelius's mother was a Muggle and she died shortly after giving birth to the child," Harry recalled what he had overheard in the secret passage that day. "And she was killed by Voldemort?"

"He was lying," Zhang Qiu said very firmly. "First of all, from the testimony of his adoptive mother and neighbors, Credence's mother must be a witch; secondly, the probability of a half-blood wizard becoming an Obscurial is not high, let alone Credence being a quite powerful Obscurial; finally, when Credence caused a scene in New York, Voldemort had just been born."

"But what was he lying to cover up? Is the identity of Credence's biological mother very special?" Harry didn't quite understand. "Forbidden love or something?"

"I have a conjecture," Zhang Qiu said mysteriously. "Or rather, Tang Tang Nade has a conjecture."

"What do you mean?"

"You know Aberforth once tried to use 'inappropriate spells' on a goat, right?" Zhang Qiu said. "What do you guess he wanted to do?"

"Do what?" Harry knew nothing about the bad sexual habits that had once been popular in the Western world.

"Tang Tang Nade conjectures that Aurelius is very likely born from Aberforth and a goat," Zhang Qiu revealed a weird, wicked smile.

"A goat?!" Harry couldn't help but cover his mouth. "This is impossible! Clara told me that there is reproductive isolation between humans and animals."

"Magic itself is an existence that breaks physics; breaking biology by the way is also reasonable, right?" Zhang Qiu raised her eyebrows. "In short, combined with Aberforth's current mental state, I think this is a quite reasonable explanation."

"If the Death Eaters intend to use this to attack Deng Buliduo, it seems it wouldn't matter much," Harry analyzed, frowning. "Even if Aberforth is slightly perverted, it doesn't affect Albus's reputation. Moreover, although loving goats is somewhat sensational, he does it secretly behind closed doors, and it doesn't hurt others. Even if they really intend to attack Aberforth, I don't think it has much force."

"Better safe than sorry," Zhang Qiu suggested. "Aberforth needs to be prepared to face public opinion, and by the way, the Order of the Phoenix can appropriately make some separation between the two brothers during publicity."

"I'm just worried about the readers of The Quibbler," Harry said with a hint of worry. "What if that editor insists that Aberforth is taking the blame for his brother?"

"Even if Aurelius really is Deng Buliduo's child, so what?" Zhang Qiu said dismissively. "He was abused by Muggles into an Obscurus, what a tragic thing, and Albus didn't hate Muggles because of this..."

"Then why did he send Aurelius to that kind of Muggle family?" Harry interrupted Zhang Qiu, his tone faintly carrying a trace of anger—Deng Buliduo never chose the family to adopt children; clearly, Dunton was a happy ending, so why did Deng Buliduo have to send himself to the Dursleys'?

Of course, Harry at this time was still empathizing with Credence, ignoring the activation conditions of the protective charm.

"Uh," Zhang Qiu blinked. "Yes, regardless, Deng Buliduo shouldn't have ignored this child, and even sent him to be adopted by people in an anti-wizard society."

"That's right, even if for some reason he couldn't raise him himself, he shouldn't have thought of sending him to that kind of place; isn't that pushing the child into a fire pit?" Zhang Qiu's eyes turned, and she suddenly had other thoughts. "So it must be intentional, and can we even think this way: since Grindelwald wanted a powerful Obscurial to work for him from the beginning, could this be Grindelwald's arrangement?"

"But you said before that Grindelwald didn't think he was an Obscurial and even planned to abandon him," Harry pointed out the unreasonableness of this idea.

"Yes, but the result was that this approach instead induced a more powerful Obscurus explosion, so maybe Grindelwald was acting," Zhang Qiu sat up straight. "Let's think this way: suppose I am Grindelwald, I don't think I can necessarily beat Deng Buliduo, I need a useful deputy. First, he must be powerful enough and have a certain hostility towards Deng Buliduo; second, he needs to have some restraining effect on Deng Buliduo; finally, he'd better be short-lived, because after finishing off Deng Buliduo, I don't intend to share this world with others."

"Hiss—" Harry suddenly felt things seemed to become clear. "Looking at the third point alone, an Obscurial is very suitable. And Albus attaches great importance to family, which means if this Obscurial happens to be his relative, then it can perfectly meet the second point; plus, if he learns that he was abandoned by Deng Buliduo and sent to a devil adoptive mother, then the basic hostility is also there."

"That's right, I just thought that the fact might be like this: Grindelwald thinks that instead of trying to recruit an Obscurial, it's better to manually cultivate one," Zhang Qiu said in deep agreement. "After he discovered Aberforth humping a goat, I even suspect he contributed a lot to the goat's pregnancy, which explains why Aberforth didn't have a second child."

"After successfully helping Aberforth and the goat give birth to Aurelius—this also explains why Grindelwald could accurately call his name," Zhang Qiu continued to sort out her thoughts. "He had already left a backup plan to be an enemy of Deng Buliduo. Until they really fell out, Grindelwald immediately stole Aurelius and sent him to the devil adoptive mother; he was preparing to manually create an Obscurus."

"Although the ending is still the cliché love and family, but looking at Grindelwald's planning alone, I have to say he is indeed a smart and cunning person," Zhang Qiu let out a long breath. "So, we can prepare two drafts."

"That is to say, the first one is handed to the Daily Prophet to clarify Credence's identity," Harry considered, stroking his chin. "And the second one is handed to The Quibbler, letting them shift everyone's attention to Grindelwald's conspiracy?"

"Yes, and if it's just these two drafts, it probably doesn't necessarily need to mention the goat," Zhang Qiu also seemed to have no praise for the goat-humping matter. ===== CHAPTER 284 =====