Chapter 287: Life Alchemy

"If the child is Aberforth's, then who is his mother?" Xenophilius picked up his teacup and took a sip with great enjoyment.

Harry didn't want to talk directly about the goat matter; he needed to rack his brains and make up a story that wouldn't hurt anyone. Therefore, he also picked up his teacup and took a sip of the so-called Gurdyroot tea. His original intention might have just been to buy himself a little time to think, but the taste of this thing was like juice squeezed from Every Flavor Beans, which immediately interrupted his train of thought and made him fall into doubt about life.

"An unwelcome Muggle girl," Sirius spread his hands and began to make up a lie. "She was expelled from the Wizarding World after becoming pregnant, so the child was left outside."

"First of all, the British Wizarding World at that time did not exclude intermarriage between wizards and Muggles; instead, the Magical Congress introduced laws prohibiting intermarriage. The child's mother couldn't have fled from a Wizarding World that welcomed her to another Wizarding World that didn't welcome her," Xenophilius refuted calmly. "Secondly, according to interviews with Aurelius's childhood neighbors, his mother should be a witch, and his adoptive mother often grabbed this point to humiliate him. Finally, if all this was the mother's personal behavior, then Grindelwald couldn't have known Aurelius's real name."

Sirius gasped and fell into deep thought. At this time, Harry recovered from the terrible Gurdyroot tea and added: "This is all Grindelwald's fault. In order to artificially create an Obscurial powerful enough to counter Albus, he quietly killed Aurelius's biological mother, stole the child, and sent him to Mrs. Barebone, who hated wizards."

"That is a barely plausible explanation, but you have to consider an important time node, and that is Ariana's death," Xenophilius adjusted his sitting posture. "If Ariana was still alive when the child was born, then Aberforth had no right to question Albus why he didn't care about his sister, because he himself was fooling around outside at this time; and if Ariana had already passed away when the child was born, then Grindelwald had already left at this time, he couldn't have quietly gone back to steal the child, and might not even know that the child was born."

"And, more importantly, if it was really all Grindelwald's fault, why did the Deng Buliduo brothers hide the identity of the child's mother, and even be tight-lipped about this past?" Xenophilius said seriously. "I can help you publish an article of unknown truth, but it must first make sense logically."

"Indeed," Harry remembered the "Lockhart suffered political persecution" that Xenophilius had analyzed before. Although it sounded like harmless nonsense, the logic of the whole article was impeccable; the only problem was just the lack of evidence.

"If Aberforth is Aurelius's father, in order not to make him look hypocritical, we can only think that his falling in love and having a child happened after Ariana's death," Sirius nodded slightly. "Something like being comforted by a girl when sad."

"But this way, there is no way to explain why the child appeared at Mrs. Barebone's," Harry rubbed his head. "Why are the Deng Buliduo brothers unwilling to mention the identity of his mother? And where did Grindelwald know Aurelius's name and background?"

"Just assume Grindelwald has been closely watching the Deng Buliduo family and managed to steal the child; this was all his conspiracy to cultivate an Obscurial to counter Deng Buliduo," Harry continued along his conjecture. "And the attitude of the Deng Buliduo family... is indeed a bit far-fetched."

When Harry was scratching his scalp, Sirius suddenly slapped his thigh and had inspiration: "If we jump out of this framework, is Aberforth not Aurelius's father?"

"Then Aberforth can only be taking the blame for Albus? But Albus having an illegitimate child is also a scandal, right?" Harry frowned and shook his head.

"It's Ariana's child," Sirius said excitedly. "Ariana having a child out of wedlock is a scandal, but it's not that ugly; an innocent girl was deceived by a scumbag, she is just a victim. And this way, the timeline can be pushed forward to when Grindelwald was still in Godric's Hollow, so it's not surprising that he knew Aurelius's name."

"The Deng Buliduo family of course has to be tight-lipped about the child's mother, because although Aberforth was willing to take the blame for his sister, they themselves hadn't figured out how to make up the story. And after the child was lost, they might even have felt relieved, because this child was the evidence of the scandal itself. Only after Grindelwald exposed him did Albus and Aberforth urgently discuss a plan for Aberforth to take the blame."

"Quite reasonable!" Xenophilius clapped his hands happily. "And this also explains why Ariana died accidentally in the duel. She was a young mother at the time, just finished giving birth, and her body was weak, which is why she lost her life to an ordinary dark curse."

Harry nodded. This is also an angle of testimony. After all, they couldn't shoot Killing Curses at each other in the duel of the three, so a large part of Ariana's cause of death should be attributed to her already fragile health condition.

"And Aurelius is an Obscurial who lived to adulthood, Ariana was also an Obscurial, and she also lived past ten. If that accident hadn't happened, she should have been able to live longer. So, an Obscurial who can live past ten might also be an inherited talent..." Sirius continued to sort out the story, but Harry interrupted him.

"Wait, I remembered one thing," Harry said with a sad face. "Since Aberforth was willing to take this blame for Ariana, to this day, he shouldn't want to see his sister's reputation damaged, right? If we do this, will he agree?"

Although Harry said so, he was more willing to believe in his heart that Aurelius was the child of Aberforth and a goat, so he knew Aberforth was absolutely unwilling to let his sister take the blame for him.

"Ah, what you said also makes sense," Sirius's expression also became distressed. "But in that case, we are in a dead end. Albus cannot have an illegitimate child, Aberforth cannot be hypocritical, and Ariana's reputation cannot be damaged."

"Wait," Xenophilius suddenly said, "Why can't Albus have an illegitimate child?"

"Because that would damage his reputation, and this is what we are determined to protect," Harry answered subconsciously.

"It's not an illegitimate child, just a legitimate child, isn't it?" Xenophilius blinked.

"But no one in the Deng Buliduo family has ever been married! The only Albus who has ever been in love was with Gellert, and the two boys can't have children..." Harry's voice gradually became smaller. He remembered this is the Wizarding World, biology can not exist. "Perhaps, you mean, just say Aurelius is the child of Albus and Gellert?"

"Why not? This can also explain everything. Although Grindelwald had evil intentions when he took the child away, the Deng Buliduo family wouldn't think of it. In their view, the child's father wouldn't do anything too cruel," Xenophilius said. "And when Deng Buliduo learned of Aurelius's experiences over the years, could Albus tell the child that the Dark Lord who used you to hurt you is actually your biological father? In this way, for the sake of the child's mental health, Aberforth playing his father is of course more appropriate."

"Also a good theory, but we only have one last problem left," Sirius's face was full of confusion. "How exactly did the two men give birth to Aurelius?"

"Magic, of course. They are almost the greatest wizards in centuries; what is it to use magic to have a child," Xenophilius shrugged indifferently.

"Philosopher's Stone!" Harry's eyes lit up. "Voldemort once longed to use the Philosopher's Stone to refine a body for his own resurrection, which shows that the Philosopher's Stone has the function of creating a body."

"Yes, that's called a Homunculus," Xenophilius added. "Making artificial life using alchemy is indeed something Deng Buliduo and Nicolas Flamel studied together."

Harry suddenly felt a big stone in his heart fall to the ground. Everything makes sense; he found an explanation that doesn't hurt anyone. Albus was deceived by Grindelwald, didn't commit other mistakes himself, and he was trying his best to make up for it; Aberforth was out of sympathy and a warm heart, and in order to take care of the child's feelings, he seriously played the role of a father; Grindelwald is bad to the core, but everyone originally felt he was bad to the core, so it doesn't matter.

"Great, I will organize today's conversation and form a new article to replace Cleist's submission," Xenophilius nodded to the two. "What I find hardest to refuse is dense reasoning with sound evidence and emotional stories that make men silent and women cry. I will try my best to write it well."

"Are you in a hurry to leave? Why don't you stay for dinner and try the Gurdyroot fish soup I made. Everyone asks us for its recipe," Mr. Lovegood introduced proudly. "I'll go catch a few for you."

"Great, then thank you for your hospitality," Sirius's mood looked quite good. After all, they had just worked together to solve a problem. However, it might also be because he didn't drink Gurdyroot tea, so he didn't have a vivid and intuitive understanding of Lovegood's cooking method.

Perhaps the recipe for Gurdyroot fish soup is being asked for by the doctors in the poisoning department of St. Mungo's Hospital, Harry thought pessimistically while walking around the room. Before Xenophilius picked up the net and went out, he allowed him to go upstairs to visit. He was hesitating whether to go up—he felt that entering Luna's room rashly was a very impolite thing. ===== CHAPTER 288 =====