Chapter 288

In the end, curiosity overcame his sense of morality—or perhaps Harry simply wanted to get away from the kitchen to avoid the smell of burning underwear—and he climbed the stairs.

Luna's room was neatly kept; on her desk sat a snow globe of Hogwarts, and on the wall beside it were drawings of the members of the Torchwood crew. Whether intentionally or because there wasn't enough space, Harry found no faces of Crabbe or Goyle among them. Beside the bed was another large photograph, likely taken when Luna was a child with her mother.

Harry stared at the photo for a moment. He had heard Luna say that the beautiful witch in the picture was Pandora Lovegood, who had died permanently when Luna was nine, due to a failed spell experiment. Luna had mentioned that her mother had been attempting to replicate the effect of the Ravenclaw Diadem—the very spell that had inspired Luna's own discovery. Harry silently mourned for a moment. As he stepped out of the room, he was immediately drawn to a massive poster.

Against a deep blue sky, a blue-and-white fighter jet burst through the clouds, with the words "Fly Higher" written beneath it. Harry surveyed the room's furnishings—it must have been a guest room, perhaps once occupied by Cui Ge. Remembering how Ron had plastered his room with Quidditch stars, Harry couldn't help but feel this child was utterly out of place in the magical world.

Upstairs might be Mr. Lovegood's room. Harry hesitated briefly, then decided to return to the dining room. No matter how strange the food might be, he had to drink something—just to avoid hurting Mr. Lovegood's feelings and to keep him more cooperative with the Order's work.

"Ahahaha, here comes the fish soup!" Mr. Lovegood brought out a pot of something black and multicolored. Harry forced a smile and took a sip.

The taste was odd, but not entirely inedible. As Harry tried dipping his bread into the soup, Xenophilius spoke up: "Actually, I've just thought of another possibility."

Harry listened with apparent respect, secretly relieved to have an excuse to stop drinking the soup.

"There's one thing that's never been part of our discussion, yet it's deeply suspicious: the death of Ariana." Xenophilius said seriously. "Dumbledore and Grindelwald were legendary wizards. In that three-way duel, could they really have missed?"

Harry frowned. Though the memory from Grindelwald had been chaotic and hard to discern, Dumbledore's subsequent behavior strongly suggested the curse that struck Ariana had been his own. But as Xenophilius said—could Albus's spell have missed?

"And if the curse that hit Ariana had been a Disarming Charm, a Petrification Spell, or even something trivial like Teeth-Treeing, was she really that fragile? One hit and she died?" Xenophilius continued. "And don't forget—Ariana was a Obscurial. Unless she died instantly upon being struck, an Obscurial's outburst would have destroyed the entire Dumbledore household."

"But as you yourself said earlier, they would never have cast the Killing Curse during a family quarrel," Sirius pointed out.

"True. But if we go back to an earlier version of the story—if she was struck by a dark curse, say a Stunning Spell or even the Cruciatus Curse—and her body was already extremely weak," Xenophilius leaned forward slightly, "say, right after giving birth—wouldn't that make sense?"

Harry had no reply. He had to admit this was a remarkably plausible theory—he had only denied it out of consideration for Albus's wishes.

"There's another inconsistency," Xenophilius said, eyes wide. "Why did Ariana 'rush out'? Imagine you're a frail, sickly sister. You hear commotion outside the door—would you rush into the duel, or peek out first, or shout to stop them?"

Harry had never considered this before. Even from Grindelwald's memory, he hadn't seen Ariana clearly—perhaps Grindelwald hadn't even been paying attention to her.

"And usually, bedrooms are upstairs, while duels happen in the living room—downstairs." Xenophilius continued posing questions, but his expression suggested he already had a startling theory. "If you were just a sister trying to stop the fight, would you stand on the stairs shouting 'Stop!'—or rush headlong into the battle?"

"Then according to that," Sirius leaned forward too, "why did Ariana rush into the battle?"

"In such cases, she must have wanted to protect one of the three, believing the others would stop if she intervened." Xenophilius nodded slightly. "Who do you think she was trying to protect?"

"First, eliminate Grindelwald. Then, since Dumbledore was accused of neglecting his sister, she must have been protecting Albus?" Harry naturally guessed what Xenophilius was implying. "Yes, Albus was the one Ariana trusted and loved most."

"So Ariana must have intercepted the curse Albus aimed at Albus—this is why Albus has carried guilt ever since, and why Albus beat him at the funeral." Xenophilius tapped the table. "Now let's consider another question: why did Albus storm out and argue with Albus?"

"If, as they claim, Albus accused Albus of neglecting his sister, doesn't that sound absurd?" Xenophilius lowered his voice. "Albus was always the one Ariana trusted and closest to—he cared for her himself. So what did it matter if Albus was neglectful? Or rather, how could Albus's concern have changed anything? Wasn't it Albus who truly determined the quality of Ariana's life?"

"That does make sense…" Harry began to understand Xenophilius's point. Aurelius had been such a dazzling topic that everyone had overlooked the oddities in Ariana's story.

"Then what was the real reason for their argument?" Xenophilius blinked, his voice dropping further. "I suspect it was because Dumbledore wanted to send Aurelius away—he was a boy who symbolized the Dumbledore family's shame."

The clues connected. Harry's expression turned grim. If this were true, the Alchemical Life hypothesis was crumbling.

"So Grindelwald told Aurelius that the Dumbledore family abandoned him—he knew it was true." Xenophilius leaned forward again. "Of course, Ariana would have defended Aurelius—he was her child. But why was Albus so furious? We could say it was to protect Ariana's feelings—but I have a bolder theory."

Harry and Sirius leaned in too. At barely a whisper, Xenophilius said, "Aurelius is the child of Albus and Ariana."

Harry's head buzzed. The last time he'd felt this way was when he learned the truth about Dumbledore and Grindelwald. But this time, the sensation lasted longer—it was a conclusion so bizarre, yet arrived at through meticulous reasoning.

Yes, everything made sense now: Aurelius's Obscurial power, Albus being the biological father, everyone's silence about his mother, and Grindelwald's knowledge of it all—when Albus accused Albus of neglecting his sister, his first reaction had been to laugh…

"Of course, I'll still publish articles on Alchemical Life in my magazine," Xenophilius nodded. "And I'll be careful—avoiding this new theory entirely. It's to support your work."

"Thank you," Sirius said. Harry had only just come back to himself.

"But I believe my theory is the truth. I'm glad you listened to me. Don't worry—I promise I won't tell anyone else. I won't mention this again." Xenophilius nodded and poured himself another bowl of the multicolored fish soup.

After the bizarre dinner, Harry and Sirius bid farewell to Mr. Lovegood, and Sirius escorted Harry back to Hogwarts. Throughout the journey, Harry remained lost in that horrifying theory. He had to admit—it explained every oddity, and seemed the closest to the truth. It chilled him to the bone.

Yet the very next morning, something even more terrifying happened.

The horrifying conclusion Xenophilius had sworn "never to tell anyone" appeared, complete and detailed, on the front page of the next day's Daily Prophet—under the headline "The Dumbledore Family's Deepest Secret," displacing Jim Hack's visit to a farmer.

After a rigorous argument, it added a follow-up and a few dubious pieces of evidence.

"... pon discovering his brother and sister's disgraceful act, Albus, as the head of the family, decided to secretly send Aurelius to New York, entrusting a friend to find him an adoptive family. Even after Ariana's death, he never changed his mind.

But a curious coincidence occurred: aboard the ship bound for New York, a little girl named Rita Lestrange, annoyed by her brother's crying, swapped the positions of Aurelius Dumbledore and her own brother, Caius Lestrange. When the shipwreck happened, she was too late to retrieve her own brother and was dragged away to safety—thus, the infant meant to die in the wreck became Caius instead of Aurelius.

We believe that when Grindelwald found Aurelius, he too was stunned. For years, the Dumbledores assumed Aurelius had perished in the shipwreck—this is why he never returned to claim his heritage, and why the two brothers never searched for him. To the Dumbledore family, Aurelius's death in the shipwreck was, in fact, the better outcome."

"Special thanks—to the Lestrange Lady who revealed the truth."