I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

......

Diagon Alley, Wizard Bank, Sirius Black's office.

When Li Lin reappeared and saw Sirius looking somewhat anxious, he threw the mouse he was holding away.

The rat began to transform in mid-air—Sirius recognized it clearly; it wasn't a transformation spell, but rather a release from Animagus!

Peter Pettigrew rolled to the ground, and upon seeing Sirius Black, his face was filled with fear, yet he couldn't utter a single word.

Sirius's face first showed surprise, then slowly twisted in pain. He turned to look directly at Li Lin, his voice hoarse: "What's going on? What happened to him?"

"I crippled his magical abilities," Li Lin casually lied, trying to appease Sirius.

His figure disappeared into a golden-purple twilight.

Sirius stared blankly at everything before him, his expression a mixture of crying and laughing. After a long silence, a sharp howl burst from his throat.

......

Li Lin's office on the seventh floor of Hogwarts.

Li Lin appeared at the window.

He opened the magic pocket watch.

The second hand and the minute hand coincide, exactly ten minutes have passed.

132 You never imagined the sinister smiles of those who succeeded in their schemes.

Li Lin threw the pen on the table and handed the letter to his owl, Tom.

The snow-white little ball flapped its wings, pecked at Li Lin's finger, gave him a resentful look, and then flew out of the seventh-floor window into the clouds.

For a long time, Li Lin had been remotely directing the situation in the magical world through owls. The information contained therein varied in length, depending on the identity and the plan; some were thousands of words long, while others were only a few words long.

Now, the letters he sends out contain only a short sentence.

That was the "plan" that Li Lin instructed Grindelwald to execute immediately.

"Quickly proceed to the Albanian forest, kill the Blood Curse Orc Nagini, and control Voldemort's remnant soul."

Nagini was a twelve-foot-long serpent that was later subdued by Voldemort and became one of his Horcruxes, aiding him in his evil deeds, until he was beheaded by Neville Longbottom in the final Battle of Hogwarts.

But she was once human, and a blood curse inherited from her maternal lineage allows her to freely transform between the forms of a giant snake and a human.

Nagini once joined forces with Newt Scamander and others to protect an Obscurial and help them defeat Grindelwald. However, she ultimately could not escape the curse of her bloodline and fell into the form of a mindless beast.

Li Lin was certain that Grindelwald knew what to do next.

About half an hour after the letter was sent, a silver phoenix descended from the eighth floor and landed in front of Li Lin's office window. From the window came Dumbledore's calm voice: "Mr. Aatrox, please come to the Headmaster's office."

When Li Lin pushed open the door to the headmaster's office, he saw Dumbledore with a calm expression and Snape with a somewhat dark expression.

On the table was an open emerald green locket, identical in color and size to the one Li Lin had seen at number twelve Grimmauld Place.

“We’ve been tricked, Aatrox.” Dumbledore looked calmly at Li Lin and pointed to the locket on the table. “This is a fake Horcrux.”

“Of course, I’m not doubting you.” The White Wizard changed the subject. “The information you provided was indeed a great help to us—Voldemort set up three barriers, each of which would take the life of an adult wizard. If you hadn’t reminded me to bring Severus, I probably would have had to drink the poison and face tens of thousands of Infernals.”

In the original story, Dumbledore rashly put on the ring containing the Resurrection Stone, was cursed and had less than a year to live, and then drank poison in the cave. With little time left, he had no time to check whether the Horcrux he had obtained was real or fake.

But at this moment, he had plenty of time, and he had Snape, the Potions Master, with the Gryffindor sword and the panacea extracted from the Philosopher's Stone.

That basin of poison didn't stop Dumbledore for long; he drank it down with relish, taking sips of poison and antidote at the same time.

"Tom's poison tastes like overripe sparkling water, while the panacea has a pleasantly sweet taste," Dumbledore described it.

He picked up the note that was in the locket and read it aloud, word by word:

"To the Dark Lord."

“I know I will be dead by the time you read this letter, but I want you to know that I discovered your secret, and I have taken the real Horcrux and will destroy it as soon as possible.”

"I am willing to risk my life for you, when you meet your destined opponent, you will still be just a mortal with flesh and blood."

"RAB".

Dumbledore carefully folded the note, pressed it to his heart, closed his eyes, and sighed.

"We have all overlooked this brave Slytherin who, though seemingly following the Dark Lord, displayed the glory and nobility of pureblood at the last moment."

“I propose a minute’s silence for the brave and noble Regulus Arcturus Black.”

Both Dumbledore and Snape maintained a rare minute of silence.

Only Li Lin's attention was focused on one minute.

"In the far East, every minute that passes is equivalent to fifty-nine seconds."

Nobody commented on Li Lin's joke.

“So, the Slytherin locket we’re looking for was destroyed by Regulus long ago.” Dumbledore counted on his fingers, his brow furrowing slightly. “But we’re still far from having Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes.”

"Aatrox, do you know where the rest of the Horcruxes are?"

"Why do you only focus on the Horcruxes and not hear the sneers of those who have succeeded in their schemes?" Li Lin responded with a sigh. "You haven't heard the children crying, nor have you seen the city crumbling. Have you ever thought that homes are no longer homes, and friends are no longer friends?"

Dumbledore and Snape exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what Li Lin was up to now.

The White Wizard frowned: "The culprits are grinning... Destroy Voldemort—Grindelwald!"

He suddenly realized, stood up from the chair in the principal's office, and paced back and forth, unable to contain his excitement: "I actually overlooked him—no, I was deceived by him again... His goal is not in the magical world?"

Dumbledore did know that Grindelwald had recently violated the secrecy law by launching a series of coups in the Soviet Union, resulting in the downfall of Gorbachev and the rise of Yanayev as the new leader... which was followed by a massive purge from top to bottom.

"But... what does this have to do with us?" Dumbledore looked at Li Lin with a puzzled expression.

"High-quality answer? I don't know."

Li Lin shrugged: "I'm not a bald man without a nose, nor am I Grindelwald, who's above you. Maybe he's secretly searching for Voldemort's Horcruxes in hopes of resurrecting Ariana to beg for your forgiveness?"

"After all, we all know that Voldemort has Gaunt blood, and the Gaunt family are the bloodlines of Peverell and Slytherin..."

Dumbledore clenched his fist on the table.

He realized that Li Lin was likely hinting at something to him.

Of the three Deathly Hallows left behind by the Peverell brothers, the Elder Wand and the Invisibility Cloak have long been in Dumbledore's possession, but the Resurrection Stone has remained elusive.

—Could it be that, without Voldemort's knowledge, it was also turned into a Horcrux?

Dumbledore was immediately thrown into a state of utter confusion.

If I obtain the Resurrection Stone, will I use it to summon Ariana's spirit and apologize to her?

If Grindelwald is also looking for the Resurrection Stone and has already obtained it... what should he do?

You have to understand, that's Gellert Grindelwald. Even if finding Horcruxes is of no benefit to him, he would be more than happy to add a stumbling block to Dumbledore's path.

Dumbledore sat blankly at his desk for a long time before realizing that Snape and Lillian were still in his office.

The old man gently raised his arm and waved: "You can all go out now... Oh, by the way, Aatrox, stay a little longer, there's a letter for you here."

He took a letter from the drawer and handed it to Li Lin.

An unfamiliar seal was engraved inside the sealing wax on the yellowish-brown envelope.

That's the mark of Nicolas Flamel.

133 I can't think of a question again!

"When do you plan to leave? Nicolas Flamel wants to meet with you; you know, he hasn't invited anyone out of his own hands in centuries."

Although Dumbledore was somewhat absent-minded, he was not to the point of being blinded by emotion.

“Now,” Li Lin replied calmly.

“But Defense Against the Dark Arts…” Dumbledore frowned slightly.

Li Lin asked in surprise, "Didn't you ask for an extra dose of the panacea for Flitwick? You're really heartless."

We couldn't continue our conversation.

An hour later, Li Lin walked out of the gates of Hogwarts amidst the cheers of his students and faculty.

"I'm leaving, don't miss me." Li Lin waved from the doorway.

“We’ll miss you, Professor,” the carefree Weasley twins shouted.

"Teacher, I will wait for you to come back." Qiu Zhang's expression was rather reserved, and the little girl's eyes were already a little red.

However, she was unaware that she had already been marked by Li Lin, and that once they returned to the esoteric world, he would be able to bring her to Mansu.

No matter how much Li Lin usually slacked off, he was still a rather interesting person, and the students at Hogwarts liked him very much.

As for the faculty and staff, their concerns are quite different.

"He's not going to just cut off his stipend for Hogwarts like that...," Minerva McGonagall said with concern.

“I don’t think so.” Dumbledore shook his head. “Aatrox is a kind man.”

Professor McGonagall was somewhat speechless; kindness can't put food on the table.

Li Lin's figure receded further and further into the distance, about to disappear into the distance.