Homecoming from Hogwarts

The two old men under the flying willow branches fell into silence, and the atmosphere became stiff.

After destroying the Resurrection Stone Ring left by Slytherin, there wouldn't be many Horcruxes left by Voldemort.

However, there is no room for error in this matter.

Apart from Nagini and Harry who follow Voldemort, are there any other Horcruxes in existence?

If so, is it one or two?

If Dumbledore hadn't moved his silver eyebrows.

That would make the situation much simpler, and with the presence of Amosta, he was even confident that he could put an end to all these sins before Christmas!

But the key point is that Horace is always unwilling to reveal this key information to them.

With a few sighs in his heart, Dumbledore looked at his old colleague, but when he saw Horace's expression, his eyes moved slightly.

Under the blood-red setting sun, Horace's expression showed a bit of sadness. He looked towards the lawn. From the angle of his sight, he seemed to be looking at Harry.

The light in Dumbledore's azure eyes behind the half-moon glasses on his crooked nose became more focused.

Horace was not a cold-blooded wizard, he must have felt guilty.

So many people died at the hands of Voldemort, including Harry's mother, Horace's favorite student.

However, Voldemort never received the punishment he deserved because he owned the Horcruxes.

Horace must have felt very distressed about this.

But the problem is that Horace is not a brave wizard. He is afraid to face his mistakes and is afraid of retaliation.

Well, maybe.
Dumbledore's brows twitched suddenly while he was deep in thought. He raised his head and looked at the young figure walking towards him on the cobblestone road.

"Oh, Amosta--"

"what?"

Horace, who was immersed in sorrow and self-blame, came back to his senses, and then he found Amosta walking towards him while answering students' questions with a smile on his face.

"Ho!"

Horace's gloomy face immediately brightened up.
"Look who this is! The most outstanding young wizard in Slytherin House has returned to Hogwarts with his great achievements!"

"Haha, your assessment of me is completely different from the latest issue of Wizard Weekly, Horace--"

Amosta chuckled,

"The magazine said that I was probably the wizard who had caused the most damage to the British wizarding world in the past thousand years. They even took back the 'Most Charming Smile Award' that was given to me!"

"Oh, ignore them, Amosta!"

Horace had obviously read the article in the magazine. He said indignantly,

"This is pure nonsense. I bet the idiot who wrote it must have drunk too much low-quality mead!"

Dumbledore also pursed his lips, and then he noticed the fatigue between Amosta's brows.

What happened? Did Amosta fight with someone?

Dumbledore's eyes flickered. He could feel that Amosta's magic power was greatly consumed.

However, he did not mention it on his own initiative, but just responded to Amosta's casual inquiring look with a meaningful look.

I see--
Amosta immediately understood what Dumbledore was talking about with Horace.

"Speaking of bad mead—"

Amosta sighed,

"I'd love to have a drink if I could. Oh, you don't know how far I've come!"

"Why not!" Horace said happily. Obviously, he didn't want to get entangled with Dumbledore anymore.

"I have... Oh, a bottle of oak-aged mead in my office!"

"I wonder if I have the honor of tasting your private collection, Horace?"

Dumbledore asked, interested.

"Don't be silly, Albus, of course you want to come -"

Horace waved to Dumbledore.

"As long as you don't bring up those unpleasant topics again."

The setting sun has sunk below the mountains, and from a distance it looks like the peaks of the distant mountains are emitting a red glow.

Inside the auditorium, thousands of candles had been lit. The starry sky was not yet bright, and the ceiling reflected a dark sky with a few floating clouds.

There were several students' exclamations from the stairs in the entrance hall. It was Hagrid's younger brother. Grawp rushed into the auditorium impatiently.

Amosta, Dumbledore and Horace did not enter the Great Hall where a large crowd had gathered. Instead, under the curious gazes of many students, they waited for Grawp to come downstairs and then went upstairs through the stairs in the entrance hall.

Professor Slughorn's office is on the sixth floor.

Rather than an office, this place is more like the top hotel suite in the Twin Towers where Amostasi stayed when he was on a business trip in New York.

"Oh, that's really nice—"

This was the first time Amosta had ever set foot in Horace's office.

Walking into the room and standing on the luxurious velvet carpet, Amosta looked with interest at the private balcony in the office overlooking the mountains, the grand fireplace and various luxurious furniture.

"Oh, I'm different from you, Amosta. I'm old and it's time to enjoy my life -"

Inviting Amosta and Dumbledore to sit down on the soft leather sofa in the center of the room, Horace walked over to his personal wine cabinet that looked like a locker and was placed next to the floor-length curtains.

As he walked there, he held up a finger that was almost as thick as a carrot and dangled it.

"That's the only thing about you that makes me think you're not a Slytherin, Amosta. Your office is very famous for its style. In my opinion, even if you want to show your hardworking and outstanding qualities, it's a bit too much. Look at Albus, his is the most luxurious!"

"I want to correct you, Horace--"

Dumbledore said with a smile,
"Many of the furnishings in the headmaster's office are Hogwarts' treasures, and not many of them belong to me personally."

"Oh, it's all the same. Anyway, no one is stopping the headmaster of Hogwarts from moving the school's things back to his vault—"

Horace squatted down with difficulty, rummaged through his half-man-high private wine cabinet for a while, and then came over with a bottle of oak wine.

Passing a table filled with drinks, Horace picked up a few crystal glasses.

"By the way, is your joint force going well, Amosta?"

Placing the cup on the coffee table, Horace took out his wand and pointed at the bottle mouth. The cork immediately jumped out lightly. While pouring wine into the three glasses on the coffee table, he asked with interest,

"From what the Daily Prophet said these days, it seems that as long as the joint forces are brought in, any problem can be solved immediately!"

"Oh, haha, then they may be too optimistic, actually..."

Amosta said with a smile. He watched the clear yellow wine rolling into the glass, his nostrils twitched subconsciously, and then the smile at the corner of his mouth froze.

Amosta glanced casually at Horace, who was pouring wine into the second glass with a relaxed look on his face, and his eyes became more focused.
"Oh, this rich wine smells really good. I think you must have kept it for a long time, right?"

Vertical lines suddenly appeared between Dumbledore's eyebrows, and he looked at Amosita calmly.

What is Amosta trying to find?
"You were wrong, Amosta, I didn't have it long—"

Horace looked at Dumbledore, unaware of anything, and laughed.

"Actually, this bottle of wine was originally intended for you as a Christmas present, Albus. Good wine is best enjoyed in season, and I thought you wouldn't mind sharing your Christmas present with Amosta--" (End of this chapter)