Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Christmas present?"

Not to mention Dumbledore, even Amosta was a little confused.

"I got it some time ago--"

Horace, who was filling the third glass, nodded.

"It was when you two were holding the International Confederation of Wizards in Paris."

"I am very touched, Horace—"

Dumbledore understood what had caused Amosta to be upset. He smiled as he looked at the bottle of wine in Horace's hand.

"It's still two months before Christmas, and I didn't expect you'd already prepared a Christmas present for me. Where did you get it, the Three Broomsticks Bar--"

Horace straightened up and swung the bottle in his hand ostentatiously.

"That's right, Albus. It was Saturday evening, and I went to the Three Broomsticks for a few drinks when I had nothing to do.

I told Romestar some things about the past. When I was the head of Slytherin, I had a good relationship with you and knew a lot about you. The villagers in the store kept buying me wine, and they loved to hear this--"

Speaking of this, Horace smiled shyly.

"I drank a lot and I don't remember clearly, but it seems that a young man asked me what gift I would give you for Christmas, and then I told him that I might give you a bottle of aged mead. After all, this is your favorite kind of wine-"

"Oh, you are right, Horace, it is indeed my favourite--"

“And you got this?”

Amosta also looked at the bottle with great interest.

"When I got back to the office, I found it in my coat pocket--"

Horace was pleased to see that Dumbledore did not show any displeasure at the fact that he had not purchased the bottle of wine himself.

"I think some admirer gave it to you through my hand. Oh, who cares!"

Horace handed a glass of wine to Amos and Dumbledore respectively, picked up the remaining glass, looked at Amos happily and said,
"There's a lot of false information flying around in the newspapers, Amosta. Some of my students know that I'm well-informed. They've been writing to me to ask what the combined forces you've created are all about. Maybe you can tell me about that—"

"That's not appropriate—"

Amosta suddenly said with a stern face.

When Horace looked confused, Amosta quickly explained,

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Horace, I'm not talking about the Combine, I'm talking about--"

As Horace looked on in wonder, Amosta took the glass from him and from Dumbledore.

pat-
After a crisp snap of fingers, the clear yellow wine in the three wine glasses that were placed back on the coffee table flowed back into the bottle without a drop left, and the cork that was discarded aside was squeezed back into the bottle mouth.

"Since this is a Christmas gift from you, an old colleague, to Headmaster Dumbledore as a testimony of your half-century-long friendship, then -"

Amosta handed the aged mead to Headmaster Dumbledore.
"You should taste it alone, Headmaster."

"Haha, you're right, Amosta——"

Dumbledore laughed.

"I plan to choose a snowy night, taste it alone before going to bed, and go to bed after drinking it to avoid causing any trouble--"

Judging from Horace's expression, he was still very happy.

After all, Dumbledore looked as though he valued his gift.

"Oh, Albus, what trouble could a couple of glasses of mead bring--"

Horace said disapprovingly,
"Then let's switch to another bottle."

Having said that, he trotted towards his wine cabinet.

Amosta and Dumbledore looked at each other under the crystal chandelier, and then Dumbledore took out his wand and waved it, sending the aged mead to his office.

"That's the one—"

A moment later, Horace returned to the two men with a bottle of sherry, oblivious to the disappearance of the aged mead. "Tell me about the combined forces you advocated, Amosta--"

After slumping down on the soft sofa, Horace brought up the question again.

"Will you lead this troop?"

"This armed force is led by the International Confederation of Wizards' Coordination Committee, Horace. It is not an independent armed force belonging to anyone. Of course, this force does need a commander when it goes on a mission—"

Amosta said,
"I recommended Alastor to Minister Bones. He is a very experienced Auror and I think he should be able to do the job."

"Mad-Eye—"

Horace was slightly surprised.
"Yes. In the Auror profession, Mad-Eye Moody is indeed well-known."

"Amosta--"

Dumbledore also intervened in the topic. During the previous meeting in Paris, Dumbledore's attitude towards this issue was tacit approval.

He did not talk much about his own views, and now that he had said this, he looked at Amosta calmly.

"Do you really think that this joint force can always be effective?"

"It depends on the situation--"

Amosta leisurely leaned against the soft back of the sofa, stroking the wine glass with his palm, his deep eyes seemed to penetrate the fog and look directly into the future.
"In the long run, it is extremely expensive to support this army, and the Ministries of Magic of various countries that are willing to pay now may not be willing to do so in the future.

Although we signed a mutual security treaty, it is impossible to use magical means to prevent the members of each country from reneging on this contract.

In addition, this force will always fight on the front line against the most evil dark wizards in the world. The casualties will inevitably be huge and last for a long time, which will also cause dissatisfaction in countries not involved. -"

"And you proposed to form it in order to--"

Horace asked curiously.

"To deal with Voldemort, of course—"

Amosta smiled at the trembling Horace,

“Although Voldemort only wreaked havoc in Britain in the past, the damage he caused to the wizarding community was far more extensive than just Britain, and the types of damage were also diverse.

In order to eliminate the crisis, over the past thirty years, the righteous people in the British wizarding world have fought bravely and sacrificed themselves to barely contain the spread of darkness.

Dumbledore was silent, and Horace also stared at the wine glass in his hand without saying a word, with crystal clear eyes.

"But this heavy responsibility cannot be imposed only on the wizards of Britain. Peace needs more people to protect it."

Amosta said,
"That's why I formed this force with the help of the International Confederation of Wizards."

Dumbledore glanced at Amosta, whose expression was indifferent, and sighed in his heart.

Amosta's remarks just now implicitly revealed a message.

That is, he was behind the fall of Exta Prison.

After all, this incident was an opportunity for the formation of a joint force. The capture of Extapa made the Ministries of Magic of various countries realize the necessity of jointly resisting Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

But how did Amosta achieve his goal? He made the hostile Death Eaters act according to his ideas.
Voldemort is far from being able to match such skills and wisdom!

"Is this okay?"

Horace looked a little dazed, staring at the wine glass in a trance.

"Gather more power so we can destroy You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters?"

"Oh, Death Eaters can—"

Amosta said calmly,

"But Voldemort cannot rely on numbers alone. You know, Horace, he has the secret of immortality -"

Under the astonished gaze of Horace, Amosta reached his chest and fumbled for a few times. After a moment, he threw a black stone wrapped in a green star ring on the table.
"Look, Horcruxes. Voldemort prepared quite a few for himself. This is the latest one that Headmaster Dumbledore and I just destroyed—" (End of this chapter)