Dumbledore's blue eyes blinked behind his glasses.

"A very interesting question. Felix, it's rare that someone asks me this bluntly."

"What I mean is... Voldemort did nothing to harm Hogwarts during the war, and he seemed... um... very afraid of someone in the school... and in the eyes of the world, it is clear that the two have never had a record of fighting each other." Felix said carefully.

"Maybe this is the truth." Dumbledore smiled.

"Or it may be only part of the truth." Felix said immediately, "The truth in the eyes of some people - they only see the result, or a few points in the process, but cannot see the whole picture."

Dumbledore frowned slightly, his mouth slightly opened, as if choosing the right words.

Felix knew that he had to do something, say something... otherwise, when the old man made a decision, he would have to wait for the result. So he cleared his throat and said, "Albus, we all know that Voldemort and Crouch Jr. are hiding outside. The Ministry of Magic has sent a large number of Aurors and strikers but found nothing... I'm afraid we have to consider the possibility of his successful resurrection, and I need to know his strength."

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore seemed to be convinced -

"I can assure you, Felix, although I have never seen him die in front of me, I have indeed defeated and destroyed his body more than once, causing him to suffer injuries that ordinary people cannot heal."

Dumbledore calmly said a long-buried secret.

"Ordinary people cannot heal?" Felix asked sharply.

"I remember I mentioned to you... I interviewed him?" Dumbledore said softly, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"...That's it." Felix said slowly, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

"This is what he looked like at the time-"

Dumbledore waved his wand violently, and a somewhat illusory figure gradually became clear. His face seemed to have been burned, his features blurred, almost without any curves, and the skin on his face was oddly twisted like solidified wax. The whites of his eyes seemed to be permanently filled with blood, and his black pupils flashed a cold light.

Felix carefully studied the Voldemort in Dumbledore's memory. He was not unfamiliar with this image - he had seen it once when he found the locket, but it was obvious that Voldemort looked even less human than last time.

'This seems to indicate that Voldemort had completed the production of the locket Horcrux long before the interview.' This thought flashed through Felix's mind. Thinking of what Dumbledore had just said, he asked tentatively: "Is it the effect of dark magic? Or the influence of the Horcrux?"

Dumbledore looked at him approvingly and waved his hand to disperse the phantom in the air.

"Both possibilities exist. I personally tend to favor the former... Of course, we cannot rule out the impact of the loss of souls caused by multiple Horcruxes on the body. After all, no one in history has ever done this."

"So Voldemort's body is different from that of a normal person? He combined the blood magic of Salazar Slytherin with his own dark magic, causing the fatal injuries in the eyes of ordinary people to have little effect on him?" Felix analyzed based on Dumbledore's words.

He couldn't help but frown. How could he fight?

He suddenly thought of a possibility. Felix looked at Dumbledore fiercely, unable to hide his surprise, and said in a lost voice: "Magical creature?" Has Voldemort reached the level of Ms. Ravenclaw?

At the same time, he recalled the last time Dumbledore heard the word "magical creature" when he was a child -

"Felix, I can't give you much useful insights. When I was young, I did think I was omnipotent for a long time... Magical creature? This statement is too modest, and I was too arrogant at the time."

It was also the same time that Dumbledore demonstrated to him the "little trick" of flicking the spell with his fingers...

Dumbledore straightened up from the back of the chair, put his hands on the desk, and shook his head slowly and firmly: "I don't think this is the reason, at least I have never had this ability. Even... There is no similar record of several other founders of the school. On the contrary, Salazar Slytherin - as far as I know, was suspected of possessing a magic that can absorb vitality and heal himself."

"Diary?" Felix said vigilantly. Two years ago, the diary Horcrux confused Ginny Weasley and absorbed part of her vitality. Fortunately, there were not many, and it was discovered in time and was cured by Madam Pomfrey with superb medical skills.

"It is very likely so." Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Although magic that can cause a person to lose vitality is rare, it does exist. However, I have never heard of transferring vitality from one person (Ginny) to another soul."

"Is it the influence of the Horcrux?" Felix guessed another possibility. "Perhaps the Horcrux has the characteristic of absorbing vitality." But he realized that it was wrong. He had read the chapter on Horcruxes in the old Black house - it was an antique book called "The Secret of Advanced Black Magic" - and his understanding of Horcruxes was not lacking.

Dumbledore also denied this speculation.

"The Horcrux is to peel off a piece of soul and leave it in a corner of the world, so as to achieve the purpose of making the creator unable to be destroyed. In short, it is immortal." Dumbledore said, "For this goal, the peeled soul should be in a dormant state, or at least extremely inactive - unless there is a fatal threat around the Horcrux, it will rise up to resist - this is considered safe."

Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with Dumbledore. No normal person would want the soul fragment in his Horcrux to be active and have independent consciousness. What if it causes trouble and is discovered and destroyed?

Besides, it only takes a small piece to cut the soul, and it is difficult for this soul to do much.

"...But the diary should be special?" he pondered.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded and said, "When Ginny Weasley wrote in the diary for the first time, she received a response and fell into the trap carefully woven by Voldemort... I can almost conclude that Voldemort did not regard it as a life-saving Horcrux, but a key to open the Chamber of Secrets, so he gave his diary many privileges, such as his memory until the age of 16, sufficient activity... Naturally, it also includes the knowledge he inherited from his ancestors Lislytherin in the Chamber of Secrets."

"But all this is speculation." Felix frowned and said, feeling irritated, but Dumbledore's tone sounded firm. How could he be so sure?

He roughly sorted out the information. Dumbledore had fought Voldemort secretly many times during the war, and dealt him heavy damage more than once, but soon Voldemort was alive and kicking again. Dumbledore was probably looking for the reason behind this. Dumbledore believed that it was the effect of dark magic and blood magic, because there was a record that Salazar Slytherin had the magic of absorbing vitality to heal injuries, and Ginny had been absorbed by vitality... But there was another possibility, Felix couldn't help but think, why not?

So he asked: "Why can't he have used the Horcrux to revive?"

Dumbledore looked over and said calmly, "Why do you think so?"

"It's just a guess," Felix shrugged, "Maybe he did use dark magic to transform his body, but there must be a limit, right? For example, he just delayed his death, and after escaping, he found a loyal servant to hold a resurrection ceremony for him... Well, he would use a Confusion Charm or a Forgetfulness Charm to eliminate the trouble afterwards? Or he might just abandon it..."

Dumbledore lowered his head and remained silent.

"What you said does exist, Felix," he said. "But no matter what, the information we have is quite limited." He looked at the table leg thoughtfully, and said in an inaudible voice, "Maybe I can be more proactive."

"What?" Felix didn't hear him clearly.

"Thank you for reminding me, Felix." Dumbledore smiled and said, "I almost overlooked this. My intuition tells me that this information is particularly useful."

Felix knew that this meant the end of the conversation. Maybe he should go find Professor Marchbanks, or maybe it would be nice to tease Clemens' grandfather... But he was a little unwilling, he hadn't asked about Voldemort's strength yet.

He stood up from the sofa and said, "One last question, Albus, can I understand that your strength is far greater than Voldemort's?"

There was another silence -

"I'm old," Dumbledore said seriously, "Even twenty years ago, I could only barely have the upper hand. If he resurrects again, the outcome is hard to predict."

"Barely have the upper hand?" Felix asked puzzled. Dumbledore had said before that he had "crushed and destroyed Voldemort's body" more than once. This more than once is worth pondering.

"I used a special method," Dumbledore blinked his azure eyes happily, "to make Voldemort mistakenly believe that I had concealed my strength before, in order to set a trap... But the fact is, the difference in our strength at that time was not that big."

"Special method..." Felix repeated slowly.

"A little trick that allowed me to temporarily restore my heyday." Dumbledore said with a smile in a coaxing tone.

...

Coming out of the headmaster's office, it was already completely dark. Felix felt that his mind was a little confused, and he urgently needed to sort out the information he had gained today. He hurried back to the office and closed the door. As for Professor Marchbank, let's talk about it tomorrow, anyway, Dumbledore mentioned that she would stay for a while.

On the other side, Dumbledore was still sitting in a chair in the circular office. After a while, he opened the drawer on the left, where a locket and a wand were placed.

Fawkes, the phoenix on the perch, landed on Dumbledore's shoulder and chirped softly.