The death of Albus Dumbledore brought a very strange feeling to many people.

On the one hand, many people were in mourning, even those who normally didn't hold Dumbledore in high esteem.

Harry saw Cornelius Fudge give a condolence speech at Dumbledore's white marble tomb, expressing his deep sorrow at the passing of a great wizard.

But Fudge is far from the most magical mourner.

In fact, even Lucius Malfoy attended the funeral like an old friend. He was just the tip of the iceberg. Among the dark crowd of people mourning for Dumbledore, there was no telling how many people had verbally slandered the old man and called him stupid.

This made Harry very angry.

He felt that these people were not worthy of standing here, not worthy of standing in front of Albus Dumbledore!

"Harry, sometimes people's evaluation of another person will only become meaningful after he dies." Cyrus comforted him, "Because as long as he is alive, he will inevitably stand on the opposite side of someone."

"Of course, not all of these people are sincere," he said.

The world of adults cannot be as pure as Harry's. They are good at showmanship and putting on masks. As long as it benefits them, they will show closeness to someone.

Especially when a famous person passes away, it is as if everyone in the world has become his good friend. They are close friends, working and communicating together... Others shed tears while listening to their stories that have been embellished with words.

On the other hand, after Dumbledore's death, Harry was surprised to find that life had to go on.

The world did not collapse because of Dumbledore's departure. They still had to attend classes - although Professor McGonagall would always burst into tears with red eyes while talking - but the classes did continue; the final exams did not end, and those who came to mourn came and went, and finally the school became quiet again.

Especially after Dumbledore's death, the weather in Hogwarts, which was always cold and rainy, was unexpectedly good. It was sunny every day. He always felt that it shouldn't be like this, but it was the fact.

After many people left flowers as condolences, the white marble tomb became much quieter, which made him very sad.

Harry always felt that the funeral had turned into a feast. Those people who came here did not really miss Dumbledore, they just had to come, or they wanted to use Dumbledore's identity to show off themselves.

Finally, the marble became cold again.

Only Grindelwald has not been guarding the tomb day and night.

He is getting older and older.

Although the original Grindelwald was already old, he had always dressed up when he first appeared in front of the public. He was much more fashionable than many Muggles, wearing a neat windbreaker all day long, and his hair and beard were neatly combed.

Many times, Harry tends to forget his real age.

But now, his hair is messy, his beard has grown a lot longer, and he hasn't changed his windbreaker for who knows how long. He seems to have aged a century in an instant and turned into a skinny old man.

He leaned against the grave all day long, as if all the bones in his body had been pulled out and he couldn't stand up. He ignored everyone who walked past him and kept muttering something unclear.

Many people thought he might have gone crazy.

One night, Harry couldn't sleep all night, so he cast the Disillusionment Charm and left the castle, and walked to the white tomb in a trance. Perhaps it was too late, so he had hallucinations.

He saw an old man who looked almost exactly like Dumbledore standing in front of the grave. Their eyebrows and eyes were so similar, except that his beard seemed shorter. He almost blurted out "Professor Dumbledore".

In fact, he did shout out, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the shadow disappeared.

Later, Ron told him, "That must have been the bartender from the Hog's Head."

"What?" Harry was stunned. "The bartender at the Hog's Head? No, I mean, I swear I saw Dumbledore -"

"Of course, you did." Ron sighed, "His name is Aberforth Dumbledore," he shook his shoulders, "You know, he is Dumbledore's brother, so he looks very similar."

"Dumbledore has a brother?" Harry was incredulous for a moment when he heard the news. "How could he have a brother? I didn't even see him at the funeral!"

From the time the news of Dumbledore's death spread around the world to the time he was buried, there were countless people who came to see him. Harry was numb to those faces full of tears. But he was sure that he had not seen Aberforth.

"Of course, things weren't going well between them," said Ron.

"I also heard it from my father. He said Aberforth hated Professor Dumbledore. When he went to tell Aberforth the news of the professor's death, the bad-tempered Aberforth closed the door and almost hit my father's nose. He didn't feel sad about the professor's death at all." Ron said with difficulty, "He said the professor deserved it. He hung out with people like Grindelwald and didn't learn his lesson. This is his retribution!"

In fact, Ron hadn't finished yet.

That day Aberforth said he wanted to celebrate and waived all the bills at the Hog's Head Pub that day...

Harry felt even sadder.

He felt that the world was so unfair. Professor Dumbledore had done so much for the wizarding world, but it was so miserable after his death.

A group of people who were against him put on a hypocritical show at his funeral, while his relatives cursed him for dying a worthy death.

He suddenly remembered that Dumbledore once told him that he would receive many books every Christmas, and everyone believed that a master of magic should like books.

But Dumbledore said he didn't like it, and he liked wool socks more than books.

It means family.

"I should have given him a pair of wool socks." Harry squatted on the grass and buried his face in his knees. From his position, he could see the sunlight shining on the white grave in the distance.

He realized that he had never given Dumbledore a Christmas present. He was always waiting for gifts from others, but forgot that he could also give the old man a little care.

They didn't say anything, just stayed by Harry's side.

On the other hand, Cyrus did not stay in Hogwarts for long.

After Dumbledore's death, Babajid took over the International Confederation of Wizards. Having witnessed Cyrus's powerful magic, the old man naturally understood that it was not wise to provoke Cyrus easily.

But unfortunately, not everyone is as wise as him.

Let's not talk about the group of wizards who disagree with Cyrus's ideas and intend to uphold the Statute of Secrecy until their death. Cyrus does have different opinions from them, but he is willing to respect them. But there are still people who accuse Cyrus of killing Dumbledore.

“Your accusation is absurd, Mr. Nuno Bush,” Babajide said with a frown.

They were now at the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards, and they were even in the courtroom! Cyrus changed back into his suit and stood in the dock with his head held high. No one defended him, and of course, he didn't need to. The wizard trial looked similar to the Muggle trial, but in fact they were very different. This absurd and ridiculous accusation was impossible to establish from the beginning.

Cyrus didn't even need to prove himself. He attended the event just to take this opportunity to make himself more famous in the wizarding world - a person who might have murdered the greatest wizard, Dumbledore! Look, no one would be uninterested in this news.

In a sense, Cyrus seemed to be the kind of person Harry now hated. He was using Dumbledore's death for greater gain. And he had no guilt.

He could accept Dumbledore's death better than anyone else, because he had seen it once before, and although it happened suddenly this time, he had expected it. He did not feel sad, because for Dumbledore, death was just an adventure.

Back in court, Mr. Nuno Bush did not seem to think he was doing nothing.

He didn't know that he was just a clown:

"My accusation is not absurd, Mr. Akinbade," he replied seriously, "On the contrary, I think Grindelwald's defense of Cyrus is absurd."

"Death?" he asked in return. "There is no Death in this world! It's just a legend!" He walked around the plaintiff's seat, taking in every juror who came to the trial. These people were all well-known figures in the magic world. "I don't think you will take the fairy tales that children read seriously, right?"

"I'm afraid Muggles don't take wizards seriously either," Bulstrode said sarcastically.

He is a Death Eater as loyal to Cyrus as Bella. He followed Cyrus to North America at that time, and now he has joined the Federation as an important member of the Magical Congress of the United States of America.

He stood up, and his old-fashioned look was obviously quite prestigious among many wizards: "But wizards are real, and we will find that the legendary Deathly Hallows also exist. Fifty years ago, Grindelwald got one of them, so he was able to sweep the world-"

Bulstrode glorified the Ministries of Magic of various countries, and he attributed Grindelwald's achievements to the legendary wand. This eased the embarrassment of various countries. If they were unwilling to believe in the legend of the Elder Wand, they would have to admit that they were scared by one person.

He continued: "Later, Dumbledore defeated him with incredible power, and the Elder Wand fell into his hands. The existence of the Deathly Hallows indicates that the God of Death may really exist..."

Just as Nuno Bush was about to scold him for being ridiculous, Bulstrode spoke first: "I don't want to say that man is a true god, but he is at least a powerful wizard, powerful enough to create such terrible magic props, powerful enough to survive from ancient times to the present day... If he can create the Resurrection Stone, he may be able to refine the Philosopher's Stone."

Bulstrode's remarks were decidedly more sensible.

"As Mr. Bulstrode said, we have reason to believe that he is an extremely powerful wizard. He may have survived for many years by means unknown to us. Now he disguised himself as Mr. Cyrus and brutally killed Dumbledore." Babajid said.

He even suspected that the man was Voldemort.

It must be said that although Voldemort was despised by Cyrus and believed that he was not truly powerful, the shadow he brought was very heavy.

Cyrus stood quietly in the dock.

He didn't seem to care at all about the direction of the trial. He didn't seem like a person being tried, but rather a spectator, watching the verdict of someone else.

He wasn't even listening seriously anymore.

Those heated arguments seemed very hazy and distant to him. He wondered what the Grim Reaper wanted. He could understand that he killed Dumbledore for his noble soul. But why did he take Voldemort's body and become his appearance? 'Maybe he wanted chaos and the death of tens of thousands of lives.' He thought.

The current situation is like this. Even if Grindelwald's confession can defend him, it can't completely clear his suspicion. Grindelwald himself is a terrible dark wizard. Fifty years ago, he wanted to break the Statute of Secrecy. Fifty years later, Cyrus also had this plan.

Who knows if they'll hit it off?

'It intensified the conflict between wizards, evolving into the Third Wizarding War, and even evolving into a war between wizards and Muggles... and He was hiding in the darkness, and He only needed to gently swing His sickle to take away countless lives.'

“…”

Cyrus came back to his senses and heard the last conversation.

"Your accusation is not valid, Mr. Nuno Bush." ​​Babajide slammed the hammer in his hand seriously. "If you intend to accuse Mr. Cyrus, I hope you can provide solid evidence to prove it, instead of relying on your own conjecture."

Nuno Bush was not giving up: "I don't think Cyrus can prove his innocence."

"Innocent until proven guilty. An innocent person does not need to look for evidence for something he has not done." Babajide shook his head. His words almost put an end to the trial.

Obviously, this old man's style of doing things is completely different from Dumbledore's. If it were Dumbledore, he might be able to resolve such troubles, but he would inevitably fall into the trap of self-proof.

"Court adjourned—" Babajide struck the hammer, and everyone was ready to leave. But before they could move, a white shadow broke through the window and stumbled in.

"Hedwig?"

Cyrus was stunned for a moment, then caught her.

(End of this chapter)