In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Dumbledore shook his head calmly.

"If I have to say the one thing I regret the most, Riddle, it's not really about admitting you to Hogwarts, it's the fact that I was actually wary of you when I realised early on that there was something wrong with your thinking, instead of guiding you properly. Over the years I have also reflected on the fact that Hogwarts has the name School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it is worthy of the title of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but it cannot be called a qualified school. At the age of eleven, children are handed over to us by their parents, but there has never been a single subject within Hogwarts to teach them how to act as decent human beings, and this is where I believe there is a lack in the magical education, and you are the greatest manifestation of this problem."

In the face of these heartfelt words from Dumbledore, Voldemort just sneered.

"Put away that fake-assedness of yours, you know, the thing I hate the most is that you talk about emotions all the time. In the beginning, when I asked you what the most powerful magic in the world might be, you told me it is love, but later on, I demonstrated that something far more powerful than that so-called love exists in this world. A wizard's spellcasting requires emotional fuelling, is it really love that could erupt into a powerful force? It's human greed! It's the desire for power! It's the never-ending quest for power!"

He gripped the wand in his hand, which was crafted from Fawkes' tail feathers as the core of the wand, and issued a declaration that was enough to highlight his life's philosophy.

"The existence of wizards is proof of one thing! Individuals will outshine the group! What does that mean? It means that this world was destined by fate to have a powerful wizard like us emerge as the lord of this world! But all the people recorded in the history of magic are a bunch of unambitious worms! All they wanted to do was to live a life of inactivity, and they even amended the Statute of Secrecy back then, smugly congratulating themselves for living like rats. It's laughable, why are we so willing to hide in the shadow of this world when we clearly have to grasp this immense power before the Muggles do?"

"Your theory of so-called fairness and equality simply doesn't hold any weight, if there were no wizards in this world, and there was no difference between all of our bodies from the beginning, that might have been the case, but the existence of magic has made it so that we are inherently differentiated from muggles and doomed to be two species, the strength and weakness of the mastery of magic has made it impossible for the wizarding world to maintain this kind of false peace for very long! "

"Why do I have to be equal to those mediocre people when I'm obviously so strong? Why do I have to coexist with them as equals when all I need to do to kill them is to lift a finger, which is easier than killing an ant? It's the idea of universal love that you've been insisting on is a fallacy! The magical world is supposed to be a world of the strong dominating the weak! If I am stronger than all the others, then they should submit to me! This is the law of all things, the supreme truth that you are constantly trying to hide under the disgusting facade of so-called fairness and love!"

"Ancient wizards were fools to the core, even after wielding such power they were forced by Muggles to create the Statute of Secrecy! That foolish and ignorant Gellert Grindelwald with his empty reputation wants to go to war with the Muggles before he has even integrated the wizarding world! I alone am the leader of the new age! I was born with a noble bloodline, with unrivalled magical talent, and I know the world better than anyone else! I understand what the existence of a wizard really means more than anyone else!"

Voldemort's high, excited voice echoed in the deserted Atrium.

"You're just a remnant of the old era, Dumbledore! You are simply unwilling to accept the truth of this world, and those deceptive words have been spoken so often by you have even fooled yourselves! Possessing great power and yet restraining yourself; what keeps you from wielding that power! See this statue? Magic is Might! Not that ridiculous love! Not the politicians who wielded power in the Ministry of Magic when you proclaimed love! The true master of this age is me!"

He flung the wand in his hand, not reciting a spell, just aiming the tip at Dumbledore!

Dark mist filled the surrounding air as if swelling and boiling with the mood of their lord at the moment.

Listening to Voldemort's powerful declaration, Dumbledore just shook his head calmly.

"If magic is truly all about might, you should have submitted to your other self a long time ago; why did you rebel against him and break out of his confines?"

The air instantly froze.

The dark mist that had been churning was also static as if it had been struck by a full body-bind curse.

Voldemort's face looked awful like Dumbledore had said something taboo that should not have reached his ears at all!

"Don't mention him to me!"

He yelled angrily.

"He's nothing! A weakling who has run away! A despicable robber! If it wasn't for him, I could have accomplished all my goals a long time ago! If it wasn't for him things wouldn't have become as bad as they are today!"

"Even if you don't want to admit it, Riddle, if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have been able to achieve what you have today at all, and it's precisely because you realise that clearly, you are both equally yourself, yet you are inferior to him in every way, that you are so angry."

Dumbledore raised his wand in his hand as he spoke.

Voldemort's face grew even colder, but he wasn't so angry that he went berserk, the more it came to it, the better he seemed to be able to restrain his temper.

"Whether you admit it or not, this duel will prove that magic is might, and the next step is to see which one of us is stronger, and who will be the only winner at the end of this!"

At the same time when his words fell, the surrounding black mist instantly rose up, like a living beast, surging towards Dumbledore!

Dumbledore just lightly shook the wand in his hand, and in the next second, golden-coloured flames lit up from his side, meeting the black beast head-on!

And at the same time, on the lower level from the Atrium, inside the Department of Mysteries.

Slughorn had left the Department of Mysteries yesterday evening under the pretext of escaping but had actually returned after leaving just as Jon had done, and had holed up in the head of the department's office.

The door to the office had been closed tightly, and Slughorn had used a special spell on it that even an Unlocking Charm wouldn't be able to unlock it.

And here they had been watching that time-turner right after noon, as Dumbledore had said, but they hadn't found a single bit of abnormality appearing until they had both heard the commotion on the upper levels.

The time-turner was still rotating its needles as if it would never stop, and Jon and Co. could only keep staring at it like this.

They knew very well that the battle was going on up there, and that Dumbledore was having a duel with Voldemort that would determine the future direction of the entire magical world, but there were countless doubts in Jon's mind that he had no way of getting answered.

"Professor Dumbledore could never forget that there is more than one Voldemort right now, even if he could successfully defeat the one at hand, what about another one that is even more cunning and more powerful?"

"That Voldemort hasn't made any moves until now, I don't think it's because he can't do anything, just like he sent this many people to the Department of Mysteries to keep watch, it means that he has always made plans for something, and up until now the duel between the professor and the current Voldemort has begun, he hasn't shown up yet, which means that he would be happy to see this duel happen. So could he be thinking of letting the two people suffer a lose-lose situation and reap the benefits for himself?"

There was no way for Slughorn to answer these questions of Jon's, and he also had no idea why all of this was happening.

It was also clear in Jon's mind that since he could think of these things, it made no sense that Dumbledore would ignore them.

But he hadn't said anything about them from start to finish, so that meant he already had made arrangements.

And what had he been preparing so far?

Looking at the time-turner, Jon narrowed his eyes.

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