Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Archmage

"Our analysis was spot-on. Lucius Malfoy indeed kept a Horcrux for Voldemort. Back then, he provided Voldemort with a large amount of funds, so Voldemort still had a certain degree of trust in him.

"Lucius's will isn't firm. When I went to Malfoy Manor to see him on my own initiative, he got a bit flustered. With a little verbal guidance from me, he caved in and obediently handed over this rather special Horcrux.

"Different from the soul fragments of Voldemort in other Horcruxes, the soul fragment in this diary Horcrux has the complete memories and cognition of the young Voldemort.

"It even emits mental waves, attracting wizards to communicate with him by writing in the diary.

"It can even create a mental illusion for communication. Using his young and handsome appearance, excellent knowledge of dark magic, and verbal charm, he breaks down the defenses of those who communicate with him, ultimately achieving a terrifying effect similar to that of the Imperius Curse, controlling those who communicate with him.

"After getting this diary, the 'young Voldemort' inside refused to communicate with me. I used some methods to force a conversation with him and dug out the secrets of this Horcrux.

"This should be the first Horcrux Voldemort made. He made it before he graduated from Hogwarts. This was my oversight."

Dumbledore slowly recounted the process of how he obtained the diary Horcrux and the information he had discovered.

"What about these magic chains?" Dudley asked.

"I put these chains on! They block the 'young Voldemort' in the Horcrux from perceiving the outside world, preventing him from causing trouble.

"Carrying this Horcrux is risky. For all these years, Lucius has always kept it locked in a large box. Now that we have it, we also need to take good precautions."

Dumbledore replied.

"What if I want to have a go at the young Voldemort inside?"

Dudley asked again. It was such a good punching bag, and it would be no fun to lock it up.

He still had many important experiments for the young and handsome Mr. Tom to help with!

"Dudley, can you make sure you won't be affected by Voldemort's remaining soul?" Dumbledore was a bit worried. "Although your magic power is very strong, you lack experience."

"Teach me how to remove the magic chains first, Dumbledore!" Dudley said. "I'll open the chains after I'm fully confident."

"Alright!" Dumbledore agreed.

"What about Barty? Is Barty still alive? Did he escape?"

After discussing the diary Horcrux, Dudley asked another question.

"He's alive and he escaped!" Dumbledore replied straightforwardly.

Dudley frowned. "Did you find out where he..."

"But he didn't escape successfully!" Dumbledore changed the subject, interrupting Dudley and taking an unexpected turn.

It left Dudley utterly speechless. He rolled his eyes and said, "What on earth is going on?"

"Haha! Just kidding. It's also a good way to lighten the mood."

Dumbledore was in a much better mood than before and explained, "When I Apparated near the Crouch family's house, I saw Barty Jr. escaping from home and attacking his father, Barty Sr.

Seeing that Barty Sr. was about to be overwhelmed by his son's onslaught, I secretly cast a few Silencing Charms to help Barty Sr. He defeated his son, tied him up, and took him back home.

Barty Sr. should have noticed someone was helping him, but he couldn't find me, so he had to give up.

After that, I stayed near the Crouch family's house and sent letters to Alastor 'Mad - Eye' Moody, a well - known Auror in the wizarding world, and Remus Lupin, a close friend of Harry's father, asking them to come to the scene and take over monitoring Barty Jr.'s movements from me.

Both of them are very powerful wizards. Especially Moody, he captured more than half of the Dark Wizards in Azkaban. With the two of them around, we can rest assured that Barty Jr. won't get out of our control."

Dudley thought for a while. In the original story, Barty Jr. and Peter Pettigrew barely managed to capture Moody. Now that Barty Jr. was alone and Moody had the werewolf Lupin as his teammate, the advantage was on their side. There shouldn't be any big problems.

However, out of caution, he still reminded Dumbledore:

"We can arrange some trustworthy ordinary wizards as backups. This is a long - term monitoring task. Mr. Moody and Mr. Lupin may not be in top condition 24 hours a day. Sometimes they may need to take shifts."

"Dudley, you really think things through!"

Dumbledore thought Dudley's suggestion made sense. So he thought of a few names of highly loyal companions in his mind and planned to write to them later.

As the sky gradually darkened, Dumbledore didn't have dinner at the Dursleys' house.

After Dudley added trace threads to him and he taught Dudley the incantation to break the magic chains, he Apparated back to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore told Dudley that he still had to interview several candidates in the next few days to select the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for this year to replace Quirrell.

Professor McGonagall had helped him screen out some excellent wizards during this period.

Among them, there was a young witch who had recently returned from the American wizarding world to settle in the wizarding world, outstanding with extensive knowledge of dark magical creatures and well - suited for the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

In addition, tomorrow, the voting election for the new Minister of Magic would be held, and Dumbledore would preside over it.

He was very busy with a lot of things to do.

Even an old hundred - year - old guy still has to hustle.

On August 14th.

At the Minister of Magic election held in the Ministry of Magic.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, not too old, ignored the seniority restrictions. Relying solely on his loyalty to Dumbledore, he was elected the new Minister of Magic with an absolute advantage.

Nine out of ten wizards in the wizarding world who participated in the election voted for Kingsley.

This made Rufus Scrimgeour, another ministerial candidate and a senior Auror, completely become a mere formality in this election. He watched as Kingsley, a mid - level Auror who was previously inferior to him in status, suddenly became the high - ranking Minister of Magic.

That evening, after presiding over the election and visiting Gaunt's old house, Dumbledore came to the Dursleys' house again.

After receiving Dudley's solemn reminder, he didn't have an accident during this operation as in the original story.

He successfully brought Dudley the Horcrux, Marvolo Gaunt's ring that had undergone magical sealing treatment, as well as the Resurrection Stone embedded in the ring.

Like Dumbledore's Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone received an SSS - Rank System rating.

Dudley pried this shabby stone, whose rating was extremely inconsistent with its function, from the Gaunt ring and played with it. Then he received the following System's prompt:

[The System detects that the host has touched the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows, triggering a System reminder.]

[Collecting all three Deathly Hallows can unlock the SSS - Rank Special Regret Event - The Death Curse of the Deathly Hallows.]

[This regret event is extremely difficult to complete. The host needs to face real death crises multiple times. It is recommended that the host handle it with caution.]