Dumbledore said helplessly, "So, there are only two ways now: either Voldemort dies completely, or... we cancel this course and set up a new subject..."
"Perhaps... I have a third way..." Victor Wick pondered, rubbing his chin.
"You have a way?" Dumbledore looked at Victor in surprise, his eyes flashing with a mix of expectation and admiration.
"I might not have before, but... I just caught a glimpse of an Ancient Rune sequence from Grindelwald... I might be able to use it to turn the power of this curse into fuel for my firewall."
As Victor spoke, he raised his hand and gestured toward the cabin. The strange pitch-black keyboard flew out from the window.
Victor sat on the ground and lightly tapped the keys.
A light screen emitting a faint blue glow appeared before him.
Victor flexed his fingers and then began to type rapidly on the keyboard.
As he typed, lines of code composed of Ancient Runes appeared on the screen.
Then, the runes flew off the screen one by one, glowing with a golden light. They shrank rapidly and rushed toward the small black snake.
Before the little snake could even struggle, it was covered in dense rows of branded marks!
Every time an Ancient Rune was branded onto it, the snake would writhe in agony, as if it were truly being seared by a branding iron.
Soon, the golden-glowing Ancient Runes completely enveloped the snake, transforming it into a "gold wire" in the blink of an eye.
Victor didn't stop; the rhythmic clacking of the keys continued incessantly...
In a flash, an hour had passed.
During this time, Dumbledore stood by, waiting patiently and observing...
"Done!"
Victor stood up happily.
"Good... I originally needed to expend some mental energy to maintain this firewall, but with the persistence of this curse, I don't even have to use that anymore! Voldemort would never dream that his curse would become my power source!"
The thought of the great Dark Lord working for him one day made Victor feel quite gleeful.
Victor sighed and pulled a bottle from his pocket to take a drink, but after only two gulps, the Invigoration Potion was gone...
Victor frowned at the empty bottle. "I have to go see Severus again... I wonder if I can ask him to change the flavor to vanilla this time."
The battle with Grindelwald just now was the first time in years he had enjoyed himself so thoroughly...
Controlling so many magical traps in the house required much more mental energy than a simple duel!
"It seems you have indeed solved the problem..." Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"I wouldn't say 'solved.' For now, I've just sealed the curse within myself... As long as you don't fire me from my position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, this curse won't harm anyone else. So..." Victor suddenly stopped talking.
He had abruptly realized a problem.
That was... in order to help Dumbledore seal the curse, he had to accept the teaching invitation!
'Sigh... working truly is the most painful thing in the world.'
"Professor, actually, canceling the course and establishing a new subject is also a very good idea..." Victor said, making a final struggle.
Dumbledore simply looked at him with a smile.
"Victor, thank you so much... From today on, you are the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. And you will be from now on. Oh... you have no idea how difficult it is for me to find a new professor every summer holiday. With you here, I won't have to worry about this problem anymore. At least... not until I retire. After all, you're still so young..."
Victor frowned at Dumbledore. "Are you really planning to make me work until I die?"
"Oh... I was just making a little joke. You just said I didn't have much of a sense of humor." Dumbledore smiled.
"Humor? No... right now, I just feel like the sky over Hogwarts has turned a bit dark..." Victor said expressionlessly.
Just as Victor's mood was souring, Dumbledore suddenly asked, "You said earlier that you stole a glimpse of an Ancient Rune sequence from Grindelwald?"
"Yeah... he didn't try to hide it. I could see it clearly, so naturally, I learned it. You know my abilities." Victor nodded. "Is there a problem?"
Dumbledore fell silent.
Suddenly, both of them looked up and met each other's eyes...
Dumbledore said slowly, "In other words, if you hadn't learned that sequence, you would have been cursed. A year from now, you wouldn't have been able to stay at school..."
"But Grindelwald seemed to have known this long ago. That's why he came to see me today... he gave me the ring and deliberately let me see his defensive magic so that I could successfully learn it..." Victor looked at the ring, frowning in contemplation. "What on earth did that old man foresee?"
"Whatever he saw, he clearly doesn't want you to leave Hogwarts a year from now... and he wants you to become even stronger than you are now," Dumbledore concluded.
"So, should I go find the people he prepared for me?" Victor asked, looking at the ring.
Dumbledore was silent for a moment before saying, "Just as Grindelwald said, do as your heart desires... I will not interfere."
Victor said no more.
Because it had successfully blocked Voldemort's curse, Grindelwald's prophecy had finally gained their full attention.
"I should go talk to Grindelwald too..." Dumbledore said.
"Fair enough." Victor said, summoning a trunk with a Summoning Charm before snapping his fingers.
In the next second, the small wooden cabin in front of them began to automatically disassemble. Bricks and tiles bounced past the two of them, jumping into the suitcase in front of Victor.
After just a few minutes, the cabin that had been there completely vanished.
Even the nearby flower garden folded up like a book and floated into the trunk...
Dumbledore watched this scene from the side, full of praise.
More than ten years had passed, and the boy he had picked up by the roadside back then had finally made it through those most arduous of times and fully grown up.