Hogwarts: This Dark Lord is Good?

"I'm truly sorry. I promise, next time before taking them out, I will inform you first," Dumbledore said sincerely to Mrs. Cole.

"Alright... since they're back, I'll let it go. You don't know how worried I was! It's dangerous out there... there are human traffickers everywhere!" Mrs. Cole said, then shot a glare at Tom and Wade, who were hiding behind Dumbledore.

"You're not having dinner tonight. This is your punishment!" 

"Yes... Mrs. Cole," Wade and Tom weakly responded.

After Mrs. Cole left, Dumbledore turned to face the two of them. "Alright, now it's time for you to tell me what happened today."

"Well... let's go to Tom's room. We'll sit down and talk slowly..." 

"Let's use your room. It's more comfortable," Tom quickly disagreed. 

He didn't want to see Dumbledore in his room again... 

Who knows if he'll burn something again to scare him?

"..."

"Alright, then let's go to my room..."

A moment later, the three of them arrived at Wade's room.

Wade pulled up a chair for Dumbledore to sit, then he and Tom sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I think you must be hungry. However, since Mrs. Cole punished you by not letting you have dinner tonight, I can't let you break her rules, but we can always have a drink," Dumbledore said, picking up an old umbrella from the side and placing it on the floor.

Whoosh!

The next moment, the umbrella turned into a small coffee table.

This move made both Wade and Tom's eyes light up.

Dumbledore waved his hand, and three cups of drinks appeared on the table, though no one knew where he had hidden them.

"I believe you can guess that I didn't just happen to appear here and take the fall for you," Dumbledore began.

Wade and Tom nodded.

Dumbledore pushed two cups of pumpkin juice in front of Wade and Tom.

"This morning, in an alley two kilometers from the Leaky Cauldron, Muggle police officers discovered two people tightly bound and..." Dumbledore said.

Wade nodded. "It was us."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, not expecting Wade to admit it so directly.

"Can you tell me why? I seemed to have told you before that we do not allow wizards to use magic on Muggles," Dumbledore's tone grew stern.

Tom spoke urgently, "They were human traffickers! They were trying to abduct us! We couldn't just do nothing, right?"

Wade patted Tom's shoulder, signaling him to calm down.

"According to Section 1, Article 3 of the revised 1928 'Underage Wizard Protection Act,' underage wizards may use magic to protect themselves in times of crisis."

"And Section 1, Article 1 of the same act states that underage wizards are defined as wizards under the age of 18."

"Tom and I are both around eleven years old this year, so we fall under the protection of this act."

"Which means, in the case of being trafficked, our use of magic to resist was fully in accordance with Section 1, Article 3, and therefore should not violate the Ministry of Magic's regulations..."

"So, Professor Dumbledore, we shouldn't be questioned about this matter," Wade said confidently.

Dumbledore was momentarily stunned by Wade's words.

Tom, on the other hand, stared at Wade with his mouth agape, completely unaware of why Wade was so familiar with these so-called regulations from the wizarding world.

"How... How do you know all of this?" Dumbledore couldn't help but ask.

Wade shrugged. "We went to Diagon Alley today. I also spent over two hours at Flourish and Blotts."

Tom stared at Wade in disbelief. "So, you really memorized all the books you were interested in? You're not just bragging?"

"Not all of them, of course. Time was limited, and I couldn't go through every book I was interested in..." Wade said regretfully. "Sigh~ I'll have to wait for the next trip to Diagon Alley."

"So, you mean... Every book you saw.. You just skimmed through all those books and managed to memorize them? You... you..." 

Tom was at a loss for words, feeling completely overwhelmed.

Dumbledore was equally shocked. That meant, the references Wade had been making were all from books he'd glanced through today and memorized... 

Of course, it was also possible that Wade knew he'd done something wrong today and deliberately found the regulations book to memorize it.

"Your talent is truly astonishing, Wade... You're right, I can't hold you accountable for this matter. Moreover, your actions were indeed a legitimate act of self-defense, and you did nothing wrong..." 

Dumbledore paused, then changed his tone. "However... did you go to 39 Strand Street afterward?"

"Yes, we did. It was us," Wade admitted plainly again.

Since Dumbledore had come to speak with them, it meant that their actions today had already been exposed. Any attempt to conceal the truth would be futile. If Dumbledore hadn't had enough evidence, he wouldn't have come here in the first place.

It was better to just admit it directly.

"Why did you do it?" Dumbledore asked, furrowing his brows.

"We all know how miserable it is to fall into the hands of human traffickers... They sell the good-looking children to wealthy perverts, the clever ones are trained to become pickpockets, and the ones who are less fortunate are beaten and crippled, then sent onto the streets to beg..." 

"So, when we found out that there were still children in the hands of traffickers, I dragged Tom along. We wanted to save them," Wade said calmly.

Tom was somewhat surprised that Wade had taken full responsibility for everything this time.

Dumbledore opened his mouth, but the reproachful words just wouldn't come out.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke, "It was right for you to want to save people... but you shouldn't have gone about it this way. I'm not doubting your and Tom's abilities. But... wizards and magic must never be exposed to Muggles. This is a serious violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy."

Dumbledore lifted his eyes to look at Wade. "I think, since you've already memorized all these laws, you don't need me to repeat them, do you?"

"Yes, Professor... but at the time, we hadn't gone to Diagon Alley yet, and we didn't know our actions violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy."

Wade looked at Dumbledore, then lowered his head and said softly, "However, I don't regret my actions. There were children in need of help, and I just so happened to have the ability to provide it... I couldn't stand by and do nothing. I've always believed that with great power comes great responsibility."

'!!!'

"This.. What a great way of thinking.." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "With great power... comes great responsibility..."

After another long pause, Dumbledore finally spoke again. "The human traffickers you captured are all too scared to reveal anything about the wizarding world, so you were lucky this time, and you did not violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy... Alright, tell me the whole story of the operation."

So, Wade and Tom recounted the whole story of their raid on the traffickers' hideout this morning, including the gold bars, Tom's Parseltongue, and how it all led to the summoning of Nagini.

It's hard to keep things hidden, so it's better to just be upfront about it.

After hearing the whole story, Dumbledore sighed. "I have to say, you two were lucky today... Nagini, I used to know her. She's had an unfortunate life... torn between her beastly and human nature, it's hard to imagine how much pain she must have endured."

Tom immediately asked, "What happened to her?"

Dumbledore replied, "She has a blood curse... Well, we can discuss her situation later. Let's focus on something else now—those ten or so gold bars you got."

At this point, Wade remained calm, but Tom's eyes widened in alarm, worried that Dumbledore would confiscate the gold.

Tom, who wasn't strong enough yet, had come to understand the importance of money.

After all, he wasn't the future Dark Lord, Voldemort, who would later dominate the world yet...

Dumbledore smiled, "I'm not going to take your gold. I just want to remind you... can a simple human trafficker hide that much gold? You must realize how vast a fortune you've just exchanged."

Wade immediately caught on, "Professor, are you saying we've gotten ourselves into big trouble?" 

(Note: The part about the Ministry of Magic's minor protection regulations is fictional, as I couldn't find relevant information.)