"The contract consists of two parts: the first of which is to allow me to study you as an Obscurus," replied Edward calmly.

"Study? Obscurus? What is that?" asked Credence with obvious displeasure in his face. After all, no one would like to be treated as a guinea pig or lab rat.

"I forgot that you do not even know what you are and what your powers are," replied Edward. Then, he suddenly entered his professor mode and started to explain:

"When a young wizard or witch repressed his magical capability or is forced to do so through physical or emotional trauma, an uncontrollable dark force that is parasitic will be formed inside of them known as an Obscurus, and said child will be known as an Obscurial.

"As you can see from your power, Obscurus is a very destructive dark force. In the past, when wizards were haunted by muggles, Obscurials were a more common thing, but when wizards separated from muggle society, they became a rare thing.

"Most Obscurial does not live past the age of 10, but you are different. I am guessing that because of your lineage, you are way more powerful than most of them, thus finding a way to not only survive but freely control such power. I am very interested in how you did such a thing."

"Lineage? Do you mean my family? Do you know who my real family is?" asked Credence with an agitated voice.

"I do know, but I will not tell you," replied Edward calmly.

"Why?" screamed Credence. Then, a powerful force came from his body and rushed towards Edward. However, the latter did not even move as a power Shield Cham appeared around him, then bounced the powerful force back sending Credence flying away a few meters until he hit a wall.

Edward then walked to him who was lying on the floor before saying: "Are you calm now?"

With a pleading look on his face, Credence asked: "Why don't you tell me if you know? As long as you tell me, I will sign your contract?"

Edward had a pensive look on his face. The reason he rejected Credence was because of his usual instinct to keep the canon timeline change as little as possible. So, for a moment, he forgot that he did not need to care about keeping the original story as much as possible.

After figuring this out, Edward started to think about the benefit that he could get from this situation. One of his plans was to study the power of fate and discover the reason that Divination Magic seemed to elude him so much.

He also wanted to study the [Correcting Force of Fate] that ensures that the plots of the original canon storyline always get back on track.

'Since there is a physical manifestation of Death in this world, could the same be for Fate?' thought Edward to himself. Then, he looked at Credence before saying: "Fine, I can agree to your terms, but you have to sign the contract first, and you have to cooperate with my research.

"Before you agree so easily, be warned that you might be forced to live many unhappy memories of your childhood."

Despite this warning, Credence did not hesitate to sign the contract that Edward handed to him. He did not even ask the second part of the contract that this stranger he met only twice mentioned before.

He longed to know his origin, his family, so he did not care what he did to find them, to know them.

After seeing him sign the magical contract, Edward nodded in satisfaction. "We can start in 7 days as I have some things to deal with first."

"Can you tell me who my parents are now?" asked Credence as he held Edward's arm with a very firm grip.

Edward then looked at this lost child in his eyes, and after seeing the longing mixed with despair in his face, he secretly sighed before answering:

"Your real name is Aurelius Dumbledore, the younger brother of Albus Dumbledore--who is currently one of the greatest wizards alive, and soon will be known as the greatest white wizard of this century. I will tell you the details later."

(AN: I know that it has not been proven with certainty whether Credence is Dumbledore's brother, but for the sake of this fiction, he is. So, if you are particular about continuity, then consider this an alternate universe where he is his real blood brother.)

After that, Edward apparated away, heading to a few other locations in the next few days. In his last stop, he appeared in a run-down inn.

--Scene Break--

After entering the inn, the smell of goat assaulted his nose making him quite uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, he ignored the dirt and smell of the inn and headed straight for the owner in the upstairs sitting--who was admiring a painting of a young child hanging to a place where anyone could see it.

Although this person was in his 40's or 50's, he looked much older due to his unkempt hair and clothes.

"Do you want to see her?" asked Edward out loud--an act which startled the distracted Aberforth.

After hearing someone speaking next to him, he instantly stood up, took out his wand, and pointed it at the stranger that had his face covered.

"Who are you?" he asked as he felt a great deal of threat from this strange wizard. His instinct was warning that this person was very dangerous, and the only time he felt such tremendous power was from his brother and that damn Grindelwald.

"Me? It doesn't matter who I am, but you have not answered my question?" replied Edward calmly.

"Why would I talk about my affairs to a stranger that broke through my inn?"

"That sounds fair, in that case, I will be more direct. I need you to sign a magical contract for me, and in exchange, I will let you see your sister again for a few hours. You can talk to her and say all the things you wished you had before she left."

Aberforth became even more on guard after hearing this, so he did not lower his wand. He squinted his eyes at Edward before saying: "You must think for a fool that I would believe such nonsense."

Nevertheless, Edward was not offended. With a calm and slow motion, he took out a small stone or gem from his pocket.

"I am sure that your brother was not the only one who ever researched such a thing, am I right?"

"That's...that's...the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows." stuttered Aberforth--who wished nothing more than to rush to Edward and confiscate it from his hand. Fortunately, his reason still got the best of him.

The truth of the matter is that this stone was not the one that Edward has in the future, but the one from this timeline. He used the Imperius Curse to control the Gaunt's family to take the stone, and he will return it later and modify their memories.

At one point he wanted to know what would happen if he brought this one to the future, but because he might have to deal with Death if he did that, he stopped his plan--for now.

"Yes. With this, you can see her again and talk to her."

"I can do more than that. I can finally resurrect her," added Aberforth.

"Unfortunately, that is not possible. At least the Resurrection Stone is not enough to do such a thing."

Aberforth finally woke up from his delusion after hearing this, then he sighed melancholy. Nevertheless, after a few minutes of silence, he asked:

"What's this contract about?"