The hospital wing.
Wade Reynolds lay quietly on the bed, his eyes closed.
"So you sent a student who is only twelve this year to face an Obscurus alone? Is that how Hogwarts professors do their jobs?" Grindelwald said at the side in an accusatory tone.
Dumbledore corrected him. "He was treating it, not fighting it."
"Oh? So you believe a twelve-year-old second-year student could cure an Obscurial that no one in the wizarding world has ever been able to cure, and then be pushed into mortal danger and end up seriously injured?" Grindelwald sneered, cutting Dumbledore off.
"You should know Wade's special nature, so there's no need to play dumb with me," Dumbledore replied coldly.
"And what good does that do? Go explain it to the public, to the parents. All they will know is that you allowed a child to face such a dangerous dark creature alone. If the parents find out that Hogwarts professors are this irresponsible with student safety… tell me, do you think you would still be able to remain a professor at Hogwarts?" Grindelwald said meaningfully.
"So you're threatening me?" Dumbledore raised his eyes and looked at Grindelwald calmly.
"Yes, I am threatening you," Grindelwald said, pulling over a chair and sitting down. "But if you fully agree to my reform plan, I will keep this matter quiet."
Grindelwald smiled a sly smile, "After all, under my educational reforms, students will eventually have to face dark creatures anyway. Of course… even I am not as ruthless as you. I would never let a student face something as vicious as an Obscurus."
"Do as you please. Perhaps… not being able to remain a professor would not be such a bad thing. That way, many things I have previously been constrained from doing could be pursued freely. For example… running for Minister or something like that," Dumbledore replied calmly, meeting Grindelwald's gaze.
Grindelwald's expression shifted slightly. After a moment, he showed a faint smile. "I was only joking with you, Dumbledore… Professor. And I do not believe you are ready to enter politics just yet."
He could threaten Dumbledore, but Dumbledore could threaten him just as easily.
Even if Dumbledore still dared not become Minister, with his abilities, he had many ways to make Grindelwald's life difficult.
So in the end, Grindelwald abandoned the idea that could lead to mutual destruction.
After all, since his cause was making progress for the time being, there was no need to take such a risk.
"Then can we return to the matter at hand?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course…" Grindelwald's gaze fell on Wade Reynolds. "But if we want to restore Wade, we must first figure out what kind of power he absorbed earlier, and why an Obscurial would possess it."
This was the question that interested Grindelwald the most.
After all, it was precisely because of this power that he had rashly launched an attack on Hogwarts before, an operation that had resulted in his most elite squad of followers being sent permanently to Azkaban.
"I'm not entirely sure either," Dumbledore said with a frown. "But after Wade absorbed that power, the Obscurus within Aurelius lost its will to resist…"
Hearing this, Grindelwald lightly touched his wand to the boy and carefully examined his condition with magic. "Extremely violent magical power. Even now, this power is still raging within his body," Grindelwald murmured.
"Yes. I believe that power also carries intense negative emotions. Such emotions can instantly corrupt a person's consciousness, turning them bloodthirsty and violent… Wade should have been able to control it…"
At this point, Dumbledore's face was filled with guilt. He had always had great confidence in the boy's willpower, which was why he initially believed that he should not have been controlled by this kind of power.
But Dumbledore recalled the sparring session he had with Wade that evening.
During those more than two hours of intense practice, the boy had expended an enormous amount of mental energy.
Then, later that night, before he had fully recovered, Dumbledore had pulled him away to treat Aurelius. Because of this, Dumbledore concluded that Wade had failed to resist the erosion of that violent consciousness precisely because he was already overexerted.
Having realized this, Dumbledore felt even more guilty.
"There's something you haven't told me," Grindelwald said with a frown. "We're treating Wade right now. Since you asked me to help, you can't keep things from me."
"I sparred with him earlier tonight. His mental energy was likely overtaxed and hadn't fully recovered, so that's why…"
"Heh, trying to guard against me, were you?" Grindelwald sneered. "Guarding against me is one thing, but because of it, you ended up harming your most favored student. How does that feel?"
This time, Dumbledore did not reply. Even though Grindelwald's words were full of mockery, his heart was overwhelmed by guilt.
By now, Grindelwald had finished his examination and withdrew his wand.
"Fortunately, I've encountered this kind of magic before, and I've even absorbed a small amount of it myself. So I have some understanding of it," Grindelwald said casually. "Treating Wade isn't difficult. We just need to extract this magic from him."
"How do we extract it? This power is tangled together with his own magic," Dumbledore said with a frown.
"Being entangled isn't a problem. Just draw it out slowly. Even if it can't be removed completely, that's fine. As long as he regains consciousness, there won't be an issue. This isn't an Obscurus, after all. Dumbledore, you're letting concern cloud your judgment,"
Grindelwald said as he took a ring from his pocket. He tapped the ring with his wand, and it began to rapidly transform, gradually becoming a hollow sphere.
"This ring is made of goblin metal. Containers made from goblin metal can store this kind of power," Grindelwald said. He then tapped his wand against the boy again and began extracting the 'residue.' "What are you standing there for? Help me!"
Dumbledore did not argue and raised his wand to join in.
"How did you know Hogwarts had this kind of power in the first place?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.
"I got the information from the goblins. They found it in the diary of a goblin from many years ago… Haven't you already figured that out? Why are you asking me?" Grindelwald replied irritably.
Hearing this, the slight suspicion that had risen in Dumbledore's heart dissipated completely.
However, although Dumbledore no longer suspected anything, Grindelwald's doubts had begun to grow.
The more he recalled Wade's actions earlier, the more suspicious he became.
This boy was not pretending, was he?
Grindelwald knew very well what this kind of power could do. It could greatly amplify a wizard's strength.
Grindelwald himself had personally absorbed this kind of magic before. In his view, although it had side effects, they were nowhere near this extreme. And this was a type of magic that Dumbledore could recognize.
Which meant that if Wade wanted to plausibly swallow this power in front of Dumbledore, he would have had to put on an act…
Or rather, perhaps he had not been acting at all, but had simply failed to resist the temptation and absorbed too much, causing everything to spiral out of control.
More importantly, the boy could actually extract this kind of magical power.
When had he learned to extract it?
Was it something he only discovered last night, when he realized the Obscurus contained this power, or… had he known how to do it all along?
If Wade had known how to extract this power from the very beginning…
Damn it. So that's how it was.
Grindelwald finally understood.
He had originally thought that Wade had only set a trap after discovering Anne Rosier's identity and his own plans, then gone along with the situation.
But now it seemed that… this entire trap had been laid by the boy from start to finish.
After figuring everything out, it was impossible for Grindelwald not to feel angry. And yet, thinking about how someone so young could possess such methods, he could not help but feel a sense of admiration.
At his age, he had still been experimenting with rather crude Dark Magic.
Forget it. Although he had suffered a great loss that time, the eventual outcome had been good. He had found the right path afterward…
Wait.
Grindelwald suddenly remembered something crucial. The reason he had embarked on his current path in the first place was because he had heard it from Anne.
And Anne had heard it from Wade. Back then, he had clearly already known Anne's identity, yet he still told her those things…
You little bastard. So this was deliberate. You wanted me to act according to your design.
So in the end, I was the one being used as a chess piece!!
Then when did he start planning all of this?
The more Grindelwald thought about it, the more a chilling realization crept over him.
The look in his eyes as he stared at Wade Reynolds grew increasingly shocked. Was this really a scheme a teenager could come up with?
Was it Dumbledore?
No. Dumbledore was too rigid.
He did not have such a flexible mind.
Could there be someone else behind him?
Or was it truly all his own doing?
No matter which it was, Grindelwald knew he would have to think carefully about whether the path he was walking was riddled with hidden traps.
…
Early the next morning,
Wade woke up on a bed in the hospital wing. In truth, after Dumbledore and the others had helped him extract the "residue" the night before, he could already have woken up.
But that old man Grindelwald, citing castle security, had not lifted the Stunning Spell on his body and had even added another one for good measure.
Seeing that, the boy did not bother dispelling it himself and simply went to sleep.
"You're awake?" A voice full of pleasant surprise came from nearby.
Wade turned his head and saw Nagini sitting beside him.
"Why ..are you here? Where am I—oh yes! How is Aurelius? Is he alright!?" He immediately slipped back into character and asked about the patient first.
"Thanks to your selfless help, he's fine now," Nagini said softly. "I knew I hadn't misjudged you, Wade. You're not like Grindelwald."
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