Grindelwald's tone revealed no emotion.
"We can go to the underground palace now." As he spoke, Ian opened the secret passage door again with snake language, but when he tried to enter, he was grabbed by Grindelwald.
"Wait a moment."
Grindelwald didn't seem in a hurry.
"Didn't you want me to show you evidence? The living Ronnie Ehrlich is in the underground palace, you'll know when you see him." Ian was puzzled by Grindelwald's delay.
"We need to wait for Dumbledore here." Grindelwald paused after speaking, then immediately added, "After all, this is his school."
You never noticed before that he was such a rule-abiding person!
The history books never mentioned this!
"When did you notify Dumbledore?"
Ian was somewhat astonished.
He didn't see Grindelwald make any additional moves.
"Just now."
Grindelwald responded concisely with a smile, "After all, we are old friends, so there are always some special ways to communicate, perhaps I can teach you in the future."
Having said that, Ian couldn't say much else, and could only wait along with him—actually, Ian also planned to seek Dumbledore's help.
In the empty girls' restroom.
A tall and a short man just stood in front of the sink.
The atmosphere was somewhat dull.
Suddenly.
"Perhaps you can tell me about some other situations happening with you," Grindelwald's deep and calm eyes stared at the little wizard beside him.
"..."
Ian was taken aback by Grindelwald's sudden question.
What is it with these old guys?
"I've indeed encountered some situations, not just the revived Professor Ronnie Ehrlich..." After hesitating for a moment, Ian decided to recount his experience.
He originally planned to seek a safer method, only revealing his time loop experience in Dumbledore's presence, as he trusted his friend more than Grindelwald.
However.
Since Grindelwald had already asked, it seemed inappropriate not to say anything, although Ian was confused about how Grindelwald discerned the anomaly.
"That's not what I was asking, but... interesting, Salazar Slytherin's legacy?" Grindelwald looked at Ian's raised hand, his tone surprisingly filled with amazement.
It wasn't as unbelievable as Ian had imagined.
"You know about such situations?"
Ian felt the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's emotions were a bit too stable.
"Never encountered, nor heard of, which is precisely why it seems interesting, isn't it?" Grindelwald grabbed Ian's hand and applied some magic towards his own eyes.
"Heh."
His smile became more apparent, "Actually, I can't see the pattern on your hand or feel any magical power from it."
As he spoke.
This calm Defense Against the Dark Arts professor took out a potion, directly poured it on Ian's hand, making the constantly glowing Ouroboros Curse Seal more pronounced.
Not only that, even the fiery red pattern from Ariana's gift appeared, along with another design Ian had never seen, simultaneously appearing on his hand.
"So it is."
Grindelwald seemed to partly see the Ouroboros Curse Seal, but his gaze shifted rapidly from it, focusing instead on the fiery red pattern.
"It appears some castle legends aren't groundless." This Defense Against the Dark Arts professor commented, inexplicably serious.
"What potion is this?"
Ian only smelled a familiar material scent.
"Bloodline Potion, it can reveal special bloodlines." Grindelwald's answer caught Ian off guard, his eyes widened with a hint of uncertainty.
"I was tainted by Slytherin's bloodline?"
The little wizard's thought process was somewhat unconventional. Though understandable, he initially thought he was simply marked by a curse, not unknowingly infused with something else.
"Then was all my learning to speak snake a waste?"
Ian's successive concerns also surprised Grindelwald.
"..."
Grindelwald was silent for a while before speaking somewhat speechless, "Maybe you inherently have Slytherin's blood. After all, marriage among wizards is quite common."
"Wizards living in this land, circumstances of mixed special bloodlines aren't impossible." Grindelwald looked at the other two patterns on Ian's hand with insight.
Ian felt he was being indirectly called a mutt, yet couldn't provide solid evidence.
"I'm quite certain I didn't have Slytherin's blood before." Ian recalled his hard-earned learning of snake language, which didn't resemble having Slytherin blood at all.
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
Grindelwald chuckled lightly.
"I just want to get rid of it now; I believe it's what brought me back here." Ian's tone was resolute; he was a closed disciple of Legendary Witch Morgan. Comparatively, Slytherin was generations behind him, who'd want to be played by Slytherin with no benefits?
"The problem will be resolved."
Grindelwald smiled comfortably.
Reassuring Ian significantly.
He even had the leisure to be curious about Grindelwald's earlier potion use.