"Luckily, I have a bit of cleverness." Ian's usual trick of first suppressing and then raising, which shocks others every time, failed to have any effect on Albus Dumbledore and Grindelwald here.
"Very good."
Albus Dumbledore just nodded expressionlessly. Grindelwald gave a thumbs up in praise, but his somewhat perfunctory tone clearly only made the Little Wizard even more frustrated.
"The same trick, don't think of using it twice with me." Grindelwald said with a smile, as the Little Wizard's disappointed sigh was the source of his joy.
"Alright, I've learned this magic, so do we need three people to cast it together?" Ian felt helpless; the emotional value he provided to the two Old Dens was clearly maxed out, yet the two Old Dens truly didn't understand what high emotional intelligence is, as they weren't willing to provide him with any emotional value.
"Yes, that's Gellert's viewpoint." Albus Dumbledore nodded and fetched his Elder Wand, though one of his hands still held the Sorting Hat tightly.
"Is there some sort of theory behind it?"
Ian curiously looked at the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Indeed there is a theory, just as the number seven is magical, the number three holds similar significance; the most typical example being the Three Sacred Artifacts of Death that we all know about." Grindelwald raised an eyebrow and glanced at Albus Dumbledore's Elder Wand before turning to Ian with a meaningful tone.
"I once had plenty of time to read history and summarize it, and in my opinion, seven is a destined number, whereas three… represents the variables beyond destiny."
"If you had the time to read history, you would find that in many stories where the impossible becomes possible, there inevitably exist the figures of three protagonists."
"It was so before, it is so now, and perhaps even in a future that may no longer exist…" Grindelwald's voice truly carried deep significance.
Looking at this Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts with a face that belonged to someone else, Ian's eye twitched slightly, finding it hard to not suspect that this Old Den had recently read the story of Harry Potter.
Sometimes prophets do defy the heavens…
Because of this, it isn't impossible for the fate already interfered with to be glimpsed by him; Ian indeed felt that the information Grindelwald mentioned pointed towards Hermione and her two male sidekicks.
"We can verify your viewpoint right now." Albus Dumbledore neither agreed nor refuted, as unlike a true prophet, he didn't possess the talent of knowing the unknown.
"Does the Sorting Hat have any function?" Ian felt he should understand the entire process clearly, noticing that the Sorting Hat had remained inactive since Albus Dumbledore brought it out.
Could the Sorting Hat be needed to break the cycle?
"It's just in case, child. When all our magic power is infused into our wands, some other means is needed to guard against possible accidents."
Albus Dumbledore didn't know if he was guarding against Arthur King or Salazar Slytherin, who caused the cycle.
Nevertheless.
Even though his words were indeed reasonable, Ian still felt that Albus Dumbledore was either not telling the truth or not telling the entire truth.
The Little Wizard was too familiar with this feeling.
He himself was adept at this.
"I'm at your command." Ian carefully examined Albus Dumbledore, but the old headmaster's face was solemn, showing no trace of inner emotions.
"I remember you mentioned that Professor Ronnie Ehrlich is also a key factor?" Ian hadn't forgotten that the two elders summarized that to break the cycle, they must first truly kill the unfortunate Saint Ronnie Ehrlich.
"That issue has been resolved; he's already sacrificed himself for us." Albus Dumbledore gently replied, his gaze toward Hogwarts Castle was extremely deep and calm.
Ian wanted to continue asking.
"In fact, he should have already died in the past, so now it's just dust returning to dust, earth returning to earth." Grindelwald's hand suddenly pressed onto Ian's shoulder.
A somewhat melancholic expression appeared on his face.
Ian felt immediately weighed down.
"I hope Professor Ronnie Ehrlich's next journey goes smoothly." The Little Wizard could only silently pray for the former professor, knowing that it was due to him that the professor endured so much torment again.
Originally, his death had been quite straightforward.
"Of course, that's also what we hope for." Albus Dumbledore and Grindelwald exchanged a glance and raised their formidable Elder Wand first.
Ian joined the old headmaster and the current Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in raising his wand.
"All Curses End!"
"All Curses End!"
"All Curses End!"
They didn't perform the action of inserting the wand into the ground, as their wands seemed to link with the surrounding space. Three loud voices resounded in front of the tower in the deep night, as a tumultuous surge of magical power began to rampage around them, its strength as terrifying as waves in a storm.
Wave after wave assaulted the invisible boundary.
Standing at the peak of magic power, the Wizards possessed colossal magic capable of moving mountains and filling seas, and in this moment, it erupted one after another as though it would sweep everything around into a magical storm.