"Judge the opponent's attack route clearly! Don't trust your own reactions too much!"
"Keep moving! You are not a fixed turret!"
"Yes! That's right!"
"Don't rely too much on physical strength! When you fight like a fire dragon, you are no different from a beast! Others can easily read your actions!"
"Concentrate, don't relax! In battle, any small distraction is fatal!"
Inside the shipyard of the Black Sea Shipyard in Ukraine.
On an aircraft carrier less than 40% complete, Grindelwald was teaching Hydrus combat techniques.
"Don't think you are invincible just because you use a Dementor's constitution! Besides the Patronus Charm, I have a hundred ways to hurt you!"
A red light flashed, and Hydrus cried out in pain upon being hit.
"Stinky old man! Can't you go a little easy on me?"
Cursing, Hydrus turned into lightning and charged at Grindelwald. But Grindelwald, who had practiced Apparition to the peak, feared no one in terms of speed!
His teleportation was soundless and incredibly eerie, even creating the illusion that he had several clones.
An orange magic whip lashed mercilessly onto Hydrus's body, almost flaying her dragon scales open.
"Roar!"
Hydrus was furious and spat out a dragon's breath. The center of the pillar of fire was cyan, indicating its extremely high temperature.
However, this was useless!
Grindelwald had already flashed behind Hydrus. He waved his wand, wanting to teach his student a profound lesson—
That is, in battle, one absolutely must not act on impulse!
Anger without reason will only invite defeat!
But the next moment, Hydrus disappeared in a burst of firelight. Grindelwald hurriedly looked towards the sky. He recognized this special Apparition; it came from a phoenix constitution.
Given this girl's combat habits, she would most likely choose aerial combat!
However, this time Grindelwald judged wrong. Hydrus hadn't used the phoenix constitution at all.
The firelight was the Incendio spell, and the disappearance was the shrinking ability of an Occamy.
The aftermath of the dragon's breath + Incendio + Occamy shrinking—this set of actions simulated the illusion of a phoenix teleporting.
This was merely a diversion.
A red light shot violently from the ground towards Grindelwald.
It was shot by Hydrus, who was only the size of a thumb.
Although Grindelwald judged wrong, how could a combat master like him not leave himself a backup plan?
The hem of his wizard robes turned into blue flames, blocking Hydrus's attack.
"Not bad! Now that's more like it!"
Grindelwald praised.
"Keep coming. If you can hurt me once, I'll give you three days off!"
Hydrus's beautiful eyes lit up. "You said it! No going back on your word!"
Grindelwald laughed heartily. "Of course, I am..."
Two spells shot over in succession, interrupting his words.
Good lord, young people have no martial ethics. Coming to trick, coming to sneak attack!
Sneak attacking me, a 109-year-old comrade!
...
Leaning against the ship's railing, Vinda Rosier watched the battle between the old and the young, the corners of her mouth never turning down.
This aged rose still crushed the younger generation in temperament. A beauty is in the bones; she could still be called beautiful at this time.
This made people very curious about how magnificent she must have been in her youth.
"Edmond, when do you think Hydrus can complete Gellert's training?"
"That's hard to say," Edmond replied. "I have never reached my great-uncle's level, so I cannot speculate."
He rubbed his eyes. "But I feel that with Audrey's natural talent, that day probably won't be too far off."
Bang!
"Ehehehehehehe"
Hydrus was sent flying by Grindelwald again. Although the old thing's moves looked ruthless, he completely controlled his strength.
It was the kind that hurt you but didn't injure you.
"This is the seventy-ninth time you've hit me today!"
Hydrus did a kip-up, jumping up from the deck. Her wand waved continuously like a passionate conductor, her mouth not losing ground at all.
"Only seventy-nine times! I took a full two hundred hits yesterday! If you, old man, still attack with this intensity—"
"I can do this all day!"
Bang.
With a flash of fire, Dumbledore appeared in the field, Fawkes the phoenix perched on his hand.
"I'm afraid you can't fight all day," the old Headmaster's face didn't look very good. "Find a quiet place, let's talk."
Fawkes didn't care about Dumbledore's mood and flew directly onto Hydrus's shoulder.
Watching the two old men and one young girl walk towards the shipyard's conference room, Vinda snorted coldly:
"I hate that white-bearded old man."
Edmond laughed. "You've hated him for over half a century."
He jumped off the railing and also walked towards the office building. "But seriously, I don't like him either."
Vinda sighed, muttering to herself:
"But he likes him..."
...
...
In the conference room, Dumbledore placed a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Grindelwald and Hydrus.
The headline read:
Shocking! Former Minister for Magic Assassinated! Crime of Passion or Suicide?
"Former Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was found dead in his mansion. The discoverer was his suspected mistress, Dolores Umbridge. According to reliable sources, Umbridge often received extra care from former Minister Fudge during her tenure at the Ministry..."
"Oh, Umbridge!" Hydrus exclaimed. "Cornelius Fudge really had heavy tastes, actually favoring that pink toad..."
"Hydrus!" Dumbledore interrupted her very seriously. "I won't say anything about you pulling Fudge down from the Minister's position, because his wisdom was indeed insufficient for that post."
"But! You shouldn't have killed him!"
Hydrus's eyes widened into circles. "Professor Dumbledore! Even if you are my Headmaster, you can't just accuse me wrongfully! Believe it or not, I'll sue you for slander!"
She argued reasonably, "The pure-blood families pulled Fudge down, my goal has already been achieved. The new wizarding bank opens next month; what reason do I have to kill Fudge?"
She looked at Dumbledore indignantly. "Even the newly appointed Old Barty Crouch has a stronger motive than me! Or maybe Rita Skeeter didn't talk nonsense this time, and it really was a crime of passion?"
Dumbledore's expression didn't relax as he asked:
"It really wasn't you?"
Hydrus felt extremely aggrieved; she truly knew nothing about this matter.
She looked stubbornly at Dumbledore and shouted, "Don't you know Legilimency? Read my mind! See if I did it or not!"
Dumbledore sighed. "I cannot read your thoughts."
Tears welled up in her eyes. Hydrus tilted her head slightly back to prevent the tears from falling.
She took out a bottle of potion and slammed it heavily on the table with a bang.
"This is Veritaserum!" she said. "If you still don't believe me, I can drink this!"
Grindelwald quickly held down Hydrus's hand and said to Dumbledore:
"Albus, that's enough!"
He gently patted Hydrus's hand. "If Little Water Snake really did it, she wouldn't deny it. You really wronged her this time."
Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief, his face softening.
"Gael, you know, there can't be any mistakes with this child's future!"
"I'm sorry, Hydrus," Dumbledore apologized sincerely. "I wronged you this time."
"I don't accept it! Stinky old man!"
Hydrus put away the Veritaserum, spun on the spot,
Crack! A soft sound.
She disappeared from the conference room just like that.
"Is this... the wizard version of Apparition?"
Dumbledore asked in surprise. "When did she learn it?"
Grindelwald smiled, not without pride. "She mastered it half a month ago! Her progress is unimaginable! Yet you are still cultivating that so-called Savior?"
Grindelwald shook his head repeatedly. "In a few more years, even we won't be Hydrus's match. Her father will be even less of a match! Instead of wasting time on Potter, you should cultivate Hydrus properly."
Dumbledore shook his head with a bitter smile. "I'm just afraid she will follow her father's old path!"
Grindelwald laughed heartily. "You really don't understand Little Water Snake. She, ah, hahahaha..."
Dumbledore: "Wait a minute, where is my phoenix?"
...
...
Minister for Magic's Office.
Barty Crouch Sr. was buried in documents, working hard.
He wanted to be a good Minister, which determined that he inevitably couldn't escape the toil of paperwork.
Crack!
Hydrus appeared in his office with her original appearance.
Fawkes the phoenix was perched on her shoulder, making Old Barty think for a moment that Dumbledore had Transfigured into Hydrus's appearance.
"Hydrus?"
Old Barty stood up, somewhat at a loss. Since injuring her last year, the two hadn't met for a year.
And the girl before him had even sent him to the Minister's throne regardless of past grievances!
"Mr. Crouch, I want to know how Fudge died?"
"Huh?"
Old Barty was stunned. He had thought of countless reasons for Hydrus to find him, but he hadn't expected her to care about Fudge's death.
"The Aurors are still investigating. We found many different magical echoes at the scene, showing there was more than one person involved. Unfortunately, former Minister Fudge's body was discovered too late, and a lot of information was lost."
"Please find the murderer quickly!" Hydrus said hatefully. "Now I'm suspected of being Fudge's murderer, and you are also a suspect, so you'll have to put some effort into this matter."
Old Barty nodded. "Naturally."
Hydrus added, "There is one more thing."
She organized her words and spoke, "Before the start of the last school year, the Ministry of Magic issued an order regarding my situation, requiring me to pass all twelve O.W.L. subjects to advance to the sixth year."
Old Barty was surprised. "That's absurd, that's a disorderly command!"
"Yes, it is absurd," Hydrus nodded in agreement. "In this O.W.L. exam, I got 'O's in eleven subjects, only Muggle Studies didn't pass..."
Old Barty was dumbfounded. Wasn't the person before him a superstar in the Muggle world? She had lived in the Muggle world for so many years, yet she failed Muggle Studies?
"So, I hope you can revoke this order, so I can advance to the sixth year smoothly."
"No problem," Old Barty nodded. This was just a small matter, a piece of cake. "I'll check the files later. Once I find this order, I'll cancel it for you immediately."
Hydrus nodded with satisfaction.
Plan succeeded!
Pull Fudge down, help Old Barty up, then cancel the previous order, and she wouldn't have to repeat the year!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]