Chapter 609: Conversation with Grindelwald

The innermost prison on the top floor of Nurmengard was arranged like the cheapest temporary guest room on the second floor of the Leaky Cauldron.

The smell of strong tea floated in the room, mixed with the faint smell of hay and sawdust. Parchment with numerical divination notes was posted on the drafty glass window. There were some autumn grass leaves drying on the window sill by the wall of the room. The spices made, a leisurely breath squeezed out of the boring imprisonment life is released from scattered places, vaguely relaxing.

Loren held the tea cup, and the tea reflected his crystal blue eyes. He pretended to glance at the old man inadvertently, and another dimension of perspective slowly emerged in front of his eyes.

His face is old, his body is thin, and the magic power in his body is as calm and restrained as the water of a deep lake. He can clearly see that this magic power is not powerful, and is even weaker than an ordinary adult wizard. For a legendary wizard who has shown his talent since he was young Said that this level of magic power could not match his talent at all.

This may be the impact of long years of prison life.

Surprisingly, the magic power in his body flows very smoothly, evenly distributed and silently. This is another manifestation of his superb magic control skills. From this perspective, this talent alone is enough to be competent in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professorship.

After hearing Dumbledore's request, Grindelwald took a sip of tea and narrowed his eyes into a comfortable slit.

"Thank you for your trust, Albus..." Grindelwald said calmly, maintaining the grace and reserve that a legendary wizard should have, "But I know very well that there are always unique reasons for sudden changes... Before that, , I want to know what happened?"

"Oh, this is a long story, but I can always summarize the development of things in concise words..." Dumbledore cleared his throat and prepared to start telling it from seventy years ago.

"Sorry, I want to hear them tell the story..."

Grindelwald stretched out his hand to stop his narration, and turned to look at the three people who were drinking tea silently next to him, with a gentle smile on his face, "Your principal always deliberately omits important details in the story, and is good at guiding people to do so. Make the choice he wants...I believe your story will be more truthful and detailed, right?"

The three people looked at each other, and Harry was signaled by their eyes. Then he turned to look at a certain old principal who was silent, and reluctantly began to tell: "This story begins with the Gaunt family. Since then, the Gaunt family is the descendant of Salazar Slytherin. It has declined seventy years ago, and only Marvolo and his children are left in the family..."

Harry spoke in great detail. As for the destined enemy, he had been fed relevant information by the principal since he entered Hogwarts, from Marvolo abusing his daughter to Merope using a love potion to lure the Muggle Riddle. Later, Merope pawned the locket to be produced on a rainy night, went to school with Voldemort, made Horcruxes, and caused turmoil after graduation...

Grindelwald also listened very seriously. Of course he was not ignorant of this. You must know that Nurmengard can also read expired newspapers and occasionally chat with the guards who come to check. If he hears him Interesting content will also sneak into the mind of the guard and look through it.

After all, he was once a master of Legilimency, and Legilimency's wand requirements weren't that stringent.

As early as when Voldemort first caused turmoil, he already knew the fate of this man. He pursued dark magic arrogantly, had a crude understanding of Muggles, powerful magic but shallow beliefs, and only used fear to gather his servants. In this way, even if there is no external When the power is eliminated, it will also lead to self-destruction.

But he didn't expect that the Dark Lord would actually find a Horcrux from the trash heap of history and survive for more than ten years before making a comeback.

Grindelwald has been hearing that Voldemort led people to attack the Ministry of Magic, and was finally defeated by Dumbledore. All the minions and servants were taken into prison. His thin brows gradually wrinkled together, forming fine wrinkles.

He originally thought that Dumbledore could easily defeat Voldemort with his own experience and the help of the Elder Wand, or that he could directly eliminate it after spending some effort to cut off his wings. However, Dumbledore set many traps to guide Voldemort alone, and finally relied on the mysterious It was the power of the Secretariat that severely damaged Voldemort, only severely.

The situation seemed to be more complicated than he expected, and the situation was still serious.

Perhaps there was Dumbledore's plan and conspiracy in this, but these people now appeared in front of him, which showed that Voldemort's existence itself was a threat.

After listening to Harry's account of the battle in the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore saw that his old friend had not responded for a long time. After a moment of silence, he added: "Just last night, Voldemort attacked your great-aunt, Ms. Bagshot..."

Grindelwald's eyes suddenly became sharp, and then quickly converged. In just a short moment, only Loren noticed the flash of chill on the old man's body.

"He found your appearance when you were young from Gregorovich's memory, and found your identity from Ms. Bagshot's memory. I believe he is rushing here..." Dumbledore paused. , shook the wand in his hand, and then said, "For the invincible power."

Hermione noticed his movements, and a flash of inspiration flashed in her mind. She seemed to understand something, and her bright eyes stared at the simple-style wand.

"Then you don't have to worry about this at all, do you? Albus, you should know best that there has never been any invincible power, and this power is not with me." Grindelwald chuckled, his voice was calm He said, "As for my insignificant and useless life, don't worry about it."

"I don't refute..."

Dumbledore smiled gently, "I just think a blood relative should attend Ms. Bagshot's funeral. Otherwise, it would be too cruel to this elderly historian. What do you think, Gellert?"

The smile on Grindelwald's face weakened significantly.

Loren and Hermione sipped their tea in silence. Although Harry couldn't quite understand what they said, he still felt that something was wrong with their tone.

Grindelwald put away his smile and stared at him calmly: "Do you really trust me to be a professor at Hogwarts? There are so many innocent and stupid little guys with simple thoughts and empty heads, as if they were randomly The painted canvas is waiting for some thoughts to be filled in and at the mercy of others..."

"In fact, I am indeed a little worried." Dumbledore looked directly at him, his blue eyes as calm as water, and his tone was inexplicably cold, "So I need to ask you for confirmation."

Grindelwald clearly sensed some invisible magic spreading along his gaze. As a master of Legilimency, he certainly knew what it was. A surge of anger arose in his heart, and he manipulated the same magic to peek into his mind. past.

"..." Loren just watched the two old guys secretly competing.

Let's say they trust each other. The two used Legilimency to test each other openly.

Call them suspicious of each other. The two allowed each other's Legilimency to spy on them without putting any precautions.

You still know how to play...

Loren drank tea in silence.

Dumbledore was already immersed in Grindelwald's memories. Long and boring memories flashed before his eyes. He knew very well that decades ago, even in that summer in Godric's Hollow, this pair of Impossible for two proud wizards...

Perhaps as the old fable says, time is the most powerful magic in the world, and it can always change something silently.

In the long river of memory, the scenery outside the window of Nurmengard has always appeared most frequently. The sky is either cloudy or sunny, the stars and the moon are dark or bright, and the glass windows sparkle in the sun, or are covered with frost. Austria has a temperate broad-leaved forest climate, which is cold and rainy. Heavy rains always pour down from the top of the tower like floods. There are also vines winding across the outer stone walls. It is not beautiful, but it will become boring after seeing too much.

In the early years, the guards made more frequent inspections, and they always carefully read the divination notes. In the first few years of imprisonment, family members of the victims would also break in. The clearest thing in my memory is of a woman who screamed hysterically. shouted.

"You killed my husband! You killed my husband..."

Perhaps it was because of his special warning, perhaps because the Wiccan Party occasionally spread news, or perhaps out of awe of Grindelwald's reputation, the guards would pretend to be the victims' family members when they were punching and kicking them. He pretended to block it a few times, but no one said anything as long as he didn't use the wand.

Seeing that this man's face was bruised, his mouth and nose were bleeding, and he was curled up on the stone floor holding the bruised wounds, Dumbledore did not feel innocent.

Whether it's broken self-esteem or physical pain, he deserves it, because the pain he inflicts on others is no less than this.

The food was as bland as mud, with a faint sour taste in the summer. In the winter, it was always too cold and hard to eat, and he lost weight quickly.

In the first few years, he still couldn't adapt to the dead silence and emptiness here. He would occasionally become irritable, yell and curse, mentioning his name many times, and his tone was not very friendly... Dumbledore only found it interesting.

One sunny afternoon, while he was pacing back and forth in his room, three mice jumped past his feet. He stepped on their tails, broke their necks, bit off their arteries to bleed them, and then twisted hay into a rope and hung them upside down by the window. Go up and let them rot and stink...

After that, the memory gradually calmed down, and the man's figure gradually became stooped, and his steps gradually became staggering. When he was bored, he read old newspapers to pass the time. Occasionally he saw some interesting characters, and he would use numerical divination to calculate the lives of those characters. The twisted pen tip is soaked in ink made of rat blood mixed with plant ash. Predicting the time of death of those people is an enduring hobby. It is very accurate based on the measurement of his long life.

From what Dumbledore knew about him, these should be signs of repentance.

Grindelwald looked through this man's memories and felt bored and irritated. He spent most of his time huddled in a cramped office in Hogwarts, living a similar prison life to him, and even had more space than the one he was in. The room is even more cramped, and I read those boring joke books. I never reveal my true feelings when talking to others, and my words are secretive and mysterious.

The only one who's interesting is probably the stupid Potions Professor...

Grindelwald watched as the corners of this man's mouth gradually turned into a smile. He narrowed his eyes unconsciously and frowned slightly. He always felt very boring: "Life is boring and your spirit is barren. You are becoming more and more boring, Albus..."

"Really? I think I met a lot of interesting people."

"Deceiving yourself."

"..."

Dumbledore smiled carelessly, shook his head and looked at several students: "Dear children, I am going to the Austrian Ministry of Magic to hand over some documents. You can wait for me here for a while, okay?"

The three of them came back to their senses and glanced quietly to the side. Grindelwald was drinking tea expressionlessly.

This scene happened once not long ago, but at that time they needed to persuade Professor Slughorn.

There should be no need to persuade now, the two have reached a consensus.

The three of them thought for a moment and then nodded.

The apparition caused some fluctuations in the air. The weak candlelight in the room swayed slightly, and the four figures sitting around the table and chairs swayed with it. The room suddenly seemed empty and deserted, and the atmosphere was slightly stiff.

"You have all lived in Muggle society for a long time and entered Hogwarts later, right?" Grindelwald first broke the silence and asked gently.

Loren nodded: "That's right, the two of us are Muggles, and Harry is staying at his aunt's house."

"What do you think about the future of wizards and Muggles?"

"..."

The three Lorens didn't know how to answer for a while. The legendary wizard's question was a bit grand and a bit sudden.

Grindelwald's smile remained gentle: "In other words, what do you think of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy?"

Hermione thought for a while, organized her words and replied: "The Statute of Secrecy is not only for wizards, but also for the entire magical world, which involves many magical races. I have seen a lot of information in books, and then With the development of science and technology, the scope of ordinary human activities is becoming more and more extensive. Unicorns in the virgin forest are migrating, mermaids are retreating in the oceans and lakes, there are also giants in the mountains, centaurs in the jungle, werewolves and Mei on the edge of society. baby……

"The memory cancellation program has not kept up with the advancement of human media. A few decades ago, a large-scale leak crisis could use the Crooked Wing Demon to erase the memory of a city. But now, digital information can be spread around the world in just a few minutes, so, Exposure to the wizarding world is inevitable..."

Grindelwald looked at the little witch, his slightly cloudy eyes showing approval: "Then how do you think Muggle society and the magical world will develop?"

"I have no idea……"

Hermione shook her head, "But I am very sure that if wizards and Muggles help each other peacefully and develop together, we will definitely create a better world."

Grindelwald was noncommittal and asked instead: "Then do you think the Muggle society and the magical world can live in peace?"

Hermione was suddenly in a dilemma.

Harry scratched his head, thought for a moment, and decided to drink another cup of tea.

Loren put down the tea cup and replied softly:

"cannot."