Hogwarts: I Am an Exemplary Wizard

There’s just one thing…

“Professor, are you sure you’re going there to impersonate Arianna, and not to die in her place?”

“Relax, I understand your concern.” Dumbledore said with a smile. “Strictly speaking, Gellert and I are only in our teens at this point. It’ll be troublesome, yes, but only troublesome. I still want to see Arianna again.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at his little sister once more.

“All right then.”

Judging by the time, Grindelwald and Dumbledore should be arriving soon, so Kael didn’t say anything more.

He walked over to Arianna and led her out of the barn.

Dumbledore watched them from behind as he drank the Magic Potion from the bottle.

At the same time, the young Grindelwald and Dumbledore returned to the Valley.

Grindelwald kept a stony face, clearly in a foul mood.

“It’s all right, Gellert.” Dumbledore said beside him. “The Holy Artifacts have been missing for centuries; it’s normal that they’re not easy to find.”

“But I’ve been preparing for just as long.” Grindelwald crushed the flowers at the roadside with a stomp. “I’ve been preparing for half a year, I even let myself get expelled from school just so I could get here sooner, and this is the answer I get… that family moved away?!”

“We can keep looking.”

“Don’t bother comforting me, it’s useless.” Grindelwald said angrily. “You saw it too—there were only a few Old Wizards left there, barely any better than Squibs. They don’t remember where the others moved to. Even Legilimency doesn’t help.”

“You used Legilimency on them?” Dumbledore frowned.

He remembered that those people were very old. Their frail bodies could hardly withstand the effects that Magic had on them—especially a memory-targeting spell like Legilimency, which could easily make their already muddled minds even more confused.

More importantly, from the clues they’d found, that family had suddenly moved away decades ago, leaving behind many of their belongings. There was no way they’d had the chance to tell the neighbors where they were going.

Using Legilimency was practically pointless.

And above all, Grindelwald had clearly promised him he wouldn’t resort to violent methods to force answers out of people.

“I have to discover the whereabouts of the Holy Artifacts. Even the smallest clue can’t be overlooked.” Grindelwald muttered to himself, not noticing the change in Dumbledore.

The two of them walked all the way to the front door.

“I need to go back and rest for a bit.” Dumbledore said directly, not staying with Grindelwald until evening as he usually did.

“Ah, right.” Grindelwald said absently. “I’m going back to ask Aunt again about any leads on the Holy Artifacts. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Albus, how dare you show your face back here!”

At that moment, an angry shout rang out.

Abeforth shoved the door open, fuming. “You suddenly vanish without a word—do you have any idea that Arianna needs someone to look after her right now?”

“Or is it that you can’t wait for her to die, so no one will hold you back, stop you from running off to travel the world with this bastard?”

“No, Abeforth, it’s not what you think. I can explain.” Dumbledore said.

“Explain?” Abeforth gave a cold laugh. “Is it or is it not a fact that you ran away? Good thing it’s the holidays right now—what happens when Hog opens? Are you going to dump Arianna at home all by herself and leave her to rot, you bastard?!”

“Absolutely not!” Dumbledore said firmly. “I absolutely will not!”

“Easy to say.” Abeforth panted heavily, glaring at the two in front of him. “Ever since you met this bastard, you’ve changed. I can see it. You don’t want to stay here. You think you’re an owl trapped in a cage, and Arianna is that cage.”

Dumbledore stood there in silence.

In a sense, Abeforth was right; he had thought that way before.

“You want to show what you can do? Fine by me. I’ll oblige you. I’ll withdraw from school tomorrow. The two of you can get out of my sight and never come back!”

“That’s enough, you idiot!” Grindelwald strode forward, drawing his Wand and glaring viciously at Abeforth.

“Don’t vent your own incompetence on Albus. He has the power to change the entire Magic Realm. Someone like him shouldn’t be chained to a Squib. That’s an insult to his talent!”

“Squib?” Blood rushed to Abeforth’s eyes. He drew his Wand as well. “You half-breed, you’ll pay for that!”

“You dare curse me?” Grindelwald lost his temper too. He jabbed his right hand forward:

“Crucio!”

…

A piercing scream instantly tore through the entire Valley, followed by a chaotic chorus of shrieks and shouts. The noise was so loud that even Kael, who was almost out of the Valley, could hear it.

He flicked his Wand, and the sound cut off abruptly.

Feeling the sudden tremble in the hand in his, Kael said gently, “It’s probably a Fwooper. Nasty call it has, doesn’t it?”

“Fwooper… what’s that?” Because the sound had lasted only for an instant before disappearing, Arianna under the Invisibility Cloak hadn’t caught it clearly.

She instinctively looked back, but her view was completely blocked by the dense trees behind them; she couldn’t see a thing.

“A kind of Fantastic Beast.” Kael said. “Their shrill cries make people hallucinate and see what they’re most afraid of. If it were you, you’d probably see Abeforth strung up and getting a proper beating.”

Kael said it in such a convincing tone that Arianna was frightened enough to clap her hands over her ears at once.