Chapter 203: “Hello To Nurmengard”

There is an extended terrace at the end of a corridor, where the principal’s office is located.

There is no decoration on the terrace, and the cold wind of the winter night in England keeps whistling. The two bare chairs feel cold just by looking at them.

However, two people are sitting on the chair now, and they don’t feel any discomfort on their faces. You will find that the cold wind will always turn when it blows past the two of them.

The glass of butterbeer in their hands radiated warmth.

“There are only two admirable things in England. One is the great Albus Dumbledore, and the other is butterbeer in winter.” Grindelwald took a big sip of the butterbeer, and his beard had a foam. He wiped it with his hands with a happy and comfortable expression.

Dumbledore was sitting on another chair, the butterbeer in his hand hadn’t been touched, and the other withered hand seemed to have been rejuvenated. He was holding a piece of metal engraved with runes and was playing with it.

Seeing that he didn’t speak, Grindelwald took another sip and said casually, “Albus, it’s time for you to take a break. You should relax a bit instead of thinking about how to save this rotten world.”

Dumbledore glanced at him, then silently took a sip of butterbeer. He then said, “Gellert.”

Before he finished speaking, Grindelwald waved his hand, “I know you too well, Albus. I know what you want to say when you open your mouth. Do you want to teach Sean to be kind, to learn how to love? That sort of thing.”

He looked straight at Dumbledore, “Albus, there are some things you don’t understand, and neither do I. Only Sean can learn the —of course, we should also learn from it.”

Dumbledore was silent for a while, then changed the subject, “Let’s talk about Sean.”

Grindelwald didn’t have any objection. He talked about Sean obediently, “Look at that kid’s performance. He is really famous and true to his heart, he is really like me. However, I was expelled from Durmstrang. Do you know how much my friends embraced me?”

“Friend? Gellert, the way you win people’s hearts is not sincerity, but eloquence and strength.”

“At least they think I’m their friend. Of course, the meaning of the word friend between you and me is different.” Grindelwald said with a smile.

“If that’s what you’re going to teach Sean, then I think he’d better not go to Nurmengard.” Dumbledore sighed.

“No, no, no,” Grindelwald shook his finger, “Just like I promised you. I will not interfere with Sean’s life. I will not teach him how to ‘make friends’. I’ll just teach him how to rationally use those forces that are available and worthy of his time.”

Dumbledore took a deep breath, an expression of uncertainty flashed across his face, and finally, he nodded in agreement.

“That’s right, Albus,” Grindelwald smiled smugly, “Sean will get enough of it, and his friends will get the same benefit.”

“If it weren’t for my friends, your hand would be completely useless in half a year.”

Dumbledore seemed to want to be mad at him, but he had already received good things from him, which made him unable to say anything.

In the end, he just sighed, “Gellert, your methods should be softer.”

Grindelwald crossed his legs, drank the butterbeer, and said leisurely, “I wanted to find someone, but they didn’t kidnap Sean. But there are still several ancient families in the world to be checked.”

Seeing Dumbledore’s eyes, he spread his hands and explained, “Please, my old friend, it took me a whole night to visit those families. Do you know how precious sleep is to a hundred-year-old man? Is it so coincident that you also need something from their family to maintain your life?”

“Gellert, you are more unruly than you were in your youth,” said Dumbledore with a sigh.

“Don’t say that, my friend. They are precious wizards. I didn’t kill anyone, and I even expressed my apology before I left.” Grindelwald showed his smug.

Dumbledore rubbed his temples. His left hand was cursed in an accident. The potion brought by Grindelwald could only prevent the situation from getting worse, and he didn’t know how long it would take to recover.

In the case of Sean’s disappearance, Grindelwald went to the ancient Greek family to “inquire about the situation”. Obviously, he didn’t find the culprit, but he ‘coincidentally’ found something left by one of the families.

Grindelwald apologized kindly, then raised his wand to ‘borrow’ the thing and handed it to Dumbledore.

“After I recover from it, I will personally come to apologize to them.” Dumbledore finally said.

“Oh, that’s up to you.” Grindelwald looked up at the starry sky, “After more than ten years, I won’t have the strength to come to borrow things. You should think about it.”

“Of course. And Gellert, death is just another journey,” said Dumbledore seriously.

Grindelwald smiled, “I agree. However, we still have tasks to complete before embarking on another journey. Sean will be the next me.”

“No,” Dumbledore corrected, “Sean won’t be you, and he won’t be me. He is himself.”

“Of course, of course. I mean, if I’m too old to do anything, Sean has enough ability to do what I would do,” Grindelwald smiled happily, “and has the ability to come to them again to borrow things.”

“You are really hopeless.”

“Thanks for the compliment, Albus,”

—-

Christmas is over. Sean came to Hogwarts one day early after returning to London to reunite with his family.

The students have to make preparations and will go directly to Nurmengard early the next morning.

After Sean’s somewhat effective performance, everyone at Hogwarts was full of energy. After returning to the castle, many students did not enjoy the aftertaste of the holiday with their friends. They were either drowned in books, training, or practice duels in classrooms specially provided by the professors.

This is probably a good thing. They are easily moved and sometimes reckless, but at the same time, they have the spirit to do so. However, Sean still paid the price for what he said that day. Now, a lot of students are lining up to practice against him.

With a tense and fulfilling state of mind, the students assembled early on the field early the next morning.

“Is there any transportation at Hogwarts? It’s not even mentioned in the book.” Hermione covered her face with a scarf.

Sean shook his head. He was also very curious. Beauxbatons had a Pegasus carriage, Durmstrang had a sunken ship, and Hogwarts should have some magical transportation for group travel.

Although there is a simple and rude way of moving like a Portkey, you still need to pay attention to the facilities between schools. A group of students appearing in Austria with a broken shoe or a hat wouldn’t make up a bad image of Hogwarts itself.

Sean glanced in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. There were a lot of Thestrals living there. He heard that many students used Thestrals to go to school before there was no Hogwarts Express.

Although Thestrals are very cool, the weather doesn’t seem suitable for them. Moreover, most people can’t see Thestrals. At that time, the Nurmengards would see them coming with literally nothing, and it would leave a weird first impression.

Professor McGonagall took out her wand after making sure that everyone was there. She asked everyone to stand on the side of the field and then waved her wand facing the castle’s direction.

A loud voice sounded, and under the shocked eyes of the students, the tower near the Forbidden Forest in Hogwarts shook.

The tower was peeled off from the main part of the castle, and the Spiers and the bricks on the wall were opened. The ground at the bottom was raised high, the soil jumped in four directions, and the foundation under the tower climbed out of the ground.

After climbing out, the main body of the building kept changing and moving, and finally, a huge stone statue appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

“Merlin’s beard…” The students were all dumbfounded.

The surface of the stone statue is composed of huge stone bricks from the tower. After it rumbled, the gaps between those stone bricks disappeared, and the surface of the stone statue was completely integrated.

It holds a shield and a stone spear. The shield is covered with the Hogwarts emblem. The black tip of the spear seems to be some kind of magical stone. The stone statue walked around the castle and finally came to the field.

Looking at the behemoth in front of him, Sean even opened his mouth slightly.

The stone statue knelt on the ground. It rested the weapon on its shoulder, and the tip of the weapon touched the ground. An entrance appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

“Everyone, do enter one by one.” Professor McGonagall commanded.

After walking in, Sean and the others came to a huge common room. Which seemed to be in the head of the stone statue, and the huge arched windows on the far side happened to be the eyes of the stone statue.

“Hogwarts still has a lot of things hidden.” Sean sighed while looking at the scene in the room.

There should also be an Extension Charm cast here. The whole space is huge, and several entrances lead to the dormitories in the far corners.

The students were whispering excitedly. Professor McGonagall finally came inside. She waved her wand. The stone statue slowly raised its steps and walked into the black lake step by step.

Beside him, Percy seemed to have guessed Sean’s thoughts and said, “I heard that stone statues could spread their wings and fly in the past. But later, Muggles easily spotted them because of their large size. So they had to take it down, and the principal at the time invited a certain alchemist to transform the stone statue for an underwater method of transportation.”

“So that’s how it is,” Sean nodded and asked, “But there is no sea in Austria, right? Since Nurmengard relies on a lake?”

“I don’t know about that. But the vehicles in each school have magic, such as invisibility, and I heard that the vehicles can be connected to a Portkey and change shape for disguise. “

“That’s amazing. Percy, why do you look so serious?” Sean saw Percy’s tightly clenched fists.

Percy took a deep breath and said seriously, “We bear the glory of Hogwarts on our shoulders, and we must not lose against Nurmengard.”

“Besides,” he patted his bag, “Professor McGonagall gave me something for me to use when I entered the Nurmengard Great Hall. I was a little nervous.”

“What is it?” Hermione asked curiously.

“It’s a certain item, and the prefects of the other three houses also got it.”

The stone statue sank directly to the bottom of the water, and the students all went to the window to watch the scene outside. However, as soon as the stone statue entered the water, the speed was extremely fast, and the waves surged outside the window. The aquatic plants and animals were quickly pushed back.

The students quickly lost interest. They paired up and discussed excitedly and nervously.

—-

After a day’s travel, they stopped.

The stone statue began to float up, emerged from the water, and stepped on the ground. Sean leaned over to the window and found that the vicinity of the stone statue was a desolate mountainous area.

Immediately afterward, the stone statue trembled, and Sean immediately felt the magic power fluctuating around him. It was the invisibility magic.

Just as Sean’s thought came to him, the huge stone statue squatted down slightly, and the stone statue started to run.

“Isn’t this too much?” Sean stared dumbfounded at the smoke and dust outside the window. Fortunately, there was magic in the common room. Otherwise, they would be shaken to death by the vibrations inside.

—-

Among the mountains, a huge castle stands at the foot of the mountain. At this moment, all the students are standing on the field outside the castle. They all stood there with their hands crossed behind their backs and their heads held high.

At the forefront, an old man with silver hair and a short beard is waiting for the arrival of the guests with a slight smile.

A huge vibration came from afar, and the birds in the mountains flew up, covering the sky in darkness. The Nurmengard students contracted slightly and could feel the ground at the bottom of their feet trembling.

Then, their eyes widened.

It was a gigantic and fearsome stone statue. It held a shield in one hand and a spear in the other. Its huge body ran towards them.

“Heh.” Grindelwald smiled even more.

His voice clearly reached everyone’s ears, “The guests have arrived. My children, show them the Nurmengard student’s welcome and pride.”