Chapter 666

Snape caught the Elder Wand in one hand, his eyes still filled with incredulity, he could feel the magic inside him coming alive, his magic power increasing, and the Elder Wand seemed to be silently urging him to fire off some spell.

After restraining the urge to do so, he slowly walked over with the Elder Wand and placed it on the desk. The wand rolled around the desk a few times, hitting the silverware stand on one side and twitching for a moment before gradually quieting down.

“That’s all?” Snape licked his lips, his voice sounding a little hoarse.

“That’s all.” Dumbledore said with a nod, “The Elder Wand is the most emotionless, calm, and cruel wand that only thinks about power all the time. It will follow in the wake of power. Now not only I am allowed my wand to be taken away by your spell, I am no match for you in terms of magic power, so you have deservedly earned the wand.”

“But I can’t keep it.” Snape said coldly, his eyes still fixed on the Elder Wand.

“O Severus,” Dumbledore let out a long sigh, “I would have preferred never to have possessed it; countless men throughout history have been obsessed with the power of the Elder Wand, but how many of them have achieved true happiness? Not even one!”

Snape flinched for a moment, and his gaze averted.

“Fawkes will send you back.” Dumbledore finally stated in a quiet voice.

The phoenix standing on its perch spread its wings and flew straight towards Snape, its golden claws gently clawing on his shoulder. Snape turned his head and there was a brief silence.

“Who do you want this wand to end up being passed to and who do you want it to be used against?”

“That’s up to you.” Dumbledore said calmly, “I hope the day when it will be used never comes, and preferably become a permanent mystery, which means no major disruptions are made in the wizarding community.”

Snape stared, not saying anything for a few moments, and the Fawkes on his shoulder made a bored ‘click-clack-clack’ sound with his beak.

“-and it also means you’ve given that Snape boy something to do to ease him from having that dead lifeless look on his face all day.” As the one man and the bird disappeared from the office out of the flame, the portrait of Headmaster Black on the wall said with a sly look on its face, “When are you going to hang yourself on the wall, Dumbledore? I would like to drop by your place – ouch!”

An extremely thick wand appeared in his frame and started poking him over and over.

“How – dare – you – say – something – so! Irresponsible! Irresponsible! Words!” said one of the witches aggressively.

A loud thudding sound and a cry of pain resounded throughout the office, Dumbledore smiled and fondled the Resurrection Stone ring on his finger, then he took out his quill and parchment and began to write a letter, it was short, and when he finished it he waited for the ink to dry.

There was a soft glow of a fire and Fawkes returned.

“Give this letter to Babajide.” Dumbledore addressed Fawkes in a pleasant tone.

…

The next morning.

“I still find it hard to believe.” Harry whispered from the dining table, his eyes darting to the faculty table where some of the professors are enjoying their breakfast, including Professor Bagshot.

Would such a man have tried to start a wizard muggle war half a century ago? Harry tried hard to see the signs of his youth in Professor Bagshot’s wrinkled face, his eyes fell on the grey hair, had they ever been a dazzling blonde before?

“Dumbledore knows about this Harry, he recruited Professor Bagshot into the school personally, so whether he’s that man or not, it’s not as important as the exams that are about to follow.” Hermione advised righteously, “We’ve already wasted an entire evening discussing it yesterday without doing anything productive, which is simply a crime.”

Ron, who had been excited and ready to join in the discussion, listened and immediately propped his chin up on one arm, turning the omelette over and over on his plate with the other. But Hermione didn’t plan to let them off the hook as she said with a high spirit, “We must review properly during the weekend. We’re already two weeks behind normal schedule because of Animagus!”

“Speaking of which, I have to fill out my forms in Professor McGonagall’s office tonight.” Harry said dejectedly.

“Oh, well, that will take about two hours,” Hermione said in an experienced tone, “Professor McGonagall will be giving you a series of guidelines on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, such as occasions and places where the use of Animagus is forbidden, there are a total of 47 … ”

“Stop it, Hermione, I’m going to have nightmares.” Ron muttered. He suddenly looked across the long dining table, “Hey, I don’t know when they got that close.”

Harry looked up to see Neville and Hannah had their heads close to each other, eating and talking.

“Hannah lent Neville her Transfiguration class notes and probably helped him catch up on his lessons or something in the meantime.” Hermione said nonchalantly. Neville wasn’t good enough to qualify for an advanced class in Transfiguration this term, but he has plans to take a make-up test for that this year.

“Neville can borrow the notes from us.” Ron said immediately.

“Oh, Ron, you idiot.”

Harry regretted that the conversation had been forced to stop, perhaps he could have given Ron a tip on how not to be so direct in his words. They finished their meal and headed off to their last Ancient Rune class for the week. Before leaving the great hall, Harry took another furtive glance at the faculty table.

Hermione followed his gaze and said in a sad tone.

“Ugh, how sad Neville would be if Professor Bagshot really turned out to be … that guy.”

“Well yeah, growing close to two dark wizard professors in a row would also make me uncomfortable too,” Ron said whatever had come to his mind, ” When you look at it this way, Professor Slughorn has no flaws other than a bit of a power-hungry eye.”

“What an amazing discovery.” Hermione said.

At the table, another war of words had just ended and Felix had just shared his teaching tricks with a few professors.

“Thank you so much, Felix.” Professor McGonagall had held back her tongue a few times, but she couldn’t hold back any longer as she protested, “I don’t think it’s really responsible to ask senior students to grade the questions of the lower grades.”

“But we have to admit, Minerva,” said Slughorn, who seemed to be persuaded, “the lower grades’ lessons are simple, and the content is nothing new, from an efficiency point of view … ”

Professor McGonagall immediately glared at him intently and Slughorn wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Minerva,” Felix said nonchalantly, “a large portion of the sixth and seventh years are now adults, and we can’t simply treat them as students, they need to experience certain things, take some responsibility- ”

“At the cost of giving up some of the responsibilities you have as a professor? That really amazes me.” Professor McGonagall said with vehemence.

Felix shrugged and turned his head to see Grindelwald, who had a mocking look on his face, so he immediately turned his aim at his head, “Professor Bagshot finished working on his final exam question paper, I presume? After all, he only has one grade questions to prepare.”

It is a well-known fact that Grindelwald only teaches two grades, six and seven-year, in which the seventh year N.E.W.Ts exams will be handled by the Ministry of Magic, so he only has to prepare for the sixth grade final exam.

“I’m going to hand it in with the probation report.” Grindelwald said, “What’s a word for that? Fine-tuning … right? Professor Burbage?”

Charity Burbage looked up and pointed at herself in puzzlement.

“I’ve written a few papers on muggle research, and I’m going to get someone to correct the formats and I can’t think of a better person to ask for than you.” Grindelwald said, bowing slightly.

“Oh, yes, I would love to help.” Professor Burbage said enthusiastically.

“Can I have a look?” Dumbledore suddenly interjected.

“No problem,” Grindelwald said lightly, “I have to admit that some of my views have been biased in the past and there is room for correction … Muggles have their own merits. Like the recent gun ban bill they came up with – can you pass me the raspberry jam?” Dumbledore froze for a moment and immediately passed him the jam saucer, “Thank you -” he continued, “I’ve been following that news closely: the new legislation is officially in effect and the Muggle government has already seized more than 10,000 guns …”

“I remember the newspapers reporting that it was a magic wand of the Muggles?” Professor Flitwick asked, very intrigued.

“Something like that, but that thing only has one purpose, that’s to kill.” Grindelwald said softly, “Back in the days when I was still active, that thing was widespread everywhere, and the muggles never ceased to desperately research all sorts of more efficient ways to kill and destroy, they were incredibly talented at it.”

“Oh, oh.” Professor Flitwick was a little lost in thought, “I can’t imagine why anyone would specifically try to research that.”

“The misuse of magic can be just as violent and destructive as that.” Dumbledore said admonishingly.

“But there is more to magic than just violence and destruction,” Grindelwald said calmly, “we use it to grow crops-” he looked over at Burbage who smiled slightly “to get rid of complex labour -” he nodded again towards Flitwick, who politely put down his fork; “and to pursue the truth – ” his gaze flicked over to Felix, who looked back curiously; “and, of course, there is love.”

His eyes flicked around and finally settled on Dumbledore.

“Love is a great form of magic. That’s your argument, isn’t it, Headmaster Dumbledore?”

“Exactly.” A look of surprise appeared on Dumbledore’s face.

“How magical,” Grindelwald said with emotion, “I’ve often fantasized lately about what a wizard and muggle exchange would be like.”

Felix put down his knife and fork and looked intently at Grindelwald, wondering what he was trying to convey? It turned out that Grindelwald’s words came as quite a surprise to Felix.

“… getting to know each other well, learning from each other, wizards don’t have to worry about using their magic freely, and muggles can also benefit from wizards who can use magic to create miracles like creating rain, growing crops and healing… but I think that kind of communication will not happen overnight, it will not start off with a good intention, there are bound to be twists and turns, and we must be more proactive about our future … In such a journey, the old ways will not work – that Voldemort approach was very out of favour – the only way to do that is to unite all viable forces and ensure there is no internal chaos.”

Several of the professors were impressed by this observation.

They had more or less heard of Professor Bagshot’s expressed hostility towards Muggles, but from what he had said today, it seemed that Professor Bagshot had refined his thinking. Professor McGonagall even offered him a small plate of pastries.

“You can try this, Professor Bagshot.” She said politely.

“Thank you.” Grindelwald said courteously, “These are thoughts that have come to me in the course of teaching, and those somewhat naive ideas of others have contributed equally in my transformation …”

After a few minutes, all the professors left for their respective classes.

Felix tried to patch up the unfinished meaning of Grindelwald’s speech – a point that was necessary as Grindelwald’s words were addressed to him and Dumbledore, or more accurately, they were meticulously written for Dumbledore.

He had mentioned his once bigoted views … of course, otherwise, he wouldn’t have gathered the Acolytes and rallied the Proper Wizarding World towards war; and then there were all those Muggle weapons, did that thing have any importance? Maybe it’s nothing more than an introduction to the rest of the conversation, a prelude to the real point.

The magical world will be exposed inevitably, and the only way forward is to unite all the forces that can be united.

And the Acolytes … are a key part of that.

As he pushed open the door to the Ancient Rune classroom, Felix had a rough outline in his mind.

As the school year approached its end, Grindelwald’s brief period of release would be coming to an end, and he would have to carry out a self-help campaign if he did not want to continue to serve his sentence back in the cold Nurmengard Castle. Even though Grindelwald had spent most of the year in a peaceful manner, he is very conscious of his situation.

It had also been more than half a year, enough time for him to see how much Dumbledore had changed in half a century.

He also finally came up with his own leverage on this day in late April. He is willing to accept Dumbledore’s offer to be a major force in stabilizing the wizarding world.

The question is, what would Dumbledore do?

At the foot of the podium, the students whispered.

“Professor Hap has gone off to another world again?”

“Ahem, keep your voice down, beware of getting overheard.”

“Do you guys think that the Professor knows the truth?” Harry asked quietly. “Definitely knows.” Ron said with certainty, “Maybe he’s thinking about it right now, but unfortunately I don’t know how to look into his thoughts … What do you think, Hermione?”

“Maybe the professor is thinking about how to fly to the moon.” Hermione said with a soft hum.

“Haha, you’re getting a bit humorous.”

Felix cleared his throat and the students quieted down.

“I suddenly thought of a practical exam topic for this year’s finals, would you like to hear it?”

The students stared at him, slightly at a loss for words.

Hermione held her forehead.

“I don’t think Professor McGonagall will be happy if she hears about it.”

“Who cares!” Ron said happily, with a wide grin on his face, and there is a smile on Harry’s face too, as this meant he could get good grades in at least two of the practicals, one in Ancient Rune and the other in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Oh yes, and Transfiguration, he is now an Animagus too.

Hermione’s recent progress in Transfiguration made him envious. She is always at ease when learning techniques that require fine magic manipulation, and apart from having to cast spells with the help of her wand, her higher level human transfiguration is not far off from Tonks the Metamorphmagus.

At this point, the students finally responded and one of the girls suddenly exclaimed excitedly, “Professor, I love you to death!” The classroom erupted with laughter and the atmosphere immediately heated up, with several of the boys following suit.

“Very funny,” Felix said with a straight face, “when I go back I’ll go through the cards I received on February 14th and if I don’t find your names -” he nodded with his chin nudged in the direction of the daring students, “I’ll find a chance to give you a detention.”

“Let’s return to the main topic,” he said as he took a black wizard chess piece from his pocket, “I don’t mind withstanding the pressure from the Ministry of Magic’s Wizard Examination Authority to give more than half of the students an ‘Exceeds Expectations’ evaluation, and as for the criteria for ‘Outstanding’ it is quite straightforward:”

“With the date of the exam as a deadline, improve yourself to a certain level that would meet my satisfaction within that period.”

“The topics will naturally be more difficult, which is the price of knowing what the question will be in advance.”

But the students looked dead on at the Knight’s Piece in his hand, consciously ignoring Felix’s words, in their minds: it is simply too good to be true.

Felix spread his palm and the piece burst out with a blaze of flame, and a Rainbird with golden-red flames burning on its body appeared. The students watched in amazement as it hovered overhead, and after a moment, the Raindrop returned to the professor’s hand and reverted back to a wizard piece.

“That’s just cool.” Ron’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he couldn’t help but groan lowly, “I would offer a hundred gold galleons in exchange for a wizard chess piece like that. No, I’ll give two hundred!”

Harry and Hermione smiled, the professor had sort of poked Ron’s fancy with this demonstration.

Felix continued the lesson.

“You don’t need to do it to the extent I did, but the idea is the same. Use ancient runes to piece together a completely self-contained structure, which simultaneously must show one or two magical ability – let’s review the Fourteenth Law of Magic.”

Several students raised their hands.

“Miss Greengrass … That’s excellent, Slytherin plus five points.”

“Ancient magic is a combination of characters with magical powers that have a special order and a special magical function, known as the rune sequence; this means that there are still a large number of combinations of characters in the world that have no real meaning, they can’t really be called rune sequences and have nothing whatsoever to do with ancient magic.”

“Like the ones you saw in your practical classes …”

Immediately, dense, pin-thin runes appeared before Harry’s eyes.

“Think of building up the rune symbols like building blocks, it could be some sort of exotic creature, a golden trophy, or a beautiful house, or of course, it could be something like this little chess piece in my hand … I am asking you to cleverly incorporate the rune circuit in the process. ”

“For example, Luna Lovegood in fifth year has put together a rune goblet of fire that has a similar effect. It could emit a blue flame, nothing lethal, but interesting, isn’t it? You may consider that the threshold of ‘Outstanding’.”

Hermione raised her hand up.

Felix nodded towards her.

“Miss Granger?”

“Um – Professor? Is this chess piece you’re holding also integrated with the rune circuit?” Hermione asked, all too familiar with the golden flame on Rainbird, the first ancient magic she had mastered.

“More than just that,” Felix said with a smile, “the construction of this piece is actually quite complex, with both rune sequences and rune circuits, as well as meaningless individual rune symbols to fill the spaces, which together formed a fully structured object that ended up in the form you see here. ” His last sentence was addressed to the whole class.

Felix had actually omitted the role of memory magic, but it had little impact.

“… I’m not asking you all to incorporate ancient magic, that would be too difficult, but since Granger mentioned that, I’ll mention it in passing, and if anyone manages to pull it off there will be extra credits.”

—————

Thanks for all