Chapter 684 The End and Beginning of an Era

The funeral was arranged at the Black Lake near the Forbidden Forest. Hundreds of chairs were arranged on the open ground, but as more and more people came, the professors temporarily added a lot of chairs nearby. All the chairs were facing a white stone table. It was drizzling. The

chairs were almost full, and more people were still arriving. They stood solemnly in the back row.

Grindelwald did not show up until the funeral began. Felix suppressed his doubts and sat quietly in his seat waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Everyone heard music that sounded like the sound of nature.

Near the surface of the clear green lake, a mermaid choir sang softly. Their pale faces were very excited, and they expressed their sorrow in the mermaid language. Felix raised his head, and the drizzle as fine as silk had not completely stopped. A phoenix was hovering in the clear sky, and a sad and moving elegy came from its mouth. Hagrid appeared in the duet of the mermaid and the phoenix's mournful music. He held Dumbledore's body and walked through the gap between the seats to the front row. Big tears flowed down his beard and dripped onto the purple velvet decorated with gold stars used to wrap the body.

Hagrid placed the purple velvet on the white stone table very gently. He was stunned for a few seconds, his hands still holding something. Then he returned to the aisle and walked to the side of little Grawp (leaving a large space around him). That was his half-brother, the giant, who was wearing a huge jacket and tent-like trousers. His expression was gentle, and he patted Hagrid's head heavily as if to comfort him.

The music stopped, the mermaid dived into the water, and the blurred face disappeared completely. Only the phoenix was still gliding in the sky. A small man with thick hair and wearing black wizard robes stood up, walked to the stone table, turned around and faced everyone solemnly. He cleared his throat.

At this moment, the accident happened.

A silver lynx landed lightly in front of Felix and his group, raised its head gracefully, and spoke Kingsley's voice from its mouth: "Grindelwald is here! With some people, you'd better - Oh, God! There are too many people!" His last voice had become very panicked, and there was no trace of his usual calmness.

The wizards in the front rows looked at each other.

Babajide Abaginder, the president of the International Confederation of Wizards, frowned and said: "He brought those saints here? Is he showing off his military power or guarding against us cheating?" No one responded to him. The silver light in Felix's eyes flashed, and his eyes suddenly widened.

He stood up suddenly, and before everyone could react, he turned to Professor McGonagall and the three deans and said: "I'll go first. There shouldn't be a fight, but -" "Of course there won't be a fight! He vowed not to take the initiative to provoke a wizard war!" Abaginder raised one arm and said, there were some strange lines on the skin there. Felix didn't look at him and continued calmly, "But I suggest that students - at least junior students - be prepared to evacuate at any time through the Chamber of Secrets."

Professor McGonagall shook her body and turned pale. She grabbed her collar to confirm, "Are there many people here?"

Felix said briefly, "More than you can imagine." After that, he disappeared from everyone's sight like a drop of water melting into the air. The people who came to the funeral immediately talked a lot. Abaginde opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Professor McGonagall passed the crowd, raised her arm to signal everyone to be quiet, and said loudly:

"...Hogwarts will protect the safety of all guests. In the event of danger, we will stand in front and buy you time. The evacuation work is the responsibility of Mr. Filch and Mrs. Pomfrey. The prefects and professors maintain order and wait for the signal. Evacuation location - Potter? Harry Potter?" she shouted.

Harry stumbled over, with a deep surprise on his face.

"You know the place—" Professor McGonagall whispered, "In the Chamber of Secrets, there is a fireplace inside the statue of that man that can be evacuated. It can be opened with Parseltongue." After saying that, she hurriedly ran towards the main entrance of the school. But she stopped in astonishment after taking a few steps.

The sky at the school gate suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, and the wizards who looked over felt a stinging pain in their eyes. Every cell in Harry's body was alerting him, and then the sky dimmed. No, Harry squinted his eyes, holding back his tears. An illusory Hogwarts Castle appeared in the sky, completely covering the white light. The

black castle seemed to be illuminated by the white light. Those lights were like tiny knives, leaving countless deep scratches on the walls in the blink of an eye. The wall cracked like a water bag, as if it would not be able to hold up in the next second. Felix turned over a page of the Book of Runes, and tiny runes flashed on the surface of the wall—the cracks disappeared.

Grindelwald waved his wand, and all the light disappeared.

Felix raised his head, and the lines of the castle were looming.

"Dumbledore's moves," Grindelwald sighed, "I was impressed at the time, but after so many years, I can imitate them pretty well." The two were about two hundred feet apart. In the open space behind Grindelwald stood a dark, silent crowd of people, about several thousand people, which was completely inconsistent with the information Felix had obtained.

A thought came to his mind: most of these people were brought in by Grindelwald to make up the numbers.

Kingsley said a little embarrassedly beside him, "There are people in other parts of the school. They have surrounded the school, but these people have no intention of taking action." Felix looked past Grindelwald into the distance, and some people pointed at them.

In the distance, wizards kept coming, and the "crackling" sound of Apparition continued. The latecomers crowded together and looked up hard, as if they were attending a rally or watching a game. The only thing Felix didn't smell was the smell before the war.

Grindelwald waved at him.

"We haven't fought properly yet. There's still some time before Abaginde arrives. We might as well take this opportunity--"

Felix suddenly looked at the crowd. He used Legilimency and shot a spell. A tall and burly figure in armor jumped out of the Book of Runes, and the spell was instantly deflected. Felix retracted his gaze, and his doubts became more in his heart. These people seemed to come with a mission and were ready to stir up trouble.

But unless Abaginde and those ministers of magic were blind and made Grindelwald make a false oath. Otherwise, this would not happen.

"Then meet your request." Felix said calmly, and the Book of Runes began to turn pages, and black lightning shot towards Grindelwald. Grindelwald opened his eyes wide, his wand made a sharp whistle, and black lightning splashed in front of him.

At this time, it was possible to see who was the elite and who was the mob behind him. Some people stood up and joined forces to support the protection magic, but more wizards retreated one after another and became a mess. Felix's eyebrows relaxed, but then they frowned again.

"Stand back." Grindelwald seemed to suppress his anger and shouted.

He raised his wand, and a silver firebird with a body covered in blue flames emerged from the tip of the wand. The two eyes of the firebird were replaced by crystal flames.

"Patronus?" Felix thought to himself. He was not completely sure when he saw it in the newspaper, but now that he saw it with his own eyes, he finally made an accurate judgment.

The castle in the air, which was conjured up by ancient magic and memory magic, turned from a line into a solid entity, trapping the strange patronus inside. Grindelwald waved his wand, and the firebird suddenly expanded to hundreds of times and rushed around. At the same time, blue and white flowers fell from the sky, sticking to the walls of the castle summoned by Felix. In the blink of an eye, the battlefield between the two turned into a sea of ​​fire.

Professor McGonagall, Sprout, Snape, Bones, and Abaginde arrived first, followed by more than a dozen ministers of magic from other countries and accompanying Aurors, all of whom opened their mouths in surprise.

Abaginde's eyes showed an incredible light. Unlike the shock and awe of others, his eyes were more confused and puzzled. He rolled up his sleeves and stared at the pattern on his wrist in a daze. The unbreakable oath did not work, so neither of them was serious? Or is it that a one-on-one fight does not count as provoking a wizard war?

Professor McGonagall and Ms. Bones looked worried. Felix seemed to be at a disadvantage. The whole castle was covered by magical flames. A dozen firebirds poked their heads out of the tower. They were bigger than dragons and were hovering high up, spewing flames everywhere.

At this time, Felix threw the Book of Magic Runes high up, and the Book of Magic Runes turned into a ray of light and merged into the castle.

The castle instantly expanded more than ten times, almost the same size as the real school castle, and magic symbols flashed on every brick.

It seemed as if shouts came from a distant place.

Some figures stepped in neat steps and appeared from the air. They were students and professors of Hogwarts. They held wands in their hands and chanted spells in unison. In an instant, hundreds of golden-red spells penetrated the air. Grindelwald's flames were forced to split apart, and then a group of exaggerated magic creatures appeared. They were fearless and rushed straight into the sea of ​​fire. After a few seconds, a firebird was crushed and turned into fragments of flames, which were extinguished by the spells of the students below.

If this was a battle with the castle projection as the battlefield, Felix had already begun to regain lost ground.

Grindelwald waved his wand with a solemn expression. The two seemed to have reached a tacit understanding. They did not use new magic, but competed with each other in their understanding of magic. New firebirds continued to split out, and the flame petals in the sky fell like raindrops, but everything became useless. The students in the castle - they were just images made up by Felix to save trouble, and they were essentially no different from the magic creatures running rampant on the ground - they would not die, and their strength was stronger than that of real students.

"Is it him?" asked an old wizard with wrinkles in the crowd behind Grindelwald.

"Yes, are you satisfied?" asked Vita Rosier. The old wizard coughed twice.

The last stray flame went out, and only the firebird patronus from the beginning remained in the castle. Felix weighed in his mind that if Grindelwald only had the strength he showed now, he could still deal with it...

Grindelwald had already put down his wand.

"Stop--" Abakind shouted at the right time. He stood up, raised his arms and said with gritted teeth: "Grindelwald, do you want to break your oath? Do you want to start a war?"

"It's just killing time," Grindelwald sneered. He followed Abakind's gaze and looked behind him. "Oh, I asked them to watch the fun. I was worried that the funeral was not grand enough-in that case, my old friend Dumbledore would be disappointed."

Abakind's expression was stiff. He couldn't help but lower his voice and shouted: "Grindelwald, you violated the rules. If you still want to negotiate, let them leave."

Grindelwald glanced at him. Felix originally thought that he would refuse, after all, he made such a big fuss, but Grindelwald actually compromised.

"You heard it too. You can leave now. Do whatever you want to do." Grindelwald pointed his wand at himself and whispered. His voice was clearly heard by everyone present. Then, they Apparated one by one.

Grindelwald put away his wand and spread his palms and asked. "I'm the only one now. Are you relieved?"

Abaginde and the professors were obviously relieved. They were surrounded by thousands of wizards before. The black mass of heads was connected into a piece. Anyone would be scared. What's more, there were thousands of students and people who came from far away to attend the funeral in the school.

It seemed that Grindelwald was just to demonstrate to them - the International Confederation of Wizards and the Ministry of Magic of various countries - and it must be said that his goal was achieved. It was only a few days ago, and Grindelwald quietly gathered so many people. Even if most of them were - according to Grindelwald himself, they were here to watch the fun, but this appeal was enough to make them ring the alarm bell in their hearts and dare not make any small moves.

Grindelwald walked over and stretched out his hand to Felix. Felix hesitated, then grabbed the hand that was offered to him.

The two of them felt the charms in each other's arms. And something else.

"I know what you are going to do! You will become the public enemy of all wizards." Felix whispered, his eyes fixed on Grindelwald, whose body was already riddled with holes. No wonder he was so anxious!

Grindelwald was startled. Then he bowed slightly.

"I am deeply honored." He said, "Oh, by the way--" His hands suddenly became hot, "I am sorry to ruin your and Dumbledore's plan. But Dumbledore overestimated himself. How can a good person be more deterrent than a completely bad person?"

After he finished speaking, he walked towards Abakinde.

"Grindelwald!" Felix called him, "Will innocent people die today?"

Grindelwald stopped.

"Innocent people? I think... not." He said without looking back.

Felix stayed where he was, and Professor McGonagall called him, and he raised his feet to follow. He opened the hand he had just shaken and stared at the palm of his hand, where a petal of a blue flame solidified quietly lay. Felix crushed the petal silently, and a spell appeared in his mind.

It was the magic of summoning saints.

Felix let out a long breath.

The alarm was lifted, and there was one more person attending the funeral. Except for the Hogwarts students who had been with Grindelwald for a year and felt uncomfortable, no one else showed much strange expression. Neville wanted to stand up and question the trick of the mirror, but was held back by Seamus and Dean beside him.

"Don't be impulsive, Neville." Harry whispered, although his mood was also very complicated.

Abaginde said a few words briefly, saying that Grindelwald was invited by him, and when the funeral was over, they would have further negotiations, and peace would be just around the corner. Grindelwald standing next to him did not comment.

The funeral continued. When Abaginde returned to his seat in the first row, Grindelwald did not follow him. Instead, he walked up to the small man with thick hair and black wizard robes and asked politely, "Excuse me, is it time to narrate the life of the deceased?"

"Yes, yes." The small man stammered.

Grindelwald grinned.

"Then leave it to me. I believe that there is no one in the world who knows Dumbledore's strengths and weaknesses better than me."

The little man's expression froze, and he looked at the wizards in the front row for help. There were a row of big shots sitting there. But no one said anything. The little man awkwardly gave up his seat. Grindelwald glanced at the body on the white stone table. Dumbledore seemed to be sleeping quietly.

He turned around and said slowly:

"Dumbledore and I met much earlier than you think. At that time, Dumbledore had just graduated, and I was expelled from school for studying the dark arts. Fate made two depressed young people meet in Godric's Hollow. We hit it off at first sight, and soon our relationship became closer than blood brothers, because brothers are only related by blood - think about how many family relationships are broken in reality - and we are in perfect harmony in terms of ideas..."

He just said the beginning and caused quite a commotion. But Harry knew that all this was true.

"Dumbledore has many advantages, but apart from those boring academic studies, his most commendable contribution is to firmly protect the rights of Muggles and wizards from Muggle families. It is sad that he himself was once a victim of Muggles. Oh, poor Albus, his family was torn apart by a few Muggles. Of course, our law enforcement agencies and the Statute of Secrecy also helped."

Professor McGonagall was fidgeting. She wanted to stand up, but was held down by Felix.

"Let him talk." Felix said calmly, his expression was like looking at a dead person.

"...The victim has the right to take revenge on the perpetrator - in any way he can think of, but Dumbledore gave up. This experience must have not damaged Dumbledore's greatness in the eyes of some people, but instead endowed his personal image with a heroic tragic color, cheering his kindness and compassion. But I saw his weakness and cowardice."

The crowd was talking.

"We used to talk about everything, so I know the little secret buried deep in Dumbledore's heart. He hopes that wizards and Muggles can coexist in harmony and be as close as a family. What a noble ideal! Unfortunately, he only wants to get the result, but is afraid of the price he must pay to achieve the result..." "

...Because he was timid, he ended up standing against me. He betrayed his ideals, our ideals! All his life, he didn't dare to take a step forward, and even when he died, he could only hold cautious hope." The expressions on everyone's faces became angry. Grindelwald looked around without a trace of fear: "This is Dumbledore. Perhaps you and I have different opinions about him, but there is one thing we agree on. Dumbledore represents an era. With his departure, an era has ended."

"And a new era is about to come."

After Grindelwald finished speaking, he turned his head and stared at the stone table without even looking at anyone else. The dazzling white flame climbed up the equally flawless stone table. The flame rose higher and higher. A mournful phoenix cry came from the sky. The flame suddenly disappeared, and a white stone tomb appeared in its place. Dumbledore's body and the table were wrapped in the stone tomb.

The funeral was over.

After a while, the noise in the venue gradually became louder. Grindelwald was silent for a moment and stared at Felix. Felix met his gaze and looked at him. He nodded slightly and turned to walk towards the Forbidden Forest. He did not respond to Abaginder's call behind him.

Abaginder and several magic ministers stood up and looked at Grindelwald's back blankly. "He actually Apparated directly! Doesn't he want to negotiate?"

Felix looked up at the sky. He didn't know when the phoenix disappeared, and it might never appear again. Another familiar person left forever, and he would next - in someone's words, welcome the arrival of a new era.

"Professor Happ?" A soft and cautious voice said.

"Oh, Miss Granger," Felix glanced to the side, "and Potter, Weasley, Longbottom. Please take a seat. When does the train leave for school?"

"In an hour." Hermione said, she glanced at Felix, as if she was thinking something in her heart: "The President of the International Confederation of Wizards seems to have reached some kind of consensus with Grindelwald..."

"You mean - the two of them made an 'unbreakable vow' in the presence of more than a dozen Ministers of Magic?"

Harry and the others were shocked. They had no idea about this news. Hermione thought for a while and said, "Oh - I guess this is really frustrating. From his performance today, we can see that he is not a person who obeys obediently... Although we are all aware of the risks, we can't do anything because any objection means standing on the opposite side of those people -"

"What do you want to say, Granger?"

"Oh," Hermione whispered, "I want to say, well, anyone who encounters this situation will feel powerless..."

Felix smiled, he seemed to cheer up, but he didn't seem to.

"It's not Grindelwald that makes me feel powerless, but the earth-shaking changes that are about to happen in the world. I am both eager and afraid of its arrival. There is no experience to refer to."

"Professor," Harry said, "no matter what changes happen, we will definitely stand with you." Ron and Neville nodded in agreement.

Felix straightened up and looked at them one by one with a scrutinizing gaze, "Okay, I'll take it seriously. From now on, accompany me to watch the sky and wait for news from the outside world. I hope I won't scare you - if I'm not wrong." He muttered.

Harry and the others looked at each other.

Time passed little by little. In fact, less than five minutes later, Alimia Bones came over with a drastic change of expression. She stumbled and seemed to fall at any time. There was even more panic in her eyes.

Harry had never seen her like this.

"Ms. Bones?" Abaginde asked. He was discussing the situation with his secretary and senior officials of the Ministry of Magic of other countries. Grindelwald's sudden departure caught them off guard.

Ms. Bones' face flushed and she stammered, "Mr. Abaginde, and everyone, G, Grindelwald - he, he -"

"Have you found any trace of him?"

"Not yet," she looked shaky, and many wizards who were still present turned their eyes to her, "but we have confirmed the location of those people Grindelwald brought."

"Where did they go? We can't let them gather in large numbers. The news brought by Blelio said that Grindelwald gathered nearly five thousand people at the time. Even if it was a demonstration, it would be too much."

"All over the world." Ms. Bones said weakly.

"What?"

"All over the world!" She shouted at the top of her voice: "Those people, led by six or seven hundred core saints, openly exposed their identities as wizards! It is roughly estimated that they have appeared in more than two thousand Muggle cities. They cast magic without scruples and flew over the cities - Mr. Abaginde, the wizarding world is completely exposed and there is no way back!"