What imprisoned him was never the prison, but something called "love".

He spent nearly fifty years alone in regret.

The cold winter in Nurmengard was nothing compared to the desolation in his heart.

But now, it's time to leave.

Grindelwald's ice-blue magic eyes were shining. He seemed to have seen the future, or he seemed to have only seen superficial things in front of him. But it could be seen that he was in a good mood, and a long-lost smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

Vida had been waiting for him for a long time.

The new headmistress of Durmstrang also met Grindelwald after a long separation. She stood firmly at the door of the dark prison, with two guards at her feet unconscious.

"You look in a good mood." Vida Rozier was wearing a black military trench coat and a lady's skirt, with a black hat and veil on her head, looking like a mourner attending a funeral.

Although her face had aged with the years, she stood there quietly at this moment, not looking like a withered rose at all, but rather like she had just bloomed.

"People can't live in pain every day." Grindelwald said softly, and his eyes stayed on the two guards who fell beside Vader. "You didn't kill them?"

Vida shook her head. Time had not made her merciful, but it had changed the dark wizard in front of her.

Today, they are no longer as radical as they were half a century ago.

"That's great," Grindelwald paused, "modify their memories - and then destroy this place. We no longer need a prison to hold rebels. Time is a torrent, and no one can stop it -"

"They'll know you're gone," Vader said hesitantly.

Her only concern was Albus Dumbledore.

Grindelwald's mind flashed with the bed sheet that he had torn into pieces, and he remembered the reply letter that never appeared. His eyes flickered for a moment, and he spoke slowly: "Just say that Gellert Grindelwald is dead."

Vida was surprised.

"Do you think he will believe it, or mourn for me?" Grindelwald asked sadly.

But he didn't seem to expect an answer. Then, under Vida's gaze, he walked out of the flat prison cell, holding on to the wall, and walked into the cool sunshine.

At this moment, Grindelwald's back suddenly became blurred. Under the sunlight, he appeared even darker, like an old silhouette.

But today, it will be a new life!

Vader quickly followed.

Slowly, another dark figure appeared beside her, then the third, and the fourth...

Eventually, dozens of elderly wizards joined in, and the river became a half-rotten river.

A huge black curtain rose high in the wind, like a triumphal flag, covering the sky.

"We need new water drops to increase our power." Grindelwald said softly, "Vida, have you completed what I asked you to do?"

"You should know that I never let you down."

"Then let us start again." Grindelwald looked towards the direction of England and muttered to himself.

"We'll see each other soon, Albus."

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts.

In the blink of an eye, another semester is coming to an end.

Harry experienced more this semester than in the previous two semesters combined. He was captured by Death Eaters twice, witnessed Voldemort's resurrection and death, and after that battle, the wizarding world seemed to have returned to peace.

Voldemort disappeared, and Mr. Sellers also disappeared quietly after attending a dinner at Hogwarts.

From March to June, three whole months, as peaceful as a summer afternoon, made Harry drowsy. He felt as if what happened a few months ago had passed a long time ago, so long that it seemed like several centuries had passed, so long that it seemed like he had experienced a bizarre dream.

But he knew it was not a dream.

Because there was a spiral mark left on his arm, like a wisp of swirling smoke, or a tall tower.

Whenever Harry saw the mark, he felt as if he had returned to the blue flame. That day, the Death Eaters split into two sides, and those who chose to stand by Mr. Sellers were left with the same mark.

The only difference was that most people were miserable, but Harry was totally unaware of it.

He discovered the mark when he was about to go to bed after the dinner.

"This means that you have become his believer." Ron analyzed that night with a solemn oath, "Just like the Dark Mark of the You-Know-Who, understand? Maybe one day, he will summon you like the You-Know-Who summoned the Death Eaters."

Ron even looked a little envious when he said this.

Think about it, an organization that fights against the terrifying Death Eaters and saves the world, just like the Order of the Phoenix more than a decade ago. It would be so cool to be a member of it! Of course, Ron only considered the glory brought by a great cause and ignored the sacrifices behind it. In contrast, Neville seemed very uneasy and unhappy after hearing this topic.

He would not have gotten involved in this topic, but he still mustered up the courage to ask Harry.

"Harry, did you see a few Lestranges among the Death Eaters that day?" His somewhat fat face was tense and as stiff as a stone.

Lestrange? Harry remembered it well, of course.

He nodded and talked about the whereabouts of the three Lestranges.

"The woman named Bella followed Mr. Sellers, and the other two stayed with Voldemort. Voldemort asked them to kill Bella, but they failed. Sirius was there!"

Neville stopped talking.

But Harry saw that there seemed to be a fire in his eyes.

"What's wrong with you Neville?" Harry asked concernedly.

He remembered that Neville had never mentioned his parents, and now he asked about Lestrange. Perhaps there was a connection between the two.

"I..." Neville's round face turned red and tears welled up in his eyes. The other little wizards in the dormitory looked at him with concern.

He didn't say it for a long time, but the others, especially Harry and Ron, suspected that Neville's parents were dead.

Harry had seen the cruelty of the Death Eaters.

Whether it was that madman Voldemort, Barty Crouch Jr., or Peter Pettigrew, they had no scruples about killing someone.

"It's okay, Neville, you don't have to say it."

Ron patted Neville on the back, and Harry didn't know what to say.

Of the three Lestranges, two followed Voldemort, but one, a woman named Bella, chose to go with Cyrus. Harry felt suffocated when he thought that she might be the murderer of Neville's parents.

And myself——

He looked down at the mark on his arm, wondering if this was a betrayal. Cyrus was fine, Harry knew he was different from Voldemort, but what about those who defected from the Death Eaters?

How many people had died at their hands? The next day, Harry told Ginny and Hermione about this knot.

"You don't have to worry about that, Harry," Hermione said. "What's important is that you understand who your real enemy is."

She looked at Harry with bright eyes. "I'm not saying that those Death Eaters are innocent, but in the final analysis, the source is the You-Know-Who. Now they have become a force against the You-Know-Who, which is also a way of atonement."

"I also want to get a mark on my arm!" Ginny said angrily, "I am Cyrus's first believer!"

"We can all be!" Ron had already decided that Cyrus was his friend when he received Cyrus' Christmas gift. What was important to him was not the gift itself, but that Cyrus still remembered that he had lost his pet. This small detail seemed insignificant, but sometimes it could win people's hearts.

"It's stupid to dwell on these things. The real question is, where are the You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters now!" Hermione was still rational. She opened the Daily Prophet, which still contained news from several months ago.

——Azkaban Breakout.

"Look, there are so many Death Eaters, but not even one of them has been caught. The Dementors that roam around all day have searched almost the entire UK, but have not found any trace of them."

"You think they left England?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded seriously.

But Ron had a different opinion.

"It could be hiding, a traceless extension spell." He looked very experienced, and indeed it was. The Burrow was spacious even with seven or eight children because of this spell. It just looked a bit shabby from the outside.

"I don't care where the You-Know-Who went, I just want to know where Mr. Cyrus went." Ginny said, and she looked like she was going to find Cyrus and leave a mark on her arm as well.

"Maybe he's left England too," said Ron. "It's been a rough patch lately, you know Fudge."

He looked like he was keeping someone in suspense, which attracted the attention of the other three people.

"That's Dad's boss. We met him in Hagrid's hut last year."

Of course Harry knew.

He ran away from Privet Drive last summer, and Fudge arranged a room for him at the Leaky Cauldron. He was also there when they overturned Sirius's case. So far, Harry had a good impression of Fudge.

"He released all the Dementors from Azkaban. I heard that the Aurors have been working very hard during this period, but they can't catch any Death Eaters. Some people say that he has started to capture some Dark wizards at random and put them into Azkaban as escaped prisoners." Ron shook his head jokingly.

"Is he crazy?" Hermione's eyebrows were tightly locked. Not only her, but Harry and Ginny also felt that this behavior was too much.

"He has to give an explanation." Ron shrugged. "I'm a little worried whether the Quidditch World Cup this summer can be held as planned."

The Quidditch World Cup, held every four years, is a grand event for the entire wizarding world, and this year it happens to be Britain's turn.

Ron had been looking forward to it for a long time, but if he went according to the current situation, it might not be possible. After all, there were so many Soul Eaters wandering around outside, and foreign wizards might not be willing to take the risk.

After their topic was diverted to Quidditch, the two ladies were not so interested. Ginny was not so concerned about Quidditch now. No matter how popular the sport was, it was just a sport after all. There were greater causes in the world! - "For the greater good..."

Dumbledore recited his previous oath with trembling lips, holding the corner of a letter in his pale and thin hand, and supporting the table with the other hand. He looked like a crumbling gray tower, about to reach the end of his life.

This is a letter from Nurmengard.

The letter said that Nurmengard collapsed and the tower became a tomb, burying the soul that made him love and hurt.

Behind Dumbledore's half-moon glasses, tears blurred his azure eyes. What was blurred was not only his gaze, but also the love that had been tormented over and over again for fifty years.

He suddenly felt terrible.

At this point, Grindelwald's face in my memory has become blurry, as if the encounter in Godric's Hollow nearly a century ago was just a sand painting, which was wiped away without a trace.

From now on, no one would write to him continuously just to get a response.

But soon, he buried this sadness deep in the deepest part of his heart.

The repressed emotions gathered into an abyss in his heart, so much so that Fitzgerald on the wall was worried. She even suspected that once the pain in Dumbledore's body was stripped away, he would immediately become another monster.

"You should stop suppressing your emotions, Albus," she warned.

The more powerful the wizard, the more likely he is to become an unstable factor.

The power of wizards comes from the magic of their own physical strength, but also from the strong emotions in their hearts.

"Don't worry, Fiony." But Dumbledore had regained his composure. He was a very rational man, and it was not in his character to be swayed by emotions.

In other words, Dumbledore has been deliberately suppressing himself since he made an irreparable mistake when he was young because of his impulsive obedience to love. The more powerful a person is, the more difficult it is to redeem the mistakes they make.

At least--

He believes in an afterlife.

"Compared to this, I would like to know Cyrus's recent situation."

He spoke softly, but bringing up Cyrus at this time always made people feel that he was trying to change the subject.

"There has been no news from him since that dinner. I asked Ollivander, and it seems that no strangers have bought wands from him recently."

At this moment, Cyrus, who was being talked about by Dumbledore, was standing under a lush and bent giant tree.

The moonlight shone quietly on Cyrus through the branches of the snake tree.

A large, curved snake crawled beside him, raised its head, wrapped around Cyrus' body, and quietly placed its small head next to Cyrus' cheek.

"Good evening, Nagini."

The snake hissed and stuck out its forked tongue as if in an intimate greeting.

Cyrus took a step forward and extended his hand toward the sturdy ancient snakewood tree.

Then - the huge snake wood began to shrink, like the collapse of quantum space, and turned into a short magic wand.

This is another of Salazar Slytherin's legacy.

——Snakewood Wand! 　Thanks to ShiroZwei for the 1500-point reward, and I'll talk about 12138's 500-point reward next time. I'm also going to get another 500-point reward from my brothers, and 100-point reward from I Can Destroy Other People's Dreams.

Kevin is in so much pain.

(End of this chapter)