Chapter 596: He is a Ravenclaw
"You didn't run," Grindelwald said.
There was a flicker of subtle appreciation in his tone, as if he were observing
a bird that had refused to fly away as expected.
"Headmaster Dumbledore invited you here," Sean replied. It wasn't a question.
In truth, while the development was sensational, it was not entirely unexpected.
The wizarding world was growing more dangerous by the hour; the second war had
officially begun. To ensure the safety of Hogwarts, Sean could only think of two
wizards capable of holding the line. Albus was one. The man before him was the
other.
"He asked me to come, so I came." Grindelwald offered a careless, easy smile.
This time, the expression reached his eyes, deepening the fine network of
wrinkles at the corners.
"Oh." Sean found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
"So, you are his favorite student?" Grindelwald tilted his head slightly. "Tell
me... if I were to kill you right here, do you think Albus would weep for you?"
Sean instinctively drew back a half-step. He began to calculate his chances of
surviving a duel with the man before him—the first Dark Lord, the architect of
Nurmengard.
His conclusion: He could probably manage to escape.
"Young wizards today have no sense of humor," Grindelwald noted, watching Sean's
wary posture. He sat down in a high-backed chair, a fleeting light dancing in
his eyes.
He watched as the boy quickly regained his composure. Grindelwald knew that such
calm could only come from a deep-seated confidence in one's own magical power.
As he had suspected, this was an extraordinary boy.
"Did Albus tell you I was coming?" Grindelwald asked casually.
"No. But you are sitting here using your real name. This castle is warded
against Apparition; the anchors are monitored by the portraits of seven past
Headmasters. If Professor Dumbledore didn't know you were here, you wouldn't
have made it past the front gates, let alone to this chair," Sean said evenly.
"There is no place on this earth I cannot enter if I truly wish to," Grindelwald
scoffed, as if Sean had told a particularly amusing joke.
"This is Hogwarts," Sean said softly.
"And?" Grindelwald laughed, a wild, sharp sound. He was genuinely taken aback
when he saw the dark-haired boy draw his wand. "Oho!"
The man stood up abruptly, closing the distance between them to stare down at
the "arrogant" student.
The wind whistled across the examination grounds. At the edge of the Forbidden
Forest, the leaves rustled with a dry, papery sound, and the surface of the
Black Lake shimmered in the distant sunlight. Sean held his wand steady, the tip
angled slightly upward.
Facing the man who stood as the second-most-powerful Dark Wizard in history,
Sean didn't flinch. He didn't scream for help or back away like a normal
third-year would. He simply stood his ground, watching Gellert Grindelwald with
a look of absolute, icy calm.
"He's raised a decent little Gryffindor, I see." Grindelwald's oppressive aura
suddenly vanished. He looked away, but in those emerald depths, he thought he
saw the silhouette of a lion ready to spring.
"You're mistaken, sir. I am a Ravenclaw." Sean tucked his free hand behind his
back.
"Mmm?" Grindelwald's brow furrowed. "I told him that old Hat was past its prime.
Shabby, filthy relic... it's clearly glitching."
Then, his features smoothed out. He looked like a man who had never known a day
of worry in his life. "I hope you enjoy your stay at Hogwarts, sir."
Having confirmed that the Dark Lord was exactly the man he had imagined him to
be, Sean decided Dumbledore's judgment was still sound. He turned to leave,
feeling a slight weight lift from his chest. With Grindelwald in the castle,
Hogwarts was effectively a fortress.
"You're leaving?" Grindelwald asked.
Sean looked at him with a confused gaze, wondering what the unpredictable wizard
wanted now. Did he truly intend to make Dumbledore mourn? If he didn't mean it,
why make such a joke?
"You want me to...?"
"If you walk out now, I'm afraid I'll have to give you a zero on your
practical."
Silence stretched between them for three long breaths. Sean realized, for the
first time, that he might have been over-analyzing the man's malice.
"My apologies, sir."
"You think you judged me too harshly?"
"Deeply sorry, Mr. Grindelwald," Sean said, feeling a twinge of genuine guilt.
This man had come to Hogwarts to act as a shield for the students. Every child
in the castle was currently under his protection.
"I suggest you think much worse of me, child. Whatever you've imagined, it isn't
enough." Grindelwald stepped closer, a sharp, malicious grin cutting across his
face.
He raised his hand, and his wand slid from his sleeve directly into his palm in
a movement as fluid as breathing. It was a deep brown wand, slightly shorter
than average, with a grip that had been polished to a shine by decades of use.
He cut a casual arc through the air.
"Shall we begin?" he asked, sitting on a conjured chair in the center of the
lawn and producing a roll of parchment. "Third-year Defense Against the Dark
Arts Practical Exam. Final Group. The curriculum includes: The Shield Charm,
defensive reactions to unknown projectiles, and—at the discretion of the
examiner—selected advanced maneuvers."
Sean stepped into the center of the makeshift arena. The ground was packed dirt,
still damp with the morning dew. A low-hanging mist swirled around his ankles,
making it look as though he were standing on a sea of clouds.
"The Shield Charm," Grindelwald commanded. "I trust I don't need to tell you
how."
Sean raised his wand and spoke the incantation clearly. A transparent,
silver-white barrier shimmered into existence before him. Its edges were sharp
and stable, showing no sign of fluctuation.
Grindelwald said nothing. He rose from his chair and walked toward Sean. He
didn't draw his wand from a pocket; it simply appeared in his hand. He tapped
the tip of his wood against the silver barrier.
The shield emitted a low hum, but it didn't shatter. Not even a single hairline
fracture appeared. Grindelwald withdrew his wand.
"Pass."
"Next item..."
He moved again, his actions slow—slower than any professor's demonstration. It
was a deliberate, frame-by-frame breakdown, allowing Sean to see exactly how his
fingers manipulated the wand.
"Reaction to the unknown—"
He gave his wand two casual flicks.
Sean's reflexes were instantaneous. He reinforced his shield for the first bolt
and performed a sharp sidestep to avoid the second.
Grindelwald huffed. "Shields and dodging will only buy you time in a real Dark
Arts conflict. They won't win a duel. Your regular professors won't teach you
this because it isn't in the standard curriculum. But I believe you need to know
one thing."
He stopped directly in front of Sean. "You avoided those spells, but you didn't
counter."
"I didn't recognize the incantations," Sean replied, his mind analyzing the
encounter. "Standard procedure for unknown curses is prioritized defense and
evasion. One does not counter-attack blindly."
"A very 'Hogwarts' answer," Grindelwald sneered. "But that is for the average
student. You are not average."
Sean remained silent.
"In a real fight, your opponent will not give you time to consult a textbook.
They are already casting their second curse while the first is in the air. If
you only defend, you remain the victim. You need to counter—not when you
recognize the spell, but the very moment it leaves the opponent's wand."
He paused, a lazy, dangerous glint in his eye. "Again. This time, I won't be
using a single spell."
Grindelwald stood ten paces back. The morning mist churned between them.
Then, he struck.
It was a triple-shot. First, a red Stunner. Second, a massive concussive blast
of wind and dirt that moved like a physical wall. Third, a silent curse—Sean saw
the wand-tip flare, but heard no sound.
Sean didn't retreat.
A Shield Charm absorbed the Stunner. Simultaneously, he tapped his wand against
the ground—a wall of earth erupted in front of him, taking the brunt of the
concussive blast.
But against the third, silent spell, he didn't defend.
His wand cut a sharp arc through the air. A thin, pale beam of light erupted
from the tip, aimed directly at Grindelwald.
Sectumsempra sliced through the space where Grindelwald had been standing, but
the man was gone. He had moved with a speed that was almost invisible,
sidestepping the curse as it grazed the hem of his cloak and hit a group of mice
at the edge of the paddock.
Grindelwald stood still, ignoring the frayed edge of his garment. He watched the
boy who had just narrowly dodged his own silent hex. His expression turned
peculiar.
"Are you quite sure you aren't a Gryffindor?"
"I am a Ravenclaw," Sean said.
For the first time, a light appeared in Grindelwald's blue eyes that was
something other than scrutiny. It was as if he were seeing another person in
Sean's silhouette. A person from his own past who always preferred the strike to
the shield. A person who had made him reconsider the bars of his own cage.
Silence lasted for several seconds. Then, a genuine smile spread across
Grindelwald's face—the first real one Sean had seen during the exam.
"What is your name?" he asked. He had the name on the parchment in front of him,
but he wanted to hear it.
"Sean Green."
"Green." Grindelwald repeated the name, as if placing it into a specific file in
his memory, alongside a few other legendary names. "And tell me again... what is
your relationship to Dumbledore?"
"He is my Headmaster. And my mentor."
Sean was starting to feel the weirdness of the line of questioning. Grindelwald
narrowed his eyes.
"Headmaster and mentor. My, my... how very curious." He tucked his wand away. "A
perfect score."
The exams were over. Even Grindelwald's bizarre practical was behind them.
But Sean's mind was less on his grades and more on the absence of Professor
Snape. If Lucius Malfoy had been compromised, Voldemort's next moves were easy
to predict.
"Did you see him? The substitute?" In the Great Hall, students were buzzing
about the new DADA examiner.
"He gives me the creeps," a Hufflepuff fourth-year whispered. "I don't think
he's a 'people person'."
"I wonder where Snape's gone..." Justin whispered to Hermione.
"I hope he never comes back," Ron added from nearby. He looked ecstatic.
Sean frowned, watching the rain start to drum against the windows again. He felt
a prickle of worry.
Hagrid's Hut.
Deep in the Forbidden Forest, a fire was roaring in the hearth. The sound of
crackling wood mixed with the rhythmic patter of rain on the roof.
"Severus... how is it going?"
The voice was deep, resonant, and calm.
"Lately, I am only seeing those I was unable to save," a cold, slightly
trembling voice replied.
"Severus, in all these years, how many deaths have we witnessed?" Dumbledore
asked softly.
Silence followed for a long time.
"The Ministry must change, Albus. This isn't enough. There has to be a way to
prevent these... casualties," Snape's face was a map of shifting shadows in the
firelight.
Dumbledore watched him, wondering if the Potions Master realized just how much
he was starting to sound like a certain young student.
"When this wave passes, you must return," Dumbledore said.
"What?" Snape looked up, his eyes flashing.
"Soon," Dumbledore insisted.
"You think I'm a coward?!" Snape hissed.
"Quite the opposite, Severus. Your mission in the field is ending. There is a
more important task waiting for you. Severus... can I trust you?"
Snape let out a cold snort but didn't answer. "He's here," he whispered
suddenly.
A moment later, a hesitant knock sounded at the door. Snape vanished into the
shadows.
"Cornelius, come in," Dumbledore called out.
The stout form of Minister Fudge squeezed through the door.
"The deaths are not accidents, Cornelius. Voldemort has regained his body,"
Dumbledore said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
Fudge went ashen. He looked as though he had been struck across the face. He
blinked dizzily, staring at Dumbledore, unable to process the words.
"You-Know-Who... back? Nonsense. Absolute poppycock, Dumbledore..."
Dumbledore watched him with a level gaze.
"Listen to me, Albus," Fudge said, a frantic, nervous smile touching his lips.
"You can't actually believe these rumors. He's... he's back? Don't be
ridiculous. It's impossible."
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