Garfield stirred.
Cradled in Queenie's arms, his eyes slipped open, and a satisfied smile curved his lips.
The protective magic he had planted on Grindelwald had finally activated.
It triggered… right on time. The result wasn't a surprise.
Grindelwald had lied.
From Lilith and Vivienne's report, Garfield already knew the truth… Grindelwald's soul had not merely fractured, but had split.
And the two sisters, being who they were, hadn't been content to simply observe.
In the midst of the chaos, they had ripped a fragment of the rebellious soul free and forced it into the weaker persona. Their 'spinning dance of love' hadn't been playful at all.
The violent rotation had driven the tyrannical soul into deep dormancy… giving the weaker, kinder consciousness time to stabilize and grow.
Garfield hadn't intervened when Seraphina arrived.
Not because he was hiding.
The reserve curse he had woven into Grindelwald now acted as a lens, letting Garfield observe everything.
Normally, he would've walked out and forced Seraphina to compensate for Grindelwald's escape.
She got off easy today.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
The Thestrals flew tirelessly through the night.
Inside the carriage, Grindelwald's muttering faded into silence and he collapsed.
Ten minutes passed.
His eyes slowly opened.
He touched the worn notebook in his coat… and then the strange pendant Garfield had given him.
He channeled magic into it.
The trinket unfolded and gold flowed.
It reshaped itself into a massive, hammer-like book… a gold cover with a heavy handle embedded into its spine.
Golden letters shimmered across the surface.
King Garfield Pando Godzilla ~ Revised Edition
Grindelwald drew the book to his chest and stared back toward the distant lights of New York. "Thank you… My great mentor,"
"For saving my soul. For defeating the demon within me." His eyes burned with quiet conviction.
"I will spread your benevolent thoughts throughout the world."
Inside his soul… a golden shield ignited. Avada Kedavra shattered against it.
Golden chains erupted from nothingness, wrapping around the dark Grindelwald.
A phantom image of Garfield appeared, tapping his forehead lightly.
Tap
A casual snap of fingers.
The furious, screaming evil self dissolved into ash… and was absorbed.
The soul became whole and pure.
Grindelwald lowered his head. He knew what his former self had done.
A wanted criminal and an enemy of the world. He couldn't return and thank his mentor in person.
So he would act instead and he would live his gratitude.
The Thestrals kept flying.
One glanced back toward the carriage.'
'Brother.' the smaller one whispered, 'Don't you feel it? The wizard's soul changed. He felt evil before… now he feels…'
'Stop talking and pull,' the bigger one replied.
'…The journey is long. Can't we chat?'
'…Focus.'
After a pause.
'Hey bro. What do you think about the food in the Forbidden Forest? The spiders were okay, but tiny. Needs bigger prey…'
The older Thestral slowly lowered its ears.
Lifted its head and chose to ignore him.
The carriage flew on.
…
Seraphina stood among broken cobblestone and wounded Aurors. She oversaw the healing of the living British escort.
The pursuit team returned hours later.
Empty-handed… Grindelwald had escaped.
Seraphina exhaled slowly and moved to a Muggle telegraph office. She sent a short, cold message across the ocean.
Your escort failed and Grindelwald has escaped.
These few words dripped with bitter irony.
While the British Ministry of Magic's senior bureaucrats were still exhausting themselves trying to find a reason to bring Dumbledore into their ranks, Grindelwald's escape handed them a perfect excuse.
"He is still connected to Grindelwald." That was all they needed.
A flimsy, convenient lie.
Dumbledore only smiled at it and continued working.
Hogwarts had already accepted Garfield's proposal, Dumbledore was no longer alone in the classroom.
Under his guidance, a group of outstanding senior students passed the professors' assessments and began serving as assistant lecturers across multiple subjects.
For the first time, the burden on his shoulders lightened.
And that gave him time.
Time to write.
Time to travel.
Time to build bridges.
Under Garfield's guidance, Dumbledore had finally understood a truth that had eluded him for years.
You cannot save a decaying world from the shadows.
Silence changes nothing.
Only by standing high enough could his voice carry.
Only by occupying the center could he bring the dawn.
Hogwarts gave him more than a position.
Year after year, students entered its halls, studied beneath him, graduated, and stepped into the world shaped by his philosophy.
And the truth was simple…
Nearly ninety percent of British Ministry officials were Hogwarts graduates.
The remaining ten percent came from workshops, private tutors, or foreign institutions.
Those students still remembered who had taught them.
When Dumbledore formally requested entry into the Ministry, support ignited instantly.
The old wizards still sat in the highest chairs. They had more wealth, more titles and more influence.
But the younger generation had something else.
Numbers… Hope.
Anger.
The Ministry split and two clear factions were born.
Those who supported Dumbledore and those who feared him.
The wizarding world was different from the Muggle world. Here, authority did not come from paperwork. It came from will.
And more and more voices began to say the same thing.
"You may command us… but you cannot silence us."
Deadlock followed and decisions were delayed.
The Ministry stopped working.
At last, under public pressure, the British Ministry of Magic announced a referendum.
A magical ballot box stood alone at the center of the hall.
On its left side: Y
On its right side: N
Agree / Disagree.
The box was enchanted. Every time a hand entered, a number surfaced across the surface like glowing ink.
Department by department, the members cast their votes. Department by department, the numbers climbed.
When the final department finished, the result became impossible to ignore.
One side had surged into three digits. The other remained stranded in double.
"I hereby declare the referendum closed," The Chief Warlock announced.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is hereby accepted as a member of this Ministry, to stand with us in building a brighter future."
For a heartbeat, the room was still…
"Long live~!" Cheers erupted.
"We did it!"
"We won!"
The younger generation surged forward, their voices breaking through years of suffocation.
Dumbledore stepped up and bowed.
He thanked every witch and wizard who had raised their hand in his name.
At the edges of the hall, the old faction left quietly.
…
Elsewhere across the Sea
In Europe, under foreign skies, Grindelwald sat among his followers.
In his hands rested a strange book.
He smiled and turned a page.
They had no idea… none of them did. That the world had changed.
A new era had begun.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Phantom your way through a treasure trove of chapters waiting on P@treon!
PhantomDream