Chapter 968 Grindelwald: Ugly Gloves

After a long confrontation, Kyle and Grindelwald walked into the headmaster's office together.

Although Grindelwald was very unhappy and felt that this was a doubt and insult to his character, Kyle was very determined and he could only let him follow.

There was no other way. Hogwarts was the place Dumbledore cherished the most. If a fight broke out here, the relationship they had just barely repaired would definitely break again.

This was something Grindelwald could not accept.

"You are even more annoying than that Scamander..." he couldn't help but say.

"Thank you for the compliment." Kyle, who was walking in front, said without turning his head, "Many people have said so, but more people think that I am a good wizard who abides by the law and has good character and academic performance."

"Perhaps, I should ask you how to use the Confusion Spell better."

"Even Professor Dumbledore said so."

"That's not surprising. Albus has always had poor taste. He once said that Scamander was his favorite student."

"In the Hogwarts trophy display room, I have the most awards for special contributions to the school."

"I also won the best gold medal of Durmstrang, and nine of them."

"You know how you got those honors." Kyle said with a straight face.

Those gold medals were awarded to Grindelwald unilaterally by Durmstrang when Grindelwald was at the height of his power in order to gild himself, along with the status of honorary alumnus.

And it has been issued for nine consecutive years... How shameless! No wonder someone like Karkaroff could become the principal... It can only be said that they are of the same lineage.

"Don't worry about it. I have it anyway, and it must be more than you." Grindelwald said nonchalantly.

He used to think that Durmstrang was a bit shameless, but he didn't expect that thing to be so useful.

……

The two of them chatted back and forth, and soon reached the top of the spiral staircase.

Kyle was the first to push open the oak door and walk in.

"Wait a moment. I'll go turn over all the portraits..."

Before he could finish his words, Grindelwald stepped in.

"Hey, who are you talking to?"

"That's too much. They actually want to flip us all over..."

The headmasters on the wall opened their eyes one after another, and Phineas even leaned sideways, trying to look outside the oak door.

"Let me see, have you brought a wanted criminal to Hogwarts?"

Kyle stopped where he was, looking at Grindelwald in confusion as he wandered around the headmaster's office.

From what the headmasters said just now, it seems that they didn't see Grindelwald...

But how is this possible? He can see it, and see it very clearly.

"Why, do you want to learn?" Grindelwald turned his head and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

"As long as you can produce something that satisfies me, I can teach you."

"Who is talking!" In an instant, almost all the principals looked over.

Although they couldn't see people, they could hear voices.

Someone was obviously talking just now, and it was in the principal's office.

"Is that Harry Potter? I remember him having an Invisibility Cloak."

"No, judging by the voice, it should be an old wizard."

“Who’s here!”

The headmasters were talking noisily, but Grindelwald didn't care at all and still waited patiently for Kyle's answer.

"I don't want to learn it." Kyle refused directly: "I am doing this honestly, why should I learn a spell that can avoid portraits?"

"What a pity." Grindelwald sighed, a look of disappointment flashing across his face.

"If it's other spells, I can consider it." Kyle continued: "I still have some in stock."

“I disagree,” Grindelwald said, and turned away.

He knew what Kyle wanted to learn without having to guess, but unfortunately, he had promised Dumbledore not to teach Kyle those powerful dark magics.

"Hey, who are you talking to!" Phineas's face was almost stuck to the picture frame.

"You brought someone into the Hogwarts principal's office without permission, boy. Believe it or not, I will tell Minerva..."

"So noisy." Grindelwald frowned. "This noisy guy is also the headmaster?"

"What did you say?" Phineas was stunned for a moment and screamed, "You, you thief, how dare you say this about the great Principal Black..."

"Shut up!" Grindelwald waved his hand and Phineas' voice stopped abruptly.

Even he himself was motionless, and the other principals and the decorations in their portraits were all frozen there, turning into an ordinary painting.

There was only one portrait that was an exception, and that was the portrait of Dumbledore behind the desk.

He looked at the empty space in front of Kyle with a complicated expression.

At the same time, Grindelwald was also looking at him, and unconsciously stretched out his hand, and then...

A figure flashed by, just blocking him and the portrait.

"Get away, you annoying thing!" Grindelwald's face darkened.

"Impossible." Kyle leaned against the portrait and looked at Grindelwald.

"I've said it before, you can watch but don't do anything... And what you did to the Hogwarts principals, if Professor Dumbledore was here he would definitely kick you out."

"Just to keep them quiet for a while." Grindelwald said disdainfully.

"Step aside!"

"That won't do!"

Neither of them gave in, and finally Dumbledore couldn't stand it anymore, so he left the portrait and went somewhere else.

Without Dumbledore's portrait, Grindelwald naturally lost interest and went somewhere else on his own initiative.

However, Kyle did not let down his guard and kept staring at him.

Neither Professor McGonagall, who served as headmaster twice, nor Snape, who was promoted to the position, made many changes to the furnishings here.

So the headmaster's office now is not much different from when Dumbledore was here.

The only difference is probably the lack of Fox's perch.

……

Grindelwald first walked to the shelf, carefully looked at the neatly arranged silverware on it, and said:

"Albus's work... for a long time he was obsessed with alchemy."

Then he looked at some of the things on the back of the shelf, all of which were small scattered items that no longer worked due to lack of care and maintenance as Professor McGonagall did not understand alchemy.

But Professor McGonagall did not take them away and left them there as decorations.

In addition, there are some miscellaneous items, such as a half-knitted wool scarf and a few pairs of asymmetrical wool gloves.

Grindelwald didn't even look at these things. He pushed them aside and picked up something that looked like a teapot.

"How about giving this to me as a souvenir."

"of course not……"

"Send him off."

Before Kyle could refuse, he heard Dumbledore's voice behind him. He didn't know when he returned to the portrait.

"Then get him out of here as soon as possible." Dumbledore in the portrait said with a stern face, "He is not welcome in Hogwarts, so it is best to get him out as soon as possible."

"You promised me to come, Albus," Grindelwald said, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"That must be a last resort," Dumbledore said firmly.

"Do we have to be like this? We have to be at loggerheads every time we meet." Grindelwald said after a moment's silence.

"It was like this before, I tore the sheets into pieces, wrote you countless letters, but never received a single reply.

"Don't tell me you didn't get those letters..."

"Yes, I didn't receive it." Dumbledore's tone remained unchanged, "But you don't have to care about my attitude at all. After all, I'm dead."

"You haven't changed at all. Even what you said is exactly the same." Grindelwald suddenly laughed and put the small silver teapot into his pocket.

Since Dumbledore, the owner of the teapot, had already agreed, Kyle couldn't say anything.

Grindelwald then walked to the corner and stopped in front of a huge velvet curtain.

Kyle had no time to stop it.

With a flick of his hand he drew aside the velvet curtain, revealing a huge mirror underneath.

Grindelwald stood in front of the Mirror of Erised, reaching out and touching the intricate runes and symbols on both sides of the frame.

"Whatever you saw, it's fake," Kyle said nervously, "and you definitely can't take this away."

"Why?" Grindelwald still looked at the mirror without turning his head.

“This is school property.”

"this is mine."

"what?"

"This is what I gave to Dumbledore a long time ago." Grindelwald turned his head and looked at Kyle with that half-smile again.

"Why, you're surprised?"

Kyle nodded subconsciously.

He had always thought that this mirror was made by Dumbledore himself using alchemy, or that it was a magical object passed down from the era of the Big Four.

did not expect……

"Although this mirror has been modified many times by Albus, the prototype of the mirror was indeed given by me."

Grindelwald turned his head again, as if lost in some memory.

After a long while, he whispered, “At that time, I always wanted to repair the relationship between us, so I desperately searched for the resurrection stone.

“Although I never found it, I stumbled upon this…magical mirror in the process.”

"I saw that we were reconciled, just like we were in Godric's Hollow. I was so happy that I couldn't wait to give it to Albus."

"I sent him many things before, but he rejected them all. But this one...he accepted it."

"Although his attitude towards me has not changed, I am still very happy." Grindelwald stretched out his hand, wanting to touch something in the mirror.

He swirled his fingers around the mirror.

A cluster of blue flames quickly burned up.

It wasn't the Fiendfyre, because Kyle didn't feel the Fiendfyre's unique fury, and the Mirror of Erised didn't melt or get damaged in this blue flame.

There were just some changes in the frames on both sides, some parts melted, and turned into another appearance.

Or rather, its original appearance?

Kyle couldn't explain it clearly.

In short, when the blue flame went out, the Mirror of Erised did not change at all, except that the frames on both sides became narrower.

And there is one more letter above the two claw-like support frames.

On the left is "G" and on the right is "A".

And Kyle was sure that these two letters were not the original magic runes and symbols, but were deliberately carved there.

Even Kyle could guess who had carved it.

Gellert Grindelwald

Albus Dumbledore

The abbreviation of this name is too obvious.

Dumbledore should have guessed it at the beginning, but he was reluctant to return the mirror that could see Ariana, so he simply covered it up.

This can be seen from Dumbledore's expression in the portrait... He looks quite embarrassed, and even his eyes are a little vague.

"So, you want to take it?" Kyle asked.

"You want to stop me?" Grindelwald turned his head and looked at Kyle with interest.

"It was before, but not now." Kyle shook his head.

"If you really gave this mirror to Professor Dumbledore, it is reasonable for you to want to take it back now."

"Forget it, I don't need it anymore."

To Kyle's surprise, Grindelwald refused. He raised his finger and covered the mirror with the velvet curtain again.

"Let's get down to business." He turned around and walked quickly to Kyle.

"I actually came to see you this time, and I just stopped by to see where Albus works."

"Looking for me?" Kyle pointed at himself. "You must be kidding me. Is there anything I have that's worth you coming all the way from Nurmengard to Hogwarts?"

"Albus said you wanted to ask me for help to deal with those who covet the Horcruxes." Grindelwald looked Kyle up and down. "Why, that's not the case?"

"Horcrux...did he really look for you?"

Kyle subconsciously looked at Dumbledore in the portrait behind him.

"It wasn't me." The other person shook his head. "It should be me outside the portrait. I just told him your plan."

"I see."

While Kyle was talking to the portrait, Grindelwald, out of boredom, picked up a woolen glove nearby, but he just glanced at it and threw it back in disgust.

"Minerva McGonagall. Tsk, your current headmistress really has... a wide range of interests.

"My taste is as bad as ever... Even if I were still in Nurmengard, I wouldn't want a pair of gloves this ugly."

Dumbledore in the portrait suddenly closed his mouth with a strange expression.

Kyle couldn't tell whether he was embarrassed or angry, or maybe both.

After all, if someone said that Dumbledore was weak, he might just laugh it off and not care at all, but if someone said that the wool socks he knitted were ugly, he would be angry all day.

Although gloves are not socks, they are almost the same.

But Grindelwald also... he deserved that he didn't even receive a reply.

"What's wrong? Is this really happening?" Grindelwald asked again, confused.

"Ah, yes, I do have that idea." Kyle nodded quickly, "You agree to help me?"

"I'm not helping you, I'm helping Albus." Grindelwald said, looking at the portrait of Dumbledore behind him, as if he wanted to get a compliment, or a less strange look.

Then he saw Dumbledore's cold face.

For a moment, Grindelwald seemed to have returned to the time when he first broke with Dumbledore.

That's actually the look in his eyes, as if he was looking at a stranger.

Ok?

Grindelwald blinked, a little confused.

The portrait of Dumbledore just now didn’t look like this either. What’s going on?

Then he looked at Kyle suddenly and asked sharply: "What did you do!"

……