"Grindelwald?"
Magic was being used during the election to project the scene onto the banners fluttering in the wind.
Everyone could see who had appeared.
Wasn't that supposed to be Bart Schmidt?
Why was it Grindelwald?
Lippi shouted, "This isn't Grindelwald. Someone used Muggle plastic surgery to alter his appearance."
She waved her wand, removing the clothes from Schmidt's body and revealing the scars left behind, along with a physique that did not match Grindelwald's.
Most importantly, there was the ring.
The Germans present immediately recognised it as the symbol of the Schmidt family.
"The Schmidt Ring can identify bloodline identity."
Lippi brought the ring close to Schmidt, and the skull on it opened its mouth.
"Yes, it's him!" an official from the German Ministry of Magic shouted. "The Schmidt Ring is enchanted. Only Minister Schmidt can use it!"
That undoubtedly confirmed the corpse's identity.
The Germans roared in anger.
The members of the International Confederation of Wizards looked grim. They had all witnessed Schmidt's death.
They had been deceived.
One Minister for Magic questioned Inge, "Griffiths, you owe us an explanation!"
From the arrest to the execution, the entire affair had been handled by the Polish Ministry of Magic.
And altering someone's appearance required surgery. This was not a case of arresting the wrong person. It had been planned from the beginning.
Inge had enjoyed the treatment of a hero, and now he had to face the backlash that came with it.
"Griffiths, answer us!"
"You deceived everyone! Your crimes are unforgivable!"
"Remove him! He has no right to remain a candidate!"
Voices condemning him rose from all around.
Inge remained calm in the face of the accusations.
"He isn't Griffiths," Barty Crouch Sr. said at that moment. He glanced at the Qilin, unable to understand how the other man had managed it. "I imagine the real Griffiths disappeared just like Schmidt did."
He turned to look at Inge.
"You still refuse to reveal your true face, Grindelwald?"
Grindelwald!
The name struck like a thunderclap, throwing everyone into turmoil.
Spences took a step back.
Odom asked uncertainly, "Crouch, is that true?"
Jing Zhang said, "Grindelwald has no right to participate in this election."
Everyone stared at Inge.
Barty Crouch Sr. drew his wand and asked calmly, "Do you have anything else to say, Grindelwald?"
Inge looked around.
The supporters who had been cheering for him earlier were now hesitating.
"You should follow me without wavering," he told them. "What you follow is not Griffiths, but magic."
"You have seen the truth that magic is declining in this world. You should not be shaken."
His words were difficult for his supporters to accept.
One of them asked, "Are you really Grindelwald?"
"We supported a hero!" another supporter roared in anguish. "Not a liar!"
"We were supposed to be on the side of justice!"
The accusations from his own supporters only made the election seem even more absurd.
Barty Crouch Sr. kept his wand trained on Inge and asked, "How did you make the Qilin choose you?"
He refused to believe that a Qilin would choose Grindelwald. If Grindelwald were truly pure-hearted, then he would never have needed to cheat in the previous election by killing a Qilin and turning it into an Inferius.
He wanted an answer.
From the moment the Qilin appeared until now, no one other than Spences had touched it.
And Spences could not possibly be his accomplice.
"Because the Qilin chose me," Inge said, looking at Barty Crouch Sr. "Everything I have done has been for the wizarding world, to make magic great again."
"Enough nonsense." Barty Crouch Sr. frowned. "You have no way out now. You can't escape from here."
Aurors were gradually making their way up the steps below.
The surrounding wizards were also watching closely.
Odom and Jing Zhang drew their wands.
"Your past failure has made you unworthy of trust," Barty Crouch Sr. said. "Preserve what little dignity you have left, Grindelwald."
"That's the last courtesy I can offer you, and the only thing you can still do."
Barty Crouch Sr.'s words were convincing enough that even supporters of the other candidates began applauding his actions.
A powerful man deserved a measure of dignity.
Inge chuckled softly. He made no move toward his wand and instead looked at Barty Crouch Sr.
"Why don't you try it?" Inge said. "See for yourself whether that little one has been bewitched."
Barty Crouch Sr. looked at the Qilin.
After hesitating for a moment, he pointed his wand at it.
"Finite Incantatem!"
A flash of light passed over the young Qilin.
It tilted its head.
Barty Crouch Sr.'s pupils contracted.
It was not under any spell.
And it was not an Inferius!
What was going on?
The Qilin had chosen Grindelwald?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Grindelwald could not have been chosen!
Barty Crouch Sr.'s thoughts fell into chaos. He demanded sharply, "What exactly did you do?"
"I did nothing." Inge smiled faintly and spread his hands, showing his empty palms. "The Qilin chose me."
He looked toward the equally bewildered crowd and raised his voice.
"It was magic that chose me!"
"Everything I have done has been to make magic great again!"
"Stop trying to mislead everyone!"
Lippi pulled the list from her pocket and shouted, "You infiltrated the Polish Ministry of Magic, disguised yourself as Griffiths, and secretly replaced its employees!"
"Every one of your crimes is recorded here!"
Lippi had expected this to make Grindelwald panic, but he remained completely calm.
"Yes, I did those things," Inge said evenly. "But the Qilin chose me."
He looked at the Qilin, which was watching him curiously.
"Spences, tell them. Tell everyone," Inge shouted. "Who did the Qilin choose?"
Spences looked deeply troubled.
He could confirm that there was nothing wrong with the Qilin.
It was alive and perfectly healthy.
Yet it had chosen the one person no one had expected.
The Researchers' Association was an organisation devoted to magic. It represented loyalty and honesty toward magic itself.
Spences could not bring himself to lie, so he could only say, "The Qilin chose Inge Griffiths."
"See!" Inge laughed. "This is magic's choice!"
"I am the new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards!"
He spread his arms as though embracing the entire world, leaving the crowd in stunned silence.
Then someone quietly shouted,
"We support you, Grindelwald!"
A second voice followed, then a third.
The crowd began chanting Grindelwald's name. They raised their wands and fired green fireworks into the sky, where they burst overhead.
It was the symbol once used by Grindelwald's supporters.
The Aurors surrounded them, but none dared act rashly.
Lippi was stunned. She had never expected things to turn out like this.
Meanwhile, Inge's laughter continued.
As the chanting grew louder, the entire castle in the sky filled with cries of support for Inge.
"He murdered a Minister for Magic!" an official from the German Ministry of Magic roared angrily. "He should be punished, not cheered!"
Thankfully, there were still people present who had kept their heads.
Barty Crouch Sr. took a deep breath. He found it difficult to accept the truth.
The Qilin had really chosen Grindelwald?
The method used for elections for so many years had actually elevated a devil.
His gaze shifted toward his own supporters, where he spotted a familiar figure.
Barty Crouch Jr., with only one arm, was not cheering.
He simply stood there watching.
Barty Crouch Sr. lowered his wand.
"Hahaha, Grind..."
"Wait."
Odom looked at Inge and said, "What right does a coward who doesn't even dare show his true face have to become the new Mugwump?"
He shouted angrily, "If someone can win while hiding behind a false identity, then I will condemn the International Confederation of Wizards for the rest of my life!"
The cheering stopped.
Inge lowered his arms and looked at Odom.
"How do you know," he said, "that I'm not Griffiths?"
"What?"
Odom froze.
Wasn't it obvious?
Then Inge said, "Use a Revealing Charm on me."
"What?" Odom stared at him uncertainly, suspecting some kind of trick.
After hesitating for a moment, he waved his wand.
"Specialis Revelio!"
His wand pointed at Inge, but to everyone's confusion, nothing happened.
The man everyone had believed to be Grindelwald from the very beginning did not change in the slightest.
His face remained exactly the same.
Unwilling to give up, Odom cast the spell several more times.
The Revealing Charm still failed to alter Inge's appearance.
That left only one possibility.
His face was not a disguise, nor was it Transfiguration.
The stunned crowd stared at the man they had believed from the start to be Grindelwald.
"The Qilin did not choose Gellert Grindelwald," Inge said calmly as he turned to look at Barty Crouch Sr. "It chose me, Inge Griffiths."
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