"You..." For a moment, Dumbledore genuinely did not know what to say.
"I don't know whether you find my reasoning acceptable. You can ask the student representatives themselves if you like. They volunteered to visit. I didn't force them," Grindelwald said pleasantly.
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and looked Grindelwald up and down again, beginning to suspect the man had been cursed.
But a curse that made Grindelwald upright and reasonable?
Was that really a curse, or a blessing?
Dumbledore looked toward Wade, hoping to glean something from him.
Wade nodded at him and gave him a broad smile.
Seeing Dumbledore's expression, Grindelwald could only say, "Well... if you disagree, then forget it. I'll just take Wade alone. As for the student representatives, we can leave that for another time..."
"No. I agree," Dumbledore said at last.
First, Grindelwald's reasoning was sound.
Second...
If even Wade thought there was no problem, then there probably wasn't one.
Wade was an upright and good-hearted child. If this were truly something bad, he would definitely be the first to object.
Dumbledore simply could not figure out what Grindelwald was doing today. The man was acting completely unlike himself.
...
The Floo Network route in Dumbledore's office had already been arranged in advance.
"Go in and say 'Azkaban.' I've already arranged for someone to meet you on the other side," Grindelwald instructed.
Wade and the others nodded, then entered the fireplace one by one and left Dumbledore's office.
Before stepping into the flames himself, Grindelwald turned to Dumbledore.
"You're coming too."
"You want me to come?" Dumbledore had been about to make that very request, yet Grindelwald had actually suggested it first.
"Of course! You're a Hogwarts professor. If student representatives are visiting Azkaban and you don't personally accompany them, can you really be at ease? That would be rather irresponsible of you," Grindelwald lectured with a righteous expression.
Dumbledore was rendered speechless again.
Grindelwald said nothing more. He stepped into the fireplace and vanished in the flames.
Although his face remained expressionless, inside he was already delighted.
In the past, whenever he said one thing, Dumbledore would argue back with ten.
But today, he had actually managed to leave Dumbledore speechless several times.
As expected of Wade. His method really worked! That little brat truly was a natural Dark Lord!
Excellent. From now on, this was how he would deal with Dumbledore.
Use Dumbledore's own methods against him until he had nowhere left to go!
...
Azkaban truly was a peculiar place.
The moment Wade and the others appeared in the guard office, they felt the temperature drop by more than ten degrees.
The fireplace in the room was burning even more fiercely than the one in Dumbledore's office, yet somehow the place was still far colder.
Standing outside the fireplace was an old man with a deeply miserable expression.
"Hello, Mr. Auror. We're here with Director Grindelwald..." Anne greeted him warmly.
"Mm... I know," the old man said sadly. "But I'm not an Auror. Proper Ministry employees like Aurors wouldn't come here to suffer. I'm just an old, useless Hit Wizard... My life is basically over, so I got sent here to work..."
Watching the old man's expression grow increasingly miserable, Wade blinked.
Well, Azkaban certainly lived up to its reputation. Even the guards stationed here looked as though they were depressed.
"Did I say something wrong?" Anne asked cautiously.
"You didn't say anything wrong... It's just me... Sigh, never mind... never mind..." The old man took several oil lamps and placed them on the table. "Take a lamp. The way ahead is rather dark."
Tom and the others each took one, but Wade remained where he was.
"You don't need one?" the old man asked.
Wade removed a small oil lamp from his waist.
"I brought my own."
Inside the lamp, Lucifer burned gloomily in silence. Wade had temporarily ordered him not to speak.
A moment later, Grindelwald and Dumbledore also appeared in the fireplace.
"Professor?" Wade looked at Dumbledore in confusion.
"Wade, there's no need to be surprised. Some people need to take responsibility for you," Grindelwald said.
Dumbledore had been about to speak, but Grindelwald had stolen his line. His mouth opened briefly before he gave up and nodded helplessly.
"So... where would you like to begin the tour?" the old man asked listlessly.
"Take us to the worst place you can think of. These youngsters need to see the most miserable side of Azkaban. That's what makes it educational," Grindelwald said.
"I understand." The old man nodded. "It's meant as a warning, right? Fair enough... Crime among young wizards has been rising lately. Hogwarts really should take some action. All right, I'll show them around and explain what crimes the prisoners committed along the way."
"You three go ahead. The professors and I still have something to deal with," Wade said to Tom and the others.
Tom nodded and walked toward the old Hit Wizard waiting by the door with Anne and André.
After they left, Grindelwald said, "If we want to see the prisoner, we need to go this way."
He headed toward the door on the left with obvious familiarity.
"You seem to know this place very well," Dumbledore said softly.
"Yes... I've been here quite a few times..." Grindelwald paused. "I personally collected their bodies."
Looking at Grindelwald's back, Dumbledore and Wade exchanged a glance.
The "they" Grindelwald referred to was probably the entire Alliance squad that had previously been captured at Hogwarts.
Most of them had barely gone through a trial before being sentenced to death.
They were also the "arm" Grindelwald had personally cut off to save the rest.
...
The corridors of Azkaban were tall and long, stretching so far that the end could not be seen.
Every few metres along both sides stood an iron door.
Some were completely silent, while strange noises constantly came from others. From farther away, screams could be heard from time to time, sending chills down the spine.
At this hour, the Dementors had probably just finished their "breakfast."
So Wade only saw the creatures circling near the distant ceiling. None were wandering nearby.
Suddenly, the Dementors in the distance became agitated, seemingly eager to rush over and welcome the new "food."
Dementors had no way of telling whether someone was a visitor or a newly arrived prisoner.
The presence of living people delighted every one of them.
However, as Wade and the others approached, the Dementors suddenly fled as if they had seen the most terrifying thing imaginable.
Wade blinked.
By sensing their magical fluctuations, he recognised quite a few familiar "faces."
After he had released the captured Dementor, it had periodically followed his orders and lured several more Dementors to him.
Over time...
There were hardly any Dementors left in Azkaban that Wade had not drained before.
So when they saw that great menace Wade approaching from afar, every Dementor fled in terror.
Dumbledore looked puzzled, while Grindelwald remembered that he had once brought Wade a Dementor.
He glanced curiously at Wade. Clearly, Wade had done something to those creatures for them to fear him this much.
Before long, Grindelwald stopped in front of a thick iron door.
They had reached the section where the most serious offenders were held. Every prisoner confined here had been sentenced to life imprisonment and would never leave Azkaban.
A strange thought suddenly occurred to Wade.
If he ever failed in the future and was captured, he would probably end up locked somewhere like this too.
Grindelwald took out a key and opened the cell door directly.
Only someone like Grindelwald could do that. Under normal circumstances, visitors would not be allowed to open the door at all, and several Aurors would have to stand nearby and supervise.
The cell was tiny, surrounded entirely by nearly indestructible stone bricks.
Inside, there was only a stone bed and a foul-smelling toilet. There was not even a window.
A dishevelled man sat blankly on the edge of the bed. Even when someone entered, he did not look up.
Grindelwald raised a hand, and magic forcibly lifted the man's head, revealing a pale face.
Wade recognised it.
This was one of the twenty-odd people who had fought him back then.
But that immediately revealed a glaring problem.
"You said he was an unimportant fringe member? And that his memories haven't been altered?" Wade asked.
"Yes. He knew very little. From what I saw in his memories, he was nothing more than an insignificant underling," Grindelwald said coldly.
"That doesn't make sense," Wade replied.
"Doesn't make sense?" Grindelwald raised an eyebrow. "What part?"
Wade had not even started examining him yet, and he had already spotted a problem?
"During the attack on the Hogwarts Express, there were more than twenty people at the end who were extremely difficult to deal with. This man was the one leading that group. He was also the strongest person there. How could someone like that possibly be an uninformed fringe member?
"If he really was, then the Scourers would have to be terrifyingly enormous. But you know as well as I do that's impossible."
Grindelwald and Dumbledore immediately understood Wade's point.
If the Scourers truly possessed that much strength, then given their hatred of the wizarding world, they would have devastated it long ago. There was no reason they would only be making their move now.
Wade drew his wand, pointed it at the man's head, and began examining him.
"Strange... Very strange..."
"What did you find? Were his memories altered?" Dumbledore asked.
"No... His memories really don't appear to have been changed. At least, I can't detect any signs of it." Wade lowered his wand and continued, "And the strangest part is his strength. His magical power now is nowhere near what it was when he fought me.
"Right now, his magic is weaker than that of a third-year student.
"And there's something seriously wrong with his physical condition.
"He only has a few days left to live."
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69