Since it was the end-of-term exam period, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts exams had already finished two days earlier, Tver was enjoying an unusually leisurely breakfast.
Of course, he still ended up getting cornered by the overexcited Weasley twins and spent nearly an hour answering their questions.
It could not be helped. The two of them were still only sixth-year students at Hogwarts. Even if they already knew far more than most students their age in this area, compared with Tver, it was still nowhere near enough.
What they truly excelled at was their endless stream of strange and brilliant ideas.
In the past, whenever they came up with a new idea, the two of them could only hide in some corner, digging through books while trying things out on their own.
But now, with Tver occasionally helping them, even the way they looked things up had become far more systematic than before.
So when the professor was rarely free, there was no way they were going to let the chance slip by.
Still, once breakfast ended, no matter how reluctant they were, Tver was dragged away by Professor McGonagall.
"Tver, the champions' families have been invited to Hogwarts. They're in the meeting room off the Great Hall, so you can go see them there."
"Oh, and you two come as well." She pulled along the somewhat dissatisfied Weasley twins too.
"My family? They came to Hogwarts?"
It was not that Tver doubted his parents. It was just that, judging from the letter he had received two days ago, they had only just arrived in South America and were having the time of their lives. They probably would not be back before August.
"We're not even champions, so why are we going too?" George asked warily, as if Professor McGonagall were taking them off to detention.
"Albus said your teacher is here, so I thought it would be better to bring you along."
"And as for the two of you..." Professor McGonagall pushed open the meeting room door. "Your family is here too."
As the door opened, Tver immediately saw the warm scene inside.
Cedric stood by the door with his parents. His father, Amos Diggory, was cheerfully patting him on the shoulder, sounding delighted that he had taken first place in the points.
Viktor Krum, meanwhile, was standing in a corner with his dark-haired parents, speaking to them rapidly in Bulgarian.
By the fireplace stood Mrs. Weasley and the eldest Weasley brother, Bill Weasley.
The two of them were holding Harry and asking him question after question, smiling the whole time. At the very least, it had clearly eased quite a bit of the tension Harry had woken up with that morning.
On the other side were the three women of Fleur's family.
According to Fleur, her mother, Madame Delacour, had half Veela blood, yet she did not seem to have the irritability common to Veela.
She was holding Gabrielle's hand, wearing an elegant smile as she spoke with Fleur in French.
Or rather, Fleur was mostly the one talking, and her mother was listening.
The bored Gabrielle immediately spotted Tver and excitedly tried to pull free of her mother's hand. Unfortunately, gentle as Madame Delacour looked, her grip was not something Gabrielle could break.
So in the end, she could only pout and wave at Tver with her free left hand.
Tver had no intention of joining the commotion, so he only replied with a smile.
Besides, his teacher was already walking toward him.
Grindelwald was not wearing any disguise at all. Of course, after not appearing in the wizarding world for fifty years, his real face was the best disguise possible.
He was dressed in a striking dark leather coat, with a well-tailored suit underneath and an elegant cane in hand. Nothing about him suggested an ordinary man.
Professor McGonagall frowned slightly at first, puzzled, but after giving him a couple of careful looks and finding nothing obviously wrong, she left the meeting room.
Unless someone she trusted had warned her, she would never believe that Grindelwald would walk into Hogwarts so openly.
The Weasley twins, on the other hand, trailed behind Tver, craning their necks in curiosity. Anyone who had seen Tver's strength would naturally be curious about the person who had taught him.
Tver shot them a sharp look over his shoulder, sending them retreating back toward Mrs. Weasley.
"I didn't expect you to be so popular with the younger girls," Grindelwald said with a teasing smile.
Tver gave a helpless chuckle. "I didn't expect you to come watch my match."
"You're my student. How could I miss something this important?" Grindelwald stressed the word "important."
Tver immediately understood what he meant.
This "important" was a confirmation of the prediction his teacher had made last year.
Even now, Tver still found that so-called prediction rather puzzling.
But he was not in a hurry. He did not need to be.
Tonight, everything would reveal itself.
"By the way, where have you been lately? You haven't left a single trace."
Tver knew his teacher had been trying to reconnect with his former followers, but he had no idea about his route or how successful it had been.
Grindelwald did not answer directly. Instead, he raised an eyebrow with a hint of pride.
"As long as I choose to, no one can track me."
"Yes, yes, you're amazing," Tver replied flatly, offering a perfunctory compliment to his teacher's slightly childish boast.
At that moment, Viktor's mother came over with the rest of the family, interrupting Grindelwald before he could roll his eyes.
In front of others, he still cared about his image.
"You must be Mr. Fawley," Mrs. Krum said warmly, taking Tver's hand.
"At home and in his letters, Viktor often talks about how much you've helped him. It's a pity we never had the chance to thank you before. Luckily, this tournament gave me the opportunity."
"Are you free this afternoon? Would you join me for a drink in the nearby village?"
The invitation was so bold that Viktor immediately grabbed his mother's arm.
"Mother, Tver is a professor at Hogwarts. He doesn't have time to drink with you, and we have the match tonight. He can't spend the whole day drinking."
The agreement Tver had been about to give died in his throat.
He had not expected Mrs. Krum, who looked so refined, to be so... enthusiastic about drinking.
Mr. Krum, by contrast, was quiet. When their eyes met, he simply gave Tver a friendly nod.
The commotion drew the attention of others in the room, especially Cedric's father and Fleur's mother.
"Mr. Fawley, we meet again."
Amos stepped forward enthusiastically and shook Tver's free hand.
"Thank you for taking such good care of Cedric at Hogwarts and spending so much time guiding his magic."
"It's part of my duty as a professor, and Cedric has helped me quite a bit as well."
To everyone else, it sounded like polite conversation. Only Tver knew how much Cedric and the others had helped him refine the dummy.
After that, Madame Delacour approached with her two daughters.
Just as Tver felt his smile starting to stiffen, she spoke gently.
"Don't worry, I won't take much of your time."
"I only wanted to tell you that the Veela, especially those of mixed blood, appreciate your views very much."
"Some of them are a bit self-centered and don't fully agree with what you said about house-elves, but I believe they would not reject the idea of equality."
After saying this, she truly did not linger, gracefully leading the reluctant Gabrielle away.
"I feel like you're being overly cautious. You're even taking magical creatures into account," Grindelwald said with mild exasperation.
His student was excellent in every way, except for this tendency to be overly cautious.
"But Professor, weren't you once disrupted by an expert in magical creatures?" Tver replied with a teasing smile.
"..."
If not for the others present, Grindelwald would have already smacked his student with his cane.
"And besides, Madame Delacour's attitude makes it clear. What I'm doing isn't meaningless to the wizarding world."