It took quite a while before Grindelwald finally seemed to regain a bit of composure, but his hands were still visibly trembling. He no longer sat calmly on the bed like before. Instead, he paced restlessly around the room in disarray, occasionally stopping to stare at Avada as though looking at some kind of monster. His throat worked a few times, but no words came out...
"S-so, in other words..."
At last he stopped, pointing a finger up and down at Avada as though he could not even decide where exactly to point.
"By coming into contact with something that may well be the source of all souls, you gained a vast amount of knowledge about the soul—enough to reach the level of the Peverell brothers back then, even to personally create items comparable to the Deathly Hallows?"
"You could put it that way."
Avada nodded cautiously, afraid that one wrong word might scare the old man half to death again.
"But I'm still some distance away from the Peverell brothers. At the very least, anything I make definitely won't be as effective as the true Deathly Hallows..."
"That's already more than enough!"
Grindelwald looked as though he had suddenly become fifty or sixty years younger. His eyes were practically shining.
"You have no idea what the current you means to magical society. Forget the Deathly Hallows—even the knowledge you yourself might consider the most basic and elementary, things like remorse—if you were willing to share that knowledge systematically and completely, then the entire magical world would undergo a leap forward!"
"During the months you were unconscious, Albus and a whole crowd of wizards spent several months studying nothing more than a basin of potion that might be related to the soul, and they only achieved the tiniest bit of progress. Yet even that was enough to make them dance for joy! Let alone the complete, source-level knowledge you now possess?!"
"The era the Peverell brothers lived in was too backward, and the knowledge they mastered was too far ahead of its time to be transformed into real social value. That's why they could only leave the three Deathly Hallows behind as the crystallization of their technique, guiding later generations to explore the soul... But now it's different. Especially once Leach University enters the world and society shifts into an entirely new mode of operation..."
Grindelwald went on and on for quite some time at a speed Avada could barely follow, until at last he seemed to have fully vented the excitement overflowing inside him. Then the visible radiance faded from his face and turned into a sigh.
"Forget it. The knowledge is in your hands, after all. How you choose to use it is your right. There's no real point in me talking to myself like this... But I do have one request."
"What request?"
"If you intend to use this knowledge to reshape the whole of society, then do not reveal it too early."
Grindelwald sat back down on the edge of the bed, his gaze drifting toward the distant forest beyond the window.
"Even within Leach University itself, don't throw out too much knowledge all at once. Magical society is still riddled with deep-rooted sicknesses. If powerful knowledge is shared freely before those tumors have been cut away, it will only create even greater upheaval, bringing more destruction and more uncertainty than before."
"At the very least, you must wait until you can be sure that the overwhelming majority of society is capable of using such knowledge for the right purposes, and until sufficient safeguards have been put in place beforehand. Only then should it be released bit by bit. And at the start, it would be best to set the threshold a little higher..."
"I know."
Avada nodded without the slightest surprise. Even if Grindelwald had not said any of that, he was never going to foolishly share something that dangerous with everyone indiscriminately.
"That's good."
Grindelwald looked as though he had finally let out a breath of relief.
From beginning to end, he had only spoken in excitement and seriousness about what those techniques could mean for magical society. Strangely enough, he had not asked Avada a single question about the specific content of that knowledge.
"Oh, right, Mr. Grindelwald."
Seeing that Grindelwald had fallen silent for the time being, Avada had no choice but to speak up first to draw his attention again.
"How have things been over the past few months? How are the university and magical society doing? And how have the earlier plans progressed?"
"Ah, things are all right."
Grindelwald gave a slight start, as though waking from a daze, before answering while recalling matters one by one.
"What the werewolves did has already been made public by Albus. Although he used the mildest wording possible and repeatedly emphasized that only a very small group were responsible, it still inevitably stirred up hostility toward werewolves across the entire magical world... There's been no shortage of trouble while you were unconscious."
"In the end, it was a professor from Hogwarts—one who had made great contributions in opposing the werewolf conspiracy—who stepped forward. He first publicly revealed his own identity as a werewolf, then redirected the argument toward the Ministry's long-standing oppressive policies against werewolves. Given his status and the contributions he had made, the public was willing to calm down and at least hear him out..."
"And what happened in the end?"
"In the end? How could anything substantial be resolved in just a few months?"
Grindelwald shook his head.
"At present, both sides are mainly stuck in the stage of wrangling over werewolf legislation. The Hogwarts side has also proposed creating a dedicated werewolf community and research institution to ease tensions, though naturally the Board of Governors would be footing the bill—they're being very obedient these days. But from what I've heard, that werewolf professor did resign, so as to keep the turmoil surrounding him from affecting teaching at the school."
"And what about the university's research?"
Avada continued. "I remember the university had even planned to infiltrate Azkaban in order to solve the werewolf issue."
"Oh, that plan succeeded already, and it helped them quite a bit."
Grindelwald replied, "Apparently Belby's improved Wolfsbane Potion has already entered clinical trials... Those matters are too troublesome to explain in detail. You can ask him yourself later. Oh, and speaking of Hogwarts, there's also a task here specifically for you."
"A task specifically for me? What is it?"
Avada could not help feeling puzzled.
What kind of task would Leach University specifically prepare for him when he had been unconscious and for all they knew might not wake up anytime soon?
"So I'd say you woke up at just the right time."
Grindelwald seemed to read the thought in Avada's mind and smiled casually.
"And that task really is one that only you can complete. It has to do with this year's Triwizard Tournament."
"You want me to represent the university in the tournament?"
Avada asked in confusion. "But I'm only fifteen this year, nowhere near the age line for the competition. And even if I did compete, I could only represent Hogwarts... You can't possibly mean I should compete as a university professor, can you?"
"Relax. There's always a way."
Seeing that Avada showed no surprise whatsoever at the words "Triwizard Tournament," Grindelwald smiled again.
"From what I know, this tournament—revived for the first time in centuries—is very different from the old ones, and it seems that someone intends to stir up trouble behind the scenes... Forget slipping in through loopholes or pulling strings in secret—even if you want to compete completely legally and aboveboard, it may not be impossible!"
"???"
(End of Chapter)