bookbashuk Chapter 71 The Prophet Makes Startling Statements
Chapter 71 The Prophet Makes Startling Statements
Chapter 72 The Prophet Makes Startling Statements
Picking up where we left off, when Dumbledore heard the sounds from the prison, his heart was filled with a jumble of emotions, like a bottle of mixed flavors being overturned. In an instant, a storm of emotions surged up, with sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty all rushing out at once.
He drew his staff from his sleeve and with a single touch, several tiny flames leaped from the oil lamp dish in the cell niche, instantly illuminating the old man's features clearly.
Do you think that person looked like? He was dressed in rags, emaciated, like a withered, rotten piece of wood. His sparse, disheveled hair couldn't hide his bald head, which showed no sign of life.
His eyes, though unique, seemed to have been tempered in ice and refined in fire, their sharp light bursting forth, piercing through darkness. Truly, they were like a dragon swimming in shallow waters, its scales obscured, or a tiger fallen to the plains, its eyes gleaming.
Upon seeing his old friend, Dumbledore tightened his grip on his wand and said in a deep voice, "Long time no see, Gale."
Upon hearing this, Grindelwald swayed to his feet, stumbled to the iron fence, and hoarsely asked, "Let me guess, what brings the great White Demon King to see his defeated foe like me?"
"Could it be that you've come to catch up with me? It seems like it's been twelve years since we last met..."
"Ah, could it be because something went wrong with that little savior of the Potter family?"
Upon hearing him utter the surname Potter, Dumbledore's expression hardened. "You foresaw it, didn't you?"
Readers, you shall hear that Dumbledore's words have their origins: it turns out that Grindelwald was born with extraordinary abilities, able to foresee the future, and was none other than the prophet.
Sixty-five years ago, this fellow gathered a crowd in Paris to discuss matters. Relying on his prophetic powers, he revealed to a group of wizards the vision of Muggles starting World War II and wreaking havoc on the world. Only then did he cause the wizards to submit and join his witchcraft party.
Upon meeting, before the two could even exchange a single word of serious business, the man brought up Harry, and Dumbledore knew that he must have glimpsed some divine secret.
The White Demon stepped forward, almost touching the fence with his nose, and whispered, "Gail, tell me, what do you see?"
Grindelwald met his gaze, waited a moment, then took a few steps back and sat back on the cold bed.
"I told you twelve years ago that neither Voldemort nor Potter are any different from you and me; nothing can be changed."
"But just now, I saw a change in the situation."
Grindelwald leaned against the wall, staring at the sky, and murmured, "I have never seen such an obscure prophecy; everything it reveals is beyond my comprehension."
"This is completely different from the fate of that Potter boy twelve years ago—no, it's unrecognizable."
Dumbledore pondered these words, remaining silent for a long time. Grindelwald, seeing this, patted the bed and laughed, "Aren't you tired of standing, Al? Would you like to come in and sit for a while?"
"Five minutes ago, I saw Harry's memories," Dumbledore said, ignoring the remark. "I saw a war far larger than the war between the Marauders and the Death Eaters."
Grindelwald picked at the plaster on the wall, absentmindedly saying, "Ah, faking memories is easy. Queenie is a natural Legilimency, yet I still managed to fool her completely, didn't I?"
"But the desire to kill and the aura of death cannot be faked. And in that war I remember, I could feel that everyone was thinking of killing the other side."
"Most importantly, one side of this war is led by Harry."
Dumbledore said solemnly, "Unless the Dursleys sent Harry to the Muggle battlefield when he was five or six years old, I find it hard to imagine what experiences made him like this."
Seeing the sincerity in his words, Grindelwald also put away his joking thoughts, pondered for a long time, and then said, "The ancestors of the Potter family had Peverell blood."
Dumbledore frowned. "The three brothers who possess the Deathly Hallows?"
"If I remember correctly, the Peverell bloodline of the Potter family is the one with the Invisibility Cloak, right? Of the three brothers in the legend, only he escaped the Grim Reaper's malice and lived to the end of his life before leaving with Death."
Dumbledore was startled. "You mean—"
"Think about it, Al. What if the legend is false? What if he didn't actually leave with Death, but instead used some kind of magic to reside in his offspring—or was he reincarnated directly?"
"Actually, I've wanted to say this for a long time. Using a love spell to deflect a death curse is as ridiculous as stepping on a slug, slipping, falling, and dying."
"I'm more inclined to believe that it was a self-defense mechanism left behind by an ancient wizard that was triggered."
Although Grindelwald's words were harsh, upon closer examination they seemed to contain some heretical and fallacious arguments, causing Dumbledore to hesitate.
"This possibility... though small... doesn't mean it's nonexistent..."
Back then, Dumbledore secretly sent an old hag named Arabella Figg to live next door to the Dursleys.
This old woman was a meticulous person; she had observed Harry closely over the years, noticing his every word and action. In her letters, she always described him as polite, gentle, and a perfect example of a bodhisattva.
Who would have thought that once Harry enrolled, he showed no trace of gentleness, kindness, or frugality, but instead resembled a troublesome and wicked devil.
Seeing his hesitation, Grindelwald added, "It's only been a little over two hundred years since the Magic Council banned the three Unforgivable Curses. Before that, killing was as common as breathing."
"Besides, there was no such thing as a dark wizard back then. Every wizard knew something about what the Ministry of Magic calls dark magic now."
Dumbledore's mind was in turmoil, and his head felt as if it were about to be smashed open by a hammer.
Next time you see Harry, should you try calling him the Sage?
Dumbledore banished the thought from his mind, exhaled, and said, "No, I believe Harry hasn't changed."
"I can see his love for James and Lily."
"Although it's a bit extreme."
"I was just posing a hypothesis; whether you believe it or not is up to you," Grindelwald shrugged. "So you really aren't planning on coming in for a bit?"
Hearing his words, Dumbledore smiled gently again. "I'm sorry, Gale, there are too many things at school that I need to deal with."
"The secret chamber has been opened again. I have to guard against the monsters inside and find the location of the secret chamber—I can't make the same mistake as Armando."
"Take care, Professor Dumbledore. I look forward to our next meeting in twelve years."
"It won't take that long," Dumbledore suddenly said. "Perhaps you'll still have a chance to leave Nurmengard and take a look around."
Having said that, he used a teleportation technique, his body spun and disappeared, and the flames in the prison were instantly extinguished, leaving it pitch black and indistinct.
Grindelwald climbed onto the bed in the dark, stood there for a long while, and then uttered a few words.
"Harry Potter..."
(End of this chapter)