Thinking about Killing Curse, Andy found he gradually became less cautious than before as his strength grew.
In this world, many things can kill people: guns, cold weapons, poisons, magic, and even a pen can kill people.
And there's no lack of people like him who are afraid of death and looking for a way to protect themselves; they must have already found answers to the questions he has. Such as bulletproof items, shields, antidotes, counterspells or at least a danger warning spell or something.
So why overly worry about everything and stress himself? He just needs to keep constant vigilance and make preparations for various situations.
Now that Voldemort is dead and there is no immediate danger, there's no hurry to practice some risky magic without thorough understanding like before.
Moreover, it seems like Grindelwald already started to experiment with magic transfiguration and other risky magic to popularise them. Which means he can get some trial-and-error data now.
Compared to others, he has a cheat; with time, he can achieve anything in this world of magic.
"Huh." Andy let out a breath after sorting out his emotions, reclined on the sofa and looked at the chandelier above, thinking about how others deal with the killing curse.
Dumbledore and Snape used transfiguration to deal with the killing curse, which can only be done if he's aware of the attack.
High-ranking Ministry officials, usually accompanied by Aurors.
Remember how Fudge was accompanied by Aurors when he visited Hogwarts? Similar to muggle bodyguards near wealthy and influential people.
Should he just have Fat Cat beside him all the time?
Andy's brows furrowed as he was deep in thought. Then he suddenly remembered an alchemy creation used to guard mansions and castles during the witch hunt era, capable of detecting malicious thoughts and protecting the castle automatically.
Gargoyle!
Andy sprung up and sat straight, looking at Grindelwald with a spark in his eyes. "Sorry, I got lost in thoughts."
"I have one last question, Mr Grindelwald. Are there any alchemical items that can detect malicious intention and danger in advance? Like Gargoyle."
Grindelwald, who was watching Andy patiently, smiled as he found a topic to talk about his agenda and hopefully change Andy's mind or at least pique his interest. "There is. Sneakoscope, also known as dark detector."
He wished to talk about the history of such devices with Andy.
Seeing Andy look like he was recalling it, Grindelwald shook his head and continued. "Seems like you know about it."
"But I heard they are unreliable, with a broad concept of threat, ringing at the presence of even a slightly unreliable person," Andy asked with a frown.
He knows about this item; it is a glass spinning top that lights up, spins, and whistles in the presence of untrustworthy or unreliable individuals.
It is unpopular for a reason; the whole untrustworthy or unreliable concept is very broad, and with his current alchemy level, it would take him a long time to customise it. Maybe in that time, he could raise his magic resistance enough to survive a killing curse.
"I know what you are getting at. Mr Flamel already optimised many versions of it; there are designs for some in the books I sent you. Even I have one that can detect killing intent." Grindelwald chuckled and spoke, taking out and looking at a chain with a small silver spinning top from his neck. "Unlike, the normal Sneakoscope, this will not ring. This one will heat up slightly at the hostile presence and scald you when someone has killing and destruction intent."
"Do you know? These kinds of alchemical items that can detect malicious intents were mostly invented during the witch hunt period."
"There were many traitors who aligned themselves with muggles and betrayed their own, so alchemical creations like Sneakoscope, and Gargoyles were popular at that time."
"As far as I am aware, Hogwarts had hundreds of Knight Armours, dozens of Gargoyles and Statues that can fight muggle forces. We need to optimise and create such Statues at a low cost, to mass produce such a force, and-"
Looking at Andy's weird expression, Grindelwald stopped, decided to talk about this some other time and went back to the main subject, "Ahem, have you memorised and got familiarised with basic and important runes?"
At the topic of magic, Andy instantly became energised and talked without stopping for a long while, "Hm. I memorised most runes in the book you sent. Now I am practising to inscribe them correctly in semi-liquid and solid materials, and I have some doubts on this...."
"Cough."
After a while, Grindelwald interrupted Andy and said, looking at his pocket watch. "I have some experience making simple alchemy items. When we were young, Dumbledore and I decided to learn alchemy to learn more about Deathly Hollow. Later, he even acquainted himself with Mr Flamel to further his study."
Grindelwald reminisced in a trance for a bit, then got up and said, pointing at his pocket watch. "It's getting late; an old man like me needs to take care of my health."
"If you are interested, I will solve your doubts in Alchemy tomorrow morning."
"Good night, Mr Grindelwald. I really need your guidance on it. Thanks for the offer." Andy hurriedly said and stood up to see him off.
After they went to Grindelwald's room on the ground floor, Andy requested the Two-Way Mirror for the night, to talk to Hermione. Grindelwald tossed it at him with a meaningful smile.
Then, Andy made his way to his room, summoned Fat Cat Patronus to stay by his side, slumped on his bed with the mirror and talked to Hermione about the day before sleeping.
***
The next morning, snow from the night piled up outside.
Andy struggled to get up from the warm hug of his blanket.
But thinking about the alchemy lesson today, he still freshened up and went down to eat breakfast.
Grindelwald seemed not to be up yet, so Andy ate the English breakfast – beans, egg, bacon and toast – made specially for him by the nanny, which he wished she hadn't, and went to the study to practise rune inscribing.
Inside the study, Andy put a silver plate on the coffee table, tapped it lightly to make it heat up, put a few drops of mercury, a pinch of salt and unrefined sulphur on the plate in precise order, and slowly rotated his wand clockwise and anticlockwise a dozen times and meticulously inscribed the Fehu (ᚠ) rune with his wand on the mixture to make the metal pure and noble, transmuting a semi-liquid magic metal, a basic metal used to make alchemical items, one of the metals used to create the lighter in Dumbledore's table.
In Alchemy, Andy started to love this metal-transmuting stuff; even in his previous life, he used to watch some self-proclaimed scientists melt and mix many metals in different ratios and create crystal-like stuff on video platforms.
Even in Potion making, Andy loved the last step, when a dark-coloured mixture would suddenly turn into a colourless or light-coloured potion.
When the magic metal was ready, Grindelwald, who was standing beside the sofa, watching silently, made his presence known. "Good, you already got the basics down."
"In Alchemy, transmutation is a meticulous process; for some precious metals, the rituals are time-consuming, with stringent temperature (surrounding and metal) control; some steps need to be done at the precise day and time (full moon, sunrise, etc.); a good sense of changes in ingredients; and, more importantly, patience."
"Of course, if you have a Philosopher's Stone, you can ignore this whole process. You can transmute any metal with it in an instant. As if you are permanently transfiguring materials."
Thinking of the Philosopher's Stone, Grindelwald sighed, cursing Dumbledore for wasting such a miraculous thing in his heart.
Andy turned to look at Grindelwald and listened without being surprised or startled by his sudden presence.
When Grindelwald entered, the Fat Cat, floating around in a circle above his head, already informed him telepathically; it's just he was engrossed before, so he didn't greet him immediately.
"Good morning, Mr Grindelwald." After Grindelwald took his seat, Andy greeted him and asked the questions he had about Alchemy.
At lunchtime, that day's lesson ended.
After learning how to make a Sneakoscope that can warn him of danger. Andy ultimately chose to increase his [Alchemy] talent from 3 to 4, spending 4 of his 5 Potential points.
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