When Wade woke up from his sleep, sunlight was already shining on the foot of the bed.
It seemed it was quite late, yet no one had come to wake him up for class or anything like that.
Wade had just tried to sit up in bed when he saw Dumbledore.
At that moment, Dumbledore was sitting between Wade and Tom's hospital beds, looking visibly exhausted.
But his bright blue eyes were still sharp.
Tom was already awake and seemed to have been up longer than Wade.
In front of Dumbledore, however, he was as meek as a little chick.
"You're awake. Looks like there really wasn't anything seriously wrong with your body," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Professor... Grindelwald, he..."
"Unfortunately, he still managed to escape," Dumbledore said helplessly.
"I see..."
Wade glanced at Anne's empty bed, then looked over at Tom.
Tom shook his head at him, indicating he didn't know either.
"No need to worry. Miss Rosier just went for a physical examination. It's just a routine check-up, not because anything's wrong with her health," Dumbledore said, as if he had noticed Wade's concern. "You and Tom will also need to undergo a follow-up check in a bit."
Wade let out a breath of relief. He honestly wasn't that concerned about Anne's health.
He had just thought she'd been exposed and taken away.
That would've been bad. He still had use for this spy!
Since Grindelwald hadn't been captured, it would be a real waste if such a valuable experience package could only be used once.
"Wade, last night… it's really thanks to you all. If you hadn't discovered his plot and gotten a message to me in time… I don't even want to imagine what could've happened," Dumbledore said, still a bit shaken.
When he returned, Hogwarts's internal defense systems had already been fully activated—but all the professors, including the headmaster, had fallen unconscious...
If he had still been occupied at the MACUSA while Grindelwald succeeded in obtaining what he wanted, who knows what damage Hogwarts might have suffered?
At that point, Hogwarts would've been completely defenseless in Grindelwald's eyes.
"Don't say that, Professor. It was just luck…" Wade said calmly.
"In my eyes, it was far more than that. I've already heard part of the story from Miss Rosier," Dumbledore said with deep emotion. "Before I returned, you not only used sleeping gas to knock out Grindelwald's followers, but even held him off on your own for quite some time until I arrived… That's not something that can be dismissed as mere luck."
"It really was just luck… Professor, even Tom nearly died," Wade said helplessly.
Hearing that, Tom's face went pale again.
Wade wasn't wrong—if he hadn't followed his advice ahead of time and made some preparations… like stuffing a few "sleeping gas dung bombs" into his pockets… Though it turned out they were actually poison gas bombs, they still ended up saving his life…
Fuck! It had been a close call!
At that moment, Grindelwald had been enraged and on edge, with his wand pressed right against Tom's jaw, the tip already heating up!
That was enough to prove that the Killing Curse had been moments away from being cast… Even a one-second delay, and he'd be dead!
Just thinking about that was terrifying for Tom, who valued his life more than anything…
"That was my failure, Tom," Dumbledore said, looking at Tom with deep regret and the joy of having narrowly avoided loss.
Tom felt incredibly awkward under Dumbledore's gaze and instinctively pulled his blanket up a little higher.
"From now on, I won't leave Hogwarts so easily again. Even if I absolutely must leave, I'll make sure I'm fully prepared," Dumbledore said seriously.
In truth, he had been prepared every time he left. But he hadn't expected Grindelwald to be so utterly deranged—to sneak into Hogwarts through a secret passage with malicious intent!
"In any case, the three of you made a tremendous contribution! Though Headmaster Dippet insists on fairness in both reward and punishment, and your violation of school rules can't be overlooked lightly… when we reviewed the entire incident, we realized that had you not broken the rules, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Dumbledore smiled, "So, at Professor Slughorn's suggestion, the professors took a vote and decided to cancel your punishment. Furthermore, at the end of the term, each of you will receive a Special Services to the School Award. Your trophies will remain at Hogwarts… forever."
After Dumbledore finished speaking, Wade simply smiled with quiet satisfaction, while Tom's face lit up with pure joy.
Tom had always been someone who valued honor. That's why, in the beginning, he cared so much about whether he was descended from Slytherin.
And now, this Special Services Award would be the first personal honor he had ever received!
Even if… he hadn't actually done all that much…
But hey, he was still part of it, wasn't he?
In the midst of his excitement, Tom suddenly remembered something. "Professor, that power… the power Grindelwald was after—what did the professors decide to do with it?"
In truth, he wasn't particularly concerned about where the magical energy would go. He just wanted to use this question to test whether that power really had some kind of side effect—like Wade had claimed.
In his mind, if there were no side effects, then of course the professors would use it. But if there were side effects, they either wouldn't use it—or they'd destroy it outright.
"Oh, that…" Dumbledore's eyes flashed with a trace of helplessness. "If I recall correctly, your nighttime wanderings were in search of this power too, weren't they?"
At those words, Tom lowered his head, unsure how to respond.
"Yes. We spent a lot of effort trying to obtain that power. We just didn't expect that, when we finally found it, something unexpected would happen..."
While Tom stayed silent, Wade openly admitted his desire.
In fact, ever since getting to know Dumbledore, he had never hidden his pursuit of power.
When he first awakened ancient magic, he had asked Dumbledore what to do if he couldn't control his desire for power.
Back then, Dumbledore had said that the very fact Wade could ask that question meant he was already capable of controlling it.
He'd also said that having a desire for power was normal. What mattered was not abusing it.
So, as long as Wade admitted his intentions as frankly as he had back then, Dumbledore would understand.
Sure enough, Dumbledore simply nodded and didn't press the issue further.
This left Tom speechless.
He was certain that if he had openly admitted his desire for power, Dumbledore's reaction would've been full of suspicion!
Of course, what Tom didn't know was that, in Dumbledore's eyes, his image had already undergone some fundamental changes…
Especially after Dumbledore heard that, when faced with Grindelwald's attempt to recruit him, Tom had made the same choice as Wade.
Dumbledore said, "Headmaster Dippet conducted some analysis on that power. It can indeed enhance a wizard's magical strength. However… that power contains far too many negative emotions. A small amount of absorption is manageable, but if one absorbs too much, though their strength will increase significantly, the overwhelming negativity could severely distort their personality… to the point where they are no longer themselves…"
"Like… the effects of overusing Dark Magic?" Tom couldn't help but ask.
"That's not entirely incorrect," Dumbledore replied. "But… it's far more severe. Even wizards who frequently use Dark Magic don't experience side effects as serious as this."
Hearing that, Tom couldn't help but gasp.
He never avoided using Dark Magic, because he believed he could handle the minor side effects.
But this kind of power… severely warping one's true nature? Becoming unlike oneself? No thanks!
At that moment, Tom felt truly relieved that he had followed Wade's lead from the start.
The magical power Grindelwald had sent over back then, though small in amount, had definitely affected his rationality!
He absolutely didn't want his brilliant mind to be ruined by any outside influence!
Meanwhile, Wade was thinking about his senior.
She had also absorbed a large amount of that magical power—what was referred to as "residue."
Fortunately, she possessed talent in ancient magic, so when facing this "residue," which was originally refined through ancient magic, she had far greater tolerance than the average person.
So even after defeating Ranrok and absorbing a massive amount of residue, her personality and physical form didn't become twisted.
Still, the side effects were very real…
The intense euphoria brought on by the huge power boost from the residue could indeed be addictive.
That's why both Professor Morganach, who had first discovered this power, and later the senior herself, became "hooked" on it.
And after repeatedly chasing after that power, her body eventually reached its limit, forcing her to seal herself away with the help of a close friend—and she remains sealed to this day.
Dumbledore, unaware of what the two young wizards were thinking, continued, "Because this magical power carries such severe negative effects, Headmaster Dippet ultimately decided to destroy it.
Yes… last night, under the collective witness of the professors, we destroyed that magical power."
"I see… When you put it that way, we really were lucky. If we hadn't run into that unexpected situation and had gone ahead and absorbed that magical power directly, the consequences would've been unimaginable," Wade said with a look of relief.
But Dumbledore smiled and said, "I don't think you would have. If you had really absorbed that power, I believe you would've stopped the moment you realized something was wrong."
"Professor, aren't you putting a little too much faith in me? I'm just an ordinary person."
Dumbledore said meaningfully, "Don't be modest, Wade. I know—you've faced far greater temptations before, haven't you?"
Eh?
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