"Say whatever you like, but I think that old man definitely won't listen to any of this," Tom scoffed. "Even if there's a bit of logic to what you said—why would he listen to you?"
Wade smiled and said, "If I'm not wrong, he's already been beaten into a slump. Otherwise, there's no way he'd be this quiet for so long. So, if he wants to break the stalemate, there's a good chance he'll listen to me."
Tom said, "Just because he's been quiet doesn't mean he's broken. Maybe he's just regrouping? After all, his forces took a serious hit. If it were me, I'd lay low too."
Wade smiled. "Even if he's trying to regroup, he'd still need to show his face now and then. Otherwise, he'll lose people's confidence. Right now, those outer-circle Dark followers—the non-core ones—they were Grindelwald's main targets for future development. They're the future of his movement. And now, even they're getting jittery, and he still hasn't shown up. If that man doesn't have something going wrong in his head, I'll wash my hair standing on my hands."
"That still doesn't make it a sure thing…" Tom grumbled, unconvinced.
"Tom, don't get hung up on it. Let's say he doesn't listen to me—so what? Let's say I guessed wrong—so what? It's not like I lose anything," Wade said with a wave of his hand. "Besides, I've already placed my piece on the board. Whether it works or not—time will tell."
In truth, those things Wade said were indeed deliberately told to Grindelwald through Anne's mouth.
As for whether Grindelwald would listen, or whether Anne even delivered the message at all—it wouldn't affect Wade in the slightest!
Of course, if he did take the advice and actually did a bit of good… then Wade came out ahead.
If he could get a world-famous Dark wizard to start doing good deeds—just imagine how many merit points that would be worth!
The moment Wade thought of merit points, his cheerful mood immediately soured.
He'd captured so many of Grindelwald's followers, fully expecting to rake in a fortune and use it to level up his system.
But now… it had been ages since everything ended! Why hadn't the "payment" come through yet?
Wade was starting to suspect the damn system was either broken or just outright embezzling his rewards!
Staring at the display of 18,000-something merit points, Wade was gritting his teeth in frustration.
Tom had been about to say something, but when he saw Wade's expression suddenly change, he instantly knew the guy was mad about something again.
He quickly shut his mouth, terrified he'd end up as the next punching bag.
…
That night, at the end-of-term feast, neither Wade nor Tom saw Anne.
It wasn't until much later that they caught a glimpse of her returning to the dorm, just her silhouette in the common room.
"You think she passed your message on to that old guy?" Tom asked.
"No idea. But like I said, the piece has already been placed on the board. We just hit the 'next turn' button and watch how things play out. What's the point of overthinking it?" Wade said casually.
Wade's mention of some "next turn" button went right over Tom's head, but he at least understood the part about watching things unfold.
Even though Wade didn't seem to care, Tom was extremely curious about what would happen next.
He really wanted to see whether Wade had guessed wrong this time!
The next morning, students found their trunks neatly placed by their beds.
The house-elves had already emptied their wardrobes for them.
After breakfast, everyone pushed their trunks toward the Hogwarts Express, ready to head home.
Wade and a few of the core members of the S.M.A.S.H. Society had taken over an entire carriage.
"After signing that stupid document, we're not allowed to use magic during the holidays?" Charlie grumbled. "I really don't get it! What if my spells get rusty?"
"That document's just there to keep Muggle-born students in check, Charlie…" Wade said with a laugh.
"What do you mean by that?" Charlie asked, startled.
"If you're practicing magic in a wizarding community, the Ministry can't tell," Wade explained.
"Really?" Charlie turned to ask Henry and Alphard.
Alphard replied with a helpless look, "Yeah… My sister's never laid a finger on me during the holidays—she always uses magic instead… Ugh, I really don't want to go home. That place is so stifling…"
"You need to learn to stand up for yourself, Alphard," said Henry. "If you don't want to stay home, you can come stay with me."
"My parents don't mind me being friends with pure-bloods."
"Well… if I went to your place, I doubt my parents would oppose it. I think I even heard them say once that they wanted to marry my sister off to you."
"W-What?! Who? Walburga? No! I'm not marrying that lunatic! She's insane! Alphard, you can't repay kindness with cruelty like this!" Henry was nearly scared out of his wits.
The Avery family was pure-blood, and so was the Black family!
To preserve so-called blood purity, intermarriage between pure-blood families was all too common.
The more Henry thought about it, the more terrified he became—because this kind of thing really could happen…
Alphard could only shrug, giving Henry a helpless look.
Truthfully, Alphard couldn't even control his own future marriage—how could he possibly do anything about his sister's?
Henry shut his eyes, feeling like his future had just gone completely dark.
"Alphard, you have to help me—this affects you too! Think about it: you don't want to stay at home, that's why you come to my place… but if your sister marries into my family… then when you come over, how's that any different from being at home?"
Alphard jolted. "You're right! Henry, we have to learn to resist!"
Henry, overjoyed, asked, "So do you have a good plan?"
Alphard thought for a moment. "How about… you chop your bits off? I'll go back and tell my parents you're not up to it, and then—"
"You motherfucker—bloody hell—why don't you chop yours off?! Come on! Let's both chop! And then we're not brothers anymore—we'll be sisters!"
The two of them wrestled each other to the floor.
Grace MacLaggen scooted away with a look of utter disgust.
She looked at Wade and Tom, then asked curiously, "Where do you guys live? Maybe we could meet up during the holidays to practice magic or something?"
Wade and Tom both shook their heads.
Their home addresses definitely weren't something they could casually share.
Tom said, "We're not planning to practice magic this holiday. We intend to follow the Ministry's rules to the letter."
"Ehm..." Wade nearly burst out laughing when he heard that.
He knew Tom only said it to turn down Grace's invitation.
But hearing the future Lord Voldemort talk about strictly following Ministry regulations… it was hard not to find it funny.
"I don't believe that for a second!" Grace scoffed. "You three broke over a hundred school rules at Hogwarts, and now you expect me to believe you'll follow the Ministry's regulations at home?"
As she spoke, Grace glanced at Anne and noticed how downcast she looked. "Hm? Why haven't you said anything?"
"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired," Anne replied with a strained smile.
"Well… sounds like this summer's going to be boring," Grace said with a sigh.
She had hoped to hang out with her fellow club members over the holidays, but it seemed like everyone had their own plans…
Especially that killjoy Tom! If he was going to refuse, he could've at least come up with a better excuse!
…
Nurmengard.
Grindelwald stared at the notebook in front of him, silent for a long time.
Even as wax from a nearby candle dripped onto his hand, he seemed completely unaware.
"Sir?" Vinda looked at Grindelwald with concern.
"What is it, Vinda?" Grindelwald looked up, his bloodshot eyes staring at her.
"Olive and the others… they're going to be tried tonight…" Vinda said hesitantly.
"Oh…" Grindelwald replied, then gave no further reaction. He simply lowered his head again to continue staring at the notebook.
Seeing him like this, Vinda realized he probably didn't understand the seriousness of the situation.
"Many countries' Ministries of Magic have sent representatives to serve on the jury… and quite a few of them have suffered at our hands. So… the outcome tonight might not be good."
"Is that so?" Grindelwald responded blandly again.
Vinda sighed, then decided to ask directly, "They might be sentenced to death. So… should we do something? Try to rescue them or something…"
Grindelwald finally looked up again—but to Vinda's surprise, despite his exhaustion and bloodshot eyes, he looked strangely excited.
"Dumbledore will definitely be there. We won't be able to rescue a single person, Vinda!"
"Then… are we just not going to save them?"
Grindelwald was silent for a moment before he finally said, "The people will remember them."
"The people? Who?" Vinda was a bit confused.
"There's no such thing as a bloodless revolution…" Grindelwald said softly.
Vinda let out a quiet sigh, then replied, "I understand…"
She knew that after tonight's trial, those Alliance followers were as good as dead.
The evidence was overwhelming, and the jury had come with personal grudges…
But she couldn't bring herself to blame Grindelwald for not saving them.
In the past, perhaps Grindelwald might've tried to do something—but now…
Dumbledore's strength had skyrocketed, and he held the Elder Wand… they didn't stand a chance.
Anyone who went to rescue them—however many went, that's how many would be lost…
That was reality, as cruel as it was…
Vinda didn't actually feel sorrow for those people. She was just relieved… because she had nearly been one of the ones on trial tonight.
After Vinda left—
Grindelwald continued staring at the notebook in front of him, murmuring to himself, "The more crimes they're convicted of… the better… the more poison that gets bled out, the safer I'll be… I'm sorry, but… I will remember you…"
…
The next morning, Wade stretched as he made his way to the breakfast table, ready to eat.
!!!
Suddenly, he froze—because he noticed his merit point balance had jumped by a full 50,000 points!
With the system notifications turned off, Wade had no idea what had happened.
It wasn't until he sat down at the table and saw the Daily Prophet that Toby had brought him—
[…All 25 Dark followers have been sentenced. Among them, 5 were given life sentences in Azkaban, while 20 were sentenced to receive the "Dementor's Kiss," carried out at 3 a.m. in Azkaban…]
"So that's what it was…"
_______
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