Headmaster Dippet smiled at Wade and Tom. "It seems you two really have done something commendable tonight. However, you also broke quite a few school rules, and awarding too many points at once might arouse Grindelwald's suspicion. After all, he did see you earlier. So… how about neither adding nor deducting points?"
"No problem, Headmaster!"
"Good, then let's go."
…
When Wade and Tom led the two old men back through the trial from the beginning and finally reached the front of the study again, four knight puppets suddenly appeared.
It seemed the corridor could detect how many people were attempting the trial and would send out an appropriate number of combat golems.
Since Wade had specifically mentioned it beforehand, Headmaster Dippet did not smash the heads of the four knight puppets.
Wade then happily picked up all four intact cores.
Headmaster Dippet and Dumbledore didn't stop him. After examining the cores briefly, they simply let Wade keep them.
Consider it a small bit of compensation since they couldn't award points.
When the four of them entered the final small room, the black door had already closed again.
Which meant that to open it, they would have to use the Cruciatus Curse…
Just as Tom began trembling at the thought, Headmaster Dippet only looked over the door, then performed a series of actions Wade and Tom couldn't make sense of. The door opened smoothly.
"Headmaster Dippet just removed the magic placed on it. From now on, entering from here won't require the Cruciatus Curse," Dumbledore explained from the side.
"Wow! Such powerful magic, and the Headmaster could undo it so easily? That's amazing!" Wade exclaimed.
"Of course! I may be old now, and my arm may not swing a wand the way it used to, but my knowledge hasn't faded with age the way strength does," Headmaster Dippet said cheerfully.
Clearly, Wade's casual compliment had made him very happy.
It's often said old men and children are similar in temperament, isn't it?
Once the door opened, the four officially entered Slytherin's study.
Afterward, once they confirmed that the exit led directly to the entrance of the Slytherin common room, Wade and Tom were sent back to sleep.
Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet, meanwhile, stayed in Slytherin's study and began going through the books.
In the latter half of the night, Tom tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Eventually he sat up and looked at Wade on the neighbouring bed.
Wade was holding his wand lit at the tip, happily absorbed in reading a scroll Dumbledore had given him.
"I just thought of something," Tom whispered, using a Whispering Charm so as not to wake the others in the dormitory.
"What is it?" Wade asked casually.
"That method Headmaster Dippet used to dispel the magic on the door… do you know how to do it?"
"Which magic?"
"The one that removes the enchantment requiring the Cruciatus Curse to open the door!"
"Oh, that. I don't know that method. But… I do have other ways to undo it," Wade said casually.
With ancient magic and nightmare added onto Finite Incantatem, he was confident he could break it.
Then Wade suddenly felt from beside him a wave of resentment so thick it could have come from a ghost wronged for ten years.
"So… you actually could have opened it… but you still used the Cruciatus Curse on me!" Tom said darkly.
"How is that my fault?" Wade closed the scroll. "Didn't I tell you to cast the Cruciatus Curse on me instead?"
"…Yes…"
"But you refused and insisted on taking it yourself. I told you over and over, and you wouldn't listen, right?"
"…I suppose…"
"Then there you go. You asked so earnestly, and as your good friend, how could I refuse your request?"
"But you could undo that magic. I didn't need to take a Cruciatus at all. Why couldn't you tell me earlier?"
"Tom, to fulfill your request, I risked letting Dark Magic stain my soul and bravely cast the Cruciatus Curse. And now you accuse me like this? It really chills my heart. I don't want to talk to you anymore." Wade tossed the scroll toward him, pulled up his blanket, and lay down.
"Revenge! That was revenge for me almost blasting you with that Explosion Curse!"
Tom glared at Wade through gritted teeth, wanting to start a fight but knowing he would lose…
When Wade still didn't respond, Tom forced down his anger, picked up the scroll Wade had thrown, cast Lumos, and read it.
"Gubraithian Fire!? When did Dumbledore give you this? Why didn't I know?"
But Wade seemed to have fallen into a dead sleep and said nothing more.
Fine. At least he still had Gubraithian Fire to study.
Not a total loss… probably.
…
Early the next morning, Wade and Tom went together to the Headmaster's office, picked up the remains of Nokto Gaunt they had left there overnight, and headed into the Forbidden Forest.
Since they had Headmaster Dippet's permission this time, they didn't need to sneak around.
After walking for quite a while, Wade finally stopped on a small rise.
Even though it was inside the Forbidden Forest, the little hill offered a clear view of Hogwarts Castle in the distance.
"This is good. The feng shui here is decent," Wade said, pretending to calculate with his fingers.
"Feng shui? What's that?"
"Rune magic. Don't ask too much." Wade raised his wand and began shifting the soil to dig a grave.
Tom looked up at Hogwarts in the distance and also felt this spot was pretty good, so he said nothing and joined in the grave digging.
Soon, a neat little grave mound appeared on the slope.
Tom had even carved out a stone headstone using Sectumsempra on a nearby boulder.
"What should the epitaph say?" Tom asked.
"It's your ancestor. You should write it," Wade replied.
Tom stroked his chin, frowning in thought for a long moment. Then, on the blank space on the back of the headstone, he carved a single line with a Cutting Charm.
[Here lies the purest and kindest Gaunt in the world.]
...
After discovering Slytherin's study, another week passed.
Regarding Slytherin's study, both Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet chose to keep it a secret.
They continued secretly reading through Slytherin's materials inside the study, hoping to find key information about that mysterious creature.
Wade did not tell them of anything. They would find it eventually, and he had no need to interfere.
Meanwhile, Grindelwald was not idle. Before long, he began suggesting to Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet that the young wizards were not receiving proper ideological guidance, which would be harmful to their future development. Therefore, he hoped he could serve as a guidance professor to correct the students' mistaken thoughts.
Dumbledore would have to be insane to agree. As expected, Grindelwald's suggestion was rejected.
Grindelwald then pretended to be displeased and immediately proposed establishing a new subject: Moral Education.
Sure enough, the next day Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet agreed, but the professor had to be appointed directly by Headmaster Dippet.
Headmaster Dippet emphasized that this was an internal school matter and that Grindelwald was not allowed to get involved.
Grindelwald then tried to apply pressure using his position as a Ministry Official.
But when the parents heard the news, they all sent letters to the Ministry expressing their opposition.
After all, everyone knew what kind of person Grindelwald was, and no one wanted someone like that teaching their children "ideology."
In the end, under public pressure, Grindelwald "reluctantly" accepted the outcome.
During the ensuing discussions, Professor Slughorn, who was worried about Wade's safety, volunteered to take the position himself.
Up to this point, everything was progressing exactly as Wade had promised Grindelwald at the start.
_________
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