Isaline put down her drink and sat up from her lounge chair.
"Audrey, didn't you say you'd be busy this summer besides the concert?"
Audrey closed her eyes and nodded in response:
"Yeah, it'll be busy, but shouldn't I try to relax as much as possible before the annoying stuff starts?"
Isaline tilted her head. "Is that like having a good final meal before heading to the guillotine?"
Audrey rolled her eyes. This girl's words were so unlucky!
Then Audrey froze for a moment, her face falling:
"Your mouth... it's like it's been blessed by a prophet. My vacation is over..."
"That's right, your vacation is over," the handsome old man Grindelwald said, appearing before them in two flickers from the lakeside cottage several hundred meters away. "First, I want to see how much progress you've made this school year!"
Audrey sighed. "Teacher, can't you rest for a few more days? Look, you're getting on in years. Wouldn't it be nice to just watch the stars and moon with Dumbledore?"
"Once I've taught you properly, Al and I will have plenty of time!"
Grindelwald waved his hand. "Come with me!"
A military-green blur streaked across the lake, and Grindelwald, wearing his military greatcoat, was already standing in the middle of the water.
Audrey transformed into a flash of lightning and followed closely behind, hovering a foot above the lake's surface.
Isaline blinked. She felt like she had just overheard some major gossip.
The gossiping soul of Hogwarts' top intelligence chief was burning fiercely. She asked Edmond, "Who is this old gentleman?"
Edmond smiled. "My great-uncle!"
Great-uncle?
Edmond's last name was Grindelwald.
So his great-uncle should also be a Grindelwald.
Elder Grindelwald?
It couldn't be that person, could it?
No, no way. How could Audrey's teacher be that Dark Lord?
Wait, entangled with Dumbledore?
Isaline was instantly dumbfounded. She stiffly turned her head to Edmond, her lips twitching slightly. "Your great-uncle wouldn't happen to be named Gellert, would he?"
"Yeah, that's him!"
Isaline: ...
'The Tale of How My Best Friend is the Apprentice of a Dark Lord'...
While Isaline was lost in thought, the battle on the lake had already begun.
As soon as they clashed, Grindelwald felt the difference.
Now, Audrey wielded her wand like a sword; Gryffindor's swordsmanship and dueling techniques provided her with immense assistance.
Leaving aside the technical skill, what was even more absurd was that every one of Audrey's attacks contained more or less a curse, some of which even Grindelwald had never seen before.
Grindelwald's expression gradually became serious. This disciple of his was truly something else now!
The old man deflected a streak of incoming magic and performed a side flip to dodge the Disarming Charm hidden behind it. As he flipped, he fired two beams of light that struck the water.
Instantly, two streams of water shot out from the surface, fast as bullets, aimed directly at Audrey!
Audrey waved her wand toward the sky, and a curtain of water immediately surged up, blocking Grindelwald's surprise attack while also obscuring his vision.
By the time the water column fell, Audrey had already vanished.
But such petty tricks clearly couldn't trouble Grindelwald. Smiling, he fired a series of spells into the water.
Upon contact with the water, the spells instantly generated many bubbles, which transformed into the shapes of various aquatic creatures and attacked Audrey.
"Tch, troublesome old man!"
Audrey cursed in her heart and used ancient magic.
[WATER EXPLOSIVE FLOW!]
A thick water cannon shot toward Grindelwald.
Grindelwald quickly Apparated out of the way, watching as the water cannon soared into the sky.
BOOM!
The two-meter-diameter water cannon lost its containment fifty meters in the air, bursting apart and turning into heavy rain that poured down over the area.
"Is that thunder? Is it raining?"
Rick was startled awake from his nap. He saw Edmond and Isaline staring intently at the battle on the lake.
He let out a long breath. "It's just Mr. Depp teaching Audrey! Never mind then. I was thinking I needed to go back to the villa to bring in the laundry!"
Edmond shook his head. "Mr. Astley, you must be half-asleep. There are house-elves in the villa; it's not like they'd ever let you do the chores!"
Rick said with a bashful smile, "Seeing how small they are, I feel bad always making them work."
Grindelwald let the "rain" soak him—it was, after all, very unwise to waste energy dealing with harmless "after-effects" during a duel.
His eyes narrowed. If you want to hide underwater, I'll force you out!
"Protego Diabolica!"
Blue fire transformed into a fire dragon and dived into the lake.
The water temperature in the area rose rapidly, and a large number of lake fish were cooked, floating to the surface!
Audrey smiled slightly. Since you want me to come out, out I come!
She emerged quickly from the water, brimming with confidence, and began acting like a magical Gatling gun, firing off rapid-fire spells without reservation.
Grindelwald immediately frowned.
"How many times have I told you not to make meaningless movements!"
"Look at your spells—no accuracy at all. Where on earth are they aiming?"
"Do you honestly expect your spells to turn corners?"
However, Audrey's spells really could turn.
Those off-target spells seemed to be attracted by Grindelwald, making a wide circle in the air before accurately flying toward the handsome old man who was currently scolding her.
"Hmm?"
Protego Diabolica quickly contracted into a giant egg shape, blocking those fierce attacks.
'They can actually turn?'
Grindelwald was somewhat puzzled, but then he understood everything. It turned out that the "rain" from earlier had been infused with Audrey's curse. He had unwittingly fallen for her trap.
"Little rascal!"
Grindelwald laughed and casually transferred the "minor curse"—while it was indeed minor to a master like him, in the eyes of an ordinary wizard, it would be a death sentence.
Audrey's attacks were fast, fierce, and dense. In just a few seconds, the protective fire was on the verge of collapsing.
But then Grindelwald burst out from the blue-flamed egg, transforming into a green light and moving in a zigzag pattern, rapidly closing the distance to Audrey.
As he approached, he fired off one heavy, powerful attack after another.
While deflecting these attacks, Audrey fired off magic aimlessly and randomly. Because she didn't need to aim, she could make her attacks faster and focus her mental energy more intensely.
However, those stray spells were ultimately attracted by a cooked fish on the surface of the lake.
The poor fish was struck by the spells and blown to smithereens, leaving nothing behind.
"Oops!"
Audrey never expected that Grindelwald could transfer her curse onto a dead fish in such a short amount of time.
The older, the wiser; she had to admit defeat there!
But so what if he was close? She was a woman who had inherited all of Gryffindor's swordsmanship!
Time to show off the power of a melee mage!
Audrey performed a sliding step, anticipating Grindelwald's landing point. Using her wand as a sword, an orange light swept out. Today, she was going to make Grindelwald suffer at least a little bit!
A semi-circular blade of light flashed, and a corresponding semi-circle of water splashed up.
Audrey's movements were elegant and her posture graceful; she actually sliced that military-green flash in two!
'Oh no! Is Teacher okay?'
Audrey was filled with anxiety. Why didn't Teacher dodge?
But before she could think further, a red light shot from behind her, hitting her square in the back.
Audrey was sent flying, spinning 720 degrees in the air before falling into the lake with a splash.
"Hot, hot, hot!"
Audrey wasn't hurt, but she scrambled to fly out of the lake. If she soaked there any longer, she'd probably end up covered in blisters!
Looking toward the direction the spell had come from, Grindelwald lifted his invisibility and appeared in the air, a smile on his face.
"This is my 1,349th victory over you, my dear student!"
Audrey curled her lip. "Teacher, you cheated!"
Grindelwald spread his hands. "You started it!"
The old child and the fake child continued their bickering on the lake.
Edmond smiled and lay back down. Audrey was getting stronger and stronger; it seemed she didn't need his protection anymore! If Audrey used all her hidden trump cards, his great-uncle probably wouldn't be able to handle her anymore!
Rick applauded vigorously. He didn't understand it at all, but he was deeply impressed!
Isaline took a big gulp of her drink to calm her nerves but accidentally choked on it, coughing repeatedly. No wonder Dumbledore let Audrey substitute for Defense Against the Dark Arts. With this level of skill, she could probably teach every grade without any problem!
As for the Grindelwald situation, seeing as Dumbledore was clearly involved, what was there to worry about?
On the lake.
"Audrey," Grindelwald smiled, "your growth has exceeded my expectations, so you don't need to take combat classes this summer!"
"Really!"
Audrey was overjoyed; this was the best news she had heard in nearly a year!
"But,"
Grindelwald said with a smile, looking very much like a devil tempting the world,
"You need to learn how to manage the assets under your command. Starting today, you'll be learning from Vinda and the others!"
Audrey: ...
Dealing with those troublesome affairs was worse than getting beaten up every day!
"I don't want to! That doesn't fit my character setting of being a lazy landlady who just eats and waits to die!"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]