"Then... what about Grindelwald himself?"
Only after digesting the information for a while was Avada able to continue asking.
"Since you were in Nurmengard playing Grindelwald, where did the real Grindelwald go? Did he escape from prison on his own?"
"How could that be?"
Dumbledore laughed.
"Putting aside the fact that he cannot possibly appear in public now, I would never let him out either. And he himself is unwilling to leave Nurmengard. That was the final agreement we made back then, and it is also the realization he has reached now."
"No matter how many contributions he has made now, there was still once an era in which people suffered the ravages of war because of him... A crime like that can never simply be turned over and forgotten."
When this topic came up, Dumbledore's original smile no longer seemed as obvious as before.
"Before Christmas, he had always personally negotiated with the envoys of those pure-blood families. They also proposed many times that they could send people to help him secretly escape from prison using Polyjuice Potion, but he refused them all for various reasons. After I began playing him, he still did not leave Nurmengard either, but hid for several months in a secret dungeon concealed underground..."
"..."
Avada now understood why Grindelwald did not want to see him.
And it would probably be best not to disturb him over the next few weeks either.
Let that poor fellow, who had not seen the sun for several months, relax properly for a while.
"And thanks to this plan, I also gained the opportunity to personally come into contact with the unsuspecting pure-blood families and obtain a large amount of evidence against them. This time, they truly put enormous effort into arranging this plan. They nearly exhausted their wealth, resources, and connections. If all that evidence were released without reservation, it would probably cause quite a stir across all of Europe. As for the families participating in the plan themselves... hehe."
"No wonder Leach University chose this moment to appear publicly."
Avada nodded thoughtfully.
"After this, the stubborn faction among the pure-bloods can almost be swept up all at once, right?"
"Not all at once."
The corners of Dumbledore's mouth rose again.
"But at least eight or nine out of ten. And this time, it won't be like the reckoning after the Chamber of Secrets crisis, where pursuing responsibility from the heads of the families was enough to let the matter pass. The wealth and resources they control, the connections they mobilized, and even the Dark wizards they secretly kept will probably all be doomed... Who told them to try releasing Grindelwald again?"
"If resurrecting Voldemort only offended Britain, then trying to release Grindelwald is without question offending all of Europe, and even most of the world. Although in terms of personal strength, Grindelwald may be slightly inferior to Tom Riddle, when it comes to influence and the impact he brought to the world's structure..."
"In that case, Professor,"
Seeing Dumbledore's gaze drift, showing signs of beginning to talk at length about his glorious experiences in the past again, Avada hurriedly continued asking so he could pull Dumbledore's thoughts back.
"How did they dare to contact Grindelwald in the first place?"
"Ah, that would be one of the few tacit understandings still left between Gellert and me—forgive me for calling him that."
Dumbledore chuckled proudly.
"In truth, the choice of contacting Grindelwald could be considered something we deliberately placed before them. And if I want to explain all of this clearly, I am afraid I must begin with last year's werewolf attack."
"The werewolf attack?"
Avada froze slightly before remembering that such an incident had indeed happened last year. It had even been one of the direct reasons he joined Leach University. But when that matter had reached its conclusion, his consciousness had still been trapped in the timeline, so his impression of it was not very deep.
"That's right. I have not told you yet, have I? The behind-the-scenes supporters of that werewolf attack were actually the stubborn pure-blood families as well."
Dumbledore nodded.
"They contacted their former colleague Fenrir Greyback, providing him with resources, manpower, and technology, helping him recklessly expand the scale of the werewolves and attack wizards. And their purpose... was to throw the situation into chaos, so as to cover up what they were truly doing."
"What they were truly doing? What was it?"
Avada frowned.
This was something he had never learned about even through Leach University's intelligence network.
"After the Chamber of Secrets crisis two years ago,"
Dumbledore did not directly answer Avada's question. Instead, he moved the timeline involved in the topic a little farther back.
"The stubborn faction had already suffered a heavy blow once. They also knew very well that I truly intended to dig out their foundations, and was not merely saying it aloud... Moreover, at that time, Voldemort's main body had been captured, the pure-blood families had suffered serious losses, and there was also a very strong anti-pure-blood sentiment in society. Almost everything was developing in a direction unfavorable to them... There were very few paths left for them to turn the tables, so they had to seek another way."
"But coincidentally, it was also that Chamber of Secrets crisis that let them learn of the existence of Voldemort's Horcrux. And after exchanging information with one another, they also realized that Voldemort had left behind more than one Horcrux. As long as they did not allow all the Horcruxes to fall into my hands, Voldemort would not truly die, and they would still have hope of turning the tables... The original purpose of inciting the werewolf attack was precisely to cover their private investigation into the Horcruxes."
"They already knew about Horcruxes back then?"
Avada was somewhat surprised at first, but after thinking about it, he instead found it understandable.
In the original story, sending the diary into Hogwarts had merely been Lucius's personal action. But this time, the diary had received the full support of the stubborn pure-blood faction. Once more people knew about it, it was easy for someone to guess that it was actually a Horcrux.
Then, if Voldemort's old followers asked around among one another and pieced together all the details in Voldemort's words and actions from back then—or, if they were more proactive, perhaps directly dragged Slughorn out and questioned him... After going through all that, it would not be difficult to deduce the fact that Voldemort had more than one Horcrux.
"Not only that, in a certain sense, they were one step ahead of us."
Dumbledore suddenly revealed an expression of lingering fear.
"If not for the unexpected help I later received, they truly might have succeeded in turning the tables. They guessed that Harry Potter was Voldemort's Horcrux."
"Huh?!"
Avada froze outright.
Even Voldemort himself after his resurrection in the original story had not realized this!
"In truth, if one deliberately made the connection, the signs at the time were already very obvious."
Dumbledore sighed softly.
"Do not forget that Harry openly revealed his talent for Parseltongue. A half-blood wizard from the Potter family unexpectedly possessing the talent of Slytherin's heir was already curious enough. Add to that the fact that he once survived Voldemort, even killing Voldemort once, as well as the fact that repeatedly splitting the soul causes the main soul to become unstable... These were enough to deduce the truth of the matter."
(End of Chapter)