Mastering Lightning from Hogwarts

"Is the thing from Ignottus Peverell's tomb with you?" Anduin asked, gazing calmly at Grindelwald. "Don't deny it. I wouldn't have come looking for you if I didn't have solid evidence."

"Heh, another one coveting the Deathly Hallows."

Grindelwald sneered. "Indeed, I did obtain some spoils from the Peverell tomb. But what if I'm unwilling to hand them over to you?"

"Then are you planning to kill me too? Too bad I don't have my wand with me right now. You won't be able to get any spoils from me."

The old man glanced at the row of wands before him, then provocatively glanced at Anduin.

In Grindelwald's eyes, this young man's visit was certainly malicious, placing him in the same category as those unscrupulous fanatics.

Having been tough for over a century, he naturally wouldn't soften in the face of mere threats. Grindelwald was even prepared to fight to the death.

However, after hearing Grindelwald's words, Anduin didn't reveal his ferocious claws as he had imagined. The young man still stared at him indifferently.

After a long while, Anduin finally said loudly, "No, I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't attack you. I'm just honestly answering your question, and I hope you can honestly tell me the answer."

"Dumbledore?"

Grindelwald was stunned upon hearing this. He hadn't expected the other party to have a relationship with Dumbledore. Then, he re-evaluated the young man before him, scrutinizing him seriously and solemnly.

Calm, elegant, poised, well-dressed, and with a confident gaze that wasn't arrogant like other young people.

In his magical perception, the other party was like a bottomless abyss, pitch black and unfathomable.

At the same time, there wasn't a trace of excess magic leaking from his body. Just looking at him almost caused Grindelwald's consciousness to be unable to return.

Only when his perception delved to a certain depth could he glimpse a trace of the other party's power through the abyss.

That energy was as sharp and swift as a blade, and as violent and ferocious as thunder. Just touching it slightly made his nerves ache.

His intuition told him that this young man… was strong!

And not just ordinary strong. After a deeper understanding, Grindelwald felt that Anduin was like a terrifying storm about to erupt at any moment, with energy contained within that was no less than his own. It seemed that the other party indeed possessed the strength to destroy the Silver Spears.

During Grindelwald's brief probing, Anduin remained seated calmly, disregarding the other party's constantly roaming mental perception.

Anduin's composure made Grindelwald value him from the bottom of his heart.

"Slytherin?" After a long period of silence and silent confrontation, Grindelwald spoke first.

"Isn't it obvious?" Anduin said with a slight curl of his lips.

Grindelwald nodded slightly, then sat up straight, clasped his hands on the table, and said with a solemn expression, "Then let me formally introduce myself. Gellert Grindelwald, former leader of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, a failure abandoned by the wizarding world."

"Anduin Wilson." Anduin mimicked Grindelwald's posture, similarly straightening his face. "Founder of Silver Lightning Alchemy Development Company, instructor of tactical training for international Aurors and equipment supplier, and currently serving as a professor of tactical training at Hogwarts."

"So you're the famous Silver Lightning Trading Company? Even in this remote mountain forest, I've heard the name of Silver Lightning more than once. It seems I really am old. I didn't expect someone like you to appear in the wizarding world after only a few decades away."

Grindelwald shook his head with a bitter expression, then stared at Anduin's eyes meaningfully. "What exactly do you want?"

"Didn't I already answer that question once?" Anduin asked, playing dumb.

"Anduin, may I call you that?"

After seeing Anduin nod, Grindelwald continued, "Anduin, wasting an old man's time is very cruel. You should know I'm not talking about the Peverell tomb."

"You've achieved so much at such a young age, and your strength is unbelievably strong. To get everything you have today, you must have put in more effort and dedication than ordinary people."

"Similarly, your vision must not be limited to the present. I'm curious… what are your ambitions, ideals, and goals? Or rather, what exactly do you want to achieve?"

Grindelwald looked at Anduin with interest, as if admiring a work of art about to be unveiled.

"Is that important?" Anduin tapped his fingers and asked in a low voice.

"Perhaps important, perhaps not important," Grindelwald murmured twice, then looked at Anduin with shining eyes. "I hope you can satisfy an old man's curiosity, or you can see this as a trade. The things in the Peverell tomb don't mean much to me now. I'm willing to exchange them for an answer."

For some reason, after asking this question, Grindelwald became much more energetic, as if Anduin's answer could bring him some satisfaction.

"A failure, is that your assessment of yourself?"

Anduin pondered for a moment. "Acknowledging your failure, but not thinking that what you did was wrong. Is this the answer you came to after decades of imprisonment and reflection? It seems you're still unwilling to give up on everything back then!"

Grindelwald sighed slightly. "How easy is it to give up one's ideals? I seemed to be wrong, yet it seemed I wasn't wrong, but in the end, I was still wrong."

Anduin could still discern a lot from the old man's cryptic words.

Deep down, Grindelwald seemed to think that the reason his revolution failed wasn't because there was a problem with the ideology, but because the methods and measures he used led to the defeat.

Therefore, he thought he was wrong, yet not wrong.

Grindelwald attributed the demise of the revolution to those wrong methods. He believed that he was ultimately wrong, perhaps also knowing that the Sacred Twenty-Eight's failure had reached the point of no return.

As for whether Grindelwald was right or wrong back then, Anduin couldn't give a final conclusion and was too lazy to comment.

Ruling the world and letting wizards stand up and be masters of their own house was a bit of a pipe dream.

After discovering that he couldn't gain the support of all wizards, Grindelwald wanted to expose the wizarding world to the Muggle world, thereby coercing the entire wizarding world to unite against Muggles.

This behavior was too dangerous and extreme, and opposition was inevitable.

As for whether a gentler or more extreme method could achieve this goal?

Anduin remained pessimistic.

Especially after learning those historical truths from Nicolas Flamel, he felt that this ideal was too naive.

Not to mention those wizards who yearned for peace and were close to Muggles, even the clergy in the Vatican, who had always stood on the same front as Muggles, wouldn't sit idly by.

So, even if Grindelwald achieved the goal of uniting the entire wizarding world, he would be blocked by new enemies. He wondered what kind of expression he would have when he saw a group of priests holding Gatling guns standing in front of him?

The reason why the International Confederation of Wizards was so united in choosing to stop Grindelwald was probably because they were unwilling to restart the war with the Vatican, which had maintained peace for hundreds of years.

But besides that, Anduin could still see why the other party was so entangled with his answer.

"So what you really want to ask is, can I become the next you, a you who won't make mistakes, a you who might be able to realize your ultimate ideal for you?"

Anduin laughed self-deprecatingly. "Sorry, I'm not interested in that kind of ethereal goal. I just simply want to control my own destiny."

"That's all?"

Grindelwald stared at him with some disbelief. He was sure of the logic that the greater the power, the greater the ambition. How could anyone not want to go further after mastering great power?

"That's all." Anduin paused. "I know you might not believe it, but I'm not interested in power in the traditional sense."

"Or rather, compared to your method of using strong power to change the world, trying to improve the situation of wizards, I prefer to focus on practical matters."

"As long as I can improve the quality of life of the wizarding community and let them start pursuing a more convenient and fulfilling lifestyle, I can gather a huge amount of money and influence!"

"Money? Influence? What's the use of these things?" Grindelwald seemed dissatisfied with Anduin's answer, or rather, he thought the other party's vision was too small.

Anduin didn't care about Grindelwald's dissatisfaction, just chuckled, "Hehe, influence is sometimes equivalent to power! And money is the simplest and most direct weapon in this world!"

"When wizards all over the world can't live without me in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, I'm the real master of the wizarding world! Do you believe that even if I call black white, there will be thousands of people who follow me!"

"But what's the point of that?" Grindelwald still couldn't understand. "Even if you become the world's largest financier, the wizarding world can't take that step, then wizards can only hide in the corners of the world and live in frustration!"

"But what's the cost of taking that step? It's war, and the wizarding population may be reduced by more than half. Once it fails, they may become like rats crossing the street, and can only hide in darker caves to survive."

"Even if they succeed, they probably won't have the energy to enjoy the fruits of victory, because they will fear whether the Muggles will make a comeback, whether they will turn over and be masters again."

"And before that, the first thing they have to face is the opponents in the wizarding community. Perhaps a civil war will stop you from moving forward."

"This is also the reason why you took the initiative to give up, right? You saw it in advance, saw the wizarding world that was badly damaged after the war. In comparison, letting more wizards survive is a greater benefit!"

"A greater benefit…" Grindelwald fell silent for a while.

Yes, his ideal back then was 'for the greater good,' but in the end, he realized that his failure was the greater good for the wizarding world.

How ironic!

"Is there no other way out?" After talking with Anduin, Grindelwald fell into the confusion of the past few decades again.

He just wanted to fight for a broader living space and greater voice for wizards.

But no matter how he deduced, he couldn't find a path to achieve this goal.

When Grindelwald saw Anduin, he originally thought he could find an answer from the other party, or use his experience to let Anduin take fewer detours.

But the result was the opposite. Not only did the other party have different ideas from him, but he also gave him a head-on blow with facts. It can be said that Anduin's appearance made Grindelwald more depressed than before.

Seeing Grindelwald fall into self-doubt, Anduin couldn't bear to enlighten him, "Your ideal can't be said to be wrong, but it is indeed a bit too hasty."

"In the final analysis, the biggest problem currently hindering the development of the wizarding world is actually the population."

"Population?" Grindelwald frowned upon hearing this, and looked up at the other party again.

"That's right, the number of wizards is really too small. If you want to go further, the first thing to do is to let those wizards find partners and have more children."

"Only when the population goes up and they find that there is not enough living space will they desire change and desire expansion."

"And to do this, it is impossible to digest it within the wizarding community. Inbreeding will only reduce the survival rate of offspring. Therefore, the first thing to do is to marry Muggle wizards, or perhaps directly marry Muggles!"

"This…" Grindelwald was a little confused by what Anduin said. He was clearly talking about the future of the wizarding world before, how did he suddenly switch to population?

But he could realize that what Anduin said was right, but at the same time, Grindelwald suddenly realized something.

"That's right… don't you feel like it sounds familiar?" Noticing Grindelwald's expression, Anduin nodded and said, "The International Confederation of Wizards has actually been working in this direction!"

"First, the Statute of Secrecy was used to ensure the safety of wizards, and Muggle-born wizards were supported to improve their status in the wizarding world, and then the gap between wizards and Muggles was gradually weakened in publicity, and finally the voice of rejecting the combination of wizards and Muggles was weakened."

"But unfortunately, in the eyes of the public, this is wizards avoiding Muggles, a symbol of weakness, so every time the strategy progresses halfway, there are always some extremists who jump out and sing the opposite tune."

Speaking of this, Anduin also glanced at Grindelwald intentionally or unintentionally. In terms of destroying the environment, this guy is actually no different from Voldemort.

"What?" Grindelwald was shocked beyond measure upon hearing this. "So I've actually been helping?"

"Don't think everyone is a fool!" Anduin shook his head helplessly. "There are many strategists with long-term vision in the International Confederation of Wizards, but unfortunately some people only see the immediate interests and stubbornly think they are right."

First release latest.