Chapter 193: Legendary Wizards
“…You despicable, shameless, cunning villain, you threw me and that bastard outside the city, in the wilderness, without any help, not even a ghost around…”
“You don’t have help, and neither does he. I think you already have quite an advantage.”
“How dare you say that! What did you do to that DeSantis? He kept roaring your name, his eyes were on fire, and he fought without regard for his own life. Look at my face!”
“It’s just a patch of skin burned off, at least you’re still alive.”
“Just? At least?”
“Calm down. Look, you let Jack Graves go, and I didn’t say anything to you. How can you possibly hold grudges against me?”
“…Vaughn Weasley, if we weren’t currently allied, and if the current situation weren’t unsuitable for internal conflict, I would cast the Killing Curse on you right now!”
Just as they were listening, the argument inside the room suddenly stopped.
Then, the door opened silently, exposing Donald, who was standing outside, to the sight of the two people inside.
Inside the door was the living room of the suite. It had the same luxurious style as the bedroom Donald had slept in before, and the lighting was excellent. Bright sunlight illuminated the living room in great detail.
A desk was placed directly facing the door. Vaughn Weasley was leaning over it, writing something on a letter paper.
On the sofa on the other side of the desk, Babajide Ajinbad, holding a glass of wine, glared at Donald with an unfriendly expression: “You Graves kid, what were you doing sneaking around outside?”
Donald ignored him and hobbled in, looking at Vaughn: “You didn’t catch Jack Graves?”
Vaughn, who was writing, looked up, glanced at him, and then at Ajinbad.
Ajinbad took a big gulp of wine and turned around. Donald then noticed that the other man looked extremely disheveled, his hair so messy it looked like it had just been blasted by firecrackers.
His robe was also tattered and torn, looking thoroughly ravaged. A large portion of flesh on his left cheek was almost charred, and the wound was surrounded by disgusting blisters.
It was hard to imagine what kind of difficult battle this seasoned old wizard had endured.
So it was no wonder he was in a bad mood. After taking a drink, he started cursing: “You still have the nerve to ask me why I didn’t catch him? I think you Graves are all a bunch of useless idiots, blind fools, and you deserve to suffer!”
“…”
Donald, already in a bad mood due to the heavy casualties among his kin, barely managed to suppress his anger, but his tone couldn’t be entirely controlled, with an implied threat: “I hope you respect the Graves family, Mr. Ajinbad, even if you are the Vice President of the Federation…”
“What? The noble Graves want to arrest me? I’ll call you useless, so what? You don’t even know that your own kin had something implanted in their minds by a Memory Magic master, what are you if not useless?”
“You—”
“Enough!”
Vaughn stopped their argument.
Vaughn, who had been writing with his head down, stopped his pen and looked at Donald Graves and Ajinbad, who had stopped arguing under his reprimand.
Both were a bit worked up, but for different reasons. It was less of an argument and more of an emotional release.
As for Ajinbad, he had been suddenly pulled into the battle by Vaughn the previous night. He hadn’t paid much attention at first, but he hadn’t expected that a “mere” Federal Auror Captain would almost bring him down.
He probably felt humiliated and was taking out his frustration!
As for Donald… with so many Aurors betraying and dying last night, it was a testament to his strong psychological fortitude that he hadn’t suffered a mental breakdown upon waking.
He paused, and after allowing the two to calm down, Vaughn said, “Jack Graves escaping is a result none of us wanted to see, but you are both mature wizards and should understand that now is not the time to argue and assign blame.”
“What’s important now is to take stock of the losses, deal with the aftermath of last night’s battle, and gather clues to investigate the internal affairs. Otherwise, if you argue here all day, will you catch Jack? Will you uncover the mastermind behind him? Will you get a hold of their whereabouts? What if they have a bigger plan?”
After listening silently for a while, Donald’s anger subsided significantly. He asked in a hoarse voice:
“Speaking of intelligence, I heard you talking earlier… DeSantis? Who is he? How did he get here?”
Before Vaughn could answer, Ajinbad said sarcastically, “How did he get here? You should be asking your Graves family that. I think that kid Jack Graves has been parasitized for quite some time. Who knows how many people in your family are like him now!”
Donald, now calm, didn’t bother with him and just looked at Vaughn.
Vaughn didn’t hide much and said, “It is a psychic entity. You can think of it as a living memory, except that this memory is a manifestation of another Memory Magic master implanted into Jack Graves’s mind world, essentially a clone of that master.”
Upon hearing this, Donald felt a chill run down his spine and couldn’t help but ask, “So Jack…”
Glancing at him, Vaughn shook his head. “The real Jack Graves, in a sense, is indeed still alive, but what he is now is merely a shell, a puppet for that psychic entity. Every single one of his thoughts is controlled by the other party.”
Donald stood there, stunned.
He didn’t have much research on Memory Magic, but as a wizard, he had encountered it to some extent. Although he had never heard of psychic entities before, he was well aware of another magic in the wizarding world with a similar function:
The Imperius Curse!
At this moment, he finally understood that Ajinbad’s sarcastic remarks earlier were not just taunts.
For a moment, countless thoughts surged through his mind. He swallowed dryly a few times and asked, “Does it have any characteristics…”
Before he could finish, Vaughn shook his head. “No. Such a spell did not exist in the wizarding world before. I still haven’t figured out what it is. The first time I encountered it, it was parasitizing a wizard’s memory. The second time was Jack Graves, where it parasitized Jack’s dreams… crossing from the first level of consciousness to near the second level is a completely different concept…”
Vaughn’s explanation abruptly stopped because he noticed that Donald’s expression was confused. He most likely didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Not all wizards studied the Golden Soul Theory.
This was normal. As knowledge systems grew, they inevitably became specialized, just like in the Muggle world. Not all wizards were proficient in every branch of magic. Some specialized in white magic, some in dark magic, and some in Transfiguration.
Even Dumbledore, one of the greatest white wizards of all time, was a novice in Potions and Divination.
Therefore, he didn’t explain further, simply saying, “In short, what Ajinbad said is not wrong. If you are willing to take my advice, I suggest you thoroughly investigate the situation within your 12 Pure-blood families when you get back.”
“Also…”
As he spoke, Vaughn turned to look out the window. “Since you are awake, you’d best return to Woolworths as soon as possible. They must be going crazy over there. Ever since I dealt with the nuclear bomb at dawn, ‘Dreamcatcher’ has been aggressively probing this city… I don’t like this feeling.”
Donald looked somewhat dazed, whether due to the shock of the number of casualties among his subordinates or Vaughn’s recent words.
However, he was still lucid enough to know that Vaughn was right. The priority now was not to get to the bottom of things, but to return to Congress as quickly as possible and report last night’s events.
“Thank you, Mr. Weasley…”
Donald left quickly. Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment, then continued, “I cannot make any decisions on behalf of my family, but I will personally remember your help. Please rest assured, I will do my best to resolve the misunderstandings between the family, Congress, and WAC, the Federation.”
After saying that, he bowed slightly and left in a hurry.
After he left, Ajinbad, who had been silently drinking, snorted, “Hmph, misunderstanding? He’s also a cunning fellow with no strong opinions.”
“How many wizards in the world are as steadfast and decisive as you?” Vaughn flattered him with a smile.
Ajinbad glared at him unhappily. “Stop with the sarcastic remarks. You didn’t want to say it when that Graves kid was around. Can you tell me now? What exactly is that DeSantis?”
“I told you, a psychic entity.”
“Nonsense! Do you think I don’t know what kind of life wizards create? The origin of Dementors is a secret to other countries, but the Federation knows. They might have some strange abilities, but they definitely don’t have magic as powerful as DeSantis’s!”
Ajinbad became more and more indignant as he spoke:
“Look at my face. Although I was careless, the fact is, when you teleported us away, I was completely suppressed by it initially… Its creator is definitely not an ordinary wizard!”
“But you eventually defeated it, otherwise it wouldn’t have escaped.”
Vaughn still said in a lighthearted tone.
“Bullshit!” Ajinbad couldn’t help but curse. “I am Dumbledore’s deputy, the wizard closest to being a legend in the Federation. If I can’t even defeat a psychic entity that’s like a clone, then what face do I have to live in this world? I like straightforwardness, do you understand, boy? Tell me, who is that legend?”
“…”
Vaughn did not answer and shook his head slightly. “I’m not sure yet, Ajinbad. Although I tricked it when I was in the mind world, its behavior doesn’t match the person I know…”
“Damn it! I hate riddles!”
“Me too.”
…
“My dear Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore… forgive me for addressing you so formally, my stoic friend. When I wrote to you last time, I thought I would receive your answer quickly, but you did not give me a precise reply afterwards. Unfortunately, I encountered Mr. DeSantis again. It has parasitized an Auror from the Graves family and manipulated that Auror to carry out a series of heinous schemes…”
Mr. Ajinbad, who disliked riddles, left.
Vaughn finally had time to refine his letter.
The tip of the high-quality fountain pen, with excellent elasticity, scratched across the parchment, the ink bleeding. Vaughn continued to write as he thought:
“…The existence of psychic entities amazes me. It even suppressed dear Ajinbad for a time, causing him to question life itself. This display of power should theoretically have strengthened my suspicion from the previous letter, but in reality, after truly interacting with it, I have developed some confusion regarding the views it expressed…”
“It’s unclear for now whether DeSantis’s statements are his true thoughts, or if, after being created as a true life form, it has developed its own independent thoughts? That kind of desperate extremism is hard to imagine coming from the mouth of a former legendary wizard, so all of this still needs to be verified, and it requires you to investigate on-site at the castle…”
“The existence of DeSantis has disrupted my plans to some extent. I will stay in Boston during this time, awaiting your investigation and the final decision of the Magical Congress. These will undoubtedly be difficult and dangerous days. The thought of Jack Graves escaping and possibly returning with a legendary wizard soon makes me lament for Harry—”
“How pitiful, a person who could perhaps free him from the shackles of fate, might die in a foreign land due to the callous indifference of some old wizard. And his fate, and Tom’s, are about to fall into an inescapable vicious cycle. It’s enough to make one feel sad just thinking about it…”
Vaughn stopped temporarily at this point.
“…Would this threat be too direct?” Muttering over the content of his writing, Vaughn decided to add a more subtle sentence:
“And Tom’s meticulously prepared toys, it’s strange. The human brain always becomes exceptionally clear in the face of danger. My hazy brain just recalled the whereabouts of a new toy. If you can’t find it, Tom will die smiling, won’t he?”
Well, that would be more subtle.
Vaughn nodded with satisfaction and decided to continue along this line of thought, hinting at the function of Tom’s next toy, and the possibility that it might appear in a dilapidated castle called Hogwarts.
By the time the letter was finished, a thick stack of parchment had accumulated.
He affixed his signature – “Your loyal, friendly, and enthusiastic Vaughn Septimus Weasley.”
The feeling of completing it in one go was exhilarating. Vaughn folded the letter paper, put it into an envelope, and then lit a phoenix feather.
Not long after, Matthew, who had just tidied up the room and was about to contact the hotel, was passing by Mr. Weasley’s suite when he faintly heard a peculiar conversation from inside:
“…It must be delivered to Dumbledore directly, no one else can be entrusted with it.”
“Caw?”
“The reward? Didn’t I already give you a Felix Felicis last time?”
“Caw!”
“Greedy thing. Alright, alright, I’ll write another letter to Snape. I’ve stored all my potions with him.”
“Caw caw!”
“How can you slander Professor Snape? He will definitely give it to you. If he doesn’t, I’ll write a letter to scold him for you when you bring back his reply!”
With Mr. Weasley’s assurance, the other creature that could only make “caw caw” sounds seemed very satisfied, its calls overflowing with joy.
Matthew outside scratched his head.
He had a feeling something was not quite right…
…
Hogwarts, with the holiday nearing its end, finally became lively again after nearly two months of quiet, as fifth and seventh-year students preparing for their exams returned early.
The castle courtyard in the afternoon was bathed in bright and warm sunlight. The wind blowing from the North Sea to the Scottish Highlands, therefore, no longer carried its usual biting chill.
Such weather was uncommon for Hogwarts, which was surrounded by mountains and had very humid summers. On this rare sunny day, even the fifth and seventh-year students engrossed in exam revision didn’t stay in the library. Instead, they gathered in the courtyard in twos and threes.
They let the sun warm their heads, which had almost drowned in the ocean of knowledge, making them believe the school was a paradise.
Then, when they saw Snape walking along the corridor, his robe dragging on the ground like a giant bat, their fantasy of paradise abruptly ended, and their minds instantly cleared.
Unconcerned by the fearful gazes of the young wizards, Snape “floated” down the corridor with a grim expression, passing by the noisy portraits he detested, and exchanged “disgusting” passwords with the hideous gargoyle outside the Headmaster’s office.
He arrived at the Headmaster’s office, which made him want to vomit!
“Say what you have to say quickly,” Snape said impatiently, shaking his hair, to Dumbledore, who was sitting behind a large desk, wearing crescent-shaped spectacles, and looking at a letter. “If it’s still about that ring, I advise you to give up. Of course, if you insist on wearing it, I don’t care, it’s not me who’s seeking death.”
Unlike usual, Dumbledore lowered his head and looked at the letter for a while longer before raising his head. “I have temporarily given up on the matter of the ring, Severus. I only called you here because I wanted to consult you about some potion-related matters.”
“Speak!”
Snape was as stingy with his words as possible.
Unconcerned by his attitude, Dumbledore, while gently stroking the letter in his hand with his finger in the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling window, pondered for a moment and asked, “I’d like to know… is there any potion that can prevent a wizard whose lifespan is nearing its end from dying?”
“…”
Snape’s facial muscles twitched, as if he were trying hard to control his urge to show a mocking smile. “Albus, may I ask if you accidentally poured bathwater into your brain while bathing yesterday?”
“Hmm—probably not.”
“What a shame. I was hoping to find an excuse for you, to sugarcoat why you would ask such a foolish question!”
Snape retorted venomously, baring his lips, “Great Dumbledore, who managed the Philosopher’s Stone for a semester, and now you’re asking me if there’s a potion that can rival the Philosopher’s Stone… it’s so touching that my mind has gone blank, and I can’t help but want to laugh.”
As if he hadn’t heard his sarcasm, Dumbledore, still looking down in thought, remained silent for a moment and continued, “Then, among the spells you know, is there any that could achieve such an effect? Even with some side effects, I just want to know if such a possibility exists.”
Snape was becoming impatient.
“If you’re bored, I suggest you take off your clothes, jump into the Black Lake, and swim to burn off your excess leisure time instead of amusing yourself with me. I still have a lot of medicinal herbs to process for the new semester’s teaching and don’t have time to play games with you…”
“Grindelwald is dying!”
Dumbledore’s sudden words made Snape choke on the rest of his sentence.
After a moment of stunned silence, he said dryly, “This is… surprising news…”
“Not surprising,” Dumbledore murmured. “For several years now, anomalies have appeared around him… anomalies that only appear when legendary wizards reach the end of their lifespans… During this phase, legendary wizards weaken day by day, as if the world is eliminating a destined-to-be-useless piece of waste. His body will lose its magic, his soul will gradually be unable to adapt to magic, and his talent will vanish with his fleeting life.”
“According to Vaughn, this is called the natural order. As far as I know, the only thing that can break this order is the Philosopher’s Stone. And I am certain that Nicolas Flamel only made one Philosopher’s Stone, and it was never released, either in its craftsmanship or as a finished product.”
Dumbledore’s calm tone carried a hint of sadness, as if the one dying wasn’t Grindelwald, but himself.
Even someone like Snape couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity.
His lips moved a few times, as if he wanted to say something to comfort the over-a-century-old man before him, but he was never eloquent. He tried a few times, but no words came out.
Then, he saw Dumbledore, who had been lost in thought and sighing a moment before, suddenly change the subject: “…So, is there any potion that can restore his magic and bring him back to peak condition?”
“…”
Snape’s face lengthened, and after a long pause, he snorted, “Dream on. There’s no such potion. What are you trying to do by asking these questions?”
Dumbledore didn’t answer him, but pushed the letter spread on the desk towards him.
Snape lowered his head to look.
The moment his eyes fell on the handwriting, he recognized that the letter was from Vaughn. It wasn’t that Vaughn’s copperplate script was particularly beautiful, but in comparison to the abstract, wild, and rather Expressionist style of Harry, Ron, and other young wizards, Vaughn’s handwriting was a balm for the eyes. It was hard not to be impressed.
After silently reading for a moment, Snape looked up. “That DeSantis is Grindelwald? What did you rely on to rule out others?”
“Just a suspicion.”
Dumbledore returned to his usual erratic demeanor, saying cheerfully, “Legendary wizards aren’t Hinkypunks; you can’t just flick the curtains and conjure a bunch of them. No matter how reclusive a wizard is, they have to go through a similar ‘path’… Do you know why legendary wizards are named ‘Legendary’?”
Snape was speechless. How could he know? Such conventional terms weren’t mentioned in textbooks, and one didn’t need to know them in daily life. From the time he could remember, everyone called them that, and he naturally did too.
Knowing he didn’t understand and not expecting him to answer, Dumbledore winked and smiled, “‘Legend’ is a genre of Muggle literature, an epic poem. To become a legend, you have to be like the protagonists in those poems.”
Epic poem? Protagonist?
Snape was lost in thought.
After a brief introduction, Dumbledore steered the conversation back on track. “Given its uniqueness, wizards who are well-informed know who the legendary wizards are. A new one who has never been heard of cannot suddenly appear.”
“If we know the total number and understand the distribution of legendary wizards, the range of suspicion can be further narrowed down… There are a total of 6 legendary wizards in North America: 3 are among America’s 12 Pure-blood families, 1 is in Canada, and the other 2 are indigenous wizards. Clearly, DeSantis cannot be any of them.”
Snape nodded silently.
He wouldn’t even mention the 3 legendary wizards belonging to the 12 Pure-bloods; their stance was unlikely to deviate from the 12 Pure-bloods. The Canadian legendary wizard also didn’t need to be considered – they were unwilling to even engage with Commonwealth affairs, so how could they bother with America’s mess?
The same applied to the 2 indigenous legendary wizards.
Indigenous American wizards were the group most separated from Muggle society in the world. Before the invasion of European colonists, they had already detached themselves from the mundane world, focusing on studying their Divination, astronomy, and other magic, with no interest in worldly affairs.
When conflict arose between indigenous people and colonists, eventually escalating into war and massacres, those individuals merely watched from the sidelines. The only action they took was when Ilvermorny was founded. If Isolde Sayre promised them wand-making technology and indigenous enrollment quotas at Ilvermorny in exchange for their oath to protect Ilvermorny, they would provide it.
They already disliked interacting with Muggles, posed no threat or aversion to the 《 Statute of Secrecy 》, and were outside the Federation’s jurisdiction. The 《 Rappaport Law 》 also couldn’t reach them.
Indigenous wizards lived much more freely than American wizards.
“There are 2 legendary wizards in South America, but they have been in Egypt for years studying the pyramids and have no interest in American affairs. The one in Oceania is the same… There are 4 legendary wizards in the Far East, but the situation with Qi Practitioners is even more… complicated than that of North American indigenous people. Due to events decades ago, they dislike interacting with international colleagues and are unwilling even to leave their secluded dwellings.”
“Apart from places closer to America, the rest are concentrated in Central Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Africa. The common characteristic of these places is that they have many countries, complex ethnic groups, and severe historical issues, leading to mutual checks and balances. It is basically impossible for them to travel thousands of miles to America to engage in conspiracies.”
Listening as Dumbledore eliminated them one by one, Snape realized that only three legendary wizards remained as the most suspicious.
Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Grindelwald, imprisoned in Nurmengard!
Dumbledore and Voldemort, of course, were impossible. These two were world-renowned top “patriots.” One had been entrenched in England for a hundred years like a hen brooding over eggs, unwilling to move.
The other’s eyes were also only on England and Hogwarts; the rest of the world seemed non-existent to him!
Snape’s face was stern, his dark but listless eyes looking at Dumbledore. “Counting it this way, Grindelwald does indeed fit better…”
Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, that’s why when Vaughn first wrote to me, I went to Nurmengard.”
“And the result?”
“…I’m not sure.”
Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the desk, the sharp sounds punctuated by his hesitant words. “I personally confirmed his decline, and that death was approaching him, but…”
However, no one could definitively say they could truly see through a legendary wizard.
Snape admitted that he himself couldn’t see through Dumbledore.
From the letter just received, Snape could also discern Vaughn’s hesitation regarding whether DeSantis was indeed Grindelwald, beneath his teasing remarks.
Although Vaughn did not directly deny it, merely describing his interaction with DeSantis, he had also mentioned more than once in his letters that ‘DeSantis’s’ views did not align with his understanding of Grindelwald. He leaned more towards the idea that these were the psychic entity’s ‘own’ generated concepts.
Potentially unrelated to its true self!
After thinking for a while, Snape found himself with no clues and gave up. “What are your thoughts now? Desperate measures for a desperate situation? Trying to prove through magic or other means that Grindelwald is not waiting to die in Nurmengard, but has broken free and is stirring up trouble again?”
“…”
Dumbledore did not speak. This was indeed his thought. Ever since he received Vaughn’s letter last time, he had been contemplating and seeking proof of who this wizard named DeSantis was.
However, neither investigating other legendary wizards nor personally confirming Grindelwald’s condition at Nurmengard yielded an answer.
He just had an instinct that the events in North America were likely related to Grindelwald.
But… there was no evidence!
Without evidence, he couldn’t make a decision. After all, apart from him, other countries and even those within the Federation held differing views on Grindelwald.
In the eyes of some, Grindelwald was undoubtedly an extreme megalomaniac, an unforgivable criminal.
But in the eyes of others – especially half-bloods and Muggle-born wizards – Grindelwald, who had once led the Saints and challenged the 《 Statute of Secrecy 》, could be considered an idol.
Not all countries had a Dumbledore who suppressed Pure-bloods and favored Muggles. In most countries, especially regions with strong magical traditions and numerous Pure-blood forces like France and the Balkan Peninsula, half-bloods and Muggle-born wizards faced difficult circumstances.
Otherwise, Grindelwald wouldn’t have been able to rally so many supporters across Europe back then. Even the Federation at the time had to consider Grindelwald as a candidate for President in response to global public demand.
This was precisely why Dumbledore was trying every means to confirm whether “DeSantis” was related to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald’s terror never stemmed from his magic.
It stemmed from his ideology!
If such a unique legend, and if “DeSantis” was his doing, then the situation in North America would not stop there.
Instead, it would escalate further under his incitement and instigation!
Understanding Dumbledore’s distress, Snape no longer offered sarcastic remarks. He began to think and recall the potion books and ancient prescriptions he had read, trying to find any clues to provide to Dumbledore for reference.
However, he stayed until nightfall with no results.
Prolonging the life of a wizard whose lifespan had reached its end was unheard of in potions. The Golden Soul Theory, as it had developed, held a consensus in the wizarding world that lifespan was determined not only by physical aging but also by the “wear and tear” of the soul.
Physical aging was not a difficult problem for potions. The Primeval Body Potion could reshape a physical body （ Voldemort’s resurrection involved a body shaped by this potion ）. The difficult part was that almost no potion could affect the soul.
