Hogwarts' Golden Glory

Happy times are always fleeting, and the Christmas ball ended quickly.

The young couple darted through the garden, trying to avoid Filch and Snape's patrols.

Couples also have endless things to talk about, but thankfully they have their own special place.

The night is already deep.

Most of the lights in the castle had been turned off, leaving only a few dim flames every few feet in the corridors, as if providing minimal guidance for those who were still awake.

Kane did not slow down as he walked up to the eighth floor.

He stopped in front of the gargoyle, gave the command, and the gargoyle jumped away.

The spiral staircase carried him upwards, and the door at the end of the corridor was ajar, letting in a sliver of warm yellow light through the crack.

He pushed open the door and went inside.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his hands clasped together on the surface.

His posture remained steady, but his shoulders were straighter than usual, as if he were maintaining a posture that required extra effort.

Grindelwald stood by the window, his back to the door, the edges of his dark gray robe gleaming faintly in the candlelight.

He heard the door open, but didn't turn around immediately.

"You've come," said Dumbledore.

Kane closed the door and walked to his desk.

His gaze swept quickly between the two men. Dumbledore's expression lacked its usual relaxed curve, and Grindelwald's back remained still, as if waiting for him to speak first.

"What happened?" Kane asked.

Grindelwald turned around.

His gray hair was more noticeable in the candlelight than before, but his overall demeanor seemed to have changed!

His prophetic eyes looked somewhat cloudy at that moment.

"I found it," he said.

"What did you find?"

Grindelwald did not answer immediately.

He walked back to Dumbledore's table, placed one hand on the surface, his knuckles naturally bent, as if adjusting himself after standing there for too long.

"The direction I mentioned to you before. What lies beyond those fragments is older than the fragments themselves, closer to the source than all the magic we know."

"What is the source?"

"The source of magic."

Grindelwald said, "It's not the kind of magic that comes through a wand, not the kind that's carried in your blood; it's something that seeps out from an earlier level. It can reorganize the rules, and it can change the framework that has already been established."

"Simply put, I already know how to take the next step to something stronger, and I've already taken half a step!"

As Grindelwald finished speaking, magic surged around him!

The surrounding magical elements were unusually volatile, seemingly poised to devour a wizard at any moment.

At this moment, Grindelwald is definitely more powerful than Voldemort and Dumbledore at their peak!

Sensing Grindelwald's power, Kane didn't make much of a move.

If it were simply a matter of becoming stronger, the other party would certainly have reacted in more ways than just this.

Dumbledore sat at the table, his fingers interlaced, and calmly began the conversation: "While he was away, he had been following that lead. He found it."

Grindelwald's gaze fell on Kane: "I saw a part of it. Not the whole thing, but enough to confirm its existence. This power doesn't need spells, it doesn't need wands. You just need to know it's there, and it will respond to you on its own. But I'm not the first person to discover it."

Kane looked up: "Someone else has it?"

Grindelwald paused for a moment.

His gaze passed over Kane's shoulder and landed on the bookshelf behind him, as if searching for a reference point he already knew but needed to confirm: "In tracing that path, I passed several locations. Those locations weren't on the map, nor in any known magical records. Someone had traveled the same route much earlier, leaving marks along the way. Those marks weren't left by chance."

"What kind of mark did you see?"

"It's a mark I don't recognize. It doesn't belong to the contemporary magic system, nor to any known school of magic, but its energy level far exceeds what contemporary black magic can achieve."

Dumbledore also raised his gaze; the atmosphere of the night was gradually shifting from an ordinary late-night conversation to a deeper, yet unnamed, event.

"You mean, someone mastered that power before you did?"

Grindelwald didn't look away: "When I confirmed its existence, I realized it had already been touched. The mark is new, and it couldn't have been more than a year ago."

"But I am Voldemort! This means that the next opponent will be even more difficult to deal with."

Kane stood in front of the desk, his gaze never leaving Grindelwald.

Dumbledore placed his hands on the table, his gaze fixed on Grindelwald's direction, as if to confirm that he had finished speaking.

"Have you confirmed the direction of those markings?" Kane asked.

"I've confirmed part of it," Grindelwald said. "The starting point of that road is there, but I haven't reached the end yet."

"The other person has definitely gone further than me."

The three fell silent; sometimes the unknown is the most terrifying.

"How long will it take you to fully master this power?" Kane asked.

Grindelwald said, "I'm not sure. It's not like ordinary magic, which you can gradually master through practice. It's more like you reach a certain point, and it starts to approach you on its own."

His gaze shifted slightly in the candlelight. "I've already taken half a step, but for the remaining half, I need someone by my side."

Grindelwald looked at Kane, his voice steady and clear: "I can teach you. I've walked this path before, and I'm heading in the right direction. You can go faster and get closer."

Kane refused first.

"I have my own path, and I haven't finished walking it yet. I've been walking that path for a long time. I don't want to change direction halfway through."

Dumbledore's gaze lingered on him for a moment, then he lowered his eyes, as if they were having a conversation where the outcome was already known but needed to be heard to be confirmed.

Grindelwald looked at Kane, paused for a moment, then looked away: "Then I won't teach you for now. Come find me when you need it."

"It's the same if you teach Dumbledore; he will naturally tell me, and I will know too."

Grindelwald turned to look at Dumbledore, who was sitting behind his desk, his hands clasped together, waiting quietly, as if it were a conversation that was certain to happen but whose exact time was unknown.

After hearing Kane's words, he seemed to be waiting for Grindelwald's response, the candlelight casting a long and steady shadow on his profile.

"Do you want to learn?" Grindelwald asked.

"I've been learning all along, haven't I?" Dumbledore said.