I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 278 Fly, Krum, like a true warrior

"Irving!"

Suddenly, Dumbledore's hand landed on Owen's shoulder.

A strange magic, like an interlude, broke the symphony that resonated within him.

Then, Irving's curse was broken.

In a daze, he came back to his senses.

The girl's complex thoughts almost made him lose himself in her.

"Owen!" Old Deng looked at him seriously, his crescent-shaped eyes swirling with barely suppressed anger.

How could he not be furious at such a blatant invasion of another's memories, especially right in front of him?

"This act of spying on other people's memories—"

"I didn't pry into her memories." Owen rubbed his head and looked directly into Old Deng's eyes.

His grey eyes were so pure, the emerald spots in his pupils like jewels. "Can't you tell whether I've used the Legilimency Spell or not?"

He speaks bluntly.

Dumbledore frowned slightly.

As the unparalleled master of Legilimency in the magical world, his application of this magic has reached its pinnacle.

Just now, Irving did indeed cast a spell that was very similar to the Legilimency Spell, at least the first half of it.

However, the spell in the second half is slightly different.

It was like a combination of spells, one half being mind control and the other half seemingly a bewitching spell. With the old headmaster's extensive magical knowledge, he naturally recognized that it was a spell originating from Beauxbatons, and that girl named Fleur seemed to have mastered this kind of magic.

Meanwhile, seeing Dumbledore's brows gradually relax, Owen slowly revealed the whole story: "Of course I can't stand still."

He had long harbored the idea of ​​inventing a completely new spell.

Two years ago, he used a combination of the Legilimency and Imperishable Charms to create a powerful mental attack similar to Inception when he attacked Bella.

At that time, he was experimenting with a completely new kind of magic.

The theoretical knowledge came from the experience of the first playthrough, but it was Nick's help that truly enabled him to invent this spell.

As an alchemist who has lived for over six hundred years, the number of spells he possesses is simply vast.

A magical Veela spell successfully inspired Owen.

Like Bella, the spellcaster simply and brutally pries open the victim's heart, then constructs a world belonging to the spellcaster from her own memories, and silently buries the spellcaster's will into the deepest part of the victim's memory.

Magic that can completely change a person's personality has huge flaws.

First of all, there aren't many enemies who could make Irving think about changing his personality.

Secondly, the conditions for casting the spell are too difficult; it requires close face-to-face contact and cannot be disturbed.

Finally—this method is ineffective against people with strong minds. If the other person has no seeds of doubt in their heart, then no matter how strong the storm of their instigation is, it cannot be irrigated.

But—his improved spell is different from the previous ones.

"I just gave her a little psychological suggestion, prompting her to reveal what she feared most: her own memories."

Irving said calmly, "Her mental fluctuations just now were too intense."

"Yes—" Dumbledore did not deny it.

He seemed to have just seen some blurry images.

Very few.

Old Deng's ability to manipulate minds has almost become a passive skill. Of course, most of the time he can easily guess the secrets written on the faces of those naive children based on his complex life experience over the past hundred years.

But when he encounters situations involving ancient magic, deities, or Outer Gods—situations that could pose a crisis to the entire world—he doesn't hesitate to use this magic.

Old Deng isn't pedantic; you're joking about the title "White Demon King."

Dumbledore's true greatness lies in the fact that even with the ability to easily see into people's hearts, he was strict with himself and respected others.

Otherwise, characters like Quirinas Quirrell (first year), Gilderoy Lockhart, and Barty Krach Jr. disguised as Mad-Eye Moody would be out of the picture.

Just now, that girl's mental state fluctuated too much.

For a moment, he saw something through his daze.

That looks like a laboratory.

In an instant, the old principal thought of some old, familiar alchemical human experiments.

Dumbledore's gaze gradually deepened, his brow furrowing slightly. He then realized that the truth his old friend, Professor Euryale, knew about that mysterious magic was only the tip of the iceberg of the North American fog. What exactly had happened there?

Things may be far darker and more complicated than he imagined.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!"

On the other side, Koyatl slumped to the ground.

She was breathing heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat.

The terrifying images in my mind are disappearing rapidly.

All I could hear was Mr. Bagman's shouting.

And the cheers of the young wizards.

"Incredible! This is an eye-opener!" exclaimed Mr. Bagman. "It's unbelievable that young wizards have become this powerful. Calling them legendary wizards wouldn't be an exaggeration."

"Thinking back to when I was seventeen—"

Just as Mr. Bagman was talking at length about when he was seventeen...

Koyatl has gradually recovered.

Owen was right; he did not pry into her memories.

He was simply inducing the other person to release their deepest fears.

Like a Boggart, it is not inherently aggressive. If it is a normal Legilimency or Imperius Curse, the person being controlled will feel as if their head has been scooped out with an iron spoon.

It will take a long time to recover.

Koyatl, however, did not feel this way.

What truly terrified her came from the deepest recesses of her own memory, not from external objects.

The scene remained quiet for a long time before thunderous applause erupted.

"Bagman," Buddy Krach reminded him appropriately from the side.

"Oh—okay." Mr. Bagman paused, seemingly realizing that his seventeen-year-old self was not well-received; no one wanted to hear about the stupid things a lewd man did at seventeen.

"Let me wait for the judges' scores," he said somewhat awkwardly, then quickly added.

At this point, Dumbledore returned to the podium.

His tall figure blocked out the sun, and then, just for a moment, the shadow disappeared as the principal sat down, and the light returned to the world.

"Something happened?"

"Hmm!" the old principal replied.

"Quite a few things have been happening lately," Grindelwald said casually, his gaze seemingly glancing at a corner of the stands.

"I'm sorry to trouble you again."

Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Grindelwald couldn't help but reveal a mocking smile. "I never thought that one day I would be involved in something like saving the world."

"It's absurd," he said.

By this time, the court had been restored, and the referees had finished scoring.

All of them scored 9.5.

Professor Yullari even gave it a perfect score.

Then Mr. Bagman's voice rang out again, "Oh! That's a very high score!"

"Alright! Let me compose myself. Next up, please welcome the warrior from Durmstrang Academy of Magic, Viktor Krum!!!"

A burst of enthusiastic applause suddenly erupted from the audience.

"Wenda will take over Durmstrang's affairs," Grindelwald said calmly. He looked up at the field, where Krum, dressed in a black and brown robe, walked out.

"It's been almost a year, she should have gotten rid of all those in the way by now."

Upon hearing this, the old principal frowned slightly but said nothing more.

"When do we depart?"

"After Christmas."

"it is good."

The old headmaster then asked, "About the fairies?"

"I've told Blake everything I know. They've been keeping a low profile, and gathering information is too time-consuming. Let's leave this to that kid!" Grindelwald smiled faintly. "Since they're after him, it's perfect for him to break the deadlock."

"That's all we can do."

On the other side, around the field, Koyatel, who had recovered, was staring at Irving with a cold expression.

What just happened feels like a dream; now, when I try to recall it, all that's left is a vague impression.

But the fear can never be forgotten.

"Why are you looking at me!" Irving casually sat on a rock, waiting for things to go wrong in the game.

He's ready to play.

"Could it be that she's attracted to my brother's looks?"

As he spoke, he brazenly sized up the girl in front of him, until the look of disgust in her eyes grew stronger, before he looked away. "Unfortunately, my brother has already been taken. You're too late."

"Sanchez, is it?" Koyatl finally spoke.

Her icy voice was like the cold wind of December.

"I'll remember you."

"Huh?" The person was taken aback. "No!"

"Why are you remembering me! You know how dangerous this is? Love arrives so quietly. If you keep going like this, you'll be ruined for life by meeting Sanchez!"

"Hmph!" she sneered, then asked bluntly, "What magic did you just use on me?"

"Just now?" Owen casually stretched, arms outstretched. He hadn't slept well today, being woken up at three or four in the morning. The match wasn't supposed to start until nine. "I invented... tentatively, the Fear Spell!"

"Fear spell?"

A cautious glint appeared in the girl's beautiful eyes. "You invented it?"

"What? You don't believe me?" Owen jumped up. "Dude, do you understand what a new generation of wizarding leader is? I single-handedly orchestrated Miss Granger's rise to wizarding stardom. It's not that I look down on you, but with your level of magic, I could take on ten of you!"

Even if you use that strange magic.

"magic?"

When Irving said those two words, the girl instinctively took a half step back.

Then the caution in his eyes grew stronger.

As if she were afraid of something, she stopped talking to Owen and turned to leave.

"Hey!" Seeing this, Irving quickly called out, "Let's grab some tea sometime! Let's chat!"

You need talk therapy. Trust me, I can heal you!

His voice was loud, but it didn't carry far.

Because the screams around him were much louder than his voice.

"ah!!!"

"Krum!!!"

The screams rose and fell, as if they were going mad.

The girls' voices reflected the popularity of this brilliant Quidditch Seeker.

This is the season when flowers bloom.

The cold winter suddenly became hot.

Amidst the shouts and cheers from the crowd, Krum emerged.

Unlike the previous two warriors, Krum was cautious, but unlike Cedric, he didn't start flipping through props right away.

He wasn't as nonchalant as Koyatl.

Of the three who appeared, he was the one who looked the most normal.

"Look! Krum, what is he doing?"

Someone in the crowd gasped in surprise.

Because they noticed that Krum ran towards the inner circle the moment he came out of the players' room.

high speed.

His robust physique exuded hormones even in the winter.

"Clang!"

"Bang!"

The same vibration came from beneath my feet, the sound of the magical puppet crawling out of the ground.

The sudden turn of events nearly caused Krum to lose his balance and fall.

However, as a genius Seeker, his powerful physical abilities allowed him to forcefully break through inertia and rely on the magical reaction force of the puppet's greatsword to adjust his body balance.

"Oh my God!"

Another wave of cheers erupted from the stands.

Because the next moment, Krum made a bold move.

He gripped the puppet's greatsword like a raccoon clinging to a tree.

As the magical puppet swung its sword in a wide arc, he released his grip at the opportune moment and was flung away like a cannonball.

"Fire bolts are coming!"

He drew a beautiful arc in the sky.

Just as they landed, a beautiful flying broom came hurtling from the castle.

Krum adjusted his posture and landed perfectly on it.

This scene naturally drew cheers from the young wizards present.

Ron, in particular, was screaming at the top of his lungs.

It was as if he himself was soaring through the sky.

"Depend on!"

At the very edge of the outer circle, Irving, who was sitting on a rock watching the show, frowned and cursed.

Look how effortlessly he handles it!

They definitely knew about the match beforehand!

I knew it—cheating is a tradition in the Three Kingdoms Tournament!

They're all so blatantly brazen!

The scene shifts to Krum in the sky, using his superb flying skills to dodge the puppets' attacks.

He was incredibly fast.

He demonstrated the excellent performance of the fire crossbow without reservation.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived near Bakal.

The golden flames brushed past him. This time, our Bakal was determined that as long as he didn't fly away and reveal the golden egg beneath him, no one could steal it.

Next, Krum began to provoke the dragon relentlessly.

All sorts of strange spells flew from the tip of his wand.

But for Bakal, those spells wouldn't even scratch its scales.

Hey—Old Salty Fish Dragon just lay there, dozing off with his eyes half-closed. Come on down if you dare!

"Eye-Bleeding Curse! Krum has used the Eye-Bleeding Curse!" In the stands, Mr. Bagman's eyes lit up. "As everyone knows, this is an excellent choice for dealing with dragons, because the eyes are the most vulnerable part of a dragon due to its scales."

"but--"

"Oh dear! What a pity. Our fire dragon just happened to have its eyes closed, and the spell was blocked by its diamond-like eyelids."

Krum's Eye Curse is very powerful.

Irving, who was far away, could sense it.

Because Bakal's body trembled slightly the moment he was hit.

This shows that although the curse did not damage its eyes, it still felt a lot of pain after being punched.

If it were an ordinary dragon, it would have already flew into a rage, flapping its wings and swatting that fly in the sky to death.

But Bakkar remained unmoved!

It seemed truly determined not to leave the top of the pyramid no matter what.

For more than ten minutes, while the young wizards in the stands began to doze off, Krum in the sky was unable to provoke Bakal's anger.

"Damn it!" Krum in the sky had a gloomy face; he was getting increasingly impatient.

Several times, the puppets almost guessed his flight path, with boulders and greatswords narrowly missing him time and again.

Even busier than him were Owen and a group of Hogwarts professors, as they had to fend off falling rocks and greatswords from all sides to prevent them from randomly killing a lucky spectator in the stands.

"I have to use some powerful magic," he murmured to himself.

Ordinary spells cannot break through Bakal's defenses, and naturally, they will not elicit a reaction from him.

With these thoughts in mind, Krum in the sky couldn't help but look up at Grindelwald sitting on the platform.

He noticed that the other person was looking at him with a reproachful expression.

"You've disappointed me so much."

Suddenly, Grindelwald's deep voice came from the wind.

Right next to Krum's ear.

"Indecisive, just like your grandfather who only obeys the Ministry of Magic and has no brains whatsoever!"

"No!!!" From the sky, Krum, who had feinted and broken free from the puppet's grasp, roared, "My grandfather is a hero!"

What's the difference between a brainless hero and a fool?

"No! You executioner! Even if you've bribed all the Federation officials, that won't wash away your sins!" Krum roared at Grindelwald in the stands like a madman.

But the howling wind and the explosions caused by Owen and his group reaching the boulder completely drowned out his voice. No one could hear what he was saying; they could only watch as he turned red-eyed and flew into a rage of impotence.

"Evil!" Grindelwald's cold voice carried on the wind. "If you believe that leading wizards towards change is evil, and maintaining the existing order is righteous, then how can you say that I, who have been declaring free by the existing righteous order and the Federation, am evil, while your grandfather's efforts to prevent wizards from reaching a greater future are righteous?"

"You've corrupted them all! You've bewitched them once again!" The flying broomstick suddenly unleashed a powerful force, shoving Krum into the sky. Like a galloping wild horse, every breath it exhaled condensed into mist in the cold air.

Only in this way could he forget his pain and gain that tiny bit of self-righteous freedom.

"To bewitch people?" Grindelwald's voice had never been so clear. His calm yet magnetic voice, with its unique charm, slowly drifted over. "History always repeats itself."

"In 1933, thousands of wizards followed me. Were they all deceived?"

A leader is elected by the people because he clearly articulates his plan; those with aspirations elected me.

"You're a monster!"

"Really? So you must also condemn those who promoted this monster."

Are they all monsters?

No—Cruise, they're just ordinary people—ordinary people.

They—they staked everything, entrusting the future of wizarding to an extraordinary figure.

This has been true in the past, and it will remain true in the future.

What do you want to do? Imprison people's free will?

Many people are confused, and perhaps you have been too: Why? Why do people always follow me, as always?

Because deep down, they all share the same values ​​as me.” Gellert’s magnetic, calm voice, though devoid of any inflection, exuded a powerful force that gradually intensified.

"You can't deny all of this. The desire for something better and greater comes from the deepest part of the human heart, and I am just a part of that greatness, from all of you."

See—it's not all negative.

"No—no, something's wrong, it can't be like this!" Krum howled in anguish.

His grandfather died at the hands of Grindelwald.

He was at the height of his power in the 1930s.

Perhaps for Grindelwald, killing his grandfather was just a trivial act of swinging his staff, but it fundamentally changed his family.

My father never mentioned why my grandfather died.

He simply left behind hatred, using it as a tool to discipline his children.

When he discovered that his son had some talent for flying, he trained him even more intensely and urged him on. The father often said: "Don't let your grandfather's heroic reputation be tarnished."

But he never met his grandfather.

He had only ever encountered a hysterical, hate-filled father.

"Relax!" Grindelwald's voice came again.

"You know the spell," he said. "Like Dumbledore always said, what makes us great is choice. Faced with past pain, you have to make a choice: continue to hate me, or set yourself free."

His voice suddenly softened, like a spring breeze, though still sharp, it foreshadowed the end of winter.

Upon hearing this, Krum was deeply moved.

He gazed at his magic wand.

Made of hornbeam wood, its core is the tendon of a dragon's heart.

Wands made from dragons are often the most susceptible to succumbing to dark magic.

However, they will not voluntarily veer towards dark magic.

Suddenly, he heard Mr. Ollivander's voice in his ear.

"Fly, Krum! You know the freedom of flight. From the very beginning, you made your choice, you just didn't realize it."

High in the sky, Krum stopped in his tracks.

He hovered in mid-air.

"Fly! Let them see Durmstrang's power!" The voice continued to echo in the wind.

His eyes were fixed on Bakal.

Bakal, who was lying on the ground, slightly raised his enormous dragon head.

What is this little fly trying to do?

If you don't understand, spit out some phlegm first.

Then, a burst of dragon breath, and a raging golden flame shot straight up from the earth into the sky.

It roared, like molten iron being poured out.

"Oh my god!!!"

"Get out of the way!!!"

"What's wrong with him?"

On the ledge, the sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girls turned pale and covered their eyes in terror.

Because they cannot accept their idol being burned to death in flames.

"Fly, Krum, like a true warrior!"

"fly!"

(End of this chapter)