I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 427 Silence is the Greatest Contempt (Happy New Year!!!)

Orange lights illuminated the snowflakes that drifted slowly down from the night sky like fine powder, like a beam of light suddenly and softly shining into the dark stage of a silent theater.

The streets, shrouded in swirling snow, looked so serene and beautiful it almost seemed unreal, more like a frame deliberately taken from a movie. The color was dark blue, but the streetlights added a layer of haziness and gentleness.

The steel city makes people indifferent and distant, but because of the instinct for survival of humans as biological beings, they need collectives and communities. Therefore, there are few pedestrians on the street, but the bars on the street are still brightly lit.

This is New York!

One of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere.

It is also the premier trading center in the wizarding world.

More than 200,000 wizards from all over the world visit this place every year.

Its level of prosperity far surpasses that of any other country in Europe.

At that moment, a middle-aged man was sitting at the counter of an unnamed bar.

He wore a black trench coat and a dark green scarf around his neck, his heterochromatic eyes revealing a contrast between vibrant youth and an unusual sense of aging. His loneliness blended seamlessly with the bar, yet it appeared gentle rather than cold.

People around him looked at him curiously, and some even raised their glasses to toast him, which he gladly returned.

The noisy bar was playing jazz music, a tune from decades ago, but the man was older than the music.

His long, slender fingers tapped on the table.

Suddenly, a piece of white paper, like a postcard, floated down and landed beside him.

The man looked down and a smile appeared on his lips.

He then happily put the card into his pocket and got up.

The others in the bar seemed to have been watching him the whole time, and even the noise seemed to have subsided as he pushed open the door to leave.

Suddenly, a boastful laugh came from behind, "Hey! Wizard, show us what you've got!"

The man did not hesitate; he walked away as if he hadn't heard anything.

These people are all Muggles.

They didn't know what a wizard was.

It's just that the "Battle of the Sea Gods" has influenced this place. People draw inspiration from the old culture and reinterpret it with new meanings. Simply put, it's a meme.

The original meaning was: give those Americans, British, and Frenchmen some fun, but now the noun in the middle has been changed to wizard.

The streets outside were deserted.

After a spatial distortion, the man vanished from his spot.

When he reappeared, he was in a desolate wilderness.

He took the card out of his pocket.

The card had a golden pointer that guided him in the direction to go next.

The man walked deeper into the area.

About ten minutes later, in the middle of nowhere, he saw a tent.

It was tattered and torn; the cloth on it was all tattered.

But he knew this was just a smokescreen; in reality, the tent was perfectly intact.

"I can't believe they actually assigned me a genius."

Suddenly a head popped out of the tent.

He was a male wizard in his forties or fifties, dressed in a trench coat and suit. He had a rectangular face, and you could tell at a glance that he was a rigid person.

With gray hair and brown eyes, and graying temples, his life has clearly not been easy.

"Alright, Mr. Grindelwald, we need to hurry," the man said in a very strange tone.

He looked like a rigid, old-fashioned man, yet his tone carried a hint of melancholy. This contrast, set against his face, seemed quite strange.

"I'm surprised too," Grindelwald said calmly. "Your ability is truly rare."

"It's not uncommon; there's one every few decades," the man said casually, then waved his wand, and the tent automatically shrank into a box.

Then he took out another item from the box, a wine glass, but it was a bit big, about the size of a basin.

Grindelwald was not moved; he possessed that ability as well.

"So now, what is your identity?"

"It's meaningless," the man replied. "I change my identity every now and then; only certain important identities remain constant."

He raised his glass.

The wine glass had only two handles, one for him and one for Grindelwald.

The next second, the world spun around again.

This is a door key.

The fact that they can use a portal key instead of directly Apparating suggests that their destination is very far away.

It is at least transnational, or spans continents.

Only trips of this distance require a door key.

After a moment of spatial distortion, the two found themselves on a sea reef.

"This is Guyana. The coast of French Guyana. Just ahead is Brazilian territorial waters. Those damned purges, they've hidden this whole area; it's unmarkable on any map. It took me a lot of effort to find this place."

The sea breeze howled, dispelling the sudden heat that had gripped them.

Grindelwald waved his wand, and magic instantly transformed his thick coat into a single layer.

February marks the transition from summer to autumn in Brazil.

It's not like the Northern Hemisphere, which is still in winter.

"What's the current situation?" he pressed.

"The Death Eaters sent the Muggles and some wizards they captured to that ruin on the coast of Brazil."

"I guess that ruin requires some kind of blood sacrifice to open; evil ancient ruins are all like that," the man explained.

"Didn't those fairies do something similar before?"

"Very likely," Grindelwald said casually.

He glanced at the man beside him and said quietly, "Do you think you can infiltrate the Death Eaters' ranks?"

"It's difficult." The man rubbed his head and said indignantly, "Most Death Eaters are monsters in human skin, and I can't impersonate them at all. I can't even meet the few core members."

"Currently, the several identities I maintain are all officials of the Magic Congress."

"The Imposter?" Grindelwald said knowingly. "So there's one here after all."

"They're all over the world," the man said emphatically. "And then what? The Federation plans to attack this place?"

"More or less!" he said. "Go do what you're supposed to do. Don't get involved in the next battle."

"Hey—I'm really strong, okay? What do you mean? Do you think I'm holding you back?" the man said angrily.

But this didn't do any good.

The moment he uttered his last word, Grindelwald beside him vanished from the spot.

He Apparated.

"Hmph—damn old fogey," the man cursed. "But—well—it's really cool! No wonder so many people like it."

After muttering a few words, she also Apparated.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Just minutes later, Grindelwald arrived at the reef the man had pointed out.

It's called a reef, but it's more like an island.

Because its area is not small, with a maximum length of five hundred feet.

Except for the obelisk, the rest of the area is full of sharp rocks, most of which are only a few inches above the water.

There's not even a place for an ordinary person to put their feet down, so it's understandable that it's called a sea reef.

"Um?"

Grindelwald uttered a low, questioning sound.

He was standing on the sea surface 500 feet away from the reef.

In the distance, the half of the obelisk had tilted severely, and thick smoke was rising.

Explosions were heard everywhere.

The smell of gunpowder in the wind was quite strong.

"Did someone blow up the obelisk?"

"Is it a Death Eater? Or—" He was wondering if the Death Eaters wanted to release the thing in the tower.

If that's the case—then it's possible they blew up the tower.

However, Grindelwald quickly dismissed the idea.

Because from afar he saw a group of black-robed wizards rushing out from the half-ruined obelisk.

They moved hurriedly and looked around with a fierce air as they searched for something.

They also extinguished the fire.

He saw a dark wizard find a large number of unexploded bombs in the rocks.

"Has this place been attacked?" he said in a deep voice.

Clearly, these explosions were intended to distract the Death Eaters.

He did not observe anyone else outside.

So—excluding all other answers, there's only one possibility.

Someone infiltrated the obelisk, and these explosions were planted there beforehand by him or others to lure out the culprit.

After understanding everything.

Grindelwald reached out with his right hand, and a golden card appeared in his hand.

An unnamed fire consumed it.

Three minutes later.

The surrounding space began to visibly distort. After a slight crackling sound, like a car backfiring, many wizards appeared in the surrounding sea.

There were about several dozen people.

Most of them were dressed in dark robes and wore hats.

They wore badges on their chests that symbolized the federation.

The leading wizard was Mad-Eye Moody.

He stood swaying on a piece of ice floating on the sea, a shapeshifter he had just created.

"Is this the place?"

He looked up at the obelisk in the distance, his demonic eye constantly expanding and contracting, as if trying to find out everything about this place.

"It seems so." Sirius was right behind him.

Among the Death Eaters rushing to put out the fire in the distance, many were old acquaintances of his.

"What are we waiting for? Let's charge forward!" he said excitedly, though his eyes betrayed his exhaustion, his enthusiasm was high.

Grindelwald glanced at the wizards around him, a hint of worry appearing on his face. In his eyes, all the wizards who had come could not hide their exhaustion, not from working for a long time, but more like from some kind of mental invasion.

Having made up his mind, he pursed his lips and then said, "You are responsible for containing and eliminating the Death Eaters on the outside. As for the battle inside the obelisk, it has nothing to do with you."

"You want to go alone?" Moody turned to look at the tall man. "That's impossible. You can't handle him."

"Hmph—" Grandvard snorted, a smile playing on his lips. "Young man," he said, "nothing is impossible."

"Leading you will only cause me trouble."

The other wizards' expressions immediately turned grim, but Grindelwald didn't care.

After saying these words, he took the lead and used a unique flying magic to fly towards the sea reef.

The Death Eaters around the obelisk had already spotted the strange wizard who had suddenly appeared on the other side of the sea.

When Grindelwald was alone, he was a small target and might not have been noticed immediately. But when dozens of Aurors arrived at the same time, how could they not notice him unless they were blind?

The next second, dozens of spells shot out from the wand like fireworks, flying high into the sky and exploding in the dark night.

"Boom—"

Green, red, black, gray.

A variety of colors, vibrant and dazzling.

What a dazzling fireworks show!

"What happened?"

The black wizards, including some of the purgers, all wore expressions of confusion.

Their spell was somehow deflected.

They were clearly aiming at the man in the black trench coat.

"snort--"

While he was pondering, Grindelwald had already arrived on the reef.

The Death Eaters stared at him in astonishment, some even taking a step back.

Those who remained steadfast in their fighting spirit continued to unleash their most powerful spells upon the first Dark Lord.

But the results were minimal.

All the spells were deflected upwards, turning into fireworks in the night sky.

The light shone on the face of every dark wizard.

With each flash of light, their faces grew more somber and filled with fear.

And what about Mr. Grindelwald?

He remained silent throughout.

Like autumn leaves, they drifted down everywhere, lightly entering the obelisk.

Silence is the greatest contempt.

Especially those who were despised were Death Eaters who were a menace to the region.

Which of them doesn't have blood on their hands, be arrogant, cruel, and insane?

Grindelwald's attitude instantly enraged the group.

But as they prepared to give chase and unleash even more powerful spells...

The wizarding armies from the Federation surged in like a tidal wave. Their arrival shattered the momentary tranquility born of contempt and heralded the official outbreak of this inevitable great war.

------

Meanwhile, on another island, inside the obelisk, a battle was also raging.

Ron was barely holding on to the Ironclad Curse.

Most of the surrounding smoke and dust had dissipated, and what remained was no longer enough to obstruct the view.

One of the two magic statues was already broken.

The only one left was also badly injured.

It was covered in cracks, and it would probably collapse soon.

On the island, the remaining Death Eaters and Purifiers are launching a frenzied attack on them.

Ron is the last line of defense against them.

On the altar, Koyater lay in a pool of blood.

Her back—the black robe was ripped open. A large expanse of snow-white skin was exposed. And above that was an unhealed wound, oozing fresh blood.

That was the damage caused by the Divine Sharpness Without Shadow.

The wound will be cursed by magic, and no treatment will be effective. Only by reciting a counter-spell can the wound be healed.

cold--

The massive loss of blood caused the body to rapidly lose temperature.

This is Koyatl's only feeling right now.

Blood irrigated the path.

It flowed from both sides of the girl's body, like butterflies spreading their wings.

Eventually, they converged into a stream, flowing down the steps of the altar into the three empty spaces where the silver matter was about to overflow.

The dark clouds in the sky had not yet dispersed; that was the last one.

That was also her last bit of magic.

The next second, thousands of thunderbolts converged in one place, and silver lightning coalesced into a giant dragon head.

The dragon roared.

It opened its blood-red maw. Its sharp teeth and fangs were entirely composed of lightning bolts.

He swallowed the silver staff carved with the Outer God on the altar in one gulp.

Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year!!!

(End of this chapter)