I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 573 The Deathly Hallows

Harry's voice echoed in the empty room, sounding exceptionally clear and powerful.

But before he could continue, he was interrupted by a sudden, heart-stopping crash.

Someone is banging on the door.

Ginny shuddered, her unease growing rapidly. She immediately realized that the noise outside must be from the group of mysterious people she had seen, most likely Death Eaters.

They were surrounded.

"Harry," Ginny called out, her voice trembling slightly.

The next moment, an extremely bright light streaked across the night sky like a shooting star, instantly illuminating the entire room with astonishing speed. Harry instinctively raised his wand, ready to fight.

But as he raised his wand high, he noticed that the spell was not aimed at him.

Instead, it drove towards the gate.

"Boom!" With a deafening explosion, the gate was reduced to ruins.

The impatient Death Eaters outside finally rushed in.

Unfortunately, before they could even feel happy, they were blasted away by the glowing spell.

"What—what happened?" Ginny stared blankly at the now ruined door, not understanding why the Death Eater impersonating Bathilda would attack her own people. Had the spell gone astray?

"Get out of the way—" A rapid and firm male voice suddenly rang in Harry's ears.

Immediately afterwards, he felt an invisible force surrounding him, his body involuntarily pulled by this force, as if swept by a whirlwind, and instantly pushed into the room behind him. The door slammed shut behind him, shutting out all the noise, leaving only his rapid breathing and heartbeat echoing in the small space.

The battle outside erupted instantly, as fierce as a storm. Countless spells intertwined and collided in the air, bursting forth with dazzling light, accompanied by deafening explosions and the crisp sound of shattering glass.

Occasionally, a few painful screams would be heard, sending chills down one's spine.

"Harry, we need to get out of here right now," Ginny said anxiously from inside the room.

"Wait—I think something's wrong."

Harry refused.

He instinctively felt that Bathilda was helping him.

However, he wasn't stupid; hiding was definitely the best option at this point.

The battle continued in the living room. Through a crack in the door, Harry could vaguely see the scene outside: a multitude of spells flying and filling the entire space.

Even though the fake Bathilda had no wand, she was able to suppress four or five black-robed wizards by casting spells without a wand.

Harry looked around carefully and realized that they were all dark wizards he didn't recognize.

Their fighting style is similar to that of the Death Eaters, and their bodies have likely undergone mutations; ordinary spells have virtually no effect on them.

"Who are you?" A dark wizard narrowly dodged a spell and swung his robe to deflect the transforming longsword that was aimed at him.

Then he raised his head and stared at Bathilda with a sinister look.

She was an extremely ugly witch. She looked somewhat like Umbridge, but even uglier. In her black robes, she resembled a giant toad feeding on food.

"Idiot, can't you guess who he is at this point?" her companion roared, then unleashed a green spell.

Bathilda dodged the attack and retaliated with a freezing spell.

Caught off guard, the man felt his body stiffen, and then a chill suddenly swept over him.

"He is Grindelwald!" The other black-robed wizards had already recognized Bathilda's true identity.

"Who else has that kind of strength besides him?"

"Haha! That's a big fish! The Dark Lord has been looking for him!" the witch sneered, leaping aside a flying curse. "Don't try to take him from me, he's mine!!!"

Bathilda smiled coldly, then suddenly thrust her raised hand forward, and a bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere. The mad witch couldn't dodge in time and was blasted away, screaming in agony. The other dark wizards were also struck by the continuous lightning, and each of them was injured.

The intense heat scorched their bodies, and the air was filled with the smell of burning flesh.

At that moment, Harry, who was hiding in the room, immediately realized what was happening when he heard Grindelwald's name.

The real Bathilda should have been moved away by Grindelwald long ago.

The Bathilda he is now is an imposter; he's deliberately waiting here for the Death Eaters to come to him.

After understanding the reason, Harry immediately jumped out of the room, raised his wand, and shot several restraining spells at the wounded black-robed wizards.

After the battle at King's Cross Station, he knew very well that these Death Eaters could no longer be considered human; they were a bunch of monsters, and some spells that were useful to humans were completely useless against them.

Harry wasn't sure which spells would work and which wouldn't.

I might as well just use the limiting spell.

No matter what it is, the limiting spell will always work.

"Multiple freezes!"

Ginny rushed out as well, waving her wand. In an instant, countless ice crystals shot out, freezing the entire living room, including the front door, in just a few breaths.

"Well done!" Harry shouted excitedly, then added a few more spells.

Meanwhile, Grindelwald, disguised as Bathilda, took the opportunity to retrieve his wand.

Although he was already very skilled at wandless spellcasting as a legendary wizard.

However, some powerful spells are still more smoothly cast with a wand.

A moment later, a ball of blue flame emerged from the soles of his feet.

Then it spread rapidly in all directions.

The flames burned brighter and brighter, but miraculously they did not affect the building or Harry and his friends at all; the flames brushed past them like the wind.

The Death Eaters screamed in agony amidst the flames; the fire was incredibly damaging to them, and they were reduced to ashes in just a few breaths.

"Phew—" Harry let out a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it was just a group of Death Eaters and not Voldemort himself, otherwise their situation would have been quite troublesome.

On the other side, Bathilda's body began to grow taller suddenly, hair grew on her dry head, and her clothes were rapidly deforming.

Before long, she had completed her transition from Bashir to Grindelwald.

"Which Potter are you?"

Grindelwald turned to look at Harry.

He spoke while casting a spell to repair the room.

"Oh! Yes." Harry nodded, only then realizing that he was still a Muggle.

No wonder Grindelwald didn't reveal his identity to them immediately.

Harry cautiously observed the wizard before him.

Compared to the last time they met, Grindelwald looked ten years older.

According to Owen, his grandfather seemed to have become younger after defeating the outer god within a divinely inspired tower and acquiring some ancient magic.

He usually looks to be around forty or fifty years old.

Now he is in his sixties or seventies. His face is pale, his features are tired, and his eyes are not as sharp as they used to be.

He had acquired an air of weariness typical of the elderly. Even though his clothes and appearance remained the same, the change in him was immediately noticeable.

"You two are really bold to come here," Grindelwald said calmly.

The dilapidated room was restored to its original state in the blink of an eye. Everything was back to what it was just minutes before, as if the battle had never happened.

"I've come to see my parents," Harry said sincerely.

He knew very well what had prompted such a dramatic change in Grindelwald.

There is nothing more painful in this world than killing your lover with your own hands. Even if it's their pleading, even if they fall into the jaws of wolves and are about to be turned into monsters.

Pain is pain; it doesn't change because of its cause.

"Yes, you need to meet your parents." Grindelwald opened his heterochromatic eyes and gave Harry a meaningful look.

"Should we stay here? Will those Death Eaters get reinforcements?" Ginny suddenly interjected, looking worried.

"Don't worry." Grindelwald waved his staff, igniting a flame in the fireplace, and then all the candles in the room were lit as well.

"They won't be here anytime soon. Besides—this house is under a powerful protective spell. It must have been when you came in that you caught their attention. Those guys have been wandering around the village for seven or eight days."

"What are you doing here?" Harry walked over.

Grindelwald gestured for the two of them to sit down.

"I'll wait and see," he said. "I know the Death Eaters will definitely come to Godric's Hollow to find my great-aunt. And I need some tongues; I need to know what that monster is up to."

"In that room—"

"Also a Death Eater."

"Oh my god!" Ginny exclaimed.

Harry seemed more composed.

"By the way, how did you find us? We were wearing invisibility cloaks."

“Footprints, child!” Grindelwald shook his head. “Footprints don’t just appear out of thin air in the snow. And in front of the Potter family’s ancestral home.”

"Uh—" Harry was a little embarrassed; it was their oversight.

There's nothing he can do about it; every time he puts on the invisibility cloak, he subconsciously assumes he's completely disappeared. He doesn't think about the details at all.

"Oh, by the way, you just said you've been gathering intelligence, so can you tell me what the Mysterio man is doing now?" Harry quickly changed the subject.

Grindelwald glanced at him and said, "He was searching all over Europe for Grigorovich a while ago."

"Grigovich?" Harry was taken aback. He recognized the name.

He had briefly accessed Voldemort's mind before and heard that name.

He asked Hermione and learned that Gregorovich was a master wand maker in Europe.

But why would Voldemort want to find a staff maker?

Why would he want to hire a cane maker?

"For the Deathly Hallows," Grindelwald stated bluntly.

"The Deathly Hallows?" Another familiar term.

Harry had heard about the Deathly Hallows; Hermione told him about them.

She said that Voldemort might seek out the Elder Wand from the Deathly Hallows because their wands had become linked during several duels, and Voldemort would certainly seek out the most powerful wand to escape this situation.

Hermione suggested they could go and search for it in advance, but Owen rejected the suggestion.

Not to mention that the Order of the Phoenix would never allow them to roam freely across Europe, the most important thing is that someone has already made arrangements regarding the Elder Wand.

That was the answer Irving gave him.

"No wonder he captured Gregorovich and Ollivander," Harry said.

As the most famous wand makers in Europe, these two are naturally the wizards most likely to know where the Elder Wand is.

"Hmm," Grindelwald replied nonchalantly. Then he said, "You two can stay here for a few days, but not too long. Leave as soon as possible. I won't have the energy to protect you if that monster comes looking for you."

"We'll leave tomorrow," Ginny said immediately upon hearing this.

There was no point in them staying in Godric Valley any longer; remaining there would only increase their danger, so they naturally had to leave as soon as possible.

"I want to stay a few more days," Harry said suddenly.

He wanted to learn a few tricks from Grindelwald.

The day of the final battle is drawing ever closer, and even if he can learn just one more useful spell, that would be a good thing.

And perhaps it's guilt—perhaps pity.

Perhaps it's because they empathize with each other.

He was also imprisoned in a small stairwell, where he spent many years in darkness.

Harry had no idea how long Grindelwald had been hiding there.

But those days were definitely not pleasant.

Hearing Harry say this, Grindelwald neither refused nor agreed.

It's getting late, and they'll have to spend the night eventually.

He got up, left the living room, and headed to the small room where the Death Eaters were imprisoned.

He was going to check if the spells cast on those people had loosened.

Taking this opportunity, Harry quickly discussed some things with Ginny.

Although Ginny was very reluctant to stay, the soft-hearted girl eventually agreed to stay a few more days after Harry talked about Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald.

In the evening, Ginny went to prepare dinner.

It wasn't really cooking; I just heated up some of the food I had with me.

The living room was sparsely lit.

Grindelwald did not eat with them. He stayed in his study on the second floor.

Ginny made a separate portion and had Harry deliver it.

As he entered the study.

Then I saw Grindelwald sitting in a chair by the window.

He stared out the window like a statue.

He placed the food on the table next to the chair without saying a word.

As Harry turned to leave, the bookshelf against the wall caught his attention.

There wasn't a single book on the old-fashioned bookshelf; those precious magical books might have been taken away by the real Bathilda.

There were no books, but there were many photos on the shelf.

The candlelight flickered, reflecting off the gray walls and bookshelves, and he could vaguely see something moving in the photograph.

Upon entering, he saw two teenagers arm in arm in a silver frame.

One had blond hair, and the other had red hair.

Both of them were smiling at him.

In a daze, Harry seemed to smell the free, fresh scent of grass wafting from the wilderness. The cool, untamed air of the mountains gently brushed through every corner of the study, as if even time itself had been tenderly pulled back to that distant summer afternoon by this force.

There, the sky was exceptionally blue, a few white clouds drifted leisurely by, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows.

The birds' joyful songs, the babbling brook, dance with the wind, and sing with the grass.

But more precious than all these things, what can make all worries disappear and leave only freedom and joy, is the person standing beside you.

(End of this chapter)