[Note: Read up to Chapter - 174 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]
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"I know the doubts swirling in your heart…"
Grindelwald met Aris's gaze, smiling faintly. "Let me make it plain: the only reason I left Nurmengard was because of you—yes, you alone."
"In this rotten world, it's rare to find anyone who stirs my interest… let alone an eleven-year-old boy."
"To be frank, when Albus first came to me with word about you, I actually sneered. Thought he'd gone soft in the head. Imagine—fretting that some little boy could shape the future of the entire wizarding world! Utterly laughable. And to think I was defeated by such a man… it's downright shameful."
He gave a small shake of the head, mocking himself. Then, his tone shifted, weighty and intent.
"But when I glimpsed the horizon of the future… when I saw the silhouette of one who stood above all beings, and beheld that dazzling world of flourishing magical civilisation—a world so glorious it made the heart ache to reach it—I understood…"
"Albus was right—your very existence… will change the world.
"My lifelong vision may well find its realisation in you…
"So, here I am."
The old man's eyes locked on Aris, deadly serious.
In that instant, the crushing mental pressure Aris had felt vanished, and the flood of flickering visions dissolved.
It was as if a raging sea had suddenly stilled into a calm lake.
Aris couldn't help but marvel—Grindelwald truly was something else.
To control the spiritual world with such ease, and one born of both their powers at that… it was remarkable.
"So then—you're here for the sake of some future possibility, and I'm here for you?" Aris asked, now grasping the truth.
The old man before him had seen fragments of the future as well, which was why he'd sought him out.
It was nearly identical to the way the centaurs spoke—about figures towering above all living things, about cycles of fate and destiny…
Did they all truly put such stock in these mystical notions?
Aris had always known that prophecies were hardly reliable things.
Especially when people began treating them as the one and only truth.
That was when trouble started.
Take old Voldy, for instance—if he hadn't put so much faith in a prophecy, he wouldn't have dug his own grave step by step.
There was never a "Saviour Harry Potter."
Everything began with the prophecy… and in the end, it circled right back to the prophecy's fulfilment.
When you thought about it, it was chilling.
Voldemort poured all his efforts into trying to stop the prophecy from coming true. Yet in the end, it was his own actions that brought it about.
Like staring fate in the face, trying desperately to change it, only to discover that the outcome was born from your own hand all along.
The thought made Aris almost taste the unwillingness and despair Voldemort must have felt in his final moments.
It left him utterly speechless.
"You don't believe in prophecy?" Grindelwald asked then, eyeing Aris with a curious look.
A prophet who doesn't believe in prophecy?
Honestly, have some professional ethics!
"It's not that I don't believe," Aris said with a shake of his head, "I just don't believe it blindly."
"Then tell me," Grindelwald pressed, fixing the boy with a steady gaze, "do you believe that a brilliant magical civilisation will rise in the future?"
"Maybe," Aris replied with a shrug.
"Perhaps…" Grindelwald echoed softly, nodding as though some private thought stirred in him. Then a faint smile returned to his face, and his tone grew calm.
"Whatever you choose to do—or not do—I'll support you."
His silver eyes met Aris's, and for a moment there was an odd tenderness in them.
"And if you want me to act, I'll do everything in my power for you. You know, I'm not exactly weak. Even after all these years, though I've slipped a bit, there are still few in this world who could match me."
"But there's nothing I want done…" Aris mused after a pause, before shrugging again.
The reform of the elemental magic system wasn't something that could be achieved overnight. And it certainly wouldn't succeed just because Grindelwald decided to cut a few people down.
So, if you thought about it properly, Aris really didn't have anything he needed the old man to do for him just now.
"Really?" Grindelwald frowned. "You realise, I've always been the one giving orders. I've never been dispatched or commanded by anyone—not even by the so-called greatest white wizard, Albus Dumbledore."
"I just want to study hard for now. I've no time to be worrying about anything else…" Aris replied, sounding almost helpless.
"…" Grindelwald fell silent.
He had thought his reputation and power alone would be enough to seize the boy's attention.
But now… it seemed he had misjudged him.
This little brat didn't appear to have the ambition he'd expected.
What kind of future dark lord—or ruler, for that matter—said things like "I just want to study hard"?
"Oh, but I've got a question for you," Aris said suddenly, his eyes glinting faintly.
"What is it?" Grindelwald asked with a smile.
"Well… that is…" Aris took a moment to gather his thoughts before asking, "Who's stronger—you, or Voldemort?"
"???" Grindelwald froze, staring at him with a bemused look. "That's your question?"
"Yes," Aris nodded earnestly.
"…Good grief."
"Of course I'm the stronger one!" Grindelwald declared without the slightest hesitation.
"And how do you know that?" Aris pressed.
"What can a lunatic who only knows slaughter ever hope to achieve?" Grindelwald lifted his chin proudly.
"So then—how can you prove you're stronger?" Aris asked again.
"This…" Grindelwald faltered for a moment, frowning. "To prove it, you'd naturally need to fight. But I never had the chance to face him. You know as well as I—while he was rampaging outside, I was locked away in Nurmengard Tower."
"Then how can you be so sure you're stronger than him?" Aris asked once more, his eyes serious, brimming with a thirst for knowledge.
"…" Grindelwald fell silent once more.
"Obviously, you're not too sure about that answer, are you?" Aris said with an innocent smile, looking straight at the old wizard.
Grindelwald stayed quiet.
"Alright then, I'll take that as my answer!"
Meanwhile, the system prompts were chiming in Aris's head, making his grin stretch even wider.
[Congratulations to the host for asking a question that successfully stumped a great dark lord, leaving him tangled up and sulking. Reward: 1000 points.]
Good grief—he really was the former demon king!
Two rewards for one question—absolute profit!
Aris chuckled inwardly at his luck, then, with a thought, slipped back into the real world.
Across the street, Grindelwald still stood where he had been. After a moment's consideration, Aris walked over to him.
"Here—this is a bottle of vitality potion. It'll do your body good after a swig."
He handed over the alchemical draught Nicolas had given him, adding, "This stuff's precious, so don't go wasting it."
"If there's nothing else, I'll be off!"
With that, Aris turned on his heel and left, not even giving Grindelwald the chance to refuse.
Truth be told, Aris did admire Grindelwald. The man was ambitious, brilliant even—but his methods were far too arrogant and extreme. Otherwise, the world might not have ended up the way it had.
A dangerous man, yes—but undeniably charismatic.
And since Grindelwald had come to him offering support, Aris didn't feel the least bit begrudging about handing him a bottle of the revitalising potion. After all, he could always ask Nicolas Flamel to brew up more.
Behind him, Grindelwald stared at the dark green bottle in his hand, then at the boy's retreating figure, slipping deeper into thought.
At length, he muttered under his breath,
"Perhaps… if the chance comes, I'll fight that man. Then I'll finally have the answer to his question…"
With that, he uncorked the bottle and downed the potion in a single gulp—never once doubting that Aris had given him the real thing.
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Drop Power Stonessssssssss!
[Note: Read up to Chapter - 174 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]