Late at night.
Northern sea.
Several Death Eaters arrived at the isolated island where Azkaban prison was located.
The Dementors had been completely turned, and the Carrow siblings handed the list of people they needed released to the Dementor leader.
Soon, dozens of Death Eaters were brought out, each emaciated and physically weak.
Leading them was a woman with messy black hair, but her eyes sparkled with mad delight. Seeing the Carrow siblings, she immediately demanded:
"Where is the master? I want to see the master."
"Don't be insane, Bella. Master would never come to a place like this," Lucius Malfoy frowned and said, then distributed the prepared flying broomsticks.
Several hours later, these escaped Death Eaters returned to Malfoy Manor.
Voldemort was overjoyed to see so many capable followers, laughing triumphantly and hysterically. The Death Eaters joined in the mad laughter, Bellatrix gazing fervently at Voldemort as she knelt and kissed the tip of his foot.
Suddenly, Voldemort felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows as a consciousness violently invaded his mind.
Bang!
Powerful magical power erupted, sending the just-extended-tongued Bella flying.
"Harry Potter?"
Voldemort exclaimed in disbelief.
Voldemort felt a consciousness rampaging through his mind - this was no illusion. His mental energy was shaking as this foreign will sought to probe his secrets.
Occlumency frantically activated until finally, he identified the intruder within his consciousness.
"Harry Potter!"
Voldemort was both shocked and enraged, wishing he could tear Harry to pieces. His frenzied mental power did exactly that, mercilessly shredding the foreign consciousness into fragments.
Far away at Hogwarts, Harry frowned tightly in his sleep. The moment his consciousness was torn apart, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
"Master, what happened with Harry Potter?"
Only when Voldemort gradually calmed did Bellatrix dare approach again, whispering her question.
"Nothing. The little insect merely disgusted me. Voldemort took a deep breath, calming his mood.
He quickly understood the key to what had happened.
It seemed that because of that Killing Curse from before, some special connection had formed between him and Potter - perhaps also due to his resurrection using Potter's blood.
To think he could enter his mind.
Voldemort's eyes gleamed with sharp light, realising this was both a threat and an opportunity. If he could invade Potter's mind, or use this chance to transmit false information...
"Rookwood." Voldemort named a Death Eater. "You once worked in the Department of Mysteries. You know what I need. Obtain it as soon as possible. If anyone stands in your way... deal with them directly."
"Yes," Rookwood's heart tightened as he hurriedly agreed.
After giving instructions, Voldemort left.
He needed to set up more defences within his own mind, while also considering under what circumstances Potter could invade his consciousness.
...
The next day.
Harry, who had fallen into a coma, only woke up groggily after ten o'clock.
He had a dream last night, with maniacal laughter echoing in his ears. In the dream, it seemed like he hadn't been this happy for a long time - absolutely delighted, surrounded by a large crowd of people wearing prison uniforms, just like Sirius in the Daily Prophet, resembling prisoners from Azkaban.
A dishevelled woman prostrated herself on the ground, kissing the soles of his shoes with her toes. Then, a surge of anger rose from his heart, and he felt as if his brain was being burst open, before losing consciousness.
Gathering his thoughts, Harry realised he had once again entered Voldemort's perspective.
And the memories were being torn apart...
Not good.
Harry's expression changed. He knew he might have been discovered - that anger wasn't directed at those people, but rather Voldemort was targeting him.
Realising he might have caused trouble, Harry hurried to find someone who could help him - Professor McGonagall.
He would have preferred to go directly to Wayne, but Wayne hadn't appeared at school since yesterday.
When he found Professor McGonagall, Harry didn't reveal the content of his dream, only saying that his scar was hurting badly and he needed Wayne's help.
Professor McGonagall stared at him for several seconds, seemingly verifying the credibility of his statement, before ultimately choosing to believe him.
"Come with me, Potter," Professor McGonagall said decisively. "I'll take you to see the Headmaster."
The two arrived at her office, where Professor McGonagall threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace. "Mr Potter, remember not to mispronounce it."
After speaking, she stepped in and shouted clearly, "Greengrass Castle!"
Greengrass - was that Astoria's home?
Harry thought to himself while continuing the motions, imitating Professor McGonagall by throwing a handful of Floo Powder and clearly articulating "Greengrass Castle."
After a dizzying spin, Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, only avoiding a fall because Professor McGonagall steadied him.
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, adjusting his glasses as he surveyed his surroundings. It appeared to be a castle similar to Hogwarts—magnificent and grand.
Pop!
A house-elf appeared before them.
"I'm here to see Mr Lawrence," Professor McGonagall stated her purpose. The house-elf led them to the lawn behind the castle, where Wayne was playing with a panda alongside Astoria, with a white-haired old man standing nearby, as respectful as a butler.
"I'm not particularly interested in your master's conditions. I don't oppose a transaction, but you must offer a price that truly appeals to me."
Wayne pushed Tuantuan onto her bottom while speaking to the old man, then noticed Harry and Professor McGonagall approaching and waved to them.
"Alright, I have guests here. You may return now."
The old man sighed almost imperceptibly and bowed. "Mr Lawrence, I will convey your words to the master."
"Good, have him consider it carefully," Wayne responded casually as the old man Apparated away.
"Professor McGonagall, Harry, what brings you here?"
"Mr Potter says his scar is hurting badly and insists on seeing you," Professor McGonagall replied, glancing at Astoria, who was trying hard to pull Tuantuan away from Wayne.
Normally, students were strictly forbidden to leave school except on Hogsmeade weekends, even during weekends.
But evidently, their new Headmaster didn't take this school rule seriously.
After finishing her instructions, Professor McGonagall tactfully left the space to Harry and Wayne, making up an excuse about not having eaten yet as she followed the house-elf into the castle.
"Wayne, I think I've messed up." Harry immediately explained all about the dream he'd had and his suspicions.
"Voldemort must have discovered this connection, too. I instinctively used the Legilimency Spell and tried to probe deeper into his thoughts, which is how I got caught..." Harry said dejectedly. If he had been more discreet and had higher proficiency with Legilimency, he might have been able to gather some useful intelligence.
Instead, he had tipped his hand without understanding anything.
"It's alright, even if you were discovered, there will definitely be opportunities later." Wayne didn't criticise him, instead offering comfort:
"The connection between you and Voldemort isn't something that can be easily severed. Work hard at learning Occlumency and Legilimency - they'll come in useful someday."
Because the professor wasn't Snape, Harry's progress in Occlumency was going relatively well.
It had to—every lesson involved Wayne battering him, and now the Wampus had to put in some effort to get the information it wanted.
But his progress in Legilimency was rather slow due to the lack of a good practice partner.
Wayne offered two more brilliant suggestions.
"You can practice Occlumency during Potions class by silently cursing Snape - if he doesn't notice, that counts as success."
"As for Legilimency... Ron's the Gryffindor Keeper now, right? Just train with him and use Legilimency to cheat. That way you get to practice magic and Ron improves his keeping skills - it's a win-win situation."
"I... suppose?"
Harry felt there was something wrong with this, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Wayne delivered the final blow, "Keep at it, lad. When you've mastered Legilimency, you'll be able to gather intelligence from Voldemort's mind and help me and Dumbledore."
As the righteous protagonist, hearing that he could be of help immediately filled Harry with a sacred sense of mission. Pumped up, he couldn't wait to drag Ron onto the Quidditch pitch and start training right away.
Wayne nodded to himself, watching this.
Young people were so easy—just a few words, and they're convinced.
Professor McGonagall wasn't so easily dealt with.
Wayne had kept them both for lunch, and just before leaving, Professor McGonagall suddenly asked:
"That man earlier wasn't a British wizard, was he?"
"No, he's a foreigner." Wayne's expression remained unchanged. "Wanted to discuss some business with me, but we couldn't agree on the price."
"I see." Professor McGonagall nodded. "I felt he looked rather familiar... like I've seen him somewhere before."
Wayne saw no reason to hide it. "His name is Rodriguez, from Germany."
"Rodriguez..." Professor McGonagall murmured the name, thinking for a long moment before suddenly recalling long-buried memories.
The former Chief Auror of Germany, Grindelwald's loyal follower, extremely powerful - every mission he was involved in required a dozen people working together to handle him.
Professor McGonagall had never faced Rodriguez herself, but she knew both Newt and Tina had suffered setbacks at his hands.
More crucially, there was the significance behind Rodriguez's appearance.
"R..."
Professor McGonagall wanted to say something, but seeing Harry beside them, she swallowed her words, deciding to have a proper talk with Wayne when they were alone.
The moment Harry stepped into the flames, a question suddenly occurred to him.
Why had Voldemort been so pleased?
He would get the answer to this question ten days later.
On Monday morning, when the young wizards saw the Daily Prophet, many suddenly screamed, startling those around them. But when their companions passed the newspaper over, numerous faces turned pale instantly.
The front page was dominated by 10 black-and-white photographs—9 men and 1 woman. Harry recognised them immediately—they were the ones he had seen in his dream.
Especially that woman who had wanted to lick his... no, Voldemort's foot!
"Merlin's beard..." groaned a young wizard, "Does Azkaban have open days now?"
These ten were merely the ones with the most severe charges, not the entirety.
According to Ministry of Magic sources, the number of escapees this time exceeded fifty, accounting for half of Azkaban's total prisoner population, all of them convicted of serious crimes.
Lavender Brown read aloud the subsequent content:
"Last night, Minister for Magic Fudge gave an interview, 'We strongly suspect that Grindelwald is the mastermind behind all this. Keep in mind that Grindelwald was flaunting his power at the Paris conference just two days ago. To gather more followers, he has turned his attention to Azkaban.'"
"'These Death Eaters were all notoriously vicious criminals, perfectly fitting Grindelwald's recruitment criteria. They were also former followers of another Dark Lord. We urge the public to remain vigilant. If you spot any of them, do not approach—notify the Ministry immediately.'"
After finishing, Lavender Brown's face turned pale, "Merlin... Grindelwald is truly terrifying!"
"I actually think Grindelwald would look down on these Death Eaters," Wayne appeared behind her unexpectedly.
All the young wizards turned to look at him.
Wayne shook the newspaper in his hand and addressed everyone, "Grindelwald's followers are called the Acolytes. There isn't much recorded in books, but you could ask Professor Scamander."
"His standards for followers are quite high. These Death Eaters clearly don't meet the criteria."
Swish, swish, swish!
Everyone turned to look at Newt at the High Table.
Newt nodded reluctantly, "I think so too. Given Grindelwald's pride, he would never take on someone else's followers."
After hearing both their statements, the students remained somewhat sceptical.
But two days later, everyone finally believed Wayne and Newt's judgment.
Because Grindelwald himself had publicly responded in the newspaper...