Chapter 628: Disappointed Return
“Felix Hap?”
Nicole Noel whispered, repeating the self-introduction of the visitor, and suddenly waved her wand, the air made a “whoosh” sound, and then a sharp sound like a sharp blade cutting through paper exploded in her ears.
But her magic did not hurt anyone, nor did it even fly that far.
Three or four feet in front of the woman, several blinding flashes of bright light erupted out of thin air, and a solid stone wall became visible, bouncing the spell away. Nicole Noel was stunned; what level of transfiguration was this? She subconsciously stepped back –
Another wall blocked her from behind. Her hand, which was not holding the wand, touched the rough, cold rock surface and her heart sank a little like a drowning man. All her senses told her that the wall in question is too real to be an illusion, to the point where she suspects that the man before her is Dumbledore in disguise. But then something happened that she couldn’t understand; the solid wall that had previously blocked the spell was quickly drained of its colour and turned into simple lines that looked like paintwork, and Felix Hap’s statue-like figure became visible.
Eventually, the lines flickered a few times and blended into the darkness.
Nicole Noel stared into Felix’s silver eyes, and her mouth gaped open in surprise.
“Your eyes … you also have the gift of prophecy?”
“Are you referring to Grindelwald? Did he once have a similar pair of eyes like mine?” Felix asked with interest, “I didn’t even notice it even after a month or so of being colleagues with him, I always thought it was blue.”
“No, you are different from him,” Nicole Noel whispered, “He only has one eye that is heterochromatic, representing the rare gift of prophecy.”
“I am surprised.” Felix paused and made a sound of acknowledgement, “So, can we have a proper chat now? You don’t seem to be planning on hiding your identity. Well, that makes it easy, there are a lot of Acolytes, and because of that, I can’t really be bothered to search for the core member to have a chat with… It’s good that you showed up on your own accord.”
“Do not expect to learn any secrets from me.” Nicole Noel said warily.
“Even if it’s been half a century since the end of your organization?” Felix asked.
“To some, our cause never ended, it just lay dormant for the time being.”
“Ah, I see, you’re here to bring back your leader.” Felix said. After a short silence, he asked again amidst the wary look from the other side, “I’m curious, what it is like to trust someone unconditionally?”
The woman’s eyes burned with anger, “Are you teasing me? It’s ungentlemanly and doesn’t match your international reputation.”
“No, no, I’m genuinely interested … In the group, I’ve come into contact with, it’s said that only the Acolytes have a strong sense of unity, by which I mean, of course, the core of the Acolytes. Do you know about the Death Eaters? It seems impossible to compare the two together in the slightest.”
“Death eaters?” The woman sneered, “What’s that?”
Felix smiled, “So? What’s that like? To hand over a part of your fate under the control of another, like a muggle faith?”
Nicole Noel looked at him critically for a moment, and after a while, a mysterious smile curled at the corners of her mouth.
“So that’s it.” She said with a sigh.
Felix expressed just the right hint of doubt, but the woman kept her mouth shut.
There was a moment of silence. Then –
“I need to meet with Mr. Grindelwald.”
“I’m afraid I shall have to disappoint you, old man Grindelwald … Well, he no longer concerns himself with the affairs of the past now that he has taken the post in faculty, and it would be best if you leave him alone. It would be good for both him and you.”
The atmosphere once again became tense. “You want to go against the Acolytes?” Nicole Noel said, with condescending arrogance and aloofness.
“But lady, how many people can you represent?”
“More than you can imagine.” Nicole Noel said sternly, “I admit you’re a powerful man, but how many can you take on? A thousand or two thousand? Or tens of thousands of wizards? You think you can stand against two million wizards when the entire wizarding world was afraid to judge all the Acolytes?”
“Gee, do I need to remind you that Grindelwald was locked up for half a century?”
“He volunteered then!” Nicole Noel said aloud, her eyes incredibly bright, “but he’s out now. There is no one in this world that can stand against the Acolytes, not even Dumbledore, who can only play tricks and set up traps. Mr. Hap, if you join us, you’ll be in good hands. It’s the only way to prevent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the British wizarding world from falling into ruin-”
“Interesting. Are you implying to me that you have plans to start a wizarding war?”
Felix said with a slight smile, but his tone cooled, “You know what I see, ma’am? A bluff threat, you’re lying, you can only speak for yourself. And the mention of the Acolyte Army-”
The pupils in his eyes were completely clouded with a silver mist, the shrinking Book of Rune rippled through the silver mist, with rune symbols flickering around it. This book looked different from the one Felix had given Hermione as a coming-of-age gift – the one Hermione had in her hand was empty, requiring her to fill it with her own understanding of ancient runes, while the one Felix had in his possession represented the most powerful source of the Master of Rune’s power.
Shadows grew around them, a cold black barrier appeared around them, and a cacophony of voices sounded in their ears, as young students passed and disappeared in front of them. Walls linked together, windows, staircases, and towers appeared one after another, and the barren woodland quickly overlaid with tens of thousands of feet of the castle complex.
Nicole Noel looked back with stiff movements, the cold air she exhaled condensed on the illusory window, and reflected a frightened face. She turned, and locked eyes with Felix who stood halfway across the corridor.
“I don’t know how many I can take on, so you want to try and find out?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Sorry, I’m a bit worked up.” Felix said as the magnificent castle faded a little by little in front of them. “But I hate being threatened.” He muttered. Especially threats that had the potential to happen, the woman in front of him couldn’t do it, but Grindelwald probably could.
Really, if he brought in thousands of elite wizards in one breath, being unprepared, he would have no choice but to flee.
“In any case, your plan has failed, my lady. Come with me, and I will hand you over to the British Ministry of Magic.”
With a swoop, a brown owl circled and landed.
Both of them watched at the same time as the owl, dropped a letter at Nicole Noel’s feet and flew off without looking back, it was too scary down there, it had had a hard time finding a chance to deliver the letter, it must get more owl food after going back.
The woman glanced at Felix, and seeing no reaction from him, she picked up the letter, tore it open, and pulled out the parchment within to read its contents.
It was only a few lines, and she read it several times. She sat helplessly on the ground, her face turning pale and her eyes seemed to lose focus.
“A reply from Grindelwald? So you’ve reached out to him, what did he say?”
Nicole Noel closed her eyes, the letter creased as she clutched it.
“So… … You can leave now, Ms. ‘Noel’, and don’t ever come back.” Felix gave the expulsion instruction.
“You’re not going to arrest me?” Nicole Noel asked weakly, her eyes opened.
“There’s no need.” Felix said, and abruptly disappeared.
The wind howled and Nicole Noel stayed where she was, looking out in the direction of Hogwarts castle for a long time before leaving.
“Well that old man is quite the charmer, someone still remembers and waits for him even after all these years.”
Felix tsked, twirling an illusory piece of parchment in his fingers. He shook his head and disappeared once more, this time leaving for real.
Grindelwald’s refusal to come out was a positive sign, he didn’t need to make an issue out of it, who knew what relationship these two once had, maybe they were a couple? Felix weighed up the possibility a little and abandoned the idea of throwing this hot potato at Ms. Bones.
She had already been under enough pressure lately, if he adds any more to it, Felix feared she would go on strike.
In the new week, everything went on as usual at Hogwarts. Except –
“Potter,” Grindelwald stood at the lectern, looking through a submitted essay, “can you tell me what you wrote?”
Harry slowly rose from his seat and said reluctantly, “Homework, sir.”
“So you know.” Grindelwald said softly, “You’re not serious, Potter, so, unfortunately, you’re going to have detention.”
“But, sir-” Harry said unconvincingly.
“I’ll listen to your explanation in my office, but not now, don’t delay the rest of the class,” Grindelwald said with his usual expression, “let’s get on with the lesson.”
Harry huffed and sat back in his seat as Ron and Hermione shot him a sympathetic look. This was not the first time this had happened; Professor Bagshot had not relaxed his demands just because he knew Harry, instead, he had become even stricter.
Very often, the same essay with a different name might be able to pass, but with Harry, it would become ‘flawed’. It just they didn’t expect it to go as far as detention.
“… Due to your mediocre skills at ‘disguising your Muggle identity’, more than half of you failed. This also means that you are at risk of attracting the attention of muggle law enforcers at any moment, and if some of you pull out your wand with a big grin, you could incur a deadly backlash.”
“As we learned in the last lesson, the speed of regular firearms exceeds the speed of sound; does anyone remember what that figure is? –very good, Miss Granger–and the average wizard, I mean those skilled in non-verbal spell casting, is only about a third as fast on average, and unless you are an Archmage and can control magic beyond your body, you will have to listen to my lesson honestly …”
“It is safer to detect danger in advance than to respond to it head-on. A more effective method is to use magic like the Supersensory Charm to enhance your own perception and detect the presence of danger in advance.”
“Now in groups of two, stand with one back to the other, the first one use the Supersensory Charm and the second one gather the magic at the tip of the wand but do not fire it … Let me see how far you can make it.”
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