Antoine and Delaine were among the best wizards, their magical abilities surpassing most Aurors, but their Detection spells on the trees failed to find any Magic Traces.
Vid knew the reason—whenever they cast Monitoring spells, near the roots of the trees a person's height, a ring of Magic Patterns would light up, attracting the spells like moths to a flame, then dissipating them.
This scene was visible only to Vid; to Delaine and Antoine, everything seemed "normal."
Just as Vid was pondering how to convince the two, he heard Antoine say again: "Let's go, this forest truly hasn't witnessed Magic; it's just an ordinary forest."
As soon as his words fell, Vid's eyes lit up, while Delaine frowned.
"Haven't witnessed Magic? How is that possible!"
Delaine spoke with a serious tone: "In the past year, how many Muggle Ignore Spells has the Ministry of Magic cast around here? How many people have Apparated in this forest these days?"
Antoine suddenly realized: "…You're right!"
Vid touched the spot on the spruce where the Magic Patterns were drawn, his fingertips brushing against the rough bark.
He said, "Maybe the person who cast the spell originally just wanted to hide the anomaly of these trees, but the numerous identical spells combining throughout the forest have formed a unique field that completely covered the Magic Traces that should have existed."
"So," Antoine chuckled, "the fellow's meticulous preparation instead exposed himself?"
"Can't say his preparation was wrong because if it weren't for Vid's dream, no one would have detected this place," Delaine said, "let's check it again."
The three split up to investigate, keeping several meters apart to avoid being ambushed by the Dark Wizard who cursed the forest, with Vid walking in the middle.
Sporadically, the light of Detection spells illuminated on both sides, while Vid cast spells far less frequently.
After all, he only needed to look with his eyes to know which trees were cursed.
Suddenly, Vid halted and looked toward a very thick oak tree ahead.
Oak trees are one of the largest and longest-living tree species in the world, with some in Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest reaching over a thousand years in age, their massive canopies like plazas, trunk circumferences dozens of meters.
When Vid transformed into a Peregrine Falcon, he had often gazed at such a magnificent canopy in awe from above.
Though this oak tree wasn't as grand, it still impacted significantly visually, with its trunk requiring at least three or four people to hug.
The key point was that around it, the Magic Patterns showed a break, as if it weren't drawn in one go and remedied poorly without being redrawn.
Vid's brow twitched, but there was no joy, rather a bit of dissatisfaction.
The Dark Wizard was thoroughly prepared and meticulously organized, cautious and insane to the point that Vid had a hallucination of the Gotham Joker.
But suddenly, such a mistake appeared, like a perfect piece of art marred by a splotch of sauce, or a luxurious silk trampled by dirty feet.
The Gotham Joker illusion shattered instantly, replaced by a bitter student pushed by his parents to do homework, knowing his mistakes yet ignoring them.
Nonetheless, the enemy's mistakes were good news for them.
Vid tossed a Detection spell onto the oak tree, the spell's light still drawn by the Magic Patterns, moments later the break emitted faint silver light.
Like a breached dam, the silver light streamed up and down the trunk, causing the entire tree to brighten.
A few seconds later, the silver light turned increasingly black, like billows of black smoke spreading, faintly emitting a crunching noise akin to chewing.
After another two seconds, the Detection spell failed, and all anomalies disappeared.
Antoine and Delaine, drawn by the scene, had already come over, looking up at the sequence of changes.
Tonight still showed no moonlight, as they didn't want to attract attention. Only the faint glow from Antoine's Magic Wand illuminated their faces, casting shadows of varying depths.
"Definitely extremely evil and powerful Dark Magic." After a moment, Delaine concluded.
"No kidding, we can all see that," Antoine rolled his eyes and said, "The point is... is this really the Curse that can Malefitize trees?"
"How would I know? I'm just as unfamiliar with that spell as you are," Delaine said, "I need to inform Mr. Grindelwald."
Vid said, "Then I'll contact Dumbledore..."
"No need, we can handle it," Delaine interrupted him, pausing for a moment before adding, "Didn't you say Dumbledore and his Order of Phoenix still have another batch of Death Eaters to deal with? If they divert people here, it might let some slip through over there."
"But if there are many cursed trees..." Vid was slightly uneasy.
"That's Grindelwald," Delaine said blandly.
That sentence was inexplicably persuasive.
To deal with trees, even enchanted cursed trees, the strongest spell remains the Flame Curse—who can doubt Grindelwald's ability to set fires?
"Moreover, if Dumbledore and Mr. Grindelwald meet, what if they start fighting first?"
Antoine said with lingering fear, "It wasn't easy for us to survive the last battlefield."
Vid, hearing this, couldn't help but laugh.
Delaine went to contact Grindelwald, while Vid looked at the oak tree ahead, towering as high as a ten-story building, his heart slightly sinking.
Such majestic and grand life, even if they are immobile trees, fully destroying won't be easy. Even if using Fierce Fire, completely burning them will take a considerable amount of time.
In that time, if this tree is awakened, it can withstand the burning of Fierce Fire and rush into the stadium, spreading the flames to all visible places, causing heavy casualties.
What's more, these trees aren't just one or two, but spread throughout the entire forest.
Time for their operation is limited, all ten thousand spectators have already sat in the stadium; if that Dark Wizard seeks maximum damage, he can awaken this forest at any time.
The Dark Wizard must be nearby, waiting for the optimal timing to act.
Therefore, if they aren't fully prepared before starting to chop down and destroy the trees, the opponent might immediately notice and prematurely awaken the forest, rush into the stadium, and begin massacring.
At that moment, their choice wouldn't be how to prevent the tragedy, but how to survive.
——Should everyone's lives be entrusted to Grindelwald?
Vid felt it shouldn't be.
The tip of his Magic Wand emitted a faint silver light, then vanished in a flash.