France, New Nurmengard Castle.
Grindelwald slowly withdrew his thoughts from the Pensieve.
Stored within the Pensieve was the fragment of memory where Kyle had been ambushed by unidentified wizards outside Hogsmeade Village a while back.
What Grindelwald was doing now was searching for the true identities of that group of wizards.
Ever since Kyle was ambushed, he had set about dealing with the matter. However, just a few days later, the exposure of Kyle's parentage occurred, which demanded a massive amount of his time and energy to manage.
It was not until recently, after completing a series of arrangements to deal with the International Confederation of Wizards, that he finally freed up his hands to return to the task of tracking down that group of wizards' identities.
Grindelwald had watched Kyle's memory back and forth numerous times, trying to discover the identity of the culprit who ambushed his son.
Although those people were dressed entirely in the style of Death Eaters, missing only the words "I am a Death Eater" written across their faces, Grindelwald did not believe that lingering snake brat possessed the ability to organize such an ambush.
Voldemort could barely protect himself right now, yet he wanted to seek revenge against Dumbledore?
Unlikely. Although Voldemort wasn't particularly clear-headed due to his soul being ripped into several pieces, he definitely wouldn't do something like this.
As for whether it was a spontaneous act by former Death Eater factions wanting to capture Kyle to claim credit with their master?
Also unlikely. The wizard who fought against the combination of Kyle and Pain, ultimately dying under Lightning Release: Kirin—the collection of useless trash under Voldemort couldn't possibly possess that level of strength.
A wizard with that kind of strength would never submit to serving under the cruel and tyrannical Voldemort.
Then... could it really be an old enemy of his from the past?
It shouldn't be, though.
In the entire Wizarding World, not many people knew that he was Kyle's biological father—just a few professors at Hogwarts, and that mysterious writer who had published the article in the Daily Prophet.
Hmm... If it was that writer, everything could be explained cleanly.
First ambushing Kyle to seek revenge against him, and when the ambush failed, resorting to exposing Kyle's parentage to divert his energy and escape his relentless pursuit.
Of course, the Hogwarts professors could not escape suspicion either, because the identity of that writer could very well be a Hogwarts professor.
If it were one of the Hogwarts professors...
Grindelwald recalled the Resurrection Stone ring that Kyle had asked him to help uncurse before. He remembered that it seemed to be a deal made between Kyle and his Potions master, Severus Snape.
If that Snape had become tempted by the Deathly Hallows after researching the Resurrection Stone and wanted to gather all three Hallows, he certainly couldn't bypass the Elder Wand in Albus's hand.
Add to that his former status as Voldemort's subordinate...
With the dual buffs of knowing Kyle's identity and being a former Death Eater, Snape's suspicion looked larger and larger no matter how one sliced it.
However, considering the man was Kyle's professor and also a worker under Albus, Grindelwald naturally couldn't just grab him without evidence for interrogation.
This matter still required proof.
At this thought, Grindelwald's gaze flicked toward a skull placed on the bookshelf.
A few minutes later, holding a piece of parchment in hand, Grindelwald left the study.
Just a few steps out of the study, he ran straight into Butler-Man walking down the corridor from the opposite direction.
"Alfred, a letter from Kyle?" Grindelwald's eyes landed on the envelope in Alfred's hand.
"Yes, Master." Alfred handed two letters over to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald didn't read the letters right away. Instead, he raised an eyebrow at Butler-Man. "What has he asked your help with this time?"
Because the distance between Britain and France was far too great for an owl or a crow, Kyle rarely wrote home under normal circumstances.
Except when he needed Alfred's help with something.
Of course, after acquiring the Intercontinental Ballistic Broomstick, the distance between Britain and France was no longer a major issue, but Kyle still rarely wrote letters home.
After all, Muggle radar was no joke. Flying a broomstick once or twice might go unnoticed, but that didn't mean doing it frequently would remain undetected.
Kyle's habit of forgetting his parents the moment he left home had previously earned him a "harsh scolding" from Grindelwald.
Ahem—a "harsh scolding" was Grindelwald's one-sided phrasing. In Kyle's view, his old man was probably just jealous of Alfred; after all, being a jealousy king was a grand tradition of the Grindelwald family.
After Grindelwald's harsh scolding, every time Kyle wrote to Alfred for help, he would invariably include a letter for Grindelwald as well.
However, the contents of those letters lacked any real substance, basically consisting of asking if his old man was in good health and expressing the homesickness of a wandering traveler from afar.
If one placed every single letter Kyle had written to Grindelwald over the past three years together, it wasn't hard to see that the contents were essentially based on the exact same template.
Therefore, what Grindelwald was far more interested in was what Kyle had written to Alfred.
Ahem, this was actually just the European Jealousy King's ego at play.
Knowing his master's personality inside out, the old butler was wise enough every time to hand over the letter Kyle wrote to him for the European Jealousy King, Grindelwald, to inspect.
Hearing Grindelwald's words, Alfred smiled slightly. "The Young Lord has done something quite extraordinary this time."
"Oh?" Grindelwald's interest was piqued all of a sudden, and he opened the parchment in his hand.
Looking at the contents of the letter, a faint, gratified smile appeared on Grindelwald's face. As expected of his good son.
Kyle's letter to Alfred this time was mainly to ask the butler to help him acquire a plot of land in Diagon Alley, while casually mentioning the major event they had pulled off at Gringotts along the way.
As for this Standard Gringotts Job, while they would deny it to the death in front of Dumbledore, there was nothing to hide from Grindelwald.
Even if Kyle didn't say it, Johnny Depp and Mads Mikkelsen, those two fiercely loyal Saints, would have reported it to Grindelwald anyway.
By this time, their two owls were likely already on the way—they just weren't flying as fast as an Intercontinental Ballistic Broomstick.
Casually stuffing the letter Kyle wrote to Alfred back into the butler's hand, Grindelwald continued to read the letter his son had written to him. Sure enough, the contents were as full of nonsense as ever.
Even so, "Loving Father" Grindelwald still folded it neatly, tucked it into his pocket, and prepared to take it back to the study later to store it away carefully.
Every single letter Kyle wrote to him had been preserved by him.
Only then did he hand the parchment he had been holding in his hand since exiting the study over to the butler.
"I have a task for you," a streak of chilling killing intent surfaced on Grindelwald's face. "Bring this person to me."
After a moment's thought, Grindelwald added, "Get her alive."
Alfred looked down at the parchment in his hand. Drawn on it was a heavy-jawed woman whose hair was styled in elaborate, rigid, and bizarrely large curls.
He recognized this person—Daily Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter.
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