Inside the St Mungos Special Care Ward, all was quiet. Gellert Grindelwald lay on his hospital bed as usual, looking half-dead with his eyes tightly shut, seemingly indifferent to everything in the outside world.
"I heard from Albus that you've been making quite a few small moves against that Quirrell lately?"
Although Gellert Grindelwald did not open his eyes, his deep and majestic tone filled the entire ward with an invisible pressure, causing Adelaide's heart to race involuntarily as she stood by the bed.
Facing Gellert Grindelwald's inquiry, she lowered her head somewhat guiltily, not daring to meet his gaze.
Based on her experience dealing with parents in her previous life, the more one tries to defend themselves at a time like this, the more tense the atmosphere becomes. Parents would become hysterical, and if they couldn't win the argument, they would directly resort to 'enforcing family discipline'.
Some parents simply don't care about their children's thoughts or intentions; they just want to maintain their authority in front of them.
She didn't know which parenting philosophy her Great-Granduncle followed, but playing submissive could solve anything—her main strategy was 'I know I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time'.
After all, if her Great-Granduncle were to 'enforce family discipline' on her, it definitely wouldn't involve a feather duster. If a Dark Wizard of this level got angry, wouldn't he just use Crucio?
Dumbledore, sitting on the sofa by the door, looked very relaxed at this moment, with a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He quietly appreciated the scene before him, seemingly full of expectation for what would happen next—as long as Gellert followed the instructions in his letter and instilled a correct philosophy in Adelaide, his future plans would be much easier to execute.
Dumbledore knew very well that Adelaide was a good child.
Her essence was different from Tom Riddle's; she was kind and 'just'—but it was precisely the kind of 'justice' Adelaide displayed that made her even more terrifying than Riddle.
For many years, Dumbledore had insisted on the justice of the collective human race. For this goal, he had sacrificed his love and his comrades-in-arms. In the future, he might even sacrifice his honor, his life, the lives of his followers, the lives of his students, and even the life of The Chosen One.
But as long as it maintained the peaceful development of the entire human species and the peace between Wizards and Muggles, then everything was worth it.
In contrast, what Gellert valued was the justice of Wizards; he did not view Muggles as the same species as Wizards. In Dumbledore's eyes, this kind of justice seemed somewhat narrow. Even narrower than Gellert was Lord Voldemort, who only cared about maintaining his own authority and pure-blood 'justice'.
As for Adelaide, although she was only 12 years old this year, what she currently displayed was a self-centered 'Balanced Justice'.
Unlike Wizards from Gryffindor and Slytherin who naturally held prejudices against rival houses, Adelaide, who was from Ravenclaw, already had friends all over Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Recently, even Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff had started talking to her and Cho Chang.
Dumbledore had been silently observing Adelaide for two months since the start of the term and found that she could now navigate among her many friends with ease. Compared to the many messy scenes of jealousy during the summer holidays, the people around her were now engaged more in a kind of internal struggle with her as the goal—and it had only been such a short time!
Adelaide hadn't really given anything, yet the power and connections under her command were unknowingly becoming larger and larger. As Adelaide's mind matured, the charm and talent she displayed grew stronger as well. She was also quickly teaching herself how to balance the forces around her to reach an equilibrium centered on herself—this truly made Dumbledore feel afraid.
Dumbledore was very worried that if Adelaide's values and worldview weren't corrected in time to make her believe in collective justice, then in a few decades, after both he and Gellert had embarked on the soul's journey, there would likely be no one left to stop Adelaide's agenda.
By then, the future he had planned for the Wizarding World and The Chosen One would be completely voided, and this world would welcome a 'Dark Lord' a hundred times more terrifying than Lord Voldemort.
Dumbledore pulled his thoughts back and began to look forward to Gellert's performance.
Seeing Adelaide remain silent, Gellert Grindelwald's voice rose slightly as he continued, "You, oh you, you are a member of the Grindelwald Family, and the future leader of the Acolytes!"
A hint of dissatisfaction and disappointment was clearly evident in his words. "When you realized something was wrong with that Quirrell, you only dared to play some small tricks behind his back, instead of directly putting him to death—"
"Gellert!"
Dumbledore sharply interrupted Gellert's words, frantically winking at his old flame—what on earth are you saying!
Didn't I make it very clear in the letter I sent you before? Say what I told you to say!
Gellert Grindelwald slowly opened his eyes, those sharp, hawk-like heterochromatic eyes staring straight at Dumbledore.
Adelaide cautiously raised her head and shot a quick glance at Gellert.
In that instant, she suddenly had a strange feeling—she felt as though there were a few hints of grievance hidden in Gellert's eyes.
"Albus, it's not like you haven't seen what those people write in books: 'Lord Voldemort came from behind and successfully surpassed the Dark Wizard Grindelwald to take the crown of the Dark Lord'—he's clearly just a complete idiot who didn't even fully occupy Britain and was stupid enough to split himself into several pieces, yet they think he's better than me, who almost ruled the Wizarding World!"
Gellert Grindelwald roared in a fit of rage, his voice echoing through the room and making the windows rattle.
Adelaide shrunk into the corner, not daring to make a sound. Judging by Gellert Grindelwald's full-throated roar just now, he didn't sound like a dying man at all—even though everyone knows you, Gellert Grindelwald, are faking illness, you can't just stop acting altogether.
However, to make her Great-Granduncle lose his cool so much that he stopped pretending, it seemed he really cared about this.
Dumbledore sighed helplessly and rubbed his temples, trying to say something kind to calm Grindelwald's anger.
"Gellert, being number one on the Dark Wizard Ranking isn't exactly a good thing..."
"But I simply cannot endure being ranked behind a fellow who isn't even as good as Adelaide!"
Grindelwald interrupted Dumbledore, the flames of anger burning in his eyes.
Adelaide: Meow meow meow?
What does he mean by "not even as good as Adelaide"?
Is she some kind of terrible person?
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