Upon returning to Britain, Alan found himself with a pile of matters to handle. First, he had to prioritize business orders. Having received trade contracts from multiple countries, his current production capacity simply couldn't keep up. For this, he spent more than half a month expanding the underground factory, doubling the number of lathes, and putting them into production without stop.
Fortunately, the raw materials supplied by the Ministry of Magic were delivered on time; various metals, furs, wood, and other raw materials were continuously transported to the Silver Lightning Trading Company. The Ministry even proposed to assign a special commissioner to assist with coordination, essentially giving him an assistant to provide a green channel. Alan didn't stand on ceremony and directly requested Aseria. After she learned that the Thunderbird had been dealt with, she became as docile as a quail.
Secondly, Minister Bagnold once again fulfilled her promise, nominating him and applying for an Order of Merlin, Second Class. The reason it was one class higher than the Third Class she had previously promised was mainly because, in addition to his academic contributions, he had brought substantial financial benefits to the Ministry. In fact, given his current international academic standing and his previous contributions in combating Death Eaters, granting a Second Class or Third Class was debatable. Therefore, in this somewhat narrow wizarding society, the influence brought by interpersonal and interest relationships was even greater than in Muggle society. With Alan's current connections and wealth, he already possessed significant influence in Britain.
Alan's award ceremony was quite lively. To receive an Order of Merlin at such a young age was big news in the entire wizarding world, and it once again made him famous in the magical world, though he didn't pay much attention to it.
...
On this day, a neatly dressed Alan appeared in Godric's Hollow. As he approached the monument in the Hollow, he once again saw the Potter family statues, and with a solemn expression, he paused briefly before bypassing the monument and walking toward the church.
He wasn't here today to commemorate the Potter family. Passing through the church in the Hollow, Alan arrived at the cemetery behind it and searched for a specific plot based on the memories in his mind. He stopped in front of a tombstone, and on it was clearly written the name Gerald Stevens. This was the Thunderbird's tombstone, and it was the place he had entrusted to Alan, marking where all his personal belongings were stored.
As for why the Thunderbird chose to store things in Godric's Hollow in Britain, his own explanation was simple. Godric's Hollow was not only where Grindelwald and Dumbledore made their blood vow but also the first stronghold when the Acolytes were later established. Therefore, Gerald had deep feelings for this place, and perhaps this was also the tomb he left for his past self.
After Alan arrived at the tombstone, he pulled out a shielding jammer and turned it on. He then took out the Thunderbird's wand, lightly tapped the name on the stone, and softly uttered a phrase in German: "For the Greater Good."
After confirming that the casting wand and the password were correct, a rumbling sound immediately came from the grave behind the tombstone, and a crack opened in the ground, revealing a wooden box about a meter long inside. Don't think Alan opened the Thunderbird's secret stash so easily; if it were someone else, even if they dug three feet deep, they wouldn't find this box. Moreover, if an incorrect wand or password was used to try and open it, the grave wouldn't react at all. So, this small opening in front of him was actually in another sub-dimension; once closed, it would disappear from this world entirely.
After confirming everything, Alan took out the box in front of him and placed a smaller box inside the empty space. This contained the Thunderbird's ashes, which completed Gerald's last wish. After doing all this, Alan closed the tomb again and focused his attention on the box in front of him.
This large box didn't have any anti-theft measures. Alan lightly tapped it with his wand to open it and inspected the contents. The entire large box was packed full. What was stored inside were Gerald's most important items, but most of them were personal items with significant meaning in his memory.
For example, a large stack of letters, including his correspondence with Grindelwald and letters between the original seven members of the Silver Spears. After a rough perusal, Alan figured out the names of those founding members through the salutations in the letters, although he still couldn't determine exactly who was who. Additionally, throughout the entire box, there wasn't a single letter from Gerald to his adoptive father, Rune Serpent. This left Alan, who wanted to collect more information, a little disappointed, but it also indirectly showed how much the Thunderbird disliked his leader.
Besides the letters, there were also many magical photos, including several group photos. From them, one could see a young Gerald, and even Grindelwald. Although Alan didn't recognize the figures next to them, he memorized all their faces, which might be beneficial for future actions. Furthermore, there were also some small souvenir-like trinkets in the box. He even saw a toy top; it seemed these things held special meaning for Gerald.
After a simple sorting, excluding these extra, commemorative items, less than half of the items truly useful to Alan remained in the box. However, after identifying these items, Alan knew he had struck it rich.
First before him were several scrolls of magical notes and notebooks, all containing Gerald's mastery of magic and dueling insights accumulated over decades. The notes meticulously recorded dozens of spell incantations, usage tips, and precautions.
Among them were the Corrosion Curse and Blue Fiendfyre, which Alan had seen before. The Corrosion Curse was a unique dark arts spell secretly recorded within the Silver Spears; even ordinary members couldn't speak its incantation to outsiders. The Blue Fiendfyre, on the other hand, was Grindelwald's ultimate technique, which the Thunderbird learned from him. Because he became disappointed with Grindelwald in the later stages, he rarely used it. In the past decade, he only used it twice, both times on Alan.
At the same time, Alan also saw the scarlet shield magic that had saved Gerald's life multiple times. In the notes, it was called Stevens's Insulation Shield, which was actually Gerald's self-created magic. This magic could form a 360-degree omnidirectional magical shield around the body with no dead angles, and its strength was extremely high, proving very effective against various magical attacks. Except for the Unforgivable Curses, it could block almost all spells, making it a powerful shield charm that surpassed the standard Shield Charm.
Seeing these spells with detailed annotations, Alan nodded contentedly. There were at least a dozen new spells he didn't recognize, plus the Blue Fiendfyre and the magical shield he had always coveted; now he had them all.
After tidying up these notes, he also found a vial of Felix Felicis and various materials. Although the Thunderbird didn't like alchemy, he knew the preciousness of rare materials. Alan found half a pound of Urim steel and an ounce of refined mithril in the box, which was an unexpected gain. However, when he opened the last box containing materials and identified the contents, his heart couldn't help but beat faster.
"This is... Flamel alloy?" Alan stared at the small metal block in surprise. Although he had never seen the real thing, he recognized it immediately.
Alan hadn't expected that the Thunderbird would have such an item. This rare alloy, invented by the legendary alchemist Nicolas Flamel, was even rarer than refined mithril. He had only seen it once on the blueprints given by Professor Bones.
"With Flamel alloy, wouldn't I be able to... make Mr. Scamander's suitcase?" Alan immediately recalled the design when he met Newt.
At that time, Alan would occasionally visit Scamander to study. Among his research on alchemy tools, besides the travel flask, Newt had also shown him that magical suitcase several times. Of course, this suitcase with a huge storage space couldn't be given to him, but letting Alan study it was not a problem. Newt even generously gave Alan the design blueprints for the suitcase.
But when Alan did a simple study of the suitcase, he found that he couldn't replicate the item with his current level. It wasn't that the technology involved was too difficult, but that during the production process, it required an alchemy material he had never seen before: Flamel alloy. And now with this material, it meant he could make his own suitcase.
Suppressing his urge to start researching immediately, Alan carefully took out the alloy and put it away, then packed up all the other items in the box and quickly left the scene. After retrieving the Thunderbird's collection, Alan gained a deeper understanding of Gerald, which also gave him more confidence in portraying the Thunderbird.
Alan set the departure date for dealing with the Silver Spear Club for three months later. Fortunately, the Thunderbird had previously claimed half a year's worth of the Elixir of Life, and there were still about five months until the next time he needed to claim the potion, so there was still plenty of time.
The reason for this arrangement was that he first had to handle the trivial matters at the Silver Lightning Trading Company; otherwise, if international trade was delayed, the Ministry of Magic would be the first to complain. Secondly, in the coming months, Alan would spend more time familiarizing himself with and learning Gerald's spells. After all, by then he would be playing the role of the Thunderbird, and if he didn't use the spells he was originally proficient in, it would be easy for others to suspect him.
At the same time, and most importantly, he was about to graduate from Hogwarts. He had to attend the graduation ceremony and get his diploma before he could go out and handle the rest of his business.