allendalepharm Chapter 189 He hadn't finished speaking yet.
Chapter 189 He hadn't finished speaking yet.
Chapter 189 He hadn't finished speaking yet.
"I knew Grindelwald would leave Nurmengard sooner or later."
After a sumptuous dinner, Newt invited Lockhart to visit the farm, and as they walked, they got down to business.
"Dumbledore can't keep him locked up forever..."
The wheelchair stopped beside a large, sheltered rock, and Lockhart found a rock to sit on and listened to the old man's story.
But Newt doesn't look old at all; at 96 years old, he still looks very energetic.
"Dumbledore has had enough of life. I can tell he's living a very repressed life." Newt squinted at the colorful sunset spreading across the sky and sighed softly. "Unlike me, I wake up every day with so many things I want to do. I'm always full of energy and always feel like there's not enough time."
He accepted the hot cocoa drink offered by the house-elf and invited Lockhart to try this new variety his son had cultivated. After taking a sip, he sighed again, "I know, we all know, Grindelwald is the same kind of person, always restless, only he can endure long periods of solitude better than I can."
"If you get to our age, you'll find that magic begins to take over the body's functions, and your mental state begins to determine your lifespan."
"Although I am reluctant to say this, there is a very high chance that Dumbledore will get ahead of Grindelwald, and then no one will be able to keep Grindelwald in check."
Lockhart sat beside him, sipping his oddly-tasting cocoa, smiling but saying nothing.
He knew perfectly well that this was not the case. After Dumbledore's death, Grindelwald had indeed waited to die in Nurmengard. When Voldemort arrived, he refused to resist and ultimately refused to reveal any information in order to protect Dumbledore's grave from Voldemort's disturbance, and was killed by Voldemort.
A master of magic died in a way that was anything but glorious.
The human heart is sometimes so complex that it is difficult to fathom it from a rational perspective.
"I called you here because I want to tell you a secret, a secret that can deal with Grindelwald." Newt turned to Lockhart. "And that's exactly your specialty. I've heard Dumbledore talk about you, this promising young man, and you know some things."
Lockhart raised an eyebrow but simply smiled and said nothing. "I'd like to hear more."
"I don't usually tell people that I was the first person to successfully catch him," Newt said, without any pride, simply stating it in a calm tone.
Lockhart was a bit slow, and he didn't know that Newt had officially acknowledged this to the outside world until 2017, when it was mentioned in the latest version of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".
"At that time, I used the poison needles of the Winged Demon. Its venom has a power similar to the Oblivion Curse, and it has a stronger magical power than the Oblivion Curse cast by ordinary wizards."
Newt recounted his discovery, his brow furrowing as he pondered, "I'm absolutely certain that magical creatures like the Winged Demons can't truly subdue Grindelwald. He was actually countered by the Winged Demons' venom, and his own Transfiguration abilities, which were far more powerful than those of the Disguise Magus, instantly lost their effectiveness..."
He looked up at Lockhart in astonishment, "It was as if all his magic had vanished in an instant!"
Lockhart asked with interest, "That wouldn't happen with other people, right?"
Newt nodded. "Yes, it's just him!"
"A prophet!" Lockhart clearly had the answer. "It's because of his prophetic identity, which allows him to travel backward in time, that his memories can no longer be anchored. As a result, the magic power emanating from his magical bloodline has nowhere to rely, which is why he is affected by the Oblivion Curse."
Newt blinked, looking the young man up and down in shock.
He was truly shocked.
Even though Dumbledore had mentioned many of the young man's remarkable qualities during his previous visit, Lockhart still held the stereotype that "each generation is worse than the last" in the development of wizarding society over the past few decades, and thus thought Lockhart was just a slightly better wizard.
But that's clearly not the case.
Lockhart recounted these things...
He couldn't understand!
Yes, despite being a poor student during his school years and relying heavily on magical creatures for combat abilities, he lived to be nearly a hundred years old and lived in an environment that required magic every day. Even if he was dull-witted, he still had a profound understanding of many kinds of magic.
But I just can't understand it.
He was somewhat taken aback. "Time travels backward in the future?"
Lockhart shrugged. "Yes, it's quite interesting, isn't it? When we use the time converter, we can clearly feel that it's easy to go into the past, but every step towards the future is so difficult."
Newt's expression was strange, because in all his long life, he had never encountered such a wondrous thing as a time-twister.
He therefore could not determine whether Lockhart's account was accurate.
Lockhart tried to explain in the simplest terms, "In fact, neither the past nor the future truly exists. The past is like a magical world where the magic of countless souls intertwines, hidden in everyone's soul memory. Magical bloodlines are the veins of this magnificent magical world."
"The magical power brought by magical bloodlines is certainly strong and innate, but since it relies on memories within the concept of time, it can naturally be affected by forgetting spells."
"Oh, is that so?" Newt blinked and exclaimed in surprise, "Dumbledore said your Oblivion Charm is very powerful. I didn't expect you to have explored it to such a deep extent."
"It's nothing," Lockhart said dismissively, offering a compliment. "Your achievements in the field of magical creature conservation are truly amazing."
He truly believed that magic was in life, blossoming in adventure. Newt's exploration in the field of magical creature protection had truly influenced the lives of countless wizards and even humans, and the power contained within it was simply indescribable.
The forgetting spell he devised himself could not actually benefit the world and did not have a significant impact on the concept of "life".
This will only make it easier for him to become a "life thief".
"Actually, there's another thing I'd like to ask you to do for me by inviting you here," Newt said, pulling a round, egg-sized crystal ball from his pocket and handing it to Lockhart.
"This is..." Lockhart examined it curiously, "A memory orb?"
He had seen this thing before; little Neville had one. It looked hollow and filled with some kind of gas. If you squeezed it hard and it remained the same, it meant you hadn't forgotten anything. If it suddenly turned bright red, it meant you had forgotten something.
"I commissioned Nicolas Flamel to make this for me. It's very difficult to destroy and has a craftsmanship similar to the Pensieve," Newt explained.
Lockhart drew his wand and gently pressed it against the memory orb to examine it, exclaiming, "Wow! Sensing a certain connection between the subconscious mind and thought—this is an extraordinary thing!"
Newt exchanged a helpless glance with his son, who had come over to deliver snacks. He had thought this encounter would be a mentorship between an elder and a young man, but he hadn't expected to actually meet a scholar-type person, making communication incredibly difficult.
It's quite frustrating. Wizards like him, who rely more on spirituality to guide their actions, rarely explore the truth of things. It's truly impossible for them to be like Lockhart, who can speak eloquently about every new thing he sees.
He didn't even understand much of what Lockhart was saying.
His son also cast a curious glance, as if asking—has this young man really been recognized by the Dragon Cave Rabbit?
There are actually quite a few records of wizards encountering the Dragon Hole Rabbit in wizarding history. The magical experience of falling into the magic rabbit hole is romantically described in many wizards' bedtime fairy tales.
But the protagonists in those fairy tales are all innocent people.
Such people should pursue the path of research-oriented academic experts, rather than the practical expert path like them, but it is far more difficult to find such individuals.
Newt shrugged, indicating that he wasn't sure either when his son asked.
Even if this was said by Dumbledore himself, it is said to be from Professor Kettleburn's account.
"What do you want me to do?" Lockhart asked, somewhat puzzled after examining the memory orb in his hand. He actually knew nothing about alchemical tools like this.
"It can hold a person's memories. After all, I'm getting old and starting to forget some things. No matter how many editions of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' are updated, I can't record all the details."
Newtmo rubbed his legs, which had been aching recently, and said with some emotion, "I need to make a backup of my memories, but you know, things like the Pensieve don't really preserve memories for very long, and it's not so easy to retrieve some information."
"And I also hope that these precious memories I possess can be better passed down, so that those who are willing to engage in the protection of magical creatures can continue my path and move forward, instead of having to start from scratch every time."
Lockhart observed the memory sphere for a while longer after hearing this, then nodded. "Copy the memory and put it into this crystal sphere that's like a meditation basin, right? That's not difficult for me."
It was something that came easily to me.
But Newt could probably search the entire wizarding world and only Lockhart would have the ability to do this.
Without Lockhart, Newt would have had to painstakingly extract memories bit by bit to complete this long and arduous process, perhaps never finishing it even as he grew old.
"What do we need to prepare?" Newt's son asked nervously. "A safe house? Some kind of magical ritual? Or some magical materials and potions? I'll go prepare them right away."
Tampering with memories in the brain is undoubtedly an extremely dangerous thing. Even Newt, who was determined, was a little uneasy at this moment. "When can you be ready? I know this is a delicate and highly difficult spell to cast. I will set aside some time for it..."
"Oh, no need for that." Lockhart smiled and raised his wand, still sitting lazily on the rock. "It'll be over in a minute."
"Huh?" Newt and his son exclaimed in unison, staring at each other in astonishment.
Before they could react, a strange silver light quickly swept into their eyes. Upon closer inspection, they were shocked to find that twisted and swaying strands of silver memory were emerging from Newt's head, baring their fangs and claws in the surrounding environment like a bizarre monster.
"!!!" Newt.
"!!!" His son.
"!!!" The house-elf next to him covered his mouth tightly to prevent himself from screaming.
Bang!
The wand appeared in their field of vision, and with a gentle shake, all the silver threads of memory, which twisted in mid-air like worms, flew toward the memory orb in Lockhart's hand and quickly burrowed into it.
In an instant, everyone froze, even subconsciously holding their breath, not daring to make the slightest extra movement.
Unexpectedly, Lockhart was still able to speak despite this complex magical manipulation. "Mr. Scamander, do you want to back up all your memories, or just the part about magical creatures?"
Newt's lips twitched, and he stiffened with nervousness.
"Oh, relax, it's okay. Just act like usual, you can talk." Lockhart then looked at Newt's son beside him, "You too, don't be so nervous."
"If possible, it would be best to focus only on the magical creatures part, but I don't know if that would increase the difficulty. If it's too difficult, I mean..." Newt was extremely nervous.
However, before he could finish speaking, the shimmering silver light suddenly vanished, and everyone stared in astonishment as their vision returned to normal, not knowing what had happened.
Newt's son nervously drew his wand and looked at his father, intending to do something to help if Lockhart's magic failed.
Just then, a sparkling crystal ball was placed in front of them, and Lockhart's gentle voice came, "Done."
"!!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
When the three returned to the rural estate, Newt's wife, Tina, asked him somewhat nervously, "What did he say? Did he tell you that your plan can't work, right? You know, I used the Oblivion Charm a lot when I was an Auror, so I know all too well how terrible that magic is. No one can do what you're thinking; that's just wishful thinking."
Newt seemed to be still in shock, and remained silent in a daze.
Tina looked at her son with some doubt. "Mr. Lockhart agreed? Did he?! You should have advised your father not to do such a dangerous thing! Tell me, when are you planning to do this?"
Newt's son, with a somewhat strange expression, pulled out a memory orb and handed it to his mother. "Professor Lockhart has taken care of it!"
"Huh?" Tina was stunned. "You guys were only out for a short while!!!"
Yes, just for a little while.
It's that simple. With a gentle wave of the wand, what others would consider an extremely dangerous and terrifying endeavor becomes as easy as drinking a hot cocoa. Before you even finish speaking, the task is accomplished.
"He might be far more powerful than we think." Newt took a deep breath, looking at Lockhart, who was chatting with his grandson in the distance, with a complicated expression. "I suddenly regret telling him how to deal with Grindelwald."
He didn't really know this young man well, didn't know what political leanings he had, or what kind of changes he would bring to the wizarding world.
Just because Dumbledore said Lockhart could be trusted, he told this young man the secret, which resulted in Grindelwald being unable to control the young man afterward. Whether this was a blessing or a curse is unknown.
(End of this chapter)