Chapter 463: I've served the organization! I've shed blood for it! You can't send me to Azkaban!

Dumbledore nodded, approving of Wade's caution.

He still wanted Wade to place more trust in his friends, but when dealing with unfamiliar matters, he had no intention of asking him to abandon his habit of questioning everything.

Wade's suspicion might be unlikely, but it was not impossible.

Besides, there were far too many holes in this matter involving the Scourers. Something about it simply did not add up.

Even if Wade was right and the pure-blood families had deliberately created a scapegoat, the setup was far too sloppy, riddled with obvious flaws.

Dumbledore believed that any force capable of organising an attack on that scale would certainly have the means to make the entire affair look far more convincing.

So why would they handle it so carelessly?

"Even if your doubts are reasonable, now that I've found this lead, I have no reason not to continue investigating it," Grindelwald replied. "After all, we don't have any other obvious leads at the moment."

"But if you do that... you may be following exactly the path someone wants you to take," Wade said seriously.

"That is certainly possible..." Grindelwald did not deny it this time. "But nothing happens without leaving traces. If there really is a group behind this manipulating events, they cannot have erased every sign of their involvement."

"All right... There really isn't much else we can do right now..." Wade pondered for a moment. "Can I meet the Scourer you captured?"

"You can. But I already threw him into Azkaban. If you want to see him, you'll have to make a trip there," Grindelwald said. "I'd also like you to see whether you can find any signs that his memories were altered, or perhaps get more information out of him."

Grindelwald paused before continuing.

"Especially information about those Scourers. If they really do exist, then even if this incident has nothing to do with them, we should still arrest them and bring them to justice. They hate wizards, yet they themselves are powerful wizards. If we leave them alone, I'm afraid many innocent witches and wizards will be harmed.

"Or perhaps many already have been over the years, and we simply never realised it."

Grindelwald was serious about that point.

Of course, that did not mean he had suddenly become a good man who wanted to protect innocent wizards. Wizards were already few in number, and to an ambitious man like Grindelwald, every witch and wizard could potentially become one of his strongest future supporters.

If the Scourers had been targeting Muggles instead of wizards, he would not have bothered with the matter at all.

Dumbledore frowned when he heard that they would have to go to Azkaban.

The most terrifying thing about Azkaban was the vast number of Dementors there.

Anyone imprisoned in Azkaban would have all their positive emotions drained away by those creatures. Staying around them was almost like temporarily suffering from severe depression.

The negative emotions in that place were overwhelming. Most people could not endure them for long.

Naturally, Dumbledore did not want one of his students going somewhere like that.

Wade, however, reacted very differently upon hearing the name Azkaban.

His previously calm expression became visibly agitated.

Even his breathing grew heavier. It took quite a while before he managed to steady it again.

The influence of the "residue" was still there. Until the Hogyoku had fully purified it, the "residue" continued to tempt Wade every moment.

Before he had completely suppressed those impulses, even he had no idea what he might do if he actually went to Azkaban.

So although Wade had originally intended to go there immediately, he ultimately forced himself to suppress the urge and decided to wait a few days.

Grindelwald seemed to notice that something was off about Wade, but he still assumed Wade was only putting on an act in front of Dumbledore, pretending not to be interested in Azkaban.

In truth, Grindelwald did not believe Wade would be afraid of a place like Azkaban.

After all, Wade was the sort of madman who had once asked Grindelwald to catch a Dementor for him as a Christmas present.

"When you're ready, come find me. I'll take you to Azkaban," Grindelwald said. Then he turned to Dumbledore. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Nothing will happen to Wade. If you're really that concerned, you can come with us."

Only then did Dumbledore nod.

"Wade, if it's genuinely inconvenient for you to go, that's fine too. I can go in your place and then place the memory exactly as I experienced it into the Pensieve."

Dumbledore had long known about the nature of the "residue," so he naturally understood that Wade's current condition was not suitable for visiting Azkaban just yet.

"Give me a few days..." Wade said.

He still decided that he would go to Azkaban personally.

First, he had never visited the infamous prison before and genuinely wanted to see it for himself.

Second, if they were going to examine the captured Scourer, it would be easier to spot any problems in person.

If he only viewed Dumbledore's memory through the Pensieve, then even with Dumbledore's extraordinary powers of observation, memories could still contain tiny discrepancies from reality.

And sometimes, those tiny discrepancies were exactly the clues that revealed the truth.

"All right." Grindelwald stood up. "While you're preparing, I'll have people continue following this lead. As for how we deal with everything in the end, we'll decide once the investigation produces results."

"And one more thing..." Grindelwald turned toward Dumbledore again. "I still haven't settled things with you over deliberately smearing Dark Magic and causing most students to reject it."

"Oh?" Dumbledore folded his arms. "I merely stated the facts. Since when did telling the truth become deliberate slander?"

"I'll tell you plainly. No matter how much trouble you cause me, this educational reform of mine is going to succeed!" Grindelwald said coldly.

"Then I'll tell you plainly as well. As long as I remain at Hogwarts, I will not allow my students to accept an education in Dark Magic without any safeguards. Hogwarts will not become Durmstrang!" Dumbledore replied just as coldly.

Seeing the tension between them rising again, Wade raised a hand. "Gentlemen, please calm down."

He looked at Grindelwald. "Director, the focus of your educational reform has never really been Dark Magic itself. It's about whether the students can become mentally stronger and more capable, isn't it?"

Grindelwald nodded.

"Then... Professor Dumbledore." Wade turned to Dumbledore. "As long as the students aren't being casually exposed to Dark Magic, and the goal is simply to help them grow stronger quickly, you have no reason to oppose it, right?"

Dumbledore pondered for a moment, then nodded as well.

"What are you trying to say?" Grindelwald asked with a frown.

"I'm saying that this problem is actually easy to solve. Dark Magic isn't the only path to making students stronger. Professor Dumbledore himself rarely uses Dark Magic, yet he is still an exceptionally powerful wizard. Professor, all you need to do is teach the students other powerful spells that aren't Dark Magic. Just like Tom..."

Dumbledore's eyes immediately lit up.

"And you, Director, only need the students to become powerful even without using Dark Magic, and to develop the will to keep growing stronger. If that happens, then your educational reform can be considered a success, can't it? As for whether Professor Dumbledore openly teaches Dark Magic at Hogwarts or tries to turn Hogwarts into Durmstrang, that really isn't something you need to worry so much about, is it?" Wade asked.

Grindelwald narrowed his eyes.

He thought of Tom as well.

Tom rarely used Dark Magic now, yet that did not change the fact that he had already become the second strongest duellist among the students at Hogwarts.

Which meant...

Dumbledore's methods really did work.

After hearing Wade out, much of the hostility between Grindelwald and Dumbledore immediately faded.

"All right," Grindelwald said. "Don't say I never gave you a chance, Dumbledore. I'll personally come every month to inspect the practical assessments and the trial challenges in detail. If you fail to produce results... then I'll have reason to question your ability as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

Dumbledore replied coldly, "I'll naturally show you what someone truly qualified to work in education is capable of. Something certain incompetent people who merely occupy their positions could never manage."

Grindelwald narrowed his eyes. In the end, he gave a cold snort, turned around, and slammed the door behind him.

Dumbledore withdrew his gaze. "Wade, how does your body feel now? Are you really able to go somewhere like Azkaban?"

"I can. Over the next few days, I'll slowly extract the remaining 'residue' from my body. I actually prepared containers for it a long time ago. If rescuing Miravia hadn't required me to push through everything at once, I never would have allowed even the slightest trace of that 'residue' to remain inside me," Wade said in a low voice.

Dumbledore praised him. "Very good, Wade. Wizards who can resist the temptation of power like you are becoming increasingly rare."

"No, Professor. I'm not as noble as you think. I'm pursuing the limits of power too. After all, I am a Slytherin. But power like the 'residue' isn't the kind of power I want. It may be strong, but it affects my mind. I won't allow any power capable of influencing my reason to remain within me."

...

In the blink of an eye, a week passed.

During that week, Wade gradually extracted the "residue" from his body and reabsorbed the magic that had been purified by the Hogyoku.

Although much less remained after purification, it was now harmless, pure magic, so Wade did not consider it a loss.

"Tom, tomorrow's Sunday. Do you have any plans?"

That day, Wade asked the question in the clubroom.

"Nothing in particular. Same as usual..." Tom shrugged.

"Aren't you going to watch the Quidditch match?" Henry asked.

"No. I'm not that interested." Tom shook his head.

Wade smiled. "In that case, would you be interested in visiting somewhere a little more exciting?"

"Where?" Tom suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Tom, want to go to Azkaban?"

Tom shot to his feet.

"I've made contributions to the club! I've shed blood for the organisation! You can't send me to Azkaban!"

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