Chapter 767: The Price of Becoming the Dark Lord (Edited)

"Albus, does Grindelwald live here, nya?"

(?ω?)

Fish raised his head, looking at the dark and gloomy tower in front of him, and asked curiously, "But it doesn't even seem like anyone has cleaned it."

"Because Gellert is the only one inside now," Dumbledore explained in a low voice. "So not only are there no other prisoners, but there are also no guards. The magic Gellert set in motion works on its own, even the three meals are brought directly by house-elves."

"Grindelwald's own magic?"

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head, then twitched his ears twice in surprise and asked, "Can't he even undo the magic he has prepared? He's so powerful in your memories."

"Because I have his wand now." Dumbledore waved the old wand in his hand. "Besides, I don't think Gellert is really trapped by his own magic. He should be able to get out whenever he wants."

"If that's the case, why doesn't he come out?" Fish tilted his head, confused.

Dumbledore looked at the text line above the entrance and intoned, "Probably... he doesn't want to come out..."

"Why? It's so boring inside where there's no one else to play with." Fish was even more confused.

Although most of the time Fish could sleep or find something to occupy his time, he still preferred to spend time with Professor McGonagall, Hermione, and his other friends.

This time, Dumbledore just chuckled softly, not answering Fish's question, but led him directly inside Nurmengard.

"You can ask Gellert that question when you see him."

The air rippled like water as they passed through the large open door, and a cold sensation, similar to crossing Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, ran through Fish's body, causing him to shudder and his ears and tail hair to stand on end.

The interior of the tower was as dilapidated as the exterior, covered in dust and cobwebs, with monotonous black slabs dividing the interior into small, dark rooms, each containing nothing more than a simple hard bed.

"Lumos." Dumbledore raised his wand.

After all, unlike Fish, he couldn't see in this darkness.

With his wand raised, Dumbledore walked directly towards the black stone steps in the corner, telling Fish as he advanced, "Follow me, Gellert lives here, on the top floor."

The monotony of the tower quickly lost interest for Fish, so after quickly glancing around, he followed Dumbledore and ascended the stairs with him.

Dumbledore's pace was not fast, but not slow either, but Fish had no patience to climb the stairs with him, and with a quick "Fish will go up first to see what's going on," Fish passed the slow Dumbledore and made a beeline for the top floor.

=(=(ω=(ω)

Despite no additional acceleration spells being cast, Fish didn't take long to climb the dozen flights of stairs, so he quickly reached the top of the black tower.

There was only one cell on the top floor of the tower, sealed by a wooden door wrapped in thick iron, which, unlike the exterior castle door, had no rust but was smooth enough to show the shadow of a man. There were no signs of decay on the wrapped wooden door, and it was difficult to even find a bug hole on it.

Fish stood in front of the door and looked at it, checking that it had no lock, not even a hinge, and that the door seemed to be completely embedded in the black stone slabs surrounding it, with no way to open it.

"Nya?" Fish tilted his head, confused, and then took out his wand. "Alohomora nya!"

(ΦωΦ)つ━☆*.

The door, of course, didn't budge. The anti-Alohomora spell was the most basic spell to secure a wizard's prison.

But it wasn't difficult for Fish. Just because he hadn't used it in a long time didn't mean Fish had forgotten it.

Fish pocketed his wand again, then opened his hands, and sharp claws slowly grew from the tips of his fingers. With ease, Fish plunged them into the gaps on both sides of the door...

[Beast's Claws] + [Ant's Strength] + [Bull's Brute Strength] + [Wild Strength] =

Fish McGonagall's door-opening spell!

"Nya!"

ヽ(-`Д-)ノ

With a powerful arm movement, Fish removed the heavy, lockless wooden door, casually tossing it aside.

"Hey!"

As he tossed the wooden door to the side, Fish entered the cell while applauding.

The cell above was no different from the ones below. It remained dark and small, with only a narrow, hard bed and no windows, or rather, a very narrow gap between the black stones that must be the window.

The pale moonlight filtered through the gap, casting a patch of light on the floor smaller than the size of a palm.

On the single hard bed in the room, an elderly man with a thin blanket looked astonished at Fish's sudden entrance.

The elderly man, gaunt and bony, with deeply sunken eyes, hair, and teeth almost lost, resembled a skeleton, not at all the wild appearance Fish remembered Dumbledore describing.

"Nya?"

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head, looking at the elderly man in front of him, wondering if he had been looking in the wrong place.

"I suppose... you are the Fish McGonagall Albus spoke of." The skeletal elderly man spoke first.

"Yes," Fish nodded, approaching the elderly man and curiously asking, "Are you Grindelwald? You don't look the same as in Albus' memory..."

"At this point, I don't think anyone remembers the identity of Gellert Grindelwald either." Grindelwald replied with a toothless smile.

But Fish couldn't believe it, as the difference between the two men was too great. He tilted his head and carefully looked at the elderly man, finally fixing his gaze on his bald head...

"Voldemort doesn't resemble him much when he was younger either! Is it true that when you become a Dark Lord, you lose your hair?"

∑(ΦДΦ)

Fish suddenly realized.

The wrinkled cheeks of Grindelwald slightly twitched as he answered with a bewildered smile, "I don't know what happened to Voldemort; my hair simply vanished because I'm old."

"But... Albus has a lot of hair, and Newt and Tina aren't bald either, and Griselda, who is older than Albus, also has a lot of hair. Filius is bald in the middle but still has hair on both sides of his ears, and he has goblin blood—most goblins don't have hair, nya!"

(ˇˇ)

Fish gave a very serious example.

"Well... it varies from person to person," Grindelwald wasn't offended but happily discussed the topic of hair with Fish. "Some people lose their hair at a young age and don't become Dark Lords, right?"

Fish carefully recalled that Professor Tofty, who had supervised his O.W.L. exams with Griselda Marchbanks, had very little hair. He also remembered that Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, had much finer hair than many others. It wasn't as if Fish hadn't seen people in their forties and fifties with a bare head...

"It makes sense, nya!"

Fish nodded, secretly relieved.

In Rita Skeeter's report, he was referred to as the third generation of the Dark Lord, so Fish was worried about what would happen if he was truly mistaken for the Dark Lord's third generation and lost all his hair.

After resolving the hair issue, which seemed very serious to Fish, he began asking Grindelwald questions.

What did he do to pass the time here, what did he eat, and who visited him besides himself and Dumbledore?

When Grindelwald provided his answers, Fish's face instantly filled with disbelief and astonishment.

"How did you manage to stay in such a boring place for so long?

∑(ΦДΦ)

Fish asked him the same question he had asked Dumbledore before: "Why didn't you escape? Albus said that the magic here was prepared by you, so it shouldn't be able to hold you back."

"Because... even if I were to leave, there would be nowhere to go..." Grindelwald said softly, "I have lost everything, so here and elsewhere, there is no difference."

"But Fish doesn't believe that you have nothing."

(?ω?)

Fish looked at Grindelwald with a serious expression and said, "Albus has always remembered you, nya, and Fish thinks he would welcome you if you were to leave."