Halloween (III)

Dumbledore looked exactly the same as was described in the books; he had twinkling blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles, a long crooked nose, long silver hair, and wrinkles on his forehead. He was sitting comfortably and writing on a piece of parchment as Gavin and McGonagall walked in.

Surprisingly, Fawkes, his phoenix, was nowhere to be seen. Gavin noticed this but didn't pay too much attention to it.

He scrutinized Dumbledore's office silently, taking everything in; from the portraits of previous headmasters, to the pensieve, nothing escaped his inquisitive gaze.

"Albus, one of your first years can apparently kill a troll using a blasting curse. The power of the curse itself was comparable to a small scale Bombarda Maxima charm, which is unheard of. You can confirm it from Professor Snape, who was also a witness." McGonagall broke the silence, her voice laced with faint...excitement?

Gavin was surprised when he heard her sound excited. Honestly, he was completely sure he was here to be reprimanded so it was rather out of the blue for McGonagall to sound so eager.

"Oh? That's certainly a pleasant surprise." Dumbledore replied, gazing at Gavin intently, which caused him to turn his Occlumency on to the max subconciously.

Dumbledore then looked at McGonagall, "Thank you Minevra, you may leave us." he said, with a smile.

McGonagall nodded at Dumbledore and proceeded to exit the room, leaving it silent for a few moments.

"I believe this is the first time we've met Mr. Everhart? Have a seat, let's chat…" Dumbledore suddenly said, gesturing for Gavin to sit on the chair opposite his desk.

"Indeed it is Professor, it's a pleasure to meet you." Gavin said cordially, taking a seat and making himself comfortable.

"Likewise" Dumbledore returned the greeting, smiling.

"Sherbet Lemon?" he offered, grabbing a bowl of candy and placing it in front of Gavin.

"Ah, I'm not quite a fan of sweets so I'll have to decline your offer, Professor." Gavin declined politely

Dumbledore just smiled and shifted the bowl of sweets to the side.

"Enjoying Hogwarts so far?" he started, asking Gavin.

"Yeah, classes have been very enjoyable so far." Gavin replied with a faint smile.

"That's excellent Mr. Everhart. How are your parents? And the griffins?" Dumbledore inquired,

Gavin raised his eyebrows, "You know about griffins Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled, "How could I not, your grandfather personally showed them to me. He was quite the man, always bright and pleasant to be around. I respect him a lot; he was the wizarding world's greatest hero in my personal opinion, it's a shame he's not with us anymore."

"The wizarding world's greatest hero? Isn't that you? You know, for stopping Grindelwald." Gavin responded, intrigued.

"That's what everyone saw. However, without your grandfather, everything would have been destroyed before my final battle with Grindelwald. The Wizengamot, the International Confederation of Wizards, all the ministries of magic of the different countries of the world…everything. Even I was oblivious to it at the time, even after your grandfather's repeated warnings." Dumbledore replied, his voice laced with tones of regret.

Gavin was shocked at this revelation. His grandmother had never mentioned this when she told him stories about his grandfather. Gavin took a deep breath and then asked,

"What do you mean, Professor?"

Dumbledore looked at Gavin intently, before speaking, "Everyone, myself included, at the time thought Grindelwald was the only threat, completely ignoring arguably the bigger threat. Your grandfather was the only one who saw it clearly."

"Another threat?" Gavin asked, frowning deeply.

"Yes, he was Grindelwald's greatest partner. He called himself Lord Revan, no one knew his actual identity. During the war, he was well known as Grindelwald's most powerful acolyte. According to your grandfather, he was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes"

Gavin was surprised. He had seen mentions of Lord Revan in the old newspapers published during his grandfather's time but had thought he was just a new acolyte introduced by his existence.

There weren't many things written about him and he was just portrayed as a mere follower of Grindelwald so he had brushed it off.

"Is he dead?" Gavin asked, adjusting his sitting position.

"Yes he is. Your grandfather personally killed him and showed me his memory of the battle and Lord Revan's corpse as proof. It took so much to kill the man, he was the most powerful wizard I have ever seen, several times more powerful than Grindelwald and I."

Gavin was stunned hearing that. Several times more powerful than him and Grindelwald? That sounded quite ludicrous to think about. If he really was, then this Lord Revan really hid himself deeply.

"Was my grandfather more powerful than you?" he asked, intending to obtain more information.

"No he was not."

"Then how on earth did he kill him?"

"Audric didn't fight him alone; he had no chance of winning if he did. He had help from all of his followers. Even griffins, and phoenixes participated in that battle." Dumbledore said.

Gavin's mind went blank. All of that just to kill one man? He couldn't fathom such a level of power; it was probably near the level of Merlin and those other legendary wizards, if not equal to it.

"How come this is not public news?" Gavin asked.

"It was a secret battle. Audric didn't even tell me he was going after Lord Revan until he actually killed him. Only him, the griffins, and phoenixes made it out alive, barely. He told me to tell no one and vanished after that; the next time I heard about him was when your grandmother came to inform me of his death." Dumbledore said, in a sad tone.

"Why would he want to keep it a secret?" Gavin asked confusedly.

"Perhaps you need to discover that by yourself." Dumbledore replied vaguely.

Gavin just remained quiet, digesting this incredulous revelation. After a few minutes, he looked at Dumbledore, before saying,

"Why did you tell me all this?"

"You're his grandson, you deserve to know at least this much." Dumbledore replied calmly.

Dumbledore then coughed lightly and added,

"Anyways, that is not the main thing I would like to discuss with you. This is…" he said, taking out a flier from his desk's drawer and placing it in front of Gavin.

Gavin's eyes lit up as soon as he saw the flier. It read,

'INTERNATIONAL U17 WIZARD DUELING COMPETITION'