Gift

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After leaving the stage, Edward separated with his aunt and Professor Flitwick to meet someone backstage; it was a middle-aged wizard dressed elegantly with a gentleman-like atmosphere around him.

"Mr. Barnabas Cuffe?" said Edward as he stretched his hand for a handshake.

"Just call Barnabas," responded the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet while shaking Edward's hand, knowing that the person in front of him was actually the secret owner of the Daily Prophet, and could determine whether he held on to his job or not.

"In that case, Barnabas, have you brought the thing I asked for?"

"Yes, sir," replied Barnabas, handing Edward a newspaper that was just printed a few minutes ago just for this occasion.

Edward took it and first read the front page: "Edward Bones changes the magical world." Then, there was a picture of him on the previous stage talking about the Three Counter-Curses.

Taking a few minutes to read this paper that will be published throughout the British Wizarding World tomorrow morning, Edward then said: "Change the picture to the one with my aunt and Professor Flitwick. Additionally, all the papers published from now will not focus on me, but on the Bones family. Make sure to always mention my aunt on a positive note, emphasize her all virtue and accomplishments in the magical world, but leave my cousin out of the spotlight."

Quickly thinking about the meaning behind these actions, Cuffe replied: "As you wish, sir," but he did not say anything regarding the matter, and just went back to the Daily Prophet to change the news accordingly.

As Edward watched Barnabas Cuffe leaves, he slowly thought about how much the magical world will change from now with the release of these counter-curses. Of course, these changes will not affect him in a negative way in any way possible.

Wizards like him and Dumbledore do not care if someone has mastered these three counter-curses; if any of them were to use the Three-Unforgivable Curses, these counter-curses will not be of any much help.

After pondering for a moment, Edward then apparated someone else; he was finally going to do something that he has been putting off for some time now ever since his return due to how busy he was.

Edward walked into a dilapidated castle. In one of the rooms, he saw an old man who seemed to be waiting for him.

"Oh, time has not been kind to you, has it, Mr. Grindelwald?" said Edward slowly.

"No, they have not," replied Grindelwald calmly. "Have you come for that contract?"

"Correct," replied Edward as he watched the old man closely. "I have to say, I'm surprised you did not try to do anything to the Bones family after I left."

"Not because of lack of trying. However, every time I got close to any of them, I could feel the power of the contract warning me; even if I sent one of my Acolytes, the same warning manifested itself. So, I just gave up."

Edward just nodded, but did not say anything more; he took out the contract and acquired all of Grindelwald's knowledge since 1926. After that, he prepared to leave, however, Grindelwald suddenly said:

"I have to thank you."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Because you showed me that my dream of freeing wizardkind is indeed possible, it's just that I went about it the wrong way."

Edward turned around and looked at the man who was once feared as the greatest dark wizard that ever lived. In his eyes, he did not see any sadness or pity for his failure, but hope.

"Did you have another vision of the future?" asked Edward calmly.

"You can say that," replied Grindelwald. Then, he got up from the floor and went to the corner of the room. After tapping a specific spot, a small chamber appeared. Inside were two sealed beakers: one full, while the latter had a small amount of blood--well relative to the other one.

"This is my gift to you," said Grindelwald. "I know that you are studying bloodline, so these two vials contained both my blood and Dumbledore. Unfortunately, during our battle in 1945, this was the little amount I could gather. However, I managed to preserve its freshness for so many years using magic."

Edward looked at the two vials of blood for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, they floated in front of him before placing them inside his pouch.

As a matter of fact, he did not need Grindelwald's blood as he already acquired it in 1926 when he was imprisoned by MACUSA. All Edward had to do was secretly control the person in charge of the prison to use a reasonable reason to draw Grindelwald's blood.

As for the reason that he did not take his blood when he forced him to sign the contract, that's because he did not want to push Grindelwald too far and forced him to resist; after all, blood is the medium for countless dark magic.

Edward's cautious nature always made sure to use the most efficient and easiest way to accomplish his goal.

Nevertheless, he was still very interested in the headmaster's bloodline. From Credence to Aberforth, all the members of the Dumbledore family seemed very gifted wizards. As such, Edward has always been very curious about their bloodlines.

Now that he got Albus Dumbledore's blood, he finally collected all the Dumbledore's blood--including both Credence and Aberforth, which he secretly collected.

Due to time constraints, he did not have time to study their bloodlines, but now that his initial plan for world domination had been set, he could finally return to his experiments.

Right before leaving, Edward asked Grindelwald: "Why are you helping me?"

After a brief pause, he said: "Because I want to see the world you are going to create with my own eyes."

'And even participated in creating it,' secretly thought Grindelwald. Meanwhile, Edward could guess some of the thoughts of this old and powerful wizard, so he said: "You should be aware that might require you to give up everything--including your soul and will."

However, Grindelwald just smiled without saying anything. Nevertheless, Edward understood the meaning behind that smile: Grindelwald was willing to do so, but now was not the time.

That's because Edward still had one major obstacle standing in front of his grand dreams and aspirations: Albus Dumbledore--just like Grindelwald did.

Only after passing through that obstacle will Grindelwald be willing to offer his loyalty to Edward.

Not only because this will show that Edward is a more powerful wizard than him by defeating the man who defeated him, but also because Edward's victory will prove that in some ways, Grindelwald's ideas and philosophies were correct, it's just that he did not use the proper method to accomplish them.

After comprehending Grindelwald's message, Edward smiled before apparating away. He could not wait to experience the legendary battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945.

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Next Chapter Title: Suspicions