Are You Confident in Defeating Grindelwald?

The female Auror was shocked at first, but when she turned around and saw who it was, her nerves relaxed, and then she looked a little indignant.

Iris gave a barely perceptible shake of her head, indicating that this was not a good time to strike.

This incident went unnoticed by the rest of the room. Under the combined pressure of Pierce and Conal, the French Minister lost his hard-line attitude, but gritted his teeth and insisted on searching Ivan and the others to prove that they had not taken any treasures from the tomb.

Pierce, of course, did not hesitate to refute the other's rude request, stressing that they should not be so critical of two heroes who had stood up to Grindelwald!

After a heated debate, the French Minister reluctantly chose to release Ivan and Rolfe. Without concrete evidence, he had no reason to force them to stay.

Nor was it worth it to fall out with the British and North American Ministries of Magic over a possible treasure.

"We'll take our leave, Minister, now that the matter is clear." Ivan was secretly relieved when the Minister finally relented. He would not have resorted to violence if he had not had to.

With his strength, he could easily beat them up and force them to admit their mistake. However, if he did that, there would be endless trouble.

After all, this was different from the one in Britain. The reason he dared to kill Fudge in public was partly because of his status as Lord Voldemort, partly because he had planned ahead and controlled the media, partly because he had won the approval of nearly half of the pure-blood families, and partly because of Pierce's betrayal.

France was, at the end of the day, a wizarding country, and strength alone would not bring them to their knees; it would only provoke more resistance. Otherwise, the Minister would have surrendered to Grindelwald long ago, and would not have sent men to hunt for his followers.

If he offended the French Ministry of Magic and caused a wizarding war between Britain and France, Grindelwald would probably wake up laughing at night…

As they left the Ministry of Magic, Ivan turned back to Connor and said, "Thank you for your help, Director Connor."

"All I did was speak the truth. Even without me, I'm sure Sir Harls would have been able to solve this little problem on his own," Conal said with a smile, as if he had forgotten about the unpleasantness of the last time. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he steered the conversation back to business.

"I sent intelligence agents to France to receive reports that Grindelwald's image had changed so drastically that the Aurors thought they had the wrong man."

"Your information was correct. When Grindelwald and I met, he was completely restored to his youth, and I'm afraid he is even more difficult to deal with than before!" Ivan said very carefully.

Conal's face fell at Ivan's confirmation, but he forced himself to remain calm as he questioned him.

"The question is, how did he do it? I believe Minister Pearce's report to the International Confederation of Wizards stated that Grindelwald was under the influence of an extremely nasty Dark Magic during his battle with Lord Voldemort, and that he should be in terrible shape…"

"It's easy," Ivan murmured. "All you have to do is die."

"Dying… once?" Connor was stunned. At first, he didn't understand what Ivan was saying, but then he realized what he was talking about and gasped. In his mind, only the worst kind of Dark Magic could reverse life and death.

"It's the only way to explain Grindelwald's strange condition," Ivan said with a slight headache. When he learned that the Vice President of North America had been captured, he suspected that Grindelwald would use the same method as Voldemort to revive himself and escape the effects of the Dark Arts.

This also meant that the other party had most likely created a Horcrux!

Defeating Grindelwald had been difficult enough, but now there was a precondition: the Horcrux must be found and destroyed.

Conal was deeply troubled, understanding that the North American Ministry of Magic alone would not be able to match Grindelwald.

"Are you confident you can defeat Grindelwald?" Conal asked cautiously.

"Difficult. And even if Grindelwald is defeated, no one will be able to stop him unless they find a place where they can't use Apparition!" Ivan said bluntly, shaking his head.

Connor nodded, unsurprised. Given Ivan's age, it would have been surprising if he'd been confident of defeating Grindelwald.

However, judging from Ivan's ability to break into Nicolas Flamel's tomb and escape unscathed from Grindelwald's attack, he was probably not too far behind, and was the only wizard capable of fighting Grindelwald.

Understanding this, Conal hurried to Ivan's aid when he learned that the French Ministry of Magic was making things difficult for him.

Yvonne was more than happy to accept Connor's offer of friendship. With Grindelwald as their enemy, they would only give each other a chance to break them apart.

After some discussion, the North American and British Ministries of Magic tentatively agreed to reveal the latest information on Grindelwald and work together against the powerful Dark Wizard.

He also had Connor's word that if there was ever a major operation that required his personal attention, the International Confederation of Wizards would grant him the status of Supreme Executive Officer on the mission, and all wizards except a few high-ranking officials above the rank of Head of Department would be at his disposal if necessary.

Of course, this force could only be used against Grindelwald, and if Ivan ordered them to do something illegal, the Aurors would not listen.

After discussing the general framework of their cooperation, Conal left in a hurry, having been forced to agree to many harsh conditions in order to win Ivan over.

When Connor was out of earshot, Ivan turned to Pierce and asked, "Who was that wizard, Iris? Is there any information on him in Britain?"

When they were in the Minister's office, he had sensed that there was something wrong with Iris, and Ivan had sensed danger from her.

This was one of the reasons why he did not act rashly in the Ministry of Magic.