Chapter 279 The Final point (2 in1)

The North Pole is not like Antarctica, where there is a continent covered with ice and snow at the pole.

The closer you get to the Ninety Degree Pole, the more of an ocean it becomes.

But that is only in August and September in the summer, January daily temperatures ranged from minus 20 degrees and 40 degrees below, so that the vast majority of the Arctic Ocean sea surface all frozen, turning into a huge glacial "continent".

In this frozen ocean, some glaciers show no signs of melting no matter what season they are in, especially in this area near the pole.

Rodolphus is on such a huge glacier.

He wore a thick leather coat, with a bear skin woven hat on his head, and his face was completely devoid of the brashness and rage of the past, instead, it was haggard and pale.

The wet and salty cold wind drove the ice and snow wandering on the ice field, broken glass pieces of ice constantly slapped on his leather coat and face, covering his scruffy face with a layer of icy frost.

"Head, we, how much longer we have to guard here?" On his other side, a Death Eater with his hands and neck all shrunken into his thick robe asked with chattering teeth, "My wife gave birth to a baby in December, and I haven't had time to go back and check if it's my seed or not."

Rodolphus' face was full of indifference, and he pointed his wand at the increasingly faint flames in front of him, before answering in a hoarse, emotionless voice after the tiny flames had steeply flared up.

"When our Lord feels that there is no longer any point in guarding this place at all."

After the campfire roared, the Death Eater who barely stopped shivering couldn't help but continue to ask.

"Then when will our lord decide that there is no point in being here?"

Rodolphus raised his face which looked like it had been numbed by the wind and snow and looked at him with eyes that were so empty that they were frightening.

"If you think you need that answer, how about I get you in touch with our lord, and you can ask him about it personally?"

Looking into those eyes, the Death Eater didn't know why, but his already warm body couldn't help but shiver again, and he quickly shook his head and said.

"No, no, head, I should not have asked too many questions."

A quietness once again regained its place on this cold glacier, and the only traces of their presence were covered up by the howling wind and snow.

All of a sudden, under a layer of ice not far from Rodolphus and his men, a human head emerged from it.

He rode a flying broomstick seemingly out of a huge cave while shouting loudly to Rodolphus.

"We have found a strange blue gem! Head! You'd better come and see it! It's embedded inside the ice!"

***

More than a month had passed since the Hogwarts students arrived at Durmstrang.

During this time, the Hogwarts students have basically gotten used to living and studying in this castle.

The Durmstrang Professors treated them equally, even if they were taught separately, they never distinguished their curriculum from that of the school's own students, and even if some of the professors did not speak English, they let them attend the full curriculum as much as possible.

This includes the Muggle Studies class taught by a real Muggle and Durmstrang's own special "martial magic and duelling" class.

Many Hogwarts students have had contact with the Muggle professor.

This professor is very enthusiastic, especially when he knows that most of the Hogwarts students are from pure Muggle families, and they have a lot of common languages.

In mutual preference, they learned the name of the professor - "Derrick Smith ", an Englishman who originally worked as an assistant professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany.

A number of Hogwarts students were curious about the reason why he came to teach at a magic school like Durmstrang, but for this question, Professor Smith was always evasive and never answered squarely.

He just said perfunctorily that the Headmaster Bagshot had invited him over from the University of Munich with great sincerity and paid him a high salary.

He is just a little over thirty years old, and both his parents are still alive. However, according to him, his family still doesn't know that he has changed his job to become a professor at a wizarding school, and they think he is still teaching a muggle subject at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

However, from his words, the Hogwarts students did not feel that this Muggle professor now had some dissatisfaction with his job, instead, his words were full of gratitude to Grindelwald, and at the same time, they also felt regret and lamentation for not being able to learn and use magic.

As for "martial magic and duelling", most of the spells taught there are actually dangerous spells or curses that are forbidden at Hogwarts.

In fact, those can all be called dark magic, and as a large genre of magic, it broadly encompasses all spells with the intent of hurting people.

Dark Magic can be divided into three categories, "Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses", according to their degree of severity.

The three Unforgivable Curses, namely, Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse, belong to the range of the most sinister and powerful "curses", and the three effects of these Unforgivable Curses have become the most significant representatives of the "curses" - they can cause extreme pain, gain complete control, or even cause death to the target of the curse.

Due to the nature of those curses, only common curses like Blasting Curse and Curse of the Bogies which have their own counter spells and can be treated are used in wizard duelling; so Invisible Sword Curse which Jon learned before belonging to the scope of "curses" that can be used in wizard duelling.

In comparison, the effect of the "Hex" is far inferior to that of the "Curse", and it can be learned in the lower and middle years of the magic school, such as "Knee-Reversal Hex", "Weakening Hex", "Impediment Hex", which can cause undesirable and harmful damage to the human body in the form of "Hex".

The "Jinx" is considered to be the lowest rank of dark magic. In the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the spells that students learn in their first year of school, such as the Anti-intruder jinx, Defensive jinx, Dangling Jinx, etc; which can affect people without destroying them, all belong to the "Jinx" category.

So, not all dark magic is considered illegal, "Jinx", "Hex" and even many "curses" are perfectly fine to use. Even in Hogwarts, they are taught.

The reason why Durmstrang's reputation in the outside world has always been relatively notorious is that it teaches "martial magic and duelling" class that is clearly borderline unethical, and some of the dark magic that is forbidden for wizards to learn under British magic law is also taught here because it is not forbidden by the Ministry of Magic in this part of Northern Europe.

In addition to a small number of people, like Neville, who was a bit worried about learning these magics, other students did not have any resistance and were very active in the classroom.

As for Jon, in this period, he no longer went to third-year classes with Hermione and the students or meet them in the classroom.

Only at dinner time, they can see Jon a few times, and these times, although in the appearance and communication, Jon did not have any change, it gives people a feeling that he has changed a little from the past.

This kind of change, let's say, is more like a difference in temperament and mentality.

And after the start of March, Jon appeared in front of them less and less time, there were many times, Hermione and co did not know whether Jon was still in Durmstrang castle or not.

This afternoon, while the students of Hogwarts were in class, Jon was also in a unique "classroom".

Near the outskirts of Paris, a much younger Grindelwald stood alone in the middle of the stepped grandstand, with black flames dancing around him (read the note at the end), his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes burning at the young man standing on the steps, and asked softly in a sarcastic tone.

"Scamander, do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?"

Black flames surged! In all directions as if rising walls of flame, covering the entirety of the surrounding area!

The wizards around the grandstand felt the deadly threat and kept retreating, and among them, only two were out of place with the wizards present.

Jon and Grindelwald didn't have the slightest intention of moving, the heat that had baked the air into a distortion seemed like it had no effect on them at all, and the people fleeing around them had no way of seeing them at all.

Flames raged around the young Grindelwald, his expression turned to one of disgust, but his voice was unmistakably clear and calm as he said.

"I hate Paris."

"Boom!"

The wall of flame exploded, and the scene was nearly identical to the previous means of saving Jon on the sea, only in this memory, the power was much more unrivalled.

The raging black flames had enveloped both Jon and Grindelwald who stood close by, the towering fire that shot up into the sky above, morphing into giant dragons and winged demons, intent on ravaging the city as if it were a fierce beast.

"A wizard is a mentality-driven being from the beginning to the end." Grindelwald beside Jon said lightly, "The more intense, clear and powerful your inner emotions are, then the stronger the magic you use will be."

"At that time I was, as my words imply, so fed up with the Paris city that my anger was able to manifest itself by a magic most suited to it, flame. Protego Diabolica is a very practical magic, not only can it have infinite scope for spreading, but it can also distinguish precisely between friend and foe, and will only go for enemies who are at odds with my thoughts, and most importantly, it is the most intuitive form of manifestation of anger and loathing, and it can also maximize this human emotion."

Jon listened attentively, but he could not help but mutter in his mind.

Are you sure that your anger and loathing simply come from Paris? And what did you mean when you said that to that young man named Scamander earlier?

Of course, this is something he dared to think only in his mind, and certainly won't say out loud.

And just as the black flames began to spread towards the lines of defence of Paris city, there were suddenly countless orange-red fires lit up around, and Grindelwald's memory of this came to an abrupt end.

They exited from the Pensieve, but Grindelwald's teaching is far from over.

"Those who only use the Killing Curse in a wizard duel are basically brainless fools."

He didn't know whether this was a sarcastic remark about someone or just a casual mention.

"Human emotions are diverse, and so is magic. The killing curse is indeed the most straightforward and simplest form of negative emotion manifestation, but it doesn't mean that it is an all-purpose spell, and no matter what the situation is, you can always use it."

"You can specialize in a certain kind of magic, but you shouldn't limit your learning only to that, the more magic you can learn to use, the more ways you will have to deal with when you encounter various situations."

Jon's face showed anticipation.

"Can I learn that Protego Diabolica magic of yours?"

Grindelwald said with a lack of surprise.

"Don't assume that magic itself is powerful, you must have seen the basic spell of this magic somewhere else - Fiendfyre."

Jon blinked, he did know about Fiendfyre and how terrifying this dark magic can be, it is recorded in those forbidden books inside his ring gem.

But the Fiendfyre, and Protego Diabolica that was used by Grindelwald could clearly be seen as two distinct spells, not only did the form of magic manifest differently, but most importantly, the Protego Diabolica was controllable, while something like Fiendfyre could burn even its owner to death after it was conjured up.

"Protego Diabolica. It's a variant of the Fiendfyre?"

"You can interpret it as a combination between Fiendfyre and Protego Maxima, except that the two spells have been changed even more by me, to the point that they have changed in essence, but you should still be able to see what they have in common."

Grindelwald tapped his desk as he looked at Jon.

"It is certainly possible to teach you, but Jon, it is time for you to do the second thing I require you to do."

Jon, who had become excited when he heard Grindelwald's affirmative words, looked at Grindelwald in confusion.

"What do you want me to do?"

Grindelwald leaned back in his chair and looked at Jon with an inexplicable expression on his face.

"Continue the journey that Albus gave you originally, and go in that direction of the North Pole to find the last site where Voldemort left behind something."

Jon looked at Grindelwald in startled surprise, and only after half a second did he come back to his senses.

"I thought you said there was nothing of value there anymore?"

"For the rest of us, there is indeed nothing of value worth going there anymore, but for you, it seems to be a little different."

Unusually, this time he did not state it in a certain tone.

"But this time I won't force you to do it, you have the power of choice to decide for yourself whether to go or not. Of course, even if you decide to go, those classmates of yours will definitely not be on board with you, and they will remain in Durmstrang for their safety."

Jon thought for a few seconds, but he couldn't think of a reason why Grindelwald would say such a thing right now.

"Sir, you mean to say that the place at the end of the Arctic may not be important to the Dark Lord anymore, but it can provide some help to me personally?"

Grindelwald did not say anything more, he just calmly said.

"Albus should have mentioned to you that I always see some sight that others can't."

***

Note: About the black flame, I researched and found that in the script of Fantastic Beasts, this flame is indeed black, but I presume that it was changed to a blue colour in the film to distinguish it from the darker tone of the scene, but in the game, it is also mentioned as black, so it is written as black

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