Chapter 84

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'GRINDELWALD: BIRTH OF A HERO?'

Ethan looked at the newspaper his father was waving around excitedly with a bored gaze. Henry ignored the lack of reaction from his son though, exclaiming, "A hero they say! A hero!"

Two days had passed since they had returned from the ICW, and Ethan had been silently enjoying his breakfast when his father came in the room, brandishing the Daily Prophet.

Next to him, Miyuki, who was munching on a piece of bacon in her human form, said, "Who cares what they think?"

Ethan nodded, "What she said."

Henry poked the newspaper, at the front of which was a picture of Ethan walking in a corridor of the ICW. He did not even know how they got that picture. On it, he looked quite dashing, if he had to say so himself, but he knew that it was not just him being awesome, although he was.

His strengthened spirit was the cause of it. Ever since he had absorbed Ramesses' spirit, Ethan's eyes always had this certain light behind them, making him look a little intense, as if he was 100% into whatever he was doing.

Even for something as casual as walking, such as in that picture, Ethan looked like he walked with purpose, like he had somewhere important to be, as if he was bound by some unspeakable responsibility.

In reality, he was just casually walking, and wanted nothing more than to head back home.

Still poking the newspaper, Henry said, "No, this is big! Improving your reputation will only ever help, and a hero? That's the polar opposite of a Dark Lord!"

Ethan shrugged, not really affected by this, "It really doesn't matter much to me. The people who matter are those who treated me right even when I was a pariah. As for those who want to become my friends after reading this, to me they are nothing more than turncoats."

Miyuki nodded along, but Henry argued, "You can't think like that. If you came face to face with a dragon, what would you do?"

Ethan rolled his eyes, scoffing, "I can see where you're going with this, but it's not the same. I haven't been spending the entire school year with a dragon. And I'm not a dragon."

"That's right, you're not a dragon. You were probably worse, in the mind of some of them. A dragon will only burn you to ashes, or maybe eat you, but a Dark Lord? A Dark Lord can be much more brutal, and vicious. So my point still stands. When you've been told your entire life something is dangerous, you don't try to get close to it."

Ethan was only arguing for the sake of the argument now as he replied, "How come I got friends then, if I'm so bad in people's minds?"

Henry raised a finger, correcting proudly, "Used to!"

"Sure, used to. Doesn't change anything to the question."

Henry grinned as he enumerated, "Three Slytherins and a muggle born who knows nothing of the magical world. Need I say more?"

Ethan frowned, asking, "How do you know about Sophia? I never told you she was my friend."

Henry shrugged, "Your Gryffindor friend? Tracey told us about her. She told us a lot of things about your school year, Mr. I'm-too-cool-for-Quidditch."

Ethan rolled his eyes, and realizing he was not going to win against his father, and even if he did, it wasn't worth the trouble, he conceded, "Fine, whatever you say."

Henry continued gloating for a while, until everyone stopped as they heard someone ringing at the door. This caused them to pause because very few people knew about their home. It was not often someone would come.

Henry went to the door, while Miyuki and Ethan looked at each other. After a moment, Miyuki transformed into her fox form, downsizing herself to fit on top of his head.

A few seconds later, Henry returned to the living room with a shit-eating grin on his face, as if to tell Ethan 'told you so', while he was followed by Bill Weasley.

Bill had smartened up since the last time they saw each other, he had put on a suit, his hair was slicked back and he looked more professional overall, compared to the casual outfit he had the last time.

Seeing Ethan, Bill smiled politely, greeting, "Good morning. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast."

Ethan nodded, reassuring, "It's fine, you're actually saving me from the gloating of a man child."

Bill looked between Ethan and Henry with a puzzled look, and Henry felt no shame as he brandished the newspaper in Bill's face, exclaiming, "A hero!"

Bill nodded matter of factly, "And it is deserved. What is the problem?"

Henry faked a sigh, lamenting, "Well, I think Ethan had grown to like his reputation as a Dark Lord, and he thinks he is too cool to feel happy being called a hero."

Ethan shook his head, "See? A man-child. All I said was that I did not care when people called me a Dark Lord, so why should I care when they call me a hero? Besides, we're talking of the Daily Prophet. I'd sooner trust Witch Weekly than them."

This only made Henry looked more triumphant as with a wave of his hand, several more newspapers flew over, written in different languages. They all came from different countries, were all owned by different groups, yet they all said the same thing: He was a hero.

Narrowing his eyes at his father, Ethan asked suspiciously, "Do you have anything to do with this?"

"Me? No, absolutely not! It's just the world realizing my son is… a hero!"

Ethan looked at his father, exasperated, before turning to Bill, not having to say anything to make his question clear.

Bill shrugged, saying, "My father works in the Ministry of Magic, so he may have pushed for the Daily Prophet, but my family does not have much influence. But honestly, the answer seems pretty obvious to me."

Suddenly, Miyuki spoke up, "And that would be?"

Bill looked at Miyuki in surprise, shocked she could speak, but he still replied, "You did behave heroically. I believe you have saved our lives, and I must not be the only one. So maybe no one manipulated these newspapers. Maybe they just decided to… relay the news?"

Henry added smugly, "I know this is all complicated grown up talk, son, but newspapers' goal is to generate money, and for that, they need people to pick up the newspapers. And for that, a front page title that shocks does wonders!"

Ethan was unamused by his father's sarcasm. He did know this all already. But he still felt like there was something amiss. Even though the whole matter with Ramesses had gone up to the ICW, officially making it an international news, to have so many countries suddenly call him a hero, when not even half a century before his grandfather was terrorizing them?

Someone had pushed for this. He did not know who, or why, but he was sure of it. He still did not care what the newspapers said, no matter how many countries went at it, but he was concerned about the motive of whoever could have caused this.

"I can almost see the gears turning in your head."

Ethan ignored his father and asked Bill, "Anyway, did you come here for a reason? It must not have been easy to find our house, even with a father in the Ministry. Was it just to thank us?"

Before Bill could answer, Henry patted him strongly in the back, and said, "You know, not everyone has to always have a grand purpose in mind when visiting others."

Bill smiled awkwardly at being implicated in the father/son debate, and took out a small notebook. Placing it in front of Ethan, he said, "As I said, you saved my life, and I really did come to thank you. You said you were interested in the spell, so even though it doesn't quite measure up to saving my life-"

Ethan instantly snatched the notebook, and interrupted him, "If its the third eye spell, then consider us even. Not that you really owed me one."

Bill stood stunned, making Henry chuckle, "See? He thinks he's too cool to be a hero."

Bill carried on the conversation for a short while to be polite, before leaving, as he had accomplished what he had come here for.

As for Ethan, once he was left alone, he curiously opened the notebook. There was an original text, written in Sanskrit, but it was surrounded by many notes, some in modern Indian, and others in English.

Fortunately, Ethan could already read Sanskrit, as it was the basis for the Indian Runic Language, allowing him to read the words written on the first page. It was the name of the spell. In English, it would translate to something like… Third Eye of Destruction.