Time marched on into the second week of December.
During this period, perhaps because the Skynet system was proving effective, no further attacks occurred within Hogwarts.
The only event of any real significance was during the match against Slytherin, where Harry's arm was broken by a rogue Bludger that had spiraled out of control.
Fortunately, Hannah was on the scene. Having spent a long time as a student healer under Madam Pomfrey, she was able to handle a minor injury like a fractured arm in a matter of minutes.
While they were eating in the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall came around as usual to collect the list of students staying at school for Christmas.
Because the Basilisk was still roaming the halls of Hogwarts, the vast majority of students chose to go home. The castle no longer felt as safe as it once had.
The Savior Trio, however, all planned to stay. They intended to use the opportunity to sneak into the Slytherin common room and find out if Malfoy was the one who had stolen the diary back.
Kyle had no intention of staying at school; it had been a long time since he had seen Konan.
Dumbledore would not be returning with him for this Christmas break. He had to remain at the castle to deal with the threat of an attack that could happen at any moment.
Once the final classes before the Christmas holidays concluded, Kyle said his goodbyes to a few friends the following morning and immediately, impatiently, bolted into the Forbidden Forest outside the castle.
Only after he had cleared the range of the anti-Apparition jinx did Kyle pull out the Portkey Dumbledore had prepared for him well in advance.
With a sudden surge of spatial fluctuation, Kyle's figure vanished instantly from the Forbidden Forest.
Even though he had experienced international travel via Portkey several times now, the terrifying sensation of being whisked away still left Kyle feeling deeply uncomfortable.
However, the moment he heard Konan's soft, gentle voice, that discomfort vanished.
"Welcome home."
"Long time no see, Konan," Kyle said, looking at Katherine's hair in surprise. "Why did you dye your hair this color?"
Katherine brushed a strand of her pale periwinkle-blue hair behind her ear. "Does it look good?"
"Of course it does!" Kyle nodded vigorously.
Although he missed Katherine dearly, he didn't have much free time to reminisce with her just yet.
Tucked away in his shinobi tool pouch was the Resurrection Stone ring that Snape had handed over to him that afternoon; he needed to get this suspected Voldemort Horcrux to Grindelwald to be dealt with immediately.
Kyle walked into the entrance hall of the castle. "Is Dad in the living room or the study?"
"The Master is in the living room."
In the living room, Grindelwald was peering closely at the ring before him.
"Tsk. A man like this is fit to be called a Dark Lord? The wizarding world truly gets worse with every generation."
Kyle sat opposite Grindelwald, resting his chin on his hands atop the table. "Can the curse on it be broken?"
"Of course," Grindelwald replied, his tone brimming with disdain for Voldemort.
"Then... Dad, is this a Horcrux?"
"Indeed, it is a Horcrux."
Grindelwald picked up the box. "Tearing one's own soul to preserve it in an object—just how stupid does one have to be to do such a thing?"
The soul was the most mysterious aspect of a human being. Even after so many years of research, no wizard would dare claim they had fully unlocked its secrets.
But as long as one wasn't an idiot, they would know that such a crude tearing of the soul would inevitably leave behind some kind of indelible, major side effect.
Grindelwald truly couldn't fathom why an imbecile would do something so foolish just to save their own life.
There wasn't just one way to pursue immortality.
Wouldn't it be better to brew the Elixir of Life using a Philosopher's Stone?
Granted, the Elixir had significant side effects—for instance, the extreme decay of the physical body after living for a prolonged period—but body modification could alleviate that physical aging to a certain extent.
Even without the Elixir of Life, there were many life-saving spells in the wizarding world that could transfer one's soul and consciousness into another body.
Though there might be a rejection reaction between the body and the soul, as long as one used their own cells to clone a body and then performed the transfer, no such side effects would occur.
As for the loss of power after a soul transfer—since the vast majority of a wizard's magic resides in their bloodline—that too was easy to solve.
Couldn't a cloned body be modified however one wished?
Performing Dark Arts modifications on a body before the soul transfer wouldn't have any negative effects on the soul itself. Furthermore, cloning a body wasn't exactly a difficult task for a wizard.
If one body burned out, they could simply cultivate the next one.
Thus, a wizard could experiment to their heart's content; after all, they couldn't actually die from it.
As the box containing the Resurrection Stone ring was lifted, Kyle sat up straight.
"Is it difficult to destroy the soul inside?" Kyle remembered his agreement with Snape, so he added, "Without damaging the Resurrection Stone?"
"It isn't hard," Grindelwald shook his head. "I can return the Resurrection Stone to you by tomorrow evening at the earliest."
Kyle jumped up from his seat, moved behind Grindelwald, and began dutifully kneading his father's shoulders.
"Dad, you're the best!"
Hearing his son's praise, a small smile played at the corner of Grindelwald's mouth; he clearly enjoyed the attention.
However, he didn't forget to do what any parent would—check on the boy's schoolwork.
"Have you mastered the Human Transfiguration I taught you?"
"Of course! During the Quidditch match, I..."
Kyle began chatting away, telling Grindelwald all about how he had annoyed Dumbledore at Hogwarts.
Grindelwald currently had two primary joys in life.
The first was seeing Dumbledore suffer a setback, and the second was making Dumbledore jealous.
The former made him happy.
As for the latter—when he saw Dumbledore grow jealous because Kyle was closer to him—he felt an unprecedented sense of achievement.
Even at the peak of his power, when he had nearly unified the European continent, Dumbledore had never looked at him with those eyes.
If it weren't for maintaining his image, Grindelwald would have loved to do a celebratory leap right in front of Dumbledore.
[Grindelwald: I've always wanted to see this expression of yours—this look of jealousy.jpg]
"Although I don't know what you plan to do with the Resurrection Stone, it cannot truly bring the dead back to life."
Kyle was somewhat surprised and stopped massaging Grindelwald's shoulders. "Is that so?"
"Because the rules of the underworld and the living world are different, a soul called back by the Resurrection Stone will only become sad, cold, and lonely."
Grindelwald raised the box containing the ring. "Whatever you do, do not let Albus see this thing. Not if you don't want him to go mad from the mental torment."
Kyle rested his chin on his right arm. He knew Grindelwald was referring to what had happened to Ariana all those years ago.
Snape's situation was similar to Dumbledore's, except Dumbledore's tragedy involved his sister, while Snape's involved the woman of his dreams.
In that case, would Snape go mad too?
As one of the three Deathly Hallows, was the Resurrection Stone's power really that weak?
"Is there any other way to bring someone back from the dead?" Kyle asked the question Snape most wanted the answer to.
Grindelwald looked back at Kyle. "If you were Death himself, perhaps."
Death... Kyle had heard that gathering all three Deathly Hallows would make one the Master of Death.
The Resurrection Stone was now in his hands. As for the Elder Wand and the Invisibility Cloak, their owners were Dumbledore and Harry, respectively.
All three Deathly Hallows were within the vicinity of Hogwarts.
If that were the case, he could gather all three in a matter of moments if he wanted to. He wouldn't have to be like Black Zetsu, lurking in the shinobi world for a thousand years, painstakingly carrying out the Eye of the Moon Plan and going through countless twists and turns just to assemble the nine Tailed Beasts.
As if sensing Kyle's thoughts, Grindelwald warned him:
"Don't even think about gathering all three Deathly Hallows. If you did, something truly terrible would happen."
Kyle paused.
Something terrible?
What, is Kaguya Ōtsutsuki going to pop out of the moon?
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)