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Chapter 950: Proof of Innocence
Chapter 950: Proof of Innocence
When Grindelwald chose his followers, what did he value the most?
It was, without a doubt, strength.
In this aspect, he was similar to Voldemort, who also valued strength above all else. Whether it was Rozier, Bartemius Crouch Jr., or Bellatrix, they were all once hailed as geniuses and stood out among their wizarding peers.
However, the difference lay in their additional priorities. While Voldemort prioritized loyalty and pureblood status, Grindelwald valued intelligence.
He never lacked loyal followers, so he favored those who were clever and had a sharp mind.
The actions of Maurice Oren aligned perfectly with Grindelwald's selection criteria.
"You want to see him, but he might not want to see you," Kyle whispered.
"What did you say?" Grindelwald turned his gaze towards Kyle.
"Nothing, you misheard," Kyle replied casually, recalling the words Snape had spoken earlier.
Maurice Oren.
The last time he saw the former professor was in Gringotts' vault, where he attempted to control the goblins to enter the Lestrange family's vault, but was stopped by Kyle, who was with him.
Even if he had managed to enter, it was unlikely that he would have found what Voldemort was looking for. However, Kyle was more than willing to cause trouble for the Death Eaters.
Moreover, he had profited from the incident, earning several Galleons from Gringotts.
This calculation was from Kyle's perspective.
If it were from the goblins' perspective, they would have to add the costs of repairing the vault, the tracks, and the adult fire dragon that was either intentionally or unintentionally released.
The number would only increase.
Bill had heard some inside information from his goblin friends. Apparently, the British goblins once wanted to change the sign at Gringotts' entrance.
The long warning message that every visitor to Gringotts would see.
They wanted to change the third line, "A greedy man gains nothing," to "Kyle and Death Eaters are forbidden from entering."
They even wanted to put Kyle's name first.
Of course, this was just gossip from a few drunk goblins. Gringotts firmly denied the authenticity of the rumor and stated that the warning sign at their entrance had existed for nearly a thousand years and could not be changed under any circumstances.
After the news of Voldemort's defeat at Hogwarts spread, they even published three consecutive statements in the newspaper, assuring Kyle that these were all rumors and that Gringotts would treat all wizards fairly.
As for the truthfulness of this statement... In Kyle's opinion, it was as ridiculous as claiming that Gringotts had existed for nearly a thousand years.
Kyle vaguely remembered that Gringotts had existed for less time than Newt's age. In the entire British Wizarding World, the only building that had remained unchanged for a thousand years was Hogwarts.
But none of this mattered; at most, it could be considered a minor incident.
Kyle shook his head and refocused his attention on Snape, unable to resist asking, "Do you know where Oren went?"
"No," Snape shook his head, "but he should have gone to Hogwarts with the other Death Eaters.
"In this war, the Dark Lord held back nothing and directly summoned all Death Eaters to participate."
"No, I don't think I saw him during the battle at Hogwarts," Kyle searched his memory.
From their previous interactions, it was evident that Oren had risen to a high position among the Death Eaters, almost on par with Bartemius Crouch Jr., and his strength surpassed that of an ordinary professor.
A Death Eater of such standing joining the battle would not have gone unnoticed.
Moreover, thinking back to the aftermath of the battle, people's conversations always revolved around well-known Death Eaters. Some boasted of escaping death at the hands of Rodolphus, while others claimed to have stunned Bartemius Crouch Jr.
The only one who was never mentioned was Maurice Oren, the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"Did you see him enter Hogwarts?"
"I don't think so," Snape also sensed something amiss, "I can only say that he was definitely on the way to Hogwarts.
"As one of the Death Eaters most trusted by Voldemort, if Maurice Oren had disappeared, it would have been noticed.
"But the Dark Lord didn't say anything, so he must have been with the main force at the time."
"And then he disappeared during the attack on Hogwarts," Kyle chuckled.
"Rodolphus was blasted into stone by the Weasleys, Bartemius Crouch Jr. remained on the field by the Black Lake, Goyle was hung from the ceiling after being defeated by Mr. Weasley, and the Malfoys fled in disarray...
"Even Voldemort died, and Oren didn't have a scratch on him, probably not even a speck of dirt on his clothes."
"This..." Kyle raised an eyebrow at Snape, "Everyone else was a double agent, and his outcome was far better than yours."
"Oren, he was a double agent?" Snape looked at Dumbledore, displeased, "Such a significant matter, why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Would you have believed me if I said I didn't know?" Dumbledore sighed.
"What do you think?" Snape said indifferently.
He didn't find anything wrong with Kyle's statement; in fact, it aligned with his own thoughts.
Before the war, not a single Death Eater, including Snape, believed they would lose. After all, in their eyes, Dumbledore was dead, and Voldemort was invincible. They didn't even need to defeat their opponents; as long as they could stall, Voldemort could kill those troublesome enemies one by one.
They would eventually win this war; it was just a matter of time.
As one of Voldemort's most radical Death Eaters, Aurel had no reason not to participate in this war, which was an easy way to gain merit.
Unless he had received some prior information... For instance, that Dumbledore wasn't actually dead.
Snape suddenly turned stern at this thought.
Kyle knew that Dumbledore wasn't dead, but Aurel, who had joined halfway through, was kept in the dark.
Did Dumbledore really distrust him that much?
If so, why did he still let Aurel risk his life to return to Voldemort's side... Aurel had done a good job, even better than him.
Facing Snape's shifting gaze and the profanities it conveyed, Dumbledore felt more helpless.
"I assure you, in the name of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, that Aurel is not my man."
"But you're no longer the Headmaster," Kyle whispered beside him.
"Then, in the name of the Board of Governors..."
"It's well-known that the words of the Hogwarts Board of Governors are as good as Mikael's Potions homework."
"What do you mean..."
"They're rubbish," Snape blurted out.
"Exactly," Kyle shrugged.
The Board of Governors had made quite a few rubbish decisions, like exploiting the ghost professor without paying his salary and such, but when Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic were in control of Hogwarts, they kept quiet and acted subservient.
Calling them rubbish was not wrong at all.
Kyle was surprised at how cooperative Snape was.
Dumbledore's face stiffened, "Then, in the name of Ariana... This should be enough."
"No problem, I believe you," Kyle nodded without hesitation.
After being interrupted by Kyle twice, it took Dumbledore a while to adjust his mindset, "In any case, what Aurel did was not my arrangement, and I have never communicated with him in this regard. The only thing I know is that he once wanted to kill all werewolves."
"Werewolves..." Snape was puzzled, "Does he have a grudge against werewolves? But he hasn't been bitten by a werewolf, I can assure you of that.
"Because I've never smelled the Wolfsbane Potion on him, and I've seen him several times during the full moon."
"My father once saved him from werewolves," Kyle said, "I remember you telling me so."
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, "The werewolves wanted to toy with Aurel, making him run in fear until dawn.
"Later, when the werewolves wanted to bite him before the moon disappeared, they encountered Chris, who was tracking werewolves and giants.
"Chris saved him, but only him."
Snape's eyes flickered.
Aurel's experience sounded too similar to that of Remus Lupin—both were victims of werewolf retaliation.
But while Lupin became a werewolf, Aurel's situation was the opposite.
"No wonder he wanted to kill werewolves,"
"Yes, perhaps Aurel joined the Death Eaters for this very reason," Dumbledore said, "Because he must have guessed that the werewolf leader, Fenrir Greyback, would join the Death Eaters.
But he never expected that Greyback would be killed," Dumbledore glanced at Kyle.
During the Death Eaters' first attack on Hogwarts, Greyback was among them, but he was later killed by Kyle in the castle corridors.
"And he never anticipated that the remaining werewolves would soon leave the Death Eaters and disappear without a trace, their plans unfulfilled,"
Kyle thought for a moment; this matter seemed to be related to him as well.
After killing the werewolf leader, he and Newt had ventured into the Black Forest and found the remaining werewolves.
Through Kyle's calm persuasion and a hearty barbecue, the werewolves were convinced to stop aiding Voldemort.
From then on, the number of werewolves among the Death Eaters drastically decreased, leaving only a few who had been recruited from Knockturn Alley.
In the Battle of Hogwarts, there were over a dozen Dementors, even after they had been purged, but there seemed to be only one werewolf... being chased by Lupin and then swiftly dealt with by him.
That werewolf seemed rather weak to Kyle; without the full moon's power, he might not even stand a chance against Oliver Wood.
After that, Kyle seemed to have not encountered werewolves again... except for Lupin, who didn't count.
"But if what you say is true," Snape suddenly spoke up, "Why didn't he leave after realizing there were no more werewolves among the Death Eaters? Why did he choose to remain loyal to the Dark Lord?"
"I don't know about that, just as I mentioned earlier, I'm not familiar with Oren."
Dumbledore shook his head, "Perhaps he's seeking revenge on Tom for manipulating werewolves behind his back, or maybe he truly intends to start a full-scale war."
"No one can predict what a bard will sing next, just as no one knows where the wind will blow next."
"To receive such high praise from you..." Grindelwald narrowed his eyes, "I'm even more interested in Oren now."
"It's not exactly praise, I just happened to think of that phrase."
Dumbledore explained, "I saw it in a book and thought it fitting here. What do you think? After all, Maurice Oren is a bard."
"A forced analogy." Grindelwald bluntly stated.
Dumbledore seemed a bit disappointed, as he quite liked that book.
Grindelwald huffed, "Now that you've asked all the questions you wanted, can we continue the topic we left unfinished before?"
"Wait, just a moment..." He turned to Snape. "Some good news, Tom should not be able to resurrect this time."
"What did you say..." Snape's expression changed instantly, "But you clearly told me before that only if Harry willingly goes to his death, can we completely kill the Dark Lord."
"Severus, on this point, I must apologize to you." Dumbledore said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"I did believe that only Tom's Killing Curse could kill the fragment of his soul left unintentionally in Harry's body."
"What do you mean by 'before'..." Snape frowned.
"It means... we've found a better way." Dumbledore turned to look at Kyle. "After you took Tom away from Hogwarts, Kyle had already solved the problem of Harry's Horcrux in less than five minutes."
"Impossible." Snape was skeptical, "I've checked countless books, Horcruxes are not that easy to deal with."
"Does that book mention Dementors?"
"No, I was looking at books related to Horcruxes, not dark creatures."
"I'm talking about Horcruxes." Dumbledore said softly, "Kyle used the Dementor's kiss to suck out the fragment of Voldemort's soul."
Sucked it out...
Huh?
Snape blinked, seemingly not fully reacting yet, and instinctively looked at Kyle beside him.
Grindelwald was the same.
However, unlike Snape, he didn't know much about Dementors, as he rarely came to Britain for certain reasons, and other countries didn't have such creatures either.
But he had heard of this special creature that could suck out happiness and souls, and even tried to capture a few to bring to Nurmengard, only to be delayed by an incident.
By the time he thought of it again, Nurmengard had become his exclusive territory.
Perhaps he should be grateful that something else had delayed him, preventing the introduction of Dementors here.
But to be so skilled in utilizing the characteristics of magical creatures, allowing them to perform tasks that even amazed Dumbledore... It's a perfect match for Grindelwald's ideal follower.
Yet, now, Grindelwald found himself even more annoyed by Kyle.
Perhaps it was because, seventy years ago, someone had also utilized the characteristics of magical creatures to steal something most precious from him.
Moreover, what annoyed Grindelwald even more was that both Kyle and that person had gained Dumbledore's trust and favor.
Two magical creature caretakers, yet they seemed no different at first glance.
Grindelwald fixed his gaze on Kyle... Perhaps he could change his approach, examining Kyle from the inside out, more comprehensively.
Kyle, unaware of Grindelwald's attention, felt a chill down his spine, as if a cold wind had blown past from behind. He subconsciously hunched his neck, wondering if the wind had blown down from the snowy mountain behind him. It was a possibility.
Fortunately, this feeling soon disappeared.
Grindelwald's thoughts were interrupted by the photo in Kyle's hand, one he cared deeply about. As long as the photo was not in Kyle's possession, he would be more lenient towards him.
As for what would happen after obtaining the photo, that could be discussed later.
"Have you said enough? I'm growing impatient." Grindelwald shifted his gaze from Kyle, urging once more.
"Just a moment, I have something essential to say." Dumbledore said, glancing at Kyle without saying a word, then turning back to Snape.
"What do you want to say?" Snape asked, "I thought we covered everything earlier."
"Not those matters, Severus, but something else." Dumbledore said, "You should remember that in the Headmaster's Office on the eighth floor, there's a place to store memories near the Pensieve.
"Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't remember. Once you're there, you'll find a box with three layers. The top and bottom layers are filled with memories, but the topmost position has only a single bottle."
"That was seventeen years ago, your memory of deciding to help us against Tom. Give it to Minerva, it can prove your innocence."
...
(End of Chapter)
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