Otherwise…
Madam Pince might not have even finished the first syllable of her protest.
Dumbledore sighed and conjured a soft pillow beneath the librarian's head.
The ease with which he performed this near-instantaneous transfiguration caught Ian's attention. He suddenly remembered that before becoming Headmaster, Dumbledore had been Hogwarts' Transfiguration professor.
"I want to learn that, Professor!" Ian's eyes lit up as he gazed at Dumbledore eagerly.
"This is neither the time nor the place for such a discussion," Dumbledore said with a weary sigh. Looking between the unconscious Madam Pince and the disheveled alchemy professor, he realized just how much trouble Ian and Grindelwald could cause when together.
"I was merely ensuring her safety," Grindelwald added with an expression of feigned innocence.
"This is a school, Gellert! You just attacked a fellow professor!" Dumbledore's voice hardened, his tone edged with rare irritation.
Ian instinctively shrank back. Thankfully, the old wizard's anger wasn't directed at him.
"This guy is Gellert Grindelwald!? Bloody hell! I thought he was Gilderoy Lockhart! What in Merlin's name is going on?! Was he the one who attacked me?!"
Arthur King, now hastily pulling on the robes Dumbledore had handed him, turned deathly pale upon hearing the name.
After a moment of dramatic facial contortions, he let out a panicked exclamation, "He shouldn't even be out of prison— he was meant to be locked away for life!"
At these words, Grindelwald's expression darkened, his gaze turning cold.
"He's putting on an act."
Ian narrowed his eyes. Though the professor's reaction had been theatrical, something about it felt hollow. No accomplished wizard would be so slow-witted or unnecessarily loud in such a situation.
"What act? What are you talking about? I was just reading a book…" Arthur King's voice was filled with exaggerated grievance as he glanced from Ian's wand to Dumbledore, appealing for support.
The young professor immediately raised both hands in a gesture of innocence, his demeanor now starkly contrasting with the cryptic and unsettling presence he had projected earlier.
"Enough pretending! Salazar Slytherin left behind something unnatural!"
Ian had brought the two most powerful wizards in Hogwarts for a reason, he believed he had finally connected all the missing pieces.
And, to be fair…
His reasoning was quite sound.
In this secret loop created by Slytherin, even Grindelwald and Dumbledore were not exempt. The only individuals who could escape the loop and become special entities like Ian were either Salazar Slytherin himself or something left behind by him before his death! Since the ancient dragon in the Twilight Realm had once told Ian about Slytherin's fate, he was naturally more inclined to believe that Professor Arthur King was a remnant of Salazar Slytherin's legacy.
If Godric Gryffindor could leave behind a portrait imbued with certain privileges, and Rowena Ravenclaw had the means to gaze into the human world, then surely Salazar Slytherin would have devised his own enduring legacy.
Life Alchemy.
This theory aligned with the principles Slytherin was known to uphold. If Professor Arthur King was not a person in the traditional sense but rather an alchemical creation of Salazar Slytherin, it would explain why he could exist within the loop without being bound by fate or time.
"As an Outstanding Alchemical Artifact, it makes perfect sense for him to be teaching alchemy at Hogwarts!" Ian reasoned aloud. His theory was speculative, but he wasn't afraid of being wrong— after all, with each reset of the loop, the impact of his actions would return to zero.
"You think I'm a leftover alchemical construct from a Hogwarts founder?" Arthur King stared at Ian for a moment before his eyes widened in disbelief.
"For a first-year student, I thought your grasp of alchemy was rather impressive, but now I see you have completely misunderstood the taboos and limitations of biological alchemy!" Arthur King's tone was sharp, laced with evident irritation.
"What do you mean, Professor?" Ian did not answer immediately but instead turned his gaze toward Albus Dumbledore. The old headmaster, after a brief pause, shook his head slightly, his eyes flickering with thought.
"Hmmm?" Ian caught the message. The master of Legilimency had not found a single trace of information in Arthur King's mind to support his suspicions.
"That doesn't make sense!" Ian frowned, glancing at the tattered remains of Arthur King's robes on the ground. "He still prefers dark green clothing— Slytherin colours."
Arthur King let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. "That's because I graduated from Slytherin!" His gaze shifted to Ian's wand, as if only now realising that the person who had disarmed him was the young wizard before him.
"Professor Arthur King is indeed a distinguished graduate of Slytherin House. This is well-documented in his employment records and… my own memory provides ample evidence of it as well," Dumbledore stated calmly in the professor's defence. Grindelwald exchanged a glance with Dumbledore before turning his attention back to Arthur King.
"I'm not afraid of a dark wizard like you," Arthur King declared, though his voice carried an unmistakable trace of unease.
"Of course. That's quite admirable," Grindelwald replied with a charming smile.
"I never imagined our esteemed headmaster would mobilise such forces against me based on a first-year's baseless speculation. It truly wounds me." Arthur King turned to Dumbledore, his voice laden with frustration. "I've worked at Hogwarts for eleven years— diligently, without error and have never done anything to harm the school or its students. Does my dedication count for nothing?"
He let out a sharp breath. "I wager that if this little wizard had accused Professor McGonagall of the same nonsense, you wouldn't have allowed him to act against her." He cast a resentful glare at Ian.
"Arthur, I deeply regret today's… unfortunate turn of events. If there's anything I can do to make amends, please do not hesitate to ask," Dumbledore said, his voice filled with genuine remorse.
Arthur King's expression softened slightly.
"I expect a proper explanation as to why I was dragged into this on the basis of a student's baseless accusations," Arthur King sighed, his hostility diminishing somewhat.
"Mr. Prince informed us that, not long ago, you made some… rather unsettling remarks to him in the corridor," Dumbledore said, his tone carefully measured.
Arthur King immediately frowned.
"What was the specific time?"
He looked at Ian, who was inspecting the shattered fragments of the ring.
"Fifteen minutes ago?"
The young wizard provided the answer with certainty.
"Then the person you encountered couldn't have been me, as I've been here for several hours. I believe Madam Pince, who was attacked, can attest to that."
Arthur King's tone remained unnervingly calm as he glanced toward the still-unconscious Madam Pince. At that moment, Grindelwald approached her, pointing his wand at a particular spot on her forehead.
"He's right! The librarian's memory confirms that she was speaking with him for quite some time," Grindelwald noted as he retracted his wand and turned to Dumbledore.
"Does Madam Pince truly have that memory...?"
Dumbledore lowered his gaze, the reflection of his spectacles briefly catching the light. His expression remained unreadable, though something in his demeanor suggested unease. Arthur King, however, took this opportunity to sound even more indignant.
"I told you, I never left! Nor did I say anything untoward to this boy! Merlin's beard, do you think I have some sort of compulsion to hoard copper?"
"My ancestors aren't even from Britain!"
Arthur King's frustration made it seem as though he was insulting the entire country rather than just refuting the accusation.
"…"
Ian felt momentarily at a loss for words. This professor certainly had a flair for the dramatic.
"I sincerely apologize once again; I will ensure the young wizard learns a valuable lesson about making false claims," Albus Dumbledore suddenly said, bowing slightly in Arthur King's direction.
"You'd better! This has been a great ordeal for me, you know!" Arthur King remained firm, his gaze sharp as he glared at Ian with a mixture of irritation and self-righteous triumph.
"Perhaps this might serve as some compensation for your distress." Grindelwald stepped forward, pulling a heavy bag from his robes and pressing it into Arthur King's hands.
"Ha! Do you think I need gold Galleons?"
Arthur King scoffed, but as he peered inside, the glow of rare enchanted metals reflected upon his face, illuminating his expression with something very different from outrage. The sheer quantity defied the bag's apparent size, revealing it to be far larger inside than out. In an instant, his mood underwent an astonishing transformation.
"Actually... the psychological damage I've suffered isn't that severe." He quickly tucked the bag into the robes Dumbledore had handed him, before adding with a forced air of sincerity, "Don't worry, I won't breathe a word about you being Grindelwald. In fact, I think history has been quite unfair to you— clearly, you're not as terrible as they say. The world has misunderstood you."
He then extended his hand toward Grindelwald, palm open.
(To Be Continued…)
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