"Compete legally and properly? Me?"
Avada blinked, then, after confirming he had heard correctly, pointed at himself with both hands.
"Fifteen years old? Fifth year? Right when I most need to be preparing for my O.W.L.s?"
"I only said it was possible."
Grindelwald replied at an unhurried pace. "But the matter of you competing and then winning is already settled. It concerns the publicity effect when Leach University finally enters the world. Don't tell me that a great wizard who now holds the deepest knowledge in the world has no confidence in beating a few seventeen-year-old children. And actually, even if the legal and proper route doesn't work, we have other methods too. For example, secretly putting a Confundus Charm on that broken cup and changing the number of participating schools to four, or something..."
"..."
Sure enough, the methods used by these dark wizards were all more or less the same.
"Oh, right. Earlier you said that my participation would affect the publicity effect when Leach University goes public?"
Avada took a moment to process Grindelwald's words, then suddenly caught the issue.
"You're not planning to have my real body represent Leach University in the tournament, are you? Wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate? I'm still officially a Hogwarts student, after all. Dumbledore's dignity should still be respected."
"Oh, you needn't worry about that."
Grindelwald waved a hand. "Naturally, I wouldn't use that sort of method to make Albus lose face. You just focus on teaching and winning the competition. The remaining trivialities will be handled by us people in the upper ranks. All right, I think we've exchanged more or less all the useful information, haven't we?"
"I'm afraid this body of yours ought to return to the university now. During this time, Miranda and the others have kept asking me where you were. I sent them away by saying you were tracing the timeline and couldn't be distracted. They didn't expect you to remain here this long at first, and to be honest, I wasn't sure myself back then either... In other words, you've been absent from work for over four months already."
"..."
"Oh, and one more thing—has the body you left on the Hogwarts side woken up yet?" Grindelwald paused, then asked.
"It has."
Avada nodded. "But it's still a bit stiff and can't move yet. Otherwise I wouldn't have come to see you first. Is something going on over there?"
"Then you'd best get moving as quickly as possible."
Grindelwald shifted into a different sitting posture.
"It's summer vacation at Hogwarts right now. There isn't a single person left in the castle except the house-elves. And those house-elves, left with nothing to do after the students have gone but unwilling to let themselves stay idle, are probably quite happy to keep observing your condition continuously, and the moment they notice even the slightest twitch of your eyelid, they'll write to their Headmaster at once. If I'm not mistaken, Albus is probably already on his way back to the school."
"Thank you for the warning, sir."
If Grindelwald hadn't mentioned it, Avada would almost have forgotten that there would still be house-elves around Hogwarts during the summer.
"Then I'll head back to the university first?"
"Mm... oh, right. As for whether you want to tell Albus about your mastery of soul knowledge, that's up to you. So long as you don't let him connect it to the Resurrection Stone and start losing his mind again, it doesn't matter."
"...Understood."
After receiving Grindelwald's approval, Avada took out the key used to open the university gateway, inserted it directly into the lock of Grindelwald's cell door, and gave it a light turn.
Beyond the door was already a broad and beautiful hall.
"Until next time, sir."
Avada gave a wave, then stepped into the passage in a single stride. As the door shut behind him, he completely vanished from Grindelwald's sight—
And, naturally, immediately attracted the attention of a group of students and professors.
Given the contribution he had made in the werewolf affair, combined with the fact that he was a fairly good teacher, nearly all the teachers and students in the school had already remembered his face.
"Professor Clarke!"
One of the more familiar students was the first to cry out in surprise.
"You're finally back?!"
"Long time no see, Montgomery. How have things been lately?"
Avada also recognized at a glance the werewolf mixed into the crowd. Back in the laboratory, he had served as Avada's assistant quite a few times.
"Quite well, Professor."
The werewolf replied cheerfully, "The research results obtained from Azkaban have been effective for me too. Professor Belby can already let me briefly return to human form under certain conditions, and the more important results go even further than that. Did you just get back, Professor?"
"That's right. So I'm afraid I need to go see the Headmistress right away. We'll talk later?"
Seeing that the surrounding crowd was beginning to gather more densely, Avada did not dare linger there. After simply congratulating Montgomery, he strode toward the Headmistress's office. What followed was roughly repeating to Miranda Goshawk the same things he had already told Grindelwald—
Except for the matter of the Deathly Hallows.
Then, after the most important exchange of information was finished, he quietly shifted most of his spiritual power back to his real body.
According to Grindelwald, he was about to meet the other Headmaster.
...
Still lying immobile on the bed, Avada swept his magical senses around the room and, sure enough, found several small invisible figures in the air.
He opened his mouth, intending to ask them to fetch him a few restorative potions, but his throat remained too dry for any sound to come out. Still, when the elves saw him move his mouth, they did not seem excited or surprised, which probably meant they had already noticed the first time he blinked.
With no other choice, he directly mobilized his spiritual power out of thin air and, without any assistance from spoken incantations or wand movements, began painstakingly casting restorative magic onto himself with the utmost care.
As he felt the soreness, numbness, and stiffness gradually retreat from throughout his body, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He planned, at the very least, to recover enough to speak normally before Dumbledore arrived. Otherwise, who knew whether Dumbledore might decide to inspect his entire body again and discover the link device hidden behind his ear...
Whoom.
At last, he heard the muffled sound of flames flaring up beyond the door, followed by an aged yet gentle voice conversing with someone.
"Thank you, Dobby, for taking such careful care of him for so long. How is he now?"
"He can only move slightly, sir. I suspect it may be because he has been lying down too long, but I didn't dare give him any potions on my own..."
"You've done very well. Go and rest now. I'll see to him myself."
The moment those words fell, the hinges of the Hospital Wing door began to creak with age, and the sound of steady footsteps slowly approached.
And Avada had just barely recovered to the point where he could converse freely with someone.
(End of Chapter)