Lucius Malfoy's guess was quickly confirmed.

On Halloween morning, Lucius Malfoy woke up to find a brown barn owl perched by his window, the four-color wax seal on the letter indicating its origin – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Lucius, what is it?" Narcissa yawned, wrapping her arms around her husband's waist from behind.

"Nothing, just a meeting notice from the school board."

Lucius Malfoy took a light breath, pretending to be relaxed.

Out of his wife's sight, his fist clenched and unclenched, his gaze fixed on the last paragraph of the letter.

"…Hogwarts Ghost Patrol, responsible for guarding and patrolling the castle and the surrounding area, dedicated to creating a safe and secure learning environment for students, free from the influence of outside dark wizards, dangerous magical creatures, etc…"

Unlike the educational reforms at Hogwarts, this newly established "Ghost Patrol" proposal was not included in the annual work plan at the beginning of the term. Although Lucius Malfoy often said that Dumbledore was getting senile, he knew very well the old wizard's wisdom. Dumbledore was not the kind of person to act on a whim.

Whether it was the selection of patrol members, the planning of work content, or the reasons for establishment… there was nothing to criticize.

If his speculation was correct, this was most likely one of Dumbledore's deliberately hidden cards.

As for why the old wizard would suddenly choose to play this card at this juncture…

Lucius stared coldly at the letter, his eyes narrowed.

Heh—

Dark wizards, dangerous magical creatures…

The warning, the threat, and the faint sarcasm almost seeped out of the letter. If he couldn't even read this hidden meaning, the Malfoy family might have been wiped out like the Lestranges long ago.

However, on the other hand, this also confirmed some of Lucius Malfoy's guesses.

Dumbledore definitely possessed a lot of information. People had suspected even before the trial of Peter Pettigrew that Albus Dumbledore had a large number of informants planted in various places in the magical world – any wizard who graduated from Hogwarts was suspect. No one knew how much the old man knew about the dark history and scandalous dealings of various wizards.

Lucius Malfoy didn't believe that Dumbledore hadn't secretly interrogated Peter Pettigrew beforehand.

As a master strategist who held the key to the Lestrange vault, who had been plotting for decades, using Hogwarts as a bargaining chip, and was one step away from completely destroying the magical world's financial market and provoking a war between goblins and human wizards, it was not surprising that Peter Pettigrew knew some of the Dark Lord's contingency plans.

Undoubtedly, the key to opening the "Chamber of Secrets" was definitely a powerful counter-attack weapon.

"Heh, the greatest wizard in the magical world is nothing more than an unscrupulous villain."

Lucius Malfoy put on his pajamas and, clutching the letter, went to his study.

In the short ten steps from the bedroom to the study, Lucius combined his previous vague guesses and roughly pieced together Dumbledore's behind-the-scenes actions in his mind, and the expression on his face became increasingly cold.

Perhaps in the eyes of most wizards, Dumbledore was a gentle, kind, and benevolent old wizard.

But Death Eaters, especially "core members" like Lucius, knew how terrifying Dumbledore was. Unlike any normal wizard, affection, love, friendship, reputation, career, power… even eternal life – decades had passed, and people had never found the old man to particularly care about anything.

And this also meant that Albus Dumbledore had no weaknesses that could be exploited.

Harry Potter, the summer co-ed dorm, Uncle Black… these were all part of Dumbledore's carefully planned chain of schemes from the very beginning, aimed at coaxing the naive Draco into stealing the "Chamber of Secrets" key from home.

"It's… unbelievable…"

Lucius Malfoy took a deep breath, spread out a piece of parchment on his desk, and drew out a quill.

As a former Death Eater, that past experience was a black mark he couldn't erase, but as a father, he couldn't tolerate Dumbledore's despicable act of exploiting children's innocence and friendship – this behavior crossed Lucius's bottom line. He had to respond directly and make Dumbledore abandon his subsequent plans.

If someone had to pay the price for past mistakes, Lucius didn't want to involve Draco.

…

"Respected Professor Dumbledore…"

"…I understand your meaning, but I solemnly request that you restrain your students…"

"…If you have any ideas, confusions, or even require some price to be paid, you can directly ask me – but the students at the school are innocent, they should not be involved in any issues related to the dark forces…"

Hogwarts Headmaster's Office.

"Oh… is it about to be exposed?"

Grindelwald waved the letter in his hand and looked at Dumbledore.

"Indeed, it's a rather troublesome reply? It seems there are quite a few smart people in this world…"

"Lucius was very smart when he was in school, especially with young Mr. Malfoy's recent role change. As a father, it's normal for him to guess some things… I showed you this letter not to hear you making sarcastic remarks."

Dumbledore took off his glasses and rubbed his brow with some annoyance.

"The problem is, what should we do now…"

"Very simple, three ways."

Grindelwald shrugged, held up three fingers, and slowly said with a grin.

"First, directly bring the little troublemaker over and let her handle it herself…"

"At least not this time. We finally got her to calm down a bit – if this continues, she might recruit all the Death Eaters into the 'Destiny Group', right? Don't think I don't know about Lockhart and your previous negotiation tactics."

Dumbledore rejected the first proposal without hesitation, glaring at the old Dark Lord.

Coercion, inducement, and endless probing of the bottom line with Memory Charms.

Prior to this, Dumbledore had never realized the terrible effects that could occur after the Memory Charm was abused. It was like a small-scale rewind in time. As a result, he had been calling for legislation to restrict the Memory Charm for the past few weeks.

Compared to the Imperius Curse, this method of manipulating people's hearts was too terrifying – it was "voluntary" without a counter-curse.

One case like Xenophilius Lovegood was enough.

This was Hogwarts, not a demon's lair.

"Okay, then the second method…"

Grindelwald reluctantly lowered a finger, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes, and said softly.

"I'll take a trip myself and help you solve it – give me the address. Don't worry… no one will suspect Hogwarts. Death Eaters wandering around the British mainland are much more reasonable than those abroad. Those young fellows have experience in this area. Anyway, the other party is a surviving 'suspected' Death Eater. This is, for the time being, a late 'righteous judgment'."

"Gellert…"

Dumbledore frowned and hummed in dissatisfaction.

"Okay, okay… the righteous Professor Dumbledore certainly wouldn't allow such a thing."

Grindelwald sighed with his hands open, shaking his index finger, and said softly.

"Then the only remaining method is to learn from the politicians in the Ministry of Magic: act officially."

"Act officially?"

"Yes, or rather, official jargon."

The old Dark Lord slowly grinned, revealing an inscrutable smile.

"Albus, you've never understood this. When facing this kind of gray-world dialogue that can't be put on the table and can only be understood mutually, the most versatile response is to say some impeccable nice words."

"But like this…"

"Hey, you are Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard recognized in the magical world."

Grindelwald patted Dumbledore on the shoulder and said with a playful expression.

"If that young man is truly ignorant and dares to question you, you can smile and ask him, 'Young man, are you teaching me how to do things?' This is what Elena taught me, and I think it makes a lot of sense."

"…"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, looking speechless at the old fellow who had no Dark Lord aura at all.

Since Grindelwald came out of Nurmengard Castle, this Dark Lord had degenerated extremely rapidly. No one could associate this guy with the once powerful, cold-blooded, and ruthless Gellert Grindelwald.

Perhaps the most correct thing he had done in these decades was sending Elena to Nurmengard Castle.

"…Gellert."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think would happen if we answered that girl like this next time?"

"No impact, you still eat your 'low-salt, low-oil, low-calorie, elderly healthy meal,' and I can still eat my granddaughter's loving cuisine – didn't we agree before? You provoke, I coax, clear division of labor—"

Grindelwald shrugged, answering matter-of-factly, glancing at the letter on the desk.

"By the way, are you going to the Hogwarts school board meeting later, or am I?"

Usually, during this time, many meetings to deal with the Ministry of Magic, especially some nonsense, hypocrisy, and uninformative polite scenes that Dumbledore hated very much, were mostly attended by "A. Not. Dumbledore."

After being locked up in Nurmengard Castle for decades, Grindelwald quite enjoyed the part where he would listen to the childrens' nonsense.

And during this period, if Dumbledore wanted to take a walk around the castle, he would transform into "Professor Apocalypse" and patrol the castle, fulfilling some of the duties of the castle administrator… At Elena's suggestion, during this period, their name associations would also undergo a magical exchange, to avoid leaking secrets under certain name magics.

"Alas, I'll go this time—"

Dumbledore shook his head, stood up, and put away the envelope on the desk.

"Today is the first day of Halloween, so don't stay in the office either. Take a look around the castle a bit. If any students have any conflicts or disputes, you have more experience in dealing with this than I do. Besides, that girl listens to you more…"

Rarely having a day off, Dumbledore decided to have a good rest.

"What about the specific work arrangements for the Ghost Patrol?" Grindelwald glanced at the schedule and reminded him.

"I'll have them contact you directly…"

Dumbledore said, thought for a moment, and looked at Grindelwald with a serious expression.

"Of course, the main contact person is Sir Nicholas. I told you about his true identity last night, so don't underestimate him too much – he succeeded in doing something that you and I failed to do hundreds of years ago."

"Oh? Then what about my identity? Which one does he know?"

"Who knows?"

Dumbledore smiled, his fingers lightly tapping on the desk, and said softly.

"There's no trace of Sir Nicholas in history, just like Otto Apocalypse. Miss [Fool] hopes that [Tower] can help her find the answer – what kind of person is [World], and what exactly happened in the past."

"Is that so, I understand."

Grindelwald's eyes lit up slightly, the corners of his mouth curving up with interest.

He was also quite curious about the sealed history.

Whether it was Nicolas Flamel, Paracelsus, or even the existing records of the magical world, all of these had undergone a certain degree of alteration and exaggeration. No one knew what the true state of the wizard and Muggle war was back then.

Compared to simulated warfare on paper, the real history that happened was the most worthy of learning from.

No one knew what kind of confrontation would emerge when magic and non-magic broke out into war, and what the mutual weaknesses, struggles, and turning points of both sides would be… When the scope was expanded to the world, the overall choices of humanity and society could not be determined by individual calculations. Grindelwald understood Elena's thoughts almost instantly.

If it was Paracelsus, then Sir Nicholas might not be tight-lipped.

Just as Elena had said a long time ago, and as he had said even earlier, the magical world and the non-magical world would sooner or later have a day of open exchange. While considering peaceful integration, they also had to prepare for the worst.

The current civilization level of this world could not withstand a second war lasting several centuries.

"Then what if I'm exposed? Wouldn't that be very awkward."

Grindelwald asked softly, looking at the Headmaster, who was changing clothes, with a half-smile.

"Those watchmen of the old world, those stubborn afterglows, they prematurely launch a second 'Dark Lord Action,' and the world sees a second, or even more, Voldemorts. This is a real gamble."

"Gamble? Didn't you guys bring back a big ship?"

Dumbledore looked at the old Dark Lord strangely and waved his wand lightly.

"Although I've been in Hogwarts all these years, I'm not a complete idiot who's cut off from the world – what that big ship is, you can find out by looking at a few publications about ships in the non-magical world."

"Anyway, you have to be honest sooner or later, but… them… that depends on whether you're as powerful as you used to be."

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Hooray!