A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 564 Preparing the Props
Charles opened the heavy wooden crate that had just been delivered, inspected the goods, and scratched his head in exasperation.

He just wanted a sturdy iron cage to imprison the "prisoner" so he could fake the scene of himself being captured by a fairy.

As it turned out, the seller, who specialized in movie props, probably overthought things and sent over something with a strong sense of history—a rusty but exceptionally sturdy hanging cage, which even came with a thick, heavy iron chain.

The hanging cage was a notorious instrument of torture in medieval Europe, where prisoners were imprisoned and displayed to the elements until they turned to bones. Sometimes it even became a local landmark.

Charles walked around it, tapped the cold iron bars, and found it to be more visually striking and convincing than an ordinary iron cage.

He opened the cage door, stood beside it, and gestured to indicate the size. Hmm, it seemed just right to squeeze himself inside.

Ruby curiously hopped over, tilting her little head to examine the newly appeared giant, her eyes full of inquiry.

Charles was completely absorbed in thinking about his next move, how to make the scene more realistic, and how to drag others into it, so he was completely unaware of the commotion behind him.

Just then, Ruby seemed to see this as a golden opportunity. She suddenly exerted her strength, leaped up, and used her signature move, the "Phoenix Kick," to accurately kick Charles in the lower back.

"Ouch!"

Charles was caught off guard, leaned forward, and fell headfirst into the open hanging cage.

Ruby thoughtfully flapped its wings and slammed the heavy cage door shut with a "bang".

Charles crashed into the cold iron cage in a sorry state, hitting his nose and in excruciating pain.

This time, he even bought some magic potions for faking illness, intending to create the illusion that he had been captured, locked in a cage, and was injured or weak.

Little did anyone know that the pill, which had just been placed aside, had been mistaken for candy and eaten by the curious Ruby.

Although the phoenix was immune to all poisons, the potion tasted absolutely awful, so much so that Ruby glared angrily at Charles in the cage, her eyes filled with accusation: You actually tried to trick me with something so disgusting?!

Charles understood what it meant and was immediately at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

I've been buying snacks a lot lately, and as a result, it subconsciously thinks that everything I buy is a snack. In the blink of an eye, it ate them all, and then ran to the nearby lake to rinse its mouth for five minutes.

Understanding is one thing, reacting to it is another.

Charles flashed and appeared directly behind Ruby, grabbing its round body and executing a beautiful back throw with a powerful twist of his waist!

Caught off guard, Ruby was thrown around and her fluffy feathers were all fluffed up.

The two of them wrestled and played around in the hall for quite a while, until they were both panting and exhausted before finally taking a break.

Charles wiped his sweat, grabbed a bottle of soda to drink and rest, and then began the next crucial step.

He Apparated to the seaside villa.

The wall on the side of the hall, which Jack had opened several times before, leading to Gringotts Passage, was now smooth, flat, and intact. Various magical and non-magical markings proved that it had not been opened during this time, and the Broadswords, which had been enchanted with the Disillusionment Charm, were all sitting there quietly.

Clearly, the fairies hadn't discovered this hidden passage, making the rest of the work much easier.

Charles nodded in satisfaction, walked up the long staircase to the room upstairs. He first examined the blood he had secretly drawn during Harry's medical examination; everything was fine, and it wouldn't be a problem to use it to restore Voldemort's body.

Leaving the "blood bank," his gaze fell upon two unassuming, heavy metal doors not far away—this was today's target: one of the vaults where Jack and Grindelwald stored their "pension funds."

The warehouse contains some of the "souvenirs" they brought back from the Gringotts Lestrange family vault two years ago, thanks to their own skills.

Charles walked to the door of the old man's storeroom, curled his lip, and used his wand to tap on the magical creature pattern representing numbers on the door to reveal Professor McGonagall's birthday, the day he was picked out of the trash can.

The door lock made a slight clicking sound.

The instant the door opened a crack, an invisible and extremely subtle magical alarm was instantly triggered.

A sharp magical wave, like a pebble thrown into calm water, traveled far and wide.

In the warm and comfortable living room of the island villa, Jack and Gellert sat facing each other, with blue flames burning in the fireplace, dispelling the damp chill of the sea breeze.

Even the most powerful wizard, as he gets older, still prefers a warm place for his body.

The two men drank and chatted, discussing how to use the chaos caused by Charles's disappearance to create even greater trouble for the fairies.

"I think there's been enough hype about Charles. Charles has said that too much hype can desensitize people, and we need to slow down."

Grindelwald swirled his wine glass rhythmically, his eyes gleaming with calculation.

After taking a sip of wine, Jack nodded and said, "I think so too. We still have two cards to play: tent insurance and food prices. This will allow us to maintain high pressure on the fairies in public opinion while avoiding psychological fatigue."

"Regarding grain prices..."

Suddenly, he froze, his usual calm expression vanishing instantly. A chilling, almost tangible killing intent emanated from his body, causing the fireplace flames to dim for a moment.

Jack stopped speaking, his eyes sharp as knives, his voice low and menacing: "Looks like someone's tired of living."

Before he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, and the iconic, 406-millimeter-long giant wand appeared in his hand as if by magic, its tip gleaming with a dangerous light.

This was the first time Grindelwald had ever seen him display such pure, undisguised killing intent. He raised an eyebrow slightly, put down his wine glass, and asked with a hint of curiosity, "Who do you want to kill?"

Several possibilities flashed through his mind: was it some goblin from Gringotts, or was someone trying to seduce McGonagall?
Jack let out a short, cold laugh and said through gritted teeth, "Someone tried to steal the money I kept in my vault by the sea. Just now, the vault door was opened."

Grindelwald understood immediately.

The vault contained their rich spoils of war. Jack said he considered the money as his retirement fund, and now that he was getting older, he naturally wanted to spend it.

Over the years, in order to give McGonagall various precious gifts from wizards and Muggles, he has gradually disposed of a lot of things, erasing all the Lestrange family marks.

Now that a thief dared to directly touch his special funds for dating, it was like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth. No wonder he was so eager to kill him.

(End of this chapter)