HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

West arrived at the principal's office door precisely at 10 p.m.

Time was of the essence; he didn't even have time to tell Harry that he was about to leave, and he wouldn't be able to attend tomorrow's year-end party.

The stone statue by the office door gleamed with a greyish-blue luster in the moonlight. West whispered the instruction: "Lemon Olaf."

When he entered the principal's office via the spiral staircase, he found a strange man sitting inside.

The man had dazzling blond hair, a refined face with well-defined features, and deep, imposing heterochromatic eyes.

His long, slender fingers were toying with a wand. Hearing the noise, he looked at West and narrowed his eyes.

West stared warily at the man who exuded a dangerous aura.

"You're the child Albus was talking about?" the man asked casually.

He stood up, his expression languid, like a cat with a light gait, walked up to West, lowered his head, and looked West directly into his eyes with a playful expression. "Are you afraid of me?"

West was somewhat speechless. "Sir, you're overthinking it."

"Gale, don't scare him." Dumbledore came out of the common room and his brow twitched when he saw this.

Can he really trust Gail to take care of the children?

Grindelwald straightened up, took two steps back, and raised his hands. "Well, Al, I didn't do anything."

West breathed a silent sigh of relief upon seeing Dumbledore.

The stranger's identity was also quite obvious: Gellert Grindelwald.

Perhaps he drank some kind of anti-aging potion? He's become so young, like a flamboyant male peacock.

Dumbledore gestured for West to sit down and poured him a cup of tea.

"Wester, I'll have Gale take you back to the Potter family mansion," he said. "If you have any questions, you can ask him, but you'll have to activate the Potter family's magic yourself."

"Don't worry too much, the Potter family portrait won't hesitate to help you."

Grindelwald had already sat back down, casually sipping his tea. "Don't worry, Al, I'll handle the matter you entrusted to me."

He looked up at Dumbledore. "After it's all done, don't forget your promise to me."

"I remember, Gale," Dumbledore said. "You may depart now."

"Wait, Headmaster," West said, handing a letter to Dumbledore, "could you please give this to Harry and explain it to him?"

"This is going to be a troublesome task," Dumbledore said with a smile, but still took the letter under West's disapproving gaze. "Don't worry, West, I'll handle it."

If he hadn't left in such a hurry, West wouldn't have been so rushed that he didn't even have time to explain to Harry; that's his problem.

"Let's go, you brat." Grindelwald stood up and stretched.

Dumbledore escorted them to the gates of Hogwarts Castle.

"Go back, Albus," Grindelwald said, "and get some rest."

Dumbledore looked at him, nodded, and said, "Very well. Have a safe journey."

Grindelwald grabbed West by the back of his collar, waved his wand, and used Apparition several times in succession, without caring whether West would have any adverse effects from Apparition.

The squeezing sensation from Apparition isn't pleasant for beginners, but fortunately, aside from some dizziness and paleness, West was fine. This made Grindelwald think more highly of him, "Good adaptability, kid."

West felt they were far from Hogwarts, and finally Grindelwald led him to an ancient forest.

The forest seemed to be under an anti-Apparition spell; they could only enter on foot.

It is still night.

Ancient trees, their age unknown, towered into the clouds, shrouded in a thick fog. The moon hung high, but its light could not illuminate this ancient forest.

The ground beneath my feet was damp and exuded a chilly aura.

West leaned against a tree for a moment to catch his breath, then stood up straight and followed Grindelwald's steps while looking around.

They walked through layers of trees to the very center of the forest.

A towering tree stands here.

West couldn't help but stroke the old tree's weathered bark, and felt a strange sense of warmth in his heart.

Suddenly, he touched a protrusion on the bark.

The tip of Grindelwald's staff glowed, illuminating the pattern on the bark—

It was a deep red Holy Grail, surrounded by the phantom images of two deer, their enormous antlers ablaze with flames.

Grindelwald surveyed the large tree, nodded in satisfaction, then grabbed West's arm. "You don't mind if I scratch you a few times, do you?"

Before West could answer, Grindelwald's staff grazed his arm, cutting a gash. Blood flowed down the wound, staining the soil beneath the ancient tree, where it was greedily absorbed by the tree roots.

West: "..." I had to ask him that, which was rather polite.

In a daze, West seemed to hear the land sigh with satisfaction.

An ancient and enormous castle suddenly appeared before them, as if it had just shed its cloak of concealment to reveal its true face.

The moment the castle appeared, West heard an excited scream, "Merlin! It's the young master! The young master is back!"

West saw a strange creature appear before him.

It was only three feet tall, with slender arms and legs, skin like wrinkled parchment, a head the size of a watermelon topped with a pair of bat ears, and round eyeballs that took up a third of its face.

It wore a small suit made from a red tea towel, with a double deer and chalice pattern embroidered on the collar.

West: "...House-elves?"

It looked at West, its large eyes welling up with tears that streamed uncontrollably down its cheeks, and cried out in a shrill voice, "Yes! Master Potter! I am the Potter family's little elf! My name is Angie! Oh, poor Angie has waited for her master for ten years, nine months, and seven days..."

Angie stretched out his withered, twig-like fingers, wanting to touch the hem of West's robe, but then withdrew them in alarm. "Bad Angie! Your dirty hands will get the young master's new robe dirty!"

"That's enough, Angie, stop crying." West had a headache.

Angie fought back tears, rubbing her hands together, her big eyes fixed on West.

As West was at his wit's end, Grindelwald clapped his hands mockingly and said, "What a touching master-servant relationship! But couldn't you have brought your young master and guest into the manor first?"

"Oh, yes, it's Angie's fault." Angie hurriedly opened the castle gates and shouted, "Welcome home, little master!"

In an instant, six more house-elves appeared from behind the door. Their big eyes stared at West, and they chattered away.

"The little master is back!"

"Why is there only one little master?"

"Oh, poor little master, look how thin he is..."

West's brow twitched. He could tell that Angie was probably the leader here. He turned to Angie and said, "Angie, tell them to go about their own business."

Angie quickly waved to the group of house-elves, "Go back to work!"

They obediently left, but looked at West with reluctance, almost turning back every few steps.

"I didn't expect the Potter family to have so many elves," Grindelwald remarked thoughtfully, "and they seem to treat them quite well."

"That's right!" Angie's eyes gleamed as he proudly tilted his head back. "Our master treats us so well! We even have clean clothes to wear!"

West frowned.

He grew up in the Muggle world and wasn't used to enslaving house-elves.

"Anqi, are you aware that my parents used family magic?" He crouched down and asked Anqi softly.

Anqi was flattered and exclaimed, "My little master actually said 'excuse me' to me! I am honored!" As he spoke, he couldn't help but shed tears.

Although the Potter family treated their house-elves well, they had a mischievous master named James who caused them a lot of trouble.

"Alright, Angie, you'll have to get used to my attitude," West said helplessly. "And also, don't cry."

"Oh, alright, young master," Angie pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away his tears. "Angie knows what Master James and Master Lily have done. Please come with me, young master West."

He then led the way, guiding West and Grindelwald through the garden filled with golden-red phoenix ferns and into the castle.