At Hogwarts, the story begins with deconstructing Avada Kedavra.

Chapter 59 Stargazing and Setting the Tone

The hidden spaces of the Ravenclaw Tower.

On the dome, the deep blue starlight continued to flow silently.

The Starry Sky Chessboard left by Rowena Ravenclaw slowly rotates in mid-air, recording every intense surge of magic in this ancient castle and even this land over the past thousand years.

The dragon farce on the Astronomy Tower has come to an end, but Gryffindor's blind revelry and the Ministry of Magic's dark schemes are brewing within the castle.

Lucien, the mastermind behind all this, is now standing in front of the chessboard.

"The fire dragon farce was handled too elegantly."

Lucian reached out his hand, his fingertips passing through a patch of suspended stardust.

He was reviewing the situation.

From the brainwashing golden thread that descended during the Halloween troll incident to the current fire dragon incident where a few official documents and parchment were all that was needed.

The means by which the Great Calamity suppressed variables have declined drastically.

In the past few days, as an observer of this farce, Lucien has not stopped at simply watching the children's game.

Under the cover of darkness and chaos, he moved freely in and out of the library's restricted section.

Among those rows of dusty, cursed scrolls, they silently trace the hidden clues of destiny in the history of magic.

Finally, he found that name.

A specimen that once attempted to overturn the entire world chessboard with its own power, but was ultimately ruthlessly suppressed by the overwhelming calamities of the times.

Just as he returned here with the secret documents, a sudden change occurred in the space.

The pale blue starlight of the starry chessboard suspended in the void was forcibly swallowed by the suppressed dark red patches.

In mid-air, the chaotic light and shadow began to intertwine and recombine.

In the darkness, the first thing to slowly emerge is the phantom of a skull hookah;

Immediately afterwards, the fog surged and tore apart violently, widening the field of vision and transforming into a barrage of artillery fire and a torrent of Muggle steel.

That was an apocalyptic war that once swept across the entire world, the afterglow of iron and blood belonging to the first Dark Lord.

Gellert Grindelwald.

Lucien's gaze followed the solitary figure holding his wand high in the light and shadow.

The history book states:

In the history of magic spanning the second millennium, Gellert Grindelwald is widely regarded as the most fanatical and destructive dark wizard of his time.

Historians generally point out that Grindelwald was not only a highly talented spellcaster, but also a highly inflammatory and ambitious man.

He was expelled from Durmstrang early in his life for his extreme experiments with dark magic. Subsequently, under the political guise of "for the greater good," he attempted to overthrow the International Law of Secrecy and establish an absolute dictatorship of wizards over Muggles.

His extreme ideology and atrocities plunged the entire European continent into years of bloody turmoil.

In 1945, Albus Dumbledore responded to the call of the international magical community and defeated it in a legendary duel known as the "Battle of the Century," finally ending this catastrophe.

After his defeat, Grindelwald was thrown into the Nurmengard Tower, which he had personally designed.

In modern academic historical perspectives, Grindelwald is typically portrayed as a fanatical genius destroyed by arrogant ambition and extreme ideology. His demise not only vividly reflects Dumbledore's enduring reputation for upholding justice, but also serves as a timeless warning to the wizarding world of the inviolable legal boundaries and the unwavering maintenance of the existing peace order.

"wrong."

Lucian stared at the giant mushroom cloud, created by the Muggle nuclear explosion, that slowly rose at the end of the screen.

As the mushroom cloud rose, he sensed a violent magical tremor emanating from the Star River Chessboard—an indescribable, overwhelming pressure.

"I see—" Lucian suddenly realized, "You don't want to rule Muggles. You saw the oracle of Muggles' prosperity in that mushroom cloud."

This is a chilling discovery.

That nuclear mushroom cloud was a physical deity conceived by billions of Muggles.

Grindelwald saw it earlier than anyone else: the Law of Secrecy was a shroud covering the wizarding world.

He attempted to break down the common sense of Muggles through killing and fear, forcibly pulling the world back to the age of miracles before the physical gods were fully formed.

But he failed.

Lucian tapped his finger, pulling back the timeline. The star map reversed, returning to the very beginning.

[Godric Valley, 1899]

The starlight outlined the silhouettes of three young men. They were Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Aberforth in their youth.

Two immense magical forces, powerful enough to overturn the rules of the world, are colliding and merging; it is a blood oath formed by two unparalleled geniuses.

Immediately afterwards, a chaotic battle ensued.

The magic these two young men were wielding was naturally extraordinary and imaginative, but at that moment, a faint golden light suddenly flashed—but the two seemed too young to notice this preordained meaning.

The next second, an unexpected spell struck the girl Ariana in the distance with perfect accuracy.

The image freezes on the moment the girl falls, and on the face of young Dumbledore, who is utterly devastated.

"Hahaha."

Lucian let out a mocking laugh, which sounded particularly jarring in the empty, dark room.

"That's truly a breathtaking technique."

He understood everything.

When the Great Calamity realized that Grindelwald and Dumbledore had joined forces, this was a huge variable that could defy the heavens.

It created an extremely vulgar family tragedy.

The death of that innocent girl instantly shattered that power. Ariana's death became a heavy shackle, turning Dumbledore, a natural-born blade, into a guilty, fearful, and perpetually compromising appeaser who could only patch up the mess.

Lucian couldn't help but speculate as he looked at the genius kneeling dejectedly in the picture.

Dumbledore sensed the negativity behind the change, but he had no idea that it was fate erasing the variables. Instead, he fell into a deep abyss of self-blame, believing it to be clear evidence that magic and power brought disaster.

Thus, the greatest white wizard went to the extreme of compromise.

He began to shackle magic with love, morality, and rules; struggling to break open the cage called protection at Hogwarts. He thought he was atoning for his sins, but little did he know that the Great Calamity was shaping him into the perfect mortician to send the wizarding world to its end.

The timeline rapidly shifts across the chessboard, eventually settling on 1945.

That was the decisive battle of the century.

In the scene, countless spells clashed, and Lucian saw Grindelwald's eyes.

All I saw was sorrow and despair.

In 1945, the Muggle atomic bomb was successfully detonated, and Muggle common sense declared absolute occupation of this planet.

In that year, the Great Calamity appointed Dumbledore, the "Executor" it had been ensnaring, as the executioner to carry out the last struggles of the old era.

Fragments of light and shadow emerged one by one, amidst the clash of spells across the sky, but in the background, the nuclear explosions of the Muggle world were faintly superimposed.

Lucian looked at Grindelwald, who was holding the Elder Wand high in the picture.

At that moment, the hidden space faithfully recreated the scene, with Grindelwald bearing the immense pressure of reality.

"What a pity."

Lucian looked at the proud figure in the picture who was gradually exhausted and finally put down his wand in despair, and let out a sigh that was hard to tell whether it was admiration or sarcasm. "You are a genius prophet, but you are a native genius living in a nutshell."

You possess unparalleled magic, but you lack the opportunity to allocate a point to Deep Blue.

"But how can you be blamed? Being in the game, being able to see the chessboard clearly is already a rare talent. Who can demand that you see the hands playing the pieces outside the board?"

This is where Grindelwald's blind spot lies.

He witnessed the struggle for survival between wizards and Muggles, but he mistakenly defined the means of resistance as using magic to kill mortals.

He doesn't understand the Great Calamity; the Great Calamity is one that can never be completely eradicated.

He used the sword of this world to pierce the sky of this world, which was destined to lead to a hopeless death.

The moment Grindelwald put down the Elder Wand was because he discovered that his confidant had willingly succumbed to fate and become a traitor to the new era.

The confrontation with the prevailing trend has become an intractable deadlock.

The light faded, and the star chart returned to its peaceful, deep blue.

"A double-blind situation."

Lucian dispelled the shocking historical reflections before him: "One who tried to use magic to fight against the materialistic trend, ended up imprisoned; the other who, in fear, castrated miracles with his own hands, slowly boiling a frog in water."

The remains of pioneers are the best guide for those who follow.

The bloody laws governing the great calamity were already laid bare before him:

Under normal circumstances, the will of the world will never confront you head-on in terms of power; it will always take advantage of your constraints.

Human weaknesses and those self-proclaimed correct rules will undermine you from within.

It even uses so-called luck and coincidence to forcibly weave a web of destiny.

Of course, it seems that I, as a time traveler, received different treatment.

"That's why there was only parchment and Umbridge last night."

Lucian opened his eyes, the whole story of the fire dragon incident flashing through his mind, and his sarcasm intensified.

Compared to the force used to suppress Grindelwald back then, the current calamity is like toying with insects in a pot when it comes to dealing with Hogwarts.

Because the backbone of magic was broken back in 1945.

The current global will only needs to go with the flow, exploiting Lucius Malfoy's greed and the Ministry of Magic's thirst for power, to easily pry open Hogwarts' autonomy.

The most ironic character in this elaborate scheme is Harry Potter.

As the chosen savior, he was completely unaware of his predicament. Driven by passion, he followed Dumbledore, believing that he and his friends had triumphed over the evil rules, and that kindness and blind courage were the greatest trump cards in the magical world.

The Great Calamity deliberately exploited the protagonist group's path dependence on Gryffindor-style heroism, making them repeatedly push the boundaries of the rules, forcing Dumbledore to compromise with the bureaucracy time and again in order to protect them, and personally chiseling cracks in the walls of this magical sanctuary.

When Potter and his generation grow up, magic will be completely bound by physics and law, degenerating into vulgar charlatanry.

"Like Grindelwald, jump out shouting pureblood supremacy and try to smash the sky with magic? That's the most out of place thing to do in this era."

Lucian walked to the Starry Sky chessboard and pressed his hand on a dim star that represented himself.

If he exposes himself now, it will only lead to endless accidents and extermination.

The world's will will send down countless Umbridges and countless laws, using a war of attrition to drag him into familiar territory, and then defeat him with its rich experience.

Lucian relit the Hogwarts star chart representing the present moment.

On the chessboard, light and shadow intertwine, predicting the final outcome of the Fire Dragon incident.

"What seems like a radical transformation is actually—all paths lead to the same destination."

Lucian looked at the results of the deduction and could only laugh at himself.

He instigated a major confrontation between the two houses, using Malfoy to drag Umbridge into the conflict and force Dumbledore to sign the bill. This was no small change.

But what about the results?

Although Harry and Ron escaped arrest, the previous commotion at the school resulted in them, along with Draco, losing a significant number of house points, and they will inevitably face the next plot point: the Night Patrol in the Forbidden Forest.

After much wandering, Harry Potter eventually had to venture into the dark forest to confront the mutilated Dark Lord who drank the blood of unicorns.

"Although the main road seems unchanged, I have quietly changed the direction of the side roads."

Lucian sighed softly. The immense power and resilience of the catastrophe, like a vast river, was enough to make one tremble.

However, Lucien's gaze lingered on a cool, distant star that seemed to exist only on the edge of the main storyline.

That's Hermione Granger.

In the original script, Hermione was supposed to be completely tainted by Gryffindor's blind courage after this incident, becoming the Savior's most indispensable external brain.

But now, she has detached herself from Harry and Ron's love triangle without any lingering attachment.

She observed the savior's actions with a rational attitude, completely deviating from the predetermined course of the catastrophe.

But she wasn't unique either, because Neville began to echo Harry and Ron, forming a new trio—"that's enough."

Without that calmest mind, the Gryffindor trio would probably only be left with passion and recklessness.

In a grand scheme, such a combination would only be a more useful piece.

Lucian clenched his fingers and extinguished the star chart in mid-air once again.

He established the next phase of the plan:

Never flip the table like Grindelwald did.

Lurking in the abyss, parasitizing the script.

His fingers slid across the chessboard, pushing the radiant, yet seemingly puppet-like red piece representing Harry Potter to the very front, right in the center of the storm. His own piece, meanwhile, slid into the bottom blind spot.

Since this is the protagonist carefully arranged by the Great Calamity for the new era, and since Potter was born with the grand mission of defeating Voldemort, then this is simply the most perfect windbreak in the world.

"The spotlight on the stage is too dazzling. Let the Gryffindor lions enjoy this vanity used to attract divine favor."

He didn't need to correct Harry's recklessness; instead, he needed to ensure that Harry's progress on the main storyline of defeating the Dark Lord was extremely smooth over the long period to come.

The more dazzling Potter becomes, the more intense the tug-of-war between Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic, and the more the world's will will focus its calculations on this scarred boy.

Lucian, meanwhile, will continue to draw upon a millennium of accumulated knowledge, study the magic of miracles, and attempt substitutions behind the scenes, all while remaining largely unnoticed.

The cold wind outside the tower, carrying with it the chilly mist of the Forbidden Forest, howled past.

The first academic year is drawing to a close, and the blood of the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest has already flowed.

"Burn as much as you want, Harry."

At the top of the control tower, Lucien took one last look at the gradually brightening sky before turning and walking into the shadows of the lounge.

"The great savior was born to shield us from the wind."