Sleepless Tonight

"Mr. Wallop, I hope you can adopt the right attitude."

Inside the room with its silver floor, a middle-aged male wizard sat at a long table with a serious expression, while the young man opposite him—no, the child—did not care at all and even dozed off at the table.

Mark Pont looked rather grim; he had been entangled with this second-year Hogwarts student for almost half an hour.

Aside from initial curiosity and restraint upon entering, after half an hour of questioning, the young man showed no signs of tension or fear; in fact, he even seemed to want to take a nap!

This is the interrogation room of the British Ministry of Magic! Right next to it are the ten trial rooms numbered one through ten!

You're sleeping here?!

Mark Pont maintained a stern expression, but anger was rising within him. However, he couldn't show his anger, since the child in front of him hadn't been arrested.

Sean tapped his head on the table, yawned widely, and lazily propped his cheek up with his hand, his tone impatient and perfunctory. "Sir, I'm just here to cooperate with the investigation, not a criminal. Please watch your words—by the way, can I leave now?"

Mark Pont moved his face closer, trying to make himself more threatening, wanting the other man to know the seriousness of the matter—although he had been doing this for the past half hour, the kid's mental fortitude was ridiculously good, good enough to make him swear.

What second-year student can remain calm and composed in an inquiry room?

"Mr. Wallop, please cooperate with our work until you recall more details," Pont said in a deep voice.

"Am I not cooperative enough?" Sean rolled his eyes rudely.

He's had enough to do tonight, and he's exhausted and sleepy. He has no energy left to maintain a presentable appearance.

Pont's tone became more serious, even containing a hint of threat. "Now the Ministry of Magic of various countries have issued arrest warrants for Grindelwald. Do you know what that means?"

"Hmm?" Sean lazily raised his eyelids.

Pont slammed his hand on the table. "You're a Hogwarts student! But there's enough evidence to show that you've learned Grindelwald's unique spells!"

"Is it illegal, sir? Or does the Ministry of Magic have regulations that classify that spell as Dark Arts?"

"That's enough to prove that you have a close relationship with Grindelwald."

Sean looked at him like he was an idiot. "All the professors and students of Newmontgard, half of the Hogwarts students, and all the wizards who have read the news about Newmontgard Day —they all know that I am Grindelwald's student. Do I need to ask them?"

"Do you even know what crimes your teacher, Grindelwald, committed?"

"I know, go ahead and catch them, I'm not stopping you." Sean said with an air of complete entitlement.

Pont's brow twitched slightly, but his good manners prevented him from showing his inner rage. His tone, however, became even more stern. "It is common knowledge that Grindelwald never teaches in private, let alone accepts a Hogwarts student. We have reason to suspect..."

Sean held out a hand between the two. "Stop, sir. What are your requirements if you want to take on a student?"

The experienced person asking the question naturally wouldn't be led by the nose by Sean: "I'm going to explain to you the seriousness of this matter now."

Sean ignored him and shook his bag, the Galleon clinking together to make a pleasant sound.

"Look, I'm very rich. Look again, I'm handsome. And look again—" Sean pointed to himself, "I'm also a magical genius."

He spread his hands. "Is it so hard to understand that you're taking me as a student?"

Pont rubbed his temples with a headache. The kid in front of him was impervious to reason and was even more slippery than Mooncalf —and where did this kid learn his shamelessness from?

He was even starting to regret taking the job. The interrogation, originally scheduled with the Wizarding United Guard, had been moved to England, and Dumbledore had assured him the boy was fine.

Pont and the others didn't believe it, of course, but Dumbledore had spoken, and no one dared to use spells or Veritaserum on a child— Grindelwald had run away, and they were hoping Dumbledore could bring him back.

Sean stretched, and seeing that the other party was about to speak again, he quickly said, "I've made myself perfectly clear, sir. You can investigate Grindelwald's crimes yourselves. Your team members know the previous situation better than I do. The Dark Arts mark that followed was done by that group of people who called themselves Death Eaters, and that Giant was also summoned by them—why are you looking at me? Although everyone knows I'm a genius, I'm still young. You don't actually think that Giant, that mark, and the dark power left at the scene were all my doing, do you?"

Pont was certainly not that foolish; the French Ministry of Magic had already confirmed the Giant's terrifying nature, and second-year students had no connection to that thing—his main goal was to dig out more information about Grindelwald.

"Mr. Wallop, your teacher..."

Before he could finish speaking, Sean had already yawned while lying on the table. "Um... I'm still a kid, in the stage of growing up... You don't mind taking a nap, do you?"

The child... Pont was so angry he gritted his teeth.

Just then, the door to the interrogation room was pushed open. Pont frowned and looked over, seeing Fudge, the Minister of British Ministry of Magic, and a middle-aged wizard with light blond hair.

He composed himself and stood up. Although Fudge was a recognized ' Conservatives,' the minister still deserved respect, especially since he was just a commissioner sent by the Guard Corps.

"Mr. Pont," Fudge shook his hand, his smile carrying just the right amount of distance, "How's work going?"

"Thank you for your support of the Guard Corps's work, Minister Fudge."

Fudge waved his hand. "Of course, but—you've been asking for so long, he's just a kid, that's all he can say, right? It's already past midnight, let him go back to school and rest."

"Minister," Pont said seriously, "This child has a very close relationship with Grindelwald ..."

At this moment, the middle-aged man next to Fudge spoke up, with an unhurried and arrogant demeanor. "Minister, what can a child possibly ask? I believe the Guard Corps's current priority is to find Grindelwald's whereabouts."

Fudge nodded. "Lucius is right, Mr. Pont. Since Dumbledore has vouched for the boy, I think we should let him go back."

Pont's eyes flickered a few times. He naturally knew the great name of the Malfoy Family of England, and he knew even more that they would definitely not care about a second-year Mudblood. So, according to the Malfoy Family's opportunistic style, they were preparing to completely side with Dumbledore.

Fudge was likely also trying to express goodwill to Dumbledore, after all, Grindelwald was gone, and after that earth-shattering battle in Paris, Dumbledore was now the number one figure in the Wizarding World.

Pont hesitated for a moment, then glanced back at the sleepy-eyed Sean before finally nodding sullenly.

Without the aid of spells Potions, he wouldn't be able to extract any useful information by continuing like this, and there was no need to offend the two people in front of him.

"It's over?" Sean stood up, stretched, waved casually, and walked out.

In the past, he would have put on an act, at least pretending to be a second-year student. But as Grindelwald's only student, and with his teacher having just put on a fireworks display halfway across the globe tonight—would the Dark Lord really choose an ordinary second-year student as his student?

So Sean had no intention of pretending anymore.

Fudge stayed behind to talk to Pont, while Lucius said goodbye and slowly followed Sean.

As soon as he turned into a deserted corner, Lucius's arrogant expression suddenly turned humble.

"My esteemed master, please forgive my rudeness just now. As soon as I heard the news, I went to find Fudge. I took it upon myself to think that you might not want your identity to be exposed yet, so I guided Fudge to come and rescue the person." He lowered his head and spoke respectfully.

Sean waved his hand expressionlessly and said casually, "Not bad, Lucius."

"Then, Master, what should we do from now on?" Lucius asked cautiously.

He already knew about the situation in Paris and naturally understood that the Death Eaters ' name had been exposed. He felt uneasy about the exposure, but also terrified by the sight of that terrifying Fire Giant.

Lucius now finally understood why Voldemort had switched to this body—his master's magical abilities had become even more unfathomable...

He also suspected that Voldemort might have guided Dumbledore's duel with Grindelwald, which could explain why he continued to stay at the school as a student.

Sean hadn't expected Lucius to suddenly imagine so much; he was completely confused.

After tonight's events were over, he wanted to ask Dumbledore for more information, but the latter deliberately avoided him and did not answer any of his questions.

Afterwards, Newt returned, and Sean finally understood why he had left in such a hurry.

Newt retrieved the diluted venom from the Swooping Evil, and then Dumbledore cast a Rainstorm Charm that enveloped all of Paris, mixing the Swooping Evil's venom into it to erase the Muggle ' memories of the night.

Of course, there was still a lot of cleanup work to be done by the French Ministry of Magic after that.

Then Sean was brought here for "interrogation".

Sean, deep in thought, glanced at the obsequious Lucius and waved his hand. "Go back. I'll take care of the rest."

"As you wish, great master."

Lucius bowed, then stepped out of the corner and transformed back into a Pure-blood nobleman with his chin down.

Sean was sent back to Newmontgard, and when he entered the castle, he found that even in the early hours of the morning, there were still many Guard Corps running back and forth inside the castle.

"Newmontgard is about to change..." Sean sighed and returned to the Common Room.

The students didn't get the news so quickly; most of them had already gone to sleep, except for two petite figures huddled in velvet-backed chairs.

It's Hermione and Daisy.

Sean felt a warmth in his heart, and his previous anxiety and frustration subsided considerably. Last time, these two girls had also waited for him to come home late at night.

Hermione, her face filled with anxiety, clutched the hem of her clothes. Sean had suddenly disappeared from her side, and then she learned that Grindelwald had taken Sean away.

Although she knew Grindelwald wouldn't hurt Sean, she was still a little uneasy. What if she was accidentally injured in that situation?

Daisy, standing nearby, didn't look too good either. Not only Sean, but her father and Uncle Big Black Dog were also in the group arresting Grindelwald.

Harry and the others went to Professor McGonagall to ask about the situation, but she didn't know if she would get any reassuring news.

Thinking this, she turned around and saw Sean walking in, looking exhausted.

"Sean!" Daisy exclaimed, jumping off the chair and then rushing straight into his arms.

Hermione suddenly stood up and looked back. She paused for a moment, then quickly ran to the two of them, raised her wand, and shone it on Sean.

"I can't believe you got involved!" the girl grumbled as she swept Wand-Lighting Charm across Sean's body.

"I'm fine, sorry to have worried you all," Sean smiled wearily at Hermione, then patted Daisy's shoulder, which was buried in his arms. "Don't worry, James and Sirius are doing just fine too."

Daisy's frail body trembled for a moment before she lifted her head from Sean's embrace. "That's wonderful, that's wonderful..."

"What happened?" Hermione frowned, relieved to see that Sean was indeed alright.

Sean sat down, and after bringing up the matter of his transformation Sin he had committed, he told the two of them what had happened.

"Oh my god..." Daisy, whose eyes widened when she heard that Dumbledore had appeared, covered her mouth in shock after learning about the Giant and Death Eaters.

Hermione clutched her chest, her brows furrowing. "Besides the Guard Corps, there's another unknown organization. I've never seen the name Death Eaters in any books. According to you, they can summon Fire Giant... That must be incredibly terrifying magic. I've seen similar information in Ancient Runes textbooks. Combined Ancient Magic requires at least a hundred people to summon such a terrifying being."

Sean scratched his head. "Are there any specific descriptions of Ancient Spell?"

Hermione shook her head. "I only mentioned it once, but you said that Giant disappeared after a short time. It might be an imperfect spell, or the number of people casting the spell was too small to maintain the output of magic."

Actually, I forcibly logged into the account associated with the Sin, and then the firewall kicked me offline...

Daisy said, "Newmontgard is definitely going to be in chaos."

"That's right, Mr. Grindelwald is the soul of Newmontgard ... and not just Newmontgard, the Wizarding World will undergo a major upheaval..."

Sean sighed helplessly, "What a hassle..."

Daisy blinked at him, her voice softening considerably. "Sean, you must be very tired tonight, go and get some rest."

Exhausted, Sean did not refuse the girl's kindness. Daisy and Hermione were waiting for Harry and the others to return, so he said goodbye and dragged his heavy steps back to his dormitory.

Sean lay heavily on the bed and closed his eyes, but he still couldn't fall asleep after a while.

"Tonight was too chaotic... I can't sleep..." Sean opened his eyes, sighed, and then sat up.