First-Year Textbooks, Speedrun

After touring Diagon Alley, Dumbledore sent Isaac home.

He still used Apparition.

Dumbledore politely declined Isaac's invitation to have a late-night snack together. Once he had delivered him home, he vanished with Apparition.

Not long after Dumbledore left, Grindelwald appeared beside Isaac as though taking over a relay baton.

Isaac had long since grown used to Grindelwald appearing like a ghost.

"I bet you've been spying on us plenty, Gellert."

As Isaac spoke to Grindelwald, his hands never stopped moving.

First, he let Cuckoo out of its cage, instructed the old butler to prepare some food for it, and pick a place Cuckoo liked for its nest.

Then he began sorting through the books he would need for his first year.

Grindelwald did not deny Isaac's words, which meant that, just as Isaac had said, he had truly used prophecy to "spy on" Isaac and Dumbledore all day.

Over the course of that entire day, though, was Grindelwald watching Isaac or Dumbledore? That was truly hard to guess!

At Grindelwald's level and age, he was already above lying.

Confucius said that at seventy, one could follow one's heart's desires without overstepping the bounds.

Grindelwald was already over a hundred. Was he supposed to be as timid and hesitant as some virgin boy?

He wanted to fuck Dumbledore!

"You spent the whole day together. How was it?" There was no subject in Grindelwald's question, but Isaac understood.

"Very good. Professor Dumbledore is respected and widely admired. His standing in the British Wizarding World is worlds apart from yours."

Isaac answered casually without pausing his work.

"Hehehe... Hahahaha..." Grindelwald suddenly burst into laughter, like the Uchiha Laughing Quartet.

He even doubled over laughing.

At last, he took out a handkerchief and wiped away tears that did not exist from the corners of his eyes.

"You can't exactly call that wrong. Dumbledore is greatly respected, yet even some insignificant British Minister for Magic dares to scheme against him openly and in secret.

"They can't wait to drive Dumbledore out of Hogwarts.

"Everyone calls for my head now, but forget plotting against me—even the Ministers for Magic across Europe don't dare let other wizards appear before me.

"What a world of difference!"

"Compared with that The Boy Who Lived called Harry Potter, Albus, the previous generation's savior, has been treated rather poorly."

Isaac could hear the lingering resentment in Grindelwald's tone.

In the end, old Grindelwald was still feeling indignant on old Dumbledore's behalf.

There was a fundamental difference between Grindelwald and Voldemort, even though both were "Dark Lords" defeated by Dumbledore.

Grindelwald was a Dark Lord who had expanded outward. Because of Dumbledore, he had deliberately avoided Britain while causing trouble.

He turned all of Europe and America upside down, yet Britain somehow remained completely untouched.

Voldemort was the exact opposite. It was not as though he had never considered sweeping across Europe and America like his predecessor Grindelwald.

But before he and his Death Eaters could even leave Britain, Dumbledore led the Order of the Phoenix in intercepting them.

They were directly confined within Britain's borders.

In the end, the credit for defeating Voldemort was forcibly placed upon the head of a newborn child.

As a result, whether it was Voldemort's pure-blood supremacy ideology or his terrorist-like actions,

neither could compare to Grindelwald's devastation in terms of sheer destruction.

Yet Dumbledore, the man who had defeated Grindelwald, was somehow treated worse than a child who knew nothing.

"No matter what, that was over a hundred years ago. Compared to your exploits, the time when Voldemort ravaged the British Wizarding World feels like it happened only yesterday.

"Besides, it is only natural for a powerful wizard to defeat a formidable enemy.

"But a child defeating the Dark Lord? That is a living legend."

Holding the books, Isaac returned to the study and placed the textbooks in the corner of his desk before continuing to speak to old Grindelwald.

"If you decided to come out of retirement now, there would definitely be people in the Wizarding World crying as they begged Dumbledore to come out of retirement.

"So, are you going to leave Nurmengard?"

Grindelwald's originally indignant expression suddenly calmed. A moment later, he abruptly smiled.

"Kid, are you really that eager for me to leave Nurmengard?"

Isaac spread his hands. "How could something like that be decided based on my will?"

Isaac neither admitted nor denied it, but sometimes, not denying something was already enough to reveal one's attitude.

"Don't rely too much on your prophecies. Time loves nothing more than to toy with people like us, who think we can toy with time."

After giving Isaac a deep look, old Grindelwald vanished from the spot.

After seeing old Grindelwald off, Isaac began working on his own affairs—previewing Hogwarts's first-year textbooks.

Ordinary young wizards who wanted to study their textbooks in advance either had to ask their parents for help, something only young wizards from wizarding families could do;

as for young wizards born into Muggle families, they could only stare at the textbooks and try their luck.

Some talented ones, like Hermione, could learn and use one or two spells before enrollment.

Those without much talent could only dryly wave their wands and recite incantations.

Isaac was different from all of them.

He could use his prophecy to take online classes.

Through prophecy, he found scenes of Hogwarts professors teaching classes, then watched as an auditor.

Thanks to the various mistakes young wizards made in class, Isaac could always pick out the most correct path for learning.

If Isaac wanted to, he could even compare the same Transfiguration lesson and see exactly how Dumbledore's teaching differed from Professor McGonagall's.

In less than a month, Isaac had roughly "audited" the entire first-year curriculum.

Of course, that was also because the first-year coursework was not particularly difficult.

A Hogwarts first-year was equivalent to a first-year middle school student in the outside world. As an entirely new field, the whole first-year curriculum focused more on guidance, building foundations, and adapting to magic.

None of that was difficult for Isaac.

He was already a Seer. What difficulty could he possibly have adapting to magic?

On top of that, his foundation as an adult gave him focus and conviction far beyond those of his peers.

In the Wizarding World, inner strength could be transformed into magical power.

After finishing all the first-year courses, Isaac, who now had a rough understanding of magic, made a decision.

He would devote his talent to Transfiguration.

Yes, after studying for a while, Isaac was surprised to discover that Transfiguration held a position of crucial importance in the magic of Harry Potter.

Even without that discovery, Isaac would probably have delved into Transfiguration anyway.

Leaving everything else aside, Dumbledore had once been Hogwarts's Transfiguration professor. That alone meant the field had enormous potential.

Sometimes, following in the footsteps of a great figure led to a smooth road.