The two people in the church locked eyes.
"That spell," Ian began, his tone carrying a trace of curiosity. "Crucio: Soul Extinction. If it hit, could it really hurt you?" Grindelwald looked at him and fell silent for several seconds.
"Perhaps." She gave a disdainful smile. "But she didn't hit me."
Ian smiled as well.
The smile on his young face seemed exceptionally bright, exceptionally sly. "So you still didn't reveal the power of a legend." Grindelwald said nothing. She walked to the window and looked out at the town shrouded in morning mist. The church bells were still ringing, low and lingering. "Voldemort will come personally."
She spoke calmly and with certainty.
Ian stepped beside her and looked outside as well. "I know."
"He'll take that mirror to find you."
"I know."
"He'll use it against you."
Ian turned his head to look at Grindelwald. In those deep eyes shone a calm light wholly at odds with his age. "I know," he repeated, then smiled. "But you also know that mirror is fake."
Grindelwald looked at him, silent for several seconds, before letting out a soft sigh. "Are you sure he'll use the mirror against you? Rather than something else?" At those words, Ian withdrew his gaze and looked out the window.
"He will. Because he's afraid of me." His voice was calm and composed. "He fears that Raven, fears the person who watched him in Azkaban yet never gave him a proper look. He doesn't dare come himself, doesn't dare confront me head-on. He can only resort to such underhanded tricks. That mirror is his only hope. He'll definitely use it."
Grindelwald fell silent for several seconds, then nodded lightly.
"I hope your judgment is correct."
Ian smiled.
"My judgment has never been wrong."
The morning mist outside