"Then let's go, Kyle." Dumbledore checked the time. "We can just make breakfast."
Dumbledore led Kyle along the elevated stone bridge built through the mountains toward the castle.
Along the way, Kyle tried hard to recall the movie plots from his previous life. Under normal circumstances, shouldn't an owl have been sent with a letter first?
Why had it become the Headmaster personally coming to his door in his case?
Though his situation was rather special.
And what was this about Aurors from the American Magical Congress trying to arrest him?
Full of doubts, Kyle spoke up. "Headmaster..."
"Just call me Professor." Dumbledore turned and winked at Kyle with a smile.
"Alright, Professor." Kyle went along with it, then voiced the question on his mind. "Why did you say all of this has something to do with my father?"
Dumbledore sighed quietly, considering whether he should tell Kyle the truth about his background.
Walking behind Dumbledore, Kyle did not see the shifting expressions on his face.
After thinking for a moment, Dumbledore decided to speak.
"Do you know your surname?" Dumbledore stopped and turned to gaze at Kyle.
"Grindelwald?"
According to the Head of House at the orphanage where he had once lived, his current name had been written on a note tucked into his swaddling clothes.
Kyle had no idea what could be wrong with that surname.
He could hardly be blamed. In his previous life, he had not been particularly interested in the Harry Potter novels. He had only watched Philosopher's Stone, much less the two films in the Fantastic Beasts series.
So Kyle did not know what the surname Grindelwald meant to the European Magical World.
"Your father is named Gellert Grindelwald." At the mention of that name, Dumbledore immediately sank into his memories.
Kyle's question pulled Dumbledore back from his recollections. "What kind of person was he?"
"Let's talk as we walk." The Scottish Highlands were still bitterly cold in February. The frigid morning wind blowing through the mountains made Dumbledore shiver. A centenarian old man like him could not stand the cold.
"Your father, Gellert Grindelwald, was a very complicated person. He was an idealist, and exceptionally talented."
"I became friends with him in the summer of 1899. We became close friends because we shared the same great goal."
Kyle: ???
The summer of 1899?
Kyle dug at his ear, wanting to make sure there was nothing wrong with his hearing.
"But later, for certain reasons, we fell out." As he said this, a trace of pain appeared on Dumbledore's face. "After that, Gellert crossed to the other side of the law and began a dark revolution."
"He carried out reforms outside the law and committed countless crimes alongside his followers. His influence spread across the United States and Europe..."
"That was why he was considered one of the most powerful Dark wizards in history."
Kyle opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he had no idea where to begin.
His father was an old man more than a hundred years old?
Well, actually, that age gap... was not such a big problem.
The biggest problem was that his father was actually a...
Calling his father, who had once stirred up storms across Europe, a terrorist would have been an insult.
For a moment, Kyle could not find the right word to describe him.
The world's most vicious criminal?
Stop! His dad was not Monkey D. Dragon, and he did not want to become the One Piece.
Wizard World Shura?
Stop! His dad was not Uchiha Madara, and Dumbledore was not Hashirama Senju.
Kyle reined in his increasingly unrestrained thoughts. "So that's why the Aurors wanted to arrest me?"
Dumbledore nodded.
"When every young wizard reaches the age of eleven, his name automatically appears on the admissions list of the local magical school. The American Magical Congress discovered you because of that."
"Fortunately, the wife of Mr. Scamander from earlier used to work for the American Magical Congress. That was how Newt and I found you before the Aurors arrived."
Dumbledore's words answered some of Kyle's questions.
"Then where is my father? Why has he never come looking for me?"
As he said this, a trace of resentment unknowingly entered Kyle's voice, even though he did not have the slightest feeling for the father he had never met.
But anyone abandoned in an orphanage without a word for six years, forced onto the streets at the tender age of six, could not possibly feel no resentment.
Even though he was doing well by himself now, Kyle could not help harboring some resentment toward Gellert Grindelwald.
Without realizing it, the two had already crossed the castle courtyard and arrived before the castle gates.
Dumbledore stood at the castle entrance, looking somewhat sorrowful.
"This is not your father's fault. It is not that he did not want to. He could not."
Dumbledore's somewhat thin, withered hand rested on Kyle's short golden hair. "In 1945, I defeated him. From then on, he imprisoned himself in Nurmengard and never took another step out of the castle."
Kyle froze at that. So his never-before-seen father was still in prison? And the white-bearded old man in front of him had personally sent him there?
"Then what about my mother?"
When Kyle mentioned the word "mother," he noticed a hint of awkwardness appear on the old man's face.
Kyle instantly guessed there might be some unspeakable secret involved, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Then my identity... would taking me in cause you any trouble?"
Starting out as the Son of the Dark Lord would be rather troublesome if enemies came looking for him. Kyle had asked deliberately. What he really wanted was to find himself a protector.
Because Dumbledore could not possibly leave him alone. And aside from the Dumbledore standing before him, where could he find a better protector?
However, Dumbledore's answer somewhat surprised Kyle.
"If you are willing, the name registered on the Hogwarts student roster in the future will be Kyle Dumbledore."
"When you possess the strength to stand on your own in the future, it will not be too late to reclaim the Grindelwald surname."
Alright, changing his surname solved the problem. And with that name, he could practically swagger through Hogwarts in the future.
"I'm honored, Professor." Kyle grinned.
It seemed Dumbledore and his father truly had been very close. Otherwise, Dumbledore could not possibly have made such a suggestion.
Dumbledore smiled and patted Kyle on the shoulder. "Come on, let's eat in the Great Hall."
The main hall of Hogwarts' Great Hall.
By the time Kyle and Dumbledore appeared at the entrance, the Hogwarts students were already seated around four long tables. Thousands of candles floated overhead, illuminating the dining hall.
The four tables were set with gleaming tableware filled with all kinds of delicious food. For breakfast, this spread was almost absurdly lavish.
Porridge, bread rolls, orange juice, pickled fish, eggs and bacon, toast, buttered jam bread, cornflakes...
Having spent several years in an orphanage, Kyle had assumed that foreigners usually ate bread with jam and drank a glass of milk for breakfast. That was it.
Now it seemed the orphanage had simply been too poor to afford more.
Another long table stood on the raised platform at the head of the dining hall. That was the teachers' table.
Kyle had barged into the Great Hall in Muggle clothes, looking utterly out of place beside the Hogwarts students dressed uniformly in wizarding robes.
Just as he felt at a loss, Dumbledore's gentle voice sounded beside him.
"You may eat with me, or find any long table and sit down."
Facing the unfamiliar faces at the tables and the curious looks they were all sending his way, Kyle felt it would be better to stay with Dumbledore.
"Professor, I'll stay with you." Kyle hurried after Dumbledore.
Before you continue