All Men Must Die

Sitting by the lake,

Grindelwald stared at the title page of the fairy tale collection, his feelings a complex mix.

He never imagined he would see it again a century later;

He never imagined he would see it in his lifetime.

Two unexpected things—these perfectly encapsulate the complexity of his feelings.

It's important to know that this was the last gift he gave to Dumbledore as a close friend.

After that summer, they broke off all ties.

Of course, the gift that Dumbledore earlier.

Through that wretched Niffler.

You come up to me personally and say frankly: Gellert, give me back my Blood Pact...

What about it?

Would I refuse to give it to you?

Why would you need Scamander's to bring Niffler to steal things?!

Grindelwald hates the Niffler the most!

William, who was sitting to one side and teasing the little demon of the North Sea, slightly raised his eyes and glanced at the old man.

Grindelwald's face was extremely grim, showing just how furious this washed-up Dark Lord was.

You can get so emotional and angry just reading a fairy tale book?

Merlin, really the Dark Lord... or is he just a lovable little Prince with a temper?

William put away his fishing rod and tactically interrupted, "You said last year you were going to find Death, so did you find the way?"

Grindelwald snapped out of his daze, suppressed his anger, and said slowly, "Found it. I've been waiting for one last opportunity."

"Could it be that you're waiting for me?" William looked at him warily.

He had no desire to go to meet his Death with Grindelwald.

William is still young, hasn't married Hermione yet, has a lovely younger sister, a fat cat... and hasn't seen much of the world.

"I'm not waiting for you," the old man smiled and said, "I'm waiting for the day when the polar night and polar day alternate."

William calculated the time. "Then there aren't many days left."

"Yes, so you've come at a good time. A few days later..." Grindelwald smiled and said, "I would have left. Even if you had found this place, I wouldn't have been able to help you trick Voldemort."

William secretly breathed a sigh of relief, pondered for a moment, and then asked doubtfully:

"But I heard Professor Dumbledore say that to see Death, three people must go together."

These three people are either related by blood or as close as brothers.

They must undergo a series of trials before they can face Death.

William had assumed that Grindelwald's plan was to find these two people.

But according to Gregorovitch's account of his experiences over the past year, the Dark Lord seemed to have done nothing but lure the North Sea Kraken here.

Then it went into someone's stomach and started munching away.

"Kid, you're still too green." Grindelwald sneered.

"Dumbledore was a natural-born liar; he always liked to leave part of what he said unsaid and then take the other part to the grave."

Why would he tell you everything?

Even if you have a very good relationship with him!

William rolled his eyes... Wow, that's some serious jealousy! Is he really the king of jealousy in Europe?

Grindelwald didn't keep them in suspense, speaking in a casual tone:

"The Tale of the Three Brothers is indeed one way to do things."

But Death has done so much—delivering the Deathly Hallows, leaving behind legends...he clearly wants the wizards to come to him more.

Therefore, what remains is more than just one method.

William pricked up his ears; Grindelwald's little lesson had begun, and he started taking notes.

But Grindelwald did not answer directly. Instead, he held up the book of fairy tales in his hand and turned to the story of the Snow Queen.

He said expressionlessly:

In the story, the boy finds the girl and rescues her, getting her out of the palace.

It seems to be a happy ending.

But stories and reality are different... and reality doesn't end there.

"So, this story really did happen?" William asked.

"Of course," Grindelwald said with a slightly cold smile.

After leaving the Snow Queen's palace, the boy and girl married, and several years later, they had a daughter.

But that child was bitten by a vampire when he was very young.

William narrowed his eyes, as if he had thought of something.

Grindelwald paused for a moment and then said:

"From that moment on, the child rejected magic, suppressed himself, and became a... Obscurial."

The old man's voice trembled slightly when he mentioned the word.

He said somewhat unhappily:

"The Obscurial have no special methods and generally do not live past the age of ten."

But the man loved his child so much that he tried every possible way to save his daughter.

However, all his attempts failed, and in despair, he had no choice but to seek help from Death.

After all, Death had told him how to save his wife back then.

William thought for a moment, then continued:

"But this time when he came to the Snow Queen's palace, Death did not appear again?"

"That's right, he didn't have two brothers either, so he had to find other ways," Grindelwald sighed.

"At that time, the octopus had already been released by Death to kill the owner of the Deathly Hallows."

He found the chosen wizard and led him to the Snow Queen's palace.

The octopus was also lured in, but upon touching the lake water, it was trapped there forever, like the Snow Queen.

William couldn't help but admire the wizard's wisdom.

The North Sea Kraken is a full 100 meters long and has incredible destructive power.

Even the most powerful wizard cannot restrict its freedom.

Aside from Merlin's Stonehenge, perhaps only the Snow Queen's palace could contain such a being.

Grindelwald said softly:

"The siren was trapped for a whole year before she chose to surrender."

The two parties signed a magical contract: the man released the siren, but the siren had to take him upstream to meet Death.

After the siren agreed, the man hid inside her belly and went to find Death.

William silently digested Grindelwald's secrets.

Grindelwald clearly used the same method, using Gregorovitch as bait, to trap the North Sea Kraken here once again.

As for why the North Sea Kraken doesn't learn its lesson and falls for it again... all I can say is:

It was enslaved by Death to kill the owner of the Hallows, and even knowing there was a trap ahead, it dared not disobey its orders.

This is a passive, instinctive "instinct".

After a long pause, William suddenly asked:

"Are the boy and girl in the story named Corvinus Gaunt and Babbling?"

Is their daughter Bathsheda Babbling?

Grindelwald stared at William and said calmly, "You guessed it?"

"Yes," William sighed, "Plenty of evidence points to that."

Next to the story of "The Snow Queen," Professor Dumbledore left the comment "Parseltongue."

This indicates that the boy in the story speaks with a Parseltongue.

As descendants of Slytherin, the Gaunt family Parseltongue as a unique talent.

When William first met Professor Babbling, he noticed a conspicuous lapis lazuli amulet around her neck.

The design on the top features a snake coiled around the scepter. On the back, a magnificent, serpentine "S" gleams.

By the way, this app is really good and worth installing, since it allows you to cache books and read them offline!

Professor Babbling is a descendant of Slytherin.

The book "The Glory of History) " contains a record of Corvinus Gaunt.

He married a Veela named Babbling, and they had a daughter who died young.

All signs indicate that Professor Babbling, this Half-Veela and vampire, is the daughter of Corvinus Gaunt.

For some reason, Babbling took her mother's surname instead of Gaunt's, and there are naturally other stories behind this.

"The fact that Babbling is still alive, even over two hundred years old, proves that Gaunt has successfully met Death," Grindelwald laughed.

"The method that Gaunt found is definitely feasible."

"And what about Corvinus Gaunt?" William squinted.

Grindelwald paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Nobody knows where he went. Nobody knows if he's still alive."

William frowned slightly.

Is this why Professor Babbling is so interested in that Slytherin's Wand?

"Then why did you go to see Death?"

William didn't believe that Grindelwald had suddenly had a whim to Death.

Grindelwald fell silent, recalling the despairing future he had envisioned that evening in Nurmengard.

It was this "Prophecy" that led him to break his promise to Dumbledore:

Step out of Nurmengard and pick up your wand.

After a long silence, the old man said:

"William, I can't tell you too much detail, but I've seen 14,000,605 futures."

Either way, the outcome is hopeless.

"What is the upcoming Second Wizarding War? What is Voldemort?"

Grindelwald stood up, looked around, and his expression was cold:

"Before that existence, all is vanity."

I must traverse the world, search for Death, and wage a war with an unknown future.

Just to win that one.

William looked at the old man he had only known for a year and had only met a few times, and suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

You may die.

Grindelwald narrowed his already long, narrow eyes, looked at the young man, and laughed loudly:

All men must die.

(Please vote with your recommendation tickets and monthly passes, everyone!)