Gurgle, gurgle—

Armenia, the small town of Tsaghkadzor, in the living room of the Aghasyan family.

The kettle spout on the kitchen stove emitted a piercing whistle, temporarily breaking the silence in the living room.

Old Aghasyan turned his head to look at the steaming kettle, then turned his head to look at the two old wizards sitting at his living room dining table, and finally chose to shift his gaze to the Muggle woman sitting by the armchair, patiently flipping through "Wanderings with Werewolves."

He swallowed, his voice mixed with an unspeakable dryness.

"So, you really weren't joking just now?"

"Ms. Arkhipovna was not joking, Mr. Aghasyan."

Dumbledore said gently, he proactively interlocked his fingers on the table, his expression gradually returning to seriousness.

"If you are interested in those stories, we can even take the time to chat for several hours after this matter is over. But explaining these in detail right now is probably not... well, not appropriate..." Dumbledore shook his head and said softly, "Um, regarding the sudden events you and Mr. Lockhart encountered, we pretty much have no questions now, but I still have a few perhaps unrelated confusions..."

The old wizard glanced at the pocket watch placed on the table as he spoke, his speech slightly quickening.

"I remember you said before that this is your place of seclusion—"

"Correct."

"And if I remember correctly, the location where you and Mr. Lockhart were interviewed before was in a cafe on the Armenian magical commercial street?"

"Of course, I wouldn't want to invite those greedy hyenas searching for news to my home."

"Well, I think so too—but this is very strange. How did those werewolves know your specific address?"

"They said it was from a reporter... wait!"

Aghasyan answered subconsciously, but his face suddenly changed halfway through his sentence.

"I never told those reporters where I lived!"

"Obviously, someone told them..."

At this moment, another old voice interjected into the conversation.

Grindelwald picked his ear and said nonchalantly what Dumbledore hadn't had time to say.

However, this time he wasn't deliberately trying to interrupt Dumbledore; he was just planning to speed things up a bit.

The old Dark Lord, disguised as "Paracelsus," paused for half a second and took over the topic naturally.

"You have plenty of time to think about who betrayed your specific address... It's not important; you can't expect a secret known by more than three people to not sneak out on its own. Frankly, I never thought leaking secrets was anything to fuss about."

"Secrets always spread like wildfire, but—"

A thought-provoking, strange light appeared in Grindelwald's eyes as he stretched his tone and said softly.

"Compared to inadvertently leaking some information, weaving a sufficiently real lie is much more difficult."

"A sufficiently real lie? Mr. Paracelsus, do you mean—"

"That's right. The authenticity of the Human Restoring Spell."

Grindelwald shrugged and glanced playfully at Dumbledore, who was sitting beside him lost in thought.

"Or, more accurately, it should be summarized as 'the hope for werewolves to transform back into humans.'"

"If we trace the origins of werewolves in the magical world, it can even go back to the Sumerian era of Mesopotamian civilization, which is more than four thousand years ago. And since then, almost every period of time, someone has claimed to have found a way to turn werewolves back into humans."

"And now, thousands of years have passed, and no one has ever truly solved this problem. The Wolfsbane Potion is merely a tranquilizer."

"Werewolves cannot transform back into humans!"

"This is pretty much a recognized truth in the magical world, right?"

Grindelwald's shriveled, bony fingers tapped on the newspaper spread out on the table, then pointed to the book in Arkhipovna's hand.

"But, under such desperate and rational circumstances, those werewolves actually became possessed and believed in the plot of a novel written by a writer under thirty years old to earn royalties, and risked gathering in the Armenian forest, hoping to be redeemed..."

"Why? Even if they aren't much smarter than beasts when they transform into werewolves, they are normal most of the time, right?"

"The answer is very simple. Besides newspapers and novels, someone—I think it's probably more than one or two people—told them that the story of werewolves transforming back into humans is real. I have to admit, for those guys wandering in the abyss of despair, weaving an illusory lie isn't particularly difficult. The more powerful the wizard, when they show a little kindness and justice..."

A cold, playful look appeared on Grindelwald's lips as he looked at the sky outside the window with interest.

"People often say that werewolves are beasts dominated by hatred and bloodlust."

"They carry an eternal curse, they are brutal and dangerous, and their hatred for themselves and the world drives them to constantly attack humans."

"In fact, whether it's werewolves, wizards, or Muggles, no one moves forward because of hatred, and I don't think hatred can be the motivation for most intelligent beings to survive. What can truly make people explode with amazing power is freedom, truth, or love."

Decades ago, these were his areas of expertise—using people's desire for beauty to achieve his goals.

Unlike Albus Dumbledore, who was entangled in who the real "informant" was.

Almost as soon as Aghasyan finished his story, Grindelwald realized what the fog was.

"Obviously, this is a very long, carefully prepared lie. In the time we didn't notice, someone wove a clever and cruel dream for the werewolves—those who still believe in the light. And the picture of the dream is Lockhart's story."

"If I'm not mistaken, they originally planned to do it in England, but the plan seems to have been brought forward due to Lockhart's reveal."

"I don't understand—"

Just then, Aghasyan frowned and looked confusedly at the old wizard who made people feel vaguely uncomfortable.

"Okay, let's just say someone deliberately spread rumors among the werewolves, making them briefly believe that there really is some kind of 'Human Restoring Spell'. Won't it all be over when they find me? A fake is a fake. If a journey is supported by lies, then the truth is the end."

"Don't you understand? What is the biggest problem with werewolves? You should know, right?"

A cold light flashed in Grindelwald's eyes, and he said coldly.

"Hiding, being alone, unable to distinguish pursuit... Just like those mosquitoes flying around in the banquet hall."

"If you want to eliminate them, you have to throw out a tempting cake first. And you, and Gilderoy Lockhart, are the bait that can attract werewolves, gathering them from all directions. As for whether this bait is real or fake, it doesn't matter at all..."

The old Dark Lord tapped his fingers on the table and turned to look at Dumbledore, whose face had completely changed.

"This is indeed a trap, Albus."

"However, the target is the werewolves living in mainland Europe."

"As for the best time to close the trap..."

"Tomorrow at sunrise—the moment the full moon night ends, werewolves won't be much stronger than babies after the transformation ends."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, his expression becoming extremely serious.

As the strongest white wizard in the magical world today and a former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, Dumbledore naturally immediately understood what Grindelwald hadn't finished saying—from all aspects, if the speculation is correct, then this will be a perfect werewolf extermination.

More importantly, unlike the concerns of the British magical world...

In the land of Armenia, there is no follow-up plan to build "werewolf concentration camps."

When the sun rises, the only result that likely awaits those werewolves who still hope to transform back into humans is...

"That's right. Now the question is..."

Grindelwald shook his finger happily and leaned back relaxedly in his armchair.

"A few months ago, when the British Ministry of Magic besieged the werewolf community, you chose to stand by. And now, an even larger siege is about to happen. What are you going to do? And... what will that naive, lovely, and unreasonable little witch do?"

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Yay!