The chilly morning breeze of the Scottish highlands blew off Loch Lomond, carrying its moisture into the small town of Luss.
The gentle breeze allowed Professor McGonagall, who had stormed out of the orphanage in rage, to calm down gradually.
Now that she was calm, she thought back to the conversation in that room, and she quickly noticed many strange things about it. The most obvious was Alina's understanding of the Magic World. In no way did this seem like a child who had grown up in the Muggle World.
As for Alina's talk about the division between the rich and poor in these two worlds, fine, Professor McGonagall had to admit that she didn't understand it very much, nor was she interested in researching the consequences of Muggle math and finances.
But the maturity far above her years and her haughty arrogance had truly Professor McGonagall by surprise.
McGonagall decided to immediately leave Luss and head back to Hogwarts to seek Dumbledore's opinion.
That curse that had no reason to come out of the mouth of a child of Alina's age was called: the Cruciatus Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses, a curse of dark magic.
...
"In other words, Miss Kaslana has a greater understanding of the Magic World than we imagined. To be more precise, she has an even deeper understanding of the Magic World than most of its inhabitants. This is truly rather surprising."
Back at Hogwarts, in the Headmaster's Office, Dumbledore crossed his slender fingers and placed them on the table. After listening to Professor McGonagall's experiences, he emotionally sighed.
Professor McGonagall empathetically nodded. While she had felt that Alina had stated her bold assertions with a little too much certainty, her points were not entirely unreasonable.
"Professor Dumbledore, I'm sorry. I should have stayed and talked with her a little more, but for some reason, I found it hard to control my emotions in front of her. More importantly, she ate the owls!"
McGonagall got a little angry upon mentioning, flailing her right arm in the air. "Dumbledore, can you imagine it? That there would be a new student who would catch and eat the owls delivering letters!"
"Minerva, calm down. This might not be your fault."
Dumbledore energetically blinked as he held up his half-moon spectacles. Smiling, he said, "I already warned you that she had Veela blood. Although she's still young, with her talent, she can still subtly influence your emotions."
Dumbledore paused for a moment, his smile slowly fading, and his face turning grim.
"This child is frighteningly determined. She decided long ago that she didn't want to come to Hogwarts. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't understand her potential."
Professor McGonagall frowned and asked in confusion, "But what's her goal in doing all this?"
This was the thing that she found hardest to understand. If Alina learned magic, based on the talent she had already shown, she could have easily achieved her dreams.
"Because of the International Statute of Secrecy, the Muggle Protection Act, and Wizengamot. As long as she doesn't step into the Magic World, she can live out the rest of her life as a Muggle, becoming someone who can use magic with none of the restrictions."
"But she's only a child..."
Professor McGonagall almost instinctively replied.
"To be more exact, she's a child that can casually talk about the Memory Charm and the Torture Curse."
Dumbledore shook his head, his expression grave. "I do not doubt that not even most fifth-year students could do such a thing.
"As a child with Veela blood, she's naturally closer to the Magic World than the majority of witches and wizards. It's clear that someone from our world got in touch with her before we did. As for that unease you speak of, I think that you might need to take a look at this..."
Dumbledore stood up and took out a shallow stone basin from the black cupboard behind him. Runes had been carved on the edges of the basin, and the basin itself contained a strange silver substance.
It was difficult to say if it was a liquid or a gas. It had a silver luster and constantly shifted around. The surface rippled like the wind was blowing across the water, but it was also like a cloud, dispersing, and turning. It was both like liquid light and as a wind given form.
"The Pensieve? You're not saying that you've seen that child in your memories, are you?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
As Dumbledore's close friend, she naturally knew that this was an incredible magical object that Dumbledore used to store his thoughts and memories.
"No, this is a memory from Mister Newt Scamander. Many years ago, another man said something similar, but his standpoint was slightly different."
Dumbledore extended his hand to Professor McGonagall and pulled her into the memory.
...
Dumbledore's office suddenly turned upside down, and Professor McGonagall felt her body rush forward, her head dipping into the basin. But her head did not hit bottom. She descended into an icy and pitch-black substance like she was being sucked into a black whirlpool.
Looking to her left and right, McGonagall realized that she was standing on a circular spectators stand. Above was a sealed stone dome, and her surroundings were packed with witches and wizards wearing clothes in style from fifty to sixty years ago.
Down below, on a central platform, a black-clothed and white-haired man slowly looked up and her and Dumbledore. To be more exact, he was looking at the witches and wizards around them. This was a man whose handsome face and white pompadour almost any witch or wizard could recognize: Grindelwald, one of the most dangerous Dark Wizards in history.
Professor McGonagall felt like her heart was being squeezed. Those haughty eyes that were so familiar made her look in shock at Dumbledore, her lips blurting out a question.
"Grindelwald?! You're not saying..."
Dumbledore shook his head and raised a finger over his lips, indicating that Professor McGonagall should be quiet.
Grindelwald's slow and clear voice came from down below.
"My brothers. My sisters. My friends."
The man's voice was rather deep, and it seemed to be infused with a magical power that made one want to keep listening, which made one want to trust this man.
"Many people think that I hate the Muggles, the No-Majes, the Squibs, and all others who can't use magic. But I have never hated those people. We must admit that witches and wizards are not in the majority.
"...Magic blooms in only rare souls. So we must hide in the shadows."
Grindelwald raised an eyebrow, a look of disdain in his eyes. He lightly paced forward and continued. "But the laws of the past are no longer applicable."
Turmoil appeared among the witches and wizards as Grindelwald spoke. Those who had gathered her tonight whispered into each other's ears, quite a few of them already guessing at what Grindelwald was speaking about tonight.
"I dream that we who live for truth and love should fight for our proper place in the world."
Ignoring the turmoil in the crowd, Grindelwald looked around and spoke with even greater volume.
"When the time comes, we witches and wizards will be free once more.
"We have little time left. Here, I have an extremely important prophecy regarding our future that you need to see..."
Grindelwald raised a mysterious skull with strange words in red daubed upon it.
Smoke spewed out of Grindelwald's mouth and into the air, gradually focusing into scenes of ruin and chaos.
Before Professor McGonagall could make out those scenes clearly, she heard Dumbledore's voice.
"Okay, I think that's enough. We should go back."
Dumbledore whispered to Professor McGonagall and then pulled her by the elbow.
Professor McGonagall felt herself slowly rise into the air while the spectators stand, and the central platform dissipated into darkness. Then she felt like she was somersaulting in slow motion, and then her feet were on the floor, and the two were back in the warmth of the Hogwarts Headmaster's Office.
"This is?"
"This is one of Grindelwald's most famous public speeches, made right before he started the global wizarding war."
Before Professor McGonagall could even finish, Dumbledore nodded and answered her question.
He continued to speak as he stirred the Pensieve with his wand, causing Grindelwald's face to reemerge in the chaotic silver substance.
"Muggles are not lower beings, nor are they insignificant. Grindelwald might have seen the Wizarding World in decline, but his pride as a wizard made him miss many things. Thus, he attempted to use violence to create change, starting a series of errors that led to his ultimate defeat."
"You're too humble." Professor McGonagall shook her head. "The entire Magic World knows that you were the one who dueled and defeated Grindelwald, putting an end to his ambitions."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. He neither denied nor accepted this fact. With a shake of his head, he changed the subject.
"But that was a matter from forty-six years ago. What I mean, Minerva is that we're old."
While Professor McGonagall had always been focused on her books and teaching, Dumbledore, who had protected Hogwarts and the British Magic World like a guardian god, had long ago seen that massive and nigh uncrossable chasm between the Magic World and the Muggle World. To be more precise, as a close friend of Grindelwald in his youth, Dumbledore even now had an extremely complicated stance toward Grindelwald.
Several of those alarmist prophecies Grindelwald had made decades ago were now in the middle of being realized. The Muggles had already completely surpassed wizards in several domains. Dumbledore recalled the Muggle weapons known as 'atomic bombs' that he had happened to experience several years ago.
It wasn't as the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office in the Ministry of Magic believed that only wizards could bully Muggles. The non-magic world had already obtained the forbidden power to destroy entire regions.
Without even knowing it, the Magic World had begun to be abandoned by the mainstream of human society. The most obvious symbol of this was that more and more witches and wizards were finding themselves unable to use non-magic objects...it was like a reenactment of when Muggles couldn't use magic objects.
This was why he had ignored the objections of the Board of Governors and the pure-blood families over the last few years and added more and more students from Muggle families. In his view, a day would come when the wall between the two worlds would vanish. They would have to coexist, or one side would have to destroy the other.
"Alina Kaslana...I sense Grindelwald's shadow on her. But she is also more capable of remolding the world, a hope that might be able to create a new world. Perhaps she is the one that can change the entire world, both magic and non-magic. The only problem is that she isn't standing on the side of the Magic World right now."
Dumbledore's expression was abnormally solemn, and he turned to Professor McGonagall, and solemnly spoke.
"Imagine what would happen if a Grindelwald appeared in the Non-Magic World. This wouldn't just be a disaster for Britain, but the entire world. Crucially, she's younger, smarter, and more dangerous than all of us."
"So, Professor Dumbledore, what is it you want?" McGonagall creased her brows in confusion.
"Bring her to Hogwarts!" After a moment's thought, Dumbledore added, "Of course, try to use gentler methods. It would be best if she entered school willingly."