Grindelwald's questioning words caused Alison to panic, and she stumbled back in pain, shaking her head wildly, looking deranged. "It wasn't me… it wasn't me… it was an accident…"
"Accident? You believe the memories the Aurors wove for you?" Grindelwald's lips curled into a smile, but his words were crueler than ever, as if the death penalty had been read aloud. "You knew the truth all along, didn't you? You killed her yourself!"
"No, that's not right, it's not like that…" Alison's body froze and she screamed in a daze.
Grindelwald went on relentlessly. "When you were eight years old, you began to show signs of wizarding talent, and performed all kinds of magical feats, but your parents were deeply religious and believed that all miracles must go to the Lord, or the Devil's power…"
Alison's face contorted as the painful memories that had been suppressed in her brain resurfaced.
Due to her unusual behaviour after her awakening, her parents, who were devout believers, soon brought her to the church to find out if her weirdness was a blessing from the Lord or if she was possessed by an evil spirit.
The priest in the chapel did not hesitate to choose the latter in order to earn money, telling her parents that they had to be baptised weekly to be completely eradicated.
Unfortunately, such deception could not suppress her magical talent, and the uncontrolled power continued to disrupt her life irregularly.
However, her father apparently believed in the claim of possession, regarding her as a complete freak.
Her mother was very protective of her, as usual, but Alison could never forget the look of fear in her mother's eyes.
To make matters worse, the weekly baptisms quickly drained the family's meager savings, causing his already irritable father to grow increasingly violent under the pressure of debt, and to suffer from alcoholism and gambling.
In the end, she blamed all of her life's misfortunes on her. When she was in a bad mood, she would either hit or scold her mother. Even though her mother wanted to stop her, there was nothing she could do.
These days lasted until Alison was ten years old, when she witnessed her protective mother being kicked to the ground by her father during a spartan, ordinary domestic violence. Stimulated by the sudden outburst of her magic, all of her pent-up anger was unleashed, resulting in a spectacular explosion.
Her mother died in the blast, and her father was badly injured.
A pair of Aurors rushed to the scene and described the incident as a magical accident, rewriting the memories of everyone in the neighbourhood, including her father, who believed it to be a tragedy caused by a leak in a gas line.
Alison, who was young at the time, was no exception and forgot all about the incident.
However, as she grew older and began to study magic at Durmstrang, similar scenes began to haunt her nightmares, like nightmares.
Now, with Grindelwald's help, she fully recalled that her mother's death was not caused by a gas leak, but by her own hand, and that she was the cause of her father's drinking and gambling habits.
Alison was close to breaking down when Grindelwald spoke again.
"You haven't done anything wrong, Alison! It's the ignorance of Muggles who started it all. They don't understand the power of magic, and wizards are a wild myth to them, which is why your parents mistakenly attributed your gift to the Devil."
Grindelwald raised his voice. "Just think, if your parents knew enough about wizards to appreciate the wonders of magic, they wouldn't be so stupid!"
"On the contrary, they will be proud to have produced a witch, as you were born with magical powers far superior to those of the average Muggle child!"
"So you've done nothing wrong. What's wrong is the corrupt system of the wizarding world, the high and mighty officials who only know how to scheme and plunder.
They are the ones who drove you to your doom and created this tragedy, and they are the ones who kept wizards locked up in cages, cut off from the rest of the world, so that Muggles would not be able to truly understand the power of magic! All we have to do is turn it around, so that more people will not suffer the same fate as you did," Grindelwald said, enunciating each word.
Alison's dull eyes lit up again. Grindelwald's every word was exactly what she had hoped for from the bottom of her heart. It was not her choice to have magical talent, let alone a fault!
"It's time for you to make your choice, Alison," Grindelwald said coldly. "You may choose to continue the ritual and witness a new step in the wizarding world…or you may pick up your wand and destroy me, returning to the rotten, devastated wizarding world you once inhabited."
"Don't let his words get to you, witch. The wizarding world isn't as bad as he claims. Most Muggles don't mean any harm to wizards, either. You just happened to run into a horrible father who hates magic…" Farrell said anxiously.
"Now that you've been to wizarding school, you should know that many Muggle parents are happy for their children to be wizards! And then there are the Aurors, who erase your memories without malice, presumably trying to protect you…"
"That's enough! Shut up…" Alison interrupted before Farrell could finish, glaring at him angrily. "If those Aurors were really willing to protect me, why didn't they show up when I revealed my talent and was falsely accused of being possessed by a demon? Where were they when I was abused?"
Farrell opened his mouth to explain, then stopped himself. He didn't know much about Northern Europe, but even in the Americas, MACUSA couldn't spare enough manpower to keep track of every minor wizard's survival, let alone get involved in family disputes.
Farrell's silence made up Alison's mind. Resolutely, she swung her wand and cut off her left hand, sending a wave of pain through her body that caused her to cry out in pain. Her fallen arm quickly sank into the cauldron, turning the previously murky liquid a brilliant fiery red.
"Mad… this is madness!" Farrell exclaimed, his skin crawling.
If he wasn't mistaken, this witch, Alison, was a witch who had been bewitched by Grindelwald after he escaped from prison. In just a few days, she had completely submitted and voluntarily cut off her arm in order to complete this Dark ritual.
"You're very brave, Alison! Go on, just one more step," Grindelwald said appreciatively, not at all surprised by her choice.
From the moment he saw the witch's heart, he knew that with a little guidance, she would become his most loyal believer.
Alison clutched her broken arm and gasped in pain, but she managed to get to Farrell and wave her wand.
Farrell instinctively closed his eyes. He was prepared to die, but to his surprise, Alison did not kill him. Instead, she used her wand to cut open his face and draw some of his blood into the cauldron.
"The bones of the father, the flesh of the servant, the blood of the enemy?" Farrell asked, opening his eyes again and guessing the most important steps in the Dark ritual from Alison's actions.
Although this infamous Dark Lord had made many enemies, very few of them had ever been acknowledged as enemies!
Needless to say, Albus Dumbledore was killed by Lord Voldemort some time ago.
Newt Scamander was certainly one of them, but his erratic movements and habit of wandering from country to country to study magical creatures led Grindelwald to venture into North America to capture him.
The thought of being chosen as Grindelwald's enemy gave Farrell mixed feelings…
The delay caused the cauldron's contents to boil over and bubble. Dark blue sparks flew from the cauldron as if it were an erupting volcano.
Farrell kept praying that Grindelwald's resurrection ritual would fail. If he had been closer, he would not have hesitated to spit and stir the pot of water!
Suddenly, the cauldron began to shake violently, as if Farrell's prayers had finally been answered. A deep blue light erupted from the cauldron, and a fiery blaze engulfed everything around it.
Alison was so shocked that her face went pale, and she wondered if she had made a mistake while brewing the potion. Farrell, on the other hand, was faintly excited, but before he could be happy for long, a figure emerged from the flickering flames…
It was Gellert Grindelwald!
After dying once and being revived, he no longer looked as old as before. He looked to be around forty years old, and his muscular body was fully revealed after the flames subsided. The strange heterochromia in his eyes added to his charm.
Grindelwald twisted his neck and felt the energy surging through his body. He then reached out and the Elder Wand fell automatically into his hand. The curtain hanging on the right side was pulled down and quickly transformed into a beautiful black robe…