What? I had a plan to take over the wizarding world three years ago?
Ivan froze in place, wondering if he had misheard, but when he saw the book in Dumbledore's hand, his face fell.
Wasn't this Gleason's idea of the New Age Declaration?
Yvonne finally remembered when she saw the familiar cover, and she looked so embarrassed that she wanted to go to the Ministry of Magic and beat up Gleason.
He had read the book in Nicolas Flamel's safe house and vaguely recalled that it was filled with unwarranted imaginations and conjectures written by Gleason to flatter him.
But how did this book end up in Dumbledore's possession?
After that meeting, Gleason printed over a hundred copies of the book and distributed them to every law-enforcement officer. However, the copies of the Declaration of the New Century were redacted and removed a lot of unnecessary content so as not to cause trouble for himself.
What Dumbledore received was obviously the original, otherwise he would not have said those words…
"Did my teacher, Nicolas Flamel, give you this book?" Yvonne thought about it for a moment, then realised that he had left the original in his room at the safe house.
Yvonne felt an awkward urge to bang her head against the wall and kill herself at the thought that he might have read it.
"You guessed right. The last time I saw him, Niko asked me to return this to you…" The portrait of Dumbledore nodded and handed over the book.
There was a faint ripple on the surface of the portrait, and a moment later, a red book fell through the frame and onto the ground.
This is, of course, not because the portrait was real, but because Dumbledore used some sort of magic to hide the book in its frame…
Ivan reached out and picked up the New Age Declaration, resisting the urge to throw it into the furnace. He turned to look at the remaining threads of memory on the table.
"And what are these?" Yvonne asked, changing the subject in an attempt to forget a dark, unmentionable past.
"I'm sure you could have thought of that, couldn't you?" said Dumbledore, sipping his tea.
"Your magical insights?" Ivan asked, raising his eyebrows in speculation. If Dumbledore had given Grindelwald the Deathly Hallows, then naturally he would have left something behind for himself as well.
"Not just mine, but Gellert's as well, though you probably won't need them now…" Dumbledore said with a shrug.
Two years ago, when he was making his plans, Ivan's powers needed to be improved, so he left behind these memories to help him defeat Lord Voldemort and Grindelwald.
Before he could put the plan into action, however, he received word that Ivan had beaten Lord Voldemort into retreat, and that Ivan had the upper hand in the subsequent battle at Grindelwald.
During a recent World Confederation match, Ivan defeated Grindelwald in front of everyone and became the President of the International Confederation of Wizards, which gave Dumbledore the illusion that he was redundant, and he gave up trying to help.
In any case, he was just a painting. Why should he care? Wouldn't it be nice to chat with the previous headmasters and have a cup of tea?
Why worry about all that nonsense…
"Who says I don't need it?" Ivan pursed his lips. He could never have too much magical knowledge, and with Dumbledore's insights, he might be able to improve his Transfiguration!
Even if he did manage to defeat Grindelwald, he would face many problems, and the stronger the better.
After chatting with Dumbledore's portrait for so long, Ivan had figured out that whatever the other party was planning, all he had to do was eat the icing and fire back.
Dumbledore wanted to use him to change the wizarding community, but he was able to do so in turn.
The increase in strength was ultimately his own. When he finished absorbing this magical knowledge, he would be able to hit whoever he wanted and do whatever he wanted… No one could stop him.
With this in mind, Ivan stopped chatting with the portrait, opened the glass bottle, and pulled out the memory threads to watch.
… .
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Ivan stayed in the Headmaster's office and did not go out. Every day, other than going to the kitchen to get some food, he spent the rest of the time immersed in his memories.
After viewing most of the memories, Ivan understood why Dumbledore said they contained Grindelwald's magical insights.
For the better part of a year after their agreement, Dumbledore would visit Newmengard every few days to discuss magic with Grindelwald.
No wonder Dumbledore was able to hold his own against Grindelwald when he was on the brink of death.
Alas… poor Tom…
Ivan silently mourned the death of a Dark Lord.
The worst victim of Dumbledore's schemes was Voldemort, who was beaten to a pulp by Grindelwald, who had access to all of Dumbledore's magical knowledge.
Together with the assistance of Snape and Harry Potter, the Dark Lord, feared by all in Britain, was reduced to a mere instrument in Dumbledore's place, to deliver the Deathly Hallows to Grindelwald.
[Ding, after a period of practice, your Transfiguration skill has improved greatly. Current Level 8 (11,865/25,400)]
After reading the last memory, the system notification sounded in his ear.
Ivan exhaled slowly and tapped his wand on the table, causing a document to transform. Moments later, a nimble owl appeared in the Headmaster's office, cooing and looking around curiously.
Ivan gently stroked the owl's back feathers. Although the owl looked no different from any other Transfiguration spell, Ivan knew that his magical skills had improved considerably.
Unless a skilled wizard cast a counter-curse to bring the owl back to life, it would live on until the day it died.
Calculating with his current ability, when his Transfiguration reached Level Nine, he would be able to completely change the essence of an object with the help of a protective mode…