Hogwarts: Chill, I'm Not That Riddle-Chapter 511: Breaking Up the Fight...

— — — — — —

Tom had always considered himself a model student.

He’d been at school for over three years and had never once beaten up the headmaster.

If that didn’t qualify as well-behaved, what did?

But today, he’d finally found the opportunity.

And while he was at it, he might as well clean up Grindelwald too.

Up until now, he’d been watching with a spectator’s mindset. But something shifted. A spark of battle intent flared in his chest, and that change flowed straight into his spells.

Their power surged again.

Every streak of light he cast carried circuit-enhanced magic, crushing willpower, and the glow of ancient runes. The pressure on Dumbledore and Grindelwald spiked instantly.

The two men snapped back to their senses.

Now was not the time for infighting.

The real problem was how to deal with this suddenly explosive brat.

The Elder Wand vibrated with a deep hum as torrents of magic rushed through it. Dumbledore swung it in tight arcs, stacking more than ten layers of reinforced Shield Charms until they were nearly solid.

Grindelwald unleashed waves of blue magical flame beyond the shields, burning away and weakening the incoming attacks before they could strike.

The two men locked eyes.

And somehow, both of them smiled.

"Albus. I believe this is the first time you and I have fought side by side."

"Gellert. I never dreamed I’d see the day."

Aberforth, lying on the ground with blood at the corner of his mouth, wheezing like a broken bellows: "..."

What the hell was wrong with them? They were trying to kill each other two minutes ago, and now they were bonding?

So I’m the idiot for showing up?

If he’d had any strength left, Aberforth would have jumped up and hurled a full set of Unforgivables at both of them. Unfortunately, lifting a hand already felt like hauling a mountain, let alone raising his wand.

All he could do was glare as hard as possible, hoping to remind Dumbledore that he had a brother lying here, half-dead.

It didn’t work.

Instead, through the blinding flashes of magic, he noticed two figures standing in the sky.

One was Tom.

The other... who was that? The kid brought a girl to a battlefield?

The smiles vanished from Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s faces.

But they didn’t reappear on Aberforth’s either.

Because their expressions were turning grim. Veins stood out at their temples. Their wand hands trembled.

Inside, Dumbledore’s thoughts churned like a storm-tossed sea.

This was Tom’s first time fighting his headmaster.

And for Dumbledore, it was the first time trading blows with one of his own students.

Post-graduation incidents didn’t count.

Yet even this brief clash had made one thing painfully clear.

Tom was on their level.

No wonder Tom’s recent methods had grown increasingly blunt. He used to operate within the rules. but now, if he didn’t like someone, he just acted.

If Dumbledore had possessed this kind of power in his youth, he would have been even more arrogant.

For a fleeting moment, pride and complexity tangled in his heart.

Pride that Hogwarts had produced yet another unparalleled powerhouse. "Genius" no longer covered it.

As for the complexity... well. When that same student looked fully capable of blasting the headmaster off the throne and taking his place, how could things not be complicated?

"Tom! It’s ok now, we’ve calmed down!" Dumbledore shouted toward the sky.

The boy above either heard him... or didn’t.

Even though the storm of spells had abruptly ceased, Tom raised his hand—holding something between a staff and a wand, impossible to tell—and slammed it down.

Dumbledore barely registered the motion, but Grindelwald’s face drained of color. Magic poured from him like a ruptured dam as he roared. "Albus! Full power!"

Without hesitation, Dumbledore trusted his judgment and unleashed everything he had.

A heartbeat later, he understood why.

A colossal pillar of starlight descended from the sky, as though a distant constellation had chosen to fall. It tore across the dark sky with unstoppable force and smashed down.

Boom—

Night turned to day beneath its brilliance.

At the edge of the forest, Professor McGonagall and the others stared, speechless.

"Is this... power a wizard can truly wield?" murmured Headmaster Fontaine of Ilvermorny, his voice drifting like a dream. The blazing light reflected in his clouded eyes, flickering unpredictably.

"We... should we go over there?" Kamiya, the Headmaster of Mahoutokoro, asked, awe saturating every syllable.

"..."

McGonagall watched the figure in the sky slowly descend.

After a long pause, she shook her head.

This was no longer something she could interfere with. What would going over accomplish?

Besides, judging by the numbers, Tom plus Dumbledore was greater than Grindelwald.

Yes. Advantage: ours.

Coincidentally, Vinda Rosier was thinking the exact same thing.

...

..

Deep within the Forbidden Forest, the once-dense trees and undergrowth had been completely erased. In their place lay a massive crater.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald lay at the bottom, gulping down cold air, the faint relief of survival flickering in their eyes.

Just a little more power...

If that spell had been even slightly stronger, there wouldn’t be bodies left to bury.

Grindelwald knew all too well the power of that astral magic. In the study space, Andros and Tom had already torn him apart with it twice. And this time, the boy had even used Hakuna Matata.

"Huh, I’m alive." Oddly enough, Aberforth, who had spent most of the fight lying flat on his back, was in better shape than either of them. He had already patched himself up with simple healing magic, though exhaustion still pinned him down.

Then two figures drifted closer from the sky, a boy and a girl.

Aberforth opened his mouth, ready to curse Tom out for nearly killing him along with everyone else.

Then he saw the girl beside Tom. His mouth fell open.

"A..."

"Aberforth," Ariana said first, smiling gently.

Her tone toward him was completely different from how she had spoken to the other two. Tears shimmered in her eyes as memories surfaced.

Aberforth had given up so much for her. At school, he barely had friends of his own. He spent nearly all his time caring for what he once called his burden.

"I’m so glad I get to see you," she said, her voice trembling.

"Ariana... Ariana... it’s really you. It’s really you..."

His voice caught in his throat. Then he collapsed forward onto the ground and sobbed, loud and raw, like a dam breaking after a century of pressure and guilt.

The emotion was contagious.

Ariana started crying too. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Dumbledore, who had only just steadied himself, felt his eyes burn again as tears poured down freely.

Grindelwald struggled to his feet and walked over to stand beside Tom. The two of them remained silent, not intruding on what clearly belonged to the Dumbledore family.

Finally, after about five minutes, Dumbledore and Ariana managed to calm down.

Aberforth, however, was still on the ground.

"Aberforth," Tom said helplessly, "you’re not planning to cry all night in front of your sister, are you?"

The old man finally stopped. After another moment of collecting himself, he slowly stood up, his weathered face streaked with tears.

"We should talk somewhere else."

Tom flicked his hand. Flames spiraled up around them, forming a fiery vortex. When it dissipated, the crater stood empty.

.

.

.