Within the depths of the Lestrange tomb, the air had grown incredibly heavy, suffocating those few who had not yet disapparated.
Grindelwald stood at the centre of the amphitheatre, the blue flames of his 'Protego Diabolica' casting a protective ring around him. He looked at Garin for a moment after he had finished talking and then chuckled and shook his head.
"Remarkable. Sadly, you got it all wrong," Grindelwald said.
"Truly?"
"I'm a pure-blooded wizard. And no matter what you think of me, my desire to help and protect our kind is genuine. Which pains me all the more to have to deal with you, who could have stood at my side."
Recognising the immense threat, both magical and otherwise, coming from Garin, Grindelwald didn't wait. He slashed his wand upward, weaponising his deep knowledge of dark magic.
The circle of blue flames erupted, transforming from a passive, defensive barrier into an attacking wave that shot directly toward Garin.
Garin, however, was ready and didn't flinch. In his hand rested his newly acquired wand of Elder wood with a Horned Serpent horn core, choosing to keep up appearances for a while longer. Drawing on his large energy pool inside his core, he waved his wand in a fluid motion, going for the most powerful variation of the freezing spell he had created himself just now.
'Glacius Tria'
A large barrier of ice at -100 degrees Celsius materialised out of thin air, attempting and somewhat succeeding at freezing the blue fire on impact and sending clouds of scorching steam into the air. However, the freezing spell turned out to be overwhelmed, and forced Garin to apparate to another location, mere steps to the side.
Before the steam could even clear, a true wizarding duel began.
Crack!
Grindelwald disapparated, vanishing into the vapour.
Pop!
Garin vanished a split second later, just as Grindelwald reappeared and used the blasting curse.
'Confringo'
The Blasting Curse struck the spot where Garin had just stood, causing the cobblestones to explode into a shower of debris.
The two incredibly powerful wizards began what would be, for muggles, a deadly, high-speed apparition dance across the cemetery vault.
With a sharp pop, Grindelwald materialised atop a stone winged gargoyle. Without uttering a single word, he made a sharp slashing movement with his wand. A vicious streak of purple flame, Antonin Dolohov's curse, shot across the steamed room, aiming dead centre for Garin's chest.
Garin popped into existence mid-air, his magical senses already having alerted him to the incoming danger. Recognising the lethal nature of the dark purple fire, he acted quickly.
His Elder wood wand moved fast as he silently threw up a strong protection charm.
Protego Maxima
And then he instantly followed it up with the strengthening charm and a repelling charm, making the protection bubble more powerful, as he felt Grindelwald strengthen his curse with the Protego Diabolica.
Fianto Duri + Repello Inimicum
The deadly purple flames slammed into the reinforced invisible barrier, violently sparking out and fading into nothing.
Dropping smoothly onto the cobblestone floor, Garin had already prepared several spells, which he fired off almost simultaneously. He flicked his wand silently, casting a variation of the severing charm.
Diffindo multiblis
Usually, the severing charm precisely cuts objects. But what Garin created were dozens of invisible, razor-sharp blades of magic that cut through the air. Grindelwald twisted his body away just in the nick of time and used the blue flames as protection to burn the charm away.
The few blades he didn't burn missed him by inches but sheared cleanly through a centuries-old stone pillar behind him, slicing the heavy rock like butter.
Grindelwald apparated to the high ground of the amphitheatre, pointing his wand downward.
Expulso
The Expulso curse produced immense explosions, blasting the target apart with a burst of blue light; it had enough force to hurl people into walls.
Garin countered before the blue light had left Grindelwald's wand.
Deprimo
Instead of aiming at the curse coming from Grindelwald, Garin blasted a massive hole into the ground beneath his own feet. The floor completely shattered, dropping him safely into the catacombs below just as the Expulso curse blasted the surface above.
A moment later, Garin apparated back to the surface, some feet away from the dark wizard. They remained still for a moment and then started to hurl curses and spells at each other in earnest. Up to this point, they had been feeling each other out.
The superiority and power of Grindelwald made him look down on most wizards, who weren't Dumbledore, so it was a surprise to find someone like Garin, who could keep up with him. A pleasant one for sure.
The two descended further into their duel, shooting magic at one another at even higher speeds than before. Grindelwald dug deep into his reservoir of knowledge of dark magic and curses, showing why he was so feared beyond his words.
The Protego Diabolica was used masterfully and cleverly to both attack and defend, while Garin improved at inhumane speeds as the duel went on.
Grindelwald's mismatched eyes were wide with a thrilled intensity. He had found another equal outside of Dumbledore. All this plan in Paris had been to get Credence to his side, and have him fight Dumbledore for him, as a blood curse bound him.
But seeing Garin, he thought that surely, if he could convince him, he would be his most powerful weapon against Dumbledore.
"Magnificent!" Grindelwald shouted over the din of destruction.
He raised his wand.
Instead of maintaining the structured, contained ring of the Protego Diabolica, Grindelwald forcefully pushed the limits of the spell, feeding it too much power and making it reach the next uncontrollable stage. He let the spell get completely out of hand.
The white-blue flames started to rotate and grow stronger. The few men and women who had been inside the arena before had left after the duel between Garin and Grindelwald had started.
Seeing the powerful magic, Garin looked at Grindelwald.
"I hate Paris, but you made it a memorable experience. Thank you for that. We shall meet again, Prince, and I'll convince you that the destructive capabilities of the muggles have to be stopped and the pain and suffering they bring with it."
After saying that, Grindelwald disapparated. Garin did the same, appearing outside of the tomb. The flames had grown so powerful that they blasted out of the vault's powerful doors.
With a deafening screech, the blazing white-blue flames transformed into colossal, winged dragons made of pure fire. The flames shot into the air, burning anything that came near. The flames continued to rise, while the Aurors and other wizards and witches were forced to retreat further and further.
They blasted the fire dragons, turning them back into flames, but moments later, they reappeared. As the flames burned all around it and spread, it started to create a positive feedback loop, making the three dragons stronger and bigger.
Garin appeared at the edge of the cemetery, standing before those who had been inside the tomb earlier. Seeing the danger and getting rather bad memories of the Valyrians, he narrowed his eyes.
In that very moment, he came up with a spell that was inspired by Rhoynish magic.
He waved his wand through the air. Aguamenti, the water-making spell, conjured and shot a jet of pure water from the wand tip. Going from that principle and changing it, and using what he saw from Grindelwald earlier, another spell was created.
Protego Testudo
Garin moved his wand in a wide, sweeping circular motion above his head, followed by a sharp downward thrust into the ground.
A ring of blue water burst around him. With an upward flick of his wrist, the water rose higher, growing in size and mass, and like the three fire drakes, changing shape into three large, armoured sea turtles.
The turtles flew in a circle around the entire cemetery, and as they did, their colour began to change from the deep blue to a brighter colour. Steam rose from them as their temperature dropped way below zero.
Garin continued to feed them with magic, so they never stopped growing, and as they did, they surpassed the drakes in size and mass, starting to clash against them. Steam rose into the air, and once again made it impossible to see anything.
Only the sounds of clashing spells could be heard until, eventually... silence returned.
...
No one said anything and just looked up at the sky. Moments later, an old man, who looked like he was about to fall apart and turn to dust, approached Garin.
"That was an impressive spell, young man. I have never seen it used before in my long life."
"It's a spell I created."
"Truly? Ah, wonderful. You have my thanks. I am Nicolas Flamel. Would you mind telling me your name?"
"Garin. A pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Flamel."
Garin turned and looked for Nagini in the small crowd. She was leaning against a wall, still looking into the sky with a pained look on her face.
"You don't have to worry about Credence. He'll come around. If anything, he just gained a great tutor for himself. From what I just saw and experienced, Grindelwald is one of the greatest wizards alive. Training and learning under him is a privilege."
Nagini looked at Garin with a complicated expression.
"He will turn him into one of his followers! He'll become dark and unfeeling."
"I don't think that will happen. Grindelwald wants something from Credence. He understands people well and knows that if he pushes the boy too far, he'll not get anything from him."
"And that's supposed to assure me?"
"No. It gives you time," Garin said.
"Time for what?!"
"Time to be cured of that blood curse you have and to train. You'll definitely need to start using magic, or you won't be able to help your friend."
Nagini's eyes widened.
"You-- you found a way to cure a maledictus curse?!"
"The theory is in my head. Now, I'll just need some resources, and we should be good to go."
"What sort of resources?"
"Well--"
"Excuse me!"
Garin turned around and found several people standing there. The Aurors who had arrived to apprehend Grindelwald.
"Yes?"
"My name's Theseus Scamander. I'm an Auror of the Ministry of Magic. I have some questions for you."
.
Garin and Nagini went on a short journey through the wizarding world. Paris offered them nothing anymore. Credence and Grindelwald were gone and would be preparing for the next confrontation. Those who stood opposite would do the same.
The Aurors questioned Garin for a while, wanting to get information out of him. Where was he from? How did he stand to Grindelwald, what was that magic he used, etc.
Garin chose to maintain an amicable relationship with the authorities and answered as vaguely as possible. He wouldn't tell anyone where he truly came from, but calling his home Essos and telling them about the sorcerers who used blood magic and dragons to kill all his peop0le, was something he did say.
No one knew about Essos, but after using another trick he had learned, Garin swore a magical oath that what he told them about his home and about the sorcerers was the truth.
And it was the truth.
Having nothing to hold against Garin, the Aurors had to let him go.
Afterwards, Garin travelled to Africa with Nagini, where he acquired what he needed to cure the poor woman of her maledictus curse. She cried several hours afterwards, the immense weight of her curse weighing on her.
And as soon as he had done that, Garin felt that he had somehow altered the fate of the world. Not very much, but it felt as though he had achieved something great when he cured Nagini.
The woman then chose to start learning magic. She gained new strength and conviction to help Credence once he reappeared. But Garin told her he wouldn't be able to teach her because he was leaving again. He had to return home.
After learning from this world and its use of magic, Garin wished to create something similar to the magical schools. He wished to preserve his Rhoynish heritage and would create something akin to a magical school in Dorne.
He was going to create his own house in Dorne. Nymeria would surely agree to this request since he'll take only a small amount of land, which wouldn't be able to grow anything there anyway.
Then, he would include some magical animals and plants to complete the magical school feeling. And he had two ideas for magical beasts already.
Having read about magical beasts, which wasn't that much, Garin made his way to East Africa, where he would find the first and one of the most dangerous magical beasts in the world.