Tina was furious.
Not merely irritated, but the kind of furious that could get Newt banned from the bed for an entire year.
Back then, when Newt had praised her eyes by saying they were as charming as a salamander's, she had accepted it. After all, the man she liked was a block of wood. For Newt, that already counted as a very sincere compliment.
But today, right in front of her, he had used perfectly normal, even elegant words to describe another man's eyes.
Did she not have any dignity at all?!
Newt shuddered and immediately realized he had said something truly disastrous. He hurriedly begged for mercy.
"Sorry, Tina."
"I'll deal with you when we get home."
Tina shot Newt a vicious glare, then turned an even colder look on Grindelwald.
"Gellert Grindelwald, have you come here to walk straight into the net?"
"There are over a hundred Aurors here. Next door is the headquarters of MACUSA, and elite reinforcements are already arriving without end. You're far too arrogant, Grindelwald."
"A net to catch me? With the likes of you?" Grindelwald said, amused. "Don't be ridiculous, Tina."
He spread his arms, and his appearance gradually shifted back into that wild, prideful face of his, a smile still playing at the corner of his lips.
"Tina, we've crossed paths many times. You know all of this is meaningless to me. In this entire hall, even in all of New York, only you, Tina, your useless husband Scamander, and your sister Queenie are worthy of a second glance from me. As for the others... heh."
Grindelwald's gaze swept contemptuously across the Aurors, who no longer dared move rashly, and the cowering Ministry officials.
Though he did not say the rest aloud, everyone could feel the disdain in it.
"Grindelwald, what exactly are you trying to do?" Newt asked in a low voice.
He paid no attention to Grindelwald's insulting assessment of him. Ever since their first encounter, he had never heard a single pleasant word from Grindelwald. To be honest, Newt was already used to it.
What concerned him more was whether Grindelwald's appearance here concealed some kind of scheme.
"It's merely a fortunate coincidence."
Grindelwald suddenly Apparated, appearing at the highest point in the conference chamber, standing atop the head of the statue of Pierre Bonaccord, founder of the International Confederation of Wizards.
With his feet planted on Bonaccord's head, it looked as though he had placed the entire Confederation beneath his boots.
"Tell me, isn't that amusing?"
His tone was almost casual, like a man sharing an interesting anecdote with friends.
"I had not originally planned to attend your little meeting. I came here to look for someone. Then on the way, I happened to run into this Polish Minister for Magic. What was his name again? Ah yes, Jacek Nowak."
"When you get old, your memory starts to fail you," Grindelwald said with a self-mocking chuckle. "I didn't know him, but he happened to resemble an old acquaintance of mine. So I seized him and asked a few questions. Sure enough, that old acquaintance was his grandfather."
"He is a Minister for Magic. His grandfather was also a Minister for Magic, Zbigniew Nowak, who once crawled at my feet like a dog, then later turned like a jackal and tore into the flesh of my followers."
"So..."
Grindelwald took out a handkerchief and wiped his palm.
"I sent him off to reunite with his grandfather."
Dead silence fell over the conference room.
Every heart in the room sank to the bottom.
A Minister for Magic... gone just like that?
At that moment, the cracking explosions of Apparition began sounding one after another. The Aurors who had received the alarm had finally arrived. In only a few moments, dozens more appeared, and that gave the people present a surge of confidence.
Several dozen against one.
The advantage was theirs.
"Kill him!" one Minister for Magic suddenly shouted.
"Move now! He's alone!"
"Don't let him escape! End this here and now, no holding back!"
"Nurmengard is already destroyed. He has no place left in this world. Strike and kill him!"
The Ministers for Magic cried out loudly, but the Aurors came from both the International Confederation of Wizards and MACUSA. They all looked to their superiors first, and only after receiving Babajide's approval did they move.
Almost at the same instant, dozens of people shouted incantations together.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Reductor!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Brilliant spells in a riot of colors, wrapped in violently surging magic, flew toward a single point.
Many others did not attack directly. Instead, they joined forces to lay down Anti-Apparition enchantments, casting a net tight as heaven and earth to prevent Grindelwald from escaping.
"The Aurors of today's magical world... have truly declined."
Without even speaking an incantation, Grindelwald casually drew his wand and sent out a beam of white light. The white light spread into a barrier, steady and impenetrable, blocking every spell that came at him. Then it flung them back.
Quite a few unprepared Ministry officials were struck by the rebounding curses, and the conference room instantly fell into chaos.
Tina intercepted several curses that shot flying her way, then found the right angle and abruptly cast two of her own. They curved neatly past the defensive range of the white barrier.
Grindelwald lifted a hand.
The statue beneath his feet lifted its hand as well.
The spells exploded against the stone palm, leaving behind two deep craters.
"Your attacks are still as sharp as ever, Tina."
Grindelwald curled a finger.
One of the statue's arms broke free and came crashing down like a cannonball toward Newt.
"Scamander, I had no intention of seeking you out. But since you've delivered yourself to my door, it would be rather rude not to greet you properly."
This time, Grindelwald meant every word.
He had truly come to North America only to complete Tom's task and deal with that so-called Picquery. Who could have guessed that by a twist of fate, he would run into Newt again?
What was this if not destiny refusing to let old enemies remain apart?
Since they had met, then even for Tom's sake, he still had to teach the man a lesson.
Otherwise, the resentment stuck in his chest would never clear. If it stayed there too long, he felt it would eventually ruin his state of mind and start affecting his magic. Forget future progress, he would be lucky not to regress.
A beating was a beating.
With that thought, Grindelwald suddenly clenched his hand tight.
The stone arm's flight speed increased by another thirty percent.
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