"When I was young, a fragment of prophecy abruptly broke into my mind, revealing the existence of the Deathly Hallows to me and telling me how extraordinary they were… From that moment on, I began doing everything in my power to track down the clues to those three Hallows, searching through countless historical records and ruins for even the faintest trace of them."
"For that, I didn't care in the slightest that I was expelled from my alma mater, Durmstrang. On the contrary, I thought it gave me more time. Oh, speaking of which, before I left school, I even carved the symbol of the Deathly Hallows onto a wall. Looking back on it now, that really was the recklessness of youth…"
"Um, Mr. Grindelwald?"
"Ahem, I've gone off topic."
Grindelwald promptly pulled himself out of his reminiscing about his younger days.
"After leaving school, I spent quite a long time traveling all over the world in search of traces of the Deathly Hallows. Combining that with the materials I had obtained while still in school, I arrived at a conclusion that was very close to the truth—"
"The Deathly Hallows are the Elder Wand, the Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone. The first had already left behind many legends in the wizarding world, but the latter two had vanished without a trace. They were deeply tied to one of the pure-blood families, the Gaunt family, and their creators were most likely the Peverell brothers… Most importantly, at the time, I firmly believed that gathering all three Deathly Hallows would grant one the power to master death."
"But that was false, wasn't it?"
Avada could tell that if this continued, the conversation would soon drift into those awkward topics from Godric's Hollow, so he hurriedly interrupted Grindelwald's immersion in memory.
"Then what made you change your mind afterward?"
"Hmph."
Grindelwald gave an irritated snort.
"Very well. You probably already know most of what came after, so I won't say much about that… The reason I changed my view was because of a research project at Nobby Leach University."
"Something related to the soul?"
Avada immediately thought of the material covered in the book Professor Baker had given him.
"To be precise, it was about the Elder Wand."
Grindelwald did not deny Avada's guess. After nodding, he continued,
"That research began while Nobby Leach himself was still alive. He came to me quite often because of it, pestering me for all the materials I possessed concerning the Deathly Hallows, especially my memories of using the Elder Wand as reference…"
"I must admit, Nobby Leach truly was a capable man. If he had been born twenty years earlier and joined me, Albus might not necessarily have won. Of course, with his temperament and breadth of vision, he never would have been attracted to the man I was back then."
"At that time, the university had already begun hunting dark wizards on a global scale. And the ones they captured were all creatures far worse than I was—beasts utterly devoid of even the slightest shred of humanity…"
"Don't look at me like that. I know the number of people who died directly or indirectly because of me is probably several times greater than all of theirs combined, and I have no intention of making excuses for it. But at the time, I truly believed from the bottom of my heart that I was doing something great—something that could save the world."
"For the Greater Good?"
"For the Greater Good."
Grindelwald nodded without the slightest hesitation, apparently not noticing the strange edge in Avada's tone at all.
"Even now, that remains true. Only the methods have changed somewhat."
"Very well, there is no point dwelling on that topic now. So unless you have something else to ask, I will continue with the matter of the Deathly Hallows."
He suddenly waved a hand a little impatiently, and his speech quickened, no longer dragging along as slowly as before.
"Where was I… Ah, yes. At the time, Nobby Leach University was deeply troubled by a shortage of manpower and combat strength during its hunt for dark wizards. So they planned to launch a research project aimed at uncovering the secret behind the Elder Wand's immense power, then reproducing that secret in bulk and placing it into the hands of every professor."
"And at some point in that research, they arrived at one conclusion: the secret of the Elder Wand was connected to the soul."
"As it happened, they had obtained a great deal of research material on the soul from those dark wizards, and those beasts themselves could be used as experimental subjects without the slightest moral burden…"
"So after a long research process that practically mobilized all the resources of the university, they finally reached a deeper conclusion."
"The power of the Elder Wand comes from love."
"…"
Avada blinked, wondering whether he had misheard the word.
"Comes from what?"
He could not help asking again.
He knew that "love" seemed to have special magical significance, but could a murderous weapon like the Elder Wand—something passed down through bloody conflict—really have the slightest connection to a word like love?
"Sounds absurd, doesn't it?"
Seeing the blank look on Avada's face, Grindelwald could not help looking faintly amused.
"When Nobby Leach brought me that conclusion back then, my expression was exactly the same as yours is now."
"But perhaps it would be easier for you to accept if I phrase it differently… The principle behind the Elder Wand's strength is that it simulates love."
"Simulates love?"
Avada was even more baffled.
Love could be simulated?
And by a wand, no less?
"That's right. Simulates love."
Grindelwald nodded.
"You should know this, shouldn't you? Love possesses a powerful and extraordinary force, one that can sometimes even bring forth miracles. The Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries even has a division dedicated specifically to researching the power of love. Albus, too, is especially fond of speaking about the power of love. You may have heard him mention the concept before…"
"And Nobby Leach University was the first to discover the fundamental reason why love is so special—because it is the only emotion that originates from the soul."
"Emotion… originates from the soul?"
Avada felt as though his entire common sense was being overturned.
Whether it was the general academic knowledge of the wizarding world, or the conclusions he himself had reached through research and practice, the source of emotion had always been changes in a person's spiritual power. The soul, on the other hand, was merely a person's true self and fundamental essence. There had never been any evidence suggesting that the soul had anything to do with emotion at all…
"Pay attention to my wording—only."
Grindelwald heavily emphasized that word again.
"Only. Love is an emotion that differs completely from all other emotions, both in essence and in power. It is also the only emotion known to be capable of being produced by the soul."
"In other words, to produce love is to call upon the power of the soul."
"And magic cast by drawing upon the power of the soul is naturally countless times stronger than magic fueled merely by spiritual power. And if one masters the proper technique, it can even create effects that ordinary people would call miracles."
"And the Elder Wand possesses the ability to influence its master's soul, allowing him to draw upon the power of the soul to a certain extent even without actually feeling love, thereby greatly amplifying the power of his magic."
(End of Chapter)