After concluding their tour of Diagon Alley, Albus Dumbledore escorted Isaac back home, utilizing Side-Along Apparition once more.
Dumbledore politely declined Isaac’s invitation to stay for a late-night snack and vanished into thin air immediately after dropping him off.
Not long after Dumbledore departed, Gellert Grindelwald’s figure materialized beside Isaac, as if taking over the next leg of a relay race.
Isaac had long since grown accustomed to Grindelwald’s phantom-like presence.
“I bet you didn’t miss a single moment of peeking at us, Gellert,” Isaac said, his hands never stopping as he spoke.
He first let Cuckoo out of its travel cage, instructed the old butler to prepare some food for the owl, and carefully selected a spot that Cuckoo seemed to like to serve as its perch.
Following that, he began systematically sorting through his new pile of first-year textbooks.
Grindelwald did not dispute the accusation, which was as good as confirming that he had indeed spent the entire day tracking Isaac and Dumbledore via his prophetic visions, precisely as Isaac had suspected.
Throughout the day, it was truly difficult to tell whether Grindelwald had been focusing his sight on Isaac or on Dumbledore.
For a wizard of Grindelwald’s legendary prowess and advanced age, he had long since disdained the need for deception.
Confucius once observed that at seventy, one could follow their heart’s desires without overstepping boundaries.
Grindelwald was now well over a hundred years old; was he truly expected to act as timidly as a young virgin?
He simply wanted to keep an eye on Dumbledore, plain and simple.
“The two of you walked around together for a day.
How did it feel?” Grindelwald’s question lacked an explicit subject, but Isaac understood his meaning perfectly.
“It was great.
Professor Dumbledore is deeply respected and admired by everyone.
His standing in the British wizarding world is entirely different from yours,” Isaac replied casually, his movements continuing without pause.
“Hehehe…
Hahaha…” Grindelwald suddenly burst out laughing, echoing the dramatic, unrestrained laughter characteristic of the Uchiha clan.
He even bent double, clutching his sides with amusement.
Finally, he extracted a silk handkerchief and swept away non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes.
“You aren’t entirely wrong, boy.
Dumbledore is highly respected, yet even a small-time British Minister for Magic dares to scheme against him right to his face and behind his back.
They wish they could drive Dumbledore out of Hogwarts entirely.
On the other hand, I am currently reviled by the entire world, yet those European Ministers for Magic wouldn’t dare plot against me; they don’t even dare permit other wizards to appear before me.
It truly is a world of difference!” Grindelwald’s tone shifted, laced with a trace of bitter irony.
“Compared to that savior named Harry Potter, the treatment Albus receives as the previous generation’s savior really isn’t much to boast about.”
Isaac could easily detect the lingering resentment in Grindelwald’s voice.
In the end, old Grindelwald was still looking out for old Dumbledore, incensed by the injustice his friend faced.
There was a fundamental distinction between Grindelwald and Lord Voldemort, despite both being categorized as “Dark Lords” who had ultimately been thwarted by Dumbledore.
Grindelwald was an exiled Dark Lord; out of deference to Dumbledore, he had deliberately bypassed Great Britain entirely during his revolutionary campaign.
While he turned the rest of Europe and America upside down, Britain remained completely unscathed.
Lord Voldemort was the exact opposite.
It was not that Voldemort had never dreamed of sweeping across the European and American continents like his predecessor, but before he and his Death Eaters could even manage to cross the English Channel, they were routinely intercepted by Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.
He was effectively pinned within the borders of Britain.
Ultimately, the glory of defeating Lord Voldemort was thrust upon a newborn infant.
As a result, neither the pure-blood supremacy ideology that Voldemort preached nor his localized, terrorist-style methods could compare to the continental devastation wrought by Grindelwald.
Yet Dumbledore, the man who had brought down Grindelwald, was treated with less respect than a child who couldn’t even remember the night his parents died.
“Regardless, those events occurred decades ago,” Isaac countered thoughtfully.
“The terror Lord Voldemort inflicted on the British wizarding world feels like yesterday compared to your exploits.
Furthermore, the public views it as only natural for a powerful wizard to defeat a formidable adversary.
A mere child defeating the Dark Lord—now that is a living legend.”
Isaac carried his books into the study, placing the textbooks neatly onto the corner of his desk before turning back to old Grindelwald.
“If you decided to walk out of retirement today, the entire wizarding world would inevitably weep and beg Dumbledore to come out of retirement to stop you.
So, do you actually intend to leave Nurmengard?”
The indignant, fiery look on Grindelwald’s face instantly smoothed into an expression of calm serenity.
A moment later, a low chuckle escaped his throat.
“My boy, are you truly that eager for me to leave Nurmengard?”
Isaac spread his hands innocently.
“Such monumental events can hardly be dictated by my personal whims, can they?”
Isaac neither confirmed nor denied the sentiment, but in the subtle dance of conversation, a refusal to deny was often telling enough.
“Do not rely too heavily upon your prophetic visions, child,” old Grindelwald warned, his eyes boring into Isaac with sudden gravity.
“Time thoroughly enjoys playing toys with those of us who believe we can outmaneuver it.”
With that final warning, the phantom of Grindelwald vanished from the spot.
Once he had seen off the old Dark Lord, Isaac buried himself in his own academic pursuits—namely, previewing the first-year Hogwarts curriculum.
Ordinarily, if a young witch or wizard wished to preview their coursework ahead of term, they either needed the guidance of magical parents—a privilege exclusive to wizarding families—or, if they were Muggle-born, they had to pore over the text blindly and hope for the best.
A few exceptionally gifted students, like Hermione Granger, could successfully teach themselves to cast a spell or two before ever stepping onto the Hogwarts Express.
Most, however, could do little more than dryly wave their wands and recite phonetics.
Isaac, however, possessed a massive advantage.
He was essentially capable of taking advanced online courses through his prophetic talent.
By utilizing his visions to seek out historical scenes of Hogwarts professors conducting their classes, Isaac could observe the lectures and act as an invisible auditor.
Thanks to the myriad of mistakes made by previous generations of students during those lessons, Isaac could easily deduce the most efficient, correct path for his own practice.
If he felt so inclined, he could even call up the exact same Transfiguration lesson from different eras to precisely analyze the stylistic differences between how Dumbledore taught the subject versus how Professor McGonagall handled it.
In less than a month, Isaac had successfully speed-run the entirety of the first-year curriculum.
This rapid progression was also aided by the objective reality that the first-year coursework was not inherently complex.
A first-year Hogwarts student was roughly equivalent to an eleven-year-old middle schooler starting an introductory course.
Because it was an entirely unfamiliar territory for most children, the curriculum focused heavily on basic entry-level concepts, building an initial foundation, and adapting the mind to the flow of magic.
This posed no challenge whatsoever for Isaac.
He was a Seer by birth; what difficulty could he possibly have adjusting to the presence of magic?
Coupled with the mental maturity of his past adult life, his levels of focus and conviction far outstripped those of his peers.
In the wizarding world, inner strength and willpower directly translated into magical intensity.
By the time he had thoroughly mastered all the first-year material, Isaac, who now possessed a solid grasp of fundamental magical theory, made a definitive choice.
He would dedicate his primary focus to the field of Transfiguration.
Indeed, after a thorough analysis of his studies, Isaac was surprised to discover that Transfiguration held a uniquely pivotal weight within the broader spectrum of magic.
Even without that specific realization, he would likely have gravitated toward the discipline regardless.
If nothing else, the mere fact that Albus Dumbledore had once served as the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts proved that the field possessed boundless potential.
Sometimes, walking a path already cleared by a towering giant guarantees the smoothest journey.