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These were the only two old geezers he could think of who might be pulling strings from the shadows. He leaned more toward the latter, since whenever Grindelwald spoke to him, it always seed like he was trying to stoke his ambition.
Faced with this question—
Theodore Greengrass fell silent, deep in thought, and didn't respond directly.
"Mr. Prince, I imagine you've studied modern wizarding history?"
He set down his dinner knife, staring at the plate in front of him, and asked a seemingly casual question.
"Of course," Ian replied with a nod.
Theodore Greengrass then raised his eyes to look at the young man in front of him, far too young in appearance, yet already possessing strength that left him and most wizards in the dust.
"Regarding the forr Dark Lord, that man whose na we don't speak, most of his known followers ca from our Slytherin pure-blood families."
"Do you know the reason for that?"
Greengrass's eyes showed a trace of unspeakable weariness as he spoke.
"Of course. It was because you were cowardly, afraid to die, and wanted to share in the benefits and power that ca with being aligned with the Dark Lord," Lupin interjected bitterly before Ian could answer.
It wasn't an entirely unfair statent.
However—
To Theodore Greengrass, such a view was narrow. He glanced at his forr classmate, whom he had always disliked, and a flicker of pity appeared in his eyes.
"Your answer is way too one-sided, Lupin."
He didn't directly refute the claim but responded in a faintly mocking tone.
"And I'll be watching as you try to whitewash your own side's actions."
Lupin scoffed again, this ti with open contempt.
"You…"
Mrs. Armande Greengrass, who had remained silent while her husband and Ian spoke, furrowed her brows and seed ready to say sothing, but was stopped by Theodore Greengrass.
"Even now, Lupin, I still believe that in your little gang back then, only Jas Potter was truly a bastard. The other three of you were just stupidly naïve."
Theodore Greengrass's view may not have been objective, after all, soone who could join the Order of the Phoenix like Harry's father certainly couldn't have been irredeemably evil.
However…
It was a perspective that Lupin clearly couldn't accept.
"And yet he was soone who fell in the midst of the fight, and he sacrificed himself. At least in that regard, he was better than all of you."
Lupin suppressed his anger well. He understood the resentnt Theodore Greengrass harbored in his heart.
Looking back now, after so many years since graduation, Lupin did realize how out of line so of their past behavior had been, impulsive actions made from youthful arrogance, without considering the consequences.
Still—
There was no point in arguing about right or wrong now. And it wasn't as if they were the only ones who had done wrong back then, Slytherin students had also bullied others and weren't guiltless.
"I've never claid that Potter wasn't a champion. His son, thee so called Boy-Who-Lived, has been praised for years, and I believe part of that praise has co from our help in spreading the legend."
"In truth, that was our way of showing that we too longed for change. Many of the next generation in our houses have quite a favorable opinion of Potter's son, the Boy-Who-Lived."
Theodore Greengrass turned to look at the daydreaming young wizard.
"Mr. Prince, before your arrival, both we and he were all doing our part to fan the flas, to help create a Boy-Who-Lived that could represent a new dawn for the wizarding world."
"The Dark Lord may have fallen, but the wizarding world simply returned to its stagnant, lifeless state. That wasn't the future we wanted to see."
He returned the conversation to the question Lupin had earlier interrupted.
This ti, he didn't ask Ian again; he gave the answer himself.
"The Death Eaters, the Dark Lord's followers, aside from a handful of lunatics, most of them turned to him simply because they saw no hope elsewhere. He was a possible path to change."
"They wanted to forge a new future, to revive and reinvigorate the glory of their houses, so their descendants wouldn't rot away in decay."
Theodore Greengrass spoke with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"But history proved that it was the wrong choice."
His expression turned sowhat wistful, and even Mrs. Armande Greengrass wore a look of complex emotion on her face.
"That's just because you were short-sighted and couldn't distinguish good from evil." Lupin sneered again with cutting words.
Ian remained silent, focused instead on the untouched dragon at and other rare delicacies still on his plate, already planning how to pack them up and how to preserve them once ho.
Perhaps Aurora's Preservation Charm for corpses could be repurposed into a makeshift magical refrigerator.
"I'd prefer to call it a case of desperate asures." Theodore Greengrass rolled his eyes at Lupin and shot back with a mocking tone of his own.
"As for why we ended up that way… perhaps you should go back and ask the man you so loyally follow."
His voice carried a deep and unmistakable resentnt.
That comnt might've gone too far.
Mrs. Greengrass imdiately reached out to grasp her husband's hand, visibly worried.
"Apologies."
Theodore Greengrass also realized he'd overstepped. He raised his hand to rub his brow and chose to end the topic there.
But Lupin seed unwilling to let it go.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Lupin wasn't trying to press him aggressively; he genuinely didn't understand.
"Many years ago, our elders thought they had found hope, a true leader. But then… he gave up. That's why so many people, in desperation, chose to follow his student instead."
Theodore Greengrass clearly couldn't hold it in anymore. His face was full of grievance and frustration; it was almost pitiful.
"…"
Lupin suddenly realized…
Maybe he shouldn't have asked.
He really wanted to smack himself across the face.
"Alright, this isn't a topic we should be discussing tonight." Mrs. Armande Greengrass shot her husband a sharp glare, then turned to look at Ian who was busy cutting up dragon at.
"I've already instructed the kitchen to portion the rest of the dragon at for you."
Seeing that Ian was sneakily trying to pack so into a bag, she tactfully made her stance clear.
"Oh, thank you, gracious lady."
Ian said that politely, but he didn't stop his actions, still eating and stuffing at into his bag at the sa ti. This wasn't a matter of poor manners,
It was just that Ian felt the need to slightly ruin his own image.
Of course, It also kind of felt a little satisfyingly wicked from the heart.
"Looks like tonight's al really suited your taste," Mrs. Armande Greengrass gave a helpless smile. Her tone and deanor showed that pure-blood families like theirs weren't necessarily lacking emotional intelligence.
"It was indeed great, but I still think it falls short of spaghetti with Grade 5 concrete,"
Ian replied with so bizarre nonsense, causing Mrs. Greengrass to pause in mild confusion.
(To Be Continued…)
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