Chapter 15 - Grindelwald - I Saw Hope
On September 3rd, at 6:00 PM, while Asmodeus was having dinner, Dumbledore had already gone to the address left in the note from Grindelwald.
*Dumbledore knocks on the door of a house by the Baltic Sea in the city of Puttgarden.*
Knock, knock, knock.
The door, surprisingly, wasn't locked and opened upon knocking. In the lamplight, Dumbledore saw his old friend sitting at the table, oddly not much aged since their last meeting.
"You've aged," Grindelwald remarked.
"And you, on the contrary, have kept yourself quite well."
"Oh, nothing too complicated, a bit of dark magic and transfiguration here and there,"
Grindelwald replied casually.
"We need to talk seriously, Gellert!"
"I wanted to say the same!"
"Why did you leave? You promised not to meddle in the wizarding world anymore and to stay in Nurmengard!"
"Calm down, Albus, I left because of your student."
"Harry Potter?"
"What? Who's that?"
Dumbledore even coughed at this response.
"Albus, you know who I'm talking about—the child with the gift of fire! Though I don't know his name yet, I've seen his appearance, and my people at Hogwarts will soon contact him."
"Call off your people. He's at Hogwarts, and his name is Asmodeus Noren Morningstar."
"Asmodeus Noren Morningstar," Grindelwald slowly pronounced the name, savoring it as if trying a fine wine.
"Gellert, why do you need him?"
"He's not needed for me, Albus. He's needed for all of us, for the world."
Hearing this and aligning it with the Trelawney prophecy, Dumbledore stopped pretending and firmly said, "What have you seen?"
"HOPE, Albus, hope. Hope for wizards, and even Muggles!"
Hearing the part about Muggles, Dumbledore took a cold breath and asked, "Tell me everything you've seen."
"A world where people are no longer divided into wizards and Muggles, a world where magic is everywhere. A world where everything depends on your talents and diligence! Magic developed to the point where we can travel through worlds and planets! A world without death, Albus! I saw Ariana alive, and your parents alive! Can you imagine what a beautiful future it is!"
The more Grindelwald spoke, the more excited he became.
He wasn't sitting anymore; he stood, describing the future as he did back in Paris, but this time, he spoke not of the threat to Muggles but of a solution, of the future!
Dumbledore didn't know what to say after the first few lines, but when he heard about Ariana, he stood up, grabbed Grindelwald by the collar, and through tears asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes, Albus, I don't lie! Look at the future with your own eyes."
Grindelwald approached his favorite skull-shaped hookah on the table. He took a drag and exhaled.
Dumbledore couldn't contain his emotions anymore, watching the future that Grindelwald revealed.
Prosperity for wizards, the advancement of magic, the popularity of alchemy... breaking the secrecy law! Wizards living fully in the sunlight. Muggles using magic! He also saw many people who should be dead, walking the streets as if nothing happened. The Potter family reunited, Severus found himself a wife, and they had a daughter! Nicolas Flamel young again! And most importantly, he saw himself young, with his family, Ariana, Aurelius, and Aberforth!
Seeing this future, Dumbledore cried tears of joy. This was the world as he wished to see it, a world without unnecessary tragedies.
Wiping away tears, Dumbledore turned to Grindelwald and said, "But what about your hatred for Muggles? Can you allow them to learn magic?"
"Albus, my ideas stemmed from fear, from hatred! What is there to hate in that future? I want that world more than you do because I fought to the end, unlike you."
"Then what should we do? How can we help him?"
"I'm already gathering my old followers. I need you to arrange a meeting with him. I want to show him this and help him achieve it!"
"Are you with me? Or not?"
"Of course, I'm with you. But first, we need to legalize your current status. You know, when you left the German Ministry of Magic, panic had already begun."
"Don't worry about that. If you can bring the Minister of Magic of Germany here, I think we can come to an agreement, and he'll agree with me that such a world is worth striving for. Besides, 40% of the Ministry consists of my devotees' children. So, even if he disagrees, I can take over the Ministry without any fuss and settle everything quietly."
"No, I don't want more senseless bloodshed! I want to talk to him. Give me an hour, and I'll bring him here."
"Okay, I'll be here. I'm still considered a criminal who escaped from prison."
Dumbledore nodded and left the house, attempting to calm his emotions. In his heart, he vowed not to stop at anything to achieve the predicted future.
_____________________________________
Ministry of Magic in Germany, 19:15
With a bang, Dumbledore appeared before the minister's desk, holding onto Fawkes.
"Mr. Schmidt, I need to talk to you."
Five minutes later,
"Director Dumbledore, have you gone mad? It's impossible. I won't release such a dangerous criminal to roam freely!"
"Calm down, Wolfgang, we're talking about something bigger."
"What could be more significant, Albus? What's more important than releasing the person who caused the first wizarding war?"
"What if I told you he has a way to allow wizards to live openly, without hiding, and without bloodshed?"
Minister Schmidt: (⊙_⊙) ︵‿ヽ(°□° )ノ︵‿︵
"HELP, HELP, DUMBLEDORE HAS LOST HIS MIND!!!"
Dumbledore: (￣□￣」)
"Calm down, Wolfgang," Dumbledore said, attempting to approach.
"Stay away from me, keep your distance!"
Dumbledore: ヽ( ￣д￣)ノ
"All right, I don't have time to persuade you. You're coming with me!"
"Wait, no, wait, HELP!!!"
"No need to shout; I've long ago blocked sounds in the office."
w(°ｏ°)w
"Alright, you have nowhere to run. Hold onto me tightly if you don't want to lose a piece of yourself along the way," said Dumbledore, gripping the minister's shoulder.
"Fawkes!"
With a puff, the minister and Dumbledore disappeared in the flames of the phoenix.
Dumbledore was unaware that behind the wardrobe was the young lover of the minister – not that he couldn't notice, but rather chose not to.
┬┴┬┴┤(･_├┬┴┬┴
___________________________________
30 seconds later
Puff,
"Let me go, Dumbledore, you've gone mad!!"
Grindelwald watching this and smoking his hookah: ౦０o ｡ (‾́.‾́ )y~~
Seeing Grindelwald, the minister froze.
(⊙o⊙)
Dumbledore: (ｏ・_・)ノ"(ノ_<,)< p>
Minister: (╮°-°)╮┳━━┳ ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━━┻
"Well, Minister, don't worry so much. Your face looks like I'm about to eat you."
"What if I do worry? You and Dumbledore are together again. How do I know what you're planning!?"
"Calm down, Wolfgang. I've already told you. Listen to what he wants to say."
"Well, I don't have much choice, so let's hear what are you talking about ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)," said the minister, sitting on the chair Dumbledore offered him.
_____________________________________
Half an hour passed.
"So, you two are telling me there's a child who can make Muggles use magic and expose the magical world?"
(￢_￢)
"Yes!"
Dumbledore and Grindelwald: (＠＾◡＾)
Minister: (￣ ￣|||)
"Alright, let's assume that's true. What do you propose we do next?"
"Help him! That's obvious."
"How to help? As I understand, Dumbledore has known him for no more than a month, and you're a hardened criminal who learned about him from a prophecy!"
Grindelwald: "I sense the world's malice."
Ahem, Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "Wolfgang, that's why we want you to help us. Grindelwald needs the opportunity to meet him without hiding and understand what assistance he will need. He wants to involve the saints to help this future come true!"
"Saints! Albus, they're all hardened criminals."
"I disagree here. They are just, like me, revolutionaries who have suffered failure, similar to Muggle Decembrists."
Minister: (＃￣0￣)
After several hours of persuasion and then several more hours of negotiations on the conditions under which Grindelwald can legally leave prison, they came to a conclusion.
"Let's summarize."
"Grindelwald undertakes not to harm the Ministry of Magic of Germany and do not attack people who previously interfered with his plans, etc.
He will be on probation under the supervision of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore while in Germany.
If no violations of the agreements are observed within a year, surveillance of Gellert Grindelwald during his stay in Germany will be lifted.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore undertakes to restrain Gellert Grindelwald from aggressive actions towards Germany and its inhabitants, and in the event of a violation of the agreement, he undertakes to personally return Gellert Grindelwald to prison within a week.
The agreement is valid for 5 years from the moment of signing and will be sealed by two unbreakable vows—one between Wolfgang Schmidt and Gellert Grindelwald and the other between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. This document can be disclosed by the Ministry of Magic of Germany without discussion with other parties of the agreement.
After signing the oath and the agreement,
Grindelwald said, "God, so many points. It feels like I almost destroyed the world."
Minister: (;￣Д￣)
The next morning, owls spread shocking news worldwide, "Grindelwald is free!"
The entire world shuddered at this phrase, and hundreds of wizards headed towards Germany to confirm the news.
Thus, the Minister of Magic in Germany had to show the original agreement and explain that Grindelwald escaped on September 1st, but now there is an agreement that restrains him. When he said this, representatives from different countries jumped up, shouting, "The agreement only mentions Germany, not the whole world!"
"Do you take us for fools? Every line specifies points about Germany, and only two lines about the rest of the world, and that's in small print!"
While Minister Schmidt was calming down representatives of the international community, Dumbledore and Grindelwald had already headed to France. Not to burn Paris, but to meet another prophet, Nicolas Flamel.