Chapter 333: The Dangers of Grief
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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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23rd October 1995, Grimmauld Place (Earth 2)
Gellert Grindelwald was dead.
Albus Dumbledore knew that the moment it happened. He could feel the oaths between them being nullified, the foolish promises that they made in their youth that they never broke. In a small dark corner of his mind, Albus relished his new freedom. He had gotten so used to the invisible shackles that bound him that he had forgotten what it was like to live without them.
No one knew for sure what happened, Albus included. The ICW didn't even know that he was dead and had presumed that he had escaped. Most of the countries in Europe were in a state of emergency, scrambling around, trying to stop Gellert's inevitable rise, unknowing that it was very unlikely to happen.
This brought him to the Order of the Phoenix meeting, where his subordinates were still scrambling around like headless chickens. Alastor, as usual, was looking around in paranoia and growled, "We need to act, do something. First Voldemort and now Grindelwald, that's no coincidence. Do you think he broke your old enemy out, Albus, hoping to use him against you?"
The headmaster hummed, "I do not believe there is anything Voldemort could offer that would have made Grindelwald work with him. He'd have rather stayed in his cell."
"And how exactly do you know that?" Sirius Black asked.
Albus suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. The former Azkaban inmate was looking better, even if he tended to protest more of Albus' moves during these meetings. He didn't know what the Animagus sought to achieve by that, but he let it go. After all, they were already intruding in his home and there was no need to push things for no reason.
Still, he answered, "Because I know Gellert Grindelwald. There's a reason why people call him one of the worst Dark Lords in history and that's because of what he fought for. Voldemort is a monster, he relished in the suffering he brought. However, Grindelwald was different in this regard; he hated taking wizarding lives but thought them to be a necessary sacrifice for our survival. His was built, not on some nonsensical ideology but out of primal fear. He thought that the muggles advanced too quickly and that they would be able to pierce our protections and exterminate us. He thought that his conquest of the muggles was a necessity, and that was a very popular idea. Survival is a far better cause than sadism and domination. There's a reason why Grindelwald was able to get so many men and that was because people thought he had a point. A man like that wouldn't work with Voldemort in a thousand years."
Severus confirmed his deduction, "The Dark Lord was not involved in this; he was just as surprised as everyone else. He didn't seem to like the possibility of having competition. He has accelerated the recruitment and is preparing for some kind of attack, but I have not been privy to what it was. He has been rather private and quick to lose his temper after a conversation with Lucius Malfoy."
Severus had told Albus about what happened to Lucius Malfoy. The man had been tortured for hours and had almost lost his mind under Voldemort's wrath. He still trembled from the damage from the Cruciatus Curse. The Dark Lord had probably let him live for his resources, nothing more. The potion master had no idea why it was the case, but Albus did. With the public knowledge that someone had successfully broken into Gringotts, it was perfectly understandable for Voldemort to check for one of the Horcruxes he had on hand. After all, according to Harrold Smith's prophecy, the Cup of Hufflepuff was supposed to be in a Gringotts vault. It probably wouldn't have taken long for him to find out what happened to his Diary, hence the wrath.
Albus knew Voldemort well enough to predict that he was probably planning on seeing if his Horcrux was still safe. Since he was preparing for an attack, he must not have any access to the vault he put his Horcrux in, which likely meant that its holder was in Azkaban. Bellatrix would be Albus' guess; she was one of his most zealous followers and she truly believed her master to be more akin to some kind of deity than a mere human.
Voldemort was probably gearing up to attack Azkaban. Albus wasn't really going to stop him. It would cost him too much in terms of manpower without really achieving anything. The dementors were likely to even join Voldemort's side anyway and he was not going to sacrifice his people's lives needlessly. There was also a positive side to the coming breakout. If Bellatrix was free, then the Cup was vulnerable, after all.
However, the Gringotts heist had caused the advantage they held to get smaller with every passing second. The moment Voldemort freed Bellatrix, she would be in Gringotts, removing Voldemort's Horcrux from her vault, since the Dark Lord had evidently lost trust in the bank's security. It was consistent with his behaviour and constant fear of Death. That gave Albus an opportunity to steal it when she exited the bank. That was probably going to be the Order's highest priority in the near future.
But that also meant that Voldemort was probably going to check for his other Horcruxes. With the Diary, Locket and Diadem destroyed, and his plans regarding the Cup being already in place, the only ones left that could be dealt with were the ring, Nagini, and Harry himself.
He couldn't do much about Harry and Nagini anytime soon, so the ring it was, specifically Death's ring. He wasn't sure about what it was until he saw a familiar symbol carved onto the stone in the Smith boy's drawing. He couldn't deny that he was drawn to it, to finally get the answers he craved about what happened that night, to say goodbye to Gellert one last time.
Albus was so lost in thought that he barely registered the familiar cat Patronus appearing in front of him and spoke in Minerva's voice, "Albus, Minister Fudge is in your office. He wants to see you."
Albus suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. That man was truly useless. He had an inkling of what that was about and was in no mood to entertain the man, not after what he had done. Still, he got up and addressed his order, "It appears that we'll have to shelve this meeting for another time. I will be contacting you with the next meeting's date."
Ten minutes later, the headmaster found entered his office and saw Cornelius sitting down trying not to wilt at Minerva's stern gaze. The sight was so comical that he had to restrain himself from bursting into laughter, "Thank you, Minerva."
The woman quickly noticed the dismissal in his tone and nodded, "Headmaster," before leaving.
Albus walked to his desk and sat down, "What can I do for you, Cornelius? I was under the impression that you wanted nothing to do with me."
"Nothing has changed. I won't stay here for long. There's just been a bit of pressure from the Wizengamot for certain assurances."
Well, wasn't that an understatement? Britain was probably the only country in Europe that hadn't declared a state of emergency and that was for the same reason why Fudge refused to even consider Voldemort's return. The mere idea of a war just terrified the man to no end. There was a nugget of wisdom in all that cowardliness; war was a very terrible thing.
Still, the Wizengamot was probably pressuring him to get Albus to make some statement promising that he would stop Grindelwald should he ever come to Britain. There was no need for him to do anything, really; Gellert was dead, after all.
The mere thought removed all the amusement he felt at Cornelius' obvious nervousness. Gellert's death hadn't been natural, else his body would have been found. Someone had killed him, someone Albus didn't know about. The mere thought of it was as unsettling as it was infuriating.
Suppressing his feelings, Albus decided to humour the minister nonetheless, "Assurances? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Dumbledore! You know perfectly well that I'm talking about Grindelwald. Will you fight him when he comes?"
"Now, why would I ever do that?"
And just that statement made Fudge freeze in shock, "What?"
"You see, you made it perfectly clear that you don't need me anymore. You removed most of my political power, not that I care much about it, to be honest, and you've done your best to slander me for the crime of warning you of a threat that you should have at least investigated. You said it multiple times that I'm an old senile man well past my prime. I will act only as headmaster of Hogwarts and will defend the castle from any attackers. However, I'm afraid that the rest of Britain is your responsibility, isn't it, Cornelius?"
"You would let Grindelwald kill us all?" the minister asked with shock in your voice.
"I'm doing exactly what you asked. I'm letting you deal with your problems yourselves."
"How dare you…"
Albus gave the man a look that got him to visibly shiver in fright, stopping him from even continuing his sentence, "How dare I? Are you serious? You brought a horrible woman to this castle, hoping to assert your dominance for some reason. You chose a woman who barely knew any defensive magic, but also happened to be a thief and brought dark artefacts into a school. Now, I'm having to look for a new defence professor with no preparation because you decided to put politics into my school's administration. If you thought you'd find any help here, then you are severely mistaken."
"Dolores was acquitted by the Goblins. They think she was used as a scapegoat."
"What of the cursed items in her office? Were those planted as well?"
That shut the man up completely. Albus had very little patience left for the man, but he had to admit that Harrold Smith's scheme had worked perfectly. From what the headmaster heard, the boy had stolen every single artefact she bought and instead of taking them or destroying them, had hidden them in her office behind some basic wards. It barely took five minutes for the Aurors to find the stash and they had no trouble proving that she had bought those things. According to Kingsley, it had taken an afternoon in Knockturn Alley for the DMLE to have more than enough proof to convict the woman. There was a trial set in a couple of months, and the horrid woman's chances were very slim.
Still, if Albus didn't know that the Smith boy was a seer, he would have been suspicious by then. It was all too perfectly planned. From what he could guess, the boy had known that the theft would happen and that Umbridge would have been implicated in the theft anyway. Maybe he had even somehow arranged for her to be implicated as well, which was a far more worrying theory, even if it was unlikely. Nevertheless, the boy used this to arrange for her artefacts to be discovered when the Aurors inevitably investigated her. This type of long-term planning wasn't something that was commonly seen in teenagers and it sort of impressed Albus how everything just went perfectly.
His thoughts were interrupted by Cornelius, "I may have made a mistake sending Dolores here, but you don't have to take it out on the innocent citizens of magical Britain."
"Then why don't you say that Grindelwald is dead too? That ought to calm them down."
"Is he?"
Albus shrugged, "Who knows? But that's your problem, not mine. Goodbye, Cornelius."
"Now, wait just a minute!" the minister replied.
"I said goodbye Cornelius," he sternly replied.
The minister gulped and meekly left the office, leaving Albus with his thoughts. He probably shouldn't have been so blunt with the fool, but to his defence, he had gotten a bit short-tempered ever since Gellert's death. There were just so many unanswered questions.
After a while, he found himself opening a familiar journal, and staring at a certain ring. Maybe that could give him his answers? He just had to know what happened and he would have had to go after it eventually. He knew the risks; seeking the Hallows had brought him more grief than anything else. However, the need to understand, to get his answers, was too strong. He could speak to Arianna, finally knowing what happened that night. He could speak to Gellert, say goodbye and know how he truly perished. It would remove a Horcrux from the board as well. Didn't Smith's prophecy say that the ring was Voldemort's mother's home? He already knew where that was.
After a few minutes debating with himself, Albus finally steeled himself and apparated to Little Hangleton.
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AN: I don't know if I portrayed Dumbledore well here. I wanted to make him grieve in his own way and make him a bit more short-tempered because of what happened, hence the interaction with Fudge. Not sure if I pulled it off. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.