Chương 51: Albus Dumbledore
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07.
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Two Wizards, once friends, now enemies. Albus Dumbledore, and Gellert Grindelwald.
Both loved each other dearly once, cared for each other completely. But now, they're fighting each other, trying to defeat the other completely, so that the other may turn over to their own side.
Two intense beams of light, Pure Magic, one light blue, and the other a dark violet, meet in between the two Wizards, crashing into a dark blue orb that hovers at the point of impact. The two wands connected to the beams of Magic, stay raised, each one trying hard to push the orb over to the other's side.
Because both of them knew, the person who loses this battle of wills, will lose this battle entirely.
At Albus's back stood near to the outer walls, was a group of 15 men, with 10 of those men holding their wands at the necks of the other 5. Albus knew those 5 men, they were Officials of the Magical Germany's Ministerium.
And right now, they were standing as Witnesses to this amazing battle of Magic, where both wizards used more Magic in the single attack, than most adult Wizards have access to.
The orb, where the Magic from the two wands was battling for dominance, stays in one spot, exactly in between the two men. The Orb, not being stable enough, causes a lot of the magic to leak, sending it in the form of different spells flying outwards.
Lightning strikes the ground around the two wizards, and a few patches of ground get hit by imitations of the Bombarda spell, as the orb destroys some land. Some bolts of magic leak into the sky, to no awail, and some even try to go further, to attack the spectators.
Fortunately for them, Grindelwald had already erected a barrier around the duo, to protect those outside from stray spells, and to prevent anyone from interfering.
For a moment, the orb of battling magic, moves forward, away from Albus, as he puts more effort into his attack. But then, he sees Gellert twitch his wand once, his own face showing the focus he has in this battle, and the orb starts moving towards Albus.
Albus raises his left hand, to help his Wand hand, by supporting the Magical strain of holding a spell active, and to help it push the orb backwards. And it does work, as the orb once again starts moving backwards, towards Gellert.
It keeps moving forward, with Albus putting more and more effort into it, and Albus takes a moment to glance at Gellert, and smiles through the concentration, seeing a bead of sweat leak from Gellert's head.
Gellert catches Albus eyes, his face straining, and says, "You know.. Albus.." he pauses, grunting in effort as the orb pushes backwards once again. But, Albus takes a step forward and straightens his arm, the orb pushing back once again.
Gellert continues speaking, as the orb continues to move towards him, and says, "You're as strong as ever, even with the odds stacked against you." The orb reaches Gellert, and is about to touch his wand, from where it would have spread to Gellert's body with a shock, stopping his Magic from working.
But then, it stops a foot away from Gellert's Wand, causing Albus to widen his eyes in shock, as Gellert raises his own left arm to join the right. He then raises his left arm backwards, and pushes both the left and right hands forward, with a second wave of Magic.
The second wave causes the Orb to zoom backwards, towards Albus, and he disconnects the spell, jumping to the side. The orb flies into the barrier, and splashes on it harmlessly, the Magic being absorbed by the Ward to better itself.
Albus looks up, with horror, and sees Gellert smirking at him from his position. Gellert wipes the sweat off his brow, and says, "But I'm still stronger than you."
Albus stands up, and raises his wand up, casting a shield charm to stop a dark red curse from hitting him. Before the curse even hits completely, Albus moves, and sends a barrage of stunning spells at Gellert's head.
"Stunners? Really Albus?" Gellert says, casually stopping all the spells with a wandless shield.
But then, suddenly, his shield breaks, a nonverbal expulso hitting it, and Gellert is sent skidding back. He raises his left arm, and slaps his hand downwards, using a small shield charm to slap the next stunner away.
He glares at Albus, and says, "You won't be able to capture me, Albus. You either kill me, or I kill you. This is how it was always going to be, there is no other way."
Albus looks at Gellert, a sad look upon his face, and says, "I am still going to try, old friend."
He then turns to his left, his wand twirling through the air, pointed downards. Gellert raises his own wand, and fires a reducto at Albus, to stop him from his work.
Unfortunately, the spell splashes harmlessly on a steel shield, held by a Knight made completely out of stone, that rises from the ground in front of Albus.
The Knight, transfigured completely by Albus, with its shield formed by Alchemically transmuting the stone shield he had originally transfigured to be held by the Knight, is joined by three more such Knights, all standing in front of Albus.
"Attack." Albus says, and immediately, the four knights, holding sharp steel swords, and shields, start running towards Gellert.
Gellert wasn't idle, however, and he twirls his own wand at the ground in front of him, transfiguring 3 gorillas in front of him. He wasn't proficient enough in Alchemy to transmute metal weapons, but he knew, that 3 large primates were enough to take care of the four knights.
As the knights and gorillas start their fight, Albus points his wand at Gellert, and shoots a concentrated ball of magic at him. Gellert slashes his wand downwards, casting a shield spell to block the magic blast, and then slashes his left hand towards Albus, sending a burst of lightning out of his hands.
Dumbledore waves his wand, causing one of the Knights to get in the way of the spell, with his sword raised. The Knight then stabs the sword into the ground, just before lightning hits it. The lightning hits the sword, and safely goes into the Earth, without harming anyone. Unfortunately, a simple banishing charm hits the Knight, sending it flying towards Albus.
Albus raises his wand with a shield spell already cast, and as the Knight crashes into his shield, he casts another spell at it, splitting it's volume, and transfigures them into a thousand sparrows, all made of stone, with their talons and beak made of the same steel that made the sword and shield of the knight.
The sparrows jump into flight, and dive bomb towards Gellert Grindelwald, who slashes his wand upwards to cast a Praesidio Totalum charm, creating a full spherical shield around himself, that protects him from anything physical.
But he doesn't stay still, and twirls his wand into the air, in front of him, focusing on casting a very specific spell. Dumbledore, who also hadn't stayed idle, helps his Knights defeat the gorillas, and sends them to attack Grindelwald's shield.
As a back up, he then focuses deep within himself, summoning all the desperation to win this fight, and stabs his wand towards Gellert, silently casting a Fulmen spell. The Fulmen spell sends a single, thick lightning bolt at Gellert, and immediately rips through his Shield spell.
Gellert was ready, however, and he does two things at once. With his left hand, he wandlessly casts a strong Protego spell to stop the lightning, and then, with his wand, he fires an intense wave of dark magic.
The dark magic wave was a spell of his own design, through many experimentations with the Elemental spells while in Durmstrang. He created a Dark Arts spell. A fire so hot, that everything in its path was immediately disintegrated, with not even ash left behind.
So, when the white coloured dark magic spell hit the approaching golems, it only caused them to disintegrate, with no damage to him.
Albus frowns, seeing the wave come closer, and slashes his wand upwards, forcing a wave of Pure magic through it, while keeping the image of what he wants to happen in his mind. The slash of his wand splits the Dark Magic wave into two, causing the two parts to veer off towards his two sides, and hit the barrier. Once again, the barrier holds, not getting damaged in the least.
Albus had already seen the spell before, when he had fought Gellert along with his brother, so long ago. And while it didn't hit anyone, he knew how dangerous it was to humans.
Spinning his wand over his head, Albus summons a fire whip, with his wand acting as the handle of the whip. The Fire Whip, over four meters long, spins around his head a few times, gaining momentum, and then, as he slashes his wand towards Gellert, it flies towards him, the tip aimed at his neck.
Gellert raises his wand upwards, conjuring a giant wave of water in front of him, which stops the flame whip before it can harm him. The water wave then grows two hands out of its front, that catch the flame whip, and water starts climbing the whip.
Albus sees the water start covering his flame whip, and raises his left arm, willing the fire to become even hotter. The increasing temperatures causes the water to start boiling, and evaporate away within a single second. A wave of his left hand sends the hot mist towards Gellert, who was not ready for it.
Some of it hits him in his face, and his raised hands. Gellert winces, and glares at Albus, as his burn wounds start healing right before Albus's eyes.
"What did you do?" Albus whispers out, horrified.
Albus is a teacher, a pretty good one at that. He has seen a lot of things, and amongst them, he has seen the school medic heal hundreds of wounds, and even burns. Whatever Gellert did, was not that.
He didn't even feel any magic being used for the wound healing, and Albus was confident in his senses.
Gellert chuckles, sounding even more menacing, and says, "It's a handy Ritual, Albus. Vinculum Sanguinis, the Bond of Blood. I can use it to absorb anyone, or anything within myself, as long as they're alive. You must've felt my Magic, didn't you? It's.. not stronger, no.. but better. I absorbed souls within myself, Albus, Life. As you can see, having so much Life within myself.. has some fortunate side effects."
Albus realises, that the fight has gotten just that much harder now. Gellert was immortal, or long living. Depending on how many Wizards he has.. absorbed(- and it still makes Albus's stomach clench in disgust, when he thinks about it) Gellert must already be the strongest Wizard in the world.
That's if he only stuck Wizards.
But he knew, that absorbing more Wizard souls does not mean that Grindelwald has more magic, it doesn't work like that. Magic is Soul, Blood, and Body. Increasing the Potency of just one won't increase the Potency of his Magic, his body is still weak. And there's a limit over how strong Wizards can get, even with Rituals.
Albus stands up, having ducked in preparation for a counter attack that never came, and says, "This just means your capture is that much more necessary, Gellert. How low have you fallen?"
Scowling, Gellert shoots a concentrated beam of Magic at Albus, who counters with his own beam, and says, "I've fallen low, Albus?! Tell me, was it me that tried to kill his own brother? Was it me that helped MUGGLES in their war, when no one was looking? You might have believed yourself invisible, Albus, but I could see you! I could see you all the time!"
As the two beams of magic begin fighting once more, Albus realises that his secret isn't a secret anymore, with the Lieutenants of Grindelwald, as well as the German Prisoners having listened to his words.
Albus knew, that Grindelwald had some hand in Hitler's successes, but he didn't know how far it went. And so, without anyone knowing, Albus had utilised his personal Time Turner, one he had gotten from the Ministry thanks to his Magical accomplishments, and joined the muggle war.
He had been under a disillusionment charm, so strong, that it made him completely invisibile, with some additional charms to prevent his detection. He had destroyed a few of the Nazi tankers, knowing he can't do too much without causing suspicions. And he had destroyed a single Hydra factory, deeming the Bombs they had made too dangerous to be left intact.
No one knew about his deeds, and it was by choice. He didn't want that negative attention towards him, and after seeing how Mason Aves had been turned into a propaganda machine, his fears were well founded.
Or at least, he thought no one knew. Gellert, it seemed, always knew.
Suddenly, Albus feels something climbing on top of his legs, and looks down. There was grass growing on the ground, just underneath him. Everywhere else, all the little greenery there was had disintegrated in Gellert's last attack.
Albus waves his hand at the grass, to dispell the Animation charm he believed cast on it, but his wave of hand does nothing to the grass. He then waves his hand again, to undo the transfiguration, once again to no avail.
Scowling, Albus focuses on the Volatile magical orb floating in front of him, and pulls his wand upwards, sending the orb flying upwards, while at the same time forcing Gellert's wand arm to point upwards too. As the orb explodes into the sky, Albus grunts, and sends a strong exploding hex at Gellert.
Gellert casts a shield, but the strength behind the spell sends him skidding backwards.
Albus takes the time to point his wand at his legs, and casts an Incendo charm, burning just the grass from his legs. He then looks up, to attack Gellert once again, but feels something climb his leg, again, this time far faster than before.
And then, before he can try anything, the grass pulls back for a moment, and then stabs into his leg. Somehow, what was supposed to be soft grass, had enough strength and sharpness to it, that it makes Albus bleed, as he gasps in pain.
"Ah!" He whispers, casting another incendo to burn the grass away.
Albus immediately summons a Bezoar from his pouch, feeling himself poisoned by the grass, and throws it in his throat, swallowing it whole. He then points his wand at his leg, to start healing the wounds, but before he can cast a spell, his wand gets pulled out of his hand and into the hands of his enemy.
Albus Dumbledore had lost, and Gellert Grindelwald had won.
'I…. Lost?' Albus wonders, feeling all his hope fly out. He had thought he would lose, there were very high odds of that happening, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt.
Grindelwald smirks at Albus's bleeding form, his hands stopping the blood from flowing too much, with Albus's wand in his left hand, and the Elder Wand in his right. He then starts walking towards Albus, each footstep taunting Albus with his loss.
Albus blinks his tears away, as Gellert stops a foot away from him, and asks, "Kill me then, finish it."
Gellert snorts, and slowly sits down on his knee. He keeps Albus's Wand in his own pocket, with Albus following it with his eyes, and waves his hand over the wound in Albus's thighs.
The wounds start healing, thanks to the Healing spell cast by Gellert, and Albus winces, feeling the pain of flesh binding together once again.
Gellert ignores his pain, and slowly says, "I never wanted to kill you, Albus. I want you to join me, just like old times."
Albus looks up from his now healed legs, and smiles up at Gellert. He says, "We both know what my answer is, Gellert. I will never join you, not after all you've done to the Magical World. To me."
"To? No, Albus. Everything I did, I did FOR the Magical World! How long will we stay hidden from the muggles? 50 years ago, these filthy idiots couldn't even bath regularly, and now, they have giant flying machines capable of destroying the entirety of London in a week. What do you think 50 more years will do, Albus, because I have Seen it, and they don't become any dumber." Gellert says, looking into Albus's eyes, pleading with him.
He says, "You think I showed them the Ritual just because I wanted conflict? No, Albus. I wanted the Wizards to see, that sooner or later, Muggles will realise the Worth of Wizarding Blood, the Worth of Magic. I just.. sped up the process. And while I regret the three Wizards I had to give up, it was necessary. For the Greater Good."
Albus chuckles, seeing through Gellert's manipulation, and asks, "Is that what you truly think? That you still work for the Greater Good? Admit it, Gellert. You abandoned the Greater Good the same day that I did, you just pretended not to. All of.. this.. is for YOUR Greater Good, not the Magical World's. All of this, is so you can get the Throne that you think you deserve, as the Ruler of the Wizarding World."
Contrary to Albus's expectations, Gellert smiles, and says, "You're right, I do believe I deserve to be the Ruler of the Wizarding World, the Supreme Warlock. But you know as well as I do, that under me, Wizards and Witches will live peacefully, it won't matter if they're Pureblood, Half-blood, or New-Blood."
"I believe, you're mistaking Peace with Quiet." Albus says, not believing anything Gellert was saying.
It has been a long time, since Albus believed in Gellert, and now, no matter what Gellert says, Albus knows that Gellert cannot be trusted with the fate of the Wizarding World.
A hand on his cheek brings Albus back to Gellert, as he says, "Peace, quiet, fear. Doesn't matter what you word it as, I will still rule the Wizarding World for years to come, without anyone rebelling against me." He then pauses, staring in Albus's eyes.
So long, Albus had wanted to see those beautiful eyes of his friend's again, to tell him how much he loved Gellert. But now, even if the opportunity was right in front of him, Albus refused to do it, he refused to give Gellert the satisfaction of hearing those words.
He had lost the fight, and with it, Gellert had won the personal War they had between them. His body was healed, but his Magic was not at 100 percent. Even if he somehow managed to get the Wand from Gellert's pocket, which was almost impossible, he wouldn't be able to defeat Gellert, he knew that. And it seems even Gellert knew that.
Gellert's lips twitch upwards, as he says, "You've realised the futility of any actions you might take against me. You're right, you won't win. No matter what you pull out of your robe pockets, you've lost. And it seems you still won't accept my offer."
He then stands up, pointing his Wand at Albus's head, and says, "At least you can rest easy, knowing that the Elder Wand is in good hands."
"I thought you didn't want to kill me." Albus says, stopping Gellert from casting a spell.
Gellert grins at Albus, as if he had already seen the question coming, and says, "I still don't want to, but I know the futility of my own actions. No matter what I promise you, no matter what I offer, you won't accept my hand now. I admire your guts, Albus, and I would have loved to have you there by my side, when I begin my rule. But.. what can you do?"
And then, a green coloured spell flies out of Gellert Grindelwald's wand, going towards Albus's resolute face. He didn't want to die a coward, if he was going to die, he was going to die looking straight at his killer's eyes.
Surprisingly, however, the Killing Curse splashes on the ground underneath Albus, as he finds himself involuntarily flying backwards, roughly rolling to a stop at the edge of the barrier separating the two old friends from the outer world.
The Barrier, which had gotten opaque sometime during their fight, glows brighter and brighter, increasing in intensity, and then, with a loud sound of glass breaking, the barrier breaks, the magic dissipating into thin air.
"You're not fucking dying yet, Dumbledore. You are not going to leave your mess in someone else's hands, uncleaned." A youthful and passionate voice yells, as the light of the barrier breaking dies down.
Albus chuckles, despite himself, as he recognises the voice. He says, "I wouldn't dream of it, Captain Aves."
He then turns his head to look at his back, and sees the German officials now free, fighting with the Lieutenants of Grindelwald, together with a couple Aurors, the Headmasters of the three European Schools, and Nicholas Flamel.
And standing beside Albus, was the one who had saved him from certain death, someone he didn't trust too much, but trusted him enough to not be on the wrong side of this War. Whether he was strong enough to take Grindelwald on, he didn't know. But he knew that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and it makes Albus smile wide, now relieved.
Mason Aves was here, and he was pissed.
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A/N: Welp, had to stop here. I hope I portrayed the Battle of the Century well.
The next chapter will continue with Mason's POV, from last chapter, because a lot of time has passed since the duel began. Wish me luck!
Thank you for your support! Tata!
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