Wigtown Wanderers
Keeper (Reserve)
Prompt: (Phantom Zone/Prison Dimension) Write about a place where the worst criminals are imprisoned. (In this case, I will write about Nurmengard Castle)
Word Count: 1,005
Space Address: E3 - Mountain
Warnings: Wizard Nazi propaganda and the main character believes they are right. Implied rape of a child.
~o0o~
High in the Austrian Alps, hidden in such a way that neither Muggle nor wizard could see it unless they were looking straight on, lay a fortress so formidable and towering it could have been its own mountain. Once, the castle was built into the rockface, but years wore it down like the seam of the handle onto a clay teapot in the kiln. The sun shone three days out of the year in this spot and the rest were either spent in grey clouds or blue darkness.
This fortress was specially designed to ensure that all magic was dampened upon entering. The runes creating this had been carved into anchor stones and were, thus, unbreakable unless one could navigate the tunnels running through the bedrock. In the highest room of the tallest tower sat Gellert Grindelwald, a prisoner in the prison he himself had designed.
For fifty-one years, he paced the ten-by-eight room. Fifty-one years, he scratched tally marks on the walls. Fifty-one years, he was alone with his thoughts. As he was known for being silver-tongued and persuasive, his guards were either deaf or didn't speak his language. A new one came along every decade or so. Thrice a year his meager bedding was changed. Twice a week his chamber pot was cleared out. Once a day he was given a meal of bread, gruel, and stale water.
In all his years of isolation and thought, he never regretted his so-called crimes against the Muggle world. Wizards were the higher life-form. It was no different than training dogs for the hunt and horses for the cart. Muggles were beneath wizards, and he was on his way to helping others see that. If it weren't for Albus Dumbledore, he might have succeeded. That fool. Whatever their disagreements, he would give anything to see his first friend, love, and mortal enemy one last time.
"Gellert…how far you've fallen."
Grindelwald raised his head, slowly. Standing behind the iron door was a tall man with waist-length silver hair and beard. He was finely dressed in silver robes, and his blue eyes shone behind half-moon spectacles. He would recognize that nose anywhere. The nose broken twice. Both times by him. This man's hand was charred black and withered away like the monkey paw Grindelwald sold to a Mr. Burke before he was imprisoned.
"Albus Dumbledore…" Grindelwald grinned, wondering if he had performed some slight bit of accidental magic to bring the other man to him. "You look terrible. Whatever happened to those classic suits you enjoyed in your youth?"
"At least I am not in prison garb," Albus replied steadily.
"No…no you're not." Grindelwald stood, shuffled over to the door, and braced his withered hands against the iron bars. "If you hadn't betrayed us and everything we stood for, we wouldn't be standing where we are now. We would have been kings."
"Monarchies topple every day. What you were doing was not right, Gellert."
Grindelwald cackled mirthlessly which turned into a coughing fit.
"All these years apart has made you delusional, Albus," he said once he caught his breath. "You once saw the world like I do. You didn't turn against me because you suddenly thought Muggles had worth. You only turned from me because of your sister. Are you still so naive as to think that death is worse than what those Muggle boys did to her? She was only six, but that didn't matter to them when they left her scarred and half-dead. You don't fight for the Light, Albus, you just fought against what you believed was the Dark."
Albus' gaze hardened.
"I've changed, Gellert. You have no idea what I've been doing to make sure another you doesn't come into power."
"Oh, I've heard the whispers. I've read the newspapers I'm given to wipe my ass with. Voldemort. Only thing I don't understand is his hatred for Muggle-borns. A magic-user is still a magic-user."
"That isn't the point Gellert. Life is life."
"And what about this Harry Potter the papers claim as their only hope? You expect a child to defeat a wizard that has returned from Death?"
"I have been watching over him all these years and training him."
Gellert spat on his ex-lover's shoe. "Raising him as a lamb to slaughter. But then I'm sure that's all part of your great plan. You always did think that your own ideas were best. You really haven't changed, Albus. But I know you didn't come here to catch up on old bygones. Why have you really come? To see if I had changed? Or one last go before you kick the bucket?"
Albus flushed and his nostrils flared.
"You are dying…" Gellert should have felt glee at this, but instead he just felt hollow. "I suppose you never did find the Deathly Hallows."
"To become Master of Death isn't to never die," said Albus. "It is to embrace him as a friend when time runs out."
"Well, you are right about one thing," said Gellert. "We are both out of time."
He backed away from the door and sat down on his hard bed to count away the remaining years of his life on the stone walls. He paid no attention to the still figure of Albus Dumbledore at his cell door. The conversation was over. There was nothing left to say to his once lover and betrayer. Soon enough, they would both be dead and the world would continue turning without them. For now, Grindelwald would continue marking the days away on the walls of stone until he could no longer do so.
When Albus left, Grindelwald let his head fall to the side and gazed after him. They could have been great together. They were great together. They had held the entire world in their hands for just a moment and it had been marvellous until Albus had snatched it away for himself and thrown Grindelwald in the prison he had designed for his enemies.
Grindelwald wondered silently which of them would leave the world they had commanded first. The one who was trapped in stone walls and darkness or the one who walked free and basked in the light.