A/N A what if idea. I actually have a full plot set in my mind for this one. This would explain so much though.

1945 - Flash Back

Albus knew he was defeated. His wand was snapped in half, his right leg was broken in several places, and his wand hand was shattered. He never thought he would be in this position. He had thought he would be able to beat the friend he had when he was a young man.

He looked up at that man standing over him. As soon as he did he saw red. This was the man that had killed his sister all those years ago when he, his brother, and this… this demon of a man had fought. It had been a stupid argument that had led to it but the stray spell that hit his sister had reacted badly with her wild magic and she had died.

Until this moment he hadn't known that, but the man had been more then happy to tell him that it was his spell that hit her, it had distracted Albus from the fight. Fawkes had saved him from the Killing Curse that the man had sent at Albus but he couldn't do anything against the followup spells.

Now the man was standing get over him. They were alone, the other fighters around the area were all dead or on their way to the next great adventure, as he was sure he was.

He looked again at the man, his friend, his lover, from all those years ago. They had made so many plans together, plans to move the Wizarding world into a utopia, to build a world were magicals didn't have to hide anymore. The problem had been in how they wanted to get to that utopia. They both agreed that the muggles would need to be controlled, what differed, and what caused the fight all those years ago was how they would go about doing it.

Albus wanted to work from the shadows, influence people, control through manipulation and careful spell work. The man standing over him wanted to control them through fear and enslave them. That day Albus found out just how evil the man was. Now as he looked back he could see that he wasn't much better. He had wanted the same thing but without killing or turning them into slaves.

Now though, that was all lost. The man, this old lover had defeated him in a duel that he knew would be to the death. He wouldn't have killed his old friend, he would have imprisoned him, he knew though that the same fate didn't await him.

He looked at the wand pointed at him. The fabled Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the unbeatable wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows. It turned his stomach seeing it in the hands of the man. He had searched years for the Hallows, just like the man had obviously done. Together they had obsessed over them in their youth. Now the wand was pointing at him.

"So.. this is.. how it ends... Gellert?" Albus choked out the words and the name of the man.

Gellert Grindelwald smiled down at him. "Albus, this is not the end, it is only the beginning." Magic started swirling around him. "The Germans are of no more use to me. My followers are all dead thanks to you and these others." Gellert shifted his gaze to the quiet battlefield around them. "No, this is not the end."

Albus looked up in horror as Gellert's face started to morph, his hair changing color, his nose, cheek bones shifting, his eye color shifting, even his height and weight changing. After a few seconds Albus couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was looking up at himself, like looking into a mirror. "I see now the wisdom of your words all those years ago Albus. Working from the shadows is the better route, less dangerous to me. It will take longer but I will achieve the Greater Good for our people."

All Albus could do was stare up at the man that know looked like him. "You know Albus" the man spoke again. "You will be a hero, defeater of the Dark Lord Grindelwald, they will give you power, but you won't accept it, not all of it. Headmaster of Hogwarts, that will be a good start, shape the minds of the next generation, and all those that come after it. But here I am monologuing, shame on me, good bye Albus, I shall miss you."

The green flash of the Killing Curse then hit Albus and his soul was ripped from his body. His soul lingered for just a moment over the scene, watching as Gellert transfigured his body to look like Gellert then for the man to walk away. Albus then floated up to his next great adventure.