Title: The History of Evil Men
Pairing: Mention of Dumbledore x Grindelwald
Prompts: "History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake." (James Joyce, Ulysses)
Characters: Tom Riddle Jr. and Gellert Grindelwald
Word Count: 850
AN: The characters are probably OOC and I have mixed information from the movies with information from the books and I've also added information that I'm not sure is true or not. Also, completely uninteresting information but I was listening to Heartbeats by José González when I wrote this.
History is written by the victors. So, goes the saying.
When Gellert Grindelwald was defeated it was the history of Albus Dumbledore that was published. They wrote about his courage, his strength and his will to do good. They chose a picture when Albus was unaware that he was being photographed, when he was carefree and staring intensively into a book with just the shadow of a smile on his face.
When they wrote about Gellert Grindelwald they wrote about his childhood. They wrote about the troubled child that turned into a troubled youth and then into an even more troubled adult. Every mistake he had ever made was spread with more than a hint of cruelty seeping through the lines making it painfully obvious that whoever wrote that particular piece enjoyed dragging him in the mud. He was described as intelligent, yes very much so, but oh so very broken. They wrote that his intelligence could only lead to one thing: mass destruction. Thank god for Albus Dumbledore, their saviour.
Gellert read the first few articles. He laughed even though his heart was breaking. They all thought they knew him. They all believed that they knew what kind of person he was. They thought that they knew everything there was to know about his background. The young man with the blond hair reaching his shoulders brushed tears away from his intense grey eyes as he sat with his back against the cold stonewall. They knew nothing, nothing at all. Especially not about Albus. If only they did. What would they say about their saviour then?
Gellert closed his eyes. The smile turned into a frown as he leaned his head into the palms of his hands. Though so many years had gone by he could still feel the light touches of Albus fingertips across his chest as they laid together on his bed. He could bring out the feelings that took over his body when they kissed. But he could never clear his mind, could never make the thoughts go away, the way Albus did. Gellert could not count how many nights he had spent sharing bed with Albus being comforted by his best friend as children and then something more when they were teenagers. He still remembered the sense of calm that took over when he felt Albus wrap his arms around his chest. It was the only thing that could make the shaking disappear. The only thing that made the thoughts go away.
More than once Albus asked him what made him so afraid. Gellert laughed even as a child and answered with a wisdom far beyond his years. "History."
Albus, as a child, understood more than he let on. Gellert knew that. And Albus knew that there was more to the single worded answer that his love gave him. "History gives you nightmares?"
The smile fell from Gellerts face. "History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake." He turned around, instantly missing the feeling of Albus hands against his chest but smiling as he saw the young man's understanding eyes, his thin lips and the slight bump on his nose from when he broke it. "Do you know who said that?" Albus shook his head.
Gellert never told him. He wanted to. But as he watched Albus face he felt those thoughts invade his mind. It was nothing short of painful to have one's mind be viciously attacked every night. Gellert scrunched his face together and let out a barely audible gasp as the air hitched in his throat. Albus leaned his head onto Gellerts, not needing to ask what was going on, and he gently touched the young man's cheeks with his thumbs.
In hindsight that was not the most painful moment Gellert had experienced. And if he had known what faith would bring then maybe he would have done something different. He wanted to believe, sometimes, that he would have enjoyed the moments he shared with Albus more. But he knew, within the depth of his intelligent and cynical mind, that he wouldn't have. Because he wouldn't have understood. He wouldn't have been able to grasp the idea that Albus one day would not be in his life.
When Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort the same thing happened.
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, was a nice boy with a hard past who made it through the pain and the struggles that life handed him. He was their saviour and they were ever so grateful that they had him.
Lord Voldemort or Tom Riddle Junior was nothing short of a monster. There was no other way of describing the young man. Teachers told tales of his cruelty, other students claimed that they had always known that something was deeply wrong with the young man. Evil seeped through their words. Evil that could not be missed or overlooked even when you read it instead of hearing it. Tom Riddle Junior was inspired by Gellert Grindelwald they wrote as they repeated the history of the first monster.
And Gellert smiled, they still knew nothing.
The end