Disclaimer: I don't own, just borrowing.

This drabble has been lying around my Word for ages, but I never had the motivation to publish it. But, Harry Potter was high up on my poll and this is short but sweet, so I thought, why not?

Enjoy.


Gellert Grindelwald is dying.

He finds it amusing, in hindsight, how easily the world can forget the past.

News of the new enemy drifts even to Nurmengard. They say his name in whispers, giving him ridiculous titles. He-who-must-not-be-named. You-know-who. The Dark Lord.

Grindelward wants to laugh at their fear. They guard one of the most dangerous wizards in the world, yet another wizard is able to instill fear merely by reputation, by word-of-mouth.

And yet, strangely, Grindelward is not proud of his title.

Being alone in prison for so long gives you a lot of time to reflect on your mistakes. Often, when Grindelwald is on the brink of sleep, he can still hear screams.

He did not kill Ariana. He's responsible for countless deaths amongst the wizarding world, but the first kill he was supposed to have done, the turning point of his life, didn't happen the way everyone insisted it did.

And oh, how Albus and Aberforth longed for it to have been him. It would have been so easy to blame Gellert, united against him, two avengers for the dead girl in the middle of the room. For the first time in their lives, that might have behaved like brothers.

But there was no way of telling. There had been spells everywhere- the air was thick with smoke, bright sparks exploding into the air. He could still see the imprints of them when he shut his eyes, seemingly burnt into his retinas. Ariana's lifeless blue eyes staring with an accusatory look they never would have accomplished in real life watching the three of them, silently judging, and blaming them all.

Her death marked the end of an era. For years, Gellert waited for Albus to come for him, waited for something to rise from the ashes of their old friendship, a spark of rebellion he would have to personally quell. But when Albus did finally arrive to stop him, it was with a cold finality, any words lost that spring night when three lives were changed forever, all because of one fragile girl with the power to destroy everything.

He wonders what would have happened that night if Ariana had never come downstairs, hadn't thrown herself between them, those enormous blue eyes begging for them to stop...

Now, he waits for Tom Riddle to arrive, to demand from him the thing that Grindelwald chased relentlessly in his youth, his mind clouded with delusions that there was something in this world that could make him invincible. But, as Grindelwald has learned, there is no way to be invincible if you are already damaged beyond repair.

When he tells Riddle he never had the Elder Wand, the snake-like man roars in frustration, pointing his wand at Grindelwald's smirking face. He can see the frustration and desperation in those blood red eyes, and it amuses him. So little has amused him over these many years, and he is happy that it's the last thing he will feel.

When the green light of Avada Kedavra fills the room, he is surprised by how painless it actually is. He doesn't close his eyes for a moment, mostly because of some lingering vestige of pride demanding that he remain defiant even as the light fades. But instead, the green swells before giving away to something strangely familiar to him...

Gellert smiles.

"Hello, Ariana."

And Ariana, as always, smiles back.