Chapter One
"It is thought that magic blooms from the most unexpected souls. Then it is truly the unexpected whom we must expect the most from.
When a child is mistreated, and asked to hide their true nature, I think their nature becomes rebellious. Without the confines of adulthood, their soul doesn't know stifling order."
"Yes, exactly," Grindelwald exclaimed, "They would be a source of unbridled power. Pure energy."
Albus looked into Grindelwald's eyes. For the second time that day he saw a shadow age Grindelwald into a much older man.
"Potentially," Albus said, entertaining the possibility for a moment, "if directed, if taught, that child could change the world."
Grindlewald put his hands on Albus's and whispered, "Remember this morning, the mug… woman on the street."
The memory of that morning bloomed in Albus's mind. The woman, wearing newspaper around her head as a bonnet, had softly pleaded, as if to herself, for anything. Then the image changed, her posture straightened and the newspaper fell to reveal a silk black scarf.
"But how, Grindlewald, do you expect to do that?" Albus whispered back.
"It's all a matter of order. The world has grown as a child of untold power, beaten and without guidance. You've seen it. You see it on the streets. You see it at home where wives are kept servants of their own expectations of reality and the husbands who bind them to it. The husbands who once dreamed of being heroes who have now trained themselves to stop thinking past the next day. It's a world still in its infancy. But we can change that. We can save them."
"Then you are still a boy who sees himself a hero," Albus laughed. He pulled Grindelwald closer and they kissed. His tongue tasted of cinnamon and chocolate. They stayed interlocked for several minutes, until they heard a cough and broke apart.
"Albus." Aberforth stood in the back entrance of their family's cottage.
Albus stood up immediately. Looking back at Grindelwald he said, "Ariana's here."
Grindelwald crossed his legs and folded his hands on his lap.
Albus walked into his childhood home. He sometimes fantasized about the walls folding in on themselves until he could bury it in the backyard. But he knew that Grindelwald fantasized about them burning down. His final shackles holding Albus back from changing the world with him.
"Ariana, how are you?" Albus knelt down and Ariana came towards him. She silently grasped his neck with both hands and brought him towards her.
"Abby," she said with much difficulty. She quickly receded back into herself, and wrung her hands, as if by doing so she could contain herself in her thin frame.
"She misses you. She was alone all afternoon while you were with your friend," Aberforth said to Albus. He dug each phrase into Albus deepening old cuts.
Albus had stopped telling Aberforth to not call Grindelwald 'his friend.' Albus sighed.
"We were just in the garden," Albus started, but Aberforth interrupted him.
"Yes, you were. Leaving Ariana alone. Again." Aberforth slammed his fist on the table, "don't walk away from me Albus. Feel something. Get angry."
"It's not good for Ariana," Albus whispered.
"Don't do that. Don't you dare talk about her like she's not here. You with your fucking lofty goals of saving the world with your boyfriend. When you don't give a fuck about your own sister."
"I'm here, aren't I."
"There it is," Aberforth yelled. Albus turned on the spot and went back towards the garden, to Grindelwald. "Don't walk away from me Albus!"
Aberforth pulled out his wand, and everything happened at once. Albus turned back to Aberforth with his hands raised, but Grindelwald was already behind him in the doorway.
Grindelwald's wand was aimed directly at Aberforth. With a small flick, Aberforth's wand flew into the air.
Aberforth screamed with fury and charged Grindelwald. Albus turned towards Grindelwald and tried to shield the incoming Aberforth from Grindelwald's wand.
But Grindelwald muttered under his breath and Aberforth flew up, hit the ceiling and fell.
Ariana screamed. Grindlewald took a step back.
Albus turned to Ariana, but she was already gone. A mass of black liquid hovered for a moment where she had stood. Then it sparked and rushed Albus.
Grindelwald pushed him aside and thrust his wand at the black mass racing towards them. A burst of green light obliterated the mass.
Albus fell to his knees, begging Grindelwald to stop. Begging him, even though there was nothing left to do. Begging him, long after he had dissaperated.