A/N Hello readers! Please enjoy this short tidbit from the POV of a young and foolhardy Albus Dumbledore. It was written for the quarterfinal round of season 8 of the QLFC, where I am Chaser 3 for the Tutshill Tornadoes.

Chaser prompt: write about someone who is unsatisfied with a part of their life.

Team no-bash character: Albus Dumbledore

Optional prompts: [color] crimson; [word] integrity; [dialogue] "Please don't walk away from this - from us."

WC = 1,444

The Price of Integrity

January 1900

The room was too cold. Really the whole house was according to Aberforth, but I haven't been out of my room much to notice. Since August and The Incident, I had holed away from the world. I nursed my wounds in private, both the physical one of my nose, and emotional one left by my greatest love.

I had never wanted life to come to this. I only sought a solution that would benefit the greater good of our community. Those of us who are brilliant have a right to share that with the community. How had my ideals led me so far from the path of morality?

My crimson red curtains, a remnant of my Hogwarts years, hung fully in the window. They were growing dusty from the lack of cleaning. Really, it wasn't that hard to just send a spell over and clean them, but I couldn't be bothered. My life was meant to be brilliant, fighting with words and wands for righteousness, and yet I could barely leave my room to make a sandwich most days with Ariana gone.

Some brave Gryffindor I was, huh?

A knock came at my door, interrupting my miserations. Without waiting for a response, Aberforth opened it and stared me down.

"Happy New Year," he said dully.

I sat up in my desk chair and nodded in reply.

"Look, I may not like you very much right now, but this isn't healthy," Aberforth told me bluntly. He walked in and cast cleaning spells deftly around the room. He banished the dirty dishes from my desk, dispelled the dust from my tomes, and the curtains gleamed their crimson glory. He sent my framed photo of myself and Gellert flying into the dustbin. Then, he turned to leave.

Pausing in the doorway, he said over his shoulder, "Only you can get your act together now. Confront your demons and then get back on track."

I sighed. Aberforth left and shut the door behind him. Maybe he was right. So, I would face my demons head-on. Turning on my heel, I apparated down to the treehouse that Gellert and I had called our own in the nearby woods.

The truth was that I missed him. Working with Gellert toward a greater good for society had made me feel fulfilled, and now my life was feeling empty. Not only that, but I had been truly happy during our summer together. Gellert's company left me mentally stimulated and emotionally satisfied.

Now what was there?

I trailed my hands over some dusty parchment that contained our plans for a brighter tomorrow. I shook my head. They mostly involved motivational speaking, but looking back on them we had planned for so much sacrifice and bloodshed.

How could that have been satisfying for me?

"I knew you would come back eventually," I heard spoken over my shoulder. I whipped around, drawing my wand to see the one man I had hoped was gone holding his hands up in surrender.

Gellert Grindelwald. My first love. My blood brother.

I slowly lowered my wand, waiting for him to say more.

"I have a new hideout, if you want to join me," he said smoothly. That bothered me. He was acting as though no time had passed, as though nothing had happened. I remained silent.

"Obviously we are a little bit set back but we don't need to start from scratch -"

"Was that all Ariana was to you?" I interrupted coldly, unable to hold my tongue any longer. "A setback?"

Gellert reached out, as though to grab my hands and sooth me, and I flinched back. He had done this before, usually when we came up with a fantastic breakthrough in our planning and I would shake with anticipation. However, that was before he caused the death of my sister and the rift I now had with my true brother.

"She got between me and you," he said after a long pause, just as smoothly as before. "She was honestly more of a setback while she was alive. You're free now to be brilliant. Together, our brilliance can change the world," he continued.

I shuddered. "So you're saying…"

Gellert shrugged. "An opportunity arose and I took it. Ariana was an obstacle and had no part of our great plans."

Shaking my head, I backed away from Gellert toward the door. All he was saying was basically an admission to the death of my sister… and I was the one to stand by his side?

I was wounded… My heart ached for his touch, but my soul ached at the thought that my baby sister had been a casualty for our greater good…

No. HIS greater good.

No longer ours.

My loved ones would no longer be sacrificed for his ideals. I had too much integrity for that.

"How can you justify the use of dark magic on innocents as part of the greater good?"

"I freed you! So that we could be together!" Gellert protested loudly.

I shook my head, turning to walk out the door. He was trying to appeal to my love for him, and I knew that I would not be able to resist his pull for long.

"You were selfish, Gellert. The greater good is about being selfless, about giving all that we have to obtain a brighter future for all wizards."

Gellert grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. "Please… don't walk away from this - from us..." Gellert said quietly. "Think about how great we could be together."

He was a great manipulator - of this I was certain. I shook my arm free, but refused to turn and look at him. My resolve would break if I did. "I'm no fool, Gellert. You care more about yourself than any greater good," I said.

I didn't need to turn around to know he was scowling. "I need you on my side, Albus," he insisted. "The greater good needs you!"

This was too much for me to handle. I saw crimson. I spun around, drawing my wand and standing at my full height.

I don't deserve this...

"With you, it's always about sides; about the greater good. What about us?" I demanded. "You and me. Together. Am I not enough?"

Gellert stood still, for once at a loss for words. Over time, I had learned to ignore much of his narcissism, but his total lack of caring about me just put me over the edge.

It was too much for me to handle.

"I cannot go through with this, Gellert. These Dark Magics you're messing with are best left alone. You're creating a fire you won't be able to control, and I have enough integrity to know that it cannot continue."

"Albus-" Gellert started but I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

"You do not get to dictate my moral code. I could have been the one to kill my own sister, but you expect me to remain by your side? All the while you treat me like no more than a lieutenant. We were once so much more…" I trailed off.

I told myself that I would not cry, no matter how difficult this was. My resolve became firm as Gellert's pleading face became cold and detached.

"If your… integrity…" he spat. "prevents you from joining me, then so be it. Let your morality get in the way of what is best for wizarding kind."

He didn't look perfect anymore. No, Gellert Grindelwald looked like the monster that I feared he was becoming. Emotionless. Cold. Unloving.

Yes, I longed for his companionship, but not when he was nothing but a shell. Dark Magic had corrupted him - it was why I had abruptly stopped after the incident with Ariana. No matter how I loved him, he could not love me in return.

"Goodbye, Gellert," I said softly, finally turning and walking out the door of our once-shared treehouse. With a pop of apparition, everything in the treehouse was put behind me.

When I returned to my bedroom alone, I still did not cry. Aberforth had been right, but I had known that all along. Love makes us foolish and blind.

I was no brave Gryffindor. As I sat on my bed, fighting tears, the rage I had felt earlier returned. With an enraged flick of my wand, those Gryffindor curtains Aberforth had cleaned earlier burst into crimson flames.

Fitting for the end of an era.

I would not allow my dear blood brother to manipulate me. I only hoped his ends would truly justify the means when the time came that he would put our plans into motion.