School: Mahoutokoro
Year: 5
Prompt: "Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think for one second that I am one of them." – Sherlock
Wordcount: 952
Dumbledore watched the clock ticking. There was another hour for his portkey to go off. He ignored few of the portraits staring at him. After all it was unusual to see the Headmaster brooding.
He mindlessly stared at his blackened hand.
He opened the drawer in his desk and pulled out a box. Taking a deep breath, he removed the lid and stared at the destroyed ring. How could a hundred and sixteen-year-old wizard be so stupid. He huffed a laugh. He opened another one and stared at the vials of memories.
Harry and his gang would be back soon. He had to start preparing the boy. He didn't know how much time he had left and felt bad leaving Harry with so much burden.
He felt worse for Severus. He had asked too much from him. But it had to be done. Severus' soul was already tarnished. He didn't want the younger Malfoy to go through the same thing. He glanced at Fawkes who was grooming himself.
"What do you think Fawkes, should I take the Portkey?"
Fawkes resolutely looked away, as if he couldn't look at his master without getting angered.
Dumbledore sighed.
At half past ten, he got up and left his office. Five minutes later he came back and took the box with him.
When the Portkey activated, he landed in fiercely cold, snowy area. He saw the gates at a distance and walked towards it. This was not the first time he had taken a portkey to the Austrian Alps. But it would be the first time he would be crossing the gates. After his curse had settled in, he begun to prepare immediately. There had been a lot of screening and questioning to give him access. He was given permission just for being Albus Dumbledore. Well, the joke was on them.
As soon as he reached the gates, five wands pointed at him and asked for papers.
Nurmengard was practical and used the Muggle papers instead of parchments.
After ten more checkpoints and the last one where he surrendered his wand, he was led inside a labyrinth and they finally reached the cell. Nurmengard was way cleaner than Azkaban but the cold was bone chilling. They didn't need Dementors.
He felt exceedingly nervous.
"I will leave you here Mr. Dumbledore. Just give us a call if you want to leave," the guard said.
He opened the cell and found his old friend, sitting patiently at a table, a book in his hand.
"Hello Albus," he said without glancing up from his book.
"Hello Gellert," he replied just as casually as if it hadn't been more than half a decade since they had met and Albus had defeated him in a duel.
He sat back in his chair, suddenly feeling calm.
Gellert merely flipped the page of his 101 Word Search book.
"How on earth are you solving those without a quill or pen," Dumbledore asked him.
"They feared I would stab you." He finally lowered his book and looked at him.
"You look well Albus. Except for that ugly hand of yours."
"Thank you. You don't look bad for a man who has been in prison for fifty-one years."
He did indeed look well. As well as you can look in old age and prison clothes.
Gellert shrugged.
"Weren't you surprised to see me," Dumbledore asked finally giving in to his curiosity.
"Who else would visit me, fifty odd years after my imprisonment. What have you done Albus?" Gellert smirked.
"Nothing to be proud of."
"Oh, so will you be joining me soon?"
"If you'll be leaving for heavenly abode, then yes."
"So, you are ticking off the last thing on your list: become a martyr," Gellert joked but he saw his eyes tighten.
"Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think for one second that I am one of them."
"What have you done?"
He removed the box from his robes, the one thing he had managed to convince the guards to let him take. He placed it on the desk.
Gellert removed the lid and stared at the contents unimpressed.
"Too late for this Albus. Besides you are not supposed to give me a charred, broken, ugly ring."
"Remember that project we undertook but left it midway in Spain?"
There was no way he was taking Tom's name or Horcruxes, as there was fifty-fifty chance their conversation was being recorded. They had indeed taken up researching about Horcruxes but had left it, when they reached dead ends.
So many years later and he still didn't have a concrete answer. Hopefully Harry would be able to convince Slughorn this year.
Gellert's eyes widened and he stared at Albus' hand.
"Merlin, why would you do that?" he muttered.
"Because, the ring contained what you were after and I wanted to talk to Ariana. At the end of the day I'm just weak man who gives anguish to others."
Gellert sneered, "I remember you being above such temptations."
"I'm just a human."
Gellert took a shaky breath, and his hand shook a little.
"Did you talk to her.?"
"Yes. It did not give me any satisfaction."
"I hope you are taking care of my wand."
"It's not yours any longer but yes, I am."
"What are you going to do now? Your little puppet, seems like a good soldier but can he defeat him?"
"I will teach Harry."
"The poor boy." Dumbledore couldn't agree more.
There was a knock on the door and the guard came in.
"Your time is over Sir." It indeed was.
"I will see you soon Albus," Gellert said while looking in his eye.
Albus nodded and left.
A/N: If anyone is unaware or can't remember, Gellert wanted to be the master of Deathly Hallows. He owned the Elder Wand, which became Dumbledore's after his defeat. The Gaunt ring had the Resurrection Stone. Ariana died because she got in between Dumbledore and Gellert's duel and a stray curse hit her. No one knew who's curse it was.
I was considering writing Snape for this prompt but couldn't think of anything. The only other character fit for this prompt, seemed Dumbledore.
Reviews are appreciated :)