He didn't like being pestered, one would have thought after so many years as a leader he would have gotten used for it, but his previous coping mechanism had just been to curse those that tried, unless of course he had forgotten something, in which case he rewarded them. Simple, but unfortunately ineffective when dealing with a wizard who was meant to be equal, if not superior in this war.

Albus did also have a point, he would have to destroy the diadem eventually, and now that they had the cup as well, it was the perfect opportunity. The duelling room was the perfect location; disused to the point of abandonment, heavy warding augmented for the occasion by both great wizards and conveniently empty of other vessels for the soul fragment to flee to.

The cup had been easy to retrieve, actually getting Moody to hand it's custody to Gellert was another matter, but Albus had interceded and now the golden chalice glittered innocently next to the diadem in the centre of the room.

Albus looked confident, which Gellert found slightly foolish, although the light wizard could be forgiven for believing the horcrux to be defenceless – the last one hadn't even had a chance to defend itself, and had been rather painless. He had also theorised that Harry's blood protection from his mother helped to suppress the horcrux in him, the only other real dark magic Albus had been exposed to.

'Ready?' Gellert asked, and the other wizard nodded, withdrawing his childhood wand from his embroidered sleeve. Gellert already had the elder wand drawn and levelled at the objects, fearing that any moment of weakness could….

Hermione?

Hermione waved her wand and heavy manacles appeared around his hands and feet. His wand arm dropped under their weight, the metal cutting into the soft skin of his wrists. Behind her, a stern faced ICW wizard sneered at him, his expression in direct contrast to the pain on hers.

'How could you Gellert?' She whispered brokenly. 'You promised you'd be someone I could be proud of.' Albus stepped forwards, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him for reassurance. The older wizard nodded and Hermione turned back to him, tears glistening in her eyes.

'I don't understand…' he managed as two ICW officials moved to flank him, wards weaving through the manacles to suppress his wandless magic.

'I found your plans Gellert, the ones to suppress the muggles.' His mind flitted back to the documents in Nurmengard, he had assumed they had been taken and burned long ago, perhaps when Albus had breached the castle, when they had fought that epic duel. How had Hermione seen them? How could she not hate him if she had seen the true extent of his plans as they had been at his defeat, driven to extremes by the demands of his followers? Detailed blueprints of labour camps, drafts of laws to limit muggle research, wealth and influence. Plans to reveal wizard kind in all their glory, strategies to quell resistance, to subjugate the new slave class… to hurt people like her parents.

The now familiar pain shot through him. He wondered how she had found the plans, did Albus send her; he doubted she would have gone on her own. The older wizard was giving her that look again, almost confirming his theory.

He hesitated, that wards on his manacles weren't finished yet, and he was still holding his wand. Hermione hated him now, she'd seen the plans, she couldn't think worse of him now….

He raised his wand, having to raise both hands with it, the ICW wizards were too slow to react as he uttered that curse.

Green light flashed, blindingly bright and was ducked by Albus, he sent another flash of green and another. Albus ducked and wove, his embroidered robes swirling heavily. Hermione watched on with a cruel grin.

Hermione didn't have a cruel grin like that!

Had he really fallen for such a juvenile trick?

A manticore blossomed from his wand, engulfing Hermione in a second. She screamed, shrill and achingly familiar, increasing to inhuman volume as black smoke began to billow from her mouth. With a savagery he hadn't felt in years he poured power into the spell, dragons and serpents engulfed her small figure, obscuring her from sight as the fiery beast raged and snapped at one another.

With a final flourish, he forced the fire to die down leaving a pair of molten pools of metal and a very shaken Albus Dumbledore.

Without another word he holstered his wand and strode from the room.

Hermione greeted him with a small smile, clearing space at her table for him to sit. She continued with her homework after just a brief greeting, completely unaware of the turmoil within him. For a moment he steeled himself, then he began.

'I didn't want things to go as far as they did.' Hermione looked up at him curiously. 'I wanted to get rid of the statute of secrecy because I thought we could stop the war I'd seen in my visions. I thought we could guide them out of their dark age and they would thank us. It was different then, muggles suffered from diseases, poverty, racism and sexism beyond anything we see today.'

He took a deep breath.

'I planned to do it legally, but then I became interested in the dark arts and my mother was beaten for practicing witchcraft – she already had a caution against her for breaking the statute and wasn't allowed to carry her wand. I was expelled from Durmstrang, I met Albus and his hatred of muggles inflamed what I had experienced at school – yes he hated muggles.' He added, managing to smile wryly at her shocked expression. He had her full attention now.

'My plans changed, to teach muggles their rightful place. The dark arts called to me, I could see myself becoming powerful with them, so I kept practicing. Aberforth… Albus' brother, you must know him… no? Anyway, he caught me one night, and threatened to tell Albus. I threatened him and he tried to curse me, I became angry and we duelled, Albus joined in. I was winning, and I almost killed him, but then Ariana joined in and everything got messy. I don't know who did it, I think me because my soul was already damaged, anyone else would have felt the first tear, but a curse hit Ariana and she died.' He paused to take a breath, images of that life changing moment flashing through his mind.

'I fled any my plans changed again because I was on the run. I spent years gathering followers and researching the hallows.' Her blank expression at those words was startling, for something he knew so well to be completely unfamiliar with her was jarring.

'The hallows are three powerful artefacts. The unbeatable wand, the invisibility cloak and the resurrection stone. I stole the wand from Gregorovitch. The people that answered my call for change initially were without fail other dark wizards, old families like my own who resented the categorising of magic. Once my following garnered a dark reputation, fanatics came to me looking for chaos. By this point my benevolent take over had become a bloody revolution. We launched attacks on Austria-Hungary to secure Nurmengard's position, followed by campaigns against my home people in Germany and the Russians. We were confronted in Belgium in the trenches of that war which I had first seen. Things went more and more out of control from there…'

'My followers incited revolution in Russia and used the chaos to seize control of the magical government, I infiltrated MACUSA in an attempt to unleash an Obscurus on New York, and perhaps to use it to get revenge on Albus. Six months later I escaped and, driven half mad by visions of the second war, I recruited more followers in France. Scamander managed to stop me burning Paris to the ground, but I tricked the aurors into attacking first…'

For hours he spoke, telling her every gruesome detail of the war, every crime he had committed was laid bare, the plans that probably lay forgotten in some room of his castle. Hermione's face remained carefully blank but he refused to stop, no terrible secrets would be left to reveal after this day.

He finally finished, faltering as he realised he was finally done. He felt exhausted, wrung out like a cloth and pegged to a line in a gale. Flogged by the wind until he was ragged and bleached by the sun.

Hermione hugged him.

He froze. He had not anticipated that reaction.

'That was very brave.' She mumbled into his shoulder. He stiffly wrapped his arms around her in return, feeling incredibly awkward. 'What happened?'

'The horcruxes…' he paused awkwardly, not wishing to admit how badly he'd been bested. 'They showed me a vision as we were destroying them.'

'A future vision?' She asked curiously, pulling away from the hug to look him in the eye.

'No, a false vision. I assume. I wanted to ensure it never took place.' He inserted a tone of finality, which Hermione picked up on. The young witch then quickly and smoothly changed the subject to their next lesson.