Chapter 7: Drawn From the Natural

"Some say that art is unmoral; and some of these arts are very unmoral. I may not have described them here in the correct conventional terms; but then I do not think that art is unmoral. Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere." G.K. Chesterton in 'The Illustrated London News' (1928)

After we had finished casting protective concealment charms to prevent Muggles from approaching the beach or seeing us from a distance, we set up the changing cabin, the umbrellas and the towels and took turns changing. I came out and, even though the beach was deserted and powerful spells guaranteed no one could see us, I felt somewhat uncomfortable in the formfitting sleeveless two piece swimsuit. I was compelled to ask: "Are these really school issued?"

Gellert laughed from inside the cloth changing cabin: "They are school issued, but you have to remember that at Durmstrang there is no one of the fair sex who can be scandalized by these suits, not even a congenial squid widow. These swimsuits were designed for the practical purpose of letting you swim comfortably in them, not for being seen."

"But you said that the school is always somewhere in the far north. Shouldn't you have favored more fabric in your swimming wear? If not for modesty, then for practical considerations of not freezing..."

"If freezing had been a concern, we wouldn't have swam at all. There are magical ways of dealing with the cold, up to a point. Past that point the professors at Durmstrang think that physical hardship builds character. That is why the second most popular extracurricular activity, besides Quidditch, is the duelling club. A wizarding duelling club that is not beneath encouraging Muggle style duelling."

"No, that can't be right. Muggle duelling is encouraged, really?

"All is fair in war, even eye-pocking, biting and scratching. Of course I wasn't allowed to behave unwizardingly… Nagymama would have skinned me alive, or sent me her seconds, if I had dared to do anything to shame the name of Grindelwald."

I smiled teasingly: "And yet, you were the unbeaten duelling champion."

"It was also a matter of survival. You try facing those pure-blood fanatics with what they called girlish length blond hair and a keen interest in Muggle technology. Not to mention I was what most of them considered second class Hungarian nobility; in order to survive I had to show them the little Transylvanian cub had fangs. While you were learning to parley in Mermish, my friend, I was learning the persuasion of violence. And I learnt it so well that I was boatswain for four years in a row. That was another source of resentment for my classmates, as the Caravel's boatswain is typically the chaser of the winner Quidditch team -there are two, blue hawks and red eagles- which I wasn't. That led to more duelling, both in club and out of it. It also established my reputation as someone dangerous to cross."

"That sounds awful."

He came out of the cabin wearing the scant swimsuit and a big smile: "School had its moments.

"Having that reputation also sounds very lonely. Did you have any friends at school, Gellert?"

"Did you have friends at school, Albus? Besides adoring Watson, who I count as entourage."

"Touché." I said while tugging down the short that was riding uncomfortably up my behind.

Gellert grabbed the waistline and pulled the short down chuckling: "It is supposed to go on your waistline, right there." He touched me with a finger making me shiver.

I blushed: "Then my bellybutton will show when I move. I don't think this is the right size for me."

"I told you these were my old school uniforms, they were the right size for me a couple of years back. You can enlarge your top if you want. Not that I mind looking at your midriff. You have quite a lovely bellybutton. And I hope you don't mind seeing mine. I wouldn't even bother using my top, if I didn't think displaying my naked chest would make you even more uncomfortable than you are right now. I'm curious, are all Hogwarts alumni so weary of the human body?"

I straitened the top and undid and redid the blind hem with my wand to gain a few centimeters in order to cover my lovely bellybutton, which I very much minded him seeing. I couldn't think straight if he did. I cleared my throat: "I wouldn't say weary, but, being coed requires us to follow the rules of civilized coexistence among the sexes, one of which is showing the appropriate modesty."

"Does that perceived exercise of modesty include shunning depictions of nudity?"

"I...Shun…. Nudity...I..." I was chocking on my own tongue: "Why do you ask?"

"Because of the way you avoided looking at the statues of Diana and Apollo in my staircase. Hogwarts is famous for its magical art, but I take it that art exercises modesty too. If you were used to seeing statutes or paintings fully nude, you wouldn't have reacted like you did. You were exquisitely careful not to look Apollo below the waistline and you didn't very well know where to look at Diana. I found it hilarious when you settle to look at her bow and quiver. The standard with naked individuals is the same as with clothed ones, unless you find yourself in very specific circumstances of intimacy, common courtesy advises you to look people in the eye. Statues on the other hand, even magical ones, are not people, but depictions of people made specifically for the purpose of display, Monsieur Dumbledore. So you are allowed to look at them wherever you may want. I also think that you wouldn't be as uncomfortable with how we are dressed right now, just being the two of us, if you were used to see some nudity." He sniggered: "My good man, you can barely say the word."

I blushed even more intensely: "You have to admit that the statues in your staircase are rendered..." I stumbled for the right word:" very realistically." Then I pursued in a dull tone that would have made that old relic Professor Binns proud: "And, if the statues or the paintings at Hogwarts get naked, and I wouldn't doubt it given the less than civilized behavior of some of them, they most certainly don't do it in front of the students! They would be taken down and hidden in a cupboard if they dared. Is Durmstrang full with nude magical art?"

He swore with one of his florid expletives which he claimed were polite as they did not contain actual curse words. Hah! Had to give it to him, he could put all insult in the tone.

"Az iskoláját! Durmstrang is not full with nude magical art, but it does have some."

"Isn't that encouraging immorality?"

"Most art at Durmstrang depicts epic moments in magical history; when the scene depicted justifies it, the characters appear naked. And the only thing that encourages is what I think of as a healthy attitude towards the human body. What do you know? I think I found one instance in which education at Durmstrang is superior to Hogwarts, or at least less puritanical."

Hermione exclaimed: "Sweet Merlin! Gellert Grindelwald is right again! All the statues and pictures are covered up to their noses in Hogwarts. I hadn't realized it until I read it just now!"

Ron frowned: "What is wrong with that? You don't expect moving portraits to go around naked where children can see them, do you? That would be nasty. Are Muggle portraits all naked?"

"No they aren't all naked. But there is nothing nasty about the ones that are. And now that you mention it, we are going on weekends to the British Museum and the Tate Gallery so you can look at Muggle art and see for yourself it is perfectly alright, even for children. I'll even bet you will enjoy it."

"Why would I want to see naked Muggles?"

Hermione sighed: "Because some of those naked Muggles are master pieces of human art. Human, not wizard or muggle, just human. And because that way when we have a boy and he talks about women who exercise their right to pursue their love life with whomever they may want, he doesn't call them red ladies, as if Victoria was still on the throne; but he is able to discuss the subject from this side of the twenty-first century."

Ron looked hurt: "I was defending you..."

Hermione: "I know, my love, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. But there are so many issues with that word: red lady that I don't even know where to begin criticizing it. It is not too late to address that backwards attitude. As a first step, we are going to the Mug… seums."

Ron stared fixedly at the horrible lithography of three wilting sunflowers in an awful green glazed vase against a tacky turquoise wall by that Muggle Van Gagg that Hermione had insisted on hanging in the dinning room. Ron had only accepted after learning from Ginny that was the wife's favorite painting. It was one rarely shown and part of the series of paintings the Muggle she called genius had done. She said the series was a pictorial disquisition on the vagaries of time. Ron had requested his mother in law's aid in finding that lithography to give to Hermione as a gift when they had tied the knot. He hadn't expected her to hang it in the dinning room but had thought, better there than in the bedroom. Given her taste in art, Ron could imagine the master pieces were going to be badly drawn stuff he could have drawn better pissed blind with some crayons.

Harry followed his friend's gaze and couldn't help chuckling. Ginny turned to face him with a raised eyebrow: "What are you laughing at? We are going too. I can't believe you lived eleven years with Muggles and haven't gone once. Hermione and I have talked about it and this is as good a time as any."

Harry face-faulted, Ron's lips trembled, but he was smart enough not to laugh. Leave it to the old balls and chains to turn the diaries into an assignment. He smiled inwardly, thinking about how Hermione had just barely caught herself before saying muggle museums. The wife wanted to think she could live in both worlds... Ron knew better but, he was going to let her figure that one out on her own.

I didn't like being called a prig, albeit implicitly. I asked: "What epic scene in magical history would justify nudity?"

"Something classical, I guess: like the duel between Belinda the Gorgeous and Rudolf the Nasty."

"That's hearsay. Hogwarts also has a duelling club and I've seen very competent witches winning duels with all their clothes on. I honestly think that legend was concocted by Belinda's detractors who couldn't stomach the idea of a witch -a mother of seven to boot- beating a big nasty warlock without resorting to trickery."

"Even for long lived wizards, past a certain point history is a matter of hearsay. I don't know Albus, there may be something to what you say. The wizarding world is by far a fairer place for witches than the muggle world is for women, but there are still some rather unfair expectations of how witches should behave. For example: most Magic Witch Ministers are not married and have no children, as if the burdens of the office impedes them to have a private life too, though most of their wizards counterparts are married and have children. But no only ministers are expected to give up office, if they become mothers. All women employed in the magical governments, banks, newspapers and even some hospitals are expected to give up their jobs and become housewives. Perhaps it has to do with the limited quantity of formal employment available for all of us; or with the fact that at least one magical parent should stay home guaranteeing the safety of magical children. A safety that is hard to guarantee given the limitations imposed by the Statute of Secrecy wilts at the same time, neither the governments nor private instances promote any institutional form of care for the children until after they are eleven. But perhaps, and that is more troublesome, it has to do with a certain view of motherhood and womanhood in which they are the ones supposed to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of the family. It all probably comes from the fact that since the Statute of Secrecy in 1689 there has basically been no change to regulations of wizarding rights for the last two hundred and ten years. And whatever rights we do have come at the expense of cowering away like mice in our burrows. That is just one of the many ways in which the wizarding clock of progress has stopped since that accursed date."

"Does that discourse have to do with your proposal, Gellert?"

"In part it does, but let's deal with one discussion at a time. Just focusing on the merits of the legend, sex can be used as a weapon, Monsieur Dumbledore, and; if depictions of Belinda the Gorgeous are accurate, I cannot blame Rudolf for being distracted by her charms. If you ask me, she looked damn fine for a mother of seven."

"That distraction got Rudolf killed, if you believe the legend. He was cast into oblivion quite dishonorably: while undressing -having misinterpreted Belinda's intentions.- That ended his reign of terror. Not that the Belinda of the legend, gorgeous or not, behaved honorably either, disrobing with deceitful designs."

He shrugged: "In a life and death duel, like they used to be back then, I think that the only important thing is winning. Rudolf had already killed her husband and Belinda had her seven children to think of, she couldn't afford to lose, it was better to lose honor with trickery than to lose her life honorably. In any case, now I'm glad I haven't shown you my sketchbook. I don't think I could stand a harsh judgment, not from you, my friend."

It dawned on me: "Of course, you draw. You did a pretty good sketch of a hand to have me cast Quietus on you and that is why you carry charcoals in your pouch. I read somewhere that hands are some of the hardest things to draw and yours was really good. Why do you assume I would judge your sketchbook harshly?"

He chuckled: "Because, Mr. Holmes, I draw mostly magical portraits and some of them are nudes."

"Oh... I see...Are your portraits drawn from the natural?"

He smiled a lopsided grin: "Some of them are."

"Did you draw them from models in a magical art class? Do you have those in Durmstrang? I think they have them at Beauxbatons."

"Most magical professional painters and photographs are trained at Beauxbatons Academy. But no, Albus, they don't have magical art classes at Durmstrang. I'm self-taught and I draw people I know."

I bit my lip: "You mean people you know like your… intimate friends?"

"Would you let someone other than an intimate friend draw a magical picture of you naked?"

I blinked twice: "I don't know if I'll let anyone draw a magical picture of me naked. It is my understanding that you have to pose for those for a while and you have to interact with them in order for them to behave like you. Interacting with a naked version of myself would be unnerving."

"The level of interaction required depends on the liveliness that you want to achieve. Magical portraits that capture a single moment in time looping for posterity over and over require very little interaction. Those depend entirely on the craftsmanship and powers of the wizard or witch painting them. You wouldn't have to pose necessarily, I have drawn some of my portraits exclusively from memory." He smiled slowly: "I have a rather good memory."

Ginny exclaimed: "Wow! I don't like where this is going. Are you telling me that there is a naked magical portrait of Dumbledore?"

Harry protested: "Gin, you cannot deduce that from this conversation." Then he turned hesitantly towards Hermione: "Can she?"

Hermione denied forcefully: "No, of course she can't."

Ginny shrugged: "I'm just saying that it is a disturbing thought. Grindelwald knew how to convince people. He even has you agreeing with him, Hermione. Merlin's beard, he has me agreeing with him, at least in regards to unfair expectations for working witches. You should hear what some of my aunts have to say about me not quitting my job just because I'm having a baby. Even mum thinks it best to have at least one parent at home to keep the kids safe. Not to mention the reluctance of my bosses at the Daily Prophet to accept that maternity leave is actually a right. By the way, thank you Hermione, for unearthing that old regulation by the wizarding side of the Convention Parliament. I cannot believe that one of the reasons behind the witch hunts that prompted the Statute of Secrecy was precisely a reaction to the call from witches for more egalitarian civil rights for everyone in the 1689 Bill of Rights. It is also disturbing to think that whatever civil rights we have haven't basically changed since the excision of the Muggle and the Wizarding World. Grindelwald thought those were outdated after 210 years. Imagine how outdated those are after 324 years? I think what you are doing trying to change that is the right thing to do and so very brave, Hermione. I'm sorry if I've ever doubted it, even jokingly. I don't want my children to be stuck with laws that haven't changed since the 17th century. And it took listening to a dark wizard to realize this when I should have been listening to you in the first place."

Hermione blushed bright red and hid partially behind her curly mane.

Ginny sighed: "Leaving that aside, I'll just say that after reading what Grindelwald had to say, I agree with a lot of it. Now I understand what the history books and even our grandparents said: he was an infamous orator who could sway an audience of thousands with a few words when he became a full on dark wizard. Dumbledore had his undivided attention, so I'm just saying this: there may very well be a naked portrait of Albus Dumbledore somewhere in the world drawn by Gellert Grindelwald, doing Merlin knows what in an eternal loop..."

Ron shuddered: "Hold your horses right there Ginevra Weasley! That is a disturbing thought. It's like walking on mum and dad kind of disturbing. If there is a naked portrait, we should burn it with all the rest of these papers." Hermione looked him with a raised eyebrow and he continued: "But let's not draw hasty conclusions. Just keep reading, luv."

I frowned: "You must know someone quite well to make a magical portrait of them from memory, naked or not. You are very young. How have you managed to make such… err… close acquaintances in a handful of winter holidays out of school?"

"Hmm, clever Mr. Holmes… We haven't really discussed it because you are a smart man and I had assumed that you would eventually figure it out on your own. But, in the spirit of full disclosure, there are a few things you should know in regards to time-traveling: After a few experiences you easily realize that you grow old at your normal rate while you are doing it. When you reintegrate into your timeline your legal age remains unchanged but your chronological age is different. And, if your time-traveling charm doesn't include some adjustments, the years expanded between the one you have traveled to and your own time do catch up with you so your biological age upon arrival becomes a concern. Even then, the adjustment only works so far. That is why traveling too far back is dangerous as upon returning the aging can cause you to turn into dust. I haven't found a way of traveling safely farther back than fifty years."

"You seem to know a lot about the subject."

"The truth of the matter is that I have been time-traveling for quite a while now. It has been about two and a half years, which would make me your senior by about half a year."

"But your legal age as you call it makes you still a minor which is why the underage-trace picks you up."

"Correct. Those same experiments in the limits of time-traveling have shown me that age related charms and spells get confused in the presence of a time traveler. That is why you don't appear to be old enough for a licensed apparator when you go back. Hence the need to use my pendant. In fact, the pendant is more than an age-concealment-charm, it conceals the signature of my magical energy liberation. I want to be completely honest with you Albus, you are fully aware that what I'm doing is dangerous and illegal, and I wouldn't do it at all save for my conviction that it is the only thing to do to prevent an awful future from happening. In order not to alert the authorities all over the timeline as to my activities, I've taken some precautions to have, in parallel to my travels, a greater disturbance in the timeline to have the Aurors of several countries and times preoccupied with it."

"What do you mean with a far greater time disturbance?"

"I haven't screwed up time, if that is what you are asking, Monsieur Dumbledore. Have a little faith in me. Or look around, the world remains relatively unchanged by my voyages. My disturbance is just a red herring that allows me to travel within fifty years of now in order to procure materials and information that are pivotal to the achievement of my goal without alerting the authorities. I cannot do what I need to do from jail or worse. Given what I intend to do, authorities may very well decide to kill me on sight."

"And what will that real goal of yours be that can get you jailed or killed?"

"My goal is overthrowing the Statute of Secrecy."

"Nonsenses! That would require you to seize control of all Magical governments worldwide!"

"That is exactly what I intend to do."

I laughed: "Gellert, are you seriously telling that your intention is to take over the world like a villain from a penny dreadful?"

"I am seriously telling you that after thinking it over in every possible way the only solution I've found to securing the means needed in order to avoid a war that will destroy us all, is to take over all governments both Magical and Muggle and institute a temporary dictatorship in which the world will be ruled by a Magical Council. A collegiate meritocracy in which selected wizards and witches drive us into a golden age of peace and progress, instead of driving us into oblivion."

"A Magical Council selected by who? Perhaps you should go back to Vienna and consult with that Muggle neurologist Freud you mentioned earlier, because you are quite insane, Gellert Grindelwald."

"I'm not crazy, Albus."

"Well, you don't sound sane at all, my friend."

He laughed meanly: "When the measure of sanity is a wizarding society that faced with their first real threat chose to cower in a hole terrified of facing their attacker, who is ten times weaker, then I take being perceived as insane as a bona fide compliment."

"I didn't mean it as a compliment, Gellert. Surely you understand that the Statute of Secrecy is the only thing that stands between us and extermination."

"The Statute of Secrecy offers protection only to Muggles. For wizards it is nothing but fetters that don't allow us to move freely."

"I agree the Statute of Secrecy is not the best solution, but it is not as if we had another option, Monsieur Grindelwald."

"But, Monsieur Dumbledore, that is the point exactly we do have options… I'm guessing you've always been a city boy, but let's see if you can follow my train of thought. Have you seen a confrontation between two animals?"

"What are you getting at Gellert?"

"Bear with me, Albus, this is important. Have you seen a confrontation between two animals of the same kind?"

"Mould-On-The-Wold and Godric's Hollow are not what I would call cities, my friend. They have wooded areas. And Care of Magical Creatures is a mandatory subject at Hogwarts. Finally I spent two summers working in a Dragon Reserve in Romania, so, yes, I've seen creatures fighting."

He smiled: "I wouldn't call them fights, not in the human sense. You see, my friend, animals, unlike humans, are equipped with all they need to be natural born killers and, yet, in confrontations between similar animals you will seldom see fights to death."

"You tell that to deers and wolves."

"Please, Albus! Deers and wolves are preys and predators they are not even, and their fights are for life and death because one is the food of the other. But think about two wolves, two dragons, two kneazles or any other type of creature with similar prowess that come into conflict for food, the desire to reproduce or territory. You'll notice that their confrontations of usual include some form of display of force that leaves the dominance of one of them crystal clear so the underdog walks away relinquishing the price before a fight to death ensues."

"So far, we agree. But, other than giving me a lesson on animal behavior: what would your point be?"

He smiled meanly: "My point is that back in 1689 the Muggles and Wizards came into conflict, the Muggles made a threat display and, based only on their numeric superiority, made us retreat as the underdogs."

"Good, so you do see the reasons why secrecy is necessary."

He laughed: "On the contrary, Albus. What I've never understood is why on the name of reason would a wolf walk away from a deer."

I smiled: "Deers have horns."

"Yes, and they may take out a solitary wolf, but a well trained pack can take down a whole herd."

"So what you are saying is that Muggles are our prey? How is that different from purity of blood discourses?"

"No, Monsieur Dumbledore, that is not what I'm saying. If you remember I started the conversation talking about beasts of similar prowess. Right now the Muggle and Wizarding world are evenly matched. But that is not going to be the case for long." He took my hand and offered once more the image in his mind of the great explosion that had ended his first prophecy: "Can you speculate, Albus what in nature can possibly cause an explosion like that one?"

I denied: "I… No, other than a volcano... that kind of energy release seems like the result of a botched Dark Arts experiment. Muggles don't have the means of doing that."

"So far, Muggles don't have the means to manipulate energy, but in the next forty or fifty years they will learn to harness energy in a way that will allow them to use that as a weapon."

"That is the result of a Muggle weapon?"

"Yes, that is the result of a man-made weapon, Albus. One that Muggles will build and use in a war that is coming."

"But that sort of energy release, according to Alber Magnus laws of energy would necessarily imply that they have split the unbreakable. Attempting that is forbidden! Forget forbidden it is plain stupid!"

"There is a note in pen: Back then the non-magical world hadn't developed the model of the atom, and for wizards even a name was forbidden. But Muggles would develop the model, a couple of years later. And a few years after that they would do just exactly what Gellert said they would." Hermione gulped: "There are some moving magical pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki… If you want to look at them. But I wouldn't recommend it, I wish I hadn't..." No one else wanted to look at the pictures.

He sniggered: "For wizards and anyone with half a brain it would be unthinkable, but not for Muggles, not for the cocky newcomers in the ways of energy manipulation who feel themselves the entitled masters of the world."

"Merlin be merciful!"

"The time for mercy is over, my friend. This is the time to act. It was not casual I took you to the World Fair in 1889. We could have gone anywhen before 1891 to get the carapace; but I wanted you to see the fair, Albus. Do you know they are having another one next year? Why do you think that is?"

I couldn't speak, I was still grappling with the idea that in only fifty years Muggles would be able to split the unbreakable.

"They can do another World Fair of technological advancement just as big and impressive as the one we've just been to in only ten years because the advancements of their science have been so rapid as to allow them to do so. You saw it with your own eyes, moving pictures, lighting up their streets, recording sound, figuring out how disease is breed. Even things that magic cannot do like flying."

"We cannot fly ourselves but we have flying machines, you have one in your pouch."

He laughed mirthlessly: "So do they."

I huffed: "All they have are air balloons and gliders, nothing powered."

"They are getting there, my friend. They are using science to methodically figuring out how wings work, how magnets and steam and other means can be used to power their gliders and soon enough controlled, sustained flight will be possible for them. And, meanwhile, let us analyze what has happened in the Wizarding World in the last two hundred years since we started cowering in our holes. What are the great advancements in magic that we have achieved as a people? Just look at the text books we study in our schools, they haven't changed in two hundred years! We have laws, text books and a mentality that has been stuck in the 17th century."

"Nonsense, I'm sure that there is something being developed by the Department of Mysteries..."

"Are you? I wouldn't bet on it. And even if it is, it is all lumped under the label of forbidden knowledge, being studied by a few monomaniacs who won't share their findings with anyone unless said research is deemed safe for the general public; in which case it will serve no other purpose than keeping the infant wizard society happily unmoved inside its baby blanket of false safety."

"That is untrue, Gellert: Magical research is published every month in periodicals everywhere and its shared and criticized upon its merits."

He sneered: "Oh, I've read your latest acclaimed article, my friend."

I looked at him cautiously: "You have?"

"Yes, and I almost wept at the thought that one of the most obviously gifted minds of this age, the top of his class at Hogwarts, the transmutation champion of the convention of magical schools, devotes his time to figuring out twelve uses for dragon blood, one of which is polishing silver… Az istenit, Albus! Polishing silver? Is that the width and breadth of what our society has to offer to posterity?"

I had been so proud of my article… so proud, and now, I felt ashamed of it: "And what is the alternative, Gellert, to wage war on the Muggles? Wizards and witches would die by the thousands before we are able to seize control of the world, who is going to be willing to follow you?"

He smiled: "I'm glad you ask. That is where the Deathly Hallows come into play. If I have them and I can convince wizards and witches that I am master of Death, they will all follow me."

It was my turn to laugh meanly: "The Deathly Hallows are a child's story."

He smiled: "No they aren't. During the course of my two years of time travels I've already narrowed it down to two possible owners in possession of one of them: the invisibility cloak. Can you believe they are not even aware of having that treasure in their attics? And that carapace you won will give me good intelligence as to the whereabouts of another: the resurrection stone. That would only leave the unbeatable wand to be located and once I know where all three are, I can wait for the right time to come into possession of them and make my move."

"You mean your move against all the magical governments?"

"Not against them, Albus, within them. I'm planning for the long run. I'm already in communication with several correspondents in families close to power in all key Wizarding Countries, when the time is right, seizing the power won't be hard and once I manage that the fall of the Muggle world will follow swift."

"So you don't write to the witch descendant of Emperors in Mahoutokoro or the guy in Ilvermorny whose family works for MACUSA just because you share common interests, do you?"

"We share common interests, Albus, those interests just go beyond Zen Buddhism and sound recording. They are the seedlings of my Magical Council. They will become what the Wizengamot should be. Eventually we will include Muggles and other magical creatures. Wizards are not the only ones who got the short stick with the Statute of Secrecy, my friend. What do you think about Karl?"

"You mean Karl your house elf?"

"Don't you think it unfair that wizards take advantage of the house elves nature? We have profited from their want to be useful to make our lives easier. Take Woolahan using them as pin cushions. Why not give them a chance at fulfillment without exploitation? Why not, for example, let them work in Muggle hospitals? You would only need a couple of elves to turn around those cesspools of disease."

"Most elves would love to, as long as they don't feel they betray their masters, but managing it..."

"It is doable, Albus. What about centaurs, giants or vampires?"

"Vampires like your ominous valet?"

"Vladislav only drinks blood from voluntary donors since he started working for Opa."

"You got to be joking! Does anyone actually volunteer?"

He chuckled: "You'd be surprised what some Muggle girls and boys and even some witches and wizards are willing to do for Vladislav. Vampire bites have an effect similar to opium."

"That is more than I needed to know. Have do you know about the effects of vampire bites or opium?"

"Don't ask the question, unless you want to know the answer, Albus."

I snorted: "Fair enough, Gellert, I won't ask about that. But I need to ask: Is war the only choice?"

"As far as I can see it is. And we are not only fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for all magical creatures, we are even fighting for the Muggles considered inferior for reasons of race, gender or religion. We are fighting for a more equal, enlightened and fair society for everyone. That is a future worth dying for. On a personal level, I don't need the Deathly Hallows not to walk away from that moral responsibility, though it would be easy to."

"Would it really be that easy to walk away from that hideous war you've shown me?"

"I have a time-traveling machine, Albus Dumbledore. Do you know how many lives I could live between now and fifty years? I could live comfortably, if I wanted to. I have the resources to do that and let the world turn around until it blows up."

"But you won't"

"Not I won't. I've picked my side in the battle to come, everything in my upbringing and my personal believes demands that I act honorably. I won't turn a blind eye, I won't run away. That is also what I'm asking of you, my friend: to pick your side in this battle. And I really hope you choose mine." He ended with an inviting smile.

"This is too much to take in. I cannot give you an answer right away."

"I won't ask you for an immediate answer. This is a big responsibility. Think it over the days we will be here. Just know that if you join me in my quest, you will need to commit to it. You will also put yourself outside the law. This time I took you only ten years back as an incidental tourist and you acted a bit like me the first time I cooked, like a bull let lose in a crystal store. We are trying to save the world, not destroy it. I need you to be mindful of your actions and use an age-charm like mine. I would also need you to start a journal. That is the only way to keep track of when and where we've been in order not to affect your life and that of others. I don't undertake any of my time voyages lightly, I usually only go out of dear necessity and after checking carefully for discreet signs of my presence that help my conviction that I have already been there without altering the timeline. For example, I know that I am going back to Paris in 1889 because in the articles related to the World Fair they mention off seasonal storms and this time around we went in the summer and I did not cast a storm."

I sighed: "Of course, you wouldn't have gone to Paris just for sightseeing. It was foolish of me to think it. I should have thought that you were only going with an agenda in mind...I don't know if I need a journal, though, I have a rather good memory too."

"I don't doubt that, Albus, but a journal is mandatory, I would ask you to start yours from the moment that you met me and be thorough. I will also ask you to share it with me, I'll share mine with yours. Two heads are better than one at checking we aren't messing up the past while trying to save the future."

"Very well, this is your proposal then and, if I accept it, I will agree to keep journals that are open both ends in order to guarantee we don't mess with time."

Hermione said: "There is a note: You realize of course, Elphias, what Gellert experiment with the limits of time-traveling and the bigger time disturbance to cover our activities was, don't you? His lab rat had been infamous Eloise Mintumble who he had seduced into getting trapped in 1402 by convincing her of some silly love story. I was so stupid that I didn't realize it, not even when I found out who Gellert Grindelwald really was. No, I didn't even suspect it until several years later when I became a full-fledged member of the Wizengamot and got access to some locked files. But I cannot fairly use that secrecy as excuse for not asking just exactly what he had done to test his hypothesis on time-traveling. I never asked, probably because I didn't really want to know the answer to the questions that kept popping in my mind. Merlin's wand! Of course, what happened to Eloise Mintumble happened in 1899 the same year they were time traveling. She was the red herring! That bastard Grindelwald!"

Harry nodded: "We already knew that. When I talked to him about Gellert Grindelwald he basically said he had gotten hooked because his ideas didn't sound wrong. Lord Voldemort looked the villain, this guy didn't and to me that makes him even more dangerous."

"I'm not saying I am going to join you. I would only accept to under an equal partnership and on the condition of full disclosure. If you don't take your time-traveling lightly, I have to believe that we are not here at your house just because you think your home is the most comfortable place to rest. Before moving onward, I need to know what we are really doing here and now, Gellert."

"I told you, Albus, the carapace can buy us intelligence on the whereabouts of the Resurrection Stone. We are buying a scrying pendulum from the leader of the wizarding underworld in Málaga: El gato."

"Oh, dear Merlin, I am in a penny dreadful! The criminal overlord of the wizarding underworld here is known as the cat?"

He smiled: "Felicia Illescas Correa is a criminal overlady. El gato is her nom de guerre."

"I don't know that much Spanish, but isn't El gato a masculine noun?

"It is, and the word conjures images of sleekness and of always landing on your feet, whilst calling herself La gata would conjure images of running around in the rooftop like a libidinous..."

"Enough, Gellert, I get the picture. That doesn't seem fair."

"It isn't. And what is also not fair is that one of the most brilliant witches you will ever meet, Albus, had to turn to a life of crime just because her half-giantess heritage didn't allow her to have other better opportunities. I don't mean to push you, but that is exactly the kind of unfair stupidity you would be aiming to change, if you were to join me."

I smiled: "Well, as long as you don't mean to push. Vale, veremos al tal gato."