House/Team: Snakes

Class Subject: Charms

Category: Drabble

Word Count: 654

Prompt(s):[Song Prompt] Turning Tables by Adele


The Mortal Phoenix


Grindelwald stared into the endless abyss that lay before him. He'd grown tired of waiting for the eclipse that would become the new world… a world that he envisioned so many times created at his own hand. The smoke from his signature hand-sculpted skull vape swirled around him in voluptuous clouds, rotating in synchronization as he closed his eyes and almost inhaled the colorful visual he was witnessing before him. He saw shards of darkness and heard the sharp intake of air upon the first elegant blow of his powerful reign. This wasn't a vision he was witnessing; it was the future of the world as he knew it. One day, he would rule them all.

"You know it is terribly impolite to stare," he whispered to the darkness, opening his eyes and exhaling deeply as if the light in which he found himself was scorching his skin. He'd come to the realization that someone had followed him long before he sat down in the dank abandonment that was his family home and in the embankment of this starry night, the boy's presence only served to anger him. Three nights in a row he found himself playing a morbid host and it was about time he put an end to it."Even more so… it is entirely impolite not to introduce yourself before you try to draw your wand on someone."

A shadow moved in his peripheral vision.

Grindelwald watched him from the corner of his iced-over eye, a trait that he'd long since come to own. Aside from his frosty appearance, his admiration in himself was ghastly and only served to motivate him more in his journey to rid the world of all that was unholy. Unfortunately, that didn't explain his newly found companion's decision to follow him during the apex of the night and scurrying away like a damn fool at the slightest inclination.

For some strange, the boy fascinated him. No matter how much he tried, Grindelwald could not see the boy in his foreseeable future, something that had been troubling him as of late. He believed that one day, he would die at his companion's hands. But, what sort of death would it be without knowing the name of his executioner?

"I'm gonna die and I don't even know your name," Grindelwald finally said. The cold thin air became their anthem, a pounding demonstration to how much the boy controlled him. He'd never known such submission or absolute domination. "If that so pleases you, then at least give me the liberty of knowing it before I meet my demise."

"I would rather not," the boy said, his voice nothing but a breathy whisper upon Grindelwald's otherwise cool skin. "Otherwise, you will learn the name of your untimely admirer."

"Admirer," Grindelwald barraged with a laugh. His laughter echoed throughout the sacred hall, reverberating healthily against the walls. "I am to be admired, but that isn't what I asked."

"What good would come if you knew my name," the boy asked mockingly. "Either way, you're only going to suffer. The thought of not knowing will burn a hole in your heart, and knowing will only deepen your need for survival. You're helpless in both endeavors either way."

Grindelwald considered this for a moment. He looked to the smoke to see if the boy held some significance in his future and he did.

It was true, this boy was meant to destroy him.

His heart and mind were on the brink of war, and the only thing that was holding Grindelwald together was the memory of the boy before he turned his back and disappeared into the darkness. The necklace that once hung dangerously from his neck lay helplessly on the floor; in one split moment, he forgot what he was fighting this battle for and what his purpose in life was.

In a fraction of a second, everything changed.