Hi everyone I'm back! Laptop decided to take a shite you know how it is. Confusing but we're going back in time to Albus's POV for the last few months. And I know I shortened Albus's time away oops!
Albus woke up in his tent amidst the small encampment of fighters he'd recruited. They were somewhere in rural France and it was sometime in April, he couldn't keep track of the location or the dates. He hadn't had a proper shower or a meal in so long, and as he stared in his reflection in the small stream he drank from, he couldn't recognize the thin and grizzled man he'd become.
Albus knew Grindlewald was near - Resistance intelligence had spotted another camp of dark wizards only fifteen miles away in an abandoned factory. Today was the day they'd finally meet face to face. Grindlewald was weakened, and his numbers were dwindling. Albus's army, on the other hand, may have been tired but they were ready to fight.
He approached the building by foot, as to not be detected, with five other fighters: Shacklebolt, Sophia Bones, Evan Bigelow, Kelsey Tucker, and Edward Andrews. Albus, naturally the leader, signaled for the group to rush into the factory, and it quickly divulged into a melee of hexes and spells ricocheting around the building. Hours later, every Dark wizard and resistance fighter was dead besides Albus, with Grindelwald yet to be discovered. Albus knew he was in the factory and called out.
"Gellert, you coward! It's time, it's finally time. After all these years I've come to repent and where are you? Too scared to face me?"
The Gellert that Albus knew was never one to shirk from a challenge, and soon enough, the wizard appeared from behind a set of boilers. He was as thin and tall as ever, one might say elegant, and Albus was reminded of why he fell in love all those years prior. His light English accent pierced the air as he spoke to Albus, "So you've returned. After all these years."
"Yes, Gellert. But I've returned to defeat you."
Grindelwald's short temper was enflamed, and he lifted his wand to curse the other wizard. But Albus was expecting this, having known his dueling partner so intamaley, and quickly disarmed Grindelwald. He slowly approached the now disabled wizard, and Grindelwald spat back at him.
"I never loved you, Albus. And no one ever will now. You're fundamentally unloveable after causing the ruin of your family. And fundamentally evil at heart as well. You say you/re doing this, killing me, for the good of the Wizarding World, but you and I both know that isn't the case. You chase fame and you want to repent for the damage you've caused. It will never be enough Albus. You'll never be satisfied."
And then Albus did it - the action which he would never forget during the lengthy course of the remainder of his life. Albus looked his former lover in the eyes, searching for any semblance of humanity. Finding none in Grindlewald's steely grey reserve, no remorse at all from the Dark wizard lying disabled on the ground, Albus pointed his trembling wand and uttered those two deadly words.
Leaving the body of his former lover where the rest of the resistance fighters would soon find him, Albus made a decision. Despite being relatively unscathed, he chose to fake his death, at least for a while. He wasn't ready to face the world, the fame, even Minerva. Murdering the man he loved was an entirely difficult experience, even if that man was evil. Albus didn't know where he was going, but headed to the nearest village and prepared to live life as a Muggle.
Albus awoke on the eleventh day of his self-imposed exile to the sound of raucous cheers emerging from the streets. He stepped out of bed, noting with passing interest that the pain in his left side had dwindled considerably. He'd had to make do with only the small bit of Murtlap Essence that he'd remembered to bring when he left Hogwarts. Not for the first time, Albus silently wished for Healer Blackmar's expert hands.
Of course, the thought of Healer Blackmar brought Albus back to the last time he'd seen her, when she informed him that although Minerva would be alright, his child–
Albus shook his head of the thought, hoping the physical sensation would force a distraction. Noise. Outside. Right, he had sought to find the source of the cheers. He stuck his head out of the pub's rusted window, surprised to find the streets flooded with Londoners old and young. They were cheering, dancing, and in the corner of his eye Albus spotted a young black-haired woman that he could have sworn was his Minerva. But she had a wide smile on her painted lips, a lightness that Albus hadn't seen in Minerva since–
"What's going on?" he called out to a young boy handing out newspapers. He squinted his eyes to see the word 'Surrender' in bold, but noted that the picture beneath it did not move. How quaint.
"Haven' you heard, sir?" The boy called back. "The Germans have surrendered!" The boy began to swear with such a fervent glee that Albus smiled slightly to himself, taking a step back from the window. He had known, vaguely, that the muggles had been at war. Gellert had always cited the Great War as an example that muggles had too much power that they couldn't control. Even after Albus had renounced his former lover's beliefs, the onset of a second war had made him wonder briefly if Gellert had been right.
But the thought of Gellert, broken by his hand only eleven days prior, was more painful than Albus was ready to bear. He wasn't ready to bear much these days, it seemed, so he put on his coat and walked downstairs to enter the streets. Surely a muggle parade would prove as good of a distraction as any?
Once outside, Albus immersed himself deeper and deeper into the throngs of muggles young and old. He walked past an older man giving a speech from a balcony on Downing, weaved in and out of pub attendees listening to a stuttering man speak on the radio, and finally found himself in Trafalgar Square, shaking off the advances of a young and clearly inebriated girl.
"I recognize that look," a deep voice sounded out from Albus's right. "You've just returned, haven't you? Come on, mate. Now's the time to enjoy yourself. Fiancee or not."
Albus's head shot to the right, where he found a tall uniformed man with each arm wrapped around two beautiful women. The man's officer cap was pulled low over his eyes, so that Albus could not fully see his face.
"Where were you? Not France." The man asked, dutifully ignoring the woman tugging on his right sleeve.
"No," Albus surprised himself with the truth. "Austria."
The man whistled. "You deserve a break," he split his mouth into a roguish smile, placing straight teeth on display. "Before they ship you off to Japan."
He shook his arm off one of the girls – the black-haired one, Albus noticed belatedly, before whispering in her ear. She looked Albus over for a long moment before smiling, walking slowly over to him and latching onto his arm. The officer raised a nearly hidden eyebrow at Albus, as though daring him, before lifting his now free hand out. He hesitated only briefly before speaking.
"I'm Phil. Happy to meet a fellow soldier."
Albus hesitated for just as long before reaching out himself. "Albus."
Philip and Albus hit it off as if they were years-old friends and spent the day together full of debauchery. Well, debauchery on Philip's end, who also had a fiance waiting at home. Albus couldn't fathom how his muggle compatriot could cheat on his soon-to-be bride, but was Albus not doing the same by refusing to come home to Minerva?
It was selfish of him, he knew it. To avoid all responsibilities and his fame. It would be somewhat acceptable, even understandable, had this occurred a year ago, when he had no friends or family besides Aberforth. But now he had a young witch at home, the near-mother of his child, and he needed to accept the responsibility that came with being loved. He knew Minerva must be profoundly worried but she was smart enough to realize he wasn't dead. The two were inextricably bonded with their child's death and she would feel it if he were to perish.
But meeting Phillip, Albus realized he needed to come home. As Phil and Al, as they called each other, winded down their day, they swapped stories about the powerful and strong women they loved. Philip described his betrothed, Elizabeth, like she was the Queen and spoke about her with admiration and duty. Albus realized that even if Philip was a bit of a cad, he loved his girl more than anything else. And when Albus told Philip about Minerva, he couldn't remember life before her. What did he do? Who did he confide in? He decided at that moment that it was time to come home.
"Aye, Phil. One last question - I seem to be a bit jumbled up from the war, What day did you say it was again?"
"My boy, you're more than confused! It's May Eighth, V-E day, and you'd better remember this for the rest of your life. Say, what do you want to do after the war. Elizabeth is quite influential and we might be able to pull some strings and get you a government job."
Albus chuckled. "You're too kind, Phil. I'm quite influential in my community, myself. Take care, and if you're ever in the Highlands, maybe we can go stalking for deer like you'd mentioned."
Albus had to rush. May Eighth? Shit! Graduation at Hogwarts was scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month, making that tomorrow. He felt a wave of guilt roll over him, knowing his absence must be distracting Minerva from what should have been one of the happiest and celebratory times of her life. Would it be disrespectful of him to interrupt the festivities? No. He needed to get home expeditiously.
Albus hadn't used his magic since killing his former lover. Whether it was out of guilt or fear, he couldn't ascertain, but he was now too nervous to start. Therefore he quickly boarded a Muggle train to London, figuring he could catch the end of the ceremony on the next day if he rushed. Albus shaved and cleaned himself in the private train compartment. Once he reached Kings Cross Station, he put on his robes and covered his head, in case anyone recognized him. Albus picked up the day's copy of the Daily Prophet. "Killer of Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore, Still Missing and Presumed Dead." How he was going to explain himself out of this one, the wizard had no idea. But at that moment, he wanted to see Minerva face-to-face, prove to her he was alive, and bask in the only true, selfless love he'd experienced in his life.