Dumbledore stared at the door in front of him with mild trepidation. When he'd first decided to visit the orphanage, he'd quickly realised it was no longer operational. It had taken the headmasters sometime before he'd tracked down caretaker for the orphanage that had disappeared. It seemed the woman had put quite a lot of effort into remaining hidden...
'Curious,' thought the headmaster, 'it seems Malfoy may have not in fact been responsible...' The simple reason being that the woman had apparently been a squib... It was that point that had made him feel wary about the whole thing. A squib had taken care of Rodrick Grindelwald until he was 11...
Had it been a normal orphan, that would not have worried the headmaster. However, in Rodrick's case, the boy apparently had quite a lot of magic happening around him for as long as he could remember... 'Not to mention the accidental damage and the Occulemency shield... A magical being would've noticed it, without a doubt.' Which brought about the scarier question, if the woman had known about such magic usage, why hadn't the headmaster ever heard about any incidents? Not a single hint of it in all those years. 'Was the woman keeping him hidden?' That thought could've meant she'd recognised him for who he really was...
Knocking once, Dumbledore waited patiently for the person to answer.
It wasn't long before an aged looking woman answered the door. Dumbledore noted she looked to be in her 70's.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked. Wary eyes stared at him.
"Yes, My name is-"
"I know who you are." The woman spoke over the headmaster, in an icy tone. She looked to stop for a few moments, no doubt considering something. "Would you like to come in?" She sighed.
Dumbledore simply nodded his head before following the woman inside. It was a bleak looking place, he noted the amount of muggle technology before his attention was brought to the woman ahead of him.
"You're here about Rodrick," she didn't ask. A simple statement.
Dumbledore made no reaction as he followed her into the living room. He took his seat on the chair opposite the woman.
"Yes, I am. How did you know?" he questioned. his eyes showing nothing.
The woman simply stared at him, a strange glint in her eyes. "Tea?" She questioned.
Dumbledore shook his head.
"What are you here for?" The woman simply replied.
Dumbledore ignored the way she avoided the question, "I was hoping to find out what happened with the orphanage... Among other things,"
The woman stopped whatever action she had been in the middle of before she turned back to stare at the headmaster. "The orphanage is gone," was all she said.
"Do you have any idea who might've seen fit to have it removed in such a manner?" The headmaster's voice seemed to echo.
"You mean how the kids were thrown out?" The woman replied an emotionless tone.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Who knows," she shrugged.
Dumbledore didn't believe it for a second... The way her eyes looked... 'Guilt?' The headmaster thought, 'Was she the one responsible? Dumbledore felt the tension rise, Why? Was she disgruntled with the boy? But then why wait until Rodrick was at Hogwarts? She certainly didn't look like she cared much about the job,' He wanted to ask but he knew he wouldn't get an answer.
"Can you tell me how Rodrick had come under your care?" Dumbledore asked, his expression hidden.
"10? or was it 11 years ago?"The woman remarked tired, staring intently at the intricate table. "He was dropped off by his aunt,"
Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Bathilda?" he couldn't help himself.
"The same," the woman remarked nodding.
Dumbledore felt confusion take over... Bathilda Bagshot had dropped off the boy? It made no sense to the headmaster. From the letter he'd see, she hadn't appeared to know who he was... And was it before or after Lenora had died? The mystery kept on growing slowly. Dumbledore then processed exactly what the woman had said. 'His aunt...' She knows? Did this woman know she had been taking care of a Grindelwald?
It seemed as if the woman had read his mind.
"Imperius," The aged caretaker remarked uneasily. "She had me put under it for as long as I could remember..."
Dumbledore couldn't help the shocked expression on his face. To think Bathilda Bagshot would go so far... And yet for all of it, a small part of Dumbledore knew it wasn't Bagshot... No, something kept telling him it was the boy's mother...'Had she set all of that up?' Dumbledore felt his age catching up with him. First the grandfather and then the mother... It seemed Grindelwald's had a habit of going too far, he certainly saw the same trait in Rodrick.
For whatever might be said about the way it had been executed, Lenora certainly did a good enough job to protect her son, as underhanded and dangerous as it was, it certainly worked.
"I take it you are no longer affected?" Dumbledore asked, he understood why the woman had deigned to go to such lengths to hide after something like that.
The woman merely nodded. "I don't want to make a scene out of this," she added on absentmindedly.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing. He could tell his presence was slowly becoming an irritation if the way her eyes looked. He simply stood, he doubted he could get anything out of the woman, "If there's ever a problem, will it be fine if I come again?" he questioned.
The woman merely nodded as she stood to take him out.
As Dumbledore walked through the hallway, he couldn't help but feel lost. he wasn't sure where to go from here. He knew he needed to see the boy's aunt but he felt something hold him back. Not to mention there was still the whole Voldemort affair he needed to continue preparing for... Next year... Voldemort was likely to be back by then. Dumbledore bit down the shiver. There was so little time... As he was about to leave through the door, however, he heard the woman's voice. Turning once, he found the woman staring directly at his eyes.
"I am sorry I didn't catch that," he remarked warily.
"I said I remember you, you know?"
Dumbledore blinked before furrowing his brow, wondering where he could've seen the woman before...
"I don't recall," he remarked uneasily. He saw a strange smile lit over the woman's face...
"Of course not... It was such a long time ago..." she shook her head.
Dumbledore turned his full attention to the woman, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
"I would be grateful if you could remind me," he remarked.
The smile disappeared, the woman seemed to shiver before she raised her head. "Wool's orphanage,"
The two words sent the hallway into a cold silence.
Dumbledore couldn't tear his eyes away.
"Hm, didn't think there was a squib there... Did ya?" she questioned shaking her head slowly, a small smirk lining her face.
"You were an orphan there?"
The question sent a flash of anger through the woman's face. "Sure... I was practically one as a squib," she remarked disdainfully.
Dumbledore could only stare, numb.
"I remember him you know," she sighed. "I remember Tom Riddle,"
Dumbledore said nothing intent on listening.
"He was rather scary... No one else saw it though, never took me seriously." she stopped for a second, "Then years later... You know the story, now everyone believes what I said,"
"You knew he was Voldemort?" Dumbledore couldn't help the question.
"I used to live near Hogsmeade," she spoke with a frown. "When the attacks happened... I recognised it... there was no way not to, only he could have that malevolence, that darkness. I left shortly after that," she remarked shaking her head.
Dumbledore nodded, he was about to say something else before the woman snapped her eyes to his.
"I feel like you deserve the warning,"
"What warning is that?" he couldn't help the question.
"Tom Riddle scared me as a child..." the emotionless tone seemed to echo around the room. "Rodrick Grindelwald however..."
Dumbledore eyes were slowly widening as he took in the haunted face.
"Oh, he never did anything... The model child in a way, he always listened... But it was those eyes... If you paid enough attention you could see it... Even sense it,"
"What are you referring to?" Dumbledore merely asked.
The woman was staring at the floor before shaking her head. "Tom Riddle scared me as a child Headmaster, Rodrick Grindelwald however... To put it simply, he terrifies me."
The words left the two in a numb silence...
"I have met the boy, he is no-" Dumbledore started before he watched the woman shake her.
"Tom Riddle had always had his flip switched... That darkness was always around him... That boy, however... It's buried in...He never did anything, he had that calmness around him, that self-control... But I knew Riddle, the similarities are almost frightening but the fact that he could control that darkness... Where Riddle never could... That alone is absolutely terrifying to imagine... And if he were to ever flip and lose that calm..." she left the words unsaid before looking back up. "Goodbye Headmaster," she remarked, quickly leading him outside the door.
Dumbledore could only stare out as he heard the door snap shut behind him... Unsure how to take in the woman's words.
...
Dumbledore watched as an irritated Snape left his office, he himself couldn't help the sigh as he settled back into his office chair, the visit to the boys former caretaker had shaken him. He slipped a lemon sherbet into his mouth before sighing, awaiting a guest... Slowly his mind wandered to his visit to the caretaker... What were the odds of one of Riddles former fellow orphans winding up as the caretaker of a Grindelwald. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't lead down to the same path. It was the woman's warning however that had shaken him, for he could definitely see where she was coming from. Only he hadn't thought it was that bad. Taking into account the reality of things made him realise it was far worse.
She had said Rodrick had rarely done anything and yet she had managed to determine how much of a danger he could be... The child had used unforgivables in his first year... Successfully for that matter. He had been capable of human transfiguration... A talent he no doubt gained from his grandfather... He could still remember the day, the first time Gellert Grindelwald had apparently been captured.
Newt Scamander had helped the Macusa in that regard. Yet if sources are to be believed, Gellert had merely laughed. 'He had laughed!' before proceeding to insult Scamander. It seemed Gellert had apparently hated the man with a passion although for the life of him Albus simply couldn't understand why. After his capture, the Macusa had thought they'd finally put an end to the man... Then the trial had occurred...
He could still remember that day, clear as a crystal having been allowed to sit in on it. He remembered the confident smirk on the man's face. Not a hint of worry. It hadn't taken long before the others had realised why. Gellert Grindelwald had transfigured and held over 50 people in the courtroom. All of them, followers of his disguised to look like the judiciary meant to trial him... How he had known who to find and impersonate was one thing... To manage to hold such a level of power... It was incomprehensible. Voldemort may have been considered the most dangerous for his tactics... But from what Dumbledore had seen, the man hadn't held a candle to Gellert Grindelwald in terms of magical power.
Frankly, it was almost humorous. Gellert Grindelwald had literally walked out of the building after the farce of a trial called him innocent. Disappearing as the Macusa where forced to cleanse their department. 50 bloody witches and wizards hidden under transfiguration... It had terrified the entire country...
And the grandson had already been capable of human transfiguration at the age of 11...
Unforgivables... Fiendfyre... human transfiguration... And then there was that spell... That spell he had used against the Black Horcrux. The less said about it the better. If the ministry ever saw it, Albus didn't doubt fudge would make it the fourth unforgivable, nor would the headmaster stop him...Magical extraction he suddenly remembered numbly... He couldn't imagine the amount of damage the boy could do on the wrong side of the law... Who knew just what else the boy was capable of. Or for that matter what he could grow to do.
Dumbledore sighed, there was no other way to describe it, Rodrick was dangerous, very dangerous, it was the occulemency shield in the boy's mind that kept the headmaster reserved regarding him, he simply could never tell what the boy had planned, a blessing and a curse at the same time. Any other day that thought wouldn't have bothered him but after the warning from the boys former caretaker. She may not have seen the boy do anything but she had grown up with Tom Riddle. If there was anyone who could sense what kind of danger the boy could potentially be... It was her.
Before he could muse any further, he heard the fireplace roar. Turning he was pleased to see his summons had been answered.
"You had something to talk to me about?"
"Ah yes, you see an urgent manner has come up"
The man raised an eyebrow at the words. "Does it involve Harry?" He questioned
"Not really no,"
A relieved look swept over the man's face as he moved towards one of the chairs. "What's this about?"
"Its mostly a job offer," Dumbledore remarked, amused to see the confused look on the man's face.
"Has someone left?" He questioned, the word left surprisingly having many different possible meanings... Left the Gilderoy Lockhart way or the Quirrel way...
"In a sense... The history professor Binns has been exorcised," Dumbledore remarked with a straight face.
It took a second before the man chuckled. Slowly growing into a fit of laughter.
Eventually, after a while of trying to contain himself, Sirius Black accepted.