Summary: Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore are battling it out, when Fawkes takes a hit for Albus. With his eyes opened, Gellert realises he the world won't be better with him ruling.

IWSC:

School and Theme: Ilvermorny, Riddle House

Main Prompt: [Creature] Phoenix

Additional Prompts: [Object] A cup

Year: 7th year

QLFC:

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Chaser 3

Main prompt: [Swashbuckling] Will almost certainly involve sword-fighting and will usually be set in the past (though won't have any basis in reality)

Other prompts: [Setting] Dawn, [Colour] Orange, [Word] Effort

POKEMON MASTER:

Starter: Bulbasaur

Catching: Girafarig

Prompt: Write about someone using physical force to defend themselves

Story Title: Battle Reflections

Wordcount: 1292

AN: The spell with the asterisk (*) next to it is the bludgeoning hex, but as the incantation is not known, I made the incantation up. This fic is set in an AU word where Grindelwald won the battle, but started to reflect on what he did.

The sun was rising, casting an orange glow in the early morning air.. Spells were flying all over the Belarusian field; Gellert Grindelwald was slowly overpowering Dumbledore. The light was still dim, but it was becoming lighter despite the fight between good and evil. Time continued to pass as if to spite the two former friends.

Shouts echoed through the countryside, the field taking a beating from the effects of the spells. The barley field was half dead, the crops flattened by the walls of the farmhouse. The two men were dripping with sweat, the field coated in blood from the injuries they sustained.

"Stupefy!" A bullet of red light shot straight toward Gellert, stopped short by the shield he pulled up. The grey-tinged shield flickered at the impact, before it disappeared.

"Bombarda!" Gellert shouted, a trail of orange sparks falling from his wand. It collided with Dumbledore's shield, ricocheting into the nearby wall. The stone of the wall crumbled on impact, bathing them both in dust.

"Diffindo!" Dumbledore tried one more time, but Gellert was faster.

"Expelliarmus! Mactasses*!" he shouted in successive order, overpowering his former friend.

A phoenix appeared from nowhere and took the bludgeoning hex meant for Dumbledore.

"No! Fawkes!" the other shouted, but Gellert knew it was too late.

Suddenly, there was a flash of fire, and ashes fell to the ground, with a grey baby bird in the middle of it. A melody as sweet as marshmallows, and as soft as the wind filtered through the air.

The chick broke out of the pile of ashes and tried to fly away from Gellert, and toward Dumbledore. However, the chick's wings wouldn't let it fly, or even hover. Grindelwald stunned Dumbledore and grabbed the phoenix; he apparated both his enemy and his familiar to his castle.

In the castle called Nurmengard, a sixty-four year old man laid on a hard bed, unconscious in his cell, while Gellert Grindelwald contemplated the choices he made. Well, he tried to, but the thoughts of the loyalty of the baby phoenix beside him kept invading his mind, no matter how much Gellert struggled against it.

He bent down and transfigured a branch into a cup, which he then filled with water. He motioned for the bird to come closer, waving the cup in its face. The water splashed around it and the phoenix slowly made its way over to it, taking a quick drink, before stumbling backward again. It seemed to take a lot of effort for the poor creature to move at all.

Grindelwald knew he shouldn't, but he did; he couldn't help looking out at the world and thinking of what it would be like if he won, and realised it wouldn't be as good as he had originally imagined. He would be ruthless, his acolytes would be ruthless, and there would be revolts every other day. Carrow, the worst of them, would become the leader if he was gone; she would make wizards, witches and muggles alike bow at her feet, not caring for anything else.

All of Grindelwald's followers were ruthless and power-hungry, but none more so than Carrow. Their whole family was barbaric, but this particular witch was the worst of them. She wanted the purebloods to rule over the world and would do anything to achieve that. Her magical power was unparalleled by his other followers, and she was his second in command. No one else wanted to risk her wrath, no one wanted to battle for the position. To face her, even he would have to be cunning and stealthy, to ensure he would win in a fight against her.

If Gellert ever picked a fight against the witch, he knew she would be merciless, which was part of the reason he'd recruited her in the first place. But now, Gellert knew that the witch would be his downfall if it ever came to a fight between them. Grindelwald sat in silence, feeling like the walls were closing in, and he knew it would always feel this way, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. What were the choices he could make now? How could he fix what he'd done?

Unnoticed by Grindelwald, as the days passed, Fawkes had started growing, to the point where he could sense the man's intentions. Though his intentions had been malicious before, his aura blood red, but now that his intentions seemed to have changed, his aura had turned into an orange colour.

The phoenix knew Dumbledore was going down a dark path in the loneliness of his cell but also could feel Grindelwald coming out of his own darkness. Dumbledore wouldn't stop until the 'Greater Good' was reached, and Grindelwald had tried to achieve it, to little success. Fawkes was in awe of how Grindelwald had realised his mistake, and his wish to change and try and do the right thing. The determination and the emotions Fawkes was sensing from the once cold hearted man were astounding. The phoenix felt a relentless urge to help the man before him, to aid him in his wish to change. Fawkes could feel that Grindelwald's resolve was genuine and that the man wanted to make up for what he'd done; he just didn't know how.

Half-formed plans swirled through Gellert's mind, but he couldn't find one that would work. He would need to get all of his followers on their own, and then take them out before they suspected anything. The rarity of the situation he needed was laughable, they never went out alone, they were always in pairs or groups. He himself had told them to.

Grindelwald knew it would be suspicious if he did them all at the same time, he knew he had to work his way through the list, but he was nothing if not patient. He would wait as long as needed to take them down, as long as it meant they wouldn't continue to terrorise the world's population. It was his duty to stop them, he'd made them what they were. He could unmake them just as easily.

While Grindelwald lost himself in planning how to take down his acolytes, Fawkes had grown even more. It wasn't noticeable at first, but soon enough, the phoenix was no longer a chick. By then, Fawkes had matured enough to fire travel out of the castle, but the phoenix wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to stay and help Grindelwald move on from his dark past, but Dumbledore was spiraling in the rabbit hole in his cell, and Fawkes also wanted to help him out. His desire to help people was tearing Fawkes apart, he wanted to help them both but it'd never work. Grindelwald's relationship with Dumbledore was beyond repair.

In the end, Fawkes snuck away from Grindelwald, and to the cell where Dumbledore was being kept. The man was unconscious; it seemed he'd fallen into a sort of sleep because of the lack of water. The cup provided was too small for a human to sate their thirst. When Fawkes entered the room, he went straight for the old human and got him out, back to Hogwarts and into his teaching quarters. With one final look towards his old friend, Fawkes flashed away, back to Nurmengard and back perhaps to a new friend, to a man who needed his help to change in the way he wanted to.

As the sun came over the horizon, a new day dawning on the world, Gellert felt calm for the first time in a long time. He felt free to change things. He felt ready for whatever came next.