The night was nearly over, when Albus Dumbledore handed Newt Scamander a cup of tea in his office at Hogwarts. The redheaded wizard, deep in thought, startled by the saucer seemingly having appeared in his hands, only in the next moment realizing he wasn't alone. The two hadn't uttered a word ever since disapparating from the small forest in nowhere-England.

Newt was about to take a sip of the still very hot tea, when Dumbledore, under a loud moan, fell back into his rotating armchair behind his desk.

"Say it. I am mad."

Newt looked up. The Niffler, two bookshelves down stopped while collecting a pocket watch, slowly putting it down his belly pouch.

"I wouldn't say mad.", Newt stuttered, "We all should be able to agree that your attempt of saving, actually, all of us is noble. But I would say you were a little bit harsh on her."

The professor looked at his friend, hoping he had made a joke. But he realized Newt was right.

"I'm an idiot."

Newt, tempted to nod, quickly took a sip of his tea and burned his tongue. Bollocks!

"So, Grindelwald actually has a daughter?", he then asked, still trying to calm his burnt tongue and to change the subject.

"Yes."

"Alba?"

"If you are wondering, I don't know if the name was chosen in affection or to send a message.", Albus answered while a small pot poured milk into his tea. "But she was like a daughter to me."

"Was?"

"Well not after this mess."

"Oh, she will come around. You just need to ask…more nicely. I don't think giving you one drop of blood will be that much of a problem."

"It isn't.", Dumbledore looked at Newt. "Next to the fact that I don't know if my theory works at all, it's not the blood she is angry about. It's that the drop of blood needs to be from someone she absolutely doesn't want to become."

"Who?"

"Herself."

His forehead wrinkled in confusion, Newt put down his tea. "What do you mean by "herself"?"

Albus knew, he needed to tell him. Even though he had promised her to never talk about it. After a moment of silence he put down his cup and turned to Newt.

"I met Alba Grindelwald when she was eleven years old. Against her father's wishes she had actually received a letter to Hogwarts. She was basically an orphan. Her mother had died only a couple of months after she was born, presumably killed by Grindelwald. I guess he spared her life because he thought she might be useful one day. She grew up in an orphanage, only knowing about who her father was, never actually having met him. But he must have had some kind of influence over her, because she already showed very similar tendencies back then. The Sorting Hat only heard her name and immediately screamed "Slytherin". She was a dark child. I will never forget the look on her face, the first time I saw her in the Grand Hall. Piercing blue eyes. Hair, white as snow. She looked like a sickly child, but her powers already surpassed those of students far older than her. She was a fast learner, which in her case wasn't a particular good thing. I don't know why but I grew fond of her and the more I watched her, the more I saw this young girl trapped in this being she inherited from her father. So I took her under my wing. She started trusting me and one day just straight out told me, that she didn't want to be who she was anymore. She didn't want to die, just not be herself anymore. So, we worked on trapping that part…that evil inside of her. It took years, but she finally managed to capture all of it and hide it inside of herself. Like a piece of paper, just tucked away. I hoped the other half, her mother's half, would take over, but year after year that empty part of her kept empty. That sweet girl, I knew, was gone. She started to pull away, hide from everybody, from the world. That was the first time Grindelwald tried to contact her. She managed to flee, somehow not being corrupted by him and is on the run ever since."

"But she said she was being watched.", Newt mentioned.

"I guess she decided not to run anymore. Maybe because it's not only Grindelwald who is watching her, but the ministry too."

"The ministry? Why?"

"They think she is on his side."

Newt swallowed nervously. "And is she?"

Albus was surprised that he actually thought about it for a moment. He wanted to wholeheartedly deny it, but he couldn't.

"I don't think so.", he answered beat down.

"And you think she is the only one who could help you break the pact?"

"She is the only one with a direct blood relation. She carries his magic inside of her. In her blood. It's that magic I need, to break the pact."

Newt examined Albus for a good long while, at the same time trying to think of anything else they could do. After he didn't manage to come up with another solution he nodded.

"Well, I guess we have to persuade her then."