Chapter 2: Reflection in Isolation
[Nurmengard Prison, The Austrian Alps]
[UNKNOWN]
Gellert Grindelwald looked out the small opening in his cell, which was packed with metallic bars. He ran a finger on the cold, harsh metal, idly observing the runes that flashed electric blue every second or two. Gellert sighed. It felt like yesterday, he was dueling Albus. He had grown overconfident. He was outsmarted, then overpowered by Dumbledore. Maybe, in a different world, he would have exercised caution.
The Sun was setting. He remembered, years ago, sitting with Albus, the two of them idly looking at the sunset, discussing plans for ruling the Muggles. It was all for the 'Greater Good'. He snorted in disbelief. He thought they were concocting such a grand plan. He thought of himself untouchable. Oh, how wrong he was. From the occasional chatter between the guards, and the even rarer occurrence of him being provided the liberty of a newspaper, he had the briefest idea of what was going on in the outside world. A dark lord called voldemort was terrorizing magical Britain, and was speculated to assault the non-magical populace of Britain within the next year. Germany, France, and Austria had no sympathy for Britain, who had provided little help during the rule of the previous dark lord. His rule.
His sharp mind was already beginning to birth the rough drafts of an escape plan from Nurmengard, the prison facility he had made to hold his rivals, the prison which had held him captive for around 30 years, give or take a decade or a half. He knew- knew it would not be easy. Nurmengard had been overhauled before he was chucked into it. The already formidable defenses, capable of stalling Dumbledore himself, had been inspected by the German and Austrian ministries before approving his imprisonment. He was still grateful, however, to have not been thrown into the hellhole called Azkaban. Escape would have not been possible. It was not the guards that he feared, not the human guards, anyway. They were truly pathetic. The dementors. Even decades after his last encounter with them, his spine shivered.
He had had enough. He would break free.
Gellert Grindelwald would be a free man once more.
[END OF RECORD-072579]
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[Holding cell, Austrian Ministry of Magic]
[UNKNOWN]
Grindelwald sipped his hot tea—the Ministry had been kind enough to offer him whatever- reasonable- requests he made, for which he was, of course, grateful for. He was still bitter about his defeat at the hands of Dumbledore—he had grown overconfident and had been defeated by the man. He sighed. He would not break out; he deserved what he got. Time alone in isolation gave him large amounts of time to reflect, and what he reflected on horrified him. He still respected his ideas, but he no longer stood by his ideals.
A ministry employee that held a stack of muggle newspapers walked past his cell—simply a decoy allowing the ministry to hide in plain sight of muggle buildings. It was not the only protection, but was quite ingenious in itself. Newspapers were not the only objects that were used for this, but were certainly the most effective.
"Can I have one of the papers?" The employee turned around, raised an eye, and passed a sheet of paper to him—he sighed. Much to his dismay, a special holding cell had been constructed for him and placed in the main hall of the Ministry atrium, and people had been instructed to not talk to him at all. Unable to keep the bitterness from his voice, he spoke up, "That's not very nice of you, is it?"
He stared at Gellert, a brief flicker of rage shadowing his features before he schooled himself. "Nice?" He spat. "Nice was something we lost long before you were defeated. You don't deserve niceties, Grindelwald."
He opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it. He could not fault the man for what he had said. Now wishing that he never spoke, he quietly unfolded the paper. His eyes scanned the headlines, but one image caught his attention—a photograph of the destruction caused at Hiroshima. The city lay in ruins, buildings reduced to rubble, and the haunting shadows of those who had perished etched into the ground, forever preserved into unyielding concrete and stone.
Grindelwald's breath hitched. He had heard of bombings- even witnessed a few, but seeing the devastation laid bare before him was another matter entirely. The sheer scale of the destruction, the lives lost, the suffering—it was beyond anything he had ever imagined. Magic had its limits, but this... this was a new kind of horror.
His hands trembled slightly as he held the paper. The weight of his past actions, his ambitions, and the consequences if his ideas had been brought to fruition pressed down on him like a crushing wave. He held no doubt that if he attempted to seize control over the muggle world, the wizarding world would have faced this- this horror. The image before him was a brutal slap to the face about what the muggles were truly capable of.
He folded the paper carefully, setting it aside. The tea in his cup had gone cold, but he didn't care.
He had a lot to think about anyhow.
[END OF RECORD-080845]
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[UNKNOWN]
[UNKNOWN]
Grindelwald was currently deep in thought. The child who he had been observing for more than half an year was more of an enigma than he had anticipated. Harry James Potter, the reason for the fall of the self-styled dark lord called Voldemort. He was considered the hero of Britain's populace, and here he was, in the house of his abusive uncle.
'What had you smoked before leaving him here, Albus?' He muttered. He probably had too many lemon drops. The twinkly-eyed git always liked them, even when they wanted to seize control over the muggle world. Truly, he was glad now that he never did. Exactly a month after his defeat at the hands of Dumbledore, the empire of Japan had been bombed. He shuddered at the thought of destruction that had been caused by the muggles. It was just short of impossible to achieve such annihilation with magic, and only the family magic of select families even could.
[END OF RECORD-080188]
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Well, it's been nearly a month since my last upload, for which I apologize. I also apologize for the tiny length of the chapter (1056 words, not including the Author's Note). However, my schedule is something I cannot afford to compromise with. Expect such an update cycle to continue.