Felix had known about Grindelwald since back when he was still studying in school, the introduction on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card stated the following.
"Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945."
But back then the defeat of Grindelwald was only one of Dumbledore's widely known and well-recognized achievements, a footnote to his legendary exploits. Anyone who saw that chocolate frog card would only have been in awe of Dumbledore, and would not have been able to spare the slightest bit of attention to the failure known as 'Grindelwald the Dark Lord'. Of course, his infamous reputation would probably be passed on from one child to the next, using their imaginations to the fullest when discussing questions like "How bad is this man?"
Felix had every reason to suspect that, as many young wizards who grow up in the magical world, sometimes compelled to play the role of 'Grindelwald the Dark Lord' as bad guy in dueling plays, in which they would eventually fall at the feet of the good guys.
It was only after hearing Newt's words that Felix really became curious about Grindelwald as a person.
"I can't reveal much more - it involves Headmaster Dumbledore ... Grindelwald was very arrogant, or confident ... and very charismatic, though I didn't like him that much for creating a lot of havoc at the time ..."
Apparently, the short one-line description on the Chocolate Frog card was actually spectacular, dramatic, and even thrilling, when they were played out in reality.
And Newt's silence backed this up.
Later on, Voldemort secretly captured a group of wandmakers and experts in the history of magic; Mykew Gregorovitch, the famous wandmaker, and Florean Fortescue, the owner of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley were among them, and with the information provided by these people, Voldemort fabricated the narrative of ten powerful wands, which propagated the legend of the "Elder Wand" along with its reputation of being the invincible wand that would never lose was thus spread. It gained the title of the invincible wand, and Felix was rumoured as a current wielder of that wand.
Subsequently, all indications suggest that perhaps Voldemort has long given up the hunt for the Elder Wand back then, and has instead investigated the whereabouts of the snakewood wand passed down from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The ten powerful wands were merely a means for Voldemort to keep Felix at bay, to give him something to do while he confirmed the authenticity of the 'Elder wand' in Felix's hands at the same time. And, probably in Voldemort's plan, the bloody inheritance rules of the Elder Wand would more or less affect Felix and Dumbledore's tacit understanding.
But coincidentally, the real owner of the Elder Wand was Dumbledore, and the diversion was a waste of time.
Felix thus also guessed that before Dumbledore, the holder of the Elder Wand was Grindelwald.
The speed at which Voldemort's downfall came about was so fast that many people were stunned and did not react at all. Felix also made contact with Grindelwald, or to be precise, Grindelwald reached out to Felix. Then the two became pen pals.
Felix smacked his lips, it was a novel experience for him too, he had never tried writing a letter to someone in prison before. When he considered that at one point Grindelwald was writing back letter by letter with a small, dimly lit oil lamp, and didn't even have a decent desk, he missed those times more and more now.
Unfortunately, it was not long after that Felix learned of Grindelwald's suspected escape from prison from the mouth of Dumbledore, who for the first time confessed his close friendship with Grindelwald and expressed his wariness at the ideas of the other man.
But in the blink of an eye, Dumbledore changed his tune and kept the volunteering Grindelwald at Hogwarts as the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
There were multiple reasons for this.
Dumbledore had taken the initiative to tell Felix some of the reasons, such as Grindelwald's poor physical state and near-permanent fall in strength; Felix partially understood and accepted this, and in his opinion, Voldemort's downfall had no small impact on Dumbledore.
Felix roughly simplified the psychological changes as follows.
After solving a long-term burden, Dumbledore must have been overwhelmed with emotion and recalled the distant memories from a long time ago, when his former best friend cum enemy met him after half a century, and inevitably had a moment of compassion.
But there should be a limit to these kinds of softness, and Dumbledore promised him that Grindelwald would only be teaching at the school for a year, after which he would return to Nurmengard Castle to finish his sentence.
So what is Dumbledore's goal ...
Felix pondered for a moment and had a vague inkling. He decided to go and talk to Severus and Madam Pomfrey later.
"... I can't believe I didn't realize that the old man is getting physically active, even his quarrels seem quite full of life ..."
He suspected Dumbledore was secretly starting a little game.
And in addition to the reasons Dumbledore had voluntarily told Felix, he himself had heard half a dozen words from the portrait in the headmaster's office which implied it has something to do with a prophecy ...
At this point, Felix would like to thank Phineas Black.
As for the content of the prophecy - Felix had gradually figured out a hint of what was in store over the past six months or so. He really didn't know exactly what the prophecy was about, but Dumbledore knew it, and from how much Dumbledore tolerated the content that Grindelwald was teaching, it was possible to roughly outline the shape of the prophecy.
It should have something to do with the Statute of Secrecy.
Felix frowned slightly at the recollection, what was that supposed to be? An inevitable exposure of the wizarding community? But he and Dumbledore had shared a similar consensus, unless Grindelwald could produce more direct evidence, such as a specific time of the event.
Felix was faintly stunned for a moment, it seemed to align with the situation. He had previously speculated that the prophecy could be something that needed to be deciphered, like a tea leaf, a crystal ball, an astrological sign, or some fragment of the future. His thoughts kept tumbling ... He thought of the New Year's parade shown to the students in Grindelwald's first class at the start of this school year.
The parade.
So there would be a huge anti-wizard march in the future?
Felix made a mental note of this. He wasn't in much of a hurry, Dumbledore has a much better sense of responsibility than he does, and when the time is ripe, the prophetic content will automatically appear before his eyes and he cannot be able to hide from it even if he wants to.
Felix felt that Dumbledore is perfectly capable of such a thing, the headmaster is very good at keeping secrets.
As for Grindelwald, the professors were generally quite satisfied with him, he is capable, knowledgeable, and courteous to others, and even Professor McGonagall, who was quite critical about some of his dangerous comments, was coming to accept this somewhat dysfunctional colleague. The professor of the charms class even cited him as a confidant, "Professor Bagshot is marvellous in the subtle manipulation of spells." The shorter Flitwick has said this on more than one occasion.
Well, there's one exception, Felix thought. The Professor Slughorn was as perceptive as ever and rarely interacted with Grindelwald alone.
Felix was very curious if he had discerned something.
But the chances of that would actually be very low.
Because Grindelwald had been imprisoned for half a century, his appearance had long since changed. Even the old Professors, such as McGonagall and Flitwick, had failed to recognize him, not to mention the fact that Grindelwald's escape from Nurmengard Castle had not been made public yet, so even though Severus had some doubts about his identity, he still had not considered in that direction at all.
And in the eyes of those who knew his true identity (Dumbledore and Felix), nothing Grindelwald did touch the bottom of the barrel. If he had contacted or responded to the Acolytes, he believes Dumbledore would not have hesitated to deport Grindelwald to prison.
The fact that Dumbledore went from a guarded attitude at the beginning to tacitly allowing Harry and Grindelwald to be in contact with each other alone, and even learning magic with him, certainly represents an increase in trust.
On his part, Felix was also at peace with the situation.
No matter what Grindelwald wanted to do, whether it was to pass on his magic (which he would be happy to see) or to pass on his ideas, he only had a year to do so, and if he did intend to bewitch Harry, he was bound to find him more stubborn than he thought.
It wasn't as if Dumbledore hadn't done anything; the weekly lessons were no secret. Harry's mind had been nearly set in stone over the years, what Grindelwald is trying to do is to turn things around, whereas Dumbledore is guiding him to think independently, the two things are completely incomparable.
Just like the Blood Pact that Harry mentioned today, Felix was surprised both by the question itself and by the fact that Dumbledore had the courage to reveal this past, and by the time Harry was faced with the choice, Grindelwald, who is hiding his identity, had no way of gaining the upper hand.
Perhaps this was also expected by Dumbledore, who hoped to patch up another part of Harry's character. Only what exactly it is, Felix can't quite figure out yet.
...
Later that day, Felix emerged from the hospital wing with the information he wanted.
His suspicions had been correct.
All of Grindelwald's magic had been almost completely blocked, he is no different from a Squib, and he had been suffering from poor physical health for decades, and Madam Pomfrey had been supplying him with a mild nourishing potion.
In a moment of clarity, a thought dawned in Felix's mind: the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald might have been broken - otherwise, they could not have dueled - but there might have been another unknown magic pact between them.
And the proof is in what Dumbledore said on the day he learned that Grindelwald had disappeared from Nurmengard Castle.
"... He is restrained by powerful spells, and I can make sure that those restrictions remain in place, making it difficult for him to use advanced magic ... Whatever he wants to do, these conditions objectively set the bar for him. "
Why was Dumbledore so sure that the spell has not been broken? There was only one answer Felix could think of, Dumbledore's involvement (or even his own leadership) in the International Confederation of Wizards' plan to imprison Grindelwald after that duel.
It was getting dark as Felix walked down the grand staircase and made his way through the entrance hall.
To his slight surprise, the open space at the entrance to the castle was already occupied, two familiar silhouettes bathed in the golden dusk sunlight, and as Felix squinted, the edges of their bodies seemed to reflect a haze of seven shades of light.
Dumbledore's elderly, forgiving, understanding voice blended in with the scene before him.
"... There is still time, Miss Granger, and you have plenty of time to see the path ahead. I think - there is a similarity between the process of mastering magic and recognizing yourself - that is to follow your heart, and where the treasure is, there will be the heart ... Don't forget, we are Gryffindors."
Hermione bowed her head and didn't say anything for a moment.
"Headmaster Dumbledore? Granger?" Felix voiced out.
Hermione jerked her head up and glanced at him quickly, squealing and jumping backwards a few steps.
"Right, well excuse me, I've got things to do, I'll be off." She ran off without looking back.
Felix looked stunned.
"What's wrong with her?"
"Miss Granger is a little confused about her future path, which is the privilege of youth." Dumbledore smiled faintly and said, "She trusts me enough to tell me something from her heart."
"Oh," Felix said with a slight tsk as he looked back into the silent entrance hall, "I thought she had set her goals a long time ago, Amelia expects a lot from her and a whole lot of confidential information has been shown to her."
Dumbledore blinked and didn't say anything. His azure eyes reflected the last rays of sunlight in the sky and his long silver beard seemed to glow. As the golden curtain at the edge of the Forbidden Forest disappeared, the night came down like a thick curtain and the land became dim, but soon some starry lights appeared.
"Albus," said Felix, breaking the silence and weighing the words, "I heard a term from Harry today, Blood Pact..."
"Ah, I have considered it, that there might be a real possibility of him asking you for help." Dumbledore said calmly, "I didn't think I could keep it a secret anymore when I decided to say it, and I agreed to let Harry draw wisdom from other people. Like Miss Granger just now when she asked me for advice."
"That's a blood pact." Felix said softly.
The implications of that are completely different. It at least showed that at some point in Dumbledore and Grindelwald's lives, they were willing to give a portion of their fates over to the complete control of the other.
"Yes, two smart and cocky teenagers who made reckless oaths when they were closest to each other." Dumbledore said, with a faint note of relief in his tone, "We are smarter than the average person, a lot smarter and therefore a little more arrogant, convinced that we can accomplish what no one before us could ... but I would say that being smart is not a substitute for being wise, nor can it be a substitute for experience, and we are in some areas are just equally ignorant."
He looked out into the distance when twilight replaced the haze and stars appeared in the flimsy sky.
"As I have mentioned before, Gellert's ideas attracted me, inspired me, and expressed things that I had kept buried deep in my heart but never dared to reveal, my dissatisfaction with the status quo at the time. I was brilliant but forced to stay stuck in an abandoned village, I was gifted but unable to provide shelter for my loved ones ... Felix, my father's experience still affected me and there was a time in the dead of night when I would always ask myself in my mind: what would I have done if I had witnessed Ariana being bullied? "
"Sometimes I hate myself for being too mature. I kept telling myself that there are equally good and bad Muggles as there are wizards and that it is foolish and condemnable to dismiss a large group of people at will, but when my mother tragically died and Ariana's condition worsened, I was filled with resentment and grudges ..."
Dumbledore closed his eyes. After a long pause, he reopened his eyes and said calmly, almost indifferently, as if he was narrating another person's experience.
"At a time when I was suffering most, Gellert appeared, and as soon as we met, he told me that the same thing had happened not only to me but to many, many fellow wizards, how absurd it was that we should suffer misfortune when we had the power! He proposed the best of both worlds - or at least that's what I thought at the time - to join forces and create a whole new order. From then on wizards would not have to hide, Ariana would not have to hide, and the tragedy that happened to our family would never happen again."
"We pride ourselves on our superior intelligence and strength, and as a result, we have made even greater mistakes."
"I was so enthralled and completely absorbed, think about it, to solve my family's troubles and free millions of wizards at the same time, that plan was simply too much to my liking, I worked day and night to perfect it, and eventually we've deviated from our original intentions, completely sidelined from the family I should have been valuing and immensely focused on a brilliant cause that existed only in fantasy ... You should have guessed the final outcome, my sister, Ariana ... who had been well cared for and looked after by my mother and us ... became the first victim. "
It was completely dark, and Dumbledore blended completely into the darkness.
"Albus-"
"There is no need to comfort me, Felix, I have gotten what I wanted." Dumbledore turned and walked slowly towards the castle while whispering, "Perhaps we are born with our own missions, and mine is to right the wrongs I have made. Felix, you have a mission of your own."
Felix stared at Dumbledore's back as he caught a hint of something else.
Suddenly, his eyes widened, the Thestral's ash-white eyes glowed in the darkness, and Dumbledore's steps faltered slightly before he continued to leave. Felix couldn't help but inhale slightly.
He had watched Voldemort with this pair of eyes, Voldemort's soul tattered and torn, emanating an unsettling blackness. He had also seen Dumbledore, whose soul glimmered like pale jade and emitted a hazy luminescence.
But right now, everything is different.
A bright, soft light radiated from Dumbledore's body, covering the land like the moon. Vaguely, Felix seemed to see Dumbledore holding a little girl in his hand, but they disappeared into the entrance hall in a flash.
Felix stayed still, looking up at the sky, the stars reflected in his ash-white pupils.
He waited silently as a ray of moonlight flickered past the windows of the castle's seventh-floor corridor, eventually stopping at the tower of the Headmaster's office, there is no moon tonight, but moonlight spilled all over Hogwarts Castle.
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[Author:]
This chapter is meant to sort out some of the clues from the previous chapters, as well as to show what Dumbledore has achieved in the realm of the soul.
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