Chapter 8: Grindelwald

Last time

"What the heck are you talking about!? I'm not related to you in any way!" Nathan nearly shouted.

"Ah, not through your father. But your mother on the other hand…" Dumbledore said as his eyes flashed a different color for a moment.

'Okay, that is the 3rd time I've seen that happen. What does that mean?' Nathan thought as he wondered what it could mean before he lightly gasped as he thought he had it, "You're not really Albus Dumbledore, are you?"

"Very good my boy." Dumbledore with praise as he took off his pointed hat and half-moon glasses with a sigh, "Maintaining a full-body transfiguration like this used to be easy. Even 50 years ago, holding it for a full 6 months before having to relax my magic for bit would have been no great task. Now I can barely hold it for a few months before my control starts slipping, even with the boosts my old friends give me." 'Dumbledore' was of course referring to the Elder Wand and Fawkes, both of which boosted his magic power and helped compensate for the fact that he was getting weaker as he got older.

"If you're not Dumbledore, then who are you?" Nathan wondered.

"I'll give you a hint," the old man said as the transfiguration wore off and Nathan could see him clearly for the first time. Nathan could see his light blonde hair on his eyebrows, and his heterochronic eyes; the right one being a light, pale blue and the left being brown. The old man's skin was wrinkled and he had short hair, not to mention was going bald on the top of his head. The robes he wore vanished as well, replaced with a black turtleneck shirt, underneath a black suit with white vertical stripes over a gray trench coat.

Nathan may not have been able to guess accurately had it not been for the eyes. He remembered on the train ride to Hogwarts that he had gotten this guys chocolate frog. His wand had a similar appearance to the Elder Wand, which this man before was rumored to have stolen from Gregorivitch almost a century ago. He had this man's journal, which contatined many of the spells, rituals, and potions that he invented after being expelled out of Durmstrang for being 'too dark', and Durmstrang was a school of magic that was famous even then for its tolerance of the Dark Arts. Sitting across from the young Potter was the most famous, dangerous, and powerful dark wizard that ever walked the earth.

"Gellert Grindelwald," Nathan said.

Chapter Start

Gellert Grindelwald smiled as Nathan said his name. It had been so long since he heard his name spoken by someone other than his old friend, Albus Dumbledore. It was nice, especially coming from his great grandson. The most powerful dark wizard of all time waved his hand and the seat on the opposite end of the table opened up for Nathan to sit. "Have a seat, Nathaniel Potter," Grindelwald offered.

Nathan looked at the door that was sealed behind him, then at Grindelwald and realized he didn't really have any chance at getting away so he might as well see what Grindelwald wants with him. Nathan took a seat and finally noticed the tea and biscuits on the table. They sat in silence for a moment before Gellert said something, "I imagine that you questions."

"Too many." Nathan admitted as he took a sip of his tea after he checked it with a silent and wandless Magica Revelio and found no secret surprises in it. "How the hell am I related to you? I thought my mother was a muggle-born."

"Your mother was muggle-born…in a sense." Seeing his great-grandson's confusion, Grindelwald elaborated, "Not all muggle-born's are truly the first of their bloodline to awaken their magic. Some muggle-borns are descendants of Squibs or Half-bloods that left the wizarding world and had families in the muggle one, their magic re-emerging in later generations. Your mother, my grand-daughter, was of such disposition."

"But to explain that, I must go back to the beginning. As you are aware, my twisted experiments lead Durmstrang to expelling me before I could graduate. After my expulsion from Durmstrang, my quest for power and information about the Hallows led me to Godric's Hollow, England, where Ignotus Peverell was said to have been the first owner of Death's Cloak of Invisibility, had been laid to rest. Conveniently, my relative and great-aunt, acclaimed wizarding historian Bathilda Bagshot, lived there and provided me with lodging's, complete with a treasure trove of books and documents and a minimum of supervision. It was in Godric's Hollow in the summer of 1899 that I met and befriended Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." Nathan gave a funny look when he heard Albus's full name and Grindelwald chuckled, "Yes, his name is a bit long but moving on. We had a lot in common: both of us were intellectuals and talented young wizards, who were also idealistic and ambitious. We even became lovers during the two months that we knew one another."

"Wait, so-" Nathan started and Grindelwald finished.

"I am what you youngster's call bi-sexual nowadays. Though after being in Numengard for 45 years, I have lost all interest in physical pleasure, and before you get the wrong idea, I'm not into pedophilia or incest. I'm not that arrogant crybaby and his mad dog's. I have standards." Grindelwald said, letting Nathan see a glimpse of what he felt.

Nathan, due his previous life as Naruto, was interested only in girls. While he wouldn't wack his ancestor's choice in partner, Nathaniel Potter liked girls and only girls in that sense.

Seeing his great grandson come to terms with what he admitted, Grindelwald continued, "Following these two months, the two of us shaped one another's ideas, powers, as well as destinies from that day forth and became intertwined with each other. Whilst we were staying at my aunts house, we also made a blood pact, swearing never to fight each other."

Nathan wondered how then, that Albus and Grindelwald ever had their famous duel, as a blood pact literally prevents you from causing that person harm, but he supposed it meant that Albus was eventually able to find a way to destroy the pact.

"The pair of us shared two goals: The first was our search for the Deathly Hallows toward the goal of acquiring all three and wielding their power to become Master of Death, which we both believed at the time to mean both immortality and invincibility. We also dreamed of overturning the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and creating a new world order in which wise and powerful wizards and witches were the benevolent overlords of their world, including Muggles. My old friend himself coined the phrase "For the Greater Good" that would be used to justify the necessary use of force required to achieve our goals, and I myself would later adopt as my slogan."

"However, Dumbledore's motivations and intentions were different from mine, which I would realize far too late: as a young man, my old friend had been powerless to stop a group of Muggle boys tormenting his younger sister, Ariana, to the point that the sweet-natured girl suffered an emotional breakdown and her repressed magic became dangerously unstable. Dumbledore's father was sent to Azkaban for taking revenge on the boys and his mother was killed in one of Ariana's accidents. Dumbledore wanted the power to protect his loved ones (and by extension the whole world) against cruelty and xenophobia like that shown by those Muggles. He viewed the Resurrection Stone as a way of returning his parents to life and relieving him of his new familial obligations, while I mistakenly viewed it as a tool to amass an army of inferi."

Nathan cocked an eyebrow as he wondered how Grindelwald came up with that, since the Resurrection Stone was said to bring back the dead, not create weapons. "My information on the Stone was still incomplete at the time." Grindelwald said when he saw his descendants eyebrow rise. " Our plans to leave Godric's Hollow, acquire power, and begin our grand revolution turned serious. When Dumbledore's brother Aberforth became aware of this, he was both concerned about and disgusted with Albus's ambition, knowing that Ariana would not receive the care and attention she needed to keep her stable. The tense situation boiled over into a confrontation and I, enraged at the interference of my goals, inflicted the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth. Albus moved to defend his brother, igniting a vicious three-way duel, although thanks to the blood pact between myself and Albus, it was more of duel between myself and Aberforth, with Albus stepping in to prevent either side from killing each other. Eventually, Ariana got hit by a stray spell from me and was killed. I fled the country and received blame for Ariana's death, thus confirming my place as a Dark revolutionary, which would last until 1945."

"Now then, over time my following grew and by 1927, I had met the woman that would be your great grandmother. Vinda Rosier, a witch from the French branch of the Rosier pure-blood family, and my right hand. Out of all of my Acolyte's, my trusted circle, Vinda was the most loyal to my vision, but was more extreme, and would proudly state in private that she wanted the extermination of all non-magical individuals. We became lovers and found pleasure in each other's company, and she gave birth to our daughter in 1928. We had named our daughter Valerie, but we could not raise her on the run so she was put up for adoption and she disappeared into the system and that was the last I saw of her, but not before sealing away her magic so no one could tell she was mine."

"After I got out of Numengard, I searched for 2 years before I discovered what happened to her. Apparently, before World War 2, she had immigrated to England and moved to small town of Cokeworth and married a man native to that town. They had adopted a child, Petunia Evans, before they had Lily. Because my daughter's magic was suppressed, she never showed up on the Ministry's radar, so Lily was considered a muggle-born. Lily went to Hogwarts, met your father and eventually married him after they graduated, and by that point, both my daughter and her husband were dead, having been a target of Voldemort. I found all this out about 2 months before school started and I decided to tell you all about this in person." Grindelwald said, letting his great grandson digest that.

"How did you escape Numengard? Better yet how are you even alive? The world believes you died in Numengard?" Nathan said as that was something that was bugging him.

"Well, that is it's own story." Grindelwald said as he told Nathan what happened back then.

Flashback

44 years, 6 months, and 13 days after the Battle of the Seelow Heights, Grindelwald looked out his open window, the fresh autumn air invigorating him as it sent a chill through his old bones. His hand stroked the head of the common barn owl that had just delivered The Daily Prophet. With his other hand, he ate some of his bacon, then fed it to the bird. "Go on now," he whispered.

A wandless cleansing charm later, he resumed eating. He sipped from a tall glass of 2% and twirled his wrist, the paper standing itself up for him to read. The old man smiled softly; it was little acts of sorcery that he had always enjoyed, almost more than anything else. Perhaps it reminded him of times before the Great War. Simpler. More carefree. He shook off the nostalgic thoughts in favor of looking to the Prophet's headline.

If there is one thing to be said about Albus Dumbledore, it is that he is a man of his word. Nurmengard had been more of a cushy palace to the war criminal. The only reminder that is was indeed a prison was the lack of human contact and the fact that he could not utilize the majority of his magic whilst here.

In fact, the only human contact he had contact with in all this time was Albus.

He visited on each of their birthdays. For Gellert's Birthday, Albus always gave him a few books on advanced light magic. For Albus's birthday, Gellert always had a pair of woolen socks, fantastically patterned.

He visited for Yule, and the two would always share a couple of dances to the charmed phonograph that played music from their youth. Gellert would lead first, then Albus. Then they would share a drink while they reminisced about how they were in the summer of 1899. In more recent years, Gellert had lamented the foolishness of his European conquest.

On the day of Arianna Dumbledore's death, the normally colorful Albus came to Gellert wearing all black. He brought with him 2 copies of Arianna's favorite book, and the two read it together in silence. It was their own way of mourning the tragedy.

The visits were just about the highlights of Albus's year too, the only time he could act as his true self.

In time, Albus came for more than just those four days. Whenever he had a particularly tricky problem in the International Confederation of Wizards, he would seek Gellert's council. The same was true for problems with the Wizengamot. During the time of Voldemort's reign of terror, he received visits nearly bi-weekly.

Now, more than a decade after Voldemorts death, Grindelwald was getting anxious to find a way out of this glorified prison but he had never found a way to get out. Luckily for him, this day was a special one.

Albus apparated into the prison, clutching his arm, cursing himself for putting the ring on. Gellert noticed the change in the magic of his oldest friend and one-time lover. Nearly a century ago, he had been hailed as the greatest magic sensor to have ever lived, and his skill had not dulled in the slightest.

"Albus, my old friend. You're not looking well." Gellert noted as he got up from his seat to greet Albus.

"Gellert, I would not bring this you but this is a matter of great urgency." Dumbledore said as he staggered over to chair, Gellert helping him over. Gellert then saw Albus's hand, which was black and rotting, with the darkest point emanating from Albus's ring finger.

"You have been cursed." Gellert noted, know understanding what the change in Albus's magic was. He quickly figured out that it must be coming from the ring, so with what little power Gellert had available for him to use right now, he severed the finger. Albus put a hankerchief on the bleeding digit while he groaned in pain.

"It's still spreading," Gellert noted when he saw that it was still spreading past Albus's wrist. "Albus, what were you doing that you have this kind of curse on you?" Albus Dumbledore noted the same thing about how it was spreading, and so, he realized that he didn't have time to go to Severus to make a potion for his condition. So, he told Gellert everything. About Voldemort, about what he did with the Hocruxes, how many he discovered.

Gellert was stunned by the audacity of Voldemort. Oh, he had a very low opinion Voldemort already, but it was even lower now. He knew how to create a Hocrux and splitting ones soul did not appeal to him in the slightest, even back in his youth. Splitting the soul was not only unnatural, it deteriorated the individuals sanity. Making Hocrux was already unthinkable for Grindelwald. Making multiple Hocruxes like Voldemort did? Inconceivable.

"Listen to me, my old friend," Albus said weakly, as he began a series of spells that would make copies of most of his memories, sticking him in vials that Gellert had lying around. "In 2 years, the Potter heir will be coming to Hogwarts. I have discovered that he has grown up in a similar situation to what Tom grew up in. When he comes to Hogwarts, he will need friends to keep his morals centered. And the school needs protected. If the world learns of my death, the forces of Voldemort hiding in the shodows will strike out at us when we least expect. I've never asked anything of you, but I am asking this. Take my place, pose as me, help make sure the young Nathaniel Potter never becomes like Tom Riddle did. The world cannot handle another Voldemort."

Flashback end

"So, you two switched places, and whilst you posed as Dumbledore, you waited for me to arrive at Hogwarts. Why did you wait so long to approach me?" Nathan asked he came to terms with what had been said.

"I wanted to get the measure of you first. You were suspicious of me and you would not have allowed us to speak privately out of fear of me trying something nefarious. So I waited. I did admittedly, not change the traps around the Philosophers stone, as a way to measure your abilities. You need not worry, I was invisible the entire time, waiting until you needed aid to respond." Grindelwald said, to Nathan's surprise. He had not been aware that Grindelwald had been with him the whole time, although, maybe that was why Hermione was able to get treated so quickly.

"So, what happens now?" Nathan asked, curious as to what would happen now that ancestor and descendant were aware of each other.

"Tom Riddles actions this year have shown me that he seeks to restore himself to his former glory. Based on my visions, that is still sometime away. Though you have done well with your private training and handled yourself well against the dark wizard in his weakened state, you are not ready for the real thing. We must prepare you." Grindelwald stated.

"I would have you stay here in Hogwarts with me over the summer. You will still be allowed to maintain contact with your friends, but every other moment will be training with me, for I will instruct and teach you as much as I can." Grindelwald offered, and Nathan considered. Here was the most powerful dark wizard in history offering to teach him and train him. Remembering his fight with Voldemort and how outmatched he was against Voldemort in such a weakened state, Nate didn't really see any other options. Sure he could go back to the orphanage, but what purpose would that serve. He didn't like that place anyway, and he needed to get stronger. So, there was really only one path left for him.

"Okay. There is not really another choice. I will become your apprentice, Great Grandfather," Nathan said, accepting his proposal.

Grindelwald smiled brightly. "Excellent," he said as he grabbed the Elder Wand and prepared to resume Dumbledores appearance. "I shall set about making the arrangement. For now, go spend time with your little girlfriend while you still can before she leaves for summer."

"You…she's not my girlfriend." Nate said with a blush as he got up and made for the door.

"You say that now, my young descendant, but take it from me," Grindelwald said as he resumed Dumbledore's appearance, "Those that are destined to be together often find each other when they are young."

Chapter End

Author Note: It's been a while since I updated. I know that this chapter was short, but I wanted to get an update in, so I hope you liked it. The next chapter will probably start in Diagon Alley while they are getting their stuff for the second year.