Crack!
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and bolts of lightning tore across it.
In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore suddenly looked up from the book in his hands, his expression turning uncertain.
For some reason, a sudden unease had risen in his heart.
He set aside the book on Norse mythology, paced to the window, and looked out at the pouring rain, trying to calm the restlessness inside him.
"Chirp!"
Fawkes let out a clear, pleasant cry, landed on Dumbledore's shoulder, and nuzzled his face ingratiatingly.
The warmth from the phoenix dispelled the unease in Dumbledore's heart. He stroked Fawkes's head and sighed.
Perhaps recent events had simply become too complicated and left him in such poor condition.
Dumbledore let out another sigh and looked out the window.
Through the rain, he spotted Leonard. That troublesome bringer of bad news was saying something to Harry.
And the moment he saw Leonard, Dumbledore inevitably thought of that enemy who inspired nothing but despair.
Odin. The legendary King of the Gods.
His portrayal in myth might have been exaggerated, but the fact that his power far surpassed that of ordinary wizards was no lie.
Eternal Wizard. A rather distant term. Dumbledore himself had once chased after that power, but in the process of pursuing it, he had lost too much.
Now, one could say he was no longer fated to become an Eternal Wizard.
And yet, whenever he thought of Eternal Wizards, one person always came to mind.
That man's talent had been no less than his own, and in strength of character, perhaps even greater.
If it were him, then perhaps...
"I didn't expect you'd still think of me."
A voice suddenly rang out.
The voice itself was somewhat unfamiliar, but the tone and cadence made Dumbledore's heart jolt.
Dumbledore spun around sharply and saw a figure both familiar and strange. The once handsome, dashing figure now stooped slightly with age.
"Gellert?"
Dumbledore's expression turned complicated.
"How are you here?"
"And where exactly should I be? Nurmengard?" Grindelwald glanced at Fawkes, who looked ready to treat him like a mortal enemy, and smiled.
Dumbledore closed his eyes. When he opened them again, calm had returned.
"You broke your promise."
Back then, after their duel, Grindelwald had kept his word and willingly remained imprisoned in Nurmengard. What bound him there was not the prison itself, but his own promise.
"I never imagined someone as proud as you would break his own word," Dumbledore said.
He looked utterly composed, as though he were facing someone insignificant.
"Are you nervous?" Grindelwald raised a brow.
"Perhaps you ought to get yourself a pair of spectacles," Dumbledore said.
"Really?" Grindelwald shrugged. "I thought the first thing you'd ask, after seeing me appear out of nowhere, would be how I managed to bypass Hogwarts' anti-Apparition enchantments."
Dumbledore froze.
He was right. Faced with someone suddenly appearing here, his first concern should have been whether Hogwarts' anti-Apparition magic had failed.
That was no small matter.
So he really had been shaken. Grindelwald's abrupt appearance had unsettled him enough that he had lost sight of what mattered most.
His feigned calm had been seen through, but at well over a hundred years old, Dumbledore was hardly going to lose control over something like that.
He cleared his throat.
"So... you... wait."
Dumbledore's eyes widened as he stared at Grindelwald.
"You... you..."
"No need to be so shocked," Grindelwald said with a smile. "I simply followed the natural course of things."
"The natural course?" Dumbledore grew visibly agitated. "If simply following the natural course of things were enough to become an Eternal Wizard, then the world would already be full of them. You really... did it?"
"Of course." Grindelwald looked thoroughly satisfied by Dumbledore's astonishment. "I did indeed cross that threshold."
"So you came here to show off? Or for revenge?" Dumbledore asked calmly. "Or perhaps..."
He drew the Elder Wand.
"You came to reclaim the Elder Wand?"
"Heh. I'm not that small-minded. I lost to you back then, fairly and willingly. Why would I seek revenge?"
Grindelwald shook his head.
"As for the Elder Wand... my reason for coming this time is indeed related to it, but I'm not here to take it back. At this point, it has no meaning for me."
"Can't it make you stronger?" Dumbledore asked in return.
"No. It would only weigh me down." Grindelwald shook his head. "That is Death's power, not mine. At my current level, piling on more magic isn't enough to make me stronger."
"Then when you say you came because of the Elder Wand..."
"Don't you want to go one step further?" Grindelwald fixed Dumbledore with his gaze. "To become an Eternal Wizard."
Dumbledore fell silent.
Grindelwald continued, "The Deathly Hallows contain Death's power. Gather them, perform the ritual, and you can take Death's place. For you, the power of an Eternal Wizard would be within arm's reach."
Death was already completely gone. Inheriting Death's power and becoming an Eternal Wizard was a method with nothing but benefits.
But Dumbledore hesitated.
He looked at Grindelwald for a long time without speaking.
"What are you hesitating for?" Grindelwald frowned. "You don't want it?"
Dumbledore nodded, then shook his head.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Grindelwald asked impatiently. "Are you speaking in riddles?"
"I truly do not wish to possess that kind of power. Too much power brings needless trouble and pain." Dumbledore explained himself. "But I have an enemy, and to face that enemy, I need that power."
"An enemy?" Grindelwald's gaze sharpened. "From the sound of it... this enemy is an Eternal Wizard?"
"That's right." Dumbledore nodded. "Odin, the Allfather from Norse mythology."
"It's actually him?" Grindelwald looked genuinely surprised.
Odin's name was known to almost everyone. Even Grindelwald was momentarily stunned to hear that a figure out of myth had become an enemy in reality.
"He's not dead?" Grindelwald rubbed at his brow. "And he's become your enemy? What did he do to provoke you?"
"He took Nicolas Flamel's body." Dumbledore said, "You know me. I couldn't just stand by and ignore that."
"So you've agreed?" Grindelwald stroked his chin.
Dumbledore nodded solemnly.
"Agreeing won't help. The Resurrection Stone is gone." Grindelwald spread his hands, smiling with malicious delight.
Dumbledore: "..."
"Don't get angry, I'm serious," Grindelwald said. "The Resurrection Stone was always in the Gaunt family's ancestral home, but when I went there earlier, I discovered it had already been taken. The one who took it was Voldemort."
"Voldemort?" Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Could it be...?"