"They call you a madman, a tyrant. I am curious what your side of the story is." I said calmly.
"My side huh? I suppose sharing my story as payment for the delicious food is fair enough. It started when I was young, the gift of foresight is a dreadful thing for a child to have. I saw my own future with this eye of mine and wanted it, so I chased it with every breath." he said tapping under his silver colored eye.
"Then you met Dumbledore." I said and he nodded.
"Yes. He was brilliant, no less so than I. I won't say it was love at first sight or anything so trite but we challenged each other, rivals that became more in time. Friends, lovers, partners." he said with a far away nostalgic look.
"Then the fight happened." I said.
"Yes. His sister was an obscurus, suppressed her magic because of the muggles who bullied her and the family who ignored her most the time. She snapped you see. I thought it unworthy of a magical to suffer under a muggle and thought to kill her bullies. Aberforth tried to stop me and Albus got involved. Our combined spells exploded and killed the girl." he said with a voice that wavered slightly.
"That was the tipping point, the moment Dumbledore changed into what he is now." I said in understanding.
"It broke him. His pride and desire to see the muggles brought to heel died with his sister. He sought wisdom, to understand why it all happened. Perhaps to escape the guilt or perhaps to make amends for whatever wrong he believed he committed. His dream became different from the one we shared and so we parted ways." he said with eyes misting slightly as he recalled these details.
"He sought to teach the next generations, to slowly change the wizarding world. I chose action, to follow the plan we made to bring the muggles to heel beneath wizard kind. No more hiding, no more letting them destroy the world. Many flocked to my banner following this message, this creed. I saw the final weapon, the power to erase whole cities being made by the muggles if they were allowed to grow further and took action. The great war began and for a long while I was winning." he said turning serious.
"But then Dumbledore started to oppose you." I said and he nodded.
"It was the turning point, the nexus that defined which future would come. In the end it would always come down to us, the victor the world to shape how we wished the loser made irrelevant. Our forces clashed across various cities and continents but I wasn't losing. Slowed yes, but not stopped. Finally we had our final confrontation, he blinded my eye you see. Used a ritual to close all divination for a time as he ambushed me, forced the fate of the world to that singular moment." he said growing quiet.
"And then he beat you, claimed the death stick for himself while you were imprisoned to repent for your crimes here. In the very prison you yourself made." I said finishing the story.
His eyes sharpened to a razors edge as he looked at me, scrutinizing me all the closer before speaking again.
"You know of the Hallows?" he asked, more a statement really.
I nodded "Know of them, know where they are and exactly what they do. If I wanted I could collect all of them without much trouble." I said honestly.
"I very much doubt Albus would allow that wand to slip through his fingers to a child." he said casually, dismissive.
"Perhaps if I wanted to do so honorably but if I chose trickery or theft like you did the wandmaker?" I said and he frowned.
"The possibility exists in that case but would you? That's the question." he said with faint agreement.
I shook my head "I have no need for the Hallows. None of them appeal to me even a little." I say frankly.
"You are telling the truth? How? How can you dismiss mastery of death itself so easily?" he asked in disbelief.
"The things don't make you master of death, not really. They make you nothing more than a coward. A wand that never loses in power, a cloak to hide away and a stone to show you lost loved ones. All of these are mere tools to avoid the fears that those absences have. A fear of being powerless, a fear of confrontation and a fear of being left behind or alone. Mastering death isn't about avoiding these but embracing them." I said and he shuddered as his eyes widened.
"I understand! Hahahaha! So that's what they are for! That's why the third brother embraced death as an old friend at the end of the tale." he said laughing and smiling as if he heard a joke.
"Don't get me wrong they are powerful artifacts but if you chase them for that legend you are after the wrong thing." I said and he nodded in agreement.
"It's devious almost. The tale lures in exactly the sort of people who could never learn the truth on their own, what a cruel joke." he said shaking his head.