"Power itself is a risk."
Grindelwald gave a cold snort. "The wizarding world is not like Muggle society. A wizard's personal strength has a decisive effect on his influence. In some cases, a single individual can overturn the entire magical world by himself… I, and that noseless bald man who was originally supposed to kill me, are both examples of that."
"And the consequence of that is that power and risk become highly uncontrollable. It takes only one powerful wizard entertaining evil thoughts to bring terrible disaster upon the whole wizarding world. Even wizards who are fundamentally just and kind will inevitably have a stubborn, obsessive side. If used properly, that too can trigger an enormous crisis. Your headmaster is a typical example of that."
"Which headmaster?"
"…Albus Dumbledore."
Grindelwald reluctantly uttered the full name, then his expression returned to seriousness.
"So when I say the risk you bring is controllable, I mean that your power and potential are not something against which there is absolutely no recourse."
"Perhaps in the future you will become the strongest wizard in history, but your strength will not exceed the upper limit that wizardkind can attain. I once worried about that, when I discovered that you had shattered the fate of this world. I feared that there might appear some absolute, eternal, unrestrainable existence that would completely dominate everything, so that the entire world could only operate according to his will, whether he chose to do good or evil…"
"You should understand how terrible such a situation would be."
"…I probably can't do that."
Avada felt rather flattered. He had not known Grindelwald's "expectations" for him were this high.
And the truth was exactly as Grindelwald said: he had not surpassed the limits a wizard could reach. In fact, the only things that truly made him special compared to ordinary wizards were twofold—his magic sense, and the information brought by the memories of his previous life—and neither of them had elevated him in essence. Whether it was vitality, spiritual power, or the structure of his soul, he was no different from anyone else. At most, he could optimize himself a little through his magic sense, but he could never exceed the limits of humanity itself.
As for the ability of foresight, there was even less to say. For one thing, the original plot had already been shattered to pieces by his interference, so his memories could now do little more than provide him with hidden intelligence. For another, according to Grindelwald, the fate of the entire world had already been broken by him, and Avada had personally verified that while exploring the domain of time…
Besides, with his awful athletic talent, even if he optimized himself to the limit, whether he could defeat Dumbledore wielding the Elder Wand was still debatable. And with that, what talk was there of ruling the world?
"I know you can't."
Grindelwald nodded with a half-smile.
"Otherwise, I would have found a way to kill you back in your first year."
"…"
For some reason, hearing those words from Grindelwald, Avada did not sense even a trace of threat or provocation. It felt as simple and natural as breathing.
As expected of the schemer who had once shaken all of Europe.
"Er, so,"
he decided not to keep following that awkward line of conversation,
"Mr. Grindelwald, what exactly did you call me here for this time? It can't be just to tell me all this, can it?"
"Ah, I almost forgot the important part."
Grindelwald smacked a hand against his knee.
"It's actually not complicated. There are mainly two things."
"First, when you reveal the matter of the Horcruxes to Albus, it would be best not to show him the Resurrection Stone, nor tell him anything about it."
"Why?"
Avada was puzzled. After all these years, Dumbledore should have let go of his youthful obsession with the Deathly Hallows. And deep down, he knew perfectly well that the Resurrection Stone could not truly bring back his dead family. Even in the original story, what he spent the last year of his life doing was defeating Voldemort, not desperately seeking to prolong his own life or researching how to resurrect his sister…
And right now, completely destroying Voldemort and opposing the pure-blood families were the most important matters of all. Avada judged that Dumbledore would not lose his reason at such a critical time.
"You do not understand Albus's obsession with the Resurrection Stone."
As though he knew exactly what Avada was thinking, Grindelwald shook his head and explained,
"You may know that Albus once had a sister. She died after being caught in the crossfire of a battle between me, him, and his brother… That was also the most direct reason for the break between him and me."
I know.
Avada did not say it aloud, but neither did he deliberately pretend surprise. After all, one large reason he had gained Dumbledore's trust in the first place was because of Ariana.
At the mention of this matter, Grindelwald's expression seemed to dim for a moment, though it quickly recovered.
"Albus has always carried immense pain over that. And worse still, he has never been able to determine whose magic it was, in that chaotic fight, that struck his sister. In other words, there is a one-in-three chance that his sister died by his own hand."
"That is why his obsession with her death runs far deeper than normal. Believe me—if he is shown even the possibility of reviving the dead, he will absolutely try it at any cost, even if it means staking his own life."
Avada silently nodded. In the original story, wasn't Dumbledore brought down precisely because of the Resurrection Stone?
"So even I cannot predict how he would react after seeing the Resurrection Stone. And as for you—a fellow who has known him for less than four years—there is even less to say."
"Besides, the Resurrection Stone is also one of the Deathly Hallows, something Albus pursued in his youth… I have no idea whether he still believes that absurd legend that gathering all three Hallows grants mastery over death. And if he still does, then his reaction upon seeing the Resurrection Stone would become even more impossible to predict."
That remark reminded Avada of something—he had completely forgotten that setting about gathering all three Deathly Hallows to become the master of death. He had once wanted to test it himself, but gave up because he felt that, for the time being, he probably could not beat Dumbledore.
Thinking about it now, the existence of that legend really could very easily awaken Dumbledore's obsession…
He had indeed failed to think this through.
"I understand."
Only then did he nod seriously.
"As it happens, I was planning to confess the matter of the Horcruxes to him within the next few days… I'll temporarily keep the Resurrection Stone hidden."
"But what I want to ask is this: when I'm preparing to completely destroy all the Horcruxes, can I show him the Resurrection Stone then? You may not know this, but one of the Horcruxes is far harder to deal with than the others. I'm planning to use the repentance effect between soul fragments to forcibly pull it out of its host, and that ritual may require Dumbledore's help…"
"And when would that be?"
"In a year or two…"
"Then it should be fine."
Grindelwald nodded.
"By then, you should already possess the ability to escape from Albus's grasp. Besides, destroying the Horcruxes is a serious matter, and he should be able to keep hold of his reason. As for after that… you'll have to judge for yourself. By then, you will certainly understand the situation better than I do now."
"And the second thing I wanted to say…"
"Wait, Mr. Grindelwald,"
Avada could not help interrupting in curiosity,
"judging from what you just said, do you no longer believe the legend that gathering all three Deathly Hallows grants mastery over death?"
"A legend?"
Grindelwald let out a cold laugh.
"At best, that counts as a bedtime story."
(End of Chapter)