Hogwarts: Becoming a god from reselling fresh food

Climbing the stairs that had not been set foot on by humans for who knows how many years, Dumbledore followed the house elf step by step to the top of the tower.

The door suddenly opened slowly, and he saw the man sitting at the table by the window.

His hair was withered and gray, his body had become slightly hunched over, his whole body was extremely thin, and his withered face could hardly find the trace of his former appearance.

But only those eyes were still shining brightly.

"Albus," the man smiled, "you look really old."

Dumbledore didn't know what to say for a moment, so he just stood there.

"Oh, come in, I've prepared honey tea. I don't know if your taste has changed over the years, but this is the bees I asked Damt to raise on the mountain outside. I almost made it myself. I collected dozens of kinds of nectar, it should taste pretty good.”

Dumbledore hesitated, walked into the door, and then saw Grindelwald standing up, limping slowly to a cabinet to get a bottle of nectar, and then making tea for the two of them.

"Your leg……"

"Ah, this," Grindelwald didn't take it seriously, "it's a bit cold here, you know, I can't use magic, and my joints are not good."

Dumbledore frowned for a long time, then took out his wand and said, "Heal quickly!"

Grindelwald let him do what he did. When the spell ended, he moved his leg and looked at the wand in Dumbledore's hand. "You used it well."

"I thought you would be well taken care of by the house elves," Dumbledore said.

"Indeed, they are loyal and obedient," Grindelwald said, "But, you know, I don't like them very much. They are not allowed to enter this room."

"Gellert, I..."

"Let's have a cup of tea first, Albus." Grindelwald said, "I know you must be very busy, but since we haven't seen each other for fifty years, there should always be time for a cup of tea, right?"

Dumbledore picked up the cup of tea, hesitated, but finally drank it.

"How is the taste?"

"very good."

"Ah, it's not in vain that I spent more than a year of effort." Grindelwald laughed, "You know, for more than two years, I have been thinking about what I should prepare when I meet you."

"I actually have quite a few plans. For example, I wanted to make myself look more miserable so that you could understand how you tortured me."

"Sorry, Gellert..."

"Oh, it doesn't matter, that plan has been rejected by me," Grindelwald smiled, "This is a rare reunion, we don't need to make it so sad."

Dumbledore looked at him, "I thought you would hate me very much."

Grindelwald smiled flatly, "More or less, but it doesn't matter anymore. Here, I have no shortage of time, but I can only explore my past. Those memories have been chewed over and over again by me. I once I wanted to find the reason for my failure and how to defeat you, but then I gradually gave up. Time is really a scary thing, isn't it, Albus?"

"Is that really what you think? Gellert?" Dumbledore said with astonished hope, "Have you figured it out?"

"Look at us, Albus, how much time we have wasted in the past fifty years. Do you think I will continue to trap myself in the so-called right and wrong, superiority or inferiority, or regret or hatred? "

"Do you think I still care about others?"

Dumbledore's eyes moved, and he knew that the "others" in the other person's words did not include him.

He took a deep breath and said, "Gellert, I need your help."

Grindelwald looked at him and sighed for a long time, "It seems that you still care about them. Sometimes I feel that you are a more power-hungry guy than me. We are old, Albus, and our time has passed. If you stay in the past, you will be hated by others."

"I don't want to control anyone..." Dumbledore looked at the other person, "It's just..."

"I know." Grindelwald interrupted, "It's just that you can't let go of that responsibility. Just like some parents who always worry about their grown-up children, they always feel that they still have responsibilities for them and need to be there for them. Do something."

"You can say that I am being pretentious," Dumbledore said with a sad face, "but you and I both know the secret, and this is the responsibility of the secret keeper."

Grindelwald was silent for a while, "After all these years, can't we hand over this responsibility?"

"Originally, there was a very suitable candidate." Dumbledore said, "But it was not until recently that I realized that he would be the Oathbreaker."

"So, you lost?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"He is more... cunning, or smarter than all of us. He understands the weaknesses of human nature and can take advantage of them. He is good at confusing right and wrong. To him, the truth is just an illusion that he can control."

"He is also very strong, stronger than when we were young. Sometimes, his resourcefulness and methods even make me feel intimidated."

"Oh," Grindelwald frowned, "what you said makes me a little jealous."

"..." Dumbledore choked, "In short, I have tried many methods, some of which I am not even willing to use, but... none of them are of use. I can't stop him."

"Have you ever thought about telling him the secret?" Grindelwald asked, "just like you told me back then?"

"He is different from you. Although you are very similar, his purpose is completely contrary to his oath. He will not stop because of this. Moreover, what stopped you at that time was not just the truth..."

Grindelwald didn't speak for a while. After a long time, he sighed, "Albus, have you ever thought about fighting? Maybe not like me, but in other ways. Maybe we just need to believe in ourselves a little more, maybe We have a chance to win..."

"In fact, I have felt changes in the past few years..."

"My magic power is growing..." Grindelwald said, "The boundaries of magic have been raised a little."

"The person you mentioned may have done what I wanted to do but couldn't."

"If he succeeds, maybe we will have the power to fight..."

"But how many people will die? Gellert?" Dumbledore looked at him sadly, "Why should we gamble with everyone's fate? This is already the best arrangement, we can't take risks."

Grindelwald looked into the other person's eyes for a while and said, "Well, I can always fail you."

"Tell me about him. What kind of person is he that makes you so afraid?"

"Murphy..." Dumbledore seemed to be lost in memories, "He is a person I can't see through. No, I don't mean that he is deep. He is very pure, so pure that he is almost honest, and he doesn't seem to bother to hide it. His own desires, however, are a mystery at his core. I don’t know what made him what he is today... He seems to appear out of thin air, without a past or a process. I can’t understand his power. , I can’t understand the source of his wisdom... Sometimes, I even wonder if he is a puppet of some greater will..."

Dumbledore told Grindelwald everything he knew about Murphy, and he didn't stop until sunset.

"He is very similar to you. Whether it is goals or personality, he is somewhat similar to you when you were young, so I need your help. Maybe you can find a way to stop him."

Grindelwald was already smoking a large hookah at some point. After listening to Dumbledore's words, he suddenly laughed, "You used Gringotts and Wizards Unite to trip him up? Albus, your wife I’m superstitious about my own methods.”

"These methods may be able to defeat me, because I am still spinning around on the chessboard of the wizarding world. But this man, if what you say is true, he has already jumped out of the scope of our control."

"Albus, give up those illusions. There is only one way to stop this kind of person."

He said and blew out a skull smoke ring.

"Kill him."