Chapter 323

Treading on stairs that no human had set foot on for who knows how many years, Dumbledore followed the house-elf step by step to the top floor 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 was slightly hunched, and he was so thin that he was unrecognizable. On his withered face, one could hardly find a trace of what he looked like back then.

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, just standing in place.

"Oh, come in. I've prepared honey tea. I don't know if your taste has changed after all these years, but this is honey I had Damut raise on the mountain outside. It can almost be considered made by my own hands. I collected dozens of kinds of nectar, the taste should be quite good."

Dumbledore hesitated, walked into the door, and then saw Grindelwald stand up, limping slowly to a cabinet to take a bottle of honey, and then brewed tea for the two of them.

"Your leg..."

"Ah, this," Grindelwald didn't care, "it's a bit cold here, you know, I can't use magic, so the joints aren't very good."

Dumbledore frowned, and after a long while, drew his wand. "Episkey!"

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

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

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

"Gellert, I..."

"Drink a cup of tea first, Albus," Grindelwald said. "I know you must be very busy, but it's been 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 was worth the effort I spent for more than a year," Grindelwald laughed. "Do you know, for more than two years, I have been thinking about what I should prepare when I see you."

"I actually have quite a few plans. For example, at one point I wanted to make myself look more miserable, so you would know exactly how you tortured me."

"Sorry, Gellert..."

"Oh, it doesn't matter. That plan has already been rejected by me," Grindelwald laughed. "It's 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. "A little bit, but it doesn't matter anymore. Here, I don't lack time, but I can only explore my past. Those memories were chewed over and over by me. At one point, I wanted to find the reason for failure, find a way to defeat you. Later, I gradually gave up. Time is really a terrible thing, isn't it, Albus?"

"Do you really think so? Gellert?" Dumbledore asked with astonished hope. "You've figured it out?"

"Look at us, Albus. Fifty years. How much time have we wasted? Do you think I would still trap myself in those so-called rights and wrongs, superiority and inferiority, or regret or hatred?"

"Do you think I would still care about others?"

Dumbledore's eyes moved. He knew that the "others" in this sentence did not include him.

He let out a long breath and then said, "Gellert, I need your help."

Grindelwald looked at him, sighed after a long while. "It seems you still care about them. Sometimes I think you are a guy who is more greedy for power than me. We are old, Albus. The era that belonged to us has passed. Refusing to let go will only make people hate you."

"I, I don't want to control anyone..." Dumbledore looked at the other party. "Just..."

"I know," Grindelwald interrupted him. "It's just that you can't let go of that responsibility. Just like some parents who are always worried about their grown-up children, always feeling that they are still responsible for them and need to do something for them."

"You can say I'm being sentimental," Dumbledore said, his face full of sorrow. "But, you and I both know that secret. This is the responsibility of the Secret-Keeper."

Grindelwald was silent for a while. "It's been so many years, can't this responsibility be handed over?"

"Originally, there was a very suitable candidate," Dumbledore said. "But until not long ago, I realized that he would be the oath-breaker."

"So, you lost?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"He is more... cunning than both of us, or rather, wise. He understands the weaknesses of human nature and will use them. He is good at reversing black and white. To him, the truth is just a phantom that he can manipulate."

"He is also very strong, more powerful than we were when we were young. Sometimes, his strategy and methods even make me feel afraid."

"Oh," Grindelwald frowned. "What you said, I'm even a little jealous."

"..." Dumbledore was choked. "In short, I tried many methods, some of which I was not happy to use, but... none of them were useful. I couldn'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 goal is fundamentally contrary to the oath. He will not stop because of this. Moreover, what stopped you back then was not just the truth..."

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

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

"My magic power is growing..." Grindelwald said. "The boundary of magic has been raised a little."

"The person you mentioned, maybe he did what I wanted to do but couldn't finish."

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

"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 stared into the other's eyes for a long while. "Fine, I can never win an argument with you."

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

"Murphy..." Dumbledore seemed to be lost in memory. "Is a person I can't see through. No, I don't mean he is deep. He is very pure, pure to the point of being frank. He also seems to disdain hiding his desires. However, at his core, it is a mystery. I don't know what exactly created him today... He seems to have appeared out of thin air, with no past, no process. I can't understand his power, can't understand the source of his wisdom... Sometimes, I even suspect whether 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 his goal or his personality, they are somewhat similar to you when you were young. Therefore, I need your help. Maybe you can find a way to stop him."

Grindelwald didn't know when he had started smoking a large hookah. Hearing Dumbledore finish, he suddenly laughed. "You use Gringotts and the Wizarding Confederation to trip him up? Albus, you are too superstitious about your own methods."

"These methods might be able to defeat me, because I am still spinning on the chessboard of the wizarding world. But this person, if everything you said is true, he has already jumped out of the range we can control."

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

He said, exhaling a skull smoke ring.

"Kill him."

(End of chapter)