Up in the headmaster's office, while Kevin and his friends were still making their way up from the carriages, Dumbledore set a folded newspaper down on the desk between them and looked at the man sitting across from him.
The headline was American. Wizarding Saints Resurface — Muggle Neighbourhoods Targeted — Is Grindelwald Back?
Dumbledore had been in a reasonable mood that morning. Word from Kevin's group over the holidays had been promising — the Horcrux investigation had moved forward. He'd permitted himself a measure of cautious optimism.
This newspaper had arrived an hour ago.
"Gellert," he said. "Explain."
Grindelwald looked up from Dumbledore's wand, which he'd been turning over in his fingers with the unhurried interest of an antiques collector. He set it down.
"I don't know anything about it, Albus." He spread his hands. "I've been here. Under your supervision. How could I have arranged anything without you knowing?"
He picked up the wand again and gave it a slow, experimental flick. A small white flower appeared in his other hand. He set it on the desk between them and raised an eyebrow.
Dumbledore looked at the flower. He sat down. He did not look appeased.
"The International Confederation is on high alert," he said. "Coordinated incidents across the continent — Germany, France, the United States, all within the same forty-eight hours. Your Saints, Gellert."
"Not mine anymore." Grindelwald's tone shifted — not defensive, just precise. "After Nurmengard, I pulled together a small core group. Former Death Eaters, mostly, people who'd burned their bridges with Voldemort and needed somewhere to land. I spread them across Europe to put out my message and organise the gathering. You know what happened at the gathering. And then you asked me to disband them — which I did."
He leaned back in the chair. "What they do after I cut them loose is no longer my responsibility. Could be someone impersonating me. Could be that some of them resented how quickly I dissolved everything and decided to act in my name without my blessing. Could be both."
Dumbledore studied him. Gellert had not been wrong yet — not about things Kevin had been able to verify, not about the information he'd volunteered about the Horcrux situation, not about the strategic picture.
Which made the trust both easier and more uncomfortable.
"Fine. I'll handle the Confederation. You stay quiet." He picked up the white flower, turned it over once, and set it on the windowsill. "But I want to be clear, Gellert. I know why you're here. Not just to be close to me."
Grindelwald said nothing.
"Kevin," Dumbledore said. "That's the real reason."
"You only think about Kevin because he might finish this war for you," Grindelwald said, and there was something sharper in it than usual — not quite an accusation, but close. "He's a child, Albus. Let me honour the contract Voldemort forced me into. Let me kill Voldemort. You and I together — there isn't a wizard alive who could stop us."
He rose from the chair. The composure he wore like a second skin cracked, just slightly.
"I want to make things right. With Aberforth. With —" He stopped. "I don't have as much time left as I once did. And I still have one thing I wanted when we were young. I still want it."
The silence stretched between them.
Dumbledore looked away first.
Grindelwald collected himself. He picked up the Elder Wand from the desk and turned it over once, then set it back down and slid it across to Dumbledore.
"I never break a promise to you, Albus."
He walked out. In the corridor, once the door had closed behind him, the face he wore settled back into something older and more guarded than the one he'd shown inside.
Dumbledore sat alone for a long time.
Then he opened a desk drawer and took out a small roll of parchment — a contract, written in the tight formal hand of a Binding Agreement, sealed with a complex sigil at the base. He looked at it for a moment. Then he passed his hand over it.
The flames that consumed it were very small and very thorough.
The last thing to fade was the signature in the bottom corner.
Oathbearer: Gellert Grindelwald.
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review by @Emu_Lator :- Pretty decent read. I enjoyed mc and hermiones romance parts tbh. But there were repeating chapters so thats a bit annoying. But something i really dont like was the deaths gaze misfortune thing. Absolutely hated it
reply :-Thanks for the honest feedback! Sorry about the repeated chapters, that's been fixed! The death's gaze plotline gets more interesting as it develops 👀