Twenty-fifth chapter
Dear Gren and Edgar,
thank you for all of your help this last month. Master Rasmus is beside himself with joy because I am behaving like a model student. I am not sure I can keep this up but for now, it´s good. Hopefully, the potions will get more interesting with time. I am bored out of my mind and I have learned that is not a good state for me.
Thank you again for explaining about flashbacks and PTSD. In this case, it was not my own memory I was catapulted into. I snooped through a lot of minds, sometimes very crazy ones. I encountered memories I never wanted to see. Sometimes, that made me flashback to my own memories, sometimes I flashbacked to other people´s traumatic events and that scared me. Thank you for showing me how to get out of that state.
I am not exactly good at writing letters but I fear I am even worse at saying this: Thank you.
Jonathan
They met again only two months later to plan for their next pureblood meeting. For the first time, Jonathan would join them, introducing himself as Dumbledore´s boyfriend. Harry wasn´t sure if a hostile pureblood meeting was actually a good place for that but Dumbledore talked him into it. They had to start somewhere and this small gathering was as good a start as any.
Harry asked Malfoy for a list of attendants. Thankfully, the Black family wasn´t on it. The Bones family was, as well as the Longbottoms. This would be quite the gathering. Still, he was a bit proud of Malfoy to allow this instead of keeping a policy of dark-families-only. On the other hand, this could also lead to a lot of animosity.
In the end, he trusted the combined forces of Dumbledore and Jonathan to keep them safe if the meeting would get out of hand. After all, Jonathan was extremely powerful, even if all that power had been used before to kill rather than protect. Before apparation, he asked Jonathan if he actually knew good defensive spells.
“Well, I know some but I am not good at them. Albus is a master though. So he can protect while I immobilize and chain down people.”
“And do you know how to do that without hurting others? Taking their wand instead of snapping or burning it? Freezing them without having them hit the floor and break their noses?” Or gutting them, having them go up in flames or similar stuff.
“Hm... I´ll throw a spell list together, alright? I know a good cancellation screen at least, so you can hide behind it. Oh, wait, I know an imprisonment spell that cancels out magic. I cast that, no spells can go in or out. As you don´t need the out possibility, it´s perfect.”
“So you protect them, I protect us and then we disarm whoever shoots at us?,” Dumbledore asked his boyfriend.
“No creative dark spells? There is a really cool one that makes someone into a ghost for a moment, so they lose both their wand and their clothes.”
“Is it a necromancy spell?”
“Well … don´t know. It´s not forbidden. Asian wizards used it to infiltrate places by surpassing walls with it.”
“So you also sink into the floor?” Dumbledore raised his eyebrows disapprovingly.
“Well … except if you stand on earth. It´s a shortcut to Malfoy´s cellar?”
“Don´t cast it.”
Jonathan shook his head in exasperation. “I can´t believe you bested me in a duel.”
“Get into your role, we never dueled.” Dumbledore looked at Harry and Tom. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” Tom looked bored, not exactly keen on hearing the same thing again.
Harry just nodded, so they were off to Malfoy Manor.
The setting was less illicit meeting, more pureblood party this time. People were standing, talking and mingling. Jonathan stayed with Dumbledore while Malfoy introduced Harry while Tom stayed on his other side. People wore dress robes and ate snacks that were brought to them by house-elves with trays. Tom openly thanked an elf for bringing him a glass of juice which startled everyone around them. Jonathan smirked and did the same when he got a flute of champagne. Only with Dumbledore, no one seemed startled. Everyone tried to not blatantly stare at them, but it was obvious that their every move was observed.
“Desmelda, a pleasure to see you.” Dumbledore kissed a witch´s hand.
“How could I not when I heard you would be here? It is just beyond me why you let a Malfoy host such an important event. Though admittedly, it is true that they are immaculate hosts.”
“Darling, may I introduce Desmelda Longbottom?” Well, so this was one way to break the news of their relationship. “Desmelda, this is my partner Jonathan Bagshot.”
“A partner? Who would have guessed? How delightful.” Her smile was completely forced and she did not offer her hand. “Are you related to Bathilda Bagshot?”
“Yes, that´s my mother.” Jonathan´s face actually held fondness.
“I didn´t know she had a son.” Desmelda´s gaze flickered to Dumbledore for a second but she could not keep the viciousness from her tongue. “Did she keep you secret for a reason?”
“Yes, I was conceived in an affair, she only recently decided that her husband had been dead long enough for me to enter polite society.”
“Oh.” The woman fanned herself. “How kind of her. Being our dear headmaster´s protege must have helped her decision along.”
“Oh no, we only met after she had me registered. Due to it, actually. I am very happy how things turned out.” The two men shared a fond smile. It seemed that both had decided to simply overhear her judgmental tone of voice.
“Well, I guess this shall be an enlightening meeting, learning about all kinds of … pairings that are frowned upon in this day and age.” What a forked tongue that woman had.
Harry tried to keep up with his own conversation but it was hard. Should he intervene? Could he intervene? It was done now but had this really been a good idea? Maybe they should have waited until Jonathan had made a name for himself?
“Aren´t light wizards all about embracing liberal views?” Another women joined them, this one looking like a sixty year old version of Bellatrix, even though no Black had been on the list of attendants. What was startling was the alarm on Dumbledore´s face. “Misses Longbottom, you disappoint me. Aren´t you normally criticizing me for judging too harshly?” She smiled at Jonathan. “Ruby Sinclair, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is all mine. Enlighten me, is the Sinclair family French?” He kissed her hand.
“One might guess so, but no, we migrated long ago.”
“I am sorry not to recognize your name then. My mother taught me about German, Swiss and English families, the name must have slipped my mind. They are so many to remember.”
“We are just a small family, it happens.” So most likely not a pureblood but an upstart. “So I guessed correctly that the formal acknowledgment makes you heir to the Bagshot, Stauffenberg and Grindelwald family at the same time?”
Well, that certainly killed most fake conversations in the room. People seemed to lose their interesting in pretending not to listen to every word said in that moment.
Jonathan looked at his boyfriend, fidgeting slightly. “Well … the first two, I think? I would have guessed that my cousin´s inheritance was seized after his death?”
Dumbledore answered gravely as if he actually had to battle his emotions instead of talking through a script they had agreed on beforehand: “No, he was disowned.”
“Oh! That´s … actually not what I expected. So the state seized their lands?”
“Gellert´s mother is still alive. So it will pass into the Stauffenberg family.”
“Auntie is alive? Mom does not talk about her.” Jonathan looked at Dumbledore´s stoic face for a moment. “That´s also something about my cousin, I see. I am sorry you have to be the one to tell me about him. I really shouldn´t bother you with this.”
“It´s a hard topic for everyone.” That was most likely planned to be a way to shut people up about Gellert Grindelwald.
Not Ruby Sinclair though which might explain Dumbledore´s shock at seeing her. “Oh, I can tell you about him. I wouldn´t claim to have been a friend but we were close. You look very similar.”
“I am often told that. I only met him when I was ten.” He looked her up and down. “Wasn´t everyone close to him arrested?”
“Talking to him and supporting him are two different things, otherwise everyone would be in prison now, most of all your partner.” She made that sound like a joke, something very funny.
Neither Jonathan nor Dumbledore laughed and Desmelda Longbottom took two steps away from her.
“I wrote a book about him. He was fascinating when you leave out all the murders.”
Jonathan´s face twitched, unsure on which expression to settle. “How do you leave out more than twenty thousand murders?”
“Well, it´s the motivation that counts, not what people made of him-”
“He still killed thousands of people.”
“Yes, but you see, he had to-”
“No, he didn´t.” Anger laced Jonathan´s voice. “Killing someone in any other situation than self-defence is a choice.”
“It was self-defense in the end. In the beginning, it was only Muggles after all-”
“Murder is murder. Adult, child, wizard, Muggle, house-elf, unicorn, any sentinent creature you kill is a murder.”
“Oh dear, aren´t you a nice young man?” She smiled condescendingly. “No wonder our dear headmaster likes you.”
“It´s called manners.” By now, his voice was heated with anger. “You are standing next to a child, in case you haven´t noticed.” Jonathan held out a hand in Tom´s direction which made the boy step next to him. “This is Tom Horten, last in the line of Salazar Slytherin himself. Circumstances led him to being raised by a Muggle right now. You think this boy likes hearing you spout your opinion that Muggles are basically cattle that can be killed as necessary?” He scoffed at her. “Not to mention that this whole meeting is about a Muggle telling us why our population and magical potency is dwindling through Muggle science?”
Dumbledore put a hand on Jonathan´s shoulder and exchanged a gaze with Arcturus Malfoy before turning to the women: “May I kindly request that you leave this meeting, Miss Sinclair?”
She looked sour for a second before laughing and stating: “Oh, silly me, don´t take this so seriously. No one calls for Muggles to be killed, not even Gellert did. You know that best, don´t you? I am sorry I ruffled your feathers. Politics are always such a delicate topic. I shouldn´t have poked where the wounds are still fresh. I am really interested in what this Muggle has to say.”
“My father´s name is Grenmore Horten. Would you like me to introduce you?” Tom was all smiles, his tone friendly, his eyes cold as glaziers. “Then you might be able to remember and use it from now on.”
If looks could kill, Tom would have dropped dead. Harry really had no idea where his son got those skills from but he even offered her a hand to guide her. How could a nine-year-old boy be this cunning? His tongue was sharper than hers, using his age to blatantly disrespect her without giving her the possibility to retaliate. After all, calling out a child on his manners would directly fault the parent, the one person she should not affront if she wanted to save her reputation.
Also, she had taken a position that no one else wanted, so even the most traditional purebloods would hesitate to take up the same argument now. It was practically a genius occurrence that she had … actually, no, Jonathan had manipulated her into this position. Had he done that consciously? Dumbledore had looked so spooked when she had showed up. Had she really been a close acquaintance of Gellert Grindelwald?
Had Jonathan used his own manipulation before to his benefit now?
Harry had told him to use people´s prejudices instead of arguing against them but he had not expected for Jonathan to master that without any practice at all. If this had been a conscious move, this had been one hell of genius one.
“Misses Sinclair, this is my father, Grenmore Horten. Since adopting me, he has become very knowledgeable about magical theory.”
“A fascinating topic, just like Muggle science.” He held out his hand, knowing she would have to take it to redeem herself. It would automatically force most others here to acknowledge him by shaking hands with him as well if they did not want to be singled out.
“I am very interested in your speech.” She shook his hand, the disgust at doing so obvious on her face. “My, how the world is changing … twenty years ago, we had such a different opinion on Muggles.”
Harry decided that it was better to not react to that and answered instead: “Acknowledging that your slaves might have worthwhile things to say is not easy to accept. Even today, most people have no idea what house-elves are capable of. They are continually underestimated because most historical documents from before their enslavement are lost today.”
“Well, how would you know if they are lost?”
“My specialty is research.” At least Hermione´s had been but with Jonathan and Tom, he could at least bluff convincingly. “Most of your families´ libraries are full of treasures, long lost and forgotten. Some bear account of a time where elves were a superior magical race that kept wizards as life-stock for handy slaves. What a surprisingly similar situation to what we face today, just the other way round.”
Jonathan snapped his fingers and said: “Or how Gellert wanted to enslave Muggles because he was actually afraid of them.”
“He wasn´t!,” Ruby screamed in anger.
Harry ignored her. “Looking at history, we can conclude that slavery works for a time until the masters get too complacent. Then the slaves overthrow them. Masters could only stay in power if they freed their slaves themselves. So the plan to enslave Muggles would have backfired anyway.”
Malfoy chuckled. “It certainly explains why you are nice to house-elves. You see them overpowering us anytime soon? Because their slavery has held for … well, aren´t you the historian?”
“A bit under 1600 years, it´s actually the longest slavery in history. So yes, it worries me a bit. It´s why I don´t have house-elves nor would I ever take one in.”
“Or one could just kill everyone of them.” Sinclair´s words sparked a murmur. “It was one of Gellert´s alternative plans regarding Muggles.”
Jonathan answered her: “Yes, that´s how you spark a rebellion that ends in a lot of bloodshed. You might have noticed how Grindelwald never openly declared war on humans. Even he knew that would have been utter madness. I am not sure how much my cousin knew about Muggle weaponry but we are vastly underpowered. Do you know what a grenade launcher is? Trying to kill all Muggles is utter madness.”
Sinclair looked at him as if he was a naive child. “You admitted to not knowing your cousin, so don´t speak like you know him. Right now, you are simply reiterating Dumbledore´s arguments. No wonder he is taken with you, it´s like he finally tamed his late lover.”
Harry saw Jonathan clench his teeth, knowing it was mostly Grindelwald´s injured pride right now. So he interjected: “History has taught us that justice always triumphs in the end. It´s why Grindelwald is dead and people know better than to use him as an example on how to solve problems.”
“Or maybe he died a martyr for a great cause.” Sinclair did not disguise her hatred in how she looked at him.
“Only time will tell.” Harry smiled at her. “Personally, I don´t want a bloody show-down between wizards and Muggles. Even today, there nearly aren´t enough magical people left to run your society efficiently. It´s why we came together today, after all. To discuss how to further the magical population instead of how to diminish it. War will come soon enough anyway.”
“Oh, are you a seer now as well?” The woman seemed to have given up on not antagonizing him.
“I did not expect to actually quote Grindelwald against you in this discussion.” Harry shook his head slowly. “I don´t have his talent for holding speeches, most likely Jonathan could give you a much better impersonation of his late cousin. Do you remember his legendary proclamation in New York after escaping prison?”
“I was there.”
“Then maybe you are able to quote him when he showed you what an atomic bomb can do to humans, no matter if they are magical or not.”
She stayed silent.
“Atomic bombs are still in their invention phase. They shall be used in the next war. Worse than that are hydrogen bombs, also still in their invention phase. No redirecting magic will help wizardkind when Muggles can drop a bomb than can level the area of London. Grindelwald showed you what that looks like.”
“So why not kill off Muggles before they invent those bombs?”
Jonathan answered her: “Because the weapons they already have are enough to end us. It´s been like that for hundreds of years now, it´s why we invented the Statute of Secrecy. Believing that we can simply cultivate powerful wizards and become stronger again, that´s … my cousin was delusional. We gathered here today because right now, we can´t even save the Sacred Twenty-eight. How exactly is his army of super powerful pureblood wizards supposed to come about?”
“His theory was that Muggle technology is causing the decimation of magical fluctuation which directly results in less magical children born, the more Muggle technology advances.”
“Yes, that was my theory.”
Everyone turned to Dumbledore who had kept silent until now.
“That … excuse me?” Sinclair blinked in surprise.
“It´s the theory Gellert and I came up with in the summer of 1899. We collected our research and introduced the theory in 1902 in front of the Wizengamot. To give a broad view over the whole topic, he argued in favor of the theory, I argued against it. Later, people thought that I had opposed him from the start. In truth, we presented our joint theory. People made him into a villain, me into a hero. It is true that we parted ways at some point, because I could not condone the killing of Muggles. Until that point, we were a team though.”
“You came up with that together?” Sinclair looked disgusted. “Aren´t you making that up to discredit Gellert even more?”
“No, the truth is not exactly favorable to my image of being the savior of wizardkind, the one who saw Gellert´s wickedness long before anyone else did. I was in love with Gellert, we were research partners and for a long time, I did not oppose him because I silently supported him. He was fighting for our ideals after all. I did not want to kill Muggles but at the same time, I was very interested if his actions would change the rate of magically born children. In essence, he was conducting an illegal human experiment that I had orchestrated two decades earlier.”
That … was a bit too truthful, wasn´t it?
“Albus, is that true?” Desmelda Longbottom looked aghast.
“It does not help anyone if I keep blaming all my shortcomings on my ex-lover. I would not have killed all those Muggles myself but at the same time, I could have stopped him a lot earlier if I had wanted to. But I wanted to know if our theory was right, so I let him kill all those people and killed him as a scapegoat afterwards. It´s laughable how people hail me as a hero for that.”
Malfoy clapped slowly and stepped into their midst. “I did not expect you to ever earn my respect, Albus. You hid behind half-truths like a true Slytherin for years. How come you finally decided on Gryffindor honesty?”
“Because the truth is more important than my vanity. Gellert and me were wrong. Right now, the most important thing is that everyone knows this Muggle technology theory was a dead end. Horten approached me first because so many people still think that it may be true. I am the only one that can finally discount our original theory.”
Malfoy´s grey eyes blazed with fury: “So you decided to use me to recruit purebloods to prove your new theory with another human experiment?”
Dumbledore smiled bashfully: “Would you like more of my Gryffindor honesty?”
“It wasn´t his idea,” Harry stepped in. “Albus is too morally upright for that. He would have simply introduced the theory and it would have been discounted as well. He needs other people to push the human experimentation part. With this theory, I told him we would need dark wizarding families on our side.”
Malfoy turned to him. “So a Muggle decided that an experiment with dark wizarding purebloods was a good idea?”
“I decided that introducing the theory to you first was our best bet because you are the correct mix of intelligent, calculating and opportunistic. If you thought that the theory had merit, you would be the one to decide if an experiment with dark pureblood wizards was a good idea or not. Which you did, if I may remind you.”
Malfoy stared at him for a moment.
Before he could decide on a course of action, Tom spoke into the silence: “Is everyone done with airing out their sinister intentions? Isn´t this about having more happy and healthy babies?”
“Yeah, thank you.” Jonathan stood next to him. “How about we sit down, listen to the theory and everyone can decide for themselves what they think about it? I get a headache from all the posturing.”
Sinclair observed him like a hawk and asked: “You are Gellert´s cousin and Dumbledore´s lover. Do you personally believe in this theory?”
“Well, it explains more than the technology theory ever did. No pureblood likes the fact but a lot of half-bloods are insanely magically powerful. No half-blood is ever born a squib. Do we have any explanation for that?” He left a pause. “No, we try to obscure the fact that those children are half-bloods. Gellert wasn´t a pureblood. I am not a pureblood. Our own prejudice keeps us from learning more about magic.”
Sinclair´s gaze turned to Dumbledore. “He´s not?”
“No.” The blue eyes looked questioningly at Jonathan who nodded back. “His father came from an affair with a Muggleborn witch. The Grindelwald family kept that a secret by adopting him and claiming that he was Lady Grindelwald´s son.”
Jonathan said: “As for myself, my mother had an affair with a Muggle. Her husband was unable to father children.”
Tom also claimed: “I am a half-blood as well. Merope Gaunt had me with a Muggle.”
Desmelda Longbottom put a hand on Dumbledore´s arm and asked: “You are a pureblood, aren´t you?”
“Yes, I am.” He nodded and smiled benignly. “I had two siblings. My brother is a mediocre wizard that runs the Hog´s Head and my sister was a squib that already died. So I was open to the suggestion that blood superiority might not be the solution to saving wizards. If it were, the Sacred Twenty-eight would not be this close to extinction.”
Silence reigned again until Robert Bones said: “Well, I gave away my daughter for this theory, so I´d like to hear it in full now. Mister Malfoy, where should we all sit?”
Lord Malfoy glared at Harry for a moment before directing everyone to a door: “I prepared the sun room for Mister Horten´s speech.”
Harry nodded at him. Hopefully, Malfoy would come around. He was a powerful ally, they should not have ruffled his feathers like that. On the other hand, it pressured Malfoy into taking a side. He could either stand behind the theory or step away from it.
Albus took spear. Tom took Harry´s hand. Just behind him, he heard Miss Sinclair whisper to Jonathan: “Do you want everyone to go along with this?”
“Go along with what?”
“I knew you weren´t dead.”
“Oh. You think that I am Gellert?” He chuckled. “I hope I am smarter than him. He seems to have been quite stubborn.”
“We all hoped you would come back.”
“Let´s assume that I actually were Gellert.” Jonathan grinned at her. “Could you live with a Gellert that likes Muggles and works together with them?”
Miss Sinclair startled as if he had slapped her.
He lay a hand on her shoulder, winked at her and said: “Decide for yourself if you want me to be your Gellert.”
Harry kept himself from rolling his eyes. The gall of that guy … what a perfect manipulator. He actually used his own followers for a pro-Muggle agenda. Exactly like Harry had told him. What a scary guy. It had been worth all the work to get him on their side.
Now he only had to present Hermione´s theory again. How had this become his life?
Dumbledore admits complicity with Gellert Grindelwald
by Elena Hollybrook
In a private gathering yesterday, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and honored with the Order of Merlin First Class for his help in defeating the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald, admitted to having worked with said Dark Lord for years. While people thought him a stern defender of Muggles´ and Muggleborns´ rights, he stayed neutral for years and did not openly oppose the man except for some public speeches in which he protested against Grindelwald´s methods. Confronted with Ruby Sinclair, a long-time friend of Gellert Grindelwald, he confessed that in reality, he was a lot less opposed to Grindelwald´s methods. He stated: “I did not oppose him because I silently supported him. He was fighting for our ideals after all. I did not want to kill Muggles but at the same time, I was very interested if his actions would change the rate of magically born children. In essence, he was conducting an illegal human experiment that I had orchestrated two decades earlier”. Before that, he had admitted to having been Grindelwald´s research partner and that the Technology Theory, still one of the current research theories on magical fluctuation, had been both of their work.
The theory states that the advancement in Muggle technology – which is known to disturb magical spells – also influences birth rates, squib rates and is cause for the regression of magically potent children. Dumbledore and Grindelwald first presented the theory in front of the Wizengamot in 1902. In that presentation, Grindelwald argued in favor of the theory, Dumbledore against it. To this day, common belief was that this meant that Dumbledore discounted the theory. His recent confession shows that this was not the case. He continued in saying: “I could have stopped him a lot earlier if I had wanted to. But I wanted to know if our theory was right, so I let him kill all those people and killed him as a scapegoat afterwards.”
As morally questionable as that is already, he now presented a new theory which we shall call the Genetic Theory for now. Together with a Muggle by the name of Grenmore Horten and the newly introduced Jonathan Bagshot (please turn to page 5 for further information), cousin of the late Gellert Grindelwald, he spoke with members of the Sacred Twenty-eight. His theory was met with great skepticism. He basically told the gathered witches and wizards that the declining rate of magically competent children was due to inbreeding. He proposed marriages with half-bloods and even Muggle-borns as a solution to this. The scandal regarding the Bones/Avery marriage recently brought up the discussion of intermarriage between Light and Dark wizards but Dumbledore seems to want to take this a step further. He was met with clear opposition from the gathered families.
We asked Desmelda Longbottom, a former friend of Dumbledore, for her opinion: “I think his goal is clear. He wants to bring unnatural pairings and morally questionable affairs into discussion to gain support for his own perversions. He not only admitted to sodomite acts with Gellert Grindelwald but also with his cousin Jonathan Bagshot. I am deeply disgusted and call for the removal of his Order of Merlin as well as his placement as headmaster. An ingrate like that should not be allowed around our children.”
Other members of the gathering could not be reached for questioning. Ruby Sinclair was asked about the possibility of Dumbledore and Grindelwald having a sodomite relationship: “I can see Dumbledore lusting after Gellert, he was a handsome and charming man after all. Of course, Gellert would never have fallen for him. He was a ladies´ men, not an animal. The same does not seem to be true for his cousin. Men like Jonathan Bagshot and Albus Dumbledore should be kept away, they are an embarrassment and a danger to society.”
This has certainly shown a side to the former hero that was unknown to the public until now. We thank the brave women that were courageous enough to make those atrocities public. Longbottom stated: “We do this for our children. My dear Augusta is a Hogwarts students. Other parents need to know what their children have to endure for their education. A man with such convictions must be stopped for their protection.”
