The Potter Twins and the Deathly Hallows {7}

27. Same Soul

"I think we've lived a thousand lives, I try to find you every time. Searching for those same wide eyes that locked me in, in my first life. Do you remember my old names? Recognize my old face? We're both hanging in picture frames somewhere in this place. But my stare at you stayed the same." - Same Soul, PRVIS

HAYLEE

Dawn is approaching ominously upon the city, and all is quiet, save for the sound of my heels against the cobblestone pavement. In the distance lies the Eiffel Tower, like a skeleton of metal projecting up into an infinitely grey sky; as if a thousand Dementors are circling the tower's apex, casting darkness and despair across all of Paris. At this hour, the city should be slowly trickling to life, but the Parisians, it seems, have gone into hiding, and the dull ache in my chest tells me I should follow in their stride. But despite my anxieties, something more powerful is telling me to stand my ground.

"I knew you would come, Albus."

Hidden in the colossal shadow cast by the tower stands Dumbledore and Grindelwald, far older and much more weathered than the young, handsome boys in my locket, and no longer the inseparable allies depicted in Rita Skeeter's writing. And yet, when they look at each other, it's as if nothing has changed, as if they're not fighting on opposite sides of a global war.

Dumbledore smiles, his blue eyes twinkling all the while.  "Then you know, Gellert, that you must be stopped."

Grindelwald chuckles, twirling the Elder Wand between his slender fingers. He radiates the same evil, malicious energy as Voldemort, and though he is not quite as deformed, his years away from Dumbledore have clearly been troublesome. But there is still some humanity in him, and, as Dumbledore would say, he wields the single most powerful magic in the world, which Dumbledore would have experienced first-hand; the ability to love, and to be loved.

"I never took you for a fool, Albus, but perhaps I was wrong," Grindelwald says coldly. "You are the one wizard in all of Europe who could defeat me, and yet, also the one wizard who cannot harm me. We swore an oath never to harm each other, do you not remember?"

"That was before you betrayed me -"

"You betrayed yourself."

I can see that it is taking all of Dumbledore's willpower not to scream at him, and his wand-arm gives a furious jerk at his side. Grindelwald sees this too and a smirk curves onto his lips, still twirling the Elder Wand in his hands like a trophy -- a symbol of his power, and strength.

"You killed my sister," Dumbledore continues, clearly struggling to keep his temper in check, "and yet, you have done even more terrible things since that day."

"Things you approved of, long ago," Grindelwald says darkly. "Tell me, do your friends at the Ministry know what we once shared? And your devoted students, do they know the role you played? 'For the Greater Good'. Those were your words, my dear, not mine. The loss of Muggle-life -- the deaths of a few naysayers -- are regrettable things, but they were necessary. You knew that, once."

"It matters not what I believed all those years ago," Dumbledore retorts, "only that I use my remaining time to ensure the next generation of wizards don't make the same mistakes I did. To make sure this never happens again."

"Education might cure wizarding prejudice, but what of the Muggles?" Grindelwald asks, and I can tell that this a debate which he has practised in his head on many occasions. "Who is there to teach the Muggles not to fear something infinitely more powerful than they? It is human nature, Albus. So long as there are Muggles alive to fear us, we will never be safe. Which would you prefer, a thousand dead Muggles, or a thousand little girls just like Ariana?"