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There were plenty of people in the world who feared Grindelwald, even more who despised him, but very few who dared to truly hate him. And among that select group, no one hated Grindelwald more than Aberforth Dumbledore.
Grindelwald's thunderous shouting a moment ago echoed through the castle, which meant naturally it carried across the single ridge to Hogsmeade.
The only reason Aberforth arrived late was that the surrounding space had been thrown into absolute chaos. His first attempt to Apparate actually failed, sending him twenty miles off target.
"Grindelwald, I'll kill you!"
A goat Patronus glowing blue charged at Grindelwald with murderous momentum. From Tom's vantage point, Aberforth bursting onto the battlefield on a broom really did look about seventy percent like his older brother.
"Aberforth?" Grindelwald swatted aside one of Dumbledore's spells, face full of disdain. He cast a Sonorus charm to amplify his voice. "What's a waste like you doing here? Trying to make more trouble for your brother?"
The goat Patronus was already upon him. The dark energy in the area rippled under its influence and the ground, which had been spewing black mist, settled down. It indirectly helped Dumbledore gain some control back.
Being called a waste didn't actually make Aberforth one. The fact that he had enough power to interfere in a battle at this level was proof of his strength.
At the very least… the Heads of House (except Snape) didn't even qualify to get this close.
They had rushed in intending to assist Dumbledore and capture Grindelwald together. But the moment they neared Tom, they couldn't move another step. The leftover magic from the clashing spells had turned the air into a thick swamp that dragged at every breath, making it impossible to even stand straight, let alone join the fight.
The Patronus rammed into Grindelwald's arena.
Grindelwald raised his hand and released a blazing white light that slowly dissolved the goat. Then, Dumbledore's next spell cracked against Grindelwald's protective magic, leaving a visible fracture.
A second later, Grindelwald vanished.
"Watch out, Aberforth!"
Dumbledore disappeared as well, and the two of them reappeared at Aberforth's side. Their magic linked like threads of light. Aberforth joined in at once, forming a tense three-way standoff.
Grindelwald threw his head back and laughed like a madman. "Albus! Aberforth! Does this scene look familiar? Back in Godric's Hollow we stood exactly like this, wands drawn against each other. And the result?"
"You lost the thing that mattered most. Today will end the same way!"
Dumbledore never expected Grindelwald to bring up that day. The moment the memory surfaced, both brothers felt their hearts clench as if grasped by an iron fist. Pain flashed across their faces and their spellwork faltered.
A spark lit in Grindelwald's eyes. He snapped his wand upward and shattered the stalemate.
"Crucio!"
The Cruciatus Curse hit Aberforth. His scream tore through the air and snapped Dumbledore back to his senses. Shock and fury twisted his expression. "Do you feel no guilt at all?"
Grindelwald sneered.
Guilt? Not a shred. Maybe once, long ago. But now Ariana had been summoned into Tom's study space and even taken on as his student. It wouldn't be long before she was alive again.
With that knowledge, guilt was irrelevant. Which was why he could fling that memory at them so casually, just to throw them off balance.
Even Ariana, listening from within the study space, didn't react much. Her death hadn't been Grindelwald's doing alone. Her brothers had been dueling wildly, too wrapped up in the fight to notice her at all. How could anyone expect an outsider to notice what they didn't?
She herself bore responsibility too. She shouldn't have been near a battle to begin with, but her Obscurial condition had left her unstable. Her death was simply too complicated for blame to fall neatly on any participants.
"Come on, Albus. Unleash its true power. I can feel your wand soaking up your rage. Unless you want me to kill him right in front of you."
Grindelwald was like a lunatic, poking right at Dumbledore's most vulnerable nerve: family. He slammed his foot into the ground, which had turned as soft as cotton, and Aberforth was launched high into the air, flung far away.
At the same time the three nearly devoured blue firebirds that had been tangled with Fawkes suddenly fused together again. They reformed into pure flames and fell toward Hogwarts like a meteor shower.
Dumbledore moved to intercept, but Grindelwald whipped out a silver chain that wrapped tightly around him, locking him in place. Fawkes let out a sharp cry and darted after Aberforth, catching him just before he hit the ground, but the fiery meteors streaking toward the castle were beyond his reach.
McGonagall, who had only moments ago been scolding Tom for sneaking out, paled. "Everyone, together! We must stop those Firestorms!"
All four Heads of House raised their wands. Golden light bloomed at the tips as they gripped their wands in reverse, preparing to cast a unified Finite Incantatem.
"Professor, let me handle it. Just don't deduct points later."
Tom moved faster. He lifted his wand and let his magic flow.
"Levicorpus Maxima."
A ripple swept soundlessly across the battlefield. For a moment the world seemed to freeze. The falling fire meteors halted in midair, then drifted upward again in a strange reversal until they hung motionless in the sky.
The professors stared in shock.
The Protego Diabolica, they themselves wouldn't dare claim they could stop, had just been… frozen by one spell from Tom?
"Levicorpus?" Snape looked at Tom in a daze. "You turned it into this?Is this allowed?"
"Yeah." Tom shrugged. "Didn't you see it last year?"
Snape's worldview felt like it was collapsing. Since when did a prank spell he once researched have that much potential?
"Cough… cough…"
Fawkes appeared with Aberforth in his talons, the man coughing up blood but alive. When Dumbledore saw both his school and his brother safe, he finally let out a long breath.
Grindelwald chuckled. "Looks like… you've found yourself another remarkable student. He even stopped my Protego Diabolica. Truly amazing, a great teacher produces great pupils."
Tom's face darkened at once. Inside the study space, all three onlookers burst into laughter.
Outwardly Grindelwald was praising Dumbledore, but in truth he was bragging about Tom. Maybe even hinting at praise for them.
"Shameless," Ariana muttered. "Andros, when Grindelwald comes back you'd better knock some sense into him."
"No problem," Andros grinned.
Dumbledore, however, was in no mood to laugh. Grindelwald's words and actions had pushed him past his limit. Now that his worries were gone, the Elder Wand trembled in his grip and a golden blade of energy sliced down, severing the silver chain.
Grindelwald's face hardened. His wand vanished, replaced by the one he kept specifically to counter the Elder Wand. Even the air felt sharp with Dumbledore's fury. The gold-red magic roared like a tidal wave, packed with countless unknown spells that drove Grindelwald backward step after step.
Tom's expression grew tense.
Dumbledore was serious now. The wand in his hand hummed, amplifying every shred of magic that flowed through it.
The Elder Wand had been born into violence, yet ironically Dumbledore was likely the master who'd wielded it in the fewest real battles. After defeating Grindelwald he became its owner and then spent decades avoiding conflict. Even his clashes with Voldemort were brief, probing fights rather than true duels.
Now the Elder Wand pushed itself to match its master's will. Its power surged far beyond the norm. Combined with Dumbledore's fury, if Voldemort were the one standing in Grindelwald's place right now, he wouldn't choose to fight. He'd flee.
Deep down Voldemort was a man built on insecurity. He never had true confidence. Only after orchestrating Dumbledore's death through schemes and manipulation had he dared to act boldly.
"Andros, what do you think?" Tom asked, splitting off a sliver of awareness into the study space.
"I'm invincible," Andros replied, full of confidence. "Dumbledore and the Elder Wand are stronger than we expected, but not enough to threaten me."
Rowena Ravenclaw nodded slightly. "Your headmaster is a master of modern magic. Dark arts, white magic, he excels in both. But talent doesn't follow logic. Unless someone becomes a King of the Century like Andros, fighting all his life, I can't imagine anyone who could defeat him."
...
While they talked, Grindelwald was already being forced backward. Dumbledore's relentless spells shoved aside his swagger and made him fight simply to keep up.
"So I'm not the only one who's grown stronger. Albus hasn't been standing still all these years either…"
Pressure mounted on Grindelwald, but so did his excitement. His wand screamed under the strain, yet he ignored it. His casting grew faster, louder, a constant roar. Everything around them was either obliterated or twisted into tools for their duel.
Steel shields melted under flame. Castle stone turned to muddy sludge under transfiguration. The ground sank inward, then burst upward in a swelling mound.
"Albus! This is the real you!"
The two figures flashed through dust and smoke, their murderous intent clear in the glance they exchanged.
"I won't allow your power to endanger the world again."
Dumbledore trapped the newly summoned Protego Diabolica with a water prison. The ground behind Grindelwald rose to form a stone giant. The giant lifted a rune-covered fist and brought it crashing down. The runes sealed the local space to prevent Grindelwald from Apparating away.
"..."
Tom felt his worldview expanding again.
"Hmm..." Grindelwald didn't even look back. He pointed his wand upward. A streak of pitch-black magic touched the giant's arm and spread like a spiderweb. The giant shattered into clumps of earth.
"Power isn't about restraint. It's about using it."
"The world needs someone who can surpass the limits of common sense. With timid people like you leading it, the wizarding world will stagnate and die."
A warning bell rang in Dumbledore's mind. He Apparated ten meters back as fast as he could. The moment he landed, a glowing red spike of stone erupted from where he'd just stood, then burst into molten lava.
"Your fighting style has changed."
Dumbledore watched Grindelwald carefully, noting he wasn't attacking again.
"I told you, nothing stays the same."
Grindelwald suddenly sounded bored. "That's enough for today. I'll be back."
He gave Dumbledore one last look, turned, and vanished with a crack of Apparition.
His wand, however, shattered into fragments that scattered across the ground and remained behind.
.
.
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