(Dumbledore POV)
I stand there for hours. Just staring at the door. Going through scenarios in my mind. How to face him, how to talk to him, how to get him to help me.
Sun passes over, and goes down as moon rises, and I still stand there.
"Are you planning to become a statue there?" he calls from inside.
'*sigh* of course he knew I was here.'
As I enter, the first thing I notice are his eyes, those eyes that once captivated me and several others in their depth. The ones that held the passion to change the world.
"Hello Albus," he says, "so you finally remembered me."
"Gellert," I feel my eyes reddening at his state.
"No need get all emotional on me." He says, standing up and moving towards me.
"After all, it's not like like you came for checking up on an old friend." He says as he stands before me.
"So tell me, Albus, what troubled the greatest 'White' wizard so much, that he had to come seek me. His enemy."
"You are not my enemy Gellert, I-"
"Oh," He says, "So you mean to say you betrayed your 'friend' and locked him up?"
"Or that you only bothered to come visit your 'friend' when you were in need of something?" He says, I feel my guilt doubling over.
"I.. I did what I had to do." I say, looking in his eyes. "You were always my friend. You know that. It's just, our paths.... differed."
He chuckles, "'Path differed'. Nicely put."
"Anyway," he says sitting back on his bed, "Tell me, what trouble did one of your students cause now? You always had a habit of collecting all sorts of oddballs."
I steel myself and get ready, "It's not something he did."
"It's what happened to him." I look him in the eye as I continue, "He developed an obscurus."
"In Hogwarts?" Gellert asks, "It should be the middle of the term, how's he developing an obscurus now?"
"I don't know." I admit with a defeated tone, "I've talked to everyone, his family, his friends, his professors, I even followed him to figure out if something was wrong. Yet, I can't figure it out."
"Obscurus always form for a reason." He says, "you know it best."
"I know."
"I am sure it's those No-Maj. I told you we-"
"He belongs to a Pureblood family." I stop that thought there, "And as I've seen, the boy loves magic rather than hide from it."
"Hmm, that makes it even more confusing." Gellert says as he rubs his chin, then sits a bit straighter.
"But that's got nothing to do with me." He says.
"I know." I say, "But you have more knowledge about souls and mind than any other witch or wizard alive."
"Oh, high praise. Careful Albus, people might think you are colluding with the 'Dark Lord'"
"Gellert please, I don't know anyone else who-"
"Leave." He says sternly, "Your student is of no interest to me."
I stand there frozen. I expected his refusal, but I couldn't think of any way to change his mind.
'Except one.' I think grimly, 'But that will bring unexpected consequences.'
"Did someone hit you with a stupefy?" Gellert asks, "I said leave."
"Gellert, please just listen to me. You are the only hope for that child." I try to sway him, "He is an excellent young wizard. Didn't you do what you did so that wizards could-"
"Don't." He says with a raise of his hand, "Don't remind me what I of what I believed in. You were the one who forgot it, Albus."
"It was 'our' dream. 'Our' plan. 'Our' vision." He says as he gets up and moves towards me, "So don't remind me of it, when you are the one who forgot."
"Gellert please, I didn't m-"
"You know the way out." He says as he turns around.
'I can't leave. He's the only hope for Ansh.'
'If 'that's' what is takes, then so be it.'
"He's talented." I say.
"And what does that have to do with me? I said le-"
"He casted glacius terra." I tell him.
".....And? A final-year student being able to cast i-"
"He's in first year." I interrupt him, "And he did it without a wand."
At this he finally turns around.
"You're lying, Albus."
"I am not." I shake my head, "He froze a small part of the Great Lake with a stomp."
"If he did all this by himself, then how did he turn into an Obscurial?"
"I don't have an answer to that. I just hope you'll be able to help him."
"Hmmm, if hope you have not started lying now Albus." He says, "Sure would be a disappointment if after everything you did, you turn out to be a lying fool."
I watch him as he roams the room. Anxiously waiting for his decison.
'He won't reject him. If there's one thing he loves, it's talent. And a kid like Ansh is enough his sure to atleast catch his interest.'
At long last he stops and turns to me.
"Still not my concern."
...'What?!' I stand there shocked, 'That was my final card. Why? He cares about talent, he cares about wizards with potential.'
"Gellert, I.. I don't...." I feel words stuck in my throat, "Please. You are my only hope. You are that child's only hope."
"And that matters to me because?"
"Because..." I am stunned, I just say what comes to mind, "Because you once cared."
"You once cared about all the wizards and witches." I ramble, "You cared enough to go against the world for that dream. You wanted wizards to live freely, to think big."
"You cared enough to lose me." I can feel my voice shake at the end.
"And I believe," I look him in the eye, "You still do. You still care for the wizarding world. Otherwise you wouldn't be stuck here by yourself."
He looks at me, "And you were the one who stood against that very thing. And what does the wizarding world have to do with a single kid. One kid alone is not my concern."
"He is not. But the future is." I say, "And that child, he has an amazing future."
"I see it in his eyes, Gellert." I remember Ansh's look as he casts magic, "His eyes shine when he does magic. He doesn't care about classes and structure. But he'll sit in library for hours, pondering over a spell. He likes it enough to not care about his own well-being, if it is for magic. It's like, it's the only thing he can see." I pour out everything I had.
"Just like yours eyes once shone with that sparkle, I see the same spark in him."
Gellert just looks at me for a long while. I have said all I could, I have no more words to convince him.
'How am I supposed to tell his parents, that my last hope is gone.'
"Bring the kid here. If he is as you say, then I'll help him." He says finally.
At this I look up at him in suprise.
"Don't celebrate, I am not a healer. Nor have I ever tried to do something like this before. For now don't expect anything." he says, "And I'll decide first if he's even worth my help or not."
Then adds, "And if I do, and if I manage to cure him. Then I want something. Something you care about."
"What is it?" I ask, with a little dread
"I want the boy."
I feel like my blood leaves my body at this.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what say. If i manage to heal the kid, then I'll teach him. He will come to me, whenever I say, and you will let him." He says, "He he truly has the talent you say he does, then I will finally have someone to carry my will forward."
"No." I say firmly, "I won't let you turn the child to a murderer."
"Oh I won't." He says lightly, "I'll just teach him, about magic, about No-Maj, about our world. And then it'll be his choice on what to do."
He comes to me and looks me in the eye, "Surely you won't deny a child his freedom to choose, will you, Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"If you don't like it, go find someone else." He says and turns around, looking out the window.
'I can't let Ansh die if there's a way to save him. But I also can't let Gellert sway him to the dark side.'
I think long about it, so long that at some point the sun starts to come up. Gellert doesn't rush me, he does his own thing. He knows me. He knows how I don't have a choice. He knows how he's the only option I have. The only hope I have. And he also knows how I can't let him influence the kid.
And at last, the thing that helps me make my decision, is Ansh's face.
His face when he cast magic. His laughter when he was with his friends. And him, even subconsciously, refusing to hurt his mother.
'If he's a child like that, he won't be easily swayed by Gellert. His heart has love and kindness. If I and the others are there to guide him, then he won't turn like Tom.'
'....He won't, right?'
'I believed in Tom the same way. I tried to help Tom in the same way.'
'Yet, look at what has become of him. My own student, turned against me, against good.'
'Can I... make the right decision now?'
I conjure all types of scenarios in my mind. All the ways it can go wrong. I imagined him standing on the other side of me, going so far I can't reach him.
In the end, I can only hope. Hope in love and good.
"Okay." I say, "You can teach him."
This gets his attention. His reply is just a smirk.
"But," I say, "It will be his choice if he wants to learn from you. And even then, his parents have to approve of it. Not to mention his classes can't be affected."
His smirk leaves his face at that, "Surely you don't think you have any bargaining power here."
"I don't." I admit, "But I won't make him do something he doesn't want to, and his parents are his guardians so that decision lays with them."
"And a child of Hogwarts needs to attend his classes."
He chuckles at that.
"Fine. But then I have a condition of my own." He states, "I will come to Hogwarts whenever I want to teach him."
"Don't worry." He says before I can protest, "I won't try to cause trouble there."
"You can designate a specific room and ample space, and I won't leave it's walls. We need to have space if I am to teach the kid. Surely, even you don't want a child to come to this gloomy place every now and then, do you?"
"Okay." I say after thinking, "You can come to Hogwarts, but you won't speak to anyone there or try any schemes."
"Fine, I promise." He says.
"No. Not just a promise." I say.
"Then what do you wan-" he stops and then continues, "You don't mean a blood oath, do you? You would be a fool to think I'll agree to that after what you did last time."
"No, not a blood oath. An unbreakable promise." I stop him before he says anything, "But that is for later. After he and his parents agree with your conditions."
"Fine. We'll talk then. Bring the kid here after 2 days."
I start to leave the room, relieved that atleast he agreed to help him.
"Gellert," I turn back and say just as I am on the door, "Thank you, for agreeing to help him. It was nice to meet you, old friend."
He doesn't answer, and I leave like that.
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A/N: A bit longer, but I found no way to break it into 2 parts and not lose the impact, so here it is.