The German Ministry of Magic.
The two Grindelwalds walked inside side by side, looking completely at ease.
The younger Ministry employees had never seen Grindelwald in person.
One of them stepped forward with a polite smile.
“May I help you, sir?” The Grindelwald from The Radiant Twin Emperors spoke calmly.
“Take me to the Minister for Magic.” His voice was quiet, yet carried an authority that brooked no refusal.
Without even realising it, the Ministry employee began obeying him.
The Grindelwald who had only just left Nurmengard glanced at this confident, domineering version of himself and felt a complicated bitterness rise within him.
If only he had been more like this man back then.
If he had swallowed his pride for once and ignored Aberforth’s taunts, Ariana would never have died in the struggle between the three of them.
Dumbledore would never have been consumed by guilt over his sister’s death.
And the two of them would never have gone their separate ways.
Unfortunately, there were no second chances.
The only small comfort was that the Dumbledore from the other world had also become Headmaster of Hogwarts.
And apparently, he was just as unwilling to pay Grindelwald any attention.
That other version of himself had fulfilled his dream, yet in the end, he still lived alone in a castle.
Compared with Nurmengard, that castle was merely larger.
More magnificent.
But ultimately, there was still only one word for it.
Loneliness.
The difference was that he had already come to terms with it.
The other Grindelwald simply refused to admit it.
Just like the man he himself had been when he fought Dumbledore all those years ago.
Inside the German Ministry, most of the employees were young, but there were still a handful of older witches and wizards.
The moment they saw two Grindelwalds walking towards them, several instinctively drew their wands.
“Shh.” The Grindelwald in front raised the Elder Wand to his lips.
“Quiet.” His words were infused with immense magical power.
Confusion flickered through the eyes of the witches and wizards who had been preparing to attack.
A moment later, they simply returned to their work as though they had never seen Grindelwald at all.
“Come along.” Grindelwald lightly patted the Ministry employee leading the way.
The casual way he carried himself made it seem less like he was infiltrating the German Ministry of Magic and more like he was touring a house he had just purchased.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The Ministry employee gently knocked on the door of the Minister’s office.
Then he respectfully bowed and quietly withdrew.
That left only the two Grindelwalds outside the door.
There were no Ministry employees nearby.
No Aurors patrolling the corridor.
Every employee in the Ministry had already fallen under Grindelwald’s magic.
“Come in.” Dieter Ehrlich was sitting behind his desk with his head lowered over a stack of documents, completely unaware of the danger outside.
“Mr Ehrlich.” Grindelwald opened the door, walked inside and casually closed it behind him.
“What can I do for—” Ehrlich looked up.
His voice abruptly died in his throat.
His hand quietly crept towards his wand.
Naturally, Grindelwald noticed.
He simply made no attempt to stop him.
So what if the man managed to draw his wand?
Grindelwald had faced more desperate counterattacks in his lifetime than he could possibly count.
Once Ehrlich’s fingers closed around his wand, he finally recovered a little confidence.
“Grindelwald.
How did you get in here?” “I was invited in.” Grindelwald smiled.
“Impossible,” Ehrlich said flatly.
This was no longer the era when the Acolytes held power everywhere.
Grindelwald had been imprisoned for fifty years.
Even the youngest of his old Acolytes would be over seventy by now.
There was simply no possibility that some fanatically loyal follower of Grindelwald was still embedded within the modern German Ministry.
So how could anyone possibly have invited him inside?
Every one of Ehrlich’s thoughts was laid bare before Grindelwald.
He walked closer and chuckled softly.
“Wherever I stand, every witch or wizard who cheers my name is a Saint.” “As of a few moments ago, every wizard in this building officially became one of my followers.” “Of course…” “I would be delighted to welcome you as well.” “Dream on!” Ehrlich shot to his feet and pointed his wand at Grindelwald.
“You and that damned dream of yours can both go to hell!” “What a pity.” Grindelwald casually turned away.
Blue flames erupted from Ehrlich’s body, blazing outward from within.
In an instant, he was reduced to ash.
Only his wand remained, clattering to the floor.
From beginning to end, Grindelwald had never even appeared to move his own wand.
He turned towards the other version of himself.
“Would you like to be Ehrlich?” He was quite certain the answer would be yes.
“Of course.” ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ That afternoon, Grindelwald and “Ehrlich” sat leisurely in the Minister’s office, drinking tea and chatting.
“I’ve told you my story.” Grindelwald leaned back comfortably.
“Now tell me yours.
I want to hear it.” Ehrlich lifted his teacup and took a small sip before beginning.
“Our school years were essentially the same.
Where our lives diverged was that duel…” He slowly recounted everything that had happened.
“…No one ever discovered whose spell killed Ariana.
But from that day onwards, an irreparable rift formed between Dumbledore and me.” As Ehrlich reached that point, even the tea in his mouth seemed to turn bitter.
During all those years imprisoned in Nurmengard, the memories he had revisited most often were the ones from that period of his life.
“Go on.” Grindelwald rested his chin on one hand and listened with genuine interest.
“After that, I began travelling the world…” Half an hour later, Grindelwald suddenly interrupted him.
“What do you mean, ‘Dumbledore’s favourite student’?” “Who is Dumbledore’s favourite student?” “Where the hell did this so-called favourite student of Dumbledore’s come from?” The three questions fired off by the Grindelwald from the Radiant Twin Emperors world left the disguised Ehrlich completely dumbfounded.
“Newt.” “Newt Scamander.” “You’ve never heard of him?” “You mean…” Grindelwald pressed his fingers against his forehead and thought for a moment.
“That fellow who likes magical creatures?” “I remember him, but he wasn’t one of Dumbledore’s students.” Then Grindelwald paused.
“Wait.” “I understand.” It suddenly made sense.
In his world, Dumbledore had travelled the world alongside him before the two of them began actively preparing to establish their rule over the Muggles.
During the period when Newt Scamander attended Hogwarts, Dumbledore hadn’t even been teaching there.
Dumbledore had only gone to Hogwarts to become a professor after Grindelwald’s large-scale purges of Muggles finally enraged him beyond endurance.
The two of them had had a tremendous row.
Dumbledore had stormed out.
And only after their relationship completely fell apart had Dumbledore begun teaching at Hogwarts.
By then, Newt had already been expelled.
The two had never crossed paths as teacher and student.
Naturally, there could never have been any nonsense about Newt being “Dumbledore’s favourite student.” Even so, Grindelwald was furious.
Why the hell does Dumbledore keep having affairs behind my back?
In his world, there was Tom Riddle.
And now, in this world, a Newt Scamander had appeared out of nowhere.
Grindelwald’s fingers drummed rapidly against the desk.
“If I remember correctly, before I came to this world, that Newt Scamander was still active in the wizarding world.” He narrowed his eyes.
“So the Newt Scamander of this world should still be alive too, shouldn’t he?” “What are you planning to do?” Ehrlich knew perfectly well what he was planning.
He asked anyway.
Grindelwald gave him an exceptionally pleasant smile.
“Oh, nothing much.” “I merely want to find him and ask when exactly he plans on dying.” “And whether he’d like me to help him along.”