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Albus woke to a chorus of bird songs on his 18th birthday, or rather, one bird in particular. He was certain it was not any indigenous species for he had never heard such an odd sound before. It seemed to be coming from far, far away, muffled by some unknown medium, yet so penetrating that albus could feel his mind quiver at every twist and turn.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up groggily, a bit shaken from that peculiar experience. However, a split second later, his misty blue eyes snapped wide open. The thing that made that strange sound, was perching right on his windowsill.
Instead of feathers, the large creature with the size of a fully grown cat was surround with liquid fire. The glow was unbearable, just like staring at a setting sun directly. His beak didn’t open, though his song was more distinct than ever. The energy surged straight into Albus’s mind and lashed out, bring searing pain in side as if he had set Albus’s mind ablaze. The heat and smoke were killing him, but that couldn’t be right, it wasn’t real. Wait, it was. The phoenix was flickering and sparks flew all around the room, setting fires sporadically and rapidly like a torrential rain, one after the other, with reckless abandon.
No, Albus thought. Aberforth, Arianna! He strained under the pain but his magic failed him utterly, he was left defenseless, as his home was burned to the ground.
“Ah---” Albus heard his own scream as he sat up with a start. Immediately he made a wild grab for his wand under his pillow and turned toward the window. All he saw in the place of the phoenix, however, was a startled Gellert who almost fell off due to the sudden movement inside.
“Hey, hey, it’s me.” Gellert slowly climbed in, slowly approaching, his hand raised as if to calm a scared animal. Albus’s body slackened and rested his head on Gellert’s shoulder. Only then did he realize how fast his heart had been beating and how out of breath he felt.
Gellert said nothing, he stroked Albus gently on the back. He recognized a nightmare on sight for he had so many of them, thanks to his prophetic talent.
“There was a phoenix, perched on the windowsill, at the spot you were.” Albus said slowly, between gasps, “All the times I used to dream of him, he brought peace, this time, destruction. Wasn’t he supposed to protect the Dumbledores?”
“Albie, it’s alright.” Gellert put on his soothing voice, “You are just getting too much pressure from your family, with your sister’s condition getting worse and everything. Listen, I’ve got some excellent potions for nightmares, you’ll be back to normal in no time.”
“It’s nothing. I was taken by surprise. I’ll be fine.” But Albus didn’t let go of Gellert. They sat in comfortable silence.
How lucky he was to have Gellert, Albus thought. In the short month they had known each other, there had been so many times, like this one, when he could turn to no one but Gellert. After such an arduous path of life, finally, fate brought him a soul mate.
“You do realize it’s your birthday, don’t you?” Gellert’s abrupt voice broke his train of thought.
“What, oh, yeah.” It was the morning of August the fourth, 1899, his eighteenth birthday.
“Fortunately, unlike someone in particular, I didn’t forget~” Gellert smiled, his eyes twinkling with just a little gloating, and pulled out a well-wrapped envelop.
“Sir Nicolas Flamel!” Albus exclaimed in awe, “you got my letter to HIM?!”
Albus didn’t wait for his reply though, he quickly slipped the letter out and scanned it, his eyes moving from left to right with incredible speed.
Sir Nicolas Flamel, someone Albus admired greatly, also an alchemist of great distinction who didn’t read every letter sent to him from anybody. As much a genius that Albus was, he was still a nobody to someone of that status. Young master Grindelwald on the other hand, could pull some strings and make this go through.
Gellert didn’t need to read the letter to know what it would say. Of course, Flamel would recognize true genius when he saw it. Of course, Albus would be thrilled. All was going according to plan. He had had the letter for several days but he chose this moment to take it out, for it would maximize the affect. He needed to take Albus completely to his side, and leave his worthless siblings behind. He needed to let him know where he truly belonged, with him. It was meant to be.
Albus’s hand quivered and his lips trembled, “He said…he said I’m more talented than any one his’s seen for centuries. Centuries!”
“Because that’s who you are.” Gellert replied firmly. Well, maybe not everyone, he was just as much a genius as Albus, only him.
Gellert tugged at Albus’s sleave and got a dazed Albus to stand by the window with him. Outside, the midsummer sun was shining gloriously. The world was in its fullest color: the trees rustled and the river churned happily; squirrels hopped into a tree and birds flew out. It was the best of times.
Gellert took Albus by the hand and they reached out together, feeling the breeze tickle their palm and toy with their fingers. Gellert pointed at the sky, guiding Albus’s vision. It almost looked like the sea, except that it was hanging above. Sugary white fishes glided along, towards wherever their hearts would take them. Albus could almost see him and Gellert, riding the winds together and souring high, high into the sky, to where no man has gone before, rising above everyone and everything.
“Will you remain here, without ever feeling what the world truly holds for you? Why should people like us ever be tainted by fate? Is it fair to keep such a gift locked away forever?” Gellert coxed in a soft voice. Everything is set, he just has to wait.
The wind rose, a gust of hot dry air that sucked the drapes straight out of the window. Albus felt that pull to, that call from freedom itself.
But that’s not right, my family needs me, a voice screamed in Albus’s head. Mom and dad would never…why wouldn’t they want success and joy for their eldest son? Albus turned around and took in his room. Cracks remained in the wall, evidences of Arianna’s fits everywhere. None of the books were new. All were stacked here and there. The bottle of ink was almost empty, and the quilt was worn. All the color seemed to have been sucked away, from the room, from its owner.
That would be his life, if he was to stay. The obscurus would take his life away, he would be no less of a victim than Arianna or his deceased parents.
Finally, Albus’s focus zoomed in on Gellert, sunlight glanced off his gold locks and they shone like the sun itself. His two-toned eyes matched the sky perfectly. Albus could see in that eye, all the freedom and joy he had earned for when he let him feel the sky.
Yes, there was Gellert, as long as he was with me…
“Albie------------happy birthday-----------” Aberforth burst through the door, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Gellert.
It dawned on Albus that it was almost eight, his siblings had got up.
“I see you’ve found yourself company.” His angry eyes stared pointedly at Gellert, who inclined his head condescendingly in return.
“Gellert was just giving me this letter from Sir Nicolas Flamel. I’ll be downstairs in a minute. Is Anna up yet?” Albus waved the letter weakly, but Aberforth didn’t seem to be impressed.
“You know what Mr. Important, she has been up for hours, she even baked you a birthday cake, with money I saved!”
Gellert knew where this was going, he had seen it unfold dozens of times. Aberforth would make a fuss about their hanging out, Albus would apologize, and leave him to make peace with his useless brother. Not today, not his birthday, not with his plan so close to success.
“Why don’t you let your elder brother decide who he would spend the day with, eh? He is a responsible adult, you know.”
A sudden breeze rushed into the small, cramped room, carrying with it all the wonders of the height of the summer. Gellert summoned it, naturally.
Albus understood, his eyes widened and he moistened his lips. Arianna chose that moment to rush in with the cake.
“Let’s get out of here Anna, we are not welcomed.” Aberforth wished to take Arianna out, but all the hell broke loose.
“Not, welcomed?” Arianna repeated slowly. Black smoke started to spill out of the young girl’s body, turning her eyes as white as the werewolf moon.
The obscurus.
Albus only had time to shield them before their house exploded for the merlin knows how many times. Merlin wouldn’t know, Albus lost track at 32.
Make a shield, fix the house, comfort Anna, apologize to Aberforth, make up an excuse in case anyone passed by saw and got curious.
Albus knew this procedure too well.
He let his instincts take over.
Despair rose in Gellert’s heart not because of the rubble but the situation. Ruined, all ruined. Gellert felt as if he could have blown up the house if the crazy girl hadn’t done it already. Who was Aberforth Dumbledore to manipulate Albus, and force him to remain a nobody here? In what universe? How was he suppose to complete their plan on his own? But Gellert Grindelwald wasn’t ready to give up.
This isn’t your only option. I’m here for you. Gellert’s voice rang clear in Albus’s mind. It was a trick they invented to speak privately in front of Aberforth.
For a moment, Albus paused, as if waking up from a trance. He was seriously considering his words.
“Why are you still here, haven’t you done enough to our family?” Aberforth had taken Arianna inside and doubled back to get his elder brother.
Cruciatus tugged at his thoughts…but no, he couldn’t…unless, no, not now. Albus would be more than a little vexed. How annoying. Instead, he pushed the angry desire aside, and gave Albus a meaningful look, before turning his back on the Dumbledores.
They talked about this, if Albus came with him, they could find the Resurrection Stone, they could find a cure for Arianna. Gellert was sure he reminded Albus of those words.
He couldn’t afford to fail now, could he? After all the time he spent, all the hope and trust he placed on him. He could say for sure Albus and him are destined to build new order out this present chaos, and so they would.
How could he make Albus be fully committed to him, instead of being distracted by his siblings all the time. Then, it came to him, and Gellert broke off into a run, towards one shot of victory.
“Stop writing to that German pest!” (I’m not sure about the insult though) Aberforth yelled as he pulled the unfinished note out of Albus’s hand.
“He brought me the best gift I can possibly ask for. I need to thank him and apologize for what happened this morning.” Albus explained, slightly exasperated.
“Well, maybe if he hadn’t come uninvited, Anna wouldn’t have gone that way. If you hadn’t been honest with him about our situation in the first place though…” Aberforth’s words were cut short by Albus.
“Gellert’s my…” he hesitated, then forged on, “dearest friend and confidant.”
That hit Aberforth’s nerve. “So, mom taught you nothing then? Never trust a stranger, wasn’t that what she used to say?”
”
Albus suddenly lost the interest to continue this conversation. This entire July, Aberforth had been going on and on about what home used to be like, about mom used to say. Albus get that, his teenage brother couldn’t get over the loss of their mother. But things have changed, the old ways were there to protect them, as children. Now, he was a fully capable adult, he could make his own judgement, and decisions.
Anna wouldn’t be able to last much longer if they remain here, by leaving with Gellert and taking her with them, it may be a little risky, but it would be better in the long run. For the Greater Good. He wouldn’t tell Aberforth that though, he would most definitely flare up like a balloon.
“I’m sorry, is Anna up from her noon nap yet?” Albus looked sincere enough.
“I’ll go check on her.” The moment Aberforth left, a Confundus Charm was cast and Albus was out of the house in no time.
However, as he raced towards Mrs. Bagshot’s place, his footsteps slowed and the run turned into a walk.
As unlikely as it was, Aberforth made a good point. He had never trusted anyone aside from his family. The so-called trust he built with others were more or less based on his understanding of them. Their minds were so simple he didn’t even need Legilimency to know everything about them. Their capabilities, weaknesses, etc. Sometimes, they were like chess pieces while he was the player. A player doesn’t trust a chess piece, he knows it. The thing he really trusted was his own judgement.
How could he be sure if Gellert was whom he thought he was?
Albus was so troubled he barely noticed the transparent silvery bird that silently appeared and fluttered in circles around him.
An augurey patronus, Gellert’s patronus.
Albus remembered the first time he saw it. Gellert had never tried the spell before, he said he didn’t need one, nor did he have that much happy memories to begin with.
He had squeezed his hand and asked him to look into his eyes, and there it was.
Maybe he could really try to count on someone else for once.
The next moment, Albus was racing across the hillside following the augurey patronus.
It vanished into the barn with one last screech. With a chill, Albus found that sound vaguely similar to the sound from his dream. The augurey was also known as the Irish phoenix, maybe that was the reason.
Gellert…phoenix…a thought nagged at the back of his mind but he pushed it aside.
The barn looked no different than Albus remembered it, however, the door was shut tight, not a ray of light came out.
A surprise, maybe, or a prank? Albus silently pulled out his wand, just in case, and went for the door.
What greeted him was a gust of cold wind that nearly knocked him over. Dozens of white crystals rushed out and melted almost instantaneously in the summer air. Snow, right in the middle of the summer!
“Where is this?” Albus exclaimed.
“The Alps, or as the world would later call it, Nurmengard.” Gellert appeared out of nowhere and smiled, holding out a hand to invite Albus in.
“We are really there? In Austria?” Albus looked back as he stepped through. It was as if an ordinary barn door had decided to sprang up in the middle of a mountain. As he watched, the door faded, then disappeared, leaving the place only to themselves.
“Well, when I passed through there,” Gellert smiled proudly, “I got interested and drew an intricate Circle. Now, I can go straight to Nurmengard from anywhere in the world.”
That made sense. Gellert had always found Apparate spells and keys distasteful, flu powder was even worse for it wasn’t flexible at all. This was another method of transportation he came up with recently.
They headed up the tallest peak in silence, or rather, the condition didn’t allow for much conversation. Wind howled beside them and threatened to tear them off the mountain and plumet toward their doom. Luckily, there were powerful sorcerers, they wouldn’t fall.
There was no life at this altitude. Nature was in its crudest most ancient form, tearing and thrashing at whatever dares to come. Boulders loomed in the sky, blocking all the light of the sun and the stars; snow tour down the mountainside, blinding their vision and scarping away all traces left by the outsiders, by them. The roar of the wind became so deafening Albus almost forgot it was there. But it was, along with the cold that made his nostrils burn and the snowflakes that scraped at his bare skin like knives.
He could use magic to shield it out, but he remembered where they were. It was said that the first sorcerer gained his power here, tens of thousands of years ago, at the altar on the top of the highest peak of the Alps, right from the sky. For millennia, people used to trace the path of their predecessor, climb the peak without magic, and beg guidance from the sky. For a while, those who worshiped here did get stronger, but later, the sky turned silent and fewer and fewer came.
What Gellert was doing must be following this tradition.
He was still marching in front of him, the elements didn’t seem to affect him, or rather, Gellert Grindelwald was too stubborn to be affected by anything.
Albus could see why Gellert would like this place. He respected the pure strength of nature. It could raise mountains and end civilizations, it couldn’t be contained in anyway, any challenge would be returned with greater force. On the other hand, delicate things were too weak and fragile for his taste. But why would he bring him here?
He got his answer when they made it to the stone altar at the top.
The circle of stone was ten feet in diameter, radiating magic so ancient Albus couldn’t even comprehend. Runes flickered on the stones like the world’s most dangerous carving design. Albus peered over the edge and the altar overlooked a cliff so deep he couldn’t make out the bottom.
As they stepped into the circle, the wind died instantaneously. Albus could finally see Gellert clearly. His silver right eye glowed brighter than usual, like one last snowflake that wasn’t cast out by the magical borders.
“The old ways are rotten. It must be brought down.” Gellert knelt and traced his fingers along the cracks in the stone.
“New order must be established.” Albus finished his sentence.
They had been through this before. The International Statute of Secrecy was out of date. What it did was treating wizards unfairly and keeping their kind locked in a conservative state while the muggles were getting stronger by the day.
“I mean to tear it down brick by brick. In but a few short decades, the greatest fortress in the world will rise upon its ruins.” Gellert turned full circle and gestured at the ring of stone and surveyed the mountains below. “Right here, I will build the highest tower of Nurmengard.” He pulled out a silver knife and cut open his right palm.
Holding out his bloody hand, he locked eyes with Albus. Will you join me, he was asking silently.
Sure, they had talked about it. But young men talk of this stuff all the time. This time, it was dead serious. A pact, an oath.
After all this time, there was no reason to hesitate.
Albus cut his own palm with his wand and laced his fingers through his. Their hands locked, right over the ancient altar. With a wave of Gellert’s wand, the boulders parted and moonlight washed over them like liquid silver.
Moonlight, blood, all they needed was the vow. Both boys put on their most solemn expression. They spoke slowly and steadily, and made the vow that would change their entire life.
“By my troth,”
“By my troth,”
“I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,”
“I, Gellert Grindelwald,”
“Pledge forever commitment,”
“Pledge forever commitment,”
“To Gellert Grindelwald.”
“To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.”
Albus waited as Gellert finished him name, word by word. He looked at Albus as if he was the mirage in the mirror of Erised. If he was to look in that mirror someday, Albus thought, this would be what he would see.
A scarlet shade of energy hummed in their interlocked fingers, as they let go, tendrils of tiny droplets extended from the cuts. They weaved in and out, intertwining into an olive shaped cocoon above the altar.
“Merlin’s name by, I will love thee forever till I die.” Gellert begin, knowing Albus would immediately know what he was up to. A vow, under their blood. He was quoting a poem, and Albus knew it by heart.
It was risky, for what they spoke now would form a binding oath, one who breaks it would be punished by death.
It was totally what Gellert would do.
“Till mountains crumble, rivers run dry.” Albus followed, smiling knowingly at him.
“In winter thunder rumble, in summer snow fall far and nigh,” Gellert grinned brilliantly, chanting with a rising conviction and determination.
“And the earth mingles with the sky.” Infected by his enthusiasm, Albus’s voice grew louder too.
The last line was pretty much shouted out together. “Not till then shall I leave thy side!”
A ray of moonlight glanced off the cocoon and it turned into silver in the blink of an eye. They had time for one last line.
“Even till then,” Gellert added, his eyes twinkling, “my love will not die.”
“Even till then, my love will not die.” Albus, of course, echoed his vow.
As their last words fell, the threads completed their masterpiece. An olive shaped silver accessory, with their blood held in a glass sphere in the middle, and a rod penetrating it through the longer side. Thin magical chains extended from the ends of the rods, drifting in the air along with the blood troth itself.
Gellert took it and held it to the full moon. Two separate droplets of blood were hovering in the middle. They danced and twirled as if they were another replica of the boys.
“It’s magnificent.” Albus exclaimed in awe.
“But there’s only one.” Gellert pointed out.
“You should keep it.”
“In case goat boy makes a fuss about it when he sees it round your neck?” Gellert teased.
Albus simply smiled and Gellert let the subject pass. He never liked those two, Aberforth and Ariana, but he could keep his mouth shut every once in a while, if it pleases Albus. He was the only one that mattered, to his plan, to him.
He inclined his head and let Albus put it round his neck. It was as if Albus was crowning him, he thought.
“Together?” Gellert took Albus’s hand and eyed the altar.
(Altar: what did I do????)
“Together!” They brought their hand down hard! Cracks formed from the point of impact, blood red lines snaking down the sides. Energy surged through their palm and the dais shook. Wind and snow crept in, taring at their flesh and pummeling them with fists of air. But they weren’t going to resign to anything.
At last, the altar groaned and shattered into rubble. The world was left only with the sound of their breaths.
However, they didn’t have time to celebrate this victory, for a rune flared and Gellert knew the link between the two places weren’t going to last much longer.
“Time to go!”
“But how?” Albus wondered, there wasn’t another door they could open.
“Watch me~” Gellert ran to the tip of the cliff and with a dramatic bow, leapt off.
Albus dived down after him, his heart racing a thousand time faster. What if something went wrong, what if…
With a thud, they found themselves in a pile of hay. They were back.
(it is a law universally acknowledged that hay can reduce damage from falling)
“The blood troth!” Albus inhaled sharply, it might not have survived the fall.
“Right here. I’ll be more careful.” Gellert tucked the silver container into his shirt’s pocket, right in front of his heart. It would be like carrying Albie in his heart, literally.
“How did you manage it, Gel, it’s so amazing!” Albus finally got time to ask what was pushed into the back of his mind.
“Well, as I said,” Gellert smiled proudly, “an intricate Circle. I’ll show you the next time we go.”
“You just can’t stop giving me surprises, can’t you.”
They finally had time to let what they had done sink in. Rings of laughter filled the air. They hugged and danced around the barn until the adrenalin died down completely. Then, they lay down on the hay, side by side.
“Hey, Gel, have you thought about putting our slogan above the entrance to that tower?”
“You mean, the For the Greater Good you came up with? Of course I would. But let’s not talk about that now, we have a lifetime for that.”
Albus nodded and the two of them just lay there, facing the open doors of the barn, enjoying the comfortable silence and the company of each other.
It was already late afternoon, and the sun was starting to fell to the earth. The sky was dotted with the brightest reds and oranges and yellows Gellert had ever seen. If this was a painting, he thought, it must be from someone young. A child’s sky would be green or brown, some buzzard color they came up with. An adult’s sky would be boring blue, there might be some clouds, still boring. An old man’s sky might be purple and black, whatever, he didn’t care. Only a young man could possibly master so many strong, passionate colors and dare to put them all in one picture.
“It’s the best day in my life. Gel, I love you.” Albus turned and looked at him, all the vibrant colors dancing across his eyes.
“I know. I love you too, Albus.”
They exchanged a smile and held each other’s gaze. In the glow of the dying sun, gently, they kissed.
Albus couldn’t stay, they both knew it in their hearts. Supper time was coming up and he had to go home to his siblings. If only they could disappear, Gellert muttered to himself.
He walked Albus to the barn door and leaned against it, watching him go. Albus was running now, up the hill. The sun was already setting, it had turned pure red as it touched the mountaintops. Like their blood, Gellert thought, and touched the blood troth as he did so.
Albus was at the top of the hill, a few more steps and he would disappear from sight. Just then, he whirled around, hair billowing in the air. He waved at him and even though he couldn’t see his face, Gellert could picture Albus, eyes shining, giving him the brightest smile in the world. His Albie. All Gellert could see was his long reddish hair, glowing as if on fire in the last rays of the sun.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day. That line simply popped into his head. Yes, yes, summer. And their eternal summer would not fade.
It was from a poem somewhere, oh, yes, the British muggle playwright, William Ate a pear or something like that. (my British friend tell me it's how they joke）
Maybe there was something in common between all people, wizards or not.
The sun was looking more than ever like the droplets in the blood troth. It was giving away all its radiance before dipping under the horizon.
“It’s magnificent.” And Gellert wasn’t complete sure which he is talking about.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see.
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Gellert was still thinking about the sonnet as he strolled home under the purple sky.
Many years from that afternoon, the blood troth fell with a sickening crack, shattering into pieces. For some reason, either one died. Perhaps the books were wrong, perhaps they didn’t deserve more punishment than what they already had.
1995 headmaster’s office at Hogwarts.
“How much time do I have left?” An old man asked. His hair and beard were white as marshmallows.
“Headmaster…” A dark-haired man dressed in black robes answered but was cut short.
“Severus, answer me.” The old man’s blue eyes peered with an intensity that weren’t usually seen among men his age.
“One year, no longer.” Severus sighed.
The elderly man simply nodded and drew back his hand. It was his right hand, black as charcoal, as withered and lifeless as a stick.
“I can move the curse to your left hand, that should be more convenient for you.” Severus added. Perhaps the fact that he could still do something for the dying man consoled him somewhat.
The old man rubbed his left palm softly. There once had been a scar there, long but not deep, a magical cut, made simply to draw blood. It had healed completely decades ago, but he still remembered exactly where it once had been.
“No Severus, I reckon keeping it there would remind me of my foolishness.” His voice sounded drained and faraway, as if he was recalling a memory from another lifetime, “It is vitally important that I keep a clear head in my remaining days.”
“If you say so, headmaster. Please excuse me, I have a class to attend to.”
It is said that on that potions lesson, Gryffindor lost a considerable number of points.
As the green light blasted the baffled tower open, a limp figure fell through. However, the last thing Gellert Grindelwald saw was neither the snow-capped mountains or Voldemort.
For some reason, time seemed to slow as he fell. It was like falling through honey, you know you were falling, but it was too slow to be terrifying. His body began to warm up, it was like summer. That couldn’t be true, Nurmengard had no summer, Dumbledore had made sure of that when he locked him here.
But the feeling was so real. The moisture in the air, the chirping of insects and the smell of grass after rainstorm. I must be hallucinating, finally gone crazy after 53 years of imprisonment. Happy now, Dumbledore?
The sun was falling now. Just like 98 years ago, that evening, the most magnificent day of my life. Yes, it did look like that, blood red even. How could it be that red? It had never looked that all these years. Wait, was there a figure there, right in front of the sun? I should recognize him, he was, he was…
Thud. He hit the ground, never finishing that last thought about the blood red setting sun, and the figure in front. Never being able to say that name one last time.
What Gellert would never know was, since he had been falling, the sun was really rising.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
So long lives this and this gives life to thee
What I like best about the vow is that it came true, like completely. Right in this passage, snow fell in summer, and they made this pact at the place where the earth mingles with the sky, and indeed, the were separated for a century afterwards. But the last line was also true, even after everything, their love for each other didn’t fade one bit. Also, I mentioned wizards can’t fall, but Albus did fall, so did Gellert (in my version of the story). I find it ironic that way. Also, it's fun to place the location at Nurmengard, and then you can imagine how Gellert would feel, building his fortress at last, but without Albus. Later, he was imprisoned here, by Albus, for 53 years until he was murdered. Would this place remind him of the past, would this place be his mirror of Erised. Oh, the irony~
Thanks for reading