The Demon King's Bedtime Story

"My love, Albus Dumbledore..."

The sickeningly mushy opening made Kyle's hand tremble as if he'd been hit by a wave of public displays of affection.

Fortunately, the rest of the letter was perfectly normal. It mainly discussed Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore's ideas about overthrowing the Wizard Secrecy Law.

Kyle wore a strange expression as he checked the beginning of the letter again. It really was addressed to Dumbledore.

He had never expected Dumbledore, his mother, who was hailed as "the greatest White Wizard in the Magical World today," to have once dreamed of overthrowing the Wizard Secrecy Law and establishing wizard rule over Muggles in his youth.

What a devastating blow that would be to all those who constantly preached that Dumbledore was the greatest defender of Muggle-born rights!

Of course, if Dumbledore had not held such ideals in his youth, he probably would never have gotten together with a Dark wizard like Grindelwald.

At the end of the letter, beside Grindelwald's signature, Kyle saw a familiar symbol—a triangle, a circle, and a vertical line intersecting.

That day at the Three Broomsticks Bar, Grindelwald had also worn a pendant of the same design.

What did that symbol mean?

Kyle was deeply curious about it, so he began searching through the bookshelves again, pulling out every book bearing Albus Dumbledore's name.

He found another five letters exchanged between his father and mother in the other books.

But he did not find the information he wanted.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the study. Kyle glanced around at the mess surrounding him and hurriedly began gathering up the books scattered everywhere.

Before Kyle could put the stack of letters in his hands back onto the shelf, the study door opened.

Seeing Kyle in his study, holding letters exchanged between himself and Dumbledore, Grindelwald was not particularly surprised.

He had deliberately left those letters somewhere so easy to find because he wanted Kyle to see them.

He merely wanted Kyle to understand Dumbledore's true nature, so that when he returned to Hogwarts after school started, he would not be led astray by that two-faced, scheming old bee.

"Kyle." Grindelwald's voice was calm.

Hearing no anger in Grindelwald's tone over him reading the letters without permission, Kyle calmly shoved them back onto the shelf. "Dad, I have a question."

Kyle pointed at the pendant on Grindelwald's chest. "Does that symbol have some special meaning?"

Grindelwald lowered his head and glanced at his chest. "This? It represents the Deathly Hallows."

"The Deathly Hallows?" Kyle did not understand.

Grindelwald pulled over a chair and sat down. "Has Albus never told you a bedtime story?"

Kyle's face darkened. What did this have to do with bedtime stories?

Grindelwald clicked his tongue. "What an unqualified father."

He beckoned to Kyle.

"Come sit down. This is a good chance for me to experience what it feels like to tell my son a bedtime story."

The dark lines on Kyle's face deepened. "Why don't you conjure up a bed first? Then tell me the story after I lie down. That would make it feel more authentic."

Grindelwald glanced at the other chair beside him, took out his wand, and casually pointed at it.

Kyle suddenly wanted to slap himself. Why had he needed to bring that up?

Grindelwald glanced at Kyle, then turned his head and jerked his chin toward the oversized crib beside them. The meaning was obvious.

"No way!" Kyle declared righteously.

Ten seconds later, Kyle was lifted by Grindelwald's magic and forcibly stuffed beneath the blankets in the crib.

"Once upon a time, three brothers were traveling down a lonely, winding road. Dusk was approaching..."

Kyle lay in the oversized crib with a dead look in his eyes, his head buried under the covers as he listened to the cunning Old Demon King recount The Tale of the Three Brothers in the gentle tone one used for a child.

"As they walked, they came to a river. The water was too deep to wade through, and swimming across was far too dangerous."

"However, the three brothers were skilled in magic. With a wave of their wands, a bridge appeared over the treacherous waters. When they reached the middle of the bridge, a hooded figure blocked their way."

"Death spoke to them..."

"Death was furious. He had lost three new victims—travelers usually drowned in that river. But Death was very cunning. He pretended to congratulate the brothers on their magic, saying that because they had escaped Death through their cleverness, each of them could receive a reward."

"The eldest brother was a combative man. He wanted the most powerful wand in the world: a wand that would always help its master win in a duel, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death went to an elder tree on the riverbank, made a wand from one of its hanging branches, and gave it to the eldest brother."

"The second brother was an arrogant man. He decided to continue humiliating Death and asked for the power to bring back the dead. Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, telling him that it possessed the power to restore life."

"Then Death asked the youngest brother what he wanted. The third brother was the humblest and cleverest of them all, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would allow him to leave without Death following him. Death reluctantly gave him his Invisibility Cloak..."

Kyle poked his head out from beneath the blankets. "So the three Deathly Hallows are the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak?"

Come to think of it, he had heard some gossip about Snape from Dumbledore before.

If Snape had the Resurrection Stone...

"Of course." Grindelwald's words interrupted Kyle's wandering thoughts.

He casually summoned a piece of parchment and a quill, then drew a vertical line on the parchment. "This is the Elder Wand."

Then he added a circle. "The Resurrection Stone."

Finally, he drew a triangle around the line and circle. "The Invisibility Cloak."

The vertical line, the circle, and the triangle combined to form the symbol on Grindelwald's pendant.

Grindelwald stroked the Deathly Hallows pendant on his chest. "When we were young, Albus and I planned to seek out the Deathly Hallows and become the masters of Death. That is why I made it my symbol..."

From the sound of it, this thing was also a special symbol that bore witness to their love.

Kyle scratched his cheek. How had Grindelwald managed to stuff him full of affection again without him noticing?

"Back then, we planned to use that power to lead a revolution in the wizarding world, overthrow the International Statute of Secrecy, and establish a new global order led by wise and powerful witches and wizards..."

Kyle crawled out from beneath the blankets. "Establish a world ruled by wizards?"

He sincerely thought it was a good idea, though if he had to become the founding emperor, he would rather pass.

But if Grindelwald and Dumbledore could join forces, conquer the world, and then let him become a crown prince who could simply eat, drink, and wait for death, he would be quite happy with that.

The former Demon King's voice carried a faint trace of loneliness. "But in the end, Albus and I parted ways. I was the only one left to push that plan forward... You know how it ended."

As he spoke, Grindelwald rather disdainfully rubbed Kyle's head, messing up the hair Kyle had so meticulously arranged. "None of this has anything to do with you. Go to sleep like a good boy."

With that, Grindelwald rose to his feet, turned, and left the study.

Still immersed in his dream of being a crown prince, Kyle obediently lay back down after hearing that, but then suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Wait! Why was he sleeping in a crib?

Standing in the doorway of the study, a smile curved across Grindelwald's lips.