(All right, all right, here's the GGAD you wanted. Enjoy it for now; there'll be more later. Note: GGAD is a canon gay pairing, two old men loving and fighting each other. If that isn't your thing, feel free to skip this part. Aside from the tender moments, it's mostly Grindelwald covering for the protagonist.)
Austria, Nurmengard.
Dumbledore looked up at the all-too-familiar slogan on the tower: For the Greater Good.
Memories flickered through his eyes, some sweet, some bitter, and everything in between.
Nurmengard might have been a prison, but high walls had never been what kept a person trapped.
Perhaps even that could no longer hold him now.
Just then, a dozen or so old men brimming with vigor poured out of the tower, drew their wands in unison, and pointed them at Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore! You still dare to come here?"
"Damn it, form up! Protect the master!"
Dumbledore was surprised by how lively these diehard Acolytes looked, but paid their threats no mind.
Abernathy appeared at the entrance, his back straight as he looked Dumbledore in the eye.
"Let him through. The master wishes to see him."
Dumbledore calmly walked past the crowd and even winked at them.
The Acolytes trembled with outrage!!!
He made his way up to the top floor with practiced familiarity, but hesitated when he reached the cell.
"You're already here, so come in. Still as indecisive as ever."
Grindelwald's voice came from inside. Dumbledore sighed softly, pushed open the door, and stepped in.
The dilapidated cell he remembered was gone, replaced by an extraordinarily familiar setting.
"Looks familiar, doesn't it? Even though I've never visited the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts, I can still decorate a room just the way you like it."
Grindelwald teased him as he stood by the window admiring the view, though an attentive observer would have noticed the slight tremor in his voice.
Dumbledore walked over to the desk, took a piece of milk toffee from the pile of sweets clearly prepared for him in advance, and popped it into his mouth before speaking indistinctly.
"You're always so considerate. That damned charm of yours."
Grindelwald turned around and strode up to Dumbledore, his nose almost touching the other man's face.
That familiar scent reached him, and Grindelwald couldn't resist taking a deep breath. Though their connection had once been more spiritual than physical, those two months spent together day and night in the valley had long since etched each other's scent into their bones.
"You still smell so sweet, so utterly captivating. A pity that sweetness isn't mine alone."
With that, he abruptly turned away, sat down behind the desk, and regained his commanding air.
"Well, Albus? What brings you here? Checking whether I've rotted away yet?"
Dumbledore rubbed his temples, then grew serious as well.
"Gellert, I should be asking what you intend to do. You promised me you would stay here forever."
Grindelwald became nonchalant again.
"Relax. I'm over a hundred years old. I no longer have the energy to drag the world down with me. I simply want to live a little more comfortably. Have you become so cruel to me? Do you truly want to see me living in misery?"
Dumbledore planted both palms on the desk and leaned forward to meet Grindelwald's eyes, his tone pleading.
"Gellert, please give me a straight answer. What do you intend to do?"
At such close quarters, each could feel the other's breath. Grindelwald couldn't help reaching out to gently straighten Dumbledore's collar, his heart softening.
"Ah, I can never refuse you. All right, all right. The future I foresaw has changed. Don't worry, Albus. I won't cause you any trouble."
Dumbledore closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds. They knew each other inside out.
Which meant he couldn't trust a single word Gellert said, but he had still obtained the answer he wanted.
Opening his eyes, Dumbledore took a broken necklace from inside his robes and placed it on the desk.
"I'll come visit you more often, you lonely old man. If there's something you truly want, you can tell me. Have those people of yours keep a lower profile."
Long after Dumbledore had left, Grindelwald remained motionless, staring blankly at the necklace on the desk.
The broken blood pact signaled that their relationship was no longer what it had once been, and that Albus would always be watching him.
"Such a cruel, loving man. Heh. Who else would love you but me?"
Hogwarts, the Slytherin Common Room.
"It's eight o'clock. You're all free to go."
As Shawn announced the end of the evening study session, some students couldn't help breaking into chatter. When they noticed the others staring at them, they hurriedly fell silent in embarrassment.
Then everyone began packing up, their movements as proper as could be.
Some continued working on their homework with their heads down.
Almost everyone gave Shawn a slight bow as they passed the raised platform.
Shawn politely nodded in return.
Once everyone except those still doing homework had returned to their dormitories, Shawn turned to the three students hanging from the wall lamps.
"Do you submit now?"
With their throats locked and tongues sealed by a spell, the three could only nod to indicate their surrender.
Shawn looked at the progress for [Conquer Hogwarts (Stage One)], which remained stuck at 99%.
Sighing, he waved a hand, and three spinning spheres of water the size of basketballs appeared above their heads. Shawn asked again.
"Do you submit?"
Terror filled their eyes, and they nodded even harder.
Seeing that the progress still hadn't budged, Shawn had no choice but to "win them over with virtue." He pressed his palm downward.
The spheres immediately dropped over their heads. Amid splashes of water and sparks of electricity, muffled groans escaped them again and again. Their bodies shook uncontrollably, and their eyes began rolling back.
At the same time, Shawn heard a chorus of sharp gasps from the dormitories behind him.
Before he could ask those hanging from the wall lamps whether they submitted again, he heard the notification that the quest had been completed.
Shawn was slightly surprised. He realized he might have been mistaken.
Perhaps the three on the wall lamps had already submitted, and the holdout was someone in the dormitories behind him who only pretended to obey.
Oh well. It didn't matter.
"Ding! [Conquer Hogwarts (Stage One)] completed. Reward: 1,000 points of level-one faith value." "Ding! New quest issued: [Conquer Hogwarts (Stage Two)]: win the hearts of students from the other three houses. Progress: 12%." "Quest reward: 200 points of level-two faith value, one point of legendary value."
Shawn glanced at the new quest. The rewards were excellent, even including legendary value, but the difficulty was much higher.
After all, it wasn't convenient for him to operate in the other houses. Fortunately, he only needed to win their hearts, which should simply mean getting them to admire or like him.
The fact that progress was already at 12% was telling enough.
Coming back to his senses, Shawn saw that all three students on the wall lamps were foaming at the mouth and hurriedly waved away the spheres of water.
He also brought the three down. In their current state, leaving them hanging there all night was no longer appropriate.
He was very merciful, after all.
After having someone take the injured students back to their dormitories, he returned to his own.
Upon entering, he saw Draco looking utterly exasperated as he loudly called Goyle and Crabbe idiots.
The two chubby boys were trembling as they pointed their wands at feathers on the bed and cast spells.
Shawn smiled, walked over, and patted Draco on the shoulder.
"Be patient. You need to win them over with love. The process will temper your character, too. A steady temperament is important for anyone who wants to achieve great things."
Draco's face fell. Love, my arse. You're not the one who has to teach them.
Out loud, however, he answered obediently.
"I know."
Seeing Draco's lack of enthusiasm, Shawn knew that if he wanted his little Malfoy pony to run, he would have to feed it.
So he took a specially made alchemical playing card from his ring and waved it before Draco's eyes.
"Recognize this?"