[HP] Dearest Enemy

While Tom was still running around for the rare material needed in the store, Harry and Dumbledore had already reached the European continent.The venue designated by Grindelwald for the duel was in the garden of a private estate under his name in Munich.Not many people received invitations to watch the battle. Except for the president of the International Federation of Wizards and officials from the British and German Ministry of Magic who participated in notarized duels, there were almost no wizards who received invitations in their personal names to watch the duel.Dumbledore only took Harry with him.Grindelwald's men sent the two of them directly to Munich just after Dumbledore landed, and the group of journalists who were risking their lives accompanying them were blocked from their sight.

Dumbledore rejected the arrangement to live in Grindelwald Manor, and he and Harry stayed in a hotel in Munich.Harry knew that this hotel was one of the strongholds where Dumbledore's spies sent to Germany were connected, but he didn't know if Alex had frequented this hotel.

Grindelwald gave a death order to his men, and no one objected to Dumbledore's decision.The duel time is set at two o'clock in the afternoon on Friday. Before that, they are free, but they still need to be careful when going out.Harry and Dumbledore visited the scenic spots in Munich secretly "accompanied" by Grindelwald's men, but Harry could tell that Dumbledore was not in a good mood at all.

When the two returned to the hotel in the evening, the German wizard Matthias who received them along the way had already been waiting for a long time.Harry didn't like the look of this man, Matthias had an uncomfortable look on his face, his right eye was covered by a black eyepatch, and a long scar stretched from under the eyepatch to the It stopped at the ear, and it looked as if someone wanted to cut off half of the head, but it didn't work.

"Lord Grindelwald wishes to have dinner with two distinguished guests." Matthias said as he handed over the invitation, "Please be sure to honor both of you."

What should come will always come, Dumbledore's originally serious face paled imperceptibly, and then nodded.

"Please lead the way, Mr. Matthias."

The German wizard made a gesture of invitation, Dumbledore gave Harry a wink, and the two got into the car driven by Matthias together.

Grindelwald's manor is full of strong Baroque art style, but Harry is not concerned about his luxurious and magnificent private mansion.Compared with the quick glimpse at the Quidditch World Cup two years ago, Grindelwald in the soft light of the living room looks much more easy-going than the high-spirited leader in the newspaper.Unlike the bearded Dumbledore, the blond Grindelwald looks to be about 30 years old at most, much younger than Dumbledore.He was wearing a very formal dress robe, but the tight-fitting robe was the same as it was at the Quidditch World Cup last time, reminiscent of a Nazi uniform.Harry frowned imperceptibly at this.

"Although it sounds a bit against my will, I still have to say, I'm glad to see you didn't refuse my invitation, Albus." Grindelwald welcomed the visitor with his magnetic voice.

"You look so young, Grindelwald," sighed Dumbledore.

"I think you should call me Gellert at times like this," Grindelwald said.

The two old friends hugged each other, and Grindelwald held out a hand to Harry.

"You are Mr. Harry Potter?" Grindelwald said with a smile, without the slightest sense of oppression as a wizard leader, "Albus' little friend."

"It's an honor to be invited by you." Harry shook Grindelwald's hand somewhat cautiously.This well-known Dark Lord indeed has a charm and demeanor that cannot be ignored. It is no wonder that a large number of wizards will gather under his command and work hard for him.

After a few polite words, Grindelwald invited the two of them to a restaurant for dinner.The atmosphere of the dinner was always very harmonious, which gave Harry a very weird sense of discord, as if Dumbledore and Grindelwald were not rivals who were about to fight to the death, but best friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.But Harry couldn't help but admit that the harmonious atmosphere created by Grindelwald and Dumbledore's deliberate cooperation really made him, an outsider, a little unbearable.

After dinner, Grindelwald asked the two to stay and chat.Seeing Dumbledore's calm face, Harry knew it was time for him to leave.Harry politely returned to the hotel early on the grounds that he was unwell, knowing that Dumbledore and Grindelwald must have a lot to say.

"Matthias, you also step back." Grindelwald said to his subordinates, "Don't let anyone interrupt our conversation."

The blindfolded wizard glanced at Dumbledore and stepped back respectfully.

Grindelwald watched the door shut tightly, stood up and walked to Dumbledore.

"Albus, how long has it been since we met?"

"Forty-six years." Dumbledore replied tremblingly, finally removed all disguises, and took off his half-moon-shaped glasses.

Dumbledore still didn't return to the hotel until it was dark.

Harry wasn't worried that Grindelwald would be bad for Dumbledore, he knew the deadlock and estrangement between the two greatest wizards of our time.Harry was just curious if this long conversation could untangle the knot of Arianna's death.

Around midnight, Dumbledore returned.Harry went up to meet him and saw an indescribable expression on the wise elder's face.

Dumbledore sat down in the armchair, slowly took off his glasses, and buried his face in his hands.

"Albus, are you okay?" Harry was taken aback by him, and hurriedly grabbed his shoulder.

"Thank you, Harry." Dumbledore looked up after a while, "You are right, I should have gone to see him earlier."

Harry was silent.He was feeling guilty, if it wasn't for his concealment, the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald would have been at least five years earlier.Dumbledore quickly controlled his emotions and faced Harry, who had a lot of questions to ask.

"You have a question you would like answered," said Dumbledore. "Ask, Harry, and I will try to answer your question."

Harry hesitated for a moment, and opened his mouth slowly: "Alex told me at Christmas that you and Grindelwald were lovers when they were young, is that true?"

Dumbledore's expression froze, and Harry expected him to deny it, but Dumbledore nodded.

"He's right." Dumbledore admitted very clearly, "We are."

Harry opened his mouth, surprised to find he wasn't as shocked as he'd imagined.

"This is really..." He tried to figure out the appropriate words, "It's surprising."

Dumbledore smiled wryly.

"So this duel will probably end soon?" Harry recalled what Rita had said about this duel in Dumbledore's biography.

"No, we will do our best," Dumbledore replied.

"To kill each other?" Harry suddenly felt a little nervous.

"Defeat each other." Dumbledore corrected, and continued after a pause, "We don't need to let each other die."

Harry sighed softly.

"Grindelwald wishes to meet you." Dumbledore changed the subject, "He asked me about you."

"I don't quite understand why you brought me to watch this duel," Harry said slowly. "I accepted your invitation out of curiosity, but I don't understand why."

"I didn't explain anything to you before I died." Dumbledore said calmly, "This is my fault, so I want to try to make it up to you."

Harry looked at the elder in front of him with some emotion: "It's not your fault."

"But this is what I owe you in the future." Dumbledore wiped his eyes. "It's time to rest, Harry. Grindelwald will visit you tomorrow."

"You told him all about me?" Harry asked.

"Gellert will keep it a secret from you," said Dumbledore. "He just wanted to chat with you about the future."

Harry smiled. "The future I know is that you locked him in Nurmengard after you won. I hope to see a different result."

Dumbledore reluctantly bent the corner of his mouth: "You really should go to rest, Harry, otherwise Alex will blame me for not taking good care of you."

Grindelwald admired Harry, the savior born in the future, and the two chatted a lot.If he hadn't been convinced that this person was the legendary murderous Dark Lord, Harry felt that he couldn't believe that Grindelwald would be such an easy-going person.After dinner on the first day, Grindelwald asked Harry to meet almost every day, but Dumbledore often just stayed by the side.Both he and Dumbledore tacitly kept silent about the upcoming duel, and the atmosphere was as harmonious as if Harry and Dumbledore had just come to Germany for sightseeing at his invitation.

Tom did not know the exact time of the duel.However, he reached Munich the day before the duel.Although he had never done any long-distance cross-border travel before, Tom was not at all worried about the problems he would encounter.He has been collecting all kinds of information about Grindelwald for two years, and Tom wants to know how the man known as the "Dark Lord" got to this point.Although the information may not be complete, it will undoubtedly be of great help to him on this trip.Fortunately, Tom met Grindelwald's confidant Matthias, and his striking dark wizard temperament immediately attracted Tom's attention.Tom followed the dark wizard and easily found Harry's residence.

When Tom arrived in Munich, it started to rain, and the rain quickly wrapped everything in rain and fog.Although Tom added water and moisture protection to himself, he was still soaked when he followed Matthias.Tom saw Grindelwald enter the hotel under the escort of Matthias, thinking about how to enter the surrounded house.

Harry was discussing an ancient rune with Grindelwald and Dumbledore when Matthias knocked on the door.

"A young man asked to see Mr. Potter." There was a card on Matthias' tray.Harry took the card and immediately recognized the familiar lettering on it.

"Tom! Why is he here?" Harry was astonished, Grindelwald took the card from his hand and glanced at it, frowning slightly.

"Tom Riddle, I have an impression of this kid." Grindelwald said and turned to Matthias, "Where is he?"

"In the small reception room downstairs." Matthias replied flatly, "Svevo is talking with him."

"Go ask Riddle to come up." Grindelwald ordered.Matthias left in response, and Harry spoke.

"With all due respect, how did you know about Tom?"

"I met this kid at the Quidditch World Cup and had a few words with him," Grindelwald said. "Is he your godson?"

Harry nodded.

There was another knock on the door, and Matthias pushed the door aside, revealing a slender young man behind him.

Tom stood at the door in Muggle clothes, with short black hair and a neat white collar.Although he had already used the magic spell to evaporate the moisture from the clothes, the fabric that had absorbed the water still wrinkled uncontrollably.Did he come here in the rain?Harry stood up, looking at the young man whose hair was still a little wet, feeling inexplicably distressed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation." Tom politely bowed to Dumbledore and Grindelwald respectively, "I apologize for my boldness, but I really want to say a few words to Harry now .”

Matthias closed the door very wisely.

"Why are you here?" Harry walked towards Tom.Tom watched Harry with his black jewel eyes as if they were the only ones in the room.

"Harry, I quit my job at Bokin." Tom said solemnly, "I realized that my insistence was wrong when I read your message, so I stand here."

Harry swallowed, and awkwardly glanced at Dumbledore and Grindelwald who were silent.The former has a serious expression of deep thought, while the latter has a look of interest.

"Tom, don't-"

"Don't leave me," said Tom, hugging Harry. "Don't just leave me alone. I hate being unwanted."

The black-eyed boy hugged the green-eyed man tightly, and Harry swallowed back the words he was about to blurt.

"Let me be with you." Tom buried his face in Harry's shoulder and whispered in his ear with sobs, "It doesn't matter if you don't accept me, let me stay by your side, let me live with you, Harry, a home without you is a shell, not a home."

The last sentence shook Harry's heart slightly, and he turned to look at Tom's expression.Dumbledore and Grindelwald looked at each other knowingly, and left the room quietly at the same time.

"Tom." Harry gently stroked the boy's black hair, which was still wet to the touch, "You have grown up and should live alone."

"But I don't want to leave you." Tom hugged me tighter. "I can't bear you not being with me. Let me stay, okay? I can give up my ambitions, my ideals, my ambitions, and I'll keep my place. , I will not make any excessive demands, I just want to live with you. Please, promise me!"

Harry looked at the raindrops outside the window, but didn't answer.Tom's appearance messed up everything, his organized mood, his plans, his plans...all messed up.Only Tom, only Tom could make him feel at a loss as to what to do at a time like this, only Tom could make him fall into such a mess of self-contradiction.A year ago, he could easily refuse Tom's request, but now he can't.

Harry sighed silently, and put a hand on his back.

"I promise you."