Gellert Grindelwald's expression darkened instantly.
He pondered for a moment before slowly raising his head to study Jon intently.
"I thought he'd wait years—until you came of age—before revealing this secret to you!"
"Perhaps Professor Dumbledore felt I matured faster than expected?" Jon speculated.
"Perhaps," Grindelwald replied indifferently.
His aged, bewildered eyes gazed through the roaring flames, through the narrowest crack in the black stone wall, into the night sky outside, now fading into darkness…
Jon considered whether he should remind Mr. Grindelwald not to change the subject.
Fortunately, Grindelwald didn't seem inclined to do so either.
"Because I had already lost—utterly and completely!"
His voice was remarkably calm, hardly that of a man over a hundred years old, his life nearing its end.
"As a defeated man, holding onto secrets serves no purpose. Rather than taking them to the grave, it's better to share them with someone who won't betray them."
"Did you never consider making a comeback?" Jon couldn't help asking, his curiosity piqued.
"Hmph!" Grindelwald snorted coldly.
"Since he defeated me, it proves he was right and I was wrong... The victor takes all, and the one in error should die along with his ideals. It's a simple rule."
"But that was merely a duel..." Jon paused, then spoke.
"A duel?" Grindelwald shot Jon a mocking glance.
"It was a war... in Moscow, in Algiers, in Normandy... On every battlefield, I lost to him. He outperformed me in every regard... By the time of that final duel in 1945, I had nothing left!"
"Are you implying you deliberately lost to him?" Jon couldn't help but blink.
"That duel in Berlin in 1945..."
"Not entirely!" Grindelwald shook his head.
"But I did have the chance to kill him. With the Elder Wand in hand, it wouldn't have been particularly difficult... Yet at that moment, when I had already lost everything, whether it was him, or Leonard Spencer-Moon, or even Winston Churchill, it no longer mattered... Because I had already failed."
"You once said that after your defeat, you would have preferred to be killed by Dumbledore..." Jon interjected.
"Gellert Grindelwald failed, but his loyal followers did not see it that way..."
"In Bavaria, in Bulgaria, in Scandinavia... Even if Gellert Grindelwald had been killed by Albus Dumbledore, their resistance would not have ended. Though that resistance was meaningless, a futile sacrifice..."
"...But if Gellert Grindelwald is defeated by Dumbledore, forced to confess his crimes before the heads of dozens of Ministries of Magic—only then will they fully realize the collapse of their beliefs, and only then will this war truly end!" Grindelwald stated calmly.
"So that's why you were imprisoned here after your confession?" Joon bit her lip as she asked.
"Do you truly believe this prison alone could confine me?" Grindelwald sneered.
"From Europe to North America, I've successfully escaped over twenty times and persuaded more than fifty guards who imprisoned me... So they dare not even station a single warden in this tower!"
"You think those laughable protective enchantments could hold me? You think I can't cast a spell without a wand and a disruption charm? Or that a few big cats brought by that brat Scamander..."
Grindelwald shook his head.
"If I wanted to, I could leave here easily... Of course, that would have been possible decades ago. Now, I'm no longer capable. After all, I haven't used any magic in fifty years."
"Honestly, you're more respectable than I imagined," Jon said solemnly, his voice devoid of any jest.
"Respect?" Grindelwald shot Jon another mocking glance.
"That was merely the game we played... I once earned his recognition, shared mutual understanding with him, even grew intimately close... But our philosophies diverged completely, and we ultimately parted ways..."
"...He despised me, I loathed him—we each saw the other as the most deserving target for annihilation!"
Grindelwald paused before continuing.
"But with my inevitable defeat, our war ends. I won't engage in futile last-ditch resistance—it serves no purpose... except to deepen the chaos!"
"Likewise, had the final outcome been me traveling to London instead of him coming to Berlin, he would have chosen that path..."
"Albus Dumbledore would have been easily defeated by me, and with his cooperation, the entire wizarding world would swiftly fall into my hands," Grindelwald explained calmly.
"Professor Dumbledore did not choose to control this world..." Jon reminded softly.
"He refused to succeed Leonard Spencer-Moon as Minister of Magic, instead choosing to succeed Armando Dippet as Headmaster of Hogwarts."
"That was his choice, not mine," Grindelwald dismissed with a disdainful shake of his head.
"Since he was willing to hand the wizarding world over to that bunch of mediocrities, since he chose to distance himself from the center of power... I can only stand here and mock his foolishness and naivety."
"Professor Dumbledore was a great man," Jon said slowly.
"Greatness and righteousness are not the same," Grindelwald sneered, glancing at Jon.
"You needn't show me respect... Had I been the victor back then, as a muggle-born child, you wouldn't even have been born."
"Respect and agreement are not the same thing," Jon replied calmly.
"Respect does not mean approval."
...
A brief silence fell between them.
After several minutes of silence, the old man on the stone bed spoke first.
"What was my final fate? What did you say you saw... in the tower of Nurmengard? Dying alone in old age?"
"Yes."
Jon turned away, gazing at the narrow crevice in the black stone wall as he spoke slowly.
"And him? Will he die of old age as Headmaster of Hogwarts?" Grindelwald pressed.
"Exactly!" Jon nodded again.
"You're deceiving me... Truth be told, your Occlumency is impressive, but you're utterly hopeless at lying!" Grindelwald snorted coldly.