#grindledore

I think Dumbledore fell first, and Grindelwald fell harder.

Eighteen year old Albus is… lonely. It’s a loneliness coming from a few places. One is his own brilliance: Nicolas Flamel is maybe at his level, he’s a mentor slowly becoming a professional peer... but he’s all the way over in France. Elphias Doge? Half in love with Albus, half in hero-worship. That’s a problem Albus will have his entire life. He’s got people who worship him, and people work for him. But very few people who actually consider themselves to be his equal. 

Albus’ other problem is the way he’s hiding a pretty brutal home life. Ariana is dangerous and unstable (the rumors are that his sister's a squib, but he can’t confirm or deny that.) The only reason people don’t think of Albus as the son of Percival Dumbledore the Muggle killer is because Albus’ own accomplishments really are that extreme. He is the shining golden child so people don’t look too closely at what's going on within his family. No part of Albus wants to be at home with them - he wants to be away at school, he wants to be on a European tour with Elphias Dosge (and don’t tell me Elphias wasn’t low-key footing most of the bill for that trip…) 

But then his mother dies/is killed by Ariana, Albus becomes responsible for his brother and sister. Because Ariana can’t be moved, that means he’s also effectively tied to Godric’s Hollow. It’s stressful. It’s boring. Albus has no one to talk to.

And then Gellert moves in. It must’ve felt like the sun breaking through clouds. He’s beautiful. He’s fascinating. He’s on Albus’ intellectual level. And he’s not suck like Abus is. No, he’s driven, he has plans, he has incredibly grand hopes for the future. Albus would take one look at him and be - this is it. You are the answer. We are going to discover the secrets of the universe together.

Now Gellert has recently been kicked out of school for dark magic related activities, and is effectively lying low in Godric’s Hollow. But honestly, he kind of wiggled out of any serious consequences. If anything, his mindset is probably more “I’ve already learned everything Drumstrang had to teach me. Good riddance. Now I just have to wait, and think about my next move.” 

Seeing Albus for the first time probably wouldn’t have blown his socks off. Gellert (as Harry tells us, multiple times) is very handsome, while Albus is probably more… interesting looking. Good looking in an unconventional way. But Albus is clever, and would have found out who exactly his new neighbor was very quickly. He’d hear about the dark magic and… not care. Probably just be more intrigued. Albus is desperate for someone to talk to, and whatever dark magic Gellert was up to, I’m sure it had to at least be interesting. 

So Albus tracks down Gellert, and he’s asking all of these questions. All these really good questions. At first Gellert is flattered (also, he can tell that Albus has a crush on him. That’s not especially unusual, if you’re Gellert Grindlewald.)  

But once he spends a little more time with him, I think he starts getting a little awed by Albus. This isn’t like Elphias Dodges’ hero worship, this is 'I want to put Albus Dumbledore in a jar and study him.' How can he be this good? How can his well of knowledge be so deep? How does he pick up everything I show him so fast…and immediately start adding improvements. How is he able to solve these magical problems and conundrums that I’ve been struggling with so easily?

Albus starts trusting him a little bit more. He doesn’t tell anyone about the details surrounding his father attacking the muggles, or about what’s going on with Ariana. But he tells Gellert. He tells him about the pressure he feels being responsible for them. How he can’t help resenting the way his family ties him down. He wants things to be different so badly, but doesn’t know what he's supposed to do.

I think that getting to see Albus’ vulnerability this way, his darkness, his cracks - things which he doesn’t show anyone - is what gets Gellert properly falling in love with him. Albus saw his darkness and didn’t back off, and now Gellert gets to return the favor. He probably starts getting a little romantic about all this, starts attributing the fact that they met to fate, thinks of Albus as this wonderful gift the universe is giving to him… but then Gellert’s perspective kind of shifts, and he starts believing that really he’s Albus‘ gift. He’s meant to save Albus, because it’s a crime that anyone this extraordinary should truly think that they’re trapped, and that their life needs to stay so small. 

He convinces Albus to leave, says they'll be able to take Ariana with them. I bet Gellert believes it too. He and Albus are so powerful, so talented, so knowledgeable, so off the charts in every way - what could Ariana possibly do that the two of them wouldn't be able to handle? 

But then, of course, the duel happens. Ariana dies (and I do think it was probably Albus who accidentally killed her.) We know that Gellert ran right after this. But I think  this is a situation where Albus is in shock, Gellert is grabbing his arm, dragging him towards the door, saying - we’ve got to get out of here. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, I can fix this.

Albus can’t do it. He did wrong, and he has to face his punishment (a punishment I don’t think he ever feels he actually received. The closest he gets is Aberforth breaking his nose at the funeral, which is why he lets it stay broken.) There’s a lot of dark, sticky stuff in Albus Dumbledore's psyche. Stuff I don’t think he’ll ever let anyone see - both because he’s so hyper-competent he can mask it, and because it is his job to protect people (that’s the only thing he thinks he’s good for…)  Showing people his darkness and weakness, the way he showed it to Gellert - that is the opposite of protecting them.

If he’s honest with himself, I do think there’s a part of Albus that wishes he had been weaker, that he had run with Grindelwald that day. Best case scenario - maybe he could’ve influenced him, steered him down a better path (does that mean the blood of Grindelwald‘s victims is on his hands?) Or maybe it would have gone the other way, and without Ariana's death he would have ended up a worse Dark Lord than Grindelwald ever was. But more realistically… I think Albus knows that he and Grindelwald would have eventually had a falling out. But maybe not for a couple of years. Maybe Albus could’ve ignored the red flags that long. Maybe he could have had a few years - running around Europe, being young, powerful, and in love. 

Instead, Albus goes back to Hogwarts to hide. Because he can’t trust himself anymore. He can’t trust his judgment, he can’t trust himself with any kind of power. News of Grindelwald comes every day. He’s becoming more powerful. Dumbledore could stop him - but doesn’t. I think he’s worried that he saw Grindelwald again… (if Grindelwald is still in love with him…) (of course Grindelwald is still in love with him...) If Gellert asked him to leave Hogwarts and come with him, Albus is worried that he might say yes.

But in the end, Dumbledore does face him. Grindelwald fights him with the Elder Wand, but Dumbledore still wins. I like to think it’s because Gellert just cannot bring himself to kill him. Cannot bring himself to imprison him. He loves Albus too much. Albus is a work of art he cannot bring himself to destroy or lock away.

Why isn’t grindeldore more popular with Harry Potter fans, especially shippers.

Like they have all makings of things people look for in a ship.

It’s canon, has deep tragedy, their younger selves are played by attractive good actors with chemistry.

What gives? Cherik is really popular and they have a really similar dynamic to them?

Me: You know what the world needs? A very long Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald fanfic. For no reason. At all. You're welcome.