Harry sat upright, his expression serious and focused.
Geralt leaned forward slightly, curiosity flickering in his golden eyes.
"Of course, Harry, I'll tell you," Dumbledore replied with a sigh, his gaze briefly sweeping across the other two in the room.
Harry looked toward the White Wolf. "Geralt has plenty of experience with complicated emotional entanglents. His rich life experience might be of help."
He added with a straight face, "Besides, Albus—you're basically the sa age."
A barely passable excuse.
Dumbledore turned toward Snape.
Snape snorted. "I'm very interested in whatever foolish things you did in your youth."
He didn't hold back—blunt, direct, and rcilessly honest. His words struck Dumbledore like stones flung against stained glass. Dumbledore flinched slightly before piecing together the sentence in full and grasping its aning.
"Severus..." Dumbledore sighed again.
Snape scowled. "Just get on with it."
Dumbledore sighed once more and waved his wand, conjuring a teapot and pouring himself a cup of honey water. "Aberforth once had a marriage—though it was not a happy one."
"There was nothing wrong with him. Aberforth was a good man, a good husband. If anything... it was my fault."
"Because of the reason you know, Harry," he added, voice trembling with age. "Aberforth's mind suffered."
He paused, his tone carrying a weathered heaviness that revealed his century of life. "In truth, before that tragedy, Aberforth had a beautiful love. A woman who loved him dearly. They were engaged."
"But I destroyed it all."
"Two years after that incident, Aurelius was born—Aberforth's son. But his wife fled Britain with him, escaping to Erykin. She wanted distance—from Aberforth, from , from Grindelwald."
"But... fate tends to be cruelest to those already suffering."
"She died in a sudden shipwreck. Aurelius survived, as many young witches and wizards do when their magic awakens. He ended up in an orphanage."
Dumbledore sipped his thick honey water to steady himself. "At that ti, in Erykin, there was great hatred for witches and wizards. Fate played another cruel trick—Aurelius beca an Obscurial."
"And Nagini—the snake—was soone he t during that ti."
He paused, voice low and deliberate.
"She was his lover."
"The power of an Obscurial is formidable," Dumbledore said, now fidgeting with his teacup like a nervous child. "I detested the Grindelwald of that era. He lured Aurelius in, made him his assistant."
Harry interjected, "Aberforth hated Grindelwald."
Dumbledore nodded somberly. "He had every reason to. He had none to forgive him—or ."
That was why he had resisted Harry taking on this task for so long.
He had no hope left in himself.
He and Grindelwald were criminals—guilty of unspeakable cris. They had destroyed the Dumbledore family, caused Ariana's death. That one spark led to the collapse of Aberforth's life, the death of his wife, and his son becoming an Obscurial. And that wasn't the end—after vanishing for years, his son fell under Grindelwald's influence.
Aberforth...
Dumbledore exhaled deeply.
"Did Grindelwald curse Nagini into a snake?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "No. As loathso as Grindelwald was then, he hadn't yet fallen that far. What happened to Nagini was... her own curse."
Harry's eyes narrowed. He recalled a phrase he had read during his Animagus studies, his lips moving to repeat it aloud. "Blood-Cursed Animagus?"
Dumbledore nodded.
Typically, the pinnacle of Transfiguration was the Animagus—completely transforming into an animal.
Every known Animagus transford into a non-magical creature.
Of course, so had beco magical beasts—but that was no blessing.
All magic stems from within.
A normal animal has no magic, so transforming doesn't affect the soul.
But transforming into a magical beast generates another magic source within, warping the mind over ti. The more often and longer one stays transford, the more they lose themselves. That was the origin of the blood curse.
"A romance between an Obscurial and a blood-cursed Animagus..." Harry murmured, unsure how to even begin judging that.
Dumbledore sighed and prepared to speak again.
Harry cut him off: "And Grindelwald broke them up?"
Dumbledore froze, his head turning away, then slowly nodded. "Yes."
"And you promised to help cure her of the curse but failed—and didn't even take care of her?" Harry pressed on relentlessly.
Each question was a dagger to the heart.
Dumbledore lowered his head. His voice was barely audible. "Yes. I made promises to both Aurelius and Nagini, and I failed them both."
Harry rubbed his temples. "I thought there was only that one thing... but it's so much worse. This is a headache."
Dumbledore gave a self-deprecating chuckle and looked toward Snape. "Harry, when you're young, it's easy to do a lot of stupid things."
But Snape didn't laugh. He looked down instead.
Harry sneered. "You're still doing plenty of stupid things. And now you want to save Nagini?"
Dumbledore said nothing, shrinking in his chair.
Harry continued, "But after so long, she's already fully transford."
"Once a blood-cursed Animagus completes the transformation, she loses all mory."
"Even if we speak Parseltongue, she's under Voldemort's influence. She might not listen to us at all."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Even if she can't be saved, I still want her close. I want to care for her, until..."
He hesitated, then added softly, "Nagini and Aurelius both said they wished to be buried together."
"Then we'll need to extract the Horcrux from her soon," Harry said quietly. "And find a chance to capture her."
Snape rose, gave Dumbledore a long look. "I need to visit Crouch—tell him I completed the task flawlessly."
"Albus."
Dumbledore looked up at being addressed.
Snape reached into his robes, took out a Dungbomb, and tossed it at him. "Get your head on straight."
Dumbledore regretted his past.
But in Snape's mind, Harry's burden ca first.
Dumbledore caught the Dungbomb and smiled faintly. "Severus, I'm not the muddle-headed young man I once was."
"Defeating Voldemort is what matters most. I know that clearly."
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