.
---
"I… I'm Darren Potter…"
Darren answered honestly.
The old man remained silent for a long mont before sighing.
"Perhaps," he said wearily, "you should introduce yourself properly. Your school. Your parents. Your family. Your age. And how exactly you appeared here."
Darren blinked, then obediently straightened up.
"My na is Darren Potter. My parents are Jas Potter and Lily Potter. My brother is Harry Potter. I attend Hogwarts—our Headmaster is Professor Dumbledore—and I'm twelve years old!"
[Ding — Fatherliness 10]
"A very honest child," the old man murmured.
"Then perhaps you can explain why you carry my bloodline."
"Your bloodline?" Darren tilted his head. "What bloodline?"
[Ding — Fatherliness 20]
"Oh, child… you need to read more books. Bloodline ans blood relation. Why are you related to ?"
"I'm related to you? That's impossible!" Darren protested. "My brother and I are twins—we don't have anything to do with you."
[Ding — Fatherliness 20]
Darren looked vaguely offended, though he forced himself to stay polite.
Grindelwald watched him with a baffled expression.
This boy clearly thought he was insane.
And yet… this child truly has my bloodline?
How in rlin's na was he supposed to face Albus now?
He could swear—on the Elder Wand, on his own pride—that he had never, ever had that kind of relationship with any woman.
Everyone knew that.
Even if he'd been unconscious, such a thing would be impossible.
So where had this child co from?
But it wasn't just the bloodline that intrigued him.
This boy… had shaken sothing in his heart.
He had sensed soone intruding into his ntal world earlier.
He found it laughable—anyone foolish enough to enter his mind would be shredded and devoured as nourishnt.
He'd even yawned and decided to watch the intruder die.
Then he'd fallen asleep…
And beco a baby.
Then a small boy.
Then the young man who tempted Albus.
Then the man who dueled him.
Scenes he had long buried resurfaced, taking root again.
Strangest of all—
None of his ntal projections attacked the boy.
Not the baby.
Not the youth.
Not the middle-aged version of himself.
Why?
Had the boy… helped him?
The idea made him feel ill.
But also curious.
So he had materialized before the child—
—and sensed imdiately that the boy did indeed carry his bloodline.
He had even foreseen this eting long ago.
He just never expected it to happen today.
Yet the mystery remained.
"May I examine you?" Grindelwald asked suddenly, smiling gently.
He looked so kind that any ordinary child would have relaxed imdiately.
But Darren knew better.
This man was a Dark Lord—one whose hands were just as stained as Voldemort's.
And he was trying to coax a child.
Exactly like Dumbledore sotis did.
Still, Darren nodded.
"You can check. But you're not allowed to do anything bad to . I'm warning you—I'm very strong!"
He flicked his hand.
A wand appeared instantly.
Grindelwald froze.
What?
His ntal world didn't even reject another person's wand?
Was he truly getting old?
Every other intruder had been unable to summon a wand before dying.
But this child—
He opened his mouth, unable to form words.
Finally he conjured his own wand and tapped it lightly against Darren's body.
The examination took a single second.
Grindelwald lowered his wand.
"Well. I understand the cause now. Child… would you be willing to co with—"
But Darren imdiately shook his head.
"You refuse?"
Grindelwald stared at him, confused.
He hadn't even said what he intended.
"It's not refusing," Darren corrected. "But do you have a place to stay? It's snowing a lot. You should find shelter quickly—you must be very old. You remind of our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Except he's sincere. You're not. You keep trying to use ."
"Use… you?"
Grindelwald was stunned.
He stared at Darren as though the boy were so rare, insulting creature.
How had his natural charisma—his talent for persuasion—failed?
Even a child saw through him?
"I… how am I insincere?" Grindelwald said indignantly.
"It just feels like it," Darren said bluntly. "I can tell who's good to and who hates . When I saw you, I felt like you were trying to drag into the darkness again. I don't want that. I'm kind—but I'm not stupid."
Grindelwald rolled his eyes.
"And yet you stayed here to tell this?"
He sank to the snowy ground, looking utterly defeated.
He was old.
So old he couldn't even deceive a child anymore.
How humiliating.
"Why are you sitting down?" Darren asked. "Co on, I know—you're angry because you couldn't trick . But I'm not a little kid! I won't fall for everything. And you're so old—why are you still trying to fool children?"
[Ding — Fatherliness 50]
Darren looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and concern.
Grindelwald felt… embarrassed.
Truly embarrassed.
It was the second ti in his life he felt ashad for manipulating others.
The first ti was in Godric's Hollow.
When he tried to seduce Albus—
not knowing that while he was trying to make Dumbledore fall…
he himself had already fallen.
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