Only Power

"I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..."

-Quirrel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

~

"Do you know what I heard, Albus?"

"What?" he asked, staring up at the stars on the ceiling of the Great Hall as he spoke.

The two boys were lying on the Slytherin House table, up when they should have been in bed.

"I heard that Merlin could perform magic without a wand."

"He was amazing," Albus said. The other boy looked over at him.

"You think so?"

Albus eyed him.

"Of course I think so. Is this what you wanted me to sneak out of my room for, to endanger my perfect record for?"

The other boy laughed and Albus’s eyes twinkled.

"No," the boy said, "I wanted you to sneak out because I’m a nasty evil Slytherin and I want to get you in trouble, that’s why."

"Of course. So, you don’t think Merlin was amazing?"

The boy was silent for a while.

"Well, I bet you could do it."

Albus froze next to him.

"Do what?"

The boy looked over at him again.

"I bet you could perform magic without a wand. I bet you could cast spells with your hands."

"No." Albus turned to him. Then he turned away, frowning. "No, I couldn’t do that," he said quietly.

"No? Have you tried?"

"No, I haven’t tried," Albus laughed nervously. "I know I couldn’t, I’m not that good of a wizard, it’s just that I study too much-"

The other boy sat up.

"Try. I bet you could."

"No I couldn’t, and I’m not going to try-" Albus said, sitting up and facing the other boy.

"Here." The boy pulled his wand out of his pocket and put it on the table. "Levitate it."

Albus laughed silently.

"Levitate it? Alright, but I’ll need to get my wand." He milked the last words, leaning away as if he were about to dash off of the table. The other boy grabbed his arm and pulled him off the table to make him sit down on the floor. Albus wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked pale.

"I’m not joking around with you, Albus," the boy said, a little peeved. "I want you to try. I know you want to try."

"I don’t want to-" Albus whispered.

"Look, Albus, I know you like to pretend you’re normal, but you can do this, and you want to. You’re trying to ignore yourself, but I know you want to."

He pulled his wand off of the table and pulled Albus underneath the table with him.

"I swear no one will see, and I’ll never tell a soul. Now, if you’re still too scared to even try, I’m going to have to take up some issues with the Sorting Hat because it seemed to think you were a Gryffindor."

"Alright, alright," Albus said, barely audible, looking at the wand. He held out his hands. He looked up at the other boy and down again, bit his lip and shook his head. He put his hands down at his sides and wiped them on his thighs.

The boy didn’t speak, just watched him. And waited.

Albus sighed, agitated, and put his hands up again. He spread his fingers in the air above the book, breathed deeply, and whispered, "Wingardium leviosa," instinctively imitating the motion of the wand with his hands.

A faint red glow burned, probably hardly noticeable in daylight, at his fingertips and every hair up his arms and down his back rose lightly. His fingertips tingled, almost a burning sensation. He twitched his fingers and the wand lifted, a little lopsided, to hover a few inches above the floor.

He let it fall, his hands not steady.

His eyes moved to the other boy.

Power hung in the air, like dust.

"What does it mean?" the boy asked. His eyes were burning.

"Nothing," Albus breathed. "It means nothing to me."

"Nothing?" the boy asked, not believing. "How can you say that, Albus-"

Albus grabbed the other boy’s shoulders.

"It isn’t worth anything!" he whispered loudly. "It’s only power, do you hear me? It means nothing."He climbed out from under the table and walked the length of the hall. He put his hand on the door. But then he stopped.

Grindelwald crawled out from underneath the table.

Albus Dumbledore looked back at him.

"I’ll see you tomorrow," he said.

The other boy nodded.

"Good night."

"Good night."

He pushed his way out into the hall and walked back in the direction of the Gryffindor dormitories.

It was very dark, and he felt cold.