The Rotten Core

THE ROTTEN CORE
(Part 3 of Golden, Ripe and Rotten)

Summary: And still, for one endless second, Albus thinks Gellert might say, I’ll stay.

Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald

Words: ~1,000

Notes: “Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes.” – Albus Dumbledore, Chapter 35 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Thank you to stereolightning for beta-reading!

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( The Rotten Core )

Golden, Ripe and Rotten series master post

GOLDEN, RIPE AND ROTTEN
A short series chronicling the rise, height and fall of the summer young Dumbledore and Grindelwald met in Godric's Hollow.

Sharp and Bright against a Golden Sky
Gellert was gilded, aureate, bedazzling, resplendent; he was aureolin pigment on a blinding canvas, rays of light through beads of amber, stalks of goldenrod against a sunlit sky. And Albus Dumbledore had never before thought he needed a thesaurus just to talk about the evidence of his own eyes.
Characters: Albus, Gellert
Words: ~750

Ripe as Summer Quinces
“Albus, my white knight,” Gellert said, and something in Albus’ chest loosened and blossomed, as it always did when Gellert spoke those words. “What shall we do today, with all the world at our feet?”
Characters: Albus, Gellert, Aberforth, Ariana
Words: ~2,700

The Rotten Core
And still, for one endless second, Albus thinks Gellert might say, I’ll stay.
Characters: Albus, Gellert, Aberforth, Ariana
Words: ~1,000


Also, not exactly part of the series, but closely related:

Sharp Lightning against a Dangerous Sky
They meet again on a wide, muddy plain in Belgium where millennia of battles have been fought.
(Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and the duel.)
Characters: Albus, Gellert
Words: ~3,800


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Updated to add: These four fics now exist in Chinese translation! See this post for links.