Upbringing
The story of Gellert Grindelwald begins around the year 1883, though his exact date and place of birth remain unknown. He's described to have had a lovely appearance, with a handsome face and golden blond hair. Many have said he had an attractive and charming personality.
During his youth he enrolled into the Durmstang Institute, a wizarding school located in the far north of Europe. The school itself has a reputation of putting heavy emphasis on the Dark Arts through its studies, and rather exclusively accepts only pure-blood students for enrollment. In fact, Dark Arts is one of the classes available there.
Grindelwald shined during his time at Durmstrang. He was a very talented wizard, and the school's orientation toward the Dark Arts fitted nicely into his own interests, providing a clear drive and ambition for him. He was rather fascinated with the powerful mystique of magical artefacts, and showed a general interest toward all things related to history and lore. It may then come as no surprise, that he eventually discovered the story of the Deathly Hallows, and fostered an obsession over them. In fact he was so taken by them that he took up their runic symbol as his own personal emblem.
While at Durmstang, Grindelwald's ambitions could not be satisfied with mere classes. His interest of the Dark Arts had lead him to take up extra curricular activities in the form of personal experiments. These ranged from engraving the Deathly Hallows symbol on the school's wall, to attacks on fellow students which nearly concluded with fatalities. Only at age 16, he would end up being expelled from Durmstrang Institute, for "twisted experiments and near-fatal attacks."
While there is not much details about all his actions during this time, it certainly speaks a lot that an institution which already had an affiliation and reputation for the Dark Arts, considered his behaviour to be outrageous and unacceptable.
Having been expelled did little to put a stop to Grindelwald's interests and ambitions though. It may have potentially provided him an opportunity to start his quest of searching for the Deathly Hallows earlier than expected. Taking into account what he knew so far, he headed to Godric's Hollow in England, where the initial owner of the Cloak of Invisibility, Ignotus Peverell, had been laid to rest.
Conveniently for Grindelwald, his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot lived in Godric's Hollow and would be able to provide a home for him. As an acclaimed wizarding historian, Bathilda's house was obviously full with all kinds of books and documents. Having access to all that knowledge, with little to no supervision, was rather benefitial for Grindelwald's quest.
It would be a few years later, in the summer of 1899, right there in Godric's Hollow that Grindelwald would meet Albus Dumbledore. The two of them would instantly become close friends. Both boys were smart, talented wizards, who had big ideals and ambitions, and dreamed of great achievements for their future. They would even share similar interests, with two key ones that tied them closely together:
- The Deathly Hallows - Both were fascinated by them, and were hoping to work together in their search for discovering them. They both believed that wielding the 3 Deathly Hallows, and becoming the Master of Death, meant unimaginable power in the form of invincibility and immortality.
- Overturning the Internatural Statute of Wizarding Secrecy - Both of them believed that current affairs aren't handled very well, and wished for a new order to be set in place. They believed that it should be them and a group of powerful and wise wizards and witches who would be leading not just the Wizarding World, but also the Muggle World.
However, what both Grindelwald and Dumbledore did not realize during their time together is that even though their aspirations may have sounded like a perfect match, their motivations and inspirations were different as night and day.
Albus Dumbledore had gone through a difficult childhood, where his sister, Ariana, was attacked by a group of Muggles and he was unable to defend her. The result of the attack was his sister suffering an emotional breakdown, her magic becoming dangerously unstable, and his father being locked in Azkaban due to taking revenge on those that attacked her. Later on, during one of Ariana's magic accidents, his mother would be fatally wounded. The care of Ariana fell to him and his brother, Aberforth.
Dumbledore was for all intents and purposes, trying to cure the world, searching for a way to prevent such events from happening in the future and potentially hoping to revive his parents along the way with the use of the Resurrection Stone. On the other hand, Grindelwald was simply looking for power. He was fascinated by the Dark Arts, and believed he can use the Deathly Hallows to amass an army of inferi, dead bodies reanimated by the use of dark spells.
At one point the duo had officially decided to depart in further search of the Deathly Hallows. Aberforth Dumbledore was not overly pleased with this idea, as it would mean all responsibility of taking care of their sister Ariana would now fall on to him. The situation eventually erupted into a heated discussion, where eventually Grindelwald would attempt using the Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth. As close as Albus may have been with him, he would jump in to defend his brother, starting a ferocious three-way duel among them. In the middle of it all - it would be Ariana which will accidentally end up being killed.
Post-duel, Grindelwald fled not only the scene of the crime, but also the country. He would receive putative blame for the murder of Ariana, putting him on the wrong side of the law and marking the beginning of his career as a Dark revolutionary. It would also mean the end of his relationship with Albus. While Albus had coined the phrase "For the Greater Good" to imply his actions and goals are to create a better world, it would become Grindelwald's slogan as a way of justifying all his dark deeds.
"Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution..." ~ Albus Dumbledore