Neither Here Nor There

A/N: I'm not generally a slash writer, but in light of the latest information from JK about Albus, this little plot bunny attacked me and wouldn't let go until I'd written it out. Please read and review, I love feedback! It makes the world a better place!

I returned to the train station as soon as I'd found out about his passing. I looked for him as hard as I could, but never found him. It takes longer for some to catch their train than others. I found myself growing impatient after a while. Where was he? He should have come by now! Didn't he want to be here? I want to see him again…to see if my feelings for him were still the same.

After what felt like an eternity, I realized that he wasn't going to come, so I left the station, and boarded the next train. I didn't know where it was headed, and I didn't care. I just needed to get away from the empty station for a while.

As the villages and towns sped past in a blur, I let my mind drift off to the far distant past. Back to the time when I was happiest, and life was uncomplicated. Back to that summer. I had just finished at Hogwarts, and he had arrived in the village to live with his aunt. Gellert. He was, quite possibly, the most beautiful young man I'd ever seen. He had this long golden hair that you could run your fingers through, and these piercingly blue eyes that I could stare into for hours on end. His laugh set me at ease; his wicked grin let me know some fun adventure was not far off. Best of all, we had similar views about the world around us and the people in it. We would lie on the grass in the nearby field, looking at the shapes the clouds made, and making plans for the future, as only two teenagers could.

I loved Gellert so much that I didn't even notice I had lost myself in him. There was a stream in the nearby woods that we would sit by for hours. When we were alone, I wouldn't think about anything, I would just be with Gellert. I didn't have to worry about my troublemaker brother, or disturbed sister, or my father in Azkaban. I didn't have to worry about being the head of the family or how I was going to have to abandon my plans to travel the world in order to get a job at the Ministry of Magic to support my family. I could just lie in Gellert's arms and tell him all my grand plans for someday.

I didn't always listen to Gellert's plans as closely as I should have, but when I did, I found them truly disturbing. He would speak in a rather ruthless fashion, and I would wonder at his motives, but then he'd flash that gorgeous grin of his, and kiss me, and the doubt would disappear.

By the end of that summer, though, the doubt had returned, and was too strong to ignore. Gellert wasn't afraid of using violence to impose his will on others, something I found repulsive. I always thought that people could be persuaded to what was best for the greater good. It just took the right person for the job. He didn't share that view. He was an impatient person, and when he saw that we had such different outlooks on humanity, decided to strike out on his own.

I was desperate to keep him in Godric's Hollow. I loved him too much to just let him leave without a fight. So I gave him one. I hate the memories of that night. My poor Ariana, so young and helpless and uninvolved in the fight. Why did it have to be her? For the rest of my life, I wished it had been me who'd died, not her. Not my precious sister. But it didn't happen that way. She died. I lived. Gellert fled. I've tried to change the memories in my mind, but it never works; they always come back to the truth.

I kept track of Gellert over the years, half horrified, half jealous of the accomplishments he'd made in his plans. What I wouldn't have given to have the same influence he'd had over others. Such power, it was always what I wanted for myself. But the time came when I knew he had to be stopped, and I had worked my way up in the world enough for people to look to me to stop him. I had no choice but to go after him.

I put off our confrontation for as long as I could, but finally I found him, and we dueled. He looked so different from how I remembered him to be. His beauty had long since faded, replaced with hatred which showed clearly in all his features. He fought to kill me, with no care at all for the happy memories we shared. And then it was over. I had won, and the world revered me. The sense of power was addictive, though I tried to make sure to never use it for the wrong reasons. Only for the right ones…for the greater good...

The train pulled into another station, and took on a few more passengers. One of them came into my compartment and sat across from me. "Do you mind if I join you? Every other compartment is full," a man asked as he took his coat off.

"Of course, make yourself at home," I replied, still gazing out of the window.

"Albus…" the man across from me said in a quiet voice.

I looked at him, startled to hear a stranger say my name. I looked at his face carefully, and slowly recognized who he was. "Gellert…" I tried my best not to gasp, but I fear I failed miserably. "You finally came."

Gellert smiled and nodded his head. It wasn't that wicked grin of his youth, but a shy, apologetic smile. "I waited long enough," he said, "I realized it was time to move on. I thought I'd get on the train and see where I end up."

"Perhaps we can find out together?" I held out my hand to him, and gave him a smile of my own.

Gellert hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and reaching out to take my hand. "Of course," he whispered.

The train continued to fly along the rails, where? Neither of us knew, and neither of us cared. Whatever happened now, and wherever we ended up, we would be together. And that's all that mattered.