AN: Written for the QLFC Round 6

Chaser 3: Write about a light character committing the sin of wrath or a dark character demonstrating the virtue of forgiveness.

Optional Prompts: (word) favour, (word) pose, (word) therapy.

What If?

Albus walked out of the small graveyard that was now his sister's resting place, his head bowed. It was difficult to believe that he had just witnessed the funeral of his little sister. Aberforth had agreed to see the guests off whilst Albus went home and began the process of cleaning up her bedroom.

The walk home was an uneventful one; Albus blocked out as many thoughts as he could. He could shed his calm demeanor once he got home. The neighbours would not witness his meltdown.

As he ascended the staircase, his heart felt heavier with each step. Tears welled up in his eyes as he opened the door and breathed in the scent of his recently deceased sister. Blinking the tears away, he began to put her things away, trying to ignore the tiny hints of her presence that still lingered in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walk up to the doorway. "Albus…"

"What are you doing here!?" Albus could feel the emotions he had been holding back all day rise to the forefront of his mind. Here was the reason his sister was dead. Gellert Grindelwald. Standing right before him, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. The audacity...

"Albus, old friend. I'm sorry for intruding on you like this, but we need to talk," he said in a grave voice.

Albus took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. It wouldn't do for him to get angry. Instead, he crossed his arms in a pose he hoped looked stern and no nonsense. "What is there to talk about?" Without waiting for an answer, he added, "Nothing."

Gellert sighed. "I understand that this is a hard time for you, but I have a favour to ask of you. It is about the Hallows, Albus. You can't just give up on them, on us, because of this!"

He had crossed the line. "Yes, this is a hard time. My sister has just been buried because you killed her. Yet you have the audacity to ask me for a favour!? What I give up on is not for you to dictate, Gellert. I can give up on everything because of this! My sister is dead. She will never walk this Earth again. That is a good reason to give up. It is not anything trivial. Do not dare to insinuate otherwise."

Gellert took a deep breath and looked as if he were carefully contemplating his next course of action. "I never meant to make it seem that way; you know I wouldn't do that to you. But think of all the possibilities that being Master of Death could bring you. Just think of the Resurrection Stone. You could get Ariana back. But we have to find it first."

"You know as well as I do that it would not bring her back. Are you trying to drive me to suicide like Cadmus Peverell? It would be perfect for you, wouldn't it? You'd be the Master of Death and you wouldn't even have to share."

"Do you really think so little of me, Albus? And after all we've been through, I really thought we had a thing, a common goal at least. Look at yourself before throwing around the label of 'heartless'. How can you call me a monster when you said those cursed words yourself? I am not the only one to blame here, Albus. Just try to get that through your thick skull."

"And what words would those be?" Albus asked. "Do not try and twist the situation and pin it on me. You're psychotic—in denial!"

"I'm in denial, Albus? What am I to be in denial about? I admit I am at least partly at fault for Ariana's death, but the fault does not fall on me alone. Two beams of death hit her that day; two, Albus, two!"

Gellert clearly couldn't handle the fact that he was a murderer. Therapy would do him some good, Albus thought with a scowl.

"Don't just stand there scowling; use that brilliant brain of yours and think!"

"Flattery will not work on me anymore, Gellert. Give up right now if you think it will."

"And you're missing the point, again." Gellert closed his eyes and tried to calm down before he started yelling at the younger man. "I am not trying to flatter you. I can already see it won't work. I am just trying to make you see that you're acting like a fool! It won't do either of us any good if you keep up with this attitude of yours."

"My attitude? I'm sorry if my sister dying changes me slightly."

"Coming here was a mistake I won't repeat. I don't know what I was thinking, coming here, asking you for help? Maybe I am the fool for believing we could still be friends," he said. "Or anything more than that," he added in a lower tone.

Albus felt his breath hitch in his throat. Anything more than that. What did Gellert mean? He couldn't possibly…

"I can only hope that you'll reconsider my offer one day and that we'll be able to mend this broken relationship of ours. Auf Wiedersehen, Albus." With that, he strode out of the door and out of Albus' life.

Albus watched him walk out of the door and struggled to keep his resolve. Images of him and Gellert becoming the Masters of Death and… images of them being together assaulted his mind. He shook his head. It would not happen. It wasn't possible. Albus would never forgive the wizard for all of the pain he had put him through. He had lost his sister, yet Gellert wasn't concerned about that. There was no repentance in Gellert's blue eyes… hence there was no forgiveness in his own.

However, despite wanting to remove the young man from his mind, he found that he couldn't. Those final words Gellert had spoken echoed in his mind for days, months… years after that. Bitter 'what if?'s always found a way to creep into his mind in the darkness of the night. What if they had worked together? What if they had become the Masters of Death? What if they had become lovers? And as the salty taste of his tears washed over his tongue, Albus fought to accept that he didn't know the answers to those questions. He would never know.