Written for the Quidditch League Competition

Round 3 - Word Restricted Team Pride

Chaser 2: Write about something related to your team name (Appleby Arrows). With a word count limit. (1751-2000)

N: Prompts were not submitted in time.

Word count: 1813

Daffodils

Love worked in mysterious ways; Albus agreed wholeheartedly.

There was no telling when love would happen or who would fall in love. It was an unexpected force, an unstoppable emotion, that dragged others into an endless pit of no return.

Right down into Alice's rabbit hole of madness.

Albus liked to think that he was slightly different from the rest of the boys. He didn't act like a fool when girls flipped their hair and batted their eyelashes. He didn't stutter when speaking to any of them, and not one of them had ever caught his attention before. Frankly, he didn't understand the appeal of love.

Not until Albus met him, of course.

"Albus, dear, this is my great nephew Gellert Grindelwald," Bathilda Bagshot, the nice but meddlesome neighbor said, introducing the handsome boy at her side. "It's a terrible loss, your mother. Don't worry, it'll get better in time."

Albus nodded, irritated at hearing the same condolences being repeated at him once more, and smiled as a nice gesture. He let his gaze wander over to the boy. He looked around his age, and the sunlight seemed to make the boy's golden blonde hair shine as if it were a halo and he just descended from the Heavens. His eyes met Albus' blue ones, and just like that, Albus knew.

Cupid's arrow had struck.

His palms got damp, his butterflies fluttered, and then came his inability to come up with anything witty. The boy smirked, his eyes twinkling with amusement as his great aunt rambled on about better and sunnier days, and Albus was already long gone down the rabbit hole.

There was no doubt that he felt . . . attracted to Gellert Grindelwald the first time they met. He knew, right in his heart, that Gellert was somehow different than everybody else. In this dull place, Gellert seemed almost like a savior pulling him out of the mundane.

They got along instantly, much to Albus' pleasure. Gellert was only one year younger than he was, but he was so knowledgeable and mature. He had studied at Durmstrang, Albus had found out, and was expelled for his behavior. Albus couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he hadn't gone to Durmstrang as well. Surely, if Albus had gone too, he would have known Gellert sooner.

But Albus hadn't regretted his decision to go to Hogwarts.

Albus didn't believe in coincidences. His mother dying, while a terrible happening, and Gellert's coming to Godric's Hollow hadn't been random occurrences. Still, Albus liked to think that even if Gellert hadn't been expelled and his mother hadn't died, they still would've met somehow.

At least that's what his heart whispered.

They were destined to meet, and Albus was destined to love him. He didn't understand why everyone worried over love.

But then again, Albus still had his rose-colored glasses on back then.

"All right," Gellert relented, glancing suspiciously at the people walking down the street as he leaned forward to whisper in Albus' ear. Albus pretended it was the heat causing him to become faint. "It's the Deathly Hallows. I've been looking for them, studying them."

Albus' straightened, glancing at the other boy in surprise. "The Deathly Hallows?" Gellert nodded, and opened his mouth to explain when Albus cut him off. "You say you're looking for them? I've been studying them, too. There's nothing to do around here, as you know."

Gellert' eyes widened in astonishment, then he laughed. His eyes showed obviously delighted, and he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I knew I liked you for a reason"

Albus laughed a bit breathlessly, willing his heart not to take it the wrong way, though, it was far too late for that. "Gellert, please, you're lucky I keep you around."

"You're lucky I keep you around." The other man smirked wider, stopping to pluck a daffodil on the side of the road. "Here you go, Al. A token for our new wonderful friendship. Daffodils are supposed to mean rebirth or new beginnings."

Albus slipped the flower into his bag and proceeded to shove Gellert on the shoulder jokingly as they made their way into his great aunt's home. He hoped the daffodil wouldn't get squashed, as he was already making plans to preserve it.

"Only you would know something trivial as that."

They didn't notice a pair of blue eyes staring at them disapprovingly as they disappeared into the house.

Gellert was his first love; there would be nobody after him. But back in those times love between boys was rare and frowned upon everywhere. Still, Albus couldn't quench the feelings in his heart or get the butterflies to stop fluttering. He never dared to utter those three words to Gellert.

He knew it was unusual to feel these emotions for another boy, but Albus knew that what he was feeling were the beginnings of love. His love wasn't the normal kind, but love was mysterious, wasn't it? It was no wonder he felt nothing for a nice witch back at Hogwarts, not when a mischievous, handsome boy was lying in store for him. And Merlin was Gellert wonderful.

The way Gellert's eyes gleamed with hope as he ranted about the Greater Good had Albus enthralled. The boy could do no wrong in his eyes, and that was what blinded him. However, to truly love someone, Albus had to accept all of Gellert's imperfections.

Albus just hadn't seen them or he chose not to.

"This would all be for the greater good! Don't you see, Albus?" Gellert asked, gesticulating wildly as they huddled in Albus' rooms with books spilling everywhere. Albus bit his lip, looking at the excitement in Gellert's face, but thinking about the consequences of the plan. Gellert noticed his hesitation and sighed. "Look, Al, don't you see the wonders of this?"

Albus nodded, afraid his voice would betray his real thoughts. He didn't hate muggles, and he didn't wish for any of them to die, even if it meant magic had to be kept a secret. But Gellert could read him like an open book; he always could.

"Your sister wouldn't have to be hidden anymore," Gellert whispered, almost pleading for Albus to see how right he was. He ran a hand through his blond hair in frustration when Albus didn't respond. "This is for the Greater Good." He stressed the last words. "It's time for witches and wizards to be where they belong, not locked away like Ariana."

Albus nodded. "For the Greater Good."

"Excellent," Gellert responded, dipping his quill in ink so they could continue to write their plan. "I wouldn't be able to do this without you, you know that, Al."

Albus laughed, trying to lessen the tension in the room. "Don't worry, I agree."

Albus sighed. Gellert was fascinating. Though Albus didn't notice this until Aberforth brought it up, the more time Albus spent with him, the more he neglected his sister and his brother.

His glasses were beginning to shatter.

"Who's more important to you?" Aberforth hissed, glancing at the closed door where Ariana currently was. "Ariana needs us, both of us! I've been taking care of her, and I've been the one soothing her! Where were you, Albus? Off with Gellert and your fancy plans! He's wrong, you know."

Albus narrowed his eyes. He wouldn't stand for anyone insulting Gellert. "You're the one who's wrong. Gellert has plans and wonderful ideas that are revolutionary! You just don't understand him—"

"Like you do?" Aberforth interrupted, scoffing. "You'll see, Al. You'll see."

And Albus did.

He finally took off his rose-colored glasses and saw. Saw how wrong the plan was, saw how much of a fool he had been, and saw Gellert for how he truly was. He saw all too late.

Ariana was dead, and Aberforth was right. Gellert was a coward, but, Albus' heart still ached for him.

He saw Gellert as a perfect being at first, and he loved him. Then he saw all of Gellert's imperfections, and he loved the foolish boy even more.

Cupid's arrow had found his heart too well.

It killed Albus to find out that Gellert was gone. It dug a knife into his heart and twisted it.

His sister fell down that day, unmoving, and three boys had matching horror expressions as they each held out their own wand. Who had cast the spell? Albus didn't know, and that scared him. All their plans about the 'Greater Good' faded into nothing that fateful evening, at least for Albus.

He thought he had seen the last of Gellert Grindelwald, but then came the news of Gregorovitch. Albus tried to ignore what he knew was going to happen. They were long, frustrating years, being separated from Gellert, but Albus managed.

There was a hole in his heart, a void that longed to be filled.

"You could have joined me, Albus!" Gellert managed to say in between pants as they dodged each other's spells. "I'm just doing what we already planned!"

"No," Albus whispered, but he was sure Gellert knew what he said. Gellert was always the best at reading him, of course. "This is wrong! You can still stop!" he called out in a much louder voice.

But both he and Gellert knew that they couldn't. Albus was always a shade better than Gellert. Gellert flashed him a sad smile before Albus shot the spell that would declare him the winner.

Albus flinched when the crowd cheered for him. He walked up to Gellert and whispered 'I love you.'

That was the first time he saw Gellert cry and whisper 'I know.'

Gellert Grindelwald was his soulmate, his other half. Fate decided to introduce them, only to force them cruelly apart later.

Albus Dumbledore was a fool, but he was surprisingly fine with that. Love had a funny way of making things right, and Albus just had to wait for fate to do its job.

Cupid's arrow had joined them together a long time ago, but it had turned out that fate had a sense of humor.

Albus' actions finally caught up with him and he died trying to right his wrong, and Gellert lived on in that dingy cell of his, trapped to relive the past in his memories. He saw Gellert remorseful in his cell with teary eyes. He saw Gellert, a ghost of the boy he loved, wither away. There was nothing he could do but watch over him.

Watch as Gellert broke down over his death.

"I'm sorry, Albus. I'm so sorry. You have to know that I lo—"

Watch as Voldemort confronted Gellert.

"Kill me, then. Voldemort, I welcome death!"

Watch as the green ray of light hit Gellert squarely in the chest.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Love worked in mysterious ways; Albus agreed wholeheartedly as he held a daffodil in his hand, waiting for Gellert to join him.