Here's the next chapter! It's shorter than the previous one and I'm sorry for that. I was sick and I still don't feel completely well again. I hope you like it either way! Please let me know what you think, it would be great.

I don't own the characters or places!


Gellert watched the sleeping Albus for some time. He didn't want to stand up and look for Ariana – the feeling of Albus' hand in his own was too good. But the girl had an awful day and she had to be terrified. It wouldn't be good if she woke up and no one was there.

Slowly, Gellert left the room and headed for the stairs. The worried look on Albus' face appeared in his mind again, reminding him that he was still afraid that Gellert would leave. I could never leave you, Albus he would have loved to say, but the words just wouldn't come out. However, the promise that he would stay was easy to make. And Gellert had every intention to keep it.

Ariana was still lying on the couch and it seemed as if she didn't move since they left some time ago. When he got closer, Gellert noticed the tears running down her cheeks. So she was awake. He sat down on the armchair and silence filled the room for a few minutes. Then Ariana opened her eyes and frowned when she recognized Gellert.

"Where's Albus?" She whispered and Gellert smiled. He hoped that it would calm her down.

"He's asleep in his room. Your brother needs to rest, it wasn't easy for him to protect the two of you. You don't have to worry, Ariana, he's alright." At his words, Ariana sobbed loudly. Without thinking about it, Gellert sat down next to her and hugged her tightly. Suddenly, he understood why Albus had tried to calm his sister down after the explosion. It was difficult not to react to her when she was upset. When did he start to like that girl so much? She was Albus' sister, so getting along with her wasn't a bad thing. But Gellert had never noticed before that he cared so much about her.

"It's all my fault!" Ariana whispered against his chest. "If I wouldn't have lost control, everything would still be fine. No one else nearly kills his brother just because you're upset!" She began to cry again and Gellert stroked her back.

"You don't have to cry, it's fine. Nothing happened. Albus is just tired, nothing else. And I've already fixed the damage in the garden."

"But what if it happens again? The next time, he may not be able to cast a spell that saves us… Or maybe someone else is around, who doesn't even know what I'm capable of!" Ariana was shaking and Gellert tried to find something he could say to her. He would have liked to tell her that it would never happen again, but that wasn't true. No one knew when she would lose control again. It happened suddenly, sometimes even when no one expected it.

"Don't think about those things. Nothing will happen, I'm sure of that."

"But something already happened…" Ariana whispered in a pained voice and Gellert knew that she meant the death of her mother. "And now Albus…"

"Ariana, look at me." Gellert said in a calm voice and let go of her. She wiped away the tears and Gellert noticed the insecure look on her face. "Albus is fine. He's a very skilled wizard, you don't have to be afraid of hurting him." She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. "And you won't hurt Aberforth either. He can look after himself very well."

"And you?" The question was barely a whisper and took him by surprise.

"Me?" He knew how bewildered he had to sound.

Ariana nodded and looked down on her hands, as if asking was embarrassing. Gellert chuckled softly, which made her look up again. "You're worried because I might get hurt?" He still couldn't believe it.

"Albus likes you very much. He would heartbroken if something happens to you. And I like you too, Gellert. For me, you already are a part of our family." He must have stared at her, because now Ariana asked him if he was alright.

"I'm fine." He replied automatically. "You just took me by surprise." She regarded him as family? And it would break Albus' heart if something happened to him… This was information he needed to take in slowly.

"I'm afraid, Gellert." Ariana admitted and squeezed his hand. The movement ripped him out of his thoughts. He tried to change his expression because he knew that it was terrified right now. He smiled at her.

"You don't have to be, Ari. You are not alone in this, we're all there for you. And I'll talk to Albus once he feels better, we will find a solution to this."

"It's just… Aberforth will go back to school soon. And then Albus will have to be here with me all the time. And I know how much he hates it; he doesn't like being tied to this house. To this village." The tears began to fall once more. "I know that he wants to see the world. That you both want to see the world, together. And I'm keeping you from that."

Sometimes, Gellert forgot how attentive Albus' sister was. This was something she had in common with her brother, they both used to notice everything. He cleared his throat. "That's not true." He began slowly. "Of course we would like to see other places and travel around the world. But you are not keeping Albus from that. He likes being with you, Ariana. We both like it. And Albus told me that he's fine with staying here until Aberforth finished school. And it is only one more year. Then Aberforth will stay with you. And who knows, maybe we will even find another solution? A year is a long time."

Ariana was still looking insecure. "You are not lying to me now, are you?" She muttered and looked down at her hands again.

"No, I'm not." Gellert replied immediately. Suddenly, he notice the tiredness in Ariana's eyes. "Let me suggest something. I'll take you to your room so you can sleep. Then I'll prepare dinner and, in the afternoon, when Albus feels better as well and Aberforth is back, we'll eat together. How does that sound?"

Ariana nodded, still not looking into his eyes. He wondered what was going on in her head right now.


The return of Aberforth and his goats couldn't be overheard. Gellert was in the kitchen and dinner was ready. It hadn't taken him long to cook something – thanks to his aunt who thought that everyone should be able to do that. Gellert had just thought of returning to Albus' room, when Aberforth arrived. It was impossible that Aberforth hadn't heard something about the explosion Ariana caused. Since Albus was still asleep and needed rest, Gellert had to tell him about it. The thought didn't cheer him up.

To his surprise, Aberforth wasn't looking angry when he entered the kitchen. The expression on his face was worried. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind that Gellert was there. "The neighbours told me that there has been an explosion with smoke and dust rising into the air." He said once he was in the room. "And then everything vanished as if nothing had happened at all. Where are Albus and Ariana? They were alone in the house when I left. The neighbours also told me that they saw you running through the streets after the explosion. Are the others alright? And what happened?"

Aberforth was speaking fast and Gellert saw the concern in his eyes. So he knew that Gellert hadn't been here when the accident happened. That was good, so he couldn't blame him. "They are alright, no one's been hurt." Gellert replied calmly and at his words, Aberforth relaxed a little bit. He sat down on a chair opposite Gellert. "It seems like Ariana lost control."

Not the tension in Aberforth's body was back. "What happened?" He demanded to know.

Gellert told him the story he had heard from Albus. About the cat and Ariana losing control. How Albus had created a sphere to protect them. He also told Aberforth that his brother nearly didn't survive the incident; only his fast reactions and his magical skills had saved his life. Then he summarized what happened after his arrival.

"They are both in their rooms and asleep." Gellert finished his story. "I've prepared dinner and promised Ariana that we would all eat together once you arrived."

It was difficult to interpret the expression on Aberforth's face. After their fight and Albus' time in the hospital, Gellert always tried to be careful around his brother. He didn't want to cause more trouble. And apparently, Aberforth thought the same. The look on his face now was a mixture of worry and something else Gellert couldn't quite name. He had never seen this expression on Aberforth before. He always thought that it wasn't easy to read Aberforth; his face seldom told you what he was thinking.

"Thank you." He words cut Gellert out of his own thoughts. He raised his eyebrows and Aberforth sighed. "You've heard what I said. And I will only repeat it once. Thank you for taking care of them when I couldn't."

Gellert smiled slightly. "I didn't do it for you." He replied calmly, seeing no reason why he should lie to Aberforth.

"I know. And I'll tell you something else." Aberforth narrowed his eyes. "If you hurt my brother, I'm going to kill you. Understood?"

Gellert nodded seriously. "I would never hurt him." He promised.

Aberforth watching him for a few seconds before he nodded as well. "I see that you mean it. Don't change your mind, Grindelwald."

"I won't."

"And if you do anything to upset my sister…" He didn't have to finish the sentence, Gellert understood the unspoken threat.

"I will not upset her intentionally." He said after considering his use of words carefully. He would never make Ariana lose control purposely. However, letting Aberforth attack him when he accidentally made her upset was nothing he wanted as well.

"That's all I wanted to hear." Aberforth muttered and stood up abruptly. "I'll wake Ariana. You can see if Albus is awake by now. When he feels better, we can have dinner together." Without waiting for a reply, he headed for the stairs.

Gellert followed him, the urge to be with Albus dragging away any other feelings. When he entered his room and closed the door behind him, he saw that Albus was still asleep. His eyes were closed and there was this peaceful expression on his face – the one that rarely appeared when he was awake.

He sat down on the bed and touched Albus' arm lightly. He hated to wake him up, but Albus had to eat something. It had taken much of his strength to use the spell earlier. "Albus, you have to wake up." He whispered softly.

Albus groaned in his sleep and slowly, he opened his eyes. "Gellert?" He asked and blinked a few times.

Gellert smiled at him. "I promised you to be here when you wake up."

A smile appeared on Albus' lips. "You kept your promise."

"I always do." For you, I'd do anything.

"How long have I been asleep?" Albus sat up, still looking tired.

"A few hours. You didn't miss anything. After you've fallen asleep, I took Ariana to her room. Then I prepared dinner. Aberforth just arrived, he wanted to wake Ariana."

"Was he angry?" Albus asked, sounding concerned.

Gellert shook his head and chuckled. "No, he wasn't. I would have expected him to freak out. But he stayed calm and even thanked me for being here."

Albus laughed. "He thanked you?"

He nodded and joined the laughter. "I didn't believe it at first. Seems as if he was just glad that someone was here with you."

Albus was still smiling at him. "I'm glad that you're here as well, Gel." He whispered. Suddenly, Gellert was well aware of his heart beating fast in his chest. It happened every time he was around Albus; from the first time on his friend had this effect on him.

"Me too." He whispered and suddenly, they were both leaning forward, towards each other.

Until the door opened and Ariana burst into the room. "What takes you so long? Aberforth said that Gellert made dinner and I'm hungry! So hurry up!"

Albus and Gellert had backed away once the door opened and they both looked at Ariana wide-eyed. Gellert noticed that Albus' cheeks were red now. "We're coming, Ariana. Just let me get up, I'm still a little tired." Albus replied in a calm voice, the opposite from the look on his face.

Ariana didn't notice the tension between them, she just nodded. "I'll wait for you downstairs." With those words, she turned around and left.

The silence that followed her was awkward. Gellert cleared his throat. "We should go downstairs as well, shouldn't we?" He noticed that his voice sounded raw.

Albus nodded. "Otherwise, my little sister will murder us." He replied flatly and stood up. He stumbled and Gellert was by his side immediately, a hand on Albus' back.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned that Albus was still weakened from the magic he had used.

Albus nodded at his question. "I'll be fine."

His answer didn't satisfy Gellert and when they headed downstairs, he stayed close to Albus the whole time. Just in case he would stumble again. Then Gellert would be there to catch him. He would always be there to catch him.