When Grindelwald had approached Albus for permission to get Christmas presents, Filius Flitwick was the first to back him up. Of course, owl ordering books, quidditch equipment and similarly harmless items wouldn't have been a security threat under normal conditions, and he had a term's teaching wage (and, he had claimed, no reason to save it up) but Gellert being Gellert, he just didn't match with the concept of doing things the safe and easily-controlled way. After the last few months as colleagues and duelling partners, Flitwick understood this was the dark wizard's nature, and for the first time he understood why he and Albus had hit on in their youth.
The reason for overcomplicating security around the war criminal was noble, though. He wanted to take the Longbottom and Weasley boys to go wand shopping. For a start, Mr Longbottom's wand was inherited from his father and although it had emotional significance, it wasn't matched to the boy in the slightest. Mr. Weasley's had been broken after landing his father's flying car in the Whomping Willow and it had been stuck together with tape. Both boys would benefit massively from the a very firm yes from Minerva (that witch wasn't one a wizard in his right mind would oppose) Albus asked for a day to consider as there were significant risks in allowing the convict off the heavily warded school property. At the same time though, the headmaster permanently lifted the restriction on casting magic outside his classroom. Of course, it went without saying that Gellert would have to be on his best behaviour or this privilege would be taken away. Flitwick wondered how humiliating it must have been to be treated like a schoolboy, but it wouldn't have been him if he let it show.
Decorating the halls had been the task of the Charms professors for centuries, and the half-goblin professor took it seriously. He got down to work right after the meeting in the staff room was over, while almost everybody else went to catch up on essay-marking. Severus claimed he had potions to complete, as the children were due to catch a cold immediately after the first snow fell, and Poppy's reserve of Pepper-up had to be stocked up in advance. Sybil envisioned white monsters attacking people in the near future, which meant that snow was indeed due in a few days. Rolanda and Charity were busy organizing the delivery of mail-ordered muggle products, as those couldn't be brought by owls without breaching the Statute of Secrecy.
In short, Christmas was coming and the decor wasn't going to charm itself all around the castle. Flitwick didn't expect to receive help with the yearly task, but as soon as Gellert spotted him cast the first sparkles, he asked if he could assist. It would have been stupid and pointlessly cruel to say no: the tiny Charms professor could all but see the magic eagerly twirling around his duelling club partner. Maybe it was his German roots and Christmas had always been a big celebration for him. "That'd be welcome! Maybe this year I could even have a moment between lunch and the choir practice."
Gellert looked into his eyes, his mind, searching for an explanation of 'choir'. That was a very rude habit of his, one more thing he had in common with Albus. After the mental reference to the similarity, however, the dark wizard retreated faster than Occlumency could have ever thrown him out.
"You mean, there will even be carols?" he tried, this time, verbally. Baby steps...
"You will hear soon enough. Now, do you want to pry or to help?"
'Wohl' immediately began trailing wreaths and holly boughs all the way down to the Great Hall, then joyfully cast the snowfall all around the castle. There was a small danger of him overdoing, however, so the tiny professor told him to at least make sure Severus's room entrance wouldn't be blocked by the snow – the Head of Slytherin hated casting shovelling charms before breakfast. The Defence teacher conjured a liberal dosing of tinsel and made the snow actually land there.
To have time for gathering the music sheets together before noon was nothing short of a blessing.
"There are upsides of having an overenthusiastic monster in the staff," he admitted at lunch.
"Have you been to his own classroom?" Charity asked.
"No. Have you?" But before the Muggle Studies teacher could have explained, Flitwick remembered. "Oh. You're still taking self-defence classes for revolutionaries."
"I don't have the heart to just tell him to stop, he's so certain it's needed."
"Maybe he's right," Flitwick noted. "So, what is that classroom like, these days? Does he still use the walls when the chalkboard doesn't suffice?"
"You know there's an old board with recipes for potion antidotes? He repurposed it for recipes of Austrian Christmas treats. Albus allowed the elves to try those, you know, for the Deutsche Sprache students."
"And our elves, being who they are, made sure to bake some extra?" Flitwick jovially asked.
Charity nodded, as words failed to express the amount of delicacies now piled up in the Defence classroom. "He says he wanted his students to go home with good memories of the class for the holidays."
.
The next morning, Albus approved the request to buy the two boys their new wands. As one of the teachers Grindelwald was currently unable to disobey (and as a duelling champion, just in case he'd find a way around the spell) Flitwick volunteered to go along, although they would also be accompanied by two aurors. Gellert would wear magic-suppressing cuffs and he had a time limit of two hours. They had to go first thing in the morning, before the other shops opened. Garrick Ollivander had agreed to open early for the occasion and they would floo directly to the wand shop and directly back afterwards.
The two boys met them in Dumbledore's office on the first day of the holidays, both looking nervous but excited. The sun had yet to rise, so all except Grindelwald were blinking owlishly. The two aurors Albus had enlisted weren't dressed in their uniforms, partially so as not to draw attention, but also because this shopping trip was off the books. Both Moody and Shacklebolt were examining the teacher suspiciously, and Flitwick wondered if the headmaster told them just who they were going to accompany today. Considering his secretive nature, and how the Fidelius was weakened by every new person being informed, the tiny professor supposed they weren't told all the details.
'Ah Abernathy. I trust you slept well?' Albus pleasantly greeted Gellert as soon as he entered. The wizard in question scowled at him as he thrust his wrists out towards the aurors. Mad-eye hobbled forwards, the uneven sound was proof of his wooden leg. He leered at the dark wizard as he pushed up the sleeves of his robes, exposing the heavy scar tissue right where the cuffs would go. The silver manacles were meant to be tight and judging from his face expression, Gellert expected the Auror to cinch them up until they pinched that already damaged skin. Clearly that had been his previous experience with law enforcement, as if hurting him would somehow make him less dangerous, or (an even more ridiculous concept) atone for his crimes. He looked up at the wizened auror with a rush of unexplainable gratitude when the manacles were left loose enough that they didn't cut in. Flitwick inwardly nodded, witnessing proof of a previous observation: Grindelwald was much easier to handle when he wasn't treated with hostility. That would only earn his defiance – exactly like Albus, again.
The two students looked on curiously as the silver bands were tuned to their Defence teacher's magic and tested. Gellert swallowed his pride and used this as a learning opportunity for them, explaining how the cuffs worked and the younger auror even humoured them by repeating the testing spell slowly so that they could see the effects clearly.
Five minutes later Albus was tapping his watch (supposedly it did make him look more extravagant than a normal watch would) and telling them that they had to go. Alastor went first, then the two teachers together (one advantage of being small: they didn't get bruised in the one-man sized fireplace like two normal-size wizards would have). Then the two boys tumbled through, followed by Kingsley. The wandmaker was waiting patiently for them, a cup of strong coffee on his counter.
'Ah, Kingsley; walnut and unicorn hair, unyielding.' The younger auror shifted uncomfortably and touched his hand to the wand holstered at his waist. 'Moody, such a shame that you lost your first wand, it was an excellent specimen, alas, these things happen.'
'We're here for the boys.' The older auror snapped, and the silvery gaze of the wand maker turned to the students.
'Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom. I wondered why I never saw you. Let's get started then.'
The wandmaker measured them both up, then began producing wands from his complex filing system. The boys began trying them out, causing considerable damage to the shop which Ollivander cheerfully repaired. Weasley was the first to find his match in a willow and unicorn hair wand and he grinned happily as he put his new wand to use helping to repair the shelving that Longbottom kept blowing up.
With the attention of all but Moody's magical eye on the boys, Ollivander sidled up next to Gellert.
'Albus mentioned you're a friend of his, but nothing more. Could I please take a look at your own wand?"
Flitwick's fingers slid onto his own holster, uncertain how Grindelwald would react to an almost intimate request. He expected the aged criminal to behave, of course, but he was rather safe than sorry.
"It was the best of those I could choose from, but all I know, it was found during the school's reconstruction in the 18th century."
"And it works sufficiently for you?" Ollivander asked.
"I suppose we're done accepting each other." Grindelwald handed over the item with no fuss at all, thankfully.
"Looks like rowan to me," the wandmaker mused, before he grabbed a measure. "Twelve and two-third inches, nicely swishy. That's rare for an old wand, unless... Yes, I was right. Rowan indeed, with... look what you have here, thestral tail hair. That fell out of fashion around the fifteenth century, opinionated and unstable." The old man lifted the wand to his ear, listening to the tip's resonance.
"My previous wand also had thestral tail hair," Grindelwald shared. Flitwick frowned: for the civilized appearance he was usually so keen to keep up, 'Wohl' didn't seem to know how to behave in a wand shop.
"You have a very well balanced wand that agrees to you, Mr Wohl." Garrick Ollivander gave the now-identified piece back."I wouldn't expect a match between someone like yourself and a rowan wand, not if those cuffs are to be believed," the wandmaker stated calmly, as if he hadn't heard Gellert's statement. Maybe he hadn't, the Fidelius charm wasn't simple to get around and giving out wand details would have equalled to a brief autobiography to Ollivander. "Although, that a rowan wand works for you at all might be evidence that we don't really need those cuffs on you.' Grindelwald opened his mouth to ask more about the wand he carried but the wandmaker had left and was now congratulating Neville over his pairing with a cherry wood wand.
'Wohl' paid for the two wands without even paying attention to the price or to the boys protesting weakly. He ignored them and their gratitude right up until they stepped out of the headmaster's floo. They were just in time for breakfast before the choir practice, so the Charms professor didn't linger in the office.
.
He had no idea how Gellert aquired a duelling suit for him, but that's what was in the nicely wrapped pack the Charms professor found on his table Christmas morning. It was perfectly cut out to his size, dark blue with a deep brown, eagle-shaped piece of dragonhide armour on the chest. It was elegant and practical at the same time, befitting a champion wizard as much as the Head of Ravenclaw House.
As for Grindelwald, he claimed he hadn't expected to receive any presents at all – the opportunity that he could send gifts this year would have sufficed.
"Christmas is about selflessness, not about what you do or do not deserve," Charity immediately replied over her breakfast plate, before she continued reading the runes on the onyx and tiger-eye bracelet she was given. Of what she had made out so far, not only did the jewellery carry a human-size shield bubble, but it would also help its wearer pass wards that would keep an average witch out.
"Besides, they mean the parents recognize you as a good teacher," Filius added. "Anything special?" he prompted, seeing on the old wizard's childlike smile that he'd be eager to tell them what he had got. The parents of the Patil twins sent him a mokeskin purse with an Indian variation of the expansion charm, and in it, twelve different boxes of dessert. Earlier that year, Miss McCoy had said a line of wisdom he had particularly liked, and now he showed his colleagues a wand holster sporting that same quote: 'A dragon won't bother to tell your wand from firewood.' Its colour didn't match with the knitted jumper with a Hogwarts castle on it from Mrs. Weasley, but little did he seem to care. He shared with slightly less enthusiasm that there were two books on muggle achievements, one on appliances from Charity and one on history of muggles from the Granger family.
Filius got him a charm that would paint his walls with a moving panorama of magical places all around the world, including the Rhineland where he'd grown up, the Swiss settlement from which his family originated and got its name from, a sunrise at Hogwarts and a thunderstorm around Durmstrang. And Albus had previously hinted that he had something very personal that had to wait until the students were away.
"Just admit it, you spent the morning sitting on the bed surrounded by wrapping paper," Charity teased him. "Thank you for the bracelet!"
"Yes, thank-you everyone, for everything. I was about to ask you, Abernathy, if you're willing to join the snowball fight on the side of the Ravenclaws. Rumour has it, when your eyes are not under colouring charms, they are Ravenclaw-coloured." Oh, they'd been teasing him with that joke ever since a student innocently mentioned it at the first quidditch match.
"Or you could join the Hufflepuffs, I'm sure Tonks would love to have you on our side," Charity invited him.
"Either way, you'll have an excuse to pelt Albus with snowballs!"
Of course, he joined the Ravenclaw team; under his and Filius' guidance they enchanted a mound of snow to produce its own snowballs, then replenishing charms on the snowbank made sure that it wouldn't run out. More clever little charms had the snowballs flying over their small defence mound and towards the snow castle the Slytherins had conjured. Meanwhile the Hufflepuffs had completely vanished, which was concerning. The Gryffindors had launched an attack on the right flank which Filius had ordered Grindelwald to defend from roaring snow lions – having two Transfiguration professors on the opponent team offered quite a challenge. The Ravenclaw adults summoned some snow from their replenishing pile and pelted the snow constructs with a blizzard of small snowballs which shredded their fragile structure.
With that threat temporarily dealt with, Flitwick turned to see that the Slytherins had yet to leave their castle but there wasn't any damage to the massive structure, either.
"Aurora knows what she's doing. How do we lure them out?"
"Just watch." With a sneer, Gellert formed several snow-snakes which he sent slithering towards the Gryffindors. It was less than subtle but he counted on the Gryffindors taking it as an attack by the Slytherins and retaliate.
They did, which he took as a sign that Albus was too distracted with the replenishing blizzard of snowballs and wasn't running the show behind their barrier. He would have recognised the ploy immediately. The Gryffindor attack force, namely Fred and George Weasley (he always had trouble telling one from the other, and he suspected everybody who claimed to do so was just bluffing) rallied outside and while one made snow balls with his hands, the other charmed them to fly like some cross between a destructive bludger and an agile snitch. Then the Slytherin castle seemed to crumble from the inside, snow collapsing with a whump and several very damp but laughing students climbed from the debris. Flitwick frowned in confusion, wondering what had happened. Was there a possibility that they had just run out of energy to keep the huge structure intact?
With that flank taken care of Gellert launched all their efforts towards the Gryffindors whilst Filius focused on finding the Hufflepuffs. He cast a revealing charm, which only showed the Gryffindors and the two Slytherins that were still digging themselves out of their castle. He paused briefly to levitate the snow off the unfortunate students before pondering the location of the Hufflepuffs.
Then suddenly there was an uproar of noise from behind the Gryffindors and a puff of snowflakes blossomed from behind the wall. Seconds later the red and gold students traipsed out from behind their wall. It was now undeniable that the Hufflepuffs were responsible for the collapse of the other two houses.
'They're disillusioned!' Gellert called to his troops. Filius waved his wand and conjured them an igloo to defend from all directions, then added some little arrow slits so that they could look out. Gellert cast Revelio charms in all directions but came up with nothing except the huddle of defeated spectators. Then there was a hollered war cry and the igloo exploded from above. Disillusioned Hufflepuffs burst through the ceiling on brooms, raining snowballs over them. One of them shoved a snowball down his back and he heard Tonks's gleeful giggle as she soared away to safety and within seconds, the last Ravenclaw had fallen and Hufflepuff had been declared the victors.
They retreated inside for hot cocoa and some of the German chocolate marzipan treats. From there they played quieter games – Gellert became the ultimate Wizard's Chess champion, which was only to be expected because a board game had nothing on a full scale war, although in the final, Ron Weasley gave him quite the run for his money. Then, after slightly too much sherry Minerva and Filius led a second round of carol singing and there must have been plenty of Christmas spirit because even the Slytherins joined in. Afterwards they all continued eating up the Christmas cookies, both from the traditional and the German varieties.
Then things went slightly pear shaped after dinner. Filius was halfway back from the staffroom when he came across two sheepish looking Gryffindors hurrying what he could only guess to be another student under a bedsheet to the hospital wing. He paused and faded into the shadows, deciding to follow them to make sure everything was alright without embarrassing them further.
He quickly realised that the student under the sheet was Hermione Granger, the smart muggleborn girl. Whatever prank had gone wrong, they were now Poppy's responsibility, and Merlin knew the two boys had already lost enough house points for crashing into the Whomping Willow. The tiny professor could only guess why this trio had it out for school feasts, and somehow he doubted that this would teach the three Gryffindors to stop meddling.