Outtake –The shack near Little Hangleton
(Sequel scene)
With Dolores Umbridge around, both old wizards agreed not to press breaking the curse on the Defence teacher's position. Grindelwald had found her amusing, for the first few weeks, but by now he was growing irritated. At the same time Dumbledore worried that the criminal masterminding innocent pranks against her would lead to the dark wizard taking over the entire student body and to the use of much more sinister magic without anyone getting suspicious in time. Him flooding her room with a dozen little kittens half a minute into Dennis Creewey's detention was adorable, and the headmaster guessed he had some insider help from Minerva McGonagall. The framed decrees from the Ministry witch on the announcement wall had been reshaped to form the words 'Deutsche' 'Sprache' 'um' 'sieben' 'Uhr', a brilliant display of Transfiguration skills and of the nonchalant defiance that always made Gellert so irresistible. Umbridge had banned the duelling club from any 'classroom, hall or corridor' in retaliation, and Grindelwald didn't even bother to clean up the mess his next club (complete with Charity Karkaroff and Filius Flitwick) had made in the Ministry-assigned teacher's quarters.
So, for different reasons but with the same amount of interest, they agreed to leave the curse in place and they instead decided to continue gathering Voldemort's soul together manually.
The diary had spilled, years before, when it hadn't yet been aware of its capture, that Riddle intended to use items from the founders of Hogwarts. Gryffindor's known belongings were safe, Albus was certain. Slytherin's item, a locket he'd been often portrayed wearing, had been found when Harry's godfather had (righteously) made Dumbledore clean out the Black townhouse during the Yule break as a compensation for his false statement that had led to an innocent man's incarceration without trial. Next was Ravenclaw's diadem; Gellert had mentioned to Auror Tonks what they were looking for, and Albus had shared his suspicion that it might have been hidden when Voldemort had been trying to get the teacher position for the second time. Miss Tonks had beelined to the Hogwarts kitchen and had asked the elves, who had replied in unison that the Come-And-Go Room would be the first place they would comb – and indeed, one of the auror's tiny friends had presented the jewellery the following day.
"Do you think it's wise to let Harry tell Voldemort about our proceedings?" Albus mused after dinner on a Friday.
"I won't criticize him for giving dark wizards a chance to repent," the other one replied. "And he has the right to try. Being more vulnerable than an average wizard is exactly what the nameless thing wanted to avoid, so there you have the motive. And through their connection, Mr Potter can help him get a grip on remorse. Which reminds me, I always forgot to ask..." Professor Wohl drank his orange juice, wiped his mouth, and leaned back on his chair, "did you really scream when you noticed I taught him Legilimency?"
"Who told you about that?"
"Several sources." He fixed his two-coloured eyes on his headmaster, still waiting for the reply.
"I might have yelped a little," Dumbledore admitted after a while. "I was certain you had done something. So when he was back, I took a superficial look at him..."
"And he looked back into you? Albus, Legilimency always goes both ways, I thought you were informed. And please don't tell me I was being foul."
Dumbledore smiled, memories running through his mind. When they've met the first time, Gellert had already been a foul wizard, expelled from Durmstrang for his uncontrolled darkness. But after all this time, he'd still loved him.
"So, are we going to search the Gaunt home tomorrow?" Grindelwald finally asked. "I'll have to tell Madame Umbridge to allow Harry out to the Forest for basilisk venom."
Albus laughed at the absurdity that Harry needed permission from the pink witch, then reminded himself that the woman's faults were part of the reason Gellert was becoming overly popular again. He needed her gone before she would end up as demonstration subject for an exceedingly nasty curse.
.
They entered the shack together.
Both wizards had their wands at the ready, while they scanned the wreck of the structure with three blue and one dark eyes. The swirl of dark magic pointed them towards a hole under the floorboards.
It was Grindelwald who burnt the old sheet of wood out of the way. It was Dumbledore who first saw the old ring that Voldemort must have hidden in the shack.
It was Grindelwald who cast the blasting hex that threw Albus into the only remaining wall of the cottage before he would have reached the object, yelling that there were at least six different curses on it, most of which Albus shouldn't have been blind to.
"I'm not letting you have that!" Dumbledore growled, determinedly climbing out of the shattered wooden wall.
"Guess what, if you go ahead and touch it, I will indeed need the Stone to scream your reckless dunderhead off!" Gellert replied. "Sorry, that must be my overly long exposure to Snape. It doesn't change the fact there are curses that kill on contact."
Both wizards approached the old ring, this time with more caution, suspiciously blinking at one another while doing so, their wands in their sweating hands.
"I never thought I would live to see it."
"Such a brilliant condensation of life-and-death magic."
"I could finally talk with my sister."
"Aham. And then you'd go and rob Harry of the Cloak for the second time. I won't let that happen."
"And I won't let you use it for dark magic; you have done enough damage for a lifetime."
"Thank you for the unwanted criticism, Albus. I've just stopped you from the stupidest way of suicide."
"Only because you're unable to stand idle, ever."
"I've been idle for fifty years, thanks to you."
The two looked up at each other, their minds clashing in Legilimency, neither of them willing to back down, their wand tips slowly turning towards the chest of the other.
"Albus..."
"We're wiser than that."
Lowering their wands again, they looked around in the awkward silence. Neither would have admitted how far they were still willing to go, just to keep the other from acquiring the black stone embedded in the accursed Gaunt family ring.
"Did you know...?"
"No. You didn't, either?"
Albus shook his head. "They were a distanced, reserved family, hardly in contact with the Wizarding World. They didn't even attend the Wizengamot this century."
"Disdain only got them so far," Gellert gestured at the shack's ruins. "So what? We cannot leave the Stone here."
They circled around the torched woodboard's hole, kept away from the ugly piece of jewellery by the deadly curses Voldemort covered it in.
"I think we agree we won't let the other have it."
"Then let somebody else keep it. You have a brother," Grindelwald's mouth quirked into an evil smile.
"That's not as bad an idea as you make it sound," Dumbledore finally replied. "Oh, no, not Aberforth, but maybe one we could both trust until we figure out what to do about it."
"Tantie Bathilda."
Dumbledore glared at him with a start.
"She's the only one I trust you still have some respect for," Grindelwald explained.
With hardly more than a nod the two pointed their wands into the hole again, and started to meticulously remove the curses one after the other, before pouring an entire vial of basilisk venom on the horcrux ring.