Outtake – Departure

(Sequel scene, about a week after visiting the shack)

With so many witches and wizards begging for (or outright demanding) just one hour with their lost ones, the discovery of the Stone of Resurrection couldn't have been kept quiet. The aged, scarred mentor of Auror Tonks had been the one who proposed setting an official schedule and moving the Hallow to the safety of the British Ministry of Magic, where it could be guarded around the clock and still be used in the way Cadmus Perevell had once intended. Its two finders made sure Harry and his godfather were one of the first to have a word with their dead; it happened to be the first time young Potter talked to his parents in his entire life.

There was only one last task left about the Hallows, one about which the two most involved had reluctantly agreed upon. Albus had to part from his wand, so that he would not be in danger of being defeated (and killed) for it, and wouldn't be tempted to take away the Potters' family cloak once again. Interrogating Sirius Black's old elf about how the locket had ended up in the nest behind the boiler gave the headmaster an idea, and Grindelwald insisted that he wanted to come along.

So here Dumbledore stood at the boathouse with a second wand in his pocket, while Gellert etched the last runes on the boat he had chosen. It was suitable for four children, it doubtlessly could transport two adults just as safely. As Albus looked closer, he noticed that those new carvings weren't protective enchantments, but their focus was on maintaining magic even in a wards-shielded area.

"From my own experience, it won't be easy for you," the previous master of the Elder Wand noted, casting a featherweight charm on the boat he'd been working on. "I'm ready when you are."

Albus grabbed his once-a-friend's (once-a-brother's) (once-an-enemy's) shoulder and apparated them to a wild seashore with waves roaring around the tiny rock they landed on.

"Magic won't let us enter directly," he mused aloud.

Grindelwald shrugged; it wasn't like he didn't have a boat under his other arm. He forced the waves a little further, silencing the treacherous seawater for the few moments it took them to climb into the boat. There wasn't a reason for them to talk.

At the cave entrance, it was Albus who lifted out the boat and led the way to the concealed entrance, being the more agile member of the duo. At a specific stone that had wards linked to it, however, they both stopped. They had been prepared to face a lake full of inferi, but the tiny sacrifice needed to gain entry demanded much more from them.

The wizards spent a minute examining the disguised entrance, still not saying a word. From behind their strongest Occlumency shields, they could tell the other was thinking of the exact same form of magic, the exact same memory, the exact same object that so much remorse had once been tied to.

Then they moved in perfect sync, cutting their palms with their wands, not letting the other alone take the burden that should have been shared long before, that they had once agreed to share.

Touched by their blood, the wall of solid rock opened for them.

Weakened and strengthened at the same time by the torn-open memory, they proceeded to the lake the Black elf had talked about. There was a fragile-looking boat, hidden under the cave water, and at a whim Grindelwald tied it to the one they'd brought from Hogwarts. He preferred taking precautions.

Once in the water again, the larger boat moved with them on its own magic towards the distant cave-island, with the empty smaller one in tow. Albus seated himself in the front, eyeing the basin that stood in the island's middle. Gellert dipped his fingers in the dark water, examining the inferi slowly moving below. He wondered if 'Voldemort' ever realized what was the true reason death magic came to him so easily. They weren't going to tell him, only show him the empty ring one day, in case he'd need further encouragement to move the rest of his soul back to where the pieces belonged. Both hoped Harry would be skilled enough in Occlumency by that time; although it wouldn't be the first time the boy witnessed remorse over a series of murder.

The boat ran to the shore of the small island, and Albus dragged it all the way out, partly to ensure it doesn't move on without them, and partly because it granted him a few more minutes. But eventually, there was no more delaying the inevitable. He stepped to the stone basin.

He cast a last Lumos with the Elder Wand, pointing it at the foul-looking liquid under which an exact copy of Slytherin's locket now shimmered. Then he dropped the lit wand into the basin, watching as its bright ball's gliw was dimmed under the potion. He felt lighter already. It wasn't even as bad as Gellert had made it seem; just the loss of a wand that would be gained and won over by another witch or wizard in the future. Perhaps Gellert had already seen who that person would be.

The darker wizard nodded in the solemn silence, then cut the knot and left the smaller boat halfway on the island's shore. Whoever would come here next would have to get to the basin by some other means of transportation. Albus wiped a last teardrop, then pulled out another wand from his pocket and settled back into his place on the Hogwarts boat's front bench. The silence was almost funereal, and they proceeded without any unnecessary motion, frequently looking back despite the darkness hiding the entire island from their eyes. It was their past that had been left behind there.

The wizards could already see the outer sunshine by the time one of them finally spoke again.

"Albus, I shouldn't have abandoned you with all your responsibilities. I was thoughtless, and selfish, and my only hope is that the next generations might fare better."

"I shouldn't have let you out of my sigh, Gellert; our magic lies in being together. Strengthening, balancing. Helping each other especially when our differences come out."

"I never knew you were a poet," Grindelwald said, carving the triangular emblem on the wardstone that had required their blood sacrifice. "So, what next?"

"The curse on our position?" Albus suggested, placing the boat in the seawater again. Brine splashed onto his spectacles, and he dried them with his other wand. (Only wand.) "But not before I find someone suitable for it."

"Don't you intend to hire the werewolf again?"

"Is that your suggestion, Sir History Teacher?"

"I want to know if I'll be substituting my in-law on full moon schooldays," Grindelwald replied easily. "Haven't I told you? Tantie Bathilda talked with her squib son and muggle grandson through the Stone, and now it's all confirmed. With the family magic returning after four generations, now wipe that smug grin off your face, I'm related to some hopelessly benevolent Hufflepuffs, and Auror Tonks is my appointed heiress. I said, quit laughing at me!"