Hermione refused to believe it was a bad thing that Gellert seemed to have disappeared. The morning after their argument, Hermione had pointedly not looked for him at breakfast and she'd brushed Harry off when he'd asked if she knew where he was. Her peer seemed to understand something about the state of their current relationship from her waspish reply and didn't ask her about him again. In fact, she strongly suspected that he'd said something to Ron as well because the other boy didn't so much as mention the subject either.

She had answered every question in Arithmancy later that day, then she'd earned top marks in their classwork in runes. She forced herself to feel happy that she was back at the top, quashing the knowledge that she was only there because Gellert was not. She submitted her homework, secure in the knowledge that it was perfect because she had specifically researched it in far more depth than was needed at OWLs to beat Gellert.

Hermione was called to Dumbledore's office after lunch; a nondescript school owl delivering the summons with specific instructions on how to find his office. She'd been there before when she was taken for the second challenge, but she'd been accompanied by Professor McGonagall that time, so it was a novel experience standing in front of the stone gargoyle and giving it the ridiculously inane password.

Nerves thrummed in her stomach as the staircase grated upwards. She knew what this meeting was about, it was no coincidence that she would be summoned in her first break after Gellert had disappeared. The doorway was open, and the elderly wizard was already seated at his desk, writing what she assumed was a letter.

She knocked on the door, the sound very light because she didn't want to hurt her knuckles on the rough, heavy wood. Dumbledore looked up with a smile and a friendly twinkle in his eye that did nothing to quell her nerves. He gestured to the seat opposite him; a large, ornate affair that looked very uncomfortable.

She crossed the room quickly, looking around at all the strange glass and brass objected with blatant curiosity. The last time she had been here, there had been so many official witches and wizards that she hadn't been able to get a good look at anything. This time she could recognise several sneakoscopes, although these ones looked far more official than the brightly coloured one that Harry owned. There was a large, triangular tower with a slowly spinning orb inside and something that looked awfully like a little muggle train set, except for the clock on the front face of the locomotor.

She tore her attention away from the fascinating tables and sat at the offered chair. She blushed slightly at the knowing look Dumbledore gave her and shuffled further backwards into the surprisingly comfortable chair.

'How have you been, Miss Granger?' The headmaster asked her calmly, and she answered honestly. He just nodded indulgently as she explained how hard she had been working.

'I was once like you myself, always trying to best Grindelwald. He has always been inordinately bright and I often found myself frustrated at how easily he could stay ahead of me.' The Professor leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his chair. Hermione said nothing, knowing that there would be some lesson at the end of this story. She was not disappointed. 'It took me a while to realise that I was already a powerful wizard to even be near him. You see, we have the distinct disadvantage when performing new spells. He has already seen himself succeed and therefore knows exactly what he needs to do to achieve it.'

It took Hermione a minute to wrap her head around what exactly the headmaster was implying.

'You mean he's so good in class because he uses his sight?' Hermione asked and was rewarded by a nod. The unfairness of it all struck her in that moment and she almost burst into tears. She felt oddly betrayed that the person she'd been trying to beat had such a leg up. 'That's so unfair.'

'Life is unfair, Miss Granger.' Dumbledore said, picking up a bowl of very familiar little yellow pear shapes. She took one suspiciously, doubting that something as innocuous as pear drops could exist in the wizarding world. 'However, in this case, as always, I believe there is a price for such a gift. Are you aware of why he joined the order?'

'Because he knew that Voldemort would target him?' Hermione asked. She was under no delusions that Grindelwald was helping the order because he believed in their cause.

'That was my first assumption, but when we first spoke, he said he came to me because a friend asked him to.' Immediately, flashes of that conversation from the beginning of summer crossed her mind. 'Now, you must understand that Gellert Grindelwald is similar to Voldemort in more ways than one; for a start, he is incapable of most human emotions. So a friendship seemed at the time to be entirely implausible. Until I saw him with you of course, the first true relationship I believe I've ever seen.'

Hermione was struck dumb for several moments, completely unable to comprehend the enormity of what Dumbledore had just told her. Of course, she was intelligent to understand what he had not told her as well. She knew that Grindelwald was only helping them because she had asked, and she also knew that as such a powerful wizard he was essential to their cause.

'We do not recruit minors in the Order of the Phoenix, but I believe that asking you to take great care to maintain your friendship would benefit you more than it would us.' The wizard said with an aura of finality.

'He's already gone, headmaster.' She told him, knowing even as she said it that Dumbbledore would have a solution.

'Oh, I think I can get him to return.' The wizard said with a wry smile.

Hermione left after another pear drop, returning to Gryffindor tower with her mind buzzing. She couldn't help but wonder what the old wizard had in mind to make Gellert return to Hogwarts.

She had missed transfiguration, and of course the two boys were waiting for her when she arrives, worry carved into both their faces. They leapt up when she arrived and she smoothed her face, trying not to show how preoccupied she was with what she could say to Gellert when he got back.

She answered their questions breezily, hardly paying attention to the answers. Yes, she was fine, yes, she missed a lesson, she had to see Professor Dumbledore, it was about the Order of the Phoenix. She didn't realise her faux pas until it was far too late and she had already said it. Ron looked gobsmacked, Harry's face was twisted with ugly rage.

'So Dumbledore's happy to talk to you about the Order, then.' Harry said coolly. By contrast, Ron was blazing anger.

'But Mum says we're too young! How come you get to be part of it?' The common room fell silent and every eye turned to them. Hermione shushed him, which luckily seemed to work rather than inciting him further. 'I bet it's because you're a prefect.' He moaned. Privately, Hermione thought that if it actually were a real Order mission, there were many reasons she'd be chosen before Ron. This reaction being one of them, but he had been bitter about not being a prefect since the beginning of term and kept making snide remarks, no doubt inspired by the ones his older brothers occasionally threw her way.

'Actually, it's not got much to do with the Order at all.' She backtracked quickly, which wasn't really a lie.

'Yeah, I bet. Probably can't tell us.' Harry sounded malicious, seemingly hoping for a reason to start shouting again. She was practiced by now though, learning how to diffuse his temper.

'Actually, I can. He wanted to tell me that Gellert joined the Order because I asked him to and to not offend him again. So it's not because I'm a prefect, Ronald.' She fixed the redhead with a cold stare, then shifted the look to Harry. 'It's also not because you're in any way being left out, unless you also asked Grindelwald to help us?' She fixed the duo with one last cold look before flouncing upstairs to bed. Let the two stew in their own embarrassing, unfounded accusations.

Later that night, Hermione awoke with a start, the hangings on her bed swaying slightly as if they'd just been released. She heard the latch on the door click slightly as it shut, but she didn't need to see him to know that Gellert had been to check on her. That acrid, metallic smell that she'd only ever smelled around him still hung in the air.

She wondered again what Dumbledore had told him to get him back so soon.