She dreamed of Gellert every night that week and each dream held a magical adventure that she was amazed her mind had come up with. They'd ridden his carnivorous water horse, gone digging for niffler treasure in the forest, visited a waterfall in the valley and read fairytales in a beauty-and-the-beast library.
She knew that Gellert was imaginary and that it was probably terribly unhealthy to be so attached to a dream but she found herself beginning to think she'd found a friend. She always felt better, less isolated when she woke up in the morning and she couldn't wait to go to bed in the evenings.
Her mother remarked on the difference and Hermione just smiled and claimed she was kept very busy at her new school.
She snuggled deep into her covers and shut her eyes. A moment later she was sitting on Gellert's bed in the early morning. She could hear him moving behind the screen, having begun changing there after being caught twice topless by Hermione's appearance. She didn't think it was so bad, but Gellert seemed mortified.
'Guten Morgen,' She greeted. Gellert replied through the screen, then emerged a moment later in very different attire to normal. His shirt was crisp and white, starched collar turned up with a tie hanging undone around his neck. He held a cuff link in his mouth, and was busy fastening the other which seemed an involved procedure.
'Let me help.' She told him, stepping forwards and taking the little silver piece and fastening it through the stiff material of his cuffs. He thanked her, then ran a comb through his hair, smoothing it into smooth gold waves.
'I meet my mother today.' He informed her apologetically. Hermione frowned, wondering why he was getting dressed up if that's all he was doing.
'May I meet her too? It would be terribly rude of me to keep visiting without meeting my hostess.' She asked, then realised there was no way he would have understood that. She frowned but couldn't come up with a translation, or even a way to act it out.
'You want to come?' Gellert asked nervously, perhaps missing the exact sentence but somehow having got her meaning. She nodded shyly and he looked her over with a critical expression. Finally he seemed to come to a decision and shrugged. He went to his wardrobe and pulled out a cloak, this one very different to her usual one. The hood was trimmed in soft fur, the fabric midnight black and the clasps made of silver metal.
'She is... strong. You must be silent.' He said firmly, sweeping up a smart jacket and her usual fur hat. She fitted the familiar item on her head, glanced in the mirror and arranged her fringe neatly before trailing through the door he held open for her. He tied his tie as they walked and one of the many talking portraits snapped at him that it was skewed. He scowled at it but adjusted his tie anyway. Hermione thought it seemed perfect, better than any tie she'd ever tied.
They passed through a different set of corridors, turning right where they usually turned left. The decorations became much grander; arching windows and tasseled drapes, and gold gilded embellishments decorating the ceilings. Landscape paintings meters across filled with brightly dressed figures bedecked the walls. Pale parquet floors polished to reflect her face were padded by thick, luxurious blue carpets. She didn't have time to stop and stare however, Gellert seemed to be in a rush, hurrying past a fascinating crystal witch's cauldron that she was dying to look at. She followed him without protest, clearly visiting his mother was a big deal, a very different affair than seeing hers.
They eventually stopped at a set of ornate white and silver double doors. Unicorns as tall as her bed were locked in battle, one on each door with their horns crossing so far above her head that she had to crane her head to see them.
'Here. I speak.' He instructed, then he turned and knocked smartly on the door.
'Herein' A cool voice instructed. Gellert glanced at her once more, then pushed the door open and slipped through the gap. She caught sight of his bow as the door shut and wondered just how formal his mother was. She'd never heard of a family where the son had to get dressed up and bow whenever he met with his mother.
The wait felt endless; she didn't want to go too far from the door in case she missed her summons. She practiced her curtseys, determined to not look like a fool in front of Gellert's mother.
The door opened.
Gellert beckoned through the gap and she followed him into a large room. She would call it a living room but it seemed too formal. She caught sight of Gellert's mother and quickly remembered to curtesy. The movement felt unfamiliar and clumsy, but she can't have done it too badly because she received no reprimand. Gellert stood stiff as a soldier beside her.
'Gellert tells me you are from England.' The woman said. She was incredibly tall, dressed in a stormy grey silk dress. Her dress had a crinoline, creating a wide skirt that made her waist look tiny, even though she didn't wear a corset. Silvery grey hair was scraped into a complex hairstyle beneath a matching grey hat, decorated with long emerald feathers. She held her hands clasped in front of her, a thin stick - wand - held delicately between gloved fingers.
'Yes, Ma'am.' She replied, nodding her head. Immediately she was overcome with doubt, fearing that she should have said "my lady."
The intimidating woman lifted her chin, surveying her critically.
'Remove that cloak. Let me see you.' Came the order. Hermione obediently unfastened the cloak and took it off, passing it to Gellert who tucked it smartly over his arm. Mrs. Grindelwald directed her to step forwards a couple of steps and circled her. She resisted the urge to shift self-consciously.
The woman said something to Gellert in German, words snapping off her tongue. She lifted Hermione's braid and rubbed the tail between her fingers.
Gellert replied, equally as fast and Hermione couldn't catch a single word. Mrs. Grindelwald kept asking questions; if Hermione could read, what her parent's station was, if she knew any other languages.
'Verlässt Uns!' The older woman ordered and Gellert bowed before smartly leaving the room. The door shut behind him with an ominous clunk. Hermione swallowed.
'You are not as powerful as Gellert believes.' The woman informed her smartly, gliding to a large winged armchair and somehow managing to perch delicately despite her skirts. 'But you are still strong, certainly stronger than most. It is your compatibility that I have rarely seen. Your magic is well matched, enough you to have somehow worked together to bring you here, despite the differences.' She paused for a moment and Hermione felt like her very mind was being read.
'Very well.' She seemed to decided suddenly, 'I shall sponsor you, but you will be my son's responsibility. If, in a year, you meet my expectations, I shall bring you into the family magic.'
Hermione really had no idea what that meant and a moment later Mrs. Grindelwald had called Gellert back in. His mother spoke to him in German for another couple of minutes, then they were both dismissed.
She breathed a sigh of relief as they finally left the room, but Gellert did not lead her back to his room. He turned right, taking a wide, sweeping staircase into what could only be an entrance hall. The doors were taller than her house, flanked by a smaller door on either side. They descended down the staircase, joining another stairway midway and turning to come down the centre of the room. Bright stone pillars soared up above her head to a massive vaulted ceiling. She'd been to Chester cathedral once, and this room was of similar size and appearance. They crossed the floor; an incredible inlaid pentagram of blue marble and bronze. Through the arches that lined the main hall, Gellert took her through a black wooden door and down a small, spiralling staircase.
It was dark, flickering torches every couple of meters. After the airy grandeur of the halls, it was particularly dark and she had to climb down one step at a time, uncertain where each one was. Gellert generously slowed to her pace, and they inched their way deeper and deeper.
'Wohin geht?' She asked as the floor levelled out into large, uneven slabs of stone.
'Wand.' He replied, leading her past several doors. They were in a cellar or dungeon, but it wasn't damp, rather there was a dusty dryness. If it was any less immaculate she would have expected to see cobwebs draped over everything. They stopped at a door, seemingly no different from the rest and he opened it with a tap of his own wand.
'You get a wand now, a new wand before Hogwarts.' He swung the door open, torches lighting magically as he did. The room beyond was small but full of display cases. Different wooden sticks filled each case, different lengths, different colours and decorated in different ways. Some were old and worn, others looked freshly lacquered.
Gellert opened each case then mimed instructions, she needed to shut her eyes and run her hand over every wand. She obeyed and he guided her to the first case.
The woods all felt slightly warm beneath her fingers, some warmer than others but otherwise decidedly boring. She ran her fingers over the wands in the second case, then the third before something happened. She was nearing the end of the third box, her hand stretched across her body when the most glorious feeling of warmth tingled through her fingers.
'This is it.' Gellert confirmed what she already suspected. The wand was pale and relatively unadorned, one of the older looking ones. It had a smooth, straight length with a slight crosshatching where she would hold.
'You must have this. Magic is for here, silence.' He seemed frustrated but pressed on anyway, putting his fingers to his lips. 'For us, okay. Your family, it is bad.'
Hermione nodded slowly, understanding what he had said. He wanted her to keep the wand a secret from her family. She could do that, it was only imaginary after all.
'Tomorrow, we get you clothes.' He informed her with a smile. 'We take floo.'
She held her new wand firmly in her grip as he led her back up the staircase, into the hall and back to his rooms where they continued with the magical animals book until it was time for her to wake up.
Her bed always felt to unpleasant when she woke, her mother's voice was kind but Hermione wished she could go back to Gellert. This time though, something was different. She waited until her mother had gone, then lifted her hand from under the covers. In it, she clutched the wand from her dream.