The Dolohovs had sent an owl to Blau Berg to inform their families that they had been found, but had not yet received a reply. Unfortunately, with the way that snow swirled in heavy drifts around the palace, that probably meant the owls couldn't get through. They'd tried flooing without expectations of success, considering the castle wards were up and had been proven correct. So, with little else to do, the two boys had taken to eating with gusto, building their bodies back up after weeks of poor diet. Berg had committed himself to the German section of the library, determined to never again watch someone dying in front of him and he'd taken to healing magic with great relish. Meanwhile, Gellert had started studying everything he could find about ancient runes; he was determined to find a way to awaken the barrow wrights even without an "identity" on the portal.
Before they knew it weeks had passed with no sign of a return owl. The bad weather subsided after a week, allowing the boys to spend long, leisurely hours gliding above the palace on Star's back, developing battle manoeuvres to test their accuracy and agility. It was good fun, full of adrenaline filled dives and twists and brisk Russian winter air.
The Coven seemed to find their activity and enthusiasm delightful, and the members would often join them, thestrals swooping and spiralling in their wake as coloured sparks shot into conjured targets.
Their holiday drew to a close when, over dinner one day it was pointed out that three weeks had passed, which even despite the storm was enough for an owl to have reached Blau Berg and returned. They also, someone pointed out, had not received an invitation to Yule which they had assumed was an effort by Lady Grindelwald and the coven to seek some manner of privacy for Hermione's duel with Alice, but considering the circumstances and Gellert's position as second, they should forgo any alternative Yule celebrations and attend Blau Berg. Invitations be damned.
The initial plan was for Gellert and Berg to go through alone, but further deliberation revealed a deep seated suspicion that all was not well at the German castle. Nothing, not even a gift had reached them which was highly unusual. Eventually, they decided that half of the coven would follow the boys through to Germany, whilst the others would remain behind to protect the Russian interests.
Preparations were strung with nervous energy. Gellert and Berg barely slept a wink that night and in the early hours of the morning, Gellert gave up entirely and padded to the library to find Berg was also already up, wrapped in a thick fur blanket and reading in front of the fire.
'Do you think something really is wrong?' Gellert asked nervously, taking the chair opposite him and sticking his toes next to the fire.
'I hope not, but its all suspicious. Lady Grindelwald would never not run Yule, she believes in the old ways too much.' Berg folded his book closed, glancing twice at the ribbon as if undecided whether he would be back and able to continue from his bookmark. 'It's really odd that she hasn't replied to the letter about us though, I mean you'd expect an owl to take three days of so to get here, so even if it was delayed by bad weather in Germany... well, we'd have to be very unlucky.'
'I'm nervous. What if Hermione isn't ready for the duel?' Gellert admitted. Perhaps before their misadventure, he wouldn't have confided in Berg this way. He would have protected the Grindelwald honour and never even suggested Hermione might not be up to scratch. But he knew now that Berg was his equal, despite being from different families and there was no weakness in leaning on one another. In fact, he was starting to believe that they achieved their best results without the restrictions imposed by pride, when they could work together and contribute what they each did best and fill in for each other's weaknesses.
Berg, to his credit, didn't just blindly reassure Gellert. He considered for a moment, gazing into the fire.
'Hermione is not far different to Alice, magically speaking, but I've never heard or read of someone so... in tune with it as Hermione. I think Hermione is much better at wielding her magic than any of us. She may know less spells, but you've seen some of the stuff Hermione produces, she doesn't really use spells, does she?' Gellert nodded, remembering the snowball fight they had more than a year ago where she'd somehow woven a shield of wind and fire to fend off his mother's storm magic.
'Besides, I bet that family magic will come out to play at some point, like it did at the ritual. That was unreal; if she's learned to control it, Alice will have no chance.' Gellert added, feeling considerably better.
'You know, duelling lessons over the holidays are going to be a nightmare. She's going to smash you, then you'll have been beaten by your younger sister!' Berg jabbed him in the arm and Gellert moaned, dropping his head into his hands.
'Think how much school we will have missed. Do you think we'll have to sit our exams still?' It wasn't much of a concern, both boys were already a long way ahead of their classmates, having been tutored since they were young. Some subjects though, such as Ethics and Ancient Magic would take lots of essay writing and reading of heavy, dry tomes to catch up on.
'We could do an essay on the ethics of magically hunting creatures, for food and sport.' Suggested Berg cheerfully. It was one of the topics they'd discussed at length as Gellert tried to justify to himself why in this case he was not using dark magic.
'How about you do something on portals for Ancient Magic. That's fourth year stuff at least, you might get extra points.'
A knock on the door interrupted any further suggestions, and it swung open to admit Frau Dolohov. She informed them kindly that they needed to dress and come down for breakfast. Both boys jumped up, thoughts returning to the imminent duel as they hurried to their assigned rooms to dress.
Clothes had been left out for Gellert to wear, suitable for Yule if it took place that evening. A smart set of red, fur lined dress robes fastened with a gold belt buckle. Soft leather gloves and a warm fur hat. He looked like a miniature version of Herr Dolohov who wore a very similar ensemble, but he didn't comment considering the generosity the family had shown him. Berg arrived a little later, also identically dressed, so perhaps Frau Dolohov had made the simple mistake of trusting their attire to her husband. Judging by her somewhat irritated glances in his direction, he had guess correctly.
The elves had saddled all the thestrals but had left the more unique process of saddling Star to the boys, who managed it in a new record time if six and a half minutes. Perhaps the bird could sense the boy's excitement because he shot up into the air before the thestrals, sending the closest pair staggering sideways and blowing off someone's hat.
'We're going home, Star.' Gellert murmured as they banked left and began a slow loop, waiting until the skeletal black beasts were airborne and surrounding them like an honour guard. Then they were off, soaring over arctic white fields of snow and wintery forests. Star's plumage gleamed golden in the weak morning sun and his wings flashed powerfully around them.
They swooped down to the portal and the coven set to opening it. It quickly became apparent that something was very wrong. They tried twice, then conferred as a group in rapid Russian before someone else tried. Still nothing. After another quick conference, and with concern etched on their faces they tried again.
The grey mist of the portal shimmered to life and the first of the coven members stepped through. Herr Dolohov rode up next to them and Gellert swung easily down the harness to perch within conversing distance of him.
'The portal to Blau Berg won't open. We've opened to the next closest and we'll fly from there. Unfortunately I don't think we'll make the duel.'
Fear froze his guts to ice. He nodded and returned to Berg, conveying the news to him.
'You don't think they got our letter and shut it down on purpose?' Berg suggested. Of course, that made sense and Gellert sighed in relief, relaxing. He turned back to the portal and decided to climb up to Star's ears and explain what was about to happen as the coven worked on enlarging the portal size to let them through.
They strolled through with greater ease than any portal journey Gellert had ever made before. They emerged, blinking into the middle of a little village of log cabins. It was completely abandoned, the buildings all locked up and shuttered. The portal was built into a tower in the village square, and the beacon that was built atop it had burned out. This was a wizarding village, and clearly nobody had returned since the day Hermione lit the beacon.
Once they were all assembled and the portals returned to normal size (and didn't that to odd things to the appearance of the tower), they took off, angling south.
The thestrals couldn't fly high enough for Star to pass as an ordinary muggle bird, so they all flew under disillusionment charms. It was disconcerting, seeing nothing below them despite the feel of the warm, wooden saddle and hearing the whuffs of air beneath massive wings with no more than an odd shimmering either side of them. They whistled frequently, a code to help them keep track of one another. Land whipped beneath them, miles behind eaten up familiarly beneath mighty wings as they flew to Blau Berg.
It was only a matter of hours before the scenery began to become familiar, deep green forests blanketed in soft snow reared up into hills. He'd flown this far with Hermione before, her on Katana and him on his broomstick. They were less than an hour away now, the duel would probably be finishing any minute. They swept through the muggle repelling charm and over the Nachtkrapp nest. A flock of wild thestrals scattered as they sensed the invisible convoy pass, and then finally the glittering blue roofs of his home appeared. At first it was just the spires, then pearly towers. The signal came to drop down suddenly, and they banked down, circling twice on an extended wing, then settled atop a large chunk of shattered stone. It took him a moment to realise that this field of frozen earth and rock had once been the portal - the stone they stood on was gouged and corroded, the runework decimated.
'There's no way Lady Grindelwald did this.' Berg voiced exactly what they'd all been thinking.
'She's still alive, though?' One of the Russian coven confirmed, glancing up at Gellert. He shook his head; his mother was definitely still alive.
'Let's go and see if we can lend assistance. Something tells me that we would have been called upon already if the owls could get through.'
So, with ominous quiet, they launched up into the air again, climbing up above the trees and mountains and soaring towards Blau Berg.