Nobody knew exactly what had happened to Alice and her little posse of friends, but Gellert and his siblings were reasonably sure they knew the cause. Whatever it was had all three students shut up in the infirmary and rumour had it they'd be expelled as soon as they were recovered. More telling was that Gellert was called into the office to be notified that every one of Alice's alibis had been rescinded. It wouldn't go to the courts, but the staff wanted him and his family to know that enchantments would be added to detect magical disguises on any student who passed through the gates.

Personally, he thought it was too little too late, but Hermione had convinced him not to pursue the matter any further.

Instead, they decided to go for a celebratory expedition to find the wand that Gellert had been talking about. Alice and her minions were safely cooped up in the hospital wing and the covens had used the information they'd discovered to attack right at the heart of the Russian situation and currently had the pestilences and their master pinned in his stolen castle. It would never be safer.

They were still subtle about it, just in case. They wore all black and brown and snuck like assassins out of the castle, leading their mounts behind them and sliding into the treeline. Whilst it was still dark, it was almost impossible to see and they stumbled along in the barest moonlight without witchlights.

They reached the portal just as the first rays of sunlight were beginning to brush lilac and gold across the underside of the clouds. Hermione opened it and they slipped through to the wizarding village of Dursen. The streets were deserted, so nobody noticed the three children, two of whom rode incredibly rare and expensive mounts.

Hermione and Berg took off and Gellert chased behind them on the ground, flashing past muggle farms and villages. The ride was long, particularly for the mounts which had been cooped up for so long and their riders who'd been cooped up for longer - duelling was different to riding and his legs and seat were numb by the time they arrived at the terribly familiar abandoned mine.

Nature had reclaimed much of it already - the wooden buildings were overgrown with ivy and several rooves had collapsed. The large piles of coal had almost entirely disappeared under growth and the entrance to the cave was lost in brambles.

Hermione found the building that he'd fled to after killing Lucan first, perhaps because her state of mind had been better on the day. It hadn't fared well but they were able to climb over the debris of the roof and twisted, rusted machinery and make their way into the small end room.

A sapling had taken root in the upholstery of the chair behind the desk and it poked spindly branches up through holes in the ceiling, supported the rest in it's forks and cradled shattered ink pots in it's roots. They crunched over fallen leaves to peer out of the window.

'I chucked it out of here.' Gellert announced. 'So it shouldn't be far.'

They climbed over the rotting window frame and out into the mulchy dead leaves. Gellert paused to breathe in deeply; he'd missed the rich smell of woodland over winter. Durmstrang was dramatically beautiful but the thick blanket of snow covered the ground for more than half the school year and damped every sense but sight. Hermione and Berg spread out, stepping carefully and checking each stick before they trod to make sure that it wasn't the wand.

It took a long time, rummaging around in the thick layer of leaves. He lost sight of Hermione several times and Berg quickly disappeared into a depression, his curses and cutting charms signalling that he was okay if not a little tangled.

Finally, when he was certain that his fingers were about to fall off in the cold and the knees of his trousers were soaked through, he decided to call off the search. It had been years - someone else could have stood on the wand during the cleanup, or a muggle might have come to check out the abandoned mine and snapped it by mistake... a bird could have taken it for a nest or it might have been washed away in heavy rain. Who knew?

'Oh thank Circe.' Berg huffed as Gellert called out. 'I can't feel my feet.'

He rubbed his hands against his calves demonstratively and Gellert rolled his eyes.

'I told you to wear two pairs of socks.' Gellert reminded him.

'I still don't see why we couldn't just summon it.' Berg admitted grumpily, shoving his hands into his pockets as they headed over to where Hermione had been searching.

'Because its a powerful magical artefact. It has anti-summoning spells on it.'

'I know that... but there's got to be summoning spells are less common and would work... maybe like that magic Hermione does. Or perhaps you could just track it's magical signature?'

'We already discussed that, Berg. The whole area is too tainted by Lucan and my magic, and the wand would be impossible to differentiate from our signatures because we were the most recent users... Hermione, where are you? We're giving up!'

There was no answer.

Berg grumbled.

'Let's go back to the building. We'll be able to follow her path from there. She's probably just gone too far off to one side.' Berg suggested, but a cold fear was beginning to settle in Gellert's gut.

They went back to the window they'd started at and followed the disturbed leaves but it quickly became apparent that Hermione had been searching very thoroughly and it was almost impossible to follow her linear path.

'Hermione?' Gellert called again, fear and desperation making his voice crack. It wasn't possible that she'd gone - maybe she'd just gone back to England and they'd find her borrowed clothes somewhere. Alice was in hospital, the revolutionary army is Russia was pinned.

They spent almost as long looking for her as they had for the wand, even bringing Katana over in the hopes that he'd be able to smell her... or something - it was a last ditch hope.

They found nothing - no sign of a struggle, no spell residue or lost clothing. It was like she'd vanished into thin air.

'Let's go back.' Berg eventually said morosely. 'We should tell your mother she's missing as soon as possible.'

'Mother's going to eviscerate me.' Gellert moaned, despairing at both his and Hermione's fates. He was meant to protect her and he'd talked her into leaving the protection of school and now she was gone. He hoped desperately that she'd be okay.

'She is.' Berg agreed unhelpfully. 'Hey, look. There it is.'

Gellert spun around eagerly, searching for any sign of Hermione but all he saw was a tree.

'There, in the branches. Bring Katana over here.'

Puzzled and let down, Gellert obeyed. Katana huffed as Berg balanced carefully on his back and plucked the Elder Wand from the tree.

'Here you go.' Berg offered it to him with a wrinkled nose. 'It must be bonded to you - it's giving me shivers.'

It didn't give Gellert shivers. Instead, heady power rushed through his body and his magic performed a dark dance with the wand. Lightning crackled at the tip. It didn't feel suited to him, not like his own wand did; but it was shifting. Every second that he held it, the personality of the wand changed to fit him better, but he could still feel it's greed beneath the changed veneer, like a hag changing into a ball gown; the clothes couldn't hide the horror within. He grimaced and realising that it was much too long to be holstered against his forearm, he shoved it into his sock.

'Definitely bonded to you.' Berg nodded. 'Come on. Let's go home. I'll tether Katana behind me.'