Gellert was relieved when Hermione faded into the view on the bed opposite his. Petrovna was still asleep, so Gellert crept across the room and joined Hermione, lounging back on a pile of pillows. She took his hand, tucking it down between them and drawing attention to just how close the tiny hospital bed made them. Suddenly a little bit flustered, Gellert almost missed her whispered confession.

'I killed him.'

A memory flashed through his mind; Livius Lucan, knelt before him with the wand between his eyes. The magic tearing out of him with painful strength as it exacted it's painful toll on both him and his victim. He remembered the terrifying rush of power that had come with killing someone with just a thought, followed by the terrible realisation of what he'd done as the dark wizard had uttered his final words.

'What happened?' He asked gently.

The story spilled out, right from the moment she'd woken up in the dark, to the weeks spent on the stone slab, guilty that she was being treated better than everyone else but relieved that she was at least given fifteen minutes to walk around and relieve herself each day. Then it moved onto the horrifying experience of her "rescue" and the slaughter of the entire Russian government. Gellert had known, theoretically, that the entire Russian system had collapsed; he'd read the paper as soon as it was delivered - every page dedicated to photos of the Baba Yaga in chains. Petrovna was in one, along with a discussion on whether she was responsible for her parent's actions. He hadn't realised that it had been a brutal muggle style execution in front of a cheering crowd, and that Hermione had sat in the cart next to the bodies for an hour. He hadn't realised just how close to death his sister had come.

If Hermione hadn't killed him, he would have. Slowly and painfully, using the darkest and nastiest magic the library could provide him with.

He told her so and Hermione shrugged.

'Isn't that the problem though? Once you've done it once, it becomes so much easier to do it again?'

Gellert paused. He'd never actually spoken about his experience before.

'Perhaps, but you acted in self defence and you did it the muggle way. When I used magic, it felt... it hurt a bit, but afterwards I felt powerful and invincible and like I could rule the world and make everything how I wanted. That's what dark magic does; it's addictive and awful because it gives you power that you haven't earned. Its why the dark wizards are always strong, but the light will always eventually win because that quick power makes us arrogant.'

He paused, bringing himself back onto topic.

'I don't think it is killing someone that is addictive; I think it's the dark magic that is addictive. Would I do it again? Probably not, but in your case it was the only way out. You'd do it again in a heartbeat. But that doesn't mean that next time you're in a similar situation, you're going to jump straight to killing.'

The room was silent for a moment.

'I think you are very brave.' Petrovna croaked, appearing at the curtain. After a moment, she crossed and sat at the foot of the bed. 'I was too scared to do anything but you saved us. So what if that backstabbing Durak had to die - he killed hundreds of my people and then killed my family. I would have hogtied him with his entrails and hung him up to feed the crows.'

Hermione and Gellert blinked, taken aback by her gruesome imagination.

'It's all I've been able to think about since; what I should have done to save them, what I could have done better, what I would do given the chance.'

'What would you have done?' Hermione asked curiously. 'We didn't have magic, we couldn't speak.'

'I shouldn't have gotten caught. I should have known the wards came down.'

'How did they come down?' Hermione asked. She was right - it was odd. It was very difficult to bring down a set of wards, particularly ones sustained by ancient family magic. Presumably they had been in the Baba Yaga's fortress, so the wards would have been even stronger, powered by three families. It was virtually unfathomable that they would come down.

'I don't know but they must have because I remember eating dinner and then waking up in the cell.'

'What happened to the castle?' Hermione asked, glancing at Gellert. He hadn't been there when the wards at Blau Berg collapsed but she'd described it as being incredibly loud and that there had been lots of light. It was odd that none of them had noticed.

'It was still warded when mother met with them for the strategy meeting and the wards were down when one of their elves called for help that night.' Gellert put in with a shrug. 'What happens now?'

'Your mother said that she would speak with Rowland's parents and that I will go to live with them in Britain. My betrothal was already signed and there is no revolutionary movement in Britain, so I should be safe there. She's taken my ring to the goblins as well - hopefully she can keep the Baba Yaga's vaults from the revolutionaries. They do not need that funding.'

'Good.' Gellert agreed. The goblins were usually uninterested in wixen politics, so his mother should have no problem securing the vaults.

'It's summer holidays.' Hermione pointed out. 'I want to go on holiday.'

'Holiday?' Gellert questioned.

'This year has been awful and busy and I just want a break. Do you remember riding through the woods and playing in the gardens and that snowball fight in the courtyard? We're missing out on all that, getting caught up in revolutions and politics. Your mother was right; I want to just be a child for a bit.' Explained his sister.

Gellert paused, considering. It did sound nice.

'I think I might ask your mother if we can go to Avalon instead of Hexemeer.' Hermione decided. 'We can relax there - the wards are so strong that they couldn't be brought down even by the people left inside and there's loads of space.'

At that moment his mother reappeared, followed by an immaculately dressed couple in black robes. They were British, Gellert knew immediately. Like the French, the witch's dress was uncomfortable and stiff with a large bustle and a rigid looking waist but it was much too dark and made of heavy velvet. A house elf scurried at her heels in a filthy pillowcase, carrying the train of her dress over the castle floor. Such an outfit was only really suited to manors with polished parquet and tiles, as opposed to the large flagstones which made up older castles and were almost impossible to keep clean. Her husband looked equally as uncomfortable in a waistcoat the was cinched at the waist and swelled bulbously over his shoulders.

'I think his trousers are about to split.' Hermione snickered into his ear. Gellert tried and failed to hide his snort of amusement. The trousers did look uncomfortably tight and the silk shone, making the stretching ripples even more obvious.

'Laugh all you want.' Petrovna muttered mutinously. 'She's going to force me into one of those awful carpets.

'Her dress doesn't look like a carpet.' Hermione defended, drawing a surprised and dubious look from Petrovna. 'It looks like an armchair.'

The two witches descended into snickers whilst Gellert watched on blankly. It looked like a dress to him; uncomfortable and impractical, but still a dress.

Witches were strange.

'Time to leave, Petrovna.' The British witch said briskly, her displeasure at the three of them sharing a bed was clearly broadcast.

'Sure.' Petrovna replied quickly. She hopped up and curtsied deeply to Hermione. 'Hermione, I owe you a life debt. Dolohov will answer to the best of out ability should you call for us.'

Hermione, stuck in bed by Gellert sitting atop the covers, accepted the offer graciously. The impatient tapping of the British witch's shoe stopped anything more than the briefest of hugs and then she was gone. Gellert couldn't help but feel he wouldn't see her again for a long time.

With the Yaxley family gone, Gellert's mother moved over to the bed and sat at the foot where Petrovna had only seconds ago. She'd changed into a simple silk dress, her hair was back in it's usual stern bun and she sat like a queen on the plain sheets.

'I believe, Hermione, that you have already received punishment enough for your actions. I hope that you will learn to think your actions through before haring off on quests.'

'Yes, Lady Grindelwald.' Hermione answered meekly. Gellert knew that she had indeed learned, as well as he had certainly.

'Good. Unfortunately, your belongings have been ransacked and somewhat vindictively destroyed. Mordred's sword seems to have escaped harm, buy I cannot say as much for your books and clothes. Gellert, you owe Berg a debt of gratitude - he took Kelpie on his visit to the fjord, so your beast is unharmed. I'm certain that you both have enough in your trust vaults to replace what needs to be replaced.'

They both nodded.

'Excellent. Frau Hassel will take a quick look over you, Hermione and then we shall leave. I see little point in either of you remaining here for another three days.'

His mother left and Frau Hassel appeared in the doorway. She tutted as she examined Hermione, making comments on nutrition and exercise but deemed her essentially healthy. As soon as the healer was gone, Hermione's cheerful smile fell.

'You know... they didn't quite get everything.' Gellert told her. Hermione looked up questioningly. 'I took your copy of Beedle the Bard to Russia in my trunk.'

The relief on her face was exquisite and she threw her arms around him, twisting in the bed awkwardly to do so.

'Oh, if they'd gotten hold of that...' Hermione breathed in relief.

'What is it? I took it because it carried your signature so strongly and I wanted to try to use it to see if my sight could find you, but it looks like just a book to me.' Gellert climbed off the bed, releasing her hand and crossing to where his clothes had been left. His trunk was still shrunk in the pocket of his dirty trench coat. Hermione padded after him. As usual, she'd appeared in the clothes that had been put out for her, but oddly she was bare foot. He resized the trunk and rummaged around until he found the storybook.

'Did it help?' She asked.

'No.' Gellert replied sourly. 'Berg was right; I should have started working on my divination sooner. The meditations have finally suppressed my prophetic nightmares but I still can't see something specific. All I saw was you and a dark wizard with no nose.'

'I hope I was older. I've had enough dark wizards to last me a decade.'

'You were, but not by a whole decade.' Gellert admitted. It made him angry to think that she'd be going up against yet another dark wizard so soon and he hadn't been able to see anything further as his meditations were shattered. It was much easier to see things that he wasn't emotionally involved in.

'Herpo's hat.' Hermione cursed and Gellert couldn't help but snicker. He passed the book to her.

'So what is so important about a children's book?' He asked again.

'Oh, it's not the fairytales that are important.' Hermione relied with a knowing smile. She flicked to a random illustration and then turned to the blank page that backed it. She sat at the foot of the bed, gesturing for him to follow her and then pulled the blankets over their heads. They were left in darkness. He felt her pull out her wand, poking his with it accidentally as she tried to untangle it from a fold of the blanket

'Lumos Tenebris.' She said firmly. Her wand tip glowed a dim purple and she held it up to the page of the book. Beneath the odd, lilac light, markings appeared. Complex lines and shapes, runes in more than four languages of which he didn't even recognise two. She flicked to the next image, revealing the same writing on the back, then the next and the next.

'What is it?'

'I've been creating wards for the new Blau Berg. They're almost complete, and I've written down all my work in special ink, hidden inside the pages of a children's book.'

'This is incredible.' He murmured, running his fingers over the complex lines and diagrams. 'I spent hours looking at this book and I didn't even realise this was there.'

Hermione extinguished her wand and stood, throwing back the blankets.

'I want to know why the Baba Yaga's wards failed, I want to look at Avalon's wards and I want to try and work in some of the wards from the castle in Russia. Then we will be ready to start rebuilding.'