'You know...' Berg said quietly, his saddle creaking as he clambered up, 'Hermione hasn't actually ever done a Beltane ritual.'

Gellert twisted sharply to stare at the boy, the heavy set of antlers on his head almost tumbling off.

'What?'

'Well, there was Livius Lucan the first year she was here, then the fall of Blau Berg the year after, then Herr Freidl refused to host it and left the coven, then she was imprisoned in Russia for last years...'

'You're right.' Gellert agreed, gobsmacked. Rituals were becoming less common as the coven collapsed around them, but he hadn't realised that they hadn't actually managed a Beltane ritual for four years. 'No wonder the cattle are so miserable.'

Gellert leaned forwards against the pommel of his saddle, waiting for the congestion at the courtyard gate to clear. A growing number of students were attending the modern balls instead of the more traditional festivals and mounting up in ridiculous finery took far longer than clambering astride for those wearing the more practical clothing associated with the ritual. Berg finally managed to mount, steering his hippogriff over to Gellert who quickly pointed out a boy in yellow doublet, spangled with little greenish yellow emeralds. Perhaps the design was meant to bring to mind mayflowers, but all Gellert could think of when he looked at it was bogies. His set of white breeches were so tight that he had to slither onto his lazy, overweight horse from the tallest mounting block.

'Five galleons says those are torn by the portal.' Gellert snickered.

'I'm not taking that one. Five galleons says she faints though.' Berg pointed at a third year girl with a corset laced so tightly that she was already swaying and clutching on to her snowy white granian's stirrup for support.

'I'm not taking that one either.' Gellert spotted a gap in the steady parade of students riding out of the gate and nudged Kelpie forwards to fill it. A first year tried to ride in front of him, barging right beneath Kelpie's nose with a stupid feather in his hat. The water horse snapped at the hat with carnivorous teeth, taking a chunk of hair with it.

The first year twisted around to say something, then paled when he saw who was riding behind him.

'Watch it.' Gellert cautioned. 'Big horses move faster than you think.'

'Yessir.' The first year squeaked, digging his heels into the sides of his squat little pony and trotting out of the courtyard, bouncing painfully in the saddle.

'That's a school horse.' Berg observed, eyeing up the tack.

'I wasn't mean to him.' Gellert protested.

'Kelpie was.'

'Kelpie was very nice.' The Grindelwald heir argued. 'He could have bitten his whole head off.'

Beg rolled his eyes, steering right in behind Gellert as Kelpie forged a path to the gates. Once out in the open the hippogriff took off, clawing up into the sky.

'It feels like forever since we ran anywhere.' Gellert commented, poking at some excess flesh at Kelpie's withers and noting that if he didn't exercise the beast more frequently, he'd have to get a different saddle. Kelpie tossed his head as if in agreement and danced a couple of paces sideways. As soon as Gellert eased the reins, the beast shot off like a bullet, weaving between partygoers quicker than Gellert could hope to steer him. The young heir crouched low over the saddle, holding onto the reins with one hand and using the other to stabilise the antlered headdress on his head.

They arrived at the portal before Berg, allowing Kelpie a moment to catch his breath before the hippogriff landed beside them. At some point during the flight, Berg had pulled off his own set of bull horns and he carried them in his lap.

'There's a trick to this.' Berg stated but it was clear from his expression that he didn't remember it.

'Sticking charm?' Gellert asked dubiously.

'Hermione will never let us forget it if we ask.'

'Let's ask Anneken then?' Gellert suggested, pulling off his set of antlers and putting them in his lap.

Berg agreed, then it was their turn to pass through the portal, emerging into the balmy sunlight of Fort Stark. Both boys hummed in pleasure, eyes fluttering closed for a moment before they gathered their reins and rode out of the portal circle and down the track to the left, heading away from the castle.

Gellert quickly remembered the most noticeable part of this event, and that was the smell. A massive array of livestock was already gathered, mooing, baaing, braying and screeching in the massive paddock set aside for the purpose. As they rode down the track, a pair of unmounted guests appeared through the portal with a flock of sheep and an armful of squawking chickens whilst a large bull in front of them tried to make a break for the rich green lawns of the Lintzen gardens. A wizard on a Sleipnir conjured a rope around the bull's neck and used his massive mount to drag the reluctant horse into the paddock whilst a group of riders on Thestrals spooked any animal trying to make a break for freedom away from the gate. He quickly spotted his mother, almost unrecognisable in a plain linen dress and a set of deer antlers as she cantered her Granian after a goat. They quickly discovered why Hermione hadn't dive bombed them as she usually did; she was on foot, wearing something that had almost certainly come from the Gorlois barrows, trying to capture chickens.

'I don't remember it being this chaotic.' Berg observed.

'I do.' Gellert answered with a grin.

'Hey! Catch that sheep!' The couple behind them bellowed. Gellert twisted in the saddle to see one of the sheep that had come through after them had trotted off. He waved to the couple in acknowledgement and touched his heels to Kelpie's side, catching up to the escaping animal in a couple of bounding paces and driving back in a direction that was vaguely towards the paddock.

'Thanks.' The couple breathed, catching up with him.

'How did you get them through the portal?' Gellert asked curiously, matching his beast's pace to theirs.

'Imperius, but it's impossible to hold for more than a couple of seconds.'

'Gellert!' Hermione called, appearing at his ankle like a nature sprite, spattered in mud and grass with antlers growing from her wild hair. Katana trudged behind her, spattered in almost as much mud as she was. 'I have to go and change. Could you take over the south side? For some reason the chickens keep going that way.'

'You know Kelpie will eat the chickens if I take my eyes off him for a second?' Gellert pointed out and Hermione gave him an exasperated look.

'They're chickens. It will be easier on foot anyway.' Katana cocked his wing, allowing her to use the thick talon on the joint to climb up with relative grace. Then she reached over and arranged Berg's bull horns on his head, somehow managing to make them stay in place.

Gellert watched her dubiously, then looked at his own clean leather boots, then at the muddy ground around the paddock. Then he shrugged and cantered down the track to the paddock. A moment later, Katana's massive silhouette soared over his head towards the distant castle.

As usual, his own preparations would take considerably less time than Hermione's. He was pulled aside at the last minute by Herr Lintzen to dress. Whilst his horse was decorated, Gellert pulled on the cloak that had been prepared for the occasion. It weighed more than any cloak he'd ever worn, laden with fronds of ferns, tangles of ivy and bunches of leaves. The mask fitted closely to his face, surprisingly comfortable and the antlers finally sat steadily on his head when supported by the crown of leaves. He knelt briefly, allowing Herr Lintzen to finish up by wrapping ivy between the points of the antlers, then went to check on Kelpie.

The beast had been similarly decorated. Ivy hung in a curtain from the harness around his chest and more delicate strings of greenery had been braided through his mane. A blanket, woven through with leaves had been draped over his hindquarters, brushing the ground behind him. Already, Kelpie' naturally damp coat was beginning to soak the costume, leaving the foliage glistening.

He rode back out to the paddock, reining in a short distance from the massive crowd of animals where his costume couldn't be spoiled by the mud and waited as the sun set, relaxing himself to let the ambient magic flow through him. It was a tricky balancing act; like creating a hole in a balloon, he needed to let the magic in, but not let it rush through so fast that it hurt him.

He felt Hermione before he saw her - flaming magic as white hot as the ball of fire behind her which washed across the landscape like a breaking wave. It rippled through the magic that he'd allowed into him, exciting it and making managing it much more difficult. He wrestled for control marvelling as he did at how effortless Hermione's channeling felt. She'd surrendered herself almost completely, and the ambient magic flowed through her, pausing to dance with her own magic before moving on, as though she were a feature of the magical landscape rather than a wixen who wielded it. Gellert didn't think himself brave enough to surrender himself so completely, he feared that if he did, he might lose his sense of self entirely.

Whilst he could feel her, at first he couldn't see her, blinded by the light of the sun, then as white light became yellow, became a great crimson orb, Katana screamed, rising up onto his hind legs and spreading his massive wings, silhouetting himself against the setting sun. Instant silence fell and every eye turned towards her. Katana beat his wings once, twice, then settled.

Hermione looked like a deity. She glowed, whether by magic or some effect of the setting sun behind her. The antlers curved up and over her head and she wore golden robes, so light that they billowed long after Katana had settled, as if Hermione had her own wings.

A drum beat rolled across the paddock and the two twins stepped up to either side of her. She sky behind them flooded with deep hues as the last sliver of sun dipped below the horizon and he realised Hermione really did glow. The magic sparkled off Katana's gleaming scales, illuminating the flowers wound into his antler and decorating his harness. With each beat of the drum, Hermione's beast took a step forwards. Katana's hooves left little splashes phosphorescence and the gentle whisper of his tail across the grass sent glow bugs into the air, to hover around them like tiny stars.

Hermione halted Katana just outside the circle of wixen keeping the beasts contained.

Behind him, Herr Lintzen lifted a horn to his mouth and blew. The sound was deep and solemn, shaking the air around him. Gellert leaned forwards, wrapping his arms around Kelpie's neck and pushing lightly with his fingers into the beast's chest. Beautifully trained, the water horse rose up on his hind legs, announcing his presence with a screech that matched Katana for volume.

He rode forwards until he was on the opposite side of the circle to Hermione. Beltane was a ritual of balance; male and female, water and fire, sun and earth, light and dark. The ambient magic flowed rapidly through Hermione, sparking and flaring as it mingled with her magic, whipping up to become a white wildfire. The magic that flowed through him cooled, becoming dark and smooth, ebbing and flowing like a midnight sea. Combined, the magic was as close to raw magic as it could still be after being channelled.

The horn blew behind him, deep and somber.

'We are here.' They spoke together, voices mingling into a two-tone. 'Balanced in body, balanced in magic, we shall bless the summer, remove the taint of winter's darkness.'

'Bless us. Cleanse us.' The gathered wixen murmured. 'Earth and Sun, brother and sister in magic, bless us.'

The horn behind him sent sound shuddering across the gathered animals. Hermione's drummers started up their taboo, a timbre to match the drumming of their horses hooves as they cantered to meet up at the northern point of the herd. As they met at the head, the wixen at the southern edge pressed forwards, forcing the animals to follow them north towards the two great, hulking shadows that were the bonfires. The thunder of hooves grew, from the duet of Kelpie and Katana to the earth shaking rumble of hundreds of cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks...

They reached the oval ring of torches that surrounded the two unlit fires and split, riding out along the outside of the ring as the herd behind them flowed inside and slowed, the drums becoming audible again.

'Bless us, cleanse us.' The crowd were chanting, barely audible over the drum of Kelpie's hooves as he rolled into a leisurely, loping canter. The magic that flowed through him began to race ahead, searching along the ring of torches like a pack of hunting dogs. Across from him, Katana sped up to match. Hermione's golden robes fluttered behind her like wings. Then they were curving around to meet each other and their magic collided, mixed, and washed around the circle, clinging to the torches like the shadows of the night.

He reined in in a shower of dirt, hauling Kelpie around to face the circle, now ringed by torches. Their mounts puffed and Hermione's cheeks were flushed with golden light. The drums fell silent with one last rumble.

'Where there is cold, let there be fire!' Gellert cried, throwing his arms out. The torches lit with a whoosh, flaring up to mark the oval. The livestock stirred, crimson reflecting in their rolling eyes.

'Where there is darkness, let there be light!' Hermione called in turn. The torches seared, building until the tongues of flame were as tall as he was, leaping from brazier to brazier in great arcs, flooding the area with light.

'We shall be blessed!' They finished together, joining hands and rising from their stirrups. The arcs of fire flew upwards, arching over the heads of those below like a hundred golden ribbons, twisting together in the sky and plunging down in two seperate streams. The bonfires ignited with a roar, flames leaping up to join the woven streamers of light, bundles of herbs crackling and filling the air with their pungent smoke.

'Forward!' Lady Grindelwald cried. The wixen at the back of the herd pressed forwards, forcing the animals closer and closer to the fire. Those at the front cantered forwards, funnelling the animals between the two pyres. The magic roared as the flames burned ever higher, twirling the smoke into a silver eddy between the fires. The first wixen passed through the smoke, then the first bull took a chance and plunged into the smoke. The wixen at the back cheered and rode forwards all the harder as several more cattle followed the bull, then the sheep, peeling away from the huddle like wisps of cloud and passing through the smoke.

Slowly, incrementally, more and more animals rode through the gap. Hermione and Gellert rode forwards as well, Katana flaring his wings to shepherd a flock of chickens through the gateway until it was only a few more stubborn goats and a bleary looking donkey. Then those two were through and it was just the riders left, cheering and riding through as well until it was just Gellert and Hermione left on the southern side of the bonfires, magic sibling in the smoke before them. Then Hermione waved, Katana pivoting on one heel and loping into the smoke, which obscured him in seconds.

Gellert took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then followed.

He felt the heat brush against his skin, swirling and eddying across his skin. Then came the magic, searing hot, freezing cold, scouring against his skin. He gasped, taking in a deep lungful of acrid smoke and the magic was suddenly inside him, painful, but good. He relaxed, breathing out the smoke and taking in a breath of crisp fresh air. The horn bellowed somewhere ahead, marking the cleansing of the last person present. He felt lighter, like he could drift out of Kelpie's saddle given half the chance.

'Summer has come, the fires have cleansed us!' Hermione cried, just off to his left. He opened his eyes, seeing the animals now milling around in the paddock within the ring of torches, unafraid of the light and fires, cropping on the grass.

'We shall prosper!' Gellert added, remembering his part.

'The fires have cleansed us and we shall prosper!' The crowd echoed them. 'It is done!'

With the final word, the arches of crackling light above them winked out. The magic cut off abruptly, leaving him cold and hollow. He swayed in the saddle, off guard and off balance at it's sudden loss. Hermione slipped sideways, her loyal mount flaring his wings to catch her before she could hit the ground. Head spinning, Gellert allowed himself to be helped from the saddle and led to the now ordinary bonfire. A moment later, Frau Lintzen and Anneken appeared with Hermione supported between them.

'The ritual is done.' Herr Lintzen announced from the back of his mighty sleipnir, swinging the paddock gates shut. 'Let the feast begin!'

There was a cheer. Wixen dismounted, tethering their beasts. Those without headed over, outside the ring of torches and began manhandling long tables over to the bonfires through a mixture of magic and brute force. Elves began popping in with platters of meat and large cauldrons of soup, heaving them up onto the table. Berg arrived a moment later, two bowls of soup in his hands and a third balanced precariously on his arm.

'Good work, that seemed to go like clockwork.' Berg praised as Anneken unloaded him and passed the food to Gellert and Hermione. Anneken's fiancé arrived a moment later with meals for the two of them.

'It's been a while.' The elder wizard rumbled, his Bulgarian accent thick. 'I am glad. Father's cows have barely been breeding.'

'Our's haven't been as big.' Gellert agreed, glancing over at the milling cattle. 'Almost like muggle cows.'

'It doesn't help that we've lost the Tunninger herd... your father used to nurture his bulls with your family magic, Berg. It made the bulls very large and productive.' Anneken nodded to Berg who dipped his head.

'I've tried to copy the spells, but without the family magic, it doesn't work.'

'It wont. That kind of old magic is difficult to adapt.' Anneken assured. 'But some day, we'll be able to take you to Tunninger Manor and you'll be able to challenge for patriarchy. You've still got your parent's spirits and we'll be able to perform the proper rituals.'

'She's right, Berg.' Hermione agreed, reaching over to place a hand on his arm. 'Your family magic won't stand for Alice being in control once it learns what she did.'

'This is not cheerful conversation for Beltane.' Krum observed, glancing at them all. 'We have performed a successful ritual, we have food, we have wine.'

Gellert shrugged, dipping some bread into his soup.

'You're right.' Hermione agreed after a moment of pause. 'Gellert, eat quickly and we might be able to dance before I go home!'

Gellert obeyed. He could hardly refuse her when she looked so radiant.