School felt colder.

Gellert was sure it was psychological, but that didn't make it any less miserable. Furious with the weakness, he forced himself to become angry about it instead.

Hermione had accompanied Berg to school so that she could deliver his trunk and wand, but she'd handed them over to a teacher without even asking to see him. There was a finality in the action and he'd resolved to be just as cool from his end; although he dreaded the holidays, and finding somewhere to stay.

The other students would have had to be blind to not pick up on the tension between Gellert and Berg. Presumably on his mother and Hermione's orders, his ward brother was spending all of his time with Mareike and Yannik in the libraries. The revolutionaries has made some cautious enquiries as to whether he had changed his views. He'd firmly disabused that notion with a fist to the nose of the leader - the treaty didn't ban physical violence, and although he wasn't quite as religious at sticking to the training regime as Hermione, he was more than capable of breaking bones.

In the otherwise cold world, his new classes were a spark of light. Even without the Elder Wand, Gellert's skill was remarkable. He could see the magic that made up spells in a way that others couldn't, and countering it was a simple matter with his obedient and powerful magic. Whilst his peers struggled with the conceptual understanding of spell nets, Gellert began learning how to counter runes with their antipodean.

But it was in his sorcery lessons that he found a new role. They worked in groups, drawing basic diagrams in chalk across the floor and he quickly became the leader among his peers. The coven children secreted themselves as a duo off to the side, comfortable in their ability and superiority, whilst Gellert's much larger group dominated the room, flourishing under his careful instruction.

He crafted a persona as a benevolent leader and tutor, praising their pathetic achievements and coaching them towards the greatness that they could have achieved if their parents hadn't failed in their traditional education. He shrugged off the false modesty that the rest of the coven employed, allowing his prodigious skill and power to blaze the way for his peers. Predictably they clung to his every word, and he used that to draw them closer until he had a new group of friends; less skilled and powerful than the coven children, but numerous enough that they were stronger overall.

There were powerful spells in his father's books, hidden in his trunk. Hermione and his mother would have turned their noses up at them; they used an incantation and wand movement to powerful effect, and relied on none of the subtlety and skill that they preached. Gellert saw no point in subtlety when an overwhelming ward breaker would shatter the shields of the common and mediocre wizards that surrounded him. He delved into the books, learning the spells and practicing them with his old wand. He knew that they'd be devastating once he regained the Elder Wand.

The coven were terrified of power, he came to realise. They hated any magic that was powerful, and they had hated the wand that gave Gellert power. Hermione alone had the ability to call down earth shattering bolts of lightning from the sky, he'd felt the rippling effects of her sect bond from half way across the world. They shouldn't be bowing before the revolution, who were limited by their wands and their modern incantations.

His father had thought much the same, and although Gellert could see that his thinking had become twisted over time, Frederich Grindelwald had started along the right lines.

Gellert began to teach his followers some of the spells within his father's books, training them to defend themselves and encouraging them to respond with appropriate aggression when confronted. The traditional bloc would no longer allow themselves to be trampled over by the revolution.

But that wasn't his only preoccupation. He began looking into the deathly hallows in earnest. The legend of the wand had been real; he'd experienced it's power.

Now, he wanted the stone.

His father had made it clear during the last Samhain summoning that he wanted Gellert to grasp power, and now the prodigal son was ready to receive his father's lessons.

He didn't have Hermione's expertise in ancient runes, nor did he have access to her old runic copy of needle the bard, but he had allies in ancient houses across the continent and he remembered the name of the family that had featured in the original story of the Elder Wand. Before long, his new followers had procured obscure historical accounts and extensive, ancient genealogy books.

With careful tracing, he followed the path that the artefacts could have followed through history. Theoretically, following modern laws of inheritance, the stone should belong to the Gaunts and the cloak to the Potter family. Both were based in Britain and both were influential.

But there was no account of either family owning either artefact. Gellert was certain that if the Gaunts possessed the resurrection stone, they would never have become as destitute as they were reported to be. The dead knew secrets, and secrets could earn one money.

What he was reasonably certain of, however, was that the Potters had the invisibility cloak. He didn't need the cloak, but the moniker of Master of Death sounded impressive, and it would give him clout to match Hermione's title of High Priestess. The Potters were easy enough to find; they lived conspicuously in a manor just outside Godric's Hollow. Gellert knew that he had an aunt on his father's side that lived in Godric's Hollow; Baghilda Oberlander, who had married into the Bagshot family.

He sent her an owl, introducing himself and asking if they could perhaps meet.

He received an affirmative reply.